Chapter 22

TWENTY-TWO

COLLINS

Jada’s white hair was wrapped around my face, so I couldn’t see a damn thing the whole time we flew, because I didn’t dare loosen my grip on her for even a second. I’d felt the air-conditioned hall of The Emerald followed by the pulsing cold air of us going back through the portal, but Jada flew so fast it felt like mere seconds. When my feet finally touched the ground and she dropped her grip on me, my balance faltered and I swayed. My body felt weird all of a sudden, though it was probably just the lack of sleep and exertion on my body.

“Jada, your hair is all over me,” I said with a laugh as I tried to peel the white-blonde hair off my face. “What is happening?—”

“I’m like three feet away from you—” Jada choked on a gasp. “ Collins? ”

“What? What’s wrong?” I finally peeled her hair off me only to find her a few feet ahead of me and looking at me like I was dying. I looked down at myself, but everything looked the same and no blood. The white hair was still coiled around my arms like I’d been hit with static electricity. “Wait, why is my hair white?”

“Collins . . .”

“What?”

She closed the distance between us, but her eyes were still bugged out wide. “I think I know what Venus made you drink?—”

“What do you—” I gasped as her expression and the words clicked in my mind. The white hair. I held my hands up in front of my face, but they were foreign to me. Well, not as foreign as I would have liked them to be. I cleared my throat. “Jada . . . Jada . . . ”

“Yeah . . .”

“ JADA. I’m not Tephine right now. Tell me I’m not?—”

“ Don’t take this the wrong way, but can you summon some crystals to your palms right now?” She gestured with her hands wildly. “Give me some pyrite?—”

I pushed my magic out and the turquoise mist filled my palms instantly. In the blink of an eye, handfuls of that metallic, shimmery gold crystal called pyrite appeared. “Still me. That’s totally fair.”

Jada sagged with relief. “This is not?—”

A vicious growl ripped through the silent snowy street. There was a haunting howl and then wolves descended upon us from every direction. They charged for us with snarls and growls. Wait, not us. ME. They’re coming for me—OH MY GOD. I looked like Tephine. They thought I was Tephine.

I threw my hands up. “NO!”

Jada dragged me close to her body, then wrapped her wings around me, blocking me from sight entirely. “IT’S COLLINS!”

All I saw was the gold and silver metal of her armor now sitting above her black clothes and the inside of her wings. Then I heard the sound of her swords being drawn and my heart stopped.

“STOP OR I WILL HURT YOU!” Jada didn’t even get into a fighting stance, probably because she didn’t need to. She was that skilled of a fighter. “I will protect my Stone Keeper from any and all harm, so you better STOP!”

“Hold up, pack,” a deep male voice called out. “Jada?—”

“Holden, this is Collins,” she snapped back. “I understand that she looks like Tephine at the moment. We are equally as surprised by this. Call your pack back, and I’ll let her prove it.”

“They’re not my pack?—”

“Yet. And they don’t care about that technicality or we’d be fighting already.”

Holden sighed. “Give them some space, pack. Back off.”

I heard grumbling and shuffling of snow. Slowly, Jada lowered her wings, but she kept her swords held at the ready. I glanced around at the wolves who had circled us entirely. They were obeying Holden’s command, but they didn’t want to. They had varying eye colors but identical expressions of hatred aimed right at me.

Holden cleared his throat pointedly.

I held my hands out and released my magic. Turquoise mist shot into the air. Then I summoned two mini-mountains of crystals at my feet. Tephine and I shared earth magic, but she could not work with crystals. No matter what she looked like.

The wolves all relaxed but rushed to my side all the same. They surrounded us with inquisitive stares and their heads cocked to the side. They sniffed at me like they were trying to smell me through her. Only Holden remained in human form.

“Thank you.” Holden nodded but narrowed his eyes on me. “How?—”

“I think Tephine used a potion to do this. It’s a long story,” I said and shuddered at the sound of her voice leaving my mouth.

Jada sighed and sheathed her swords. As she pulled her wings in, she pointed up. “Watch the sky. The real Tephine may show up and she might look like Collins. But remember Collins has no wings right now, so if you see Collins flying, it’s not Collins.”

My heart sank. Ouch. But she was right. “Tell the sirens to watch the water for them.”

Holden whistled and the pack went running off in different directions. He nodded to us. “Sorry about that?—”

“No, don’t be.” I smiled. “Thanks for having our back. Be careful and keep your eyes open.”

“You as well.” With a smile, he turned and sprinted away.

