Page 60 of Chaos and Crowns

Biderman threw her head back the moment Drew touched the crown, revealing her eyes to be an inky black that consumed the entire iris. A choked noise escaped her throat, and with a final heave, she threw Odelle from her back. Her tailbone hit the ground with a painful thud, but she was too busy worrying about what was happening before her to pay the stinging much mind. Stygian smoke oozed through vents and around doorways, forming into horrible Shadow creatures like the ones that had attacked at the Whiteman’s house. So much for avoiding a fight by not attacking the Shadow on its home turf.

On cue, Nora and Adam burst around the corner, spear and sword that had been smuggled in by Adam in hand. They immediately jumped into the fray, swinging at the Shadows that exploded into fetid smoke when slashed by sharpened bronze. Thad jumped around the corner next, holding a serving tray in one hand like a hoplite shield while wielding a curved sword in the other hand. Odelle’s attention was drawn from the incoming reinforcements by a garbled shriek from before her. Amy Biderman rounded on her, hands clawed and smoke dripping from her eyes and open mouth, utterly inhuman. Odelle scrabbled backwards in a clumsy sort of crabwalk, but her back hit against the wall of the Apollo 11. Backed into a corner, she yanked up her gown, fumbling with the latch on her leg to release her dagger. It slipped into her sweaty palm, and she tried to raise it before her in defense, but Shadow Biderman was almost upon her.

Out of nowhere flew a brightly feathered form, landing on Biderman’s back and pinning her to the ground. Seraphina crouched with one knee on the news anchor’s back, long lethal knife pressed to the back of her neck.

“Snap to it Antony,” Seraphina commanded as Biderman bucked under her and she pressed the dagger more firmly against her captive.

Antony jumped where he stood, clutching the crown to his chest in the midst of the chaos. He glanced nervously at Odelle, but Drew had already stepped around the struggling women to help her to her feet. Her breath hadn’t fully returned to her, but she gave Antony a reassuring nod. She was unharmed.

With a nod in return, Antony held the crown out before him and closed his eyes. Odelle was prepared for it this time, but her heart still stuttered when his eyelids snapped open to reveal golden irises. She tore her gaze from him with great difficulty to check their surroundings, worried for his safety while he worked.

Nora’s dress hiked up around her thighs as she lunged, stabbing a creature through the chest with a forceful thrust. At her back, Adam ducked under the back end of her spear as she pulled back and swung it over her head, moving in perfect synchrony as his sword cut across the neck of another creature. Nearby, Thad bobbed and weaved with his long one-edged sword and makeshift shield, catching a misshapen limb on the back of the silver tray before slamming his blade into the creature’s flank. They held the Shadows at bay, but still more smoke coalesced into the horrifying forms.

An earsplitting shriek dragged Odelle’s attention back to the figures around her. As molten light centered around the crown in Antony’s grasp, Shadow Biderman began to thrash, fingers scrabbling at the carpet so hard it broke her nails, only for shadowy claws to grow in their place. The tone of her cries seemed to change from anger to pain.

“Is it hurting her?” Drew asked in horror.

“The crown has so thoroughly corrupted her, her lifeforce is caught up in its power,” Antony grunted, not taking his eyes off the golden fibers weaving their way through the delicate crown.

“Won’t that kill her then?” Drew asked.

Another shriek nearly drowned out Drew’s question as Biderman twisted in Seraphina’s grasp, swiping an arm out towards her, a talon of darkness scraping across her cheek and leaving a trail of red. Odelle lunged forward, dagger still in hand, to help the Seraphina contain the writhing woman.

She swung at the clawed hand still straining towards Seraphina. Instead of slashing the Biderman’s skin as she expected, the blade Antony had crafted was so sharp that it sank into flesh like hot butter, driving straight through to pin Biderman’s hand to the carpeted floor with a dull thunk.

Odelle released the handle with horrified gasp, skittering backwards. Bile rose in the back of her throat at the sight of her dagger embedded in flesh. Biderman’s shrieks became even more agonized if it were possible, but she stopped bucking as hard, now literally pinned to the ground.

Seraphina held firm, looking up at Odelle calmly, even as blood dripped down her cheek.

“She’s not really in there anymore.” Seraphina’s tone was gentle, completely at odds with the way she ground the thrashing reporter onto the floor. “If the Shadow has corrupted her that far, then she’s already dead. Worse, actually.”

Odelle swallowed, pointedly looking away from where blood bubbled up around the blade of her beautiful knife. Antony had made it for her so she could fend off Shadows, and she had done just that. After a few deep breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth, she looked back to where Seraphina had Biderman trapped.

It wasn’t hard to believe that the writhing creature before them was no longer human. Smoke poured from her eyes and screaming lips, and the voice tearing from her throat grated like metal against stone. As a fresh wave of Light pulsed from Antony, Shadow Biderman threw her head back, affording Odelle a better view of her face. Even as her lips curled up into an anguished snarl, her eyes flickered a very human blue, so quickly Odelle thought she must have imagined it. Then it happened again, this time accompanied by a momentary expression of fear.

“Wait!” Odelle shouted. “She’s still in there.”

Antony grunted in surprise.

“Is there any way you can destroy the crown without killing her?”

Antony’s brow, already glistening with sweat, furrowed. “I don’t think so. Her spirit is too tied up in the magic of the crown,” he forced out through gritted teeth.

“But if we kill an innocent person, doesn’t that play exactly into what the Shadow wants,” Seraphina argued.

“You’re the most powerful sorcerer alive, there has to be something you can do,” Odelle insisted, even as she eyed her sister and the others being forced back towards their little huddle by the encroaching horde of darkness.

Drew put his back to them, making himself a barrier between the raging fight and their discussion.

Antony sighed and the golden Light spilling from his hands dissolved. Biderman’s shrieks of pain instantly morphed back into snarls of aggression.

“I might be able to purify the crown from the Shadow’s influence,” Antony hedged, “but somebody has to wear it while I work.”

“Then put it on!” Thad had been pushed close enough to their group by the advancing creatures that he was able to yell over Drew’s shoulder into their conversation. “Now isn’t the time to worry about whether it goes with your outfit.”

Antony shook his head. “It needs to be somebody else, to help me fight the Shadow’s influence so I can replace it with Light.”

Odelle stepped forward and snatched the crown from his hands. “Then let’s get on with it.”