AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Agatha Black’s eyes scanned the grounds, then our faces. They finally settled on her family. She watched them coldly, the faintest gl
immer of recognition lingering in her gaze.
“I knew you, once,” Agatha said, her words dull, yet echoing, as if coming from her throat as well as from some unseen, distant place. “The boy is grown.”
“Mother,” Luella said, her voice shaking. “We thought we’d lost you.”
“And you have,” the cultist shrieked. “She belongs to the Old Ones now.”
Gil punched the man in his face, a horrible crunch sounding as his knuckles connected. The cultist cried out, then went silent. Agatha floated closer to the ground, drawn by the commotion. The rest of us rushed back and away.
I tugged on Gil’s shirt, yanking him up and off the cultist. We didn’t know what Agatha was capable of, and any distance was a safe distance. Vanitas – even bloodthirsty, gung-ho Vanitas gave her a wide berth.
“Who are you?” Agatha asked.
The man clambered to his knees, blood dripping from his nose into the ruined grass. He planted his hands in the ground, groveling, almost worshipping.
“Your servant,” the man said. “Anything and everything for you, oh lioness, greatest of witches. For the Eldest.”
Agatha tilted her head, like a snake observing its prey, then straightened out, lifting off the ground and hovering into the air once more. Without looking at the cultist, she spoke again.
“The Eldest have no use for you, and neither do I.”
“Please,” the cultist said, trembling. “Please. I live to serve. I would die for you.”
“Then do so,” Agatha said, a strange lilt in her voice. Above, she gazed at the sky and clenched her fist. Below, the man barely let out a scream before he burst into an explosion of blood and gore – just as if he had been squeezed by a huge, invisible hand.
A finger landed by my feet. I scurried backwards, my eyes huge as I stared up at Agatha Black. Bastion and Luella combined couldn’t have done that, and the lioness had only just awakened.
“We need to stop her,” I muttered – to myself, to anyone within earshot.
“Go ahead and try,” Royce muttered back. “We’ll be happy to hose you off the lawn when you’re finished.”
Agatha’s ears pricked up, like a beast of prey hearing something important and delicious. Her eyes glazed over, staring into the distance of the evening sky. “Yes,” she intoned. “I obey.”
She lifted her head to the clouds. Like a rocket taking off, Agatha blasted into the sky, with a pulse of power so magnificent that it punctured a crater in the ground. The earth shook, a sonic boom splitting the air as she vanished into the encroaching darkness.
Luella fell to her knees, weeping. Bastion gathered her in his arms, whispering softly. “Mom. Please. I’m here. I’m right here.” She stroked his hair, but said nothing.
“We are fucked,” Royce whispered. “Royally and truly.”
Romira clucked her tongue and shook her head. “Between this and the Dark Room coming back? Gods know what will happen next.”
My gaze fell on the grass, the shame creeping back up my neck, until Herald’s hand fell there, squeezing.
“This isn’t your fault,” he said quietly. “Donovan, and Jonah – the Scion – they set you up.”
I nodded, mainly at the burnt grass, but said nothing.
“Chances are he won’t be going back to the Lorica,” Royce said. “Word will have spread by now. As much as the Heart has seen you as a threat, Dustin, there are still those who believe in justice. If the Donovan boy hadn’t stabbed you, none of this would have happened.”
“Still a bunch of nonsense to me,” Mason said, “but whatever’s out there, we can take it. Right guys?”
The silence was telling.
“Guys?” Mason waited for a response, then, getting nothing, shrugged. “Whatever. I’m not about to roll over and let these weirdoes take over the world or whatever it is they have planned for us, and – hey, who the hell is that?”
Again we whirled as one, following Mason’s finger as he pointed out someone approaching. My muscles thrummed with soreness, lethargy spreading through my blood as I remembered how long we’d been fighting. My body had already gone through so much, between the battle, the release, and the containment of the Dark Room. I couldn’t take anymore. I just wanted to retreat somewhere safe, and private, and quiet. I fought not to think of the Dark. I fought not to think of the Dark.
