“What the hell is happening here? Who are you people? What… What’s happening to my wife?!” Mr. Smith stammered as soon as Garrett took the gag off.
Garrett pressed two fingers against his forehead, knocking him out as well. “Not a good time to explain all this,” he replied, settling Mr. Smith on the floor.
“I can’t find the damn things anywhere!” Santana gasped, then rushed into the den.
Dylan made his way into the kitchen. I could hear dishes and pots being moved, the clanking noises adding to my anxiety. Every second that went by brought more deep flesh cuts to Mrs. Smith’s legs. Garrett grabbed one of the woolen throws from the sofa and ripped it into several pieces, using them to apply pressure on her calf wounds.
“If we don’t find those hex bags soon, she’s going to bleed out,” Garrett said to me.
“Santana! Anything?” I called out.
“Dammit! No!” she shouted as she came out of the den. She raced up the stairs. Based on the noises coming from above, she was tossing and trashing everything, in a frantic search for the hex bags.
My heart was pumping, worried sick, not only about Mrs. Smith, but also about Harley, Wade, and Jacob. They had two raging psychopaths to deal with.
Santana came back downstairs, cursing in Spanish.
She plopped herself down in the middle of the living room, crossing her legs. “I couldn’t find anything. My Orishas can give it a try.”
She closed her eyes, took three deep breaths, and exhaled. Green sprite lights came out of her. I counted twelve as they shot out and buzzed through the room. They quickly spread out, swooshing anxiously and bursting through the walls.
If anything of Chaotic origin could find an expertly hidden hex bag, it was an Orisha. With twelve of them, I hoped that we stood a chance.
I settled by Mrs. Smith’s side, joining Garrett in tending to her wounds, as more opened along her hips and across her stomach. Blood was beginning to pool beneath her, drenching the carpet. I swallowed back tears as I desperately thought of other ways to stop her from dying. I had to dig deep into my arsenal of dark magic to stop the curse from killing her.
I uttered a string of old Russian spells to slow everything down in Mrs. Smith. It bought her a handful of precious seconds, but we needed to find those hex bags.
Forty
Harley
It took me a couple of seconds to regain my eyesight.
The image before me became disturbingly clear when I saw Emily tackling Jacob, shoving his head into the ground. Wade shot to his feet and pushed out a time-lapse bubble with a fifty-yard radius, the air glimmering blue all around us.
Emmett took him on, using a combination of Telekinesis and physical attacks, but Wade stood his ground, employing his own exquisite skills. Wade’s military-type training was obvious, compared to Emmett’s raw and inconsequential moves. My warlock launched fireballs in quick succession, following up on each round with a Telekinetic pulse. Still, Emmett was ferocious and fast, pushing Wade into some spine-tingling brushes with death.
I, on the other hand, felt only half-functional without my Esprit. But I had to try something. I ran toward Emily, who was still straddling Jacob. She put her hand out and launched fireballs at me. I dodged them all like an athlete, suddenly aware of how much Nomura’s Esprit-less training had actually helped me.
She tried to hold on to Jacob and stop him from getting away through another wormhole. Unfettered by her attacks, I used my Telekinesis to grab her by the throat, then tackled her. We quickly became a mass of two bodies, squirming and wrestling each other, and I delivered punches wherever I could.
She wasn’t easy to take down, though. I’d seen what she and her brother were capable of, back by the bus stop. But it wasn’t just my life hanging in the balance anymore. I pummeled her in the ribs, then slapped the ground around us, prompting it to shiver and crack. The earth opened up and began to swallow her.
“Ex Parte Titan!” Emily chanted, and rammed her fist into my chest.
The blow was so hard, it threw me backward. The air left my lungs as I landed on the soft ground, ten yards away from her. My limbs were made of jelly, but my consciousness refused to let go. I had too many people to save, including myself.
“There’s… no way… in hell… I’m letting Katherine freakin’ Shipton take me down,” I groaned, rolling on one side in an attempt to catch my breath. My whole torso was throbbing, and it felt like Emily had finally broken something in me.
She stalked toward me. I caught a glimpse of Wade delivering a devastating blaze to Emmett, who ducked and whispered a curse. Whatever it was, it had an immediate effect on Wade, gripping him like paralysis and forcing him down on one knee.
My pulse was racing as I suddenly found myself in a vulnerable position. Not just about to get killed by Emily Ryder, but also about to watch the single most important man in my life get destroyed… I couldn’t envision such an ending. My brain did not compute.
