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I’d fought off one but hadn’t killed it. There werefourof them. What if they all rushed me at once? Was I fooling myself by believing I could actually kill them? “I need the ocean,” I whispered. Collin was right. That was the source of my power, and I was hundreds of miles away.
“No,” Tsagasi said, his voice firm. He had moved closer to David and Allison while I was busy grabbing the sword and fighting off the first Raven Mocker, and now he stood behind me. “You get part of your power from the sea, but why do all the gods want you? Why do they search outyouand not the son of the earth?”
“I’m the witness to creation.”
“Yes. Your greatest power is as the witness to creation, and you haven’t even tapped it yet. Dig deep. It’s there.”
Finding my power was easier said than done when I was being stalked by four demons. But Tsagasi was right. How had I never realized it before?
I thought about the vision I’d had in the ocean with Collin, the one in which I’d relived the creation of the universe and the world. Suddenly, I wasn’t just remembering thevision; I was remembering what it felt like to watch the event millions of years ago. Power coursed through my blood and filled my body.
“Yes,” Tsagasi said. “Now.”
When the next demon, one of women, leaped at me, I was ready. Crouching low, I let her get close before lunging toward her, using all my weight to shove the sword through her chest. I embedded the blade between her ribs and up through her back as her scream pierced my ears. I started to pull the weapon out, but her body evaporated into a ball of smoke.
“Did I kill it?” I asked, breathless. Thick black liquid coated the dull metal and dripped onto the floor.
“Yes,” Tsagasi answered.
I nodded. Three more to go. I could do this.
David was talking behind me, but I had no idea what he was saying. I concentrated on the three creatures in front of me. Two had changed from cocky to wary, while the third—the older woman who seemed to be in charge—beamed. One of the men glanced toward the door.
“Don’t you fuckers even think about leaving,” I said through clenched teeth. I had no idea how to correctly wield a sword, but I held my arm close to my body, the blade pointed forward. If one of them rushed me, it would run into the blade. Their claws looked vicious, so I wanted to stay out of their reach. But thinking of the number of times I’d been clawed by demons only pissed me off more.
I was done taking crap from demons.
“We aren’t going anywhere. We haven’t completed our assignment,” the two men said as one.
“And what’s that?”
“To kill you.” They laughed, but the woman—whom I was beginning to suspect was in charge—remained silent.
“How did you know that I’d be back here tonight?”
“You are predictable,” one of the men answered in disgust.
“If that’s true, why do I get the feeling that what I did to your friend was totallyunpredictable?”
The creatures didn’t answer. Instead, the injured old man bolted toward me with both arms raised, ready to claw me. I shoved the sword into his stomach, but he laughed and skimmed his claws across one of my shoulders.
Trying to ignore the burning pain of the wound, I leaned backward and jerked the blade out. But he continued to come toward me, his mouth open, his teeth ready to sink into my neck. Pulling my arm back so that the sword was next to my body and parallel to the floor, I threw my weight into it, impaling the weapon into his heart.
Surprise and fear flickered in his eyes before his body turned into flames and a cloud of smoke.
Two left.
But I was already out of breath, and I lost the advantage of surprise now that they realized I could kill them. The remaining two would be prepared to put up more of a fight.
I held the sword out to my side and leaned over, sucking in a deep breath. “Are you so sure you’re going to kill me now?” I sneered. But even as I said the words, I realized that their plan made no sense. The Raven Mocker I’d seen in Manteo had told me that I was a vessel who would either save or destroy the world. How could killing me now achieve that? The future was supposedly unchangeable, and the Raven Mocker had committed suicide to deliver her protection…
“We will shred your abdomen and watch your intestines spill out onto the floor,” the man said, laughing.
“While that sounds fun, I think I’ll pass.”
“What’s going on, Ellie?” David asked, terror in his voice.
Crap, he couldn’t see or hear any of this.
