Page 114 of How to Seduce a Slender

Chapter Forty-Two:

Melody

Itwasweirdknowingshe was going to die and yet waking up.

She blinked open ghostly eyes, seