Chapter 46

"I can't fight Gertrude!"I scream, in case Hekima cares.

He doesn't.

I back away and do my best to strategize. Even if I land a punch, I'll lose.

The drekavac charges and whips at me with a tentacle.

I dodge.

Shrieking, the monster sends another tentacle my way.

I leap to the side but barely miss getting touched.

There has to be something more effective I can do, some way to penetrate this illusion.

Another tentacle strike, another dodge.

A chat with Pom suddenly pops into my mind. He once claimed that if he were awake, he could show me what Valerian really looks like, based on the assumption that an illusionist wouldn't think to target my symbiont.

Two tentacles go for me at once, and I perform a backflip to get away. The crowd cheers.

The problem is that Pom must be awake to see through my eyes, and he sleeps all the time. Unless—

Pom,I mentally shout as I dodge yet another tentacle strike. Pom, wake up!

Nothing happens. A tentacle lashes at my legs, and I jump over it.

Pom! Pom! Pom!

"What's with the shouting?" Pom says groggily in my head.

I'm inside an illusion,I mentally shout. Need you to see through it, or we both die!

"Should've led with that." He sounds much more awake. "How's this?"

The world flashes with every color of the rainbow, and I barely dodge the next tentacle strike. When the swirl settles, I do my best to make sense of the visual confusion. The Colosseum isn't gone, but it looks a bit ghostly.

Then I realize it's actually overlaid with reality, a reality that looks odd. The edges of objects are fuzzy, and something strange is going on with colors. For instance, I see an orc fighting Colton the giant, but instead of the orc being green, both fighters are monochrome.

Puck, that's not an orc. It's Kit. Hekima is having her fight for her life, and Pom doesn't like it. Neither do I. I bet all that black is Pom's feelings seeping into my perception.

Whoosh. A ghostly tentacle flies at my face, only now I see that the tentacle isn't a tentacle at all. It is, as I suspected, Gertrude's arm. Fingers outstretched, she's trying to touch my cheek in the real world.

I sidestep and grab her arm near the elbow, where her sleeve protects my hand from her skin. I'm not sure what she's seeing in her own version of Hekima's illusion, but it must be something terrible because her face contorts with fear.

This won't help matters.

I twist her arm behind her back and pull hard. She drops to her knees, crying out in pain. I grab hold of one of my slimy shoes and club Gertrude with the makeshift weapon. There's no way I'm risking a touch again, even if it's only her hair.

She claws at me with her free hand, so I smack her again and again. My arm muscles burn, but I accomplish my goal.

Gertrude collapses.

This is when I notice who else is lying unconscious nearby.

Felix.

He must've recovered from his blood-induced fainting spell, only to fall under Hekima's influence. He must've been the "puck" I fought. No wonder his punches didn't hurt much—and no wonder I was able to win. He's a little sensitive about it, but Felix's powers aren't useful in hand-to-hand combat.

I rush over and check his vitals. He'll probably have a headache, but he'll be fine—and his headache isn't going to be half as bad as Gertrude's. I glance back to see how Kit is doing and see her morph from an orc into a giant much bigger than Colton. She raises a massive fist in an arc so wide, she knocks a couple of nearby Councilors off their feet. Pow! She smashes that fist into Colton's temple.

He roars in pain. Poor dude. I bet his headache's going to be even worse than Gertrude's.

Someone needs to stop this madness. The real Hekima is on the other side of the room with a wall of Councilors between him and anyone wishing to cause him harm. Everyone in his line of defense shows grim determination; they must each be experiencing illusions in which they're protecting someone or something they care about. There goes my hope of knocking him out.

I recognize some of the defenders—Isis and Chester—and note that not a single one of them is among those Hekima still wants to get revenge on.

I soon see why.

Nina, standing a stone's throw from me, raises her hands with a look of concentration. The stone benches where the Councilors usually sit rip out of the ground, break apart, and begin zooming all over the room.

I dodge one, then another—but not all the Councilors are so fortunate. Unlike me, they can't see what's real. At least four get hit in the head. I can't help but notice they're all on Hekima's kill list.

Two benches fly in Hekima's direction, giving me hope that his revenge may backfire. But no. A bench that seemed to be flying at Chester lands an inch away from him. How lucky for Chester—and Hekima, by extension. The other bench lands in front of the wall of Councilors, hitting Vickie on the head.

Isis shoots an arc of golden energy at the siren, healing her instantly.

Is Hekima being nice to the siren because she's not on his list? Nah, that's giving him too much credit. The real reason becomes apparent a moment later. Gulping in a large breath of air, Vickie shrieks at a nearby Councilor on the list, and two seconds later, only the man's skeleton remains.

Puck. What do I do? I can't get to Hekima, and if Nina keeps flinging those benches around, I might get knocked out too.

I sweep my gaze over the room for ideas and spot Ariel fighting Kain. There's too much hatred on their faces for two people who don't know each other—Hekima's illusions in action again.

Ariel smashes a fist into Kain's ear. He strikes back. She blocks with her forearm, but the force of his hit is so powerful that the back of her hand recoils and splits her lip.

Crap. Fighting Kain isn't as easy as taking down Filth—and I don't know if Ariel even realizes she's battling a vampire.

Another bench piece crashes down next to my feet, courtesy of Nina. Now that could work. I scan the floor for the biggest chunk of stone I can lift and find one that weighs about thirty pounds. Straining, I raise the rock above my head and charge at Kain.

Oblivious to my existence, Kain lands a punch in Ariel's midsection. Ariel crumples in pain.

Before Kain can go for the kill, I slam the stone into his head.

The vampire sways, a stunned look on his face. Ariel recovers enough to stumble toward him, and I shove the stone into her hands. With a startled expression, she grabs on. I can't guess what it must feel like to have a bloody rock materialize in your grasp, but Ariel's a trooper. She doesn't waste time pondering her good fortune.

Easily lifting the stone, she smashes it into Kain's face.

Kain staggers back.

Ariel hits him again.

Kain stumbles to the floor.

Ariel jumps on his chest and slams the rock down on his forehead, again and again.

"Enough!" I yell at her, but she doesn't seem to hear me. She bashes and bashes what remains of Kain's head, way past the point of his demise. Clearly, whatever illusion Hekima is giving her has generated a murderous rage.

I feel a surge of pity for the vampire—for all our differences, he was just trying to do his job—but I remind myself that Kain's death is on Hekima's conscience. Same goes for the Councilors Hekima wanted revenge on.

They're dead now too.

But Hekima himself? He's staring at me.

Puck.

I frantically look for a smaller rock, but he points his hand at Nina.

"Wait!" I yell.

Too late.

An invisible telekinetic force hurls me into the air.