Ash choked on an inhale. Her throat dry and raw as she pushed to stand against the boulder that had saved her life. Her lungs felt like she'd poured acid in them. Every breath hurt, but she was alive.

Around her, the forest had become blackened twigs. She'd leaped over the boulder before blacking out. The rock that protected her was charred black on the front side.

Damn dragons.

Now that she'd seen one and lived through two others fire-breath, she'd rather never see another one again. But what of Xilon? Last she'd spotted his emerald scales, he was outside the ring of fire. Was he okay? He had sounded almost panicked in her mind when he warned her to get out of the woods.

She pushed her sword through the holder hidden in her jacket along the back and took a step forward. Pain snapped up her leg.

“Shit!” She picked her way forward, mostly hopping on one leg.

When she reached the spot where Xilon had been shot down, remorse squeezed her heart. Maybe she should've taken a chance and hopped on his back when he had asked rather than question him. Damn, she could've ridden on a freaking dragon!

Was he okay? Would he come looking for her?

Thunder rumbled in the distance as a storm moved away from her. Parts of the forest sizzling from a recent rain.

Hopefully, Xilon's people would heal him. For now, she had to figure out how to get home. Her Grams had cancer! Why hadn’t the woman told her? She had to take care of her, do anything to help her heal. Brice, Ash’s brother had lost his football scholarship, too according to the letters. He had to be crushed. If Ash had money, she could pay for the best treatment for her grandma and help her brother stay in college and playing football. That had been his dream since their dad gave him his first football when he was three. For years, he slept with it instead of a teddy bear.

Finding an unburned tree branch, Ash unsheathed her sword from her back. She hated using the blade on wood, but she had to be able to move faster and limping across an unknown world was not helping her goal of finding a way off this planet. And if she stayed too long in one spot, she was pretty sure the demons would find her. Besides, sitting there wasn’t going to get her home any sooner. A trickle of fear and doubt wormed its way into her heart. What if she never escaped this place? What if the demons overpowered her and killed her before she could get back home. Stop it! Concentrate on one thing at a time. She focused on the branch on her lap.

Carefully, she hacked off the excess limbs to make a twisted cane. Once she’d got home, she’d sharpen her sword and re-bless it in holy water so it would be ready to slice through demons. After she put her sword away, she tested the strength of her makeshift staff. Not bad. It held her weight enough for her to walk with only a slight delay.

Now that it was full daylight, and she wasn’t chopping down demons, Ash marveled at Xilon’s world. White-peaked mountains rose against the horizon. They looked big enough to house giants. And maybe they did since Xilon had to have a home somewhere.

The yellow grass was softer than Earth’s. Birds with double wings whistled rather than sang as they flitted from tree to tree. None of the trees resembled anything she’d seen before. Trunks were closer to a birch, but their tops were long and hanging like a willow. Their leaves red and orange, but the weather here was warm like springtime.

She kept walking, heading to the mountains. Once she got closer, she’d hunt for clues to figure out if Xilon was there or anyone. If not, then she’d skirt around them to the next valley. How long before she could figure a way home? What if she didn’t? Terror froze the air in her lungs. What if she was stuck on this world filled with demons and dragons forever?

What did Grams think when Ash didn’t show up for dinner? Her Grams probably had the entire town out looking for her. A pain hit Ash’s chest in despair. Her Grams was getting chemo treatments and yet more concerned about her great-niece and feeding the homeless than about her own health. Ash hiked up a hill. If she got home, she and her Grams were going to have a nice long talk. Then Ash would rip into Brice about jeopardizing his scholarship.

Her leg screamed as she walked, but she pushed aside the pain until her ankle gave way. She cursed as she fell down, jagged rocks cutting into her knee. Was the universe bitch-slapping her or what?

Groaning, she rose, using her cane as support. She needed to wrap her ankle up, but all she had on her to use was her jacket. No way was she cutting up the leather. It had taken her forever to hand-stitch the sword’s sheath in the lining along the back. No, there had to be other beings on this planet that could help her. Ones that weren’t demons or dragons. Though if Xilon showed up right now, she’d hug his scaly neck. A chuckle broke through her lips. She could imagine his serpentine emerald eyes widening in shock.

Dude was massive and everything she’d imagined a dragon would be and more since she was a little girl. How foolish she’d been not to believe Grams. She owed the woman an apology.

Ash trekked along a dirt path that wound toward the mountains, praying that it wasn’t any demons hunting trail. And Xilon hadn’t been surprised at seeing the devils or that there were so many of them. How long had the demons been here? And why?

Was Xilon one of few dragons left? If so, what had happened? Why hadn’t they blasted the demons like they did in the forest? Was it because of the weapon they’d shot Xilon with? Were the dragons at a disadvantage despite their fire-breathing?

Questions swirled in her mind and she trudged forward.

How would other dragons react to her? Would they be arrogant but kind as Xilon had been? Or would they rather have nothing to do with her and crush her under their feet?

Her stomach knotted and she glanced back over her shoulder. Maybe the mountains weren’t the best place to start looking for help. But the two forests she’d been in since landing here, demons seemed to thrive in. She heaved out a breath, then continued forward. Her stomach growling that she hadn’t eaten anything in... God, she couldn’t even remember when. She’d woken up in the hospital then had found Grams’ bills and Brice’s letters. Then the demon came and wham, she was here.

And she still didn’t even know where in the cosmos, here was. Much less how to get home. What if she was stuck here forever? Her stomach clenched and she placed an arm against herself to ease the pain. Her mind racing with terrors of dying here. Of Grams and her brother never knowing what had happened to her.

Swallowing down the rock that pressed into her throat, she forced herself to keep moving. There had to be a way off this planet. She just had to figure it out.

Several steps ahead, a purple bush with big black berries that looked almost like strawberries tantalized her. She swallowed hard. No, she couldn’t eat unless she knew for a certainty the fruit wasn’t poisonous. Even if the birds ate them, she couldn’t count on that. On Earth, birds ate certain berries that were toxic to humans. And these birds were different from any species she’d ever seen before. Her mouth watered and hunger slammed into her.

No. First rule of Girl Scouts that stuck in her mind more than anything else: Never eat anything in nature unless it’s safe. What she wouldn’t give for some jambalaya or some . Or her Gram’s special boudin. Another hunger pain shot through her. Damn, probably should stop thinking about food.

She passed the berry bush, wincing as the enticing aroma tickled her nostrils. A person can survive days without food. Her main concern should be finding drinkable water. Another reason to head to the mountains as streams and water sources should be found there. Then she needed to find Xilon and make him keep his promise and get her off this planet so she could gorge on bread pudding until she popped. Nothing beat eating the sweet dessert.

With a groan, Ash climbed uphill as the land grew bumpier the closer she got to the mountains.

A shadow flew overhead and Ash shielded her eyes to see what made it. Had to have been bigger than any of the birds she’d seen. She gripped her makeshift cane in both hands. What if demons here could fly? They couldn’t on Earth and none so far had been able to that she’d seen, but she’d learned not to count on odds.

“Get her!” a gravelly voice shouted.

Ash whipped around and her heart lunged into her throat. There was an eight-foot-tall demon with arms as big as tree trunks. Its red eyes glowing inside its dark furry head complete with horns.

Fuck! She tossed down the cane and unsheathed her sword.

God, I hate it when I’m right.