Page 39 of Midlife Demigod Unexpected

She squinted her eyes and gave a slight nod of her head. Her eyes shifted to the left. I knew exactly what she meant because I was planning on going to the right. In reality we couldn’t fight all the zombies, but if we could get past them or above them, there was a pretty good chance one of us would be able to get away. Zombies couldn’t outrun people. Even these, which seemed to have a decent pace. However, they didn’t have a stop button. They would keep coming and coming and coming.

I lifted my eyes upward, so she had a general idea of what my plan was. There were some low hanging branches above us, and my thought was if I could get into them, I’d have a chance. I glanced over and saw Chloe was thinking the same thing. Shit, she was a vampire. She probably had the best chance of any of us to get out of here unscathed.

With some sort of “we’re all going to scatter“ plan established through eye contact, nods and shifting of eyes, we seemed ready to go. Only, I felt incredibly unorganized and not ready for this. The options were grim. Following Styx to the river was a suicide mission. I’d rather face all the zombies in the cemetery.

Styx turned, expecting the pressure from the zombies to get us following her in some obedient fashion down into the crypt.

No fucking way.

Chloe sprang into the air, transformed into a bat, and was on her way higher and higher, out of reach of the zombies and Styx. The other coven members were all scrambling to use magic, but the zombies grossly outnumbered us.

Suddenly a portal opened right next to me. Rushing air blew hard against my face. I leaped into the air, higher than a mere human could achieve, and landed with agility on a branch in the large oak tree, whose branches spread above me. It had the searing taint of a demon portal, but it was Morel who stepped out, flanked by two cambions. Obviously, they had gone to the highest bidder.

“Nobody move,” Morel commanded as wraiths slid in behind him.

I was already up in the branches and not about to take directions from anybody. That hadn’t happened since I’d moved out of my mother’s house when I was eighteen and I wasn’t about to start now. I scrambled up higher into the tree with zombies shrieking after me.

The wraiths rushed towards the coven as three locked their sites on me.

“You’re all going to die one way or the other,” Morel said almost apologetically. “This way your death will have some meaning. You will free your ancestors of their due to Styx and you will help bring about the unity of the demigods and the Dark Fae.”

“Newsflash: problem is already being worked on.” I tossed the words down to him with one eye on the wraiths. “I’ve got another plan.” I held up my hands, leading a huge ball of golden light surrounding them. I took careful aim and then threw the orbs the size of bowling balls in two different directions. One upward at the wraiths and one down toward the zombies.

Morel screamed as I cleared a path for me to jump down from the tree and race out of the cemetery. Chloe was flying with me. All we had to do was make it to The Estate and we would be safe. Styx would be able to come through, but she wouldn’t be able to bring anybody else through those wards.

“Get in!” Anita said, revving the engine. She was out at the front of the cemetery with her jeep idling. “The Estate has been breached.”

I jumped in the back. I heard Chloe splat on top as a bat. She quickly transformed into a human and slid into the open side window.

Drake slammed the door behind me. “Where are the others?”

I shook my head. “We need to regroup and go back and get them. Where’s my mom?”

“She’s at her house,” Anita said. “With our mom.”

“Let’s go there then,” Chloe said. “It has to be safe if your moms are there.”

Anita hit the gas and headed to my mom’s house.

“She always bragged her wards were stronger than The Estates,” I muttered, staring out of the window as we sped past the outskirts of Cougar Creek.

“They will hold,” Anita said with determination.

Mom greeted me with tears in her eyes as we pulled up to her house. We moved quickly into the house, where I knew the wards had stood the test of time. It wasn’t like Styx wouldn’t find us there, but Hilda had the protection of a long line of witches, and I was sure if my father’s power was anything to go by, he had protected her house as well.

My mom and Trina had made an altar in the middle of my mother’s living room. Mom usually preferred to cast her spells outdoors or among her plants, but right now that wasn’t a safe move. They were able to raise energy in the cauldron in front of them. It spilled over in heaping waves. It flew out from the cauldron and formed a forcefield around them that grew into the very walls.

“She won’t be able to open the portal,” Chloe mused. “It takes the full contract to be paid and she has only gotten two thirds of the payment. She’s missing you and me.”

“I think you could get out of it because you could technically bite somebody and turn them into your offspring. Then you could send them down there,” I said.

“That’s not even funny,” Chloe said, her face pinched. “I’m trying to figure out how to save our coven and you’re trying to find ways to get out of it.”

“Sorry,” I sighed. “You know that is not the case.” The strain was getting to me. My shoulders ached and my nerves were shot raw. I felt worried and tense. “We lost more than half our people. I know you say we’ve thwarted Styx’s actions, but we’ve lost two thirds of our coven.” I looked at my mom, my eyes wide with concern. “How are we going to get them back?”

My mom looked at me sadly. “You guys have to understand. This is not a game. This is a matter of life and death. I know you say you get that, but what I’m trying to say is, your friends might already be dead.”

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