I looked over to Peggy’s house for signs of trouble, but everything seemed normal. When I glanced back to Holden, I found a large wolf running away from us. I chuckled. “Shifters are so cool.”

Jada smirked. “Yeah, they are. I’d love to be a siren.”

“See under the water? Yeah, for sure.” I sighed and turned toward the house. “C’mon, let’s go wake everyone and alert them that shit’s probably about to go down if I look like this.”

“When did you drink the potion?”

I knocked on the door and shuddered. “When Bash took off to follow the blue flames, I wound up in a fight alone with Venus and she poured a liquid into my mouth. It did nothing at the time, but I guess it was waiting for her to drink the rest?”

The front door swung open and golden light poured out. “ MAREN!” Peggy sprinted away from us.

Jada and I stepped inside, but by the time we made it to the couches, Peggy sped back into the room with two open vials in her hands. Before I could speak, she dumped them on me. It was like being in the splash zone at SeaWorld.

“Oh wow, Maren, your reversal potion works so much faster.”

“Yeah, one of the very few perks of Second Realm magic.” Maren shuddered. “I gotta say, seeing Tephine in your living room made me want to vomit.”

I looked up with a grimace. “Am I me again?”

Maren and Jada nodded.

“Here, sweetie.” Peggy handed me a small towel. “Sorry about the bath. We had to reverse that fast.”

I wiped my face with the towel. But then I frowned. “Wait, you were ready for this?—”

“Lexington called a few minutes ago and said you were bleeding in the infirmary?—”

“WHAT?” Jada and I both yelled.

“Here, take this.” Maren handed me a vial. “If you see you, toss this on her. Now go! Savina went with the others?—”

“Yes, go, go, go!” Peggy literally shooed us toward the door. “If you see a fae with black hair named Zita, she’s family so keep her safe!”

“Zita, right, okay!” I yelled over my shoulder as I shoved the vial into my bra, then zipped up my catsuit. “Wait, how’s the potion?—”

“Almost ready!” Maren shouted from the door. “Go, go, go!”

Jada spread her wings wide, then wrapped her arm around my waist and shot straight into the sky. Wolves howled from beneath us, so I peeked down past our feet to see the pack freaking out. They were howling and jumping like they were trying to get our attention.

“Jada, something’s wrong?—”

Jada screamed and my body was jerked backward with hers. Something wet hit my face. When I wiped my cheek, I found blood on my fingers. I looked up and felt my heart drop. An arrow made of rose quartz was sticking through her throat. VENUS. There was no doubt in my mind who had attacked us.

For a moment, the world stopped moving and we hovered in the air.

And then we plummeted.

I wrapped my arms tight around her waist and straightened my legs the way I’d once read was the safest way to drop into the water from a high level. The wolves were still howling, but they were farther away now. Over Jada’s shoulder, I spotted Holden standing at the shore waving his arms around and shouting orders. Time seemed to slow down as I watched us head straight for the ocean. I sucked in a deep breath and braced myself for impact, but when my feet hit the water, it was like I’d jumped off a building onto asphalt. Pain shot up my legs and sucked the air from my lungs. Ice-cold water swallowed us whole.

I was kicking before we stopped sinking. It was pitch-black, but I didn’t need to see. I just needed to get us to the surface, except Jada was motionless. She was too heavy. Those angel wings were dragging us under the current. And then I saw pale hands reaching through the dark depths of the water and grabbing us. There were flashes of worried faces. SIRENS. Fingers dug into my arms and legs. Relief hit me so hard it hurt. Water rushed over my body, little air bubbles swirling as the sirens raced us up and through the surface to the cold night. It wasn’t nearly as graceful as Ariel did it in the movies, with my long hair was plastered to my face and body as I gasped for air, but I was breathing. My throat and lungs were burning like they were on fire. I coughed and choked on the oxygen desperately trying to get into my body.

“I’ve got you, Collins!”

I jumped and looked toward the voice to find a pretty red-haired siren. She flipped me over and angled my head down to help get the water out of my lungs. I coughed a few more times, then flipped myself back up right and shouted with a raw voice, “Jada!”

“They’ve got her?—”

“ Who? ” But when I glanced over my shoulder to look, I found three sirens holding Jada out of the water. One of them was holding the rose quartz arrow protruding from her throat. My heart sank. “ Oh no.”

“Is she breathing?” a man yelled. A split-second later he emerged from under the water right in front of them. His long silver hair fell straight down over his shoulders and blended in with his silver beard. A small, simple gold crown sat on his head. “Don’t remove it, Chip!”

