“Shall I make a nuisance of myself?”
I smiled. “If we can scatter them, it would make it much easier to rescue our friend.”
With a chuckle, Narcissa leapt gracefully into the air and skimmed over the heads of the demon-hounds, who roared and turned to follow their new prey. She opened her little cat mouth and spewed a spray of fire, creating a wall of flames between me and the hounds in pursuit of her. Then she launched herself at the hounds, continuing to breathe fire, completely engulfing the beasts.
The beasts, however, seemed unaffected by the fire. If anything, the flames only served to make them angrier. They leapt into the air in an attempt to snatch Narcissa from the sky.
Narcissa easily dodged them, and led them away from me once more.
“Are you all right?” I shouted down to Freya.
Freya met my eyes in the gulf between us, and I noted that her wrists were encased in rock, stuck to the back of the demon-hound. “Do I look all right to you? Tell your familiar to watch the fire. It’s getting rather warm down here.”
I grabbed a fistful of basilisk scales and the bristles of a Lonomia caterpillar. I blew them in Freya’s direction. “Libera a malo.” The rock encircling her wrists crumbled as my orb lost a small amount of energy.
“Thanks for the assist,” she said brightly, yanking a sword from her back. She struck at the bonds still holding her feet firm. With any luck, she would be out in a moment.
“Callum!” Auggie warned.
I whipped my head up just in time to narrowly dodge a hound that had leapt for me. I couldn’t stop myself from tumbling to the ground, however. Auggie was thrown clear and landed with a grunt nearby. I rolled with my broom several times and heard an ominouscrack!I came to a stop and found my broomstick had snapped in half.
I stared down at my broom numbly. The demon-hounds stopped all at once.
That wasn’t good.
“Aha!” Freya shouted, leaping from the hellhound’s back with a flourish that had all of the hellhounds pausing and taking notice. The nearest one to her took the brunt of a sword to the side of its head as she armed her free hands with more weapons from the sheaths on her back, grinning jovially, as if she was about to have more fun than she had in a while. “Not so brave now that I’m free, are you?” She swung her axe toward another hellhound at her back.
I picked up the remnants of the broom, unable to feel it respond to me anymore. The magic in it was cold and dead. My parents had helped me craft it—no small feat. I’d wanted them to be proud of the witch I’d become, but if they were around, they would only see a soulless creature incapable of living up to their legacy.
I cursed, throwing the broom aside. My hands curled to fists at my side. Now I would have to continue my quest without my broom. There was no way I could make another from scratch easily, not on the road. I was far too inadequate to do that.
I felt something shift at my side and found Therese peeking out from the pocket of my pack. “You all right in there?” I asked. She glanced around briefly and, clearly not liking what she saw, slid back inside.
The leg of one of the hellhounds landed at my feet, and I stepped back to avoid the fiery blood, then kicked it aside as Freya laughed ahead, taking on three of the beasts at once. She made it look so easy.
Auggie placed a hand on my back. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” I shrugged him off. “Let’s help Freya so we can end this.” The demon-hounds were mostly focused on Freya, one missing a hind leg, while one was still being harassed by Narcissa. The odds weren’t terrible. I paused. But I only saw six of the beasts. Where was the other one?
Then its jaw fastened itself into my side.
My mouth went dry from pain.
Auggie was staring back at me with horror, mouth drawn into a comicalO. His lips were really very pretty. Perhaps if I concentrated on them, I wouldn’t be so overwhelmed by the feeling of lava bubbling in my side.
I regarded the demon-hound, meeting its cold yellow eyes. My hand fumbled beneath the holds of my cloak, but my mind was being drawn so completely into the pain burning me from the inside out, there was no longer room for rational thought.
This was how I died. For a pretty human boy who didn’t even like me.
“Get. Off.”
I blinked as the needles retracted from my side. It still felt like worms made of lava were wriggling in the wound, but the pain had lessened just enough for me to be able to comprehend what was going on around me.
Auggie slammed his metal rod into the side of the demon-hound’s face. Again. And again. There were already two of the darts from Auggie’s weapon in its side, but they hadn’t been as effective as he’d hoped if he was resorting to bludgeoning the creature. It was the most foolish thing I had ever seen.
It was very Auggie.
And then Auggie reached into his pocket and threw salt into the demon-hound’s face. Immediately, it howled in pain and retreated, batting desperately at its face.
