As the laughter drew closer, a groaning guitar and tapping cymbals merged with it. The music gained force, the beat speeding up as drums empowered it. Inside me, my magic went through the same ascent—rising in power and purpose until it thrashed with the rhythm. The song seemed to burst around me.
“Fuck yeah!” Cerberus shouted, lifted his hands in devil-horn signs, and started head-banging. “Metallica rules!”
“Form a circle!” Odin shouted. “They're closing in around us.”
The witches glanced at me with wide eyes as they formed a circle with my guys and me, everyone facing out. I noticed some of them nodding their heads to the beat. They stretched out their glowing hands, waiting for the chance to strike, while the others prepared their own attacks. The drums became an assault, drowning out the Wendigos.
“Here they come!” Odin shouted above the music.
My voice grated out of me—a threat masquerading as concern. Come closer so I can kill you. You may look dead but you're not nearly dead enough. The words slammed through the trees toward my targets, on a mission to sew fear in their hearts and summon it forth from the darkest corners of their minds. My foot started stomping the ground while my shoulders slammed back and forth to the vicious beat. Magic built in my chest as I rumbled up to the climax, then it exploded with my intention. I flung my arms out wide, releasing the spell as I shouted the lyrics like a battle cry. Darkness descended suddenly, but it was a sentient dark. It boiled and churned, waiting for the Wendigos' fears to give it form. Whatever nightmares lurked in those violent minds, the Wendigos would soon be facing them instead of us.
Darcraxis latched onto the edges of my shadows and pulled them around us—thinning them enough for us to see the slinking Wendigos approach while simultaneously turning the darkness into a protective barrier. I'd unwittingly magnified my husband's magic by giving him something to work with. During a grinding lull in the lyrics, I glanced at him and we exchanged grins.
But my smile faded when the darkness refused to form into the Wendigos' fears and they stepped through it unimpeded. My voice faltered as a ring of dead men surrounded us. Bodies gaunt and wrinkled, yellowed eyes sunken, and torn flesh trailing from exposed bones, the Wendigos grinned, revealing jagged, stained teeth. The smell of rotting flesh rose to a choking level, crawling down my throat to coat it.
Gage stepped forward and swung. His sword arced beautifully, magic glinting off the blade as those around him also launched their attacks. He struck his mark, severing a Wendigo's arm. The dead man howled appropriately but something about the hit and the way Gage frowned registered with me as off.
Like slicing through water!Kyanite shouted in my mind.They're conjures, my love. Your song cannot affect them. You have to disperse them, not fight them. Twist the song. Give it a new meaning!
It's difficult to shift intention halfway through a spellsong, but “Enter Sandman” had pauses between the lyrics that helped me refocus. I switched my intention during one of those vocal intermissions and when I started to sing again, the words took on a new meaning. Instead of conjuring the Wendigos' nightmares, I dispersed the conjuring of the Wendigos like a nightmare that fades when you wake. I sang about it all being in our heads, a make-believe story we'd been fed. And when I commanded the light to leave, I connected it to the magic of Eleanor's illusions and cast them away with it.
My voice turned sinister with the thudding beats and all battle paused around me as the Wendigos began to evaporate. My companions flinched with the revelation of what we were truly fighting—nothing at all. Cerberus held out a hand experimentally and a transparent Wendigo hacked at it, his clawed hand going through Cer's arm like a phantom. As the music and my voice softened and faded so did the creatures around us. With the last notes, the darkness lifted and revealed an empty jungle.
“Fucking hallucinations,” Cerberus huffed. “I feel cheated and a little dirty.”
“Conjures, not hallucinations,” Odin corrected. “But, yes, they were very unsatisfying.”
“How did you know what they were?” Banning asked me.
“My spell wasn't working against them,” I explained. “And then I saw Gage's sword go through one of the Wendigos too easily.” I glanced at Verin. “Like slicing through water.”
Verin grunted in approval.
“Kyanite was the one who put it all together,” I gave credit where it was due. “Then I just switched the intent of the song.”
“Nicely done, Elaria,” Vivian praised. “And that conjure would take a lot of energy to cast so it's unlikely that Eleanor will have the strength to attempt it again. It's hardly worth the effort now that she knows you're aware of her tricks.”
“What was the point in sending a conjure to attack us?” One of the witches grumbled. “It wouldn't have been able to hurt us.”
“A stray spell or a blade swinging too strongly could have gone through those conjurations and hit one of us,” another witch pointed out.
“Friendly fire,” Banning muttered.
“Or maybe she's just trying to buy herself some time,” Glinda suggested.
“Why Wendigos?” another witch muttered.
“She probably saw me fight one in Slate's arena.” Cerberus smirked at Slate. “That match was a crowd-pleaser.”
“Hardly,” Slate scoffed. “You killed him way too fast.”
“I did not,” Cer argued. “I took my time and had everyone frothing for more.”
“Can we please focus!” Odin snapped. “Eleanor may have the upper hand here but she's still only one witch. All we have to do is get past her traps and she won't stand a chance against us. She knows that so she's tossing everything she has at us. Be careful and stay alert!”
Odin took a step forward and a cloud of orange light puffed up around his foot.
Chapter Fifty
