Chapter 27

TWENTY-SEVEN

COLLINS

Bash lingered by my side as we both stood outside of the little hut where Cleo was staying. I swallowed around my nerves. “Smash and grab. Tie her up and take her out. Simple. No fighting. What could go wrong?”

He arched an eyebrow at me, and it was the one time I was grateful he couldn’t speak and tell me what a reckless plan this was. But I had no other choice. I needed Bash to help me. He was the only one I had. And although notes were cute, I had to be able to have a conversation with him. I had too many questions and too much to learn. Our enemy was too strong, too powerful, to not be able to talk to him.

Bash pulled a small pad and paper. Are you sure about this?

“We have to be.” I shrugged because I was not sure. “If she knows about your sister’s missing head, she will try to kill you before you get a chance to do anything.”

He gave me a nod. I’ll wait for your signal.

“Right.” I stepped out from around the tree and sucked in a few deep breaths to work myself up. I pinched my cheeks so hard I made my eyes water. When Bash gave me a sideways look, I pinched them harder. “What? I don’t cry. I gotta fake it somehow.”

He held his hands up.

“Here we go.” I bounced on the balls of my feet. Stupid and helpless was an easy act. I sprinted toward the hut. “Kori! Kori! Are you there?”

My breaths came in hard puffs, and I ran up the stairs toward the front door. Before I could reach it, the door flew wide open and there stood Cleo, AKA Kori. Her eyes were sharp and hard for a moment before she forced them to go wide and innocent. “Collins? Is that you?”

I pretended to trip over my own feet and stumble into her. I wrapped my hands around her arms and let her catch me. “This place is crazy. You have to help me.”

“Of course. Come in, come in.” She dragged me into the hut and practically dropped me onto the bench. This time there was no fire, no sense of warm homeyness.

I wrapped my arms around myself and shook back and forth, giving her the full panicked human show. “This place is crazy. I can’t handle it. I have to go back home.”

“Where’s Jada?” She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall.

She has no idea. Score one for the good guy. “I have no idea. We got separated.”

“Separated? Really?” She narrowed those sapphire eyes at me. “Jada is usually so on top of everything.”

“I don’t even know what happened. There was this giant beast thing and I started running and she started running and somehow I got back here to you.” I gave her my best pout. “Can you help me get home?”

“Yes. I think I can.” She didn’t move.

I didn’t move.

We stared at each other for a moment, and I knew in my gut I was about to see the real Cleo. I wasn’t going to wait for it. I leapt to my feet and called upon my magic. It fired from my hands and vines shot through the floorboards, sending pieces everywhere. I held my arms out and fired them toward her. Cleo leapt to the side and drew a long sword from beneath her jacket. She spun in a quick circle, slicing through my encroaching vines.

When she cut them all down, she stood there barely out of breath and smiling. “You think to attack me? You’re an infant, and I’m five thousand years old.”

“It was part of the plan.”

A low hissing sound filled the air, and it drew my eyes upward. Snakes, so many snakes, slithered over the beams that ran from one end of the hut to the other. I took a small step back as they began to drop to the floor. One stood up straight on its tail and was nearly eye level with me. It bared its fangs and hissed with its forked tongue. Slowly, several others all rose to the same position, like they were guarding Cleo. I didn’t know if this realm had cobras, but these sure as shit looked like them.

“I may have lost my stone, but they are my friends. You think you can take me with your little parlor tricks?” Another snake rose by her side. She petted the top of its head, then scratched under its tongue.

So many snakes surrounded me. They slithered over one another, making the floor look like it was moving. Another snake launched itself forward and shot a wad of venom toward me. I sidestepped and it the floor where I’d just been burning a hole into the floor. One dropped down onto my shoulder, and I grabbed it and flung it right at her. Cleo caught it easily and the snake wrapped around her wrist and slithered up her arm to rest around her shoulders.

“Even without my stone, they are loyal to me.” She gave the one on her neck a little kiss.

I froze. Did I stab them with crystals? I didn’t want to kill anything. Did I try to tie them up with vines? That seemed redundant. Danger noodles being tied up with plant noodles didn’t make sense. As if on some silent cue, they all moved toward me at once, surrounding me. My power answered the call. Magic exploded out from my hands and crystals shot through the room, encasing the snakes like a fly frozen in an ice cube. My magic moved like a wave going from one wall to the other, trapping each snake within its own crystal prison.

“No! What have you done!” Cleo lifted her sword and jumped over my frozen creations, heading for me.

I opened my hand, and just as she was about to swing for my neck, one of my vines wrapped around her wrist and held the sword above her head. She twisted to the side, cutting herself free. I ducked down as she finished her swing and leapt to the other side of the room. Anger filled her eyes as she stalked after me like a predator about to kill. She was graceful and lethal. I stumbled my way over another crystal and threw a vine at her, which she cut through without even looking at it.

My heart thundered in my chest as she cornered me. “Pity, Mother will be so annoyed that I killed you . . . oh well.”

She lifted the sword high above her head, and I forced my magic from my hand. A huge crystal blasted through the wall and wrapped around the blade of the sword. Cleo’s arm fell back with the weight of the crystal and it slammed to the ground. Her hands slipped free of the hilt, and I waved for my vines to attack. They wrapped around her ankles and up her legs. Like whips, they snapped around her wrists, binding them in front of her. She kicked at them, all the while cursing and hissing at me.

Bash climbed through the hole in the wall. Cleo smiled. “Brother, help me.”

He gave her a withering look, and I wished he had the ability to tell her to go fuck herself.

Bluish-white smoke poured from his hands and he blew it right into Cleo’s face. Her face fell and her eyes went vacant. “No! BASTIEN! I hate you! I should’ve killed you when you were born,” she screamed like she couldn’t hear herself speak.

I tightened the vines and let them wrap up and down her whole body like a mummy, making sure they were extra tight around her mouth, then I laid her out on the ground with them and stood over her. “Is it weird that I mummified Cleopatra?”

Bash pulled the pen and paper from his pocket. Not as weird as snake ice cubes.

I gave his arm a playful smack. “I don’t like killing things, okay? It’s not their fault they chose the wrong friend.”

The corner of his lip turned up. What are we going to do with them?

I waved his question away. “We’ll burn that bridge when we get there. For now, I’d say it’s time to get the hell out of here and get your voice back. I can’t wait to hear it.”