For a smaller man in stature, he certainly was heavy. And cold, very cold. But I would worry about that when we get out of the water.
Time dragged slowly. It took all my remaining strength to drag Kai out of the water, towards where Hector was stood waiting. I picked up my pace when I noticed my father was mobile, and so were his Hunters. There were only a few bodies left on the ground, but my father didn’t seem to care.
He had his army. And their entire focus was on an unsuspecting Hector.
“Run!” I shouted over the storm, only for the thunder to crack and drown out my command. My hands were full, my focus fixed on not slipping beneath the current, so I couldn’t wave Hector away.
I couldn’t warn him.
Romy noticed what was happening and began screaming in tandem. “Hector, move! Get out of here!”
And go where?
At Hector’s back waited a jagged cliff face. It rose up, framing him and everything beyond this strange beach. To his left was the stretch of endless black sands and rolling waves, and to hisright was the group of Hunters who were beginning to make a move for him.
The first person to kill Hector Briar will be given a golden ticket.
Bahmet had given that order in hopes to destroy Hector, thus returning the part of his dark power that lurked within him. And the demon had the use of willing participants to help him do just that. Trial or not, they would do anything they could to kill Hector.
Over my dead body.
Lightning flashed overhead. The sodden hairs on my arms shivered, warning me of something terrible. More thick snakes of hot light cut across the darkening clouds ahead.
Then the atmosphere shifted. Changed on a dime, so suddenly that it had the draw to divert my attention. Hector stopped whatever he was shouting too, his head turning towards the misplaced lullaby carried on the wind.
A light voice rose. That alone should’ve been impossible considering I couldn’t even hear what Hector was shouting. But it was clear, like the chime of a bell, so soft and subtle yet it seemed like the universe was desperate for me to hear it.
“Magic,” Romy gasped as a wave crashed against her chest, coating her face in foam. “Someone’s using magic.”
There were only a few witches in this trial, and the voice was distinctly feminine. Romy wasn’t singing, Hector’s mouth was forged shut as he searched for the heart of the sound, and Kai was knocked out.
That left only one person.
My aunt.
“Watchtower of the North,I call for thee.
Protect those in turmoil, I plea for thee.
Cast down your power, break open with thy cry.
Show those who stand against you, the power of thesky.”
My father didn’t notice;his ears weren’t familiar with such conjuring and power. His snarled focus was fixed on Hector, not noticing that one of his own had just turned against him.
Verena rose behind his advancing attack, hands stretched to the sky, eyes glowing with the circlet of light. Her mouth was moving wildly, the spell spilling out over and over. Above her, crowning where she stood, dark clouds spun in a vortex, twisting like a cauldron of blackness, split apart by the snakes of lightning. The tension built the louder her song became, until it reached a crescendo and stopped.
Two beats of silence… of peace. That was all the magic allowed before the sky itself attacked.
We’d made it out of the ocean just as lightning rained down upon the damp sands. A wall of piercing white light separated Tomin and his Hunters from where Hector stood. I smelled burning as sands turned to mirrored glass.
She was buying us time.
A fresh renewal of energy flooded through me. It was enough to hoist one of Kai’s limp arms over my shoulder, whilst Romy took the other. Then we were running, dragging his heavy, unconscious body out of the water towards Hector.
I was enamoured with how his face reflected the conjured bolts of lightning. The ground shuddered as each one hit, the sky sparking with a power I couldn’t fathom. It was dangerous and beautiful, just like the man who stood watching it, his blonde curls whipping in conjured winds.
“Why is she doing this?” Hector shouted as we reached him.
