Page 156 of In Between Death and the Devil

“So determined to think the worst of me.” She sighed. “It’s not an act. I only want what’s best for the realm.”

She meant the last part, I realized. It was why listening to her was so creepy. It was all based on a sincere desire and belief that the In Between needed her. “Was draining people and turning them into salamanders best for the realm?”

A startled expression flitted across her face before it rearranged into one of distress. “We all serve the realm in different ways. Some are destined to be Judges, some servants, and others…” She gave a delicate shrug that made me want to throttle her.

“After a hundred years of imbalance, you’d think you’d have gotten the message that the In Between doesn’t want you here.” I spoke through clenched teeth.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone running to the outside edge of the dome enclosing us, on the opposite side from where Fen and the others stood. Talia watched us with wide eyes, her chest heaving from running. She must have run for the portal as soon as Death disappeared.

Death’s eyes flicked in Talia’s direction before settling back on me with a vicious glare, finally dropping her facade of motherly concern. She must have been waiting for her own witness to arrive. Her lips curled into a threatening smile, and her eyes gleamed with gleeful anticipation. “I’m going to enjoy this immensely.”

Before I could reply, she thrust her hands in front of her, sending the stone altar flying towards me.

I ducked and rolled out of the way just in time for it to go soaring over my head. Except, instead of crashing to the ground, it stopped midair before reversing direction and zooming back towards me.

Throwing my hands up, light burst from my palms, colliding with the massive block of stone and breaking it into pieces.

Pieces that kept coming straight at me.

I barely threw up a shield in time to blunt the force of them. Knocking me to the ground, they pressed me into the dirt, as if Death was pushing them down, trying to crush the life from me. With a grunt, I sent out a pulse of light, pulverizing them, but instead of turning to dust and dispersing, they reformed, bearing down on me again.

Pushing back was getting me nowhere. Death was stronger than I was. I needed a different tactic, to transform the stone into something lighter perhaps. Something to throw her off so I could go on the attack.

Options flickered through my mind. Flowers. Leaves. Feathers. Perfect.

Sending out another pulse of light, I turned the stones around me into a cloud of feathers. The pressure around me disappeared as Death either lost or loosened her grip. Taking advantage of the momentary lapse, I transformed the feathers further into an army of small birds that swarmed Death in a flurry of wings. Leaping to my feet, I watched them disintegrate before they could reach her.

My feet sank into the ground, and I realized I was no longer standing on sandy soil, but in thick, viscous mud.

Death’s smirk was razor sharp as light streamed from her fingers into the ground.

My mind spun, searching for a way out. Before I could formulate a coherent thought, vines erupted from the mud twining around my legs, climbing my body, pulling me down. I let light pool under my skin, burning through my bonds, but they reformed as quickly as I destroyed them.

Death walked towards me. If she managed to get her hands on me, it was over. I couldn’t let that happen. My bond with Fen lit up with an insistent nudge, urging me to move. To do something. Anything. With Death closing in fast, I stopped thinking and simply acted.

Stone formed beneath my feet, raising me out of the muck, and light poured out of me, preventing more vines from touching me. Then I ran.

The ground liquified beneath my feet, almost making me stumble, but I summoned stepping stones that appeared under me to keep me on stable ground as I raced forward. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Death’s eyes narrow. I looked back ahead just in time to see a deep pit open in front of me. Without missing a beat, my stepping stones rose into the air, forming a staircase that I mounted until I was over six feet off the ground.

My heart pounded in my chest. So far, I’d only taken one shot at Death. She had me so busy defending myself, I hadn’t been able to do anything else, even though I was using plenty of power. I needed to change the balance if I was going to have any chance of getting close enough to defeat her.

Turning so that I could keep Death in sight, I fell into darkness. Everything was black, and my lungs stalled in my chest. There was no air, just pinpricks of light that sparkled, like I’d fallen into the void of the In Between. A moment later, the light returned. I was back in the dome. My arms windmilled as I stepped into empty air. A stepping stone appeared under my foot, and I hop-skipped a few steps forward to regain my balance.

Dark spheres as tall as I was floated around me, buffeted by a light breeze that flowed from Death. I dodged one, only to be nearly engulfed by another. Forming a shield of air myself, I took off running again. It was time to attack.

Light burst from my palms and headed for the ground. Halfway there it expanded into a writhing mass. When it hit the dirt, it solidified into a giant salamander that leapt forward, heading straight for Death.

She destroyed it in a shower of sparks, only to find three more coming at her from different directions.

My lungs heaved, unused to so much running, and I allowed myself to slow now that she was on the defensive. Except I was so busy creating salamanders to attack with, I lost track of the void pockets I’d been avoiding. Four of them had converged on me. My shield repelled three of them, but they were surprisingly solid. It was like bumping into a wall of people. The force of the collision sent me careening back into the fourth.

This time when I fell into darkness, everything turned upside down. The breath left my lungs in a desperate gasp. I froze, feeling the blood rushing to my head. There was no sense of movement. Last time my momentum had carried me through. I waited for the moment when I’d be free, but it didn’t come. There was only a feeling of utter panic filling my bond with Fen.

A few seconds later, my back hit something hard. The darkness dissipated, revealing the battle arena under the dome. I was lying on the ground, gasping for breath, my lungs refusing to expand.

“You can’t beat me, Maeve.” Death’s voice approached. “You’re not strong enough. You were never meant to take my place.”

A giant salamander loomed overhead, this one black instead of the gold ones I’d created. One of its forefeet stepped onto my chest, just as I managed to take a gasping inhale, pinning me to the ground.