Page 44 of Wicked Ties
I rolled to my back in time to see my father get hit in the chest with the magic that was meant for me. His body jerked and he flew backward toward the main tent. He whipped like a rag doll through the three wooden poles holding it up. The whole thing caved in on him, collapsing in a ball of dust.
What the hell? Did my dad just . . . save me?
My mother hesitated, looking like she wanted to run to where he’d fallen. I motioned to the tent. I couldn’t leave, but she could. “Go!”
She sprinted toward the big tent and out of sight. Beckett and Astrid stood across from Erebus, trading magical blows. The area was lit with blue and gold magic as they dove and threw balls of magic at him. Beckett ripped one of the other tents from the ground with his power and flung it at Erebus, wrapping him in it.
“Nyx wasn’t kidding. Her ex-husband is an asshole.” He threw his arms to the side and the tent tightened.
Kylian and Logan were doing gymnastics on the other side of the space, fighting the Crone with their swords. They moved so fast that all I could make out was the sound of clanging metal and the explosions of magic.
Astrid hunched over and sucked in a deep breath. “We need Nyx.”
The tent exploded off Erebus, and he threw a shadow at Beckett. Beckett opened a portal in front of the wave, consuming the whole thing. Sweat beaded on his head and his chest heaved with exhaustion. “Someone call Nyx!”
Grayson ran through the clearing and grabbed a bench, then hurled it at the Crone. She spun and sliced it in half with her sword. “Right. Let me get her number. I’ve got it on speed dial.”
Kylian was launched from his fight with the Crone and came flying right at us. Tilly jumped in front of me and caught him. They skidded back a few feet and came to a stop. Kylian swiped his hand over his lips, brushing away some blood. He spat on the ground. “We’re getting our asses kicked. If Nyx couldn’t find her daughters’ souls here, something is blinding her to it.”
He sprinted away from us, and the ground shot up like a trampoline, propelling him up into the air. When he started to come back down, another piece of the ground shot straight up and bounced him even higher. Soto stood in the corner, hidden away and using her powers over rocks to help him. He came down and slashed his sword through Erebus. It didn’t hurt the Greek. He simply turned to fog and then reformed. Soto lifted pebbles off the ground and began firing them like bullets. Logan retreated back while the Crone and Erebus dodged and dove out of the way.
Grayson snapped his fingers. “How do we interrupt the bloody magical block?”
Astrid nodded. “You’re right. She must be doing some kind of magic. We’ve got to do something to stop it. I’ve got an idea. When you see her, all of you focus on Erebus. Tilly, Beckett, Maze, and I got the Crone.” They nodded and began to creep toward Erebus. Astrid opened a portal and stuck her head inside it. “Yo, I need your expertise.”
Medusa sauntered through the portal in silky, purple pajamas. Her snakes were tied on top of her head with a fluffy matching scrunchy. She wore a set of mirrored sunglasses and held a half-eaten slice of pizza. “I am trying to nurse my broken heart here.”
“I swear I will figure out how to get you your lava boyfriend. But, girl, he doesn’t fit inside… anything.”
“That’s what she said,” Beckett muttered.
“We need you to freeze her.” Astrid pointed toward the Crone.
Medusa took a bite of her pizza, then strolled toward the Crone. “Yo, cupcake.”
She caught her attention and lowered her sunglasses, peering at her over the top of them. I made sure to stand just behind her, as did the rest of us. Light flashed and the Crone turned to stone from the feet up. A hard, gray granite covered her from head to toe. An earth-shattering boom shot from her and the world shook.
Astrid held her hand up, feeling the power roll over us. “I think that’s it.”
I closed my eyes and felt her magic. There was a hole in the armor of magic she used to protect herself. It wasn’t much, but it might be enough.
The stone began to crack on one of her fingers, exposing her skin. Grayson’s eyes widened. “That’s not going to hold her.”
Astrid lifted her hands and covered the Crone in a layer of her own magic. The air shimmered, and the barrier around the Crone cracked and fell to the ground like pieces of shattered glass. “We don’t need it to hold her. Go get the shit we need!”
I grabbed Tilly’s hand and we ran for the Crone’s tent just as she uncracked completely. Medusa jumped in front of her and turned her to stone once more. Again, she cracked free, and again, Medusa froze her. The Crone was gaining strength. We had to hurry.
Medusa rubbed at her eyes “Does anyone have Visine?”
Just then the wind kicked up and a dark tornado floated down the lane of tents, wrecking whatever was left of the circus. Erebus jumped back from Logan, Kylian, and Soto, “Shit, you called my wife?”
The tornado of shadows stopped dead and Nyx appeared there with her jagged vines spread around her, ready to fire. She put her hands on her hips. “Ex-wife, you bastard. And when I fix our girls, I will unleash them on you as payback, asshole.”
Erebus took one look at her and then to the Crone. He began to retreat in the opposite direction, turning himself into that thick fog and slithering away.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Nyx whirled into that tornado of darkness and followed him across the clearing and into the woods, destroying everything in her path.
I ran into the tent and stopped just in front of her altar. The smell of death and decay filled the room. Caged animals hung from the ceiling. They squawked and squeaked at me, shaking them back and forth. At the back of the room was a bookshelf with books as old as time. There, just on the other side of the tent, were the vials with glowing white spirits in them. When I reached up to grab one, a jolt of electricity went through me. “They’re protected by magic. I have to break it.”