So, as Emily towered over me and took another knife out, grinning with the anticipation of slitting my throat, like she’d done to the Cranstons and the Devereauxes, I took a deep breath. It hurt like a thousand knives being driven through me all at once, but I had to do this. I instantly relaxed, and I put my arms out, my fingertips tingling. The winds were coming. They’d answered my call.
It had been impossible to maneuver my Air ability without an Esprit. The few times I’d succeeded, I was holding on for dear life. This was my Hail Mary, it seemed.
“Time to go bye-bye, Merlin bitch!” she said, baring her teeth at me like an animal. Emily raised the knife in the air, then came down fast and hard.
Just before the tip of the blade reached my chest, a powerful gust of air knocked her to the side. The impact was so powerful that I heard her bones break, just before she was thrown on the ground and rolled to a stop. Lying on her belly, Emily Ryder’s left leg and arm were bent at unnatural angles. She screamed in agony.
It wasn’t over yet. I rushed to her side and tore a piece of my shirt off, which I stuffed in her mouth. I was in a lot of pain, barely able to even sit up straight, but I’d managed to take one of the psycho-bundle twins down.
“Can’t have you casting curses and crap,” I grumbled, then produced my own set of Atomic Cuffs from my back pocket. “This is going to hurt, and I am so not sorry about that.”
I pulled her broken arm down. The bone cracked. She howled until she passed out, while I put the cuffs on, relishing the sight of the bright energy string surrounding her wrists.
“Yeah, I don’t know any anesthesia spells or whatever,” I added, my tone flat and anything but sympathetic. I knew she couldn’t hear me anymore, but it felt good to say this stuff out loud. “You’ll just have to suffer. Hopefully forever.”
I then looked up. Wade had finally taken down Emmett, who was lying in the grass, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. His face was pretty roughed up, his eyes swollen and quickly turning purple—and Wade didn’t look much better, but at least he had control. Wade was on top of him, fumbling through his pockets for a pair of Atomic Cuffs.
Jacob had managed to get back up in a sitting position. He let out a tired groan and glanced around, before breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of Emily on the ground. He then looked to his side, where Wade and Emmett were.
Dread punched a hole through my very soul, quickly followed by Jacob’s scream.
“Watch out!”
I followed his horrified gaze and saw Emmett’s lips moving, just as Wade put the first cuff on. An invisible pulse pushed Wade back. Emmett managed to get up, something glimmering in his hand. A blade.
Oh, no.
“Wade!” I cried out, snapping my hand out.
I shot a Telekinetic pulse, but I was a split second too late. Emmett threw the knife into Wade’s back, just as my pulse smacked him right in the head.
“WADE!” I screamed, struggling to get back up.
But my knees were weak. I couldn’t stand for long. I dropped back down, limp.
Wade stilled, the knife in his back. He stared at me for a couple of seconds. A look of shock was imprinted on his face, breaking my heart into tiny, painful little shards that slashed everything through me.
“Wade!” I gasped, tears glazing my eyes.
Emmett stood up, snarling and cursing, and tried to finish the job.
“No! You’ve done enough!” Jacob shouted and put his hands out. He roared from the strain he put on himself as he opened up a wormhole right in the middle of Emmett’s stomach.
I froze, unable to look away.
The wormhole’s edges glowed bright red, but inside there was nothing but darkness. Emmett was stunned, his eyes bulging. The small portal then vanished, leaving behind a gaping hole, a few inches in diameter. I could see the rest of Waterfront Park through it. Emmett collapsed, the life dimming from his perplexed face. He gave his last breath in the grass.
Jacob sobbed, lowering his head. He brought a trembling hand up, then pulled a small medallion from beneath his shirt and bit into it. His grief and guilt were almost too much to handle.
“Jake, don’t move. Stay there,” I said, my voice weak and shaky.
I managed to get up again, this time a little more confident about my legs, and staggered over to Wade. I fell to my knees and helped him turn onto one side. He groaned from the pain.
“Wade,” I croaked. “Hold on, okay? We’re going to get you patched up.”
“Ugh. I doubt it. But thanks for trying…” he replied, panting.
I took my jacket off and bundled it against his wound, making sure the knife stayed in. Even so, blood was pouring out at an alarming speed. I applied additional pressure, making him gasp. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
“What the hell are you sorry for?” Wade shot back, turning his head to look at me. He looked worryingly pale already.
“I-I haven’t learned any healing spells,” I said, my lower lip trembling.
“I’m pretty sure you and the kid just saved my life,” he replied, struggling to keep his breathing measured and failing miserably. “If I were you, I’d take that as a win.”