Name: Caleb Huxley
Branch: N/A
“None of that.” Katherine hit Caleb with a wave of telekinesis, slamming the boy into a nearby wall. “I’ll deal with you in time, abomination.”
The crunch of bones sent a shiver through me. Grim’s dust swirled round and round as bones formed, then broke, and reformed. This process repeated itself over and over again until a skull cackled. Arms contorted, snatching stray rib bones and attaching them to a wriggling spine. What a bizarre sight, seeing a skeleton piece itself together one bone at a time.
When he’d assembled all the pieces, Grim held out his bony hands to Katherine.
“Make yourself and those damn enchantments useful,” he snapped. “Summon me something to wear.”
Katherine traced her finger in the air, writing out a spell, and then recited the words. She summoned a black robe for Grim. Obviously, wardrobe casting wasn’t something innately in her repertoire. Though I found it strange she had so many high-tier spells to begin with. I studied her ancient grimoire, the one she’d acquired over the summer. It must’ve held these new spells.
The grimoire. Maybe there was something in it that sparked this bizarre change in Katherine. But could a spell gone awryreally do all this? And why would a spellbook from her family’s collection cause this?
“What took you so long?” Lazarus asked, stripping off his filthy clothes.
Katherine conjured him a pristine suit.
“Amara had a lot of moving pieces—”
“Do not speak her name as if you are our equal,” Lazarus said with a venomous scowl, buttoning his dress shirt.
Katherine gave him an icy stare in return, but bit her tongue.
“Oh, give the girl… Eh, you’re a girl, now, right?” Grim cocked his skull head in Katherine’s direction. “Whatever, just give her a break. Look what she brought me.”
Grim broke off two of his lower ribs, immediately regrowing them, but used the broken ribs to form a large bone scythe. With his new weapon, the reaper-like witch lunged at the unconscious guards, ripping them to pieces.
I recoiled.
He plucked a blue eye from one woman and a brown eye from a man. The bloody eyes floated in his empty sockets. Next, he carved open bodies, cackling as he ripped out organs. The sounds of squishy insides being rifled through made me queasy. Some organs he tossed aside with disinterest, while others he stuffed beneath his garbs.
“Finally,” Grim said, taking a deep breath. “Feeling like myself again. I hate long naps.”
“Can we commence?” Katherine asked. “The True Witch requires you two to retrieve the goddess.”
“And what will you do?” Lazarus glared.
“I’ll be bringing this one to The True Witch.” Katherine gestured to Caleb, who lay there quietly, attempting to make sense of this terrifying situation.
“What is that boy to Amara?”
“Hmmm. Seems the oh-so-great one doesn’t know everything. Shame.” Katherine created a blue portal doorway behind Lazarus, then opened a white portal doorway underneath Caleb.
My heart jumped, flooded with Caleb’s fear as he plummeted. Gone. Where had Katherine taken him? She stepped over to her white portal and hopped in before I got any answers.
What the hell was happening? Why would Amara want Caleb? I thought she was after Tara. And what happened to Katherine? My mind raced with dreadful questions, concerns, confusion. I needed to find my core self and join this fight now.
“Let us be gone,” Lazarus said, stepping through the blue portal.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Grim waved a dismissive hand. “Just let me adjust my lungs. They’re sitting on my kidneys.”
Grim sorted his newly procured organs around, tangling them below his ribcage. When he reached the portal door, a pop of gray static disrupted the wavelengths, and tiny bubbles exploded, sealing the portal before Grim could escape.
Kenzo and Lena stood strong, angry expressions directed at Grim and magics at the ready. Behind them, Gael stood with his spikes protruding in a defensive coating. Milo must’ve left him at the Global Guild facility while he retrieved the top ten enchanters.
I only hoped he got to them soon. We’d need those enchanters now that the Celestial Coven was moving on Chicago in full force.