The girl, Chip as he called her, froze with her pale hands holding the arrow. She looked up at him with eyes as black as night. “Father?”

That was when I noticed all of these sirens wore small gold crowns and gold cuffs on their wrists, which meant this was King Tirian and his daughters. I was too busy gasping for air and shivering from the frigid water to speak.

“Chip, support the arrow and her throat.” King Tirian’s gold eyes glistened like the stars in the dark. “Kitkat and Pickles, get her to land and to Duvall Bow’s house.”

But they weren’t going to be able to carry her on their own. I looked beyond them to the shore to where there had to be dozens and dozens of wolves standing there with their fangs bared and their fur bristled. Pickles and Kitkat were already on their way to land.

“C-c-c-an y-y-ou wh-wh-whistl-le?” I asked as my teeth rattled against each other. “H-h-hold-d-den?—”

King Tirian lifted himself out of the water and whistled so loud I winced. "HOLDEN!”

By the time I looked back, I spotted Holden rushing into the water on the rocks with two huge guys behind him. A big pickup truck was backing toward the water with its tailgate already down. Tears filled my eyes. They were ready. But Peggy and Duvall weren’t.

“W-w-war-r-r-n t-th-th-em. B-b-b-ows?—”

Tirian cursed, then turned to a strawberry blonde siren floating beside him. “Hershey, race ahead and have one of the wolves go warn the Bow’s that Jada has been hurt gravely and is headed their way.”

“On it!” She disappeared beneath the surface instantly, only showing the flip of a pink tail and then she was gone.

“Father, she’s too cold. I need to get her to shore.”

“Go, Reese, get her back?—”

“NO!” I threw my hand up and pointed toward the Manhattan skyline. “Eme?—”

“Thanks,” Venus giggled as she gripped my hand and pulled me out of the water. “That was easy.”

My eyes shot up to her ghastly looking face. She’d once been more beautiful than any other person I’d ever seen, except maybe for her own sister Helena. Now, because of MoVaun’s powder, she was completely grotesque. Her skin was gooey and still bleeding. The wounds from the powder burning her were red. Her skin seemed to be melting off of her face in some places. In others she was covered in huge blisters and puss-filled sores. It turned my stomach to look at her, so I stopped.

I screamed and thrashed but her grip was tight. Stupid! I knew Venus had shot that arrow. I knew that meant she was around and wouldn’t have just bailed. I’d gotten so caught up in Jada’s injury that I’d lost my mind for a moment. And that was all the chance she needed. We were picking up speed and height quickly. I had to think of something. Wait a second. The sirens were right below us. They’d catch me. All I had to do was fall. I summoned my magic into my hands, then shot thick green vines up Venus’s arm and straight through her wings.

She shrieked and we dropped a few feet, but she was too old to go down that easy.

And I was too angry.

I pushed my vines to hog-tie her wings, pinning them to each other in place so they couldn’t flap—so we couldn’t fly.

We plummeted back toward the ocean.

With my other hand, I coiled vines around her body like a boa constrictor snake, from ankle all the way up her body. All of her limbs were trapped against her body. She bellowed but I just grinned. The wolves howled in the distance, probably waking the entire Island.

“Thanks, that was easy,” I growled. Then I pushed off of her and screamed, “CATCH!”

I held my legs straight and together, my feet flat-out, not pointed, with my arms at my sides and braced myself for impact. This time when I hit the water I didn’t panic and my breath wasn’t knocked from my lungs. I knew what was coming and I knew help was waiting. The sting of water hitting my feet made me cringe, but it was nothing compared to having my wings ripped from my body.

The very moment my body hit the water, I felt thin arms wrap around me. “Got you!”

I opened my eyes at the familiar voice and saw that same redheaded siren princess grinning down at me. Since they were already there, I’d only dropped a couple feet beneath the surface, so we were pushing through to air in seconds. I gasped, sucking in as much of the crisp air I could.

“Thanks—what’s your name again?”

She grinned and her green eyes sparkled. “I’m Reese.”

“Thanks, Reese. Where’s Venus?”

“My sisters caught her.”

“Bring me to her, please?”

Reese chuckled like I was insane but immediately started swimming in the direction Venus had landed. “You’ve got it, Ms. Stone Keeper lady.”

“My name is Collins?—”

“Oh, I know. But Ms. Stone Keeper lady just came out.” Reese shrugged. Her green eyes looked up ahead. “You got her secure?”

“We’ve got her,” King Tirian answered, a silvery beacon in the dark. “Collins okay?”

