Kaelen pov
The explosion shattered the night.
The entire house shook as the front wall erupted inward in a spray of stone and splintered wood. Kaelen was thrown backward, crashing into Serenya's bookshelf. Books and artifacts rained down around him as dust filled the air. He hit the floor hard, the impact driving what little air he had from his lungs.
Pain radiated through his back and shoulders, adding to the constant ache in his chest. For a moment, he couldn't see anything through the dust and debris, couldn't hear anything over the ringing in his ears.
"Fuck!" Serenya's voice cut through the chaos. "They found us already!"
Through the settling dust, a figure stepped through the massive hole where the door had been. He was enormous…easily seven feet tall with shoulders broad enough to fill the doorway. Muscles rippled beneath his clothes with each movement, and his skin had an unnatural gray tint that spoke of something fundamentally wrong beneath the surface.
