Brows raised, mouth wide, he looks intrigued. Maybe even excited.
“Well, well,” he says with an incredulous laugh. “I must admit, I’m impressed.”
The six of them close in on him, fingers twitching with magic.
Claudia is supposed to deal the first strike. She should have already done it, but her arm locks up. Her teeth chatter.
She can’t. Not when their plan will get one of them killed.
“There’s a way out of this, Triche,” Claudia spits out. Odette glares at her when she deviates from the plan, but it’s all she can think of to give them all a chance to survive.
She’s going to offer him a deal.
A bargain.
Claudia sets her jaw. “You can walk away alive and unharmed if you let Sidarphion go free.”
Laughing, he looks at everyone in the group, ending on Cassius and Claudia. “You think you have the power to bargain with me? Students, let us be rational.”
“This is our offer. I’d suggest you take it, Gieffroy,” Cassius says.
Bewildered by the sound of his name, the High Sage says, “Cassius, my sweet boy. You don’t want to hurt me.”
“But I have to,” he says, soft but stern.
“Last chance, Triche,” Alistair says through his teeth. “Do you want to survive or not?”
“Do you want to survive, Mr. Salone?” he counters, glaring at the group. “Do any of you? To me, you all look to be begging for death.”
White power burns and builds in the High Sage’s hands. “I’ll make a counteroffer for you all. I do not enjoy needless bloodshed, and I do not need all of you dead.” His pointed finger swings between Odette and Claudia. “Give me Claudia or Odette. Both fed their souls to the god. Either one will do.”
The six of them exchange glances. Some look shocked, horrified, disgusted, but Odette looks intrigued, as though she’s seriously considering it.
“Choose, and the rest of you will go free. Refuse, and all of you will die.”
No one speaks. No one moves. The clouds speed across the sky, marking their time running out.
Triche smirks. “What will it be?”
Cassius straightens his spine. “We will not—”
“Me.” Odette steps forward, untangling herself from Marcherie. Looking back, she says to the group, “You’ve all lost me once. You can do it again.”
“NO,” Marcherie shrieks, lunging forward and throwing her arms around her love. Her scream is followed by a chorus of protests from the rest of the group, but Odette silences them with a wave of her hand. She hugs her lover tightly, one last time. Marcherie sobs into Odette’s silky blond hair.
Odette whispers something to her before turning away, back to Triche. “Take me.”
A wicked smile spreads across the High Sage’s face. “Excellent.” He extends his hand, still glowing with power. “Come.”
Head hung, Odette slowly approaches him. As she steps away from walking through the Doorway, Odette’s hand hovers above Triche’s.
Her face is sad and solemn when she turns back to regard her friends with a final, parting glance.
Then, she smirks. Looking at Marcherie, she mouths, “Now.”
And Marcherie releases a piercing, deafening, bloodcurdling scream just like the one she used against Claudia as they fought over Odette’s grave. This time, Alistair’s immunity potion protects her. None of them are stunned, but Triche is. Odette uses this small slice of time to deal the first strike.
Sculptor, Hydra: To Become the Beast. Magic envelops Odette in a cloud of opaque shadows, and when they dissipate, Odette takes the form of the snake from Claudia’s nightmares. She looks even more terrifying in the light, her scales white and sharp as teeth. Those violet eyes match the sky. She lunges for Triche and takes a bite from his chest, tearing open his robes and exposing his pale, scarred skin. With another bite, she ripsthrough his flesh, bringing him to his knees as pieces of his torn skin curl like paper in an open flame.
