“That’s fine.” Theodore smirked. “I can settle for a taste and devour the rest of you later.”
I hovered near him, eyeing the spelled shackles which held him in place.
“Don’t worry. Mommy’s bindings are a lot looser now that she doesn’t have her residential enchantment witch to reinforce the wards.” Theodore batted his long lashes, playfully, excited, and entertained. “Guess I owe you for that one, huh, friend?”
There wasn’t another way. Caleb was seconds away from being dragged into the pits of Hell itself. I couldn’t, wouldn’t allow such a fate to befall him.
With little time and no alternative, I delved into Theodore’s mind. I sank deeper into his thoughts, reaching the gnarled tree of his inner core. Broken branches twitched and rattled, crackling as they stretched out far and wide, searching for me.
One by one, the twisted branches snatched at me, clawing at my flesh, digging beneath my skin, binding me in place, and dragging me closer to the core of the tree.
I resisted out on instinct, a futile effort. Still, I couldn’t help but shudder in Theodore’s grasp.
Once I reached the trunk, the bark dripped with an oozy black tar, smelling of rot and burning on contact. Tar bubbled andpopped, sizzling against my skin, and pulling me closer to the tree.
It pulled me into itself, carving space between the bark and locking me in the deepest depths of Theodore’s mind.
“Gotta keep you nice and safe.” Theodore stood tall, stretching with catlike aloofness. “Wouldn’t want you running off after I fulfill my end of the deal.”
Theodore locked his eyes on the etched bindings of his chains. He shook his head back and forth, channeling telekinesis in the same fluid motion. A seemingly random move, but it held precision. The casting pulled at the blood dripping down his face, his mother’s blood.
Now, he held it before him, split apart into hundreds of droplets. Theodore muttered something in a foreign language and sent the blood drops splashing against the carvings that spelled his shackles.
They crackled and hissed from the acidic touch. Smoke wafted from his chains and skin in equal measure, and suddenly, Theodore leapt from the pentagram which contained him.
“My glory can’t be contained.” He cocked his head, studying the demons surrounding Amara and Caleb.
“Think before you act, my sweet.” Amara turned to Theodore, the calmest expression with the coldest green eyes.
I used to believe Theodore inherited his icy stare from his father, but all they shared were the same baby blues. No, the heartless gaze he gained from his mother.
“Thinking is for chumps,” Theodore said with a cackle. “It’s all about chaos, Mommy.”
Amara waved a hand at Theodore, locking him in an ocean instantaneously. He floated in his dark mind, lost in the sea ofhis mother’s wrath. This whirlpool force dragged him deeper and deeper until he reached the gnarled tree at the bottom.
Until he reached me.
Theodore struggled against the current, resisted the pull, gasped for breath, but despite it all, he couldn’t free himself.
I resisted the prison of the tree, clawing at the water between Theodore and me. If I could reach him, I could help.
Theodore choked, drowning on the water he swallowed.
He wouldn’t last much longer. I needed to reach him. Help him. Break him free of Amara’s Oceanic Collapse magic. If I were my core self, filled with my full branch magic, I could snap my fingers and shatter this ocean to nothingness.
Theodore fought the current, grasping a stray branch, and pulled himself closer. Soon, his lips reached mine, a breath apart, and his thoughts begged for oxygen.
“Then snap out of it.” I slapped a hand over his face, blocking his lips from pressing to mine, and hit him with all the psychic energy at my disposal.
Theodore gasped, choking on the air as he snapped out of the trap his mother had bound him within. He collapsed, falling to his knees, and panted as many breaths as he could fill his lungs with.
“How did you…” Amara furrowed her brow. “That goddamn telepath. I need to kill that one.”
“He’s mine,” Theodore wheezed. “Same as my brother. You can’t have him.”
“This thing isn’t your brother.” Amara flicked a hand in Caleb’s direction, gesturing to him like he really was an abomination in her eyes. “It’s a tool. Nothing more.”
“Well, all the same, I’m keeping Tater Tot.” Theodore forced himself up, struggling to stand at his feet. Despite breaking him free from the watery prison, he still stood like a man who’d just stepped out of a pool, heavy and wobbly.