“That might be pushing it, but sure.” I smirked at my own joke. “Hold her still. We’re coming!”

When we cleared the fifty feet through the ocean, I found Tirian floating beside Venus with a sword pointed at her throat. The blade was pressed into her skin. Venus was still wrapped up like she might be a spider’s next meal, but five female sirens with matching gold crowns and gold wrist cuffs held her in place just to be sure.

“Nice wrap job, Collins,” the other red-haired girl with brown eyes said with an approving nod.

The blonde on the left cringed and eyed the side of Venus’s face that was blistered and raw from MoVaun’s powder. “What happened to her face?”

A brunette ran her fingers across Venus’s wounds and grinned when Venus whimpered. “It’s all down her arm too.”

Another blonde’s eyes widened. “Wait, is that contagious?”

I shook my head as Reese stopped us right in front of her. “No, no. That’s from us.”

“ You wish that was your magic, ” Venus hissed.

“We could’ve done it without you.” I smiled sweetly at her. “But thanks for stealing from MoVaun and making our job easier. Couldn’t have done it without you boo.”

“ You little ? —”

I slammed my hand over her mouth and pushed with my magic, glueing a slimy green leaf across her mouth so she couldn’t speak. “I think everyone is done with your voice.”

A brunette with her hair tied up in a high ponytail chuckled. “What do we do with her now?”

I held my hands out and pictured little raindrop-sized pieces of moldavite crystals. When they billowed from my palms, I flicked them at Venus. Go, my friends, seep beneath the vines and burrow into her skin. Wreak your havoc on her the way only you can.

Pink smoke billowed from beneath the vines. Venus screamed and thrashed but my vines had her pinned down and the sirens had a death grip on her.

Reese giggled in my ear. “Wicked.”

King Tirian sighed. “My daughters, your delight at violence disturbs me.”

They all groaned and rolled their eyes at him.

“She deserves it.”

“But really, what do we do with her now?” the one with the pony-tail asked again.

“ Mango, let the Stone Keeper think for a second?—”

“Shut up, Brownie, she doesn’t need you to defend her?—”

“Wait.”

They all looked to me with worry.

“Kitkat, Pickles, Chip . . .” I narrowed my eyes at them. “Brownie and Mango?—”

“My wife, may she rest in peace, named our daughters after the food she craved while pregnant with them.” King Tirian sighed with a happy smile. “Reese here for Reese’s Piecies?—”

“I’m Almond,” the other brunette introduced herself with a wave.

The blonde on the left waved. “I’m Twix.”

“And I’m Jelly,” the other blonde and last of his daughters filled in. “And you’re sure this isn’t contagious?”

“I’m sure. Unless you intend to steal from MoVaun . . . In that case, I’m sure it is contagious, so to speak.”

They all shuddered.

I nodded. So everyone had the same reaction to that woman.

King Tirian lifted the blade of his sword a little higher. “Would you care to do the honors?”

I opened my mouth to say yes, I would love to chop her stupid head off, but as the word was leaving my mouth, I saw the sparkle in Venus’s eyes. All of her panic and pain had changed into satisfaction. My pulse skipped.

I ripped the leaf off of her mouth. “Do you not think I’ll do it? Did you not see what I did to Aryk? Or Marigold? Perhaps I need to describe how it went for Cleopatra when all of Second Realm’s snakes attacked her at my command? Or did Helena’s head hit the snow too quickly?”

She snarled and thrashed again but it was useless. “Did you really think Mother only bound herself to Third Realm? Did you not think she’d include her favorite and the most useful daughter? Kill me and all those villagers die with me.”

“You lie.”

She arched one pink eyebrow. “Do I? Maybe, maybe not. Tell me, how much would you miss Weston and Shylock? Would their cousin, pretty little Stellan, ever forgive you? Perhaps you’d start a new civil war?—”

I slammed that leaf back over her mouth. Then I just stared, my heart in my throat.

“Is she telling the truth?” King Tirian’s voice was softer now and closer to me. He’d lowered his blade. “Did Tephine bind herself to Third Realm?”

“Yes. We’re working on severing that. If we kill her before we sever it, all of Third Realm dies with her . . . and anyone inside.”

He shuddered. “And you think Venus is similarly bound?”

“Honestly, no. I think it doesn’t make sense at all."

“Why do you think that?” Reese asked quietly.

“Because—wait, the water is warmer now?” I frowned and looked down at myself. I was still in the water but not shivering like I was before.

