"Stop!" I lunged forward, but one of the Thessmark moved faster. Its clawed hand wrapped around my throat, lifting me off my feet like I weighed nothing. The grip was cold. And through the contact, I felt it trying to drain me. My magical core lurched as power began to flow out through the connection.
"Let. Her. Go." Aidon's voice came out as a growl as shadows gathered around him despite his obvious exhaustion. But three Thessmark surrounded him, pinning him against the wall.
Audrey approached me slowly, studying my face with clinical interest. "The Scythe was just a tool. The Thessmark can take power when they want. It was a means to an end for me.”
Yeah, a way to kill children to bring back ones she’d lost. I couldn't imagine the pain of losing a child. It would be devastating, but I wouldn’t kill hundreds to bring them back.
“What I really wanted—what I'vealwayswanted—was to bring my daughters back,” she continued her evil overlord monologue. “But simple necromancy won't work. Death has claimed them too early and kept them too long."
She reached up, her finger tracing the line of my jaw with disturbing gentleness. "But your children... they're different. They were born at the intersection of life and death and carry power from both realms. Their essence could bridge the gap. They could pull my girls back from wherever they are."
"You're insane," I managed to choke out around the skeletal hand crushing my windpipe. “It’s impossible. You have to accept your loss.”
"Probably," she agreed cheerfully. "Grief makes you lose your mind. But I'm also brilliant, determined, and unfortunately for you, I've had fifty years to perfect my methods." She stepped back, all business now. "Take them to the van and restrainthem properly. I want them conscious but contained. And send word to the collection teams. I want those babies brought to the primary facility within the hour."
The creature holding me tightened its grip, and my vision started graying at the edges. Through our bond, I felt Aidon fighting against his captors. He was pulling desperately on his Underworld power despite the cost. I couldn’t see them, but I knew Stella and Nana were fighting just as hard. It would not be enough. We were going to lose.
They were going to take us and use us to get to our children. They were going to kill Melaina, Thaniel, and Nyssa just to resurrect two girls who'd been dead for half a century. “No.”The word echoed through my mind from Tarja. That one word carried every ounce of desperate fury I possessed.
“Keep the babies safe,” I sent back to my familiar, though I sensed she couldn’t talk.
On my end, I stopped fighting the drain. Instead, I opened myself to it. I let the creature pull my magic through the connection between us. I didn't just let it flow. I shaped it, directed it, and turned it into something the Thessmark wasn't prepared for.
White-hot Pleiades witch fire exploded from every point where its hand touched my skin. The Thessmark shrieked and released me. I hit the ground hard, rolling to absorb the impact, and came up with fire blazing from both hands.
"Aidon!" I shouted, throwing a stream of flame at the nearest creature holding him.
He didn't waste time with words. The moment the creature flinched away from my fire, his shadows erupted with renewed fury. The shadows wrapped around all three creatures simultaneously. They withered instantly as their stolen life force drained into Aidon's magic.
Audrey's smile finally faltered. "Impossible. You don't have the power left for?—"
"You have no idea what we have left," I snarled, advancing on her. "You've been stealing power from children for fifty years. We channel it willingly, from sources thatwantus to succeed. There's a difference."
Parker moved to intercept me, but Aidon's shadows caught him mid-stride. "The only place you're going," Aidon said, his voice carrying the power of the Underworld, "is to answer for what you've done."
The remaining Thessmark converged on Nana, Stella, and me. Their clawed hands reached for us, but I'd learned something in the moments when that thing had been draining me. “Their power works through touch. Don't let them touch you,” I told them.
Throwing fire in wide arcs, I kept the Thessmark at a distance while Aidon's shadows herded them toward the center of the ruined chamber. Nana and Stella began helping us with their witch fire. The four of us moved in sync. Our powers complemented each other, making up for what the other lacked.
One of the Thessmark broke through, and its clawed fingers caught my shoulder. Pain exploded through my arm as it tried to drain me again. If my children’s lives weren’t on the line, I might have collapsed. My need to protect all of them allowed me to grab its wrist with both hands. I channeled as much fire as I could directly into its body, burning it from the inside out.
It released me with another shriek. It stumbled backward, right into Aidon's waiting shadows. "Seven down," Nana said grimly as she moved closer to us. "Only five to go."
"Plus, Parker and Taverner," I added, ducking a swipe from another Thessmark.
An explosion from above cut off my next words. The chamber shook, dust and debris raining from the ceiling. Cracks spreadacross the wall as whatever magic had created this space began to fail.
"The support structure's collapsing." Aidon gestured to the stairs. "We need to move. Now."
Audrey pulled a small crystal vial filled with swirling orange light from her pocket. It was the concentrated essence. It felt as if she’d refined it from several of her victims.
Uncorking it, she drank it in one smooth motion. Her transformation was instantaneous. Her skin smoothed as years fell away. Her hair darkened to pure auburn. And her eyes began to glow with stolen power. An orange light even began bleeding from the pupils.
"I may have lost the Scythe," she said, her voice resonating with unnatural harmonics, "but I've been preparing. Fifty years of collecting essences taught me how to distil it down to its purest form. One dose gives me the power of a dozen murdered children."
"Go!" I shoved Aidon toward the stairs at the same time Stella shoved Nana. "We need to get to the surface and warn the others."
"Not without you," he growled, shadows lashing out at the advancing creatures.
