HECTOR
Tomin Hopkin was the first to move. Whereas the rest of us worried that stepping onto the sands would result in us being blown up, Tomin didn’t care. To him, this really was all one big game. And the fact he confidently stepped onto the sand, head high and shoulders rolled back, further proved my point.
He didn’t fear death, especially when it was a concept that he was evidently familiar with.
With long strides, Tomin walked into the stadium’s heart. He extended his arms at his sides, spun around to drink us all in, and then proclaimed his desires to the army of Hunters watching. “Well, you heard the demon. First to kill Hector Briar…”
That was all that he needed to say.
As one, thirty-something Hunters charged at me. A wall of flesh-entombed hate churned up sands as they ran towards me, fists balled with the promise of pain. I was vaguely aware of Romy and Kai as they gave chase behind them.
I took a deep breath, readied my fists and?—
“Touch him… and die,” Arwyn growled as he put himself in front of me.
Before I could blink, Arwyn swung a meaty fist towards the closest Hunter to him, snapping bone upon impact. Blood sprayed; teeth shattered. There wasn’t time to contemplate how Arwyn fought his own people for me, not when I had the rest of them to deal with.
With all my might, I lifted my hands, conducting my Gift to follow. I had enough vigour and focus to send every one of these bastards flying into the air, but as I whipped my arms forwards, nothing happened.
No power, no Gift. Not a single speck of sand even so much as shivered.
As the mass of bodies closed in on me, I was sure I felt the gleeful chuckle of Bahmet vibrating through my bones. Finally, it seemed the demon had claimed back the Gifts he’d given witches when my ancestors sold our souls to him.
But that didn’t mean I was entirely powerless.
“Hekate,” I called out. “If there was ever a time I needed you, it is now!”
A symbol burned in my mind’s eye in some divine answer. Glowing bright white and as hot as a dying star, the depiction of air was undeniable. I grasped for it without hesitation.
Winds flooded around me just as the first Hunter got close enough to gouge his nails into my flesh. A scream ruptured out of my very core, fuelling the force that was my conjured gale.
In a blink, the Hunter was blasted backwards. He knocked down a few more on his way, a bullet of muscle and flesh that tore down my approaching enemies.
Old magic continued to pour out of me, sands whipped up in an attempt to blur my enemies’ view. I heard the groans of shock as sand infiltrated the eyes of Hunters. Turned out, it was easy to turn the stadium back against those who partook in the trial. As my arms pinwheeled, more sand was churned up and sent blasting out towards the Hunters who longed to kill me.
Good luck to them.
I was so focused on what was before me, that I didn’t notice the body moving in on my side. Rough hands grasped my shoulders, shocking me out of my focus. As I turned, the symbol for fire ready and waiting in my mind, I came face to face with Arwyn.
He was gasping, eyes wide, face splattered with blood. I noticed more blood smeared over his torn knuckles, rivulets dripping down his wrists and forearms. Beyond him, laid out on the sand, was the body of an unmoving Hunter. Their face was unrecognisable. Just a mound of pulp and gore, a caved-in mess.
“You killed him,” I said, which was a strange thing to point out considering I had no love for the Hunters. But it felt like such a blatantly obvious fact, and yet I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“And I would do it again, to every one of these fuckers, if it meant keeping you alive.”
The severity of Arwyn’s words took my breath away. There was so much left unsaid between us, and no time to embark on uncovering it all. And yet, in the middle of my sandstorm, as our gazes fixed to one another, I felt as though some vulnerabilities had been dragged out into the light.
“The Drowning,” I gasped, pushing my hesitance about Arwyn aside. “Heard of it before?”
Arwyn shook his head, eyes roaming over me like the desperate hands of a lover.
“What do you think it could?—”
A scream ruptured the sky beyond my wall of sand and wind. I snapped my head in the direction, my focus splitting so much that I couldn’t hold on to the old magic.
In tandem, both of us said a name. “Romy.”
I pulled back my magic. Golden sand fell like rain, revealing Hunters cowering on the ground, trying to pry the small specksthat had invaded their eyes. A few were standing, skin rubbed raw from the abrasive storm that rubbed at their skin.