Tirian smiled. “I may be using a little bit of my own magic to draw in warmer currents for you, but I cannot do so for long, so we need to get you out of the water soon.”

I nodded. “Thank you. I need to get to The Emerald. Tephine lured my friends there, and I need to get to them. And I need to discuss the idea of Venus being bound.”

“What would you like us to do with her?”

I gnawed on my bottom lip. “Can you hold her in the water like this? Like with just her head above? But without warm currents, let her be cold?”

“Yep,” all of the siren princesses said with grins.

“Can you bring her closer to the shore? I like the threat of being ripped apart by wolves taunting her.”

“Oh my God.” Brownie gasped. “Is that Constantine? ”

We all turned toward the shore and found Constantine Vauntero standing at the edge in the middle of all the wolves.

“Let’s go over there?—”

“Got it.”

As a group, we moved through the water with ease—or they did. I felt like a toddler, like when Philip used to float me around the swimming pool. Every few feet I’d see more sirens pop their heads out of the water. There were more than I’d realized there were.

“Collins?”

I jumped at Constantine’s voice. Then I looked up to him and bowed my head. “I need to get to The Emerald immediately, but Tirian can fill you in on the details?”

“Definitely.”

“We’ll be back for her.”

Constantine, without knowing all the details of the situation, just cracked his knuckles and nodded. He aimed daggers with his eyes at Venus. “She’ll be right here.”

“Reese, swim Collins to The Emerald.”

Reese wrapped her arm around my waist and began swimming away from the Island. I glanced over my shoulder and wondered if Jada had gotten to Duvall yet. I had to have faith they’d get her the help she needed. I had to focus. Otherwise, Jada’s injury was in vain.

“Hey, Collins, how long can you hold your breath?”

A cold chill slid down my spine. “Why?”

“I can swim a lot faster if I’m under water.”

“Can you bring me up every twenty seconds or so?”

“Dolphin action, you betchya.”

I grinned. She was funny. I nodded. “Then yeah. Fast is better. How about I’ll tap your arm if I need air?”

“Perfect, I’ll be close to the top.” She looked up at me and nodded. “In three . . . two . . . one?—”

I sucked in a mouthful of air and squeezed my eyes shut—water swallowed my head. It helped me not think about drowning to count, so I did that. Reese must have been, too, because at nineteen seconds she had me up and gasping for air. On my sixth count to nineteen, we lifted out of the water, and I found Manhattan right in front of us.

“Holy shit, Reese, you’re a fast dolphin?—”

“Ew, ew, ew, ew! What touched me? Ew ew,” Reese whined and hissed. Her tail splashed wildly, and she gagged. “Oh God, that’s slimy.”

I snort-laughed. “Are you okay?”

She grimaced and shuddered. “The Hudson is so gross. I will smell like this forever.”

I bit my lip to not laugh. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine. I’ll take a shower.” She gagged again. “And thank you. I am a fast dolphin. Now out you go. This water is too cold for you.”

“Out . . . where? Oh, that’s a dock?”

“Yeah, so this is Pier 99 the sanitation shit but that’s the Empire State Trail—a park that starts here. People put their kayaks in that ramp because New Yorkers will take any water they can get.” She gagged again. “Actually, do you know your way around Manhattan?”

“Not at all.”

“Shit. Okay, well, unless you have a sheet I can use to go all Ariel with, if I get out of this water, I will be full on nekkid.”

I looked down at her, then at myself. “Shit, all I have is this catsuit. Just tell me where to go?”

“Okay, so you see where that trail hits the main road?” When I nodded, she pointed. “That street right there is 59th, so run under that overpass and just keep going straight for three avenues, then turn right on 9th Avenue. Take the first left onto 58th Street and that’ll lead you right into Columbus Circle.”

“And The Emerald is right there. Got it. Easy enough. Straight to 9th, turn right and then left on 58th. Perfect.” I jumped forward and headed for the shore. “Thank you, Reese.”

“No problem. Remember, it’s cold as fuck out there, so run fast.” She started to push back into the water. “We’ll all be watching from the water, so if trouble comes your way, just dive in.”

“Will do. Okay, I’m gonna make a run for it.”

“Good luck!”

I crawled to the edge of the ramp, took a deep breath, and counted to three. Then I sprinted out of the water like I was an Olympic track and field star. Every inch of my skin screamed in sharp pain from how cold the air was against my now soaking wet skin. The air was so damn cold it burned my lungs with every breath I took.

My legs trembled. I could have sworn my feet were on fire.

