“You need Hector,” I pleaded, hot tears filling my eyes. “You want to destroy Bahmet, right? Hector is the key to that. I can’t explain it, but I know that Bahmet fears Hector and what he harbours inside of him. If you want Bahmet to be dealt with, you’re going to need Hector alive.”
I was breathless by the time I was finished. My aunt didn’t speak. Instead, I felt the slither of her unseen fingers finally leave my mind, just before her eyes died in their colourful glow. She had no choice to believe me or not, considering I told the truth and she’d felt that. But I waited on tenterhooks for her to do something, all the while the image of Hector on his knees was imprinted on the screen behind her.
She reached into her pocket, withdrew a phone and frantically pressed the screen. I watched her press it to her ear, but then she was leaving me. I tried to call out for her, but nothing I said mattered.
The last I heard was her speak my father’s name in greeting, and I could only hope my truth had struck home.
I was left alone to watch the horrors unfurling in London on the soundless television. The scene would leave from Hector, and I found myself holding my breath until he returned. But he never did. As I watched the military round up witches from within the Tower of London, and cart them into the back of large vans, I studied the scene in search for him.
Hours passed. I didn’t see him again, and the views of London moved to a sombre pair of news presenters sitting behind a desk. I began to scream.
I didn’t stop until my throat bled, and the vessels in my body popped one by one.
8
HECTOR
Ican’t believe he just threw a fucking helicopter at me.
My back buckled beneath the weight of it as my Gift extended up and outwards. I’d neverheldsomething so heavy before, and honestly I didn’t think I’d survive it.
I focused on nothing but staying alive for the next seconds as I regained control over the helicopter, wrapping my telekinesis around the metal frame and keeping it hoisted in the air. The pilot dangled out the door, grappling for purchase so he didn’t fall to his death. His screams, alongside those of the humans around me, were the soundtrack to my hellish nightmare.
Blades screeched as their tips gouged at the ground. I heard the keening crunch of metal, followed by the gut-churning song of destruction as the helicopter got lower and lower.
If I released it, I’d be crushed. If I cast the helicopter away from me, Hekate knew how many more casualties there would be.
I was fuelled by the desire to save myself, giving as much time as I could for innocent humans to flee, all whilst I watched the person who initially attacked me grinning at his impressive feat.
What was strange about the witch… his eyes did not glow. I determined that it was no witch who harnessed the Gift. In fact, I’d go so far as to wager that it was some warped Witch Hunter, solely from the way he was looking at me with unbridled hate.
It was an expression I’d faced many times.
Unfortunately for me, my Gift was waning. Time was running out. My knees were forced into the ground, the pressure tearing through my jeans and leaving them a mess of torn flesh. I could almost feel my spine aching before it broke, giving me a final warning that I couldn’t hold on to the helicopter any longer.
Blood trickled out of my nose, spoiling my lips with its copper taste. My eyes scanned the area around me, only to find a wall of military personnel with weapons drawn and raised in my direction.
To my other side was the crumbling ruins of the White Tower. Bodies scuttled out of the smoke-riddled destruction, coughing and spluttering, but alive.
My options were limited until they were completely taken away from me.
I pinched my eyes closed as the crack of bullets exploded around me. Distracted, I lost my hold on my Gift. A propeller cut so close to me that I felt the air hiss. When I opened my eyes again it was to find the Witch Hunter crumpled on the floor with an unprecedented number of bullet holes in his chest.
Wide, hateful eyes stared through me as if seeing my soul.
Something stirred in my gut. I supposed, deep down, I was aware the entire world was watching this moment. But I could not simply cast the helicopter away from me without risking people, and frankly I was not ready to be crushed beneath it either.
I had a task to complete, and I was not going to give up on it now.
Perhaps it was my desire to live, or my need for more power, but I felt a shift of something dark inside of me. Panicked, and more frightened of the potential of Bahmet’s shard lodged inside of me, I attempted to grasp it back in place.
I failed.
Shadows of ink slinked out of my hands, spoiling the air like smoke. My telekinesis was usually an unseen force, but Bahmet’s power painted the strands of my power like tentacles. Even the most sceptical person, who looked on at what I was doing and blamed it on something else, wouldn’t be able to deny that I was in control of the helicopter’s movements.
The bands of dark power encased the chunk of metal. I couldn’t explain how I know this would be bad, but it was like two sides of me were warring.
In a last-ditch effort, I pictured the sliver symbol forairin my mind. I let go of the helicopter, whilst the shard of Bahmet continued holding it in place. My focus went to the pilot still struggling for his life. I threw out my birth element, wrapping air around his flailing body before dragging him free.
