Page 87 of Hex You

“Good. You’re both here. You can both face the consequences of your Satan worshipping.” Kirk’s words were as sharp as Khenti’s sword.

“Oh, shut up, Kirk.” Mercy shook free of Xena and Emily and stepped forward, directly in front of Kirk. “You know this is all a lie. You know Hunter and I don’t even believe in Satan, let alone worship him.” She moved her gaze to Jax’s mom. “Mrs. Ashley, I’m sorry you’ve been misled by Kirk, but ask your son. He knows the truth.”

“Mom, Kirk has major issues with the twins and they have nothing to do with Satan. Hunter and Mercy are not devil worshippers. I promise.” Jax held up his hands, imploring his mother to believe him.

Jana’s brow furrowed as she studied her son. “Jax, honey, I know you are just being a faithful friend, but I’m afraid you have been mistaken about the twins.” She began with kindness, but as rain started to fall from the sky—rain that carried the scent of the ocean—her expression hardened and her voice went sharp. “Go home, son. You do not belong here. I am about the Lord’s business.”

“Yeah, Ashley. Go home,” Kirk sneered.

The mob behind them stirred angrily, echoing Jana’s words.Get out! Go home! Leave!

Mercy licked her lips and tasted salt and fish, seaweed and sand. She looked up. Amphitrite had left Hunter and was floating above the mob. She met Mercy’s gaze and smiled, showing pointed shark’s teeth.They are witches! They are evil! Drown them! Drown them! Drown them!

“Mrs. Ashley.” Emily took a step forward. “Please listen to Jax. Mercy is my best friend. I would know if she was into Satan. She isn’t. Neither is Hunter. I promise.”

Jana’s gaze turned to Emily.

Drown them! Drown them! Drown them!

“Emily, do you know how they used to judge whether someone was a witch or not?” Mrs. Ashley’s voice echoed as if she spoke underwater. She didn’t wait for Emily to respond. “They would tie a rock around their neck and drop them in a lake. If they drowned theywere innocent and absolved of any evil. If they did not drown, they were proven to be a consort of Satan and hung.”

“That was, indeed, the method used centuries ago, before humanity knew better,” said Xena. “It was monstrous. Jana Ashley, do you truly wish to be a monster?”

“Stop the witches!”Amphitrite shrieked from above them.

“It takes a monster to defeat Satan!” Jana shouted as she brandished the gold crucifix that dangled from around her neck.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Use my power—the power of your Lord—as righteous anger!”Amphitrite goaded from above, filling the air with salt and sea.

“Get the twins! We will take them to Goode Lake, where they will be judged! The Lord is with us!” With otherworldly strength, Jana reached out and grabbed Mercy’s arm. “I’ve got this one! Get the other!”

The mob pressed forward and spilled around Mercy, carrying Emily and Xena with it. Khenti lifted his khopesh and shouted, “Halt! I do not wish to harm you, but I shall not let you take the twins!”

Above them, Amphitrite cackled with delight.

Mercy saw it all happening. The people—pom girls, football players, and Bible group moms—were completely under the influence of Amphitrite. Khenti could stop them, but he would have to hurt them. Maybe kill some of them. And then what? How would Hunter live in this town—in this world?

Mercy bowed her head and ignored everything around her. She blocked out Mrs. Ashley’s viselike grip on her arm, the shouts of the mob, Xena’s screams, and Emily’s terrified cries. Mercy tapped into the ley lines one more time.“Come to me—power times three—earth’s power, I call to thee—so that we might defeat this hag from the sea! Come to me! Come to me! Come to me! So mote it be!”

Heat surged into Mercy from below. She’d never felt such power. She laughed at the joy of it.

“You should be bowing and praying to the Lord Jesus to save your soul.” Jana speared Mercy with invective as she increased the painfulgrip on her arm. “But I know to whom you pray—and he has horns, not a crown of thorns!”

Filled with strength, Mercy lifted her head and opened her eyes to stare at Mrs. Ashley.

Jana gasped and loosed Mercy’s arm as she staggered back, clutching her crucifix. “Your eyes glow with the deceiver’s powers! Get thee behind me, Satan!”

Mercy grinned. “If only you knew how ironic that is. Mrs. Ashley, it is you who are being deceived.” Then Mercy lifted her arms and concentrated on pulling the ley line power up through her body and into her hands.

Jana shrieked. “You glow with the green of envy! The green of evil!”

Mercy ignored her. Instead she spoke simple spellworks words.“Stop any who wish us harm. Encircled by mighty earth’s arms. They may hear, they may see—but they maynothurt Hunter, Xena, Khenti, Jax, Em or me! So mote it be!”Mercy hurled the power of the earth’s ley lines at the mob. It expanded to form a green bubble that enfolded all of them, holding the mob in place like a giant Jell-O mold that only opened in front of Mercy’s group. It was a barrier to the rest of them, trapping them and keeping them from Hunter.

Mercy had a moment of sublime relief before her body betrayed her. The borrowed ley line power had spilled from her as she cast the spell, and she collapsed to the ground as Amphitrite’s shrieks filled the air with water and wrath.

THIRTY-SIX

Hunter shoveled a final scoop of dirt from the wet earth around the doum palm and threw it and the shovel to the side before dropping to her knees and clawing at the trench for the poppet. Her fingers struck the mushy, wet doll, and she pulled it from the dirt. It glowed the turquoise blue of the Aegean Sea and dripped with the same salty waters.