“I used to live here,” Genevieve, the soul I’d healed, muttered, causing us all to turn and look at her. I’d totally forgotten she was here.
“I didn’t get to spend much time in Tartarus before Apollyon took me to the Netherworld, but I remember there being a small village in that direction.” She pointed in the direction of a hill, and I spotted a small village off in the distance I hadn’t noticed before.
“Let’s check it out. Maybe we can find your home?” Skye said to her with a smile, gesturing for Genevieve to follow her.
“Good idea,” Marlow said, and Indigo nodded as well, and the four of them bounded off.
“I guess we could all check it out since there’s not much else to do right now,” Drea said, and the rest of us nodded in agreement.
I’d only taken a single step toward the village when Gage’s hand squeezed mine, the pressure just short of painful. I glanced back at him and then gasped. Fur crawled up his neck and his canines started to elongate, forming into pointed fangs.
“Get the tranquilizers,” he wheezed out, dropping my hand and hunching over.
No!
It was happening again. Apollyon was forcing him to shift, that bastard. He must have been pissed about not being able to find us.
“Harley,” I yelled to my sister, and she appeared beside me quickly. “That spell to permanently suppress his hellhound. Can you do it?” I begged.
Hearing me, Gage lifted his face, pain evident on his features as he worked to hold off the shift as long as possible.
“No,” he wheezed out. “I’ll be powerless.” The last word was so garbled, it was almost unrecognizable. He dropped to all fours, and I followed him down to the ground. Seeing him like this, in pain and out of control, it ripped me in two.
“Say the word and I can,” Harley told me.
“I have the tranqs,” I heard Drea say, and I looked up to see her, Jacob, and Dash, standing around us. The others had already disappeared over the hill. The faces of my friends who remained held a range of horror and compassion as each one of them gripped a tranq dart in their hand.
“Run,” Gage growled. He tried to push me away, but tipped onto his side instead, his body hunched into a ball and most of his exposed skin already covered in black fur.
I didn’t know what to do.
We could use the tranquilizers on him, but that was only a temporary fix and would leave him unconscious for at least twelve hours, if not more. Apollyon could just force him to shift again when he woke up. Harley thought she could suppress his hellhound, but that wasn’t what Gage wanted so I was torn. There was only one way for this to truly end. Gage had to separate from his hellhound so I could kill it.
I steeled myself, instinctually knowing this next part wasn’t going to be pretty, but it had to be done.
“Drea, don’t use that tranquilizer. Everyone but Harley, step back,” I ordered.
All of my friends obeyed, and Harley stepped forward, a seriousness in her gaze.
I crawled closer to Gage, peering into his still green eyes. “Do you think you can fight it? Separate from the beast with Harley’s help?” I whispered.
His eyes flashed yellow as if Apollyon had heard that and was rebelling.
“Yes,” Gage growled, more beast than man, and I stood, looking at my sister.
“Harley, he needs to separate from his hellhound. If he can do that and I can kill it, we can be free from this nightmare.” And if I killed it and he could face his guilt and forgive himself, maybe Cael would gift him powers. But I didn’t say all that. One step at a time.
“Can you help?” I asked her, looking into her blue eyes. I wanted to believe that I had my mother’s eyes but staring at Harley was like seeing my own eyes in the mirror. We both had our father’s eyes.
“I can try,” she said with less confidence than I would have liked.
Good enough for me.
Gage hadn’t fully transformed yet. Claws extended from his fingers, and fur covered most of him. He had a mouthful of sharp teeth and fangs, and the bones in his face had started to elongate, but he was holding on, waiting for someone to put him out, or for us to get away from him so he didn’t hurt us.
I stood and his yellow eyes fastened on me as a pain-filled howl burst from his throat.
Encasing my heart in a layer of ice, I stood, slapping a hand to my forearm and pulling a light sword off of one of my tattoos, getting ready to fight Gage’s beast if he was able to separate from it.
