He shakes uncontrollably, the air filled with the scent of fried leather, then Brom reaches for the wall, pulling a long broadsword away from the stone where it was mounted.
“Kat, stay back,” he says, holding the sword out.
I’m about to tell him that he doesn’t know how to use a sword when Sister Margaret comes flying through the air at him, her hair turned into writhing snakes, her eyes bulging out, her tongue long and flicking like a serpent’s.
I conjure flames to my fingertips, ready to throw a fireball at her.
But Brom stands in my way as he takes the heavy sword and raises it like it weighs nothing at all, waiting until the last moment before swinging it, slicing it below Margaret’s awful face, cutting her head clean off.
Brom can control the horseman.
Bromisthe horseman.
He looks at me over his shoulder with an expression of shaky pride as her head bounces to the floor, but that look on his face quickly turns to horror as his gaze goes behind me.
Because eight giant spider legs wrap around my stomach from behind, pinning my arms to the side, before I’m suddenly yanked high into the air.
36
Crane
When I first saw the horseman silently approach us from outside the cathedral, I immediately pulled myself deeper into the shadows, wanting to wait until he was almost at Kat before I roasted him in flames.
But then Brom’s voice came inside my head.
I’d never been so overjoyed to hear him in all my life.
Never felt so proud as a teacher either.
He quickly filled me in on the plan.For the time being, he had complete control of the horseman.He was able to control the Hessian’s physical form, and he was able to take the Hessian’s strength and use it for himself.The coven didn’t know he had already made a bargain with the horseman, for what I’m not sure, but we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.So the coven was intent on using the horseman to capture Brom and bring him to them, which he did.
With Brom controlling both the Hessian’s physical body andhis own, he was able to do some acting, pretending that he was possessed and ready to do their bidding.
Their bidding, of course, involved capturing Kat, drugging her with laudanum, and then having Brom essentially rape her, spreading his demon spawn inside.
He told me all of this as he captured Kat, holding her safely by the throat in a way that I know was modeled after me, and then brought her over to the sisters, acting like the dutiful soldier in their control.
I was delighted to find that I could still use my voice too, which meant I could use it inside other people’s minds.I wanted more than anything to tell Kat what was really happening, but instead I trusted her with Brom.I trusted her life in his hands.And I sank back into the shadows, and started running around the campus and projecting my voice into everyone who could hear me.
I told them all that their magic was needed.That they had a chance to fight back against the powers that held them at the school.And I told them that if they didn’t do this, they’d all flunk my class.
I don’t know if anything will come from that.I didn’t have time to wait around and see if some student was going to come out waving elemental magic.Even if they’re too scared to do anything, I at least let them know what the dangers really were, and what they were up against.
I just wish I had done that a long time ago.
But now I’m running back inside the cathedral, wondering what scene I’m going to find.
Sheer chaos.
The physical horseman is being fried by lightning that’s coming out of Leona’s palms, Sister Ana is missing a head, and Sister Margaret is flying through the air at Brom.
Brom, who is naked, with a broadsword raised, looks every inch the glorious warrior, making my blood run hot despite the circumstances, while Kat is being kept back behind him.She looks ready to use her own magic on Margaret, but Brom beats her to it, slicing off Margaret’s head with the sword.
I plan to slink through the shadows until I’m close enough to Leona to set her ablaze without her seeing me, or perhaps I have enough time to load my gun, but then I realize that there’s a huge bloody mess on the floor by the altar, and what looks like the decapitated head of some humanoid creature.My eyes follow a wide smear of blackish blood over to the wall, just behind Kat, then up the wall and…
Before I can yell, a horse-sized spider descends from the rafters of the cathedral, right behind Kat, eight spindly legs shooting out and wrapping around her.
She screams as it yanks her up into the air.
