The horror reared and launched at me. Finn dove across a chasm Primus had opened and sliced at the horror’s black claw. He grinned as he flew past. The corrupt Finn launched after him.
They were the same man with the same skills. It looked like Finn was fighting himself in the mirror. Each move was anticipated before it even began.
Primus twisted his hand. A giant metal plate formed over them. He slammed it down, and both Finns dove out of the way.
The one with the swords rolled and leaped to his feet next to me.
“What is this?” I asked.
“I sacrificed my revenge to come back,” he said, giving me his half-smile. “Unfortunately, it came back with me. As him.”
“That’s your revenge?”
“Mm-hmm. Mari?”
“Yeah?”
He ducked one of Last’s boulders and then grinned at me. His solange-blue eye sparked with lightning. “When this is over, you and I are going to take a ride on the ghost train.”
I sucked in a breath. His smile grew, and then he dove away, dodging the flaming missiles Primus was throwing.
It had been real.
The dreams were real.
Which meant Finn had taken me into those dreams to free me. And he believed he’d succeeded.
But he hadn’t.
I wasn’t free.
Jagger’s blood still ripped at my will. The pressure of him still smothered my being. I was still a mine.
“Enough,” Primus shouted. “Take note, abomination. Today, you die!”
He charged at the good Finn. As he roared, he conjured spiked rock armor and a mace dripping with poison. His eyes glowed an eerie yellow as he swung his mace in a vicious arc.
Finn held preternaturally still. Across the street, Luvic and his siblings fought the encroaching horror. The glowing horse reared and bucked, screaming at the devouring larvae.
Primus swung the mace. It descended with deadly velocity. At the last second, Finn tilted to the side. The poisoned mace whistled past his head. He grabbed Primus’s wrist and twisted. Primus slammed to his knees. The stone armor cracked.
Finn flipped Primus onto his back. The weight of the stone armor was so heavy he couldn’t stand. He looked like a beetle on its back, his legs waving uselessly.
Last screamed and threw a boulder at Finn.
“Leggerock,” she shouted, “join the fight!”
A slow, poisonous curl slid up my spine. The pressure of Jagger’s will slammed into me.
“Gladly,” he said, his rocklike rumble feeding the horror.
I swung around. Jagger and his army of creatures stood in the Silencer’s confines. Slipshots, growlings, lures, shills, spirits, and more crowded into the darkness. They held enough ammunition—blood, Furtig, and fire—to create a fiery hell.
Jagger’s gray, wrinkled skin soaked up the darkness. The black clouds sought him out, and the horror veered toward him. His flat gray eyes smoldered with vicious glee.
He smiled at me, his sharp teeth glistening.
“Creatures,” he said, sweeping his clawed hand toward the Bard siblings and their white stone horse. “Kill them.”
