Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty-Five

My mouth dropped open and Will whipped his head around so fast our cheeks nearly collided. The dust cleared and revealed the equally shocked face of Corbin. He shook himself and glared at the little girl.

“You again! What have you done to my little children?”

The little girl glared at him and stomped her foot. “You’re a very bad man! You’re trying to hurt my Mommy and Daddy!”

Corbin sneered at the child as he looked her over. “You are delusional. The two behind you have no child.” My eyes widened and my hand flew to my stomach. Corbin noticed my reaction and his face drooped. He whipped his head to and fro between the child and me. “What. . .what sorcery is this?” He stabbed a finger at us. “You profess to follow the laws of nature and yet you have crafted this creature from your magic?”

Will shook his head. “We have no more inkling of what’s going on than you.”

The little girl put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I’m not a creature! I’m Ivy and I don’t like you!”

The girl clutched her hands in front of her and a small red fireball grew out of her joined palms. She plucked it from her palm and tossed it with an overhand throw. The clumsy toss meant the ball only traveled halfway to Corbin before it crashed to the ground. The ball exploded and fire shot out in thin tendrils that zapped across the ground like bolts of lightning. The fire smashed into any remaining worms or those foolish enough to have crawled out of the ground after the last blast, consuming them in its hot breath.

Some of the dirt flew up and splattered Ivy in the face. She flung up her arms and covered herself.

Corbin stared in terrible black silence at his tiny foe. He held up one palm and a worm wiggled its way out of his flesh. The creature opened its dark eye and zeroed in on Ivy. It let out a screech and lunged at the unsuspecting girl with its mouth wide open.

Will spun around and flung a fireball at the creature, torching it to ashen bits. “Get her,” he whispered to me.

I darted forward and wrapped my arms around the tiny child. She squealed in surprise and thrashed in my hold until she looked up into my face. Her eyes lit up and she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Mine!”

“Hold on, sweetie!” I replied as I turned my back on our foe and rushed us back to Will.

He tossed more fireballs at the dozen or so creatures that oozed out of the dirt along our path. We reached him and I set the girl down. She looked supremely happy tucked between us even as more worms wiggled out of the earth.

Her beautiful blue eyes smiled up at me. “Did I do good, Mommy?”

I nodded. “Very good, sweetie, but stay behind us now, okay?”

She puckered her lips into a pout and shook her head. “No! I want to help!”

“Stay behind me!” Will shouted as the creatures once again surrounded us.

Corbin sneered at our little gathering. “Hypocrites! Her magic is just the same as yours and she even bears a resemblance to you filth!”

Ivy grasped one of my hands and glared at him. “My Mommy and Daddy are not filth! You’re the stinky one! You smell like nasty food!”

Our foe gaped at the girl’s simple but spot-on insult. A nice red color climbed up his face and reached the tip of his forehead where he let off some steam by stomping his foot against the ground. “You little brat! You will die with them!”

“No!” Ivy snapped as she marched in front of us. I tried to grab her but her slim little arms were hard to snatch. She stopped in front of Will and stretched out her arms straight in front of her. “You’re a bad man and your worms are stinky!” She clapped her hands together. “Bam!”

Dozens of her fireballs that were tucked into the ground exploded around us. The air was filled with shrieks and dirt as the worms both above and below ground were blasted into tiny bits. The area around us wasn’t the only place explosions happened. Columns of fire shot up throughout the entire forest, sending flames and worm bits high into the air over the treetops.

“No!” Corbin screamed as he watched his plans go up in flames and air.

He spun in a circle and watched the decimation light up the night sky. The air filled with shrieks and a soft heat caressed our skin. The light show died down after a long minute of explosions and the cries of the hideous monsters also faded.

Corbin whipped his head around and his bloodshot eyes fell on Ivy. “You! You will pay for this! I will make more and you will pay!”

He stretched out his hands and cupped them together. Another worm oozed out of his flesh. “Multiply and destroy them all!” The worm stretched itself to its full height and twisted around so its gray eye stared at him. Corbin started back and fear crept into the crevices of his face. “W-why are you looking at me like that? Go get them! Make yourself plenty and-”

The worm’s body seemed to lose all substance and it sank with a hard plop back into his flesh. The color drained from Corbin’s face as he stared wide-eyed at his hands.

Then the black spots began to pop up. Corbin let out a strangled cry of fear and agony and waved his hands about like he was putting out a fire. The darkness spread up his arms and bulbous balls filled with onyx-black pus bulged out of his flesh.

“What are you doing?” he shrieked as he stumbled back, his bulging eyes scouring the black oozing sacks that bulged out of his flesh. The man tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground where he crawled around like a frantic animal. He patted his hands against the open wounds as if they were a fire to be extinguished. “Stop that! I am your master! I order you to stop!”

The darkness didn’t get the memo as it spread over his entire body. I grabbed a hold of Ivy and pulled us away as darkness flowed out of Corbin like an icy heat wave. The man’s dark eyes changed to a hideous dull gray and he opened his mouth wide. Far wider than even a snake could manage and so much that his jaw became distorted. Corbin shambled to his feet but even those were changed. His limbs melted together and formed into earthworm tendrils that flopped around.

Will was at my side with his fireballs at the ready. I drew Ivy behind me and lit up my sword and together we faced our mutated foe. The creature’s gray eyes settled on us and the cold, merciless evil in their depths made me shudder. The thing lunged at us with its teeth bared and its tentacles swinging wildly.

I swung my sword and Will threw his fireballs. The fiery orbs scorched its flesh but didn’t slow its momentum. The mutant man struck my sword and let out a terrible screech. A terrible stench filled the air and the creature stumbled back. A black scorch mark covered the full front of its body across the stomach. Dark smoke rose from the wound and more of its black gore dripped from the gaping hole.

The rest of the man’s form twisted and contorted into a giant worm with tendrils. The single gray eye slithered up to the top of its head and zeroed in on Ivy. It flung up its arms and little gunk balls were thrown all around us. The orbs splattered onto the ground and formed themselves into tiny versions of its larger self, surrounding us inside a ring of horror.

“Will!” I shouted as the creatures slopped toward us.

His voice was grim. “Stay close. I’ll take care of this.”

“Not alone!”