I went for its neck again, but my balance was already off and my muscles felt suddenly clumsy. My jaws locked around its shoulder instead, my teeth sinking deep. I tasted something bitter and foul—more bile than blood—but I held on, pinning it to the ground with every ounce of strength I had left.
My limbs were already starting to go numb. The venom was spreading fast.
With my jaws still clamped on it, my gaze flicked up to the portal. Through the shimmering tear in reality, I could see Harris.
He’d reached Sally. He crouched beside her, checking her pulse, his face tight with worry. He tucked his gun into his waistband, then scooped her up in a fireman’s carry.
He straightened with her over his shoulder, impressively strong for a human, and started back toward the rift, a determined expression on his face.
The Algea saw him too.
It let out a sound I’d never heard before, somewhere between a wail and a roar—raw and furious. It bucked beneath me, and with my muscles failing, I couldn’t hold it any longer.
The creature dug its talons deeper, then threw me off like I weighed nothing.
I sailed through the air and hit a tree hard enough to blur my vision.
When I tried to scramble upright, my legs wouldn’t respond.
The venom had me now, locking down my muscles one by one.
I could only watch, helpless, as the Algea turned toward the portal.
Harris and Sally were almost through.
Lee and Nathaniel both seemed to understand what was about to happen at the same time—they began to race for the portal.
The Algea flickered out of reality and reappeared behind Harris. Its claws came up, gleaming black in the otherworldly light.
“Harris!” I tried to scream, but it came out as a broken whimper.
Helplessly, I watched as the creature’s claws slashed across Harris’s back.
I felt it through the bond: a white-hot spike of agony that made my own pain seem like nothing.
Harris gasped and staggered, his grip on Sally nearly faltering. But he didn’t stop and he didn’t drop her.
Seconds later, he made it through the portal.
He collapsed the moment he crossed the threshold, Sally tumbling from his arms. He hit the ground face-first and didn’t move, his lower half still on the Otherworld side.
Lee shifted to human form the same moment Nathaniel reached him. They each grabbed an arm and pulled him through.
The Algea tried to follow.
“Now!” Tatiana screamed.
As one, the remaining three witches released the spell.
The portal collapsed with a sound like a crack of thunder. The rift sealed itself, the golden threads of magic unraveling and snapping back to their casters.
The Algea let out one final wail of fury—cut off mid-sound—and then it was gone, trapped on the other side of the portal.
Silence fell over the clearing.
For a moment, no one moved. We were all frozen, staring at the space where the portal had been. The air still shimmered faintly, residual magic dancing in the wake of the spell.
Then Simone moved, dropping to her knees beside Harris.