As I sprinted, all I could think was that the nickname the city that never sleeps was not given to the right city because these streets were empty. Not a single homeless person. No stray cats or even the infamous rats. The shops were closed up tight. No lights on except for little neon signs here and there. No buses or taxis on the road. No anyone on the road. It was just me out there. The sound of my footsteps echoed down the tunnel-like street. This city was fast asleep. Las Vegas should have been given the nickname. The casinos were always full of people ‘round the clock.

I was counting avenues as I hit them, but luckily when I got to 9th Avenue, I ran into a red brick wall. I made a sharp right and kept going until I ran into the Amore Pizza Café at the corner of 9th and 58th, then I made a quick left. It felt like I’d run a mile by the time I rounded Columbus Circle and beelined for The Emerald. The only good thing about my marathon was I’d stirred up enough body heat that I no longer felt like a popsicle.

“COLLINS?!”

I gasped and slid to a stop, then spun in circles until I spotted Savina racing toward me from across the street. “Savina!"

“What the bloody hell, mate?” Stellan shouted from suddenly right behind me. He looked to the sky and shot silver magic up. “ELLIE!”

When I looked up, I saw Ellie in a purple tornado swirl. Her eyes widened and I saw my name leave her lips right before she dropped out of the sky. Then I spotted someone with gold and purple wings shoot over the edge of the rooftop terrace of The Emerald. Ellie landed in front of me about two seconds before my mom landed and pounced on me.

“Collins!” She tackled me in a hug, then pulled back. “Are you okay? Where’s your wound? Where’s Bash?”

“Wait, you were just in the infirmary?”

“How’d you heal that fast? And you weren’t wearing that?—”

“ That was Tephine! ” I was breathing really hard, my heart pounding in my chest. I pulled the vial out of my bra and held it up. “Maren just reversed me back into me, so where did you just see me because that’s definitely Tephine?—”

“SHIT!”

“INFIRMARY!”

We all sprinted inside The Emerald. I didn’t miss the way the others positioned me in the middle so they could protect me from all sides. The elevator door opened immediately so we leapt inside.

I turned to Ellie and thrust the vial into her hands. “If you see me, drench her with this.”

“That’s from Maren?” Savina eyed the vial.

“Yeah, it’s much faster than Peggy’s reversal.” I was gasping for air between breaths now. “She said the potion we need for Augustine is almost ready.”

“Why do you smell like the Hudson?” Ellie crinkled her nose.

“I swam here from Megelle Island with a nice siren named Reese.”

The elevator doors opened. We leapt out and rushed through the open infirmary doors, then slid to a stop. It was empty and cold, with only a puddle of blood on one of the beds that left a river across the room. I gripped my stomach and gagged.

“That was your blood,” Mom whispered. “Tephine must have stabbed herself to sell her story.”

“She’s growing more and more unhinged?—”

“And she’s not here !” I spun and sprinted down the hallway to the stairs because the normal elevators did not stop on the floor with the portals.

Mom wrapped her arm around me and flew up the stairs faster than I’d ever seen her move. The others’ footsteps thundered behind me. We jumped off the stairs and rounded the corner and stopped short.

There I was hobbling down the hallway toward the portals. My stomach tightened into knots. Tephine. She had my turquoise wings out and was trying to fly but her wings kept giving out. She had Bash hog-tied by vines in one hand and a raven-haired girl by the back of her fur coat with the other.

How dare she use wings she ripped off of me.

The raven-haired girl, who must have been the Zita Peggy referred to, looked up and met my stare. Her brown eyes widened. She glanced back and forth between the me dragging her and the actual me. I held my finger up over my lips just as Ellie ran up behind me. I dropped to my knees. Ellie uncapped that vial and went full water bender with Maren’s potion. The green-tinted liquid soared down the hall like a tsunami. At the last second, Tephine spun around with her two victims right outside the Third Realm portal and the potion slammed into her face.

She hissed and dropped Bash and Zita as her body turned back into hers. “YOU!” She shot some of her vines at me but they only flew about two feet before dropping to the ground.

“ Stellan! ”

Silver magic coiled around Bash and Zita and dragged them toward us. Tephine dove for them, but Ellie slammed her backwards with a gust of wind. I threw vines with long, sharp thorns around her arms and legs just like I’d done to Venus. But this was Tephine’s brand of magic, so it took every ounce of strength I had to hold on to it. My arms trembled. Savina’s red lightning blasted her in the chest so hard her feet lifted off the ground.

“Ellie, push her through!” I screamed.

A purple tornado coiled around the monster and swept her right through the portal into Third Realm.