Read Online Red by Alyxandra Harvey - Free Book Online Page A

again. This wasn’t training or game control. There had to be another lesson we could learn, something more than killing.
    Sloane sighed, watching Colt swing his spear triumphantly. “How drunk is he?”
    “Not drunk enough to not know better.”
    “That was nothing,” Colt panted, pushing to his feet. “I need a little challenge.”
    “You need an ass kicking,” Sloane called. “Can we go home now?”
    “Hell, no,” Colt replied, pulling a bag of dead snakes off his belt. They were small, more like worms than snakes, and black with a white spot on their heads. Colt dumped them on the raw meat with a handful of gold rings and a splatter of his own blood. “I’m calling a wyvern.”
    Wyverns were like small, stupid dragons. But even a small dragon could cook you with a single breath. And there was a glint in Colt’s eyes that made me swear under my breath.
    “You idiot—” I broke off as the distinctive sound of a loud, heavy body moving toward us, scales scraping the ground, hissed between the trees. I used tranquilizer darts as often as I could, but sometimes they weren’t enough. He was going to force me to go home with blood on my hands. Again.
    It wasn’t long before a snakelike creature slid into view, thick muscles contracting under black scales. A crown-shaped fan jutted out of its head above a white spot. It had a bird’s beak and leathery wings, like damp skin, and its breath was so putrid it was practically visible. Leaves withered and ferns shriveled as it passed. It glanced up briefly, and an owl squawked and fell out of a tree, dead. The owl had petrified to stone before it hit the ground.
    “That’s not a wyvern,” I said. “It’s a basilisk. Don’t look!”
    My tranquilizer gun wouldn’t work. It was set with drugs for mammals, not reptiles. I reached for my biggest knife, hoping it was wide enough to act as a mirror.
    Colt gave a war cry and leaped, alone, at the basilisk. He was so desperate to prove himself to his parents that he was going to get us all killed. Never mind that Summer was dead and he should damn well know better.
    The basilisk scented us, touching the air with a forked tongue. I fell back, being careful to stay behind its head. One second of eye contact and we’d turn to stone, one drop of saliva and we’d be poisoned. “Justine, stay high. Tobias.”
    Tobias nodded, scaling the nearest tree. Justine was still wedged between two branches. Justin emerged below her, his sword held steady.
    Just another Saturday night.
    The basilisk hissed at Colt. The bushes at his feet wilted. “Get behind it,” I yelled, irritated. “Standard drill.” The basilisk wasn’t the only monster in these woods that could kill with a glance. But it was the only one that’d been here since before we were born, untouched.
    “Anyone got weasel pee?” Sloane asked. “Apparently it repels them.”
    “It’s mongoose, actually,” I said.
    “Well, got any of that handy?”
    “Not so much.” I whipped one of my least favorite knives at its tail. There was no saving blades from basilisk venom. The basilisk flicked its tail angrily when the steel bit into its scales.
    Sloane threw her head back and ululated like a rooster.
    Even the basilisk paused, confused. It shivered once but didn’t stop its attack. “What the hell are you doing?” Justin asked.
    “Basilisks are scared of roosters,” she explained.
    Justin snorted. “Now I am, too.”
    “Just get it to the lake,” I yelled, throwing another knife. Scales severed, leaving blood and some vile green substance. Sloane threw a rock at the basilisk’s head when it turned to glare at me.
    “You’re in my line,” Justine yelled down at her. “Move!”
    The basilisk snapped its tongue out like a whip, curling it around Colt’s spear before tossing it aside like a toothpick. “Sloane, get off the ground!” I ordered. “It’s not safe.”
    “I suck at climbing.”
    “Then get out of here! You’re barely armed.” I