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Again and again, Ethan fired a bolt, but it missed each time. The barn walls began melting around them, red lava bleeding onto the ground and forming a river of molten crimson. The air rippled with steam and crawled with black, oozing demon creatures.
She shrank away from the lava when it ventured close, panic clawing at her insides.
It’s only an illusion, she reminded herself, even as she swore she could feel the lava’s heat piercing her skin.
Renewed hope coursing through her, she struggled to free herself from Ethan’s weight on her back, knocking him off balance. He stumbled off her just as he released another bolt. It sliced through one of the Joels’ arms.
Joel hissed as blood trickled down his sleeve.
Ethan smirked. “Got you.”
Time seemed to move slowly as Ethan loaded another bolt, lifted it, and aimed it at the real Joel. Nyana grabbed onto the man’s leg and bit him.
He howled in pain, the bolt missing Joel by inches as he kicked her off him. He shoved her onto her back and ground his boot into her neck, cutting off the airflow.
She clawed at his foot, but the man was much bigger than her. Heavy. Immovable. She attempted to gasp for air, but it refused to enter her lungs. Black dots swirled like ebony snowflakes at the edges of her vision.
Small…
Weak…
Silver glinted in the lava’s glow as Ethan pulled out a knife.
And stabbed downward toward her heart.
She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the piercing pain. But instead, Ethan’s heavy weight released her as Joel tackled him to the ground. Cold air rushed into her lungs as she gasped for breath. All at once, the lava and demons disappeared. In their place, Ethan and Joel rolled across dirt and hay, grappling for control of the knife.
The darkness in Nyana’s vision dispersed with each gasp of air. She knelt and clasped her hands to her heart as she watched the scuffle. The breath tightened in her lungs as Joel rolled on top of Ethan and repeatedly punched the man in the face before snatching the weapon from where it had skittered across the ground.
She knew she should look away, but her wide eyes remained fixed on Joel as she continued to wheeze. He positioned the knife over Ethan’s chest. But his hands began shaking. The anger on his face melted into sadness and regret before he tossed the knife aside, sparing the man’s life.
But just as Joel turned away, Ethan pulled a hidden dagger from his boot. A muffled cry escaped her throat just as Ethan thrust the blade at Joel. Who barely managed to catch the man’s hand between both of his.
Joel’s arms shook with the effort to keep the dagger from stabbing him. The tip of the blade inched closer and closer. A tremor of fear whispered in her ear. You will lose him. Just like you’ve lost so many before him.
The whisper turned into Liam’s voice in her mind.
“You will never amount to anything.”
“No one else could ever love you.”
“It’s your fault I hit you, stupid woman.”
“Give up. There’s nowhere you can go.”
“I will take the children from you if you misbehave.”
“Look at you. You will never be as beautiful as them.”
“You are not capable of anything great.”
Nyana’s eyes hardened, her teeth clenched. She balled her hands into fists as she slowly rose to her feet, balancing on one leg and ignoring the excruciating pain climbing up the other. “No,” she whispered. “I am beautiful. I am smart. I am loved. And I am more than capable.”
The chains keeping her magic captive snapped. A rush of energy invigorated her senses. Her eyes became sharper. Her sense of smell intensified. And calling to her were all forms of plant life. Towering trees. Shrubs. Dormant vines. Roots beneath the earth.
She inhaled slowly, and when she exhaled, the tree just outside the barn obeyed her when she called. Branches splintered through a crack in the decaying barn. Stretching. Reaching. Clawing. They wrapped around Ethan and yanked him away from Joel. The crack in the wall splintered farther as the branches pulled him through, only to pin him against its trunk, trapped by its sturdy branches.
Ethan struggled against his new bindings, blood dripping from his hairline. He writhed back and forth, kicking as he tried to free himself. But the tree latched on tighter when she commanded it.
