The Last Apprentice: I Am Alice (Book 12)

It’s a low-level elemental that likes mud and stagnant pools.

Sprogs were newborn entities from the dark, still trying to understand who they were and what their place was. They had tentacles with hooks, and sharp teeth, and could bite themselves right into your head if you weren’t careful, forcing their way up your nose or into your ears.

“So mostly I did as I was told,” I continued. “If Lizzie said study, I studied. She scared me with her magic, and I remember the cutting and the big sharp knife she used. Sometimes that hurt a lot. Got scars all over my body, I have. She took blood from me most weeks to help with her spells.”

To my astonishment, she kicked off her pointy shoes and, balancing on one leg, reached up with her left foot for the leather straps that crisscrossed her body. Gripping the hilt with her toes, she drew a blade from its sheath.

The kretch was bounding directly toward her now, eyes full of anger and hate, teeth ready to rend her body. Thorne kicked out savagely, and the blade flew from her toes, skittering across the forehead of the beast, missing its eye by a whisker. She changed legs, now balancing on the left. This time the toes of her right foot selected a blade.

as catching us. Thorne came to a sudden halt and turned to look back down the path. I followed her gaze. The creature was only just visible, but bounding toward us, getting closer and closer. All too soon I could see it in more detail.

It was as Grimalkin had described—similar to an enormous wolf—but as it drew near, I detected the significant differences. Although it ran on what seemed to be four legs, the front two limbs were like powerful, muscular arms, capable of snapping the bones of an opponent and tearing the flesh into bloody shreds. Its fur was

friends too. I wasn’t going to accept

Eventually she came to a halt and sniffed loudly three times.