Well, don’t let me out of your sight
She hummed a few more bars before turning the corner and seeing Grigori staring at her in horror.
She ended with one last line:
Oh, I’ve had it up to here!
“Now, Hollyn, you know I don’t like that song.”
Hollyn lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “Well, there’s a lot that you’ve done that I don’t like.”
“But that’s all over now. Your friends are safe, including the one you have a romantic relationship with. Now, it’s time to hold up your end of the bargain.”
She cocked her head to the side, and gave him a knowing smile. “You know, living with Yumia was not easy. Did she give you the long list of chores to do?”
“Yumia? No, she never gave me anything to do. She often dropped me off in the middle of nowhere and told me to find my way back on my own. When I finally did, days later, starved and suffering from exposure to the wild, she’d laugh and curse, explaining that she hadn’t expected me to return. One time, I didn’t. I’m sure she missed me.”
Hollyn had to admit that the story tracked. It sounded just like something Yumia would do to one of her students.
“Yeah, I doubt she missed you. She didn’t have anything nice to say about you. But, to be fair, neither do I.”
He shrugged. “I’m not a bad guy, Hollyn. It’s just the nature of a warlock.”
“I don’t buy that excuse, and that’s all it is—an excuse. But, you know what? You get the energy you put out, so the time has come for your reckoning. Karma’s a bitch, and so am I.”
Hollyn raised her hands and began to fire blue energy toward Grigori. He seemed taken by surprise and slammed backward into the helicopter he was standing in front of with a loud clanging sound. She continued to fire at him, moving toward him one step at a time, lifting her voice with her song again.
He covered his ears for a moment before raising his own arms and blasting her with a red wave of magic. She skidded backward but kept her footing. His magic really was weaker than hers.
They paused in their attacks long enough for Hollyn to smile knowingly. She was strong. And she was in control.
Grigori’s eyes widened as he realized the truth at the same time. He scrambled under the helicopter and over to the other side, where he hit a button that opened a pair of doors above them. He climbed inside the cockpit and started the engine up. Before he could get the rotors spinning, though, Hollyn ran toward the chopper, blasting her blue magic at it, leaving dents everywhere she hit.
She watched in horror as Grigori lifted the vile of her tears to his lips and swallowed them down, closing his eyes as her magic infused his body. When he opened his eyes once more, they glowed red, reminding her of terrifying moments of her childhood.
He started the rotors moving and climbed into the back until he could slide open the side door. With blast after blast, he continued to throw his magic at her in rapid fire succession untilshe was on the ground, crawling for cover, each hit more painful than the last one. Her skin was singed, and her whole body ached.
“I’ll leave you today, but I think I’ll pick up a certain lovestruck pilot who just happens to be a powerful Son of Poseidon. I think with his natural magnetism, if you survive, you’ll come right to papa. And if you don’t survive, I’ll have a new toy to play with.”
“No! Leave Kai alone! He has nothing to do with us.”
“Not yet, but when I get done with him, you’ll do anything I ask for the rest of your days.”
Just as the volcano began to shake a constant rumble that included explosive eruptions, Hollyn watched as he threw himself back into the cockpit and pushed the lever to make the helicopter rise once more, leaving her to escape on her own.
She’d never felt more alone in her entire life, never more defeated. Failure? Where was the lesson in this? If the lesson was that she could never win, then she’d learned that long ago. If the lesson was that Grigori would always be there to hurt the ones she loved, then she was the smartest student in the class. If the lesson was that it was time to give up…well, she had to admit, she’d really yet to learn that one. She hoped she never did.
As she struggled to rise, the ground shaking intensely around her, two hands reached out and pulled her up, cradling her in arms she never thought she’d feel the touch of again.
“Kai! I told you to go! This place is about to erupt!”
“I know. But I checked my calendar and didn’t have anywhere else to be except by your side.”
They watched as the helicopter continued to rise, but Kai shook his head. “We’re not going to let him get away.”
He carried her to a section of the chamber that served as a landing pad and leaped up the stairs along the side. Once they breached the doors and stepped out onto the rocky surface thatwas wholly unstable now, Kai set Hollyn on her feet. Hollyn was awed by the size of the full moon hanging low in the sky, a twin reflecting off the ocean water below.
Kai turned her toward him and shouted, “You are the most powerful person I’ve ever met, and we’ve met some interesting characters over the last couple of weeks. There is no doubt in my mind that if you wanted to, you could give him such a blast of your magic, that he would never bother you or anyone else ever again.”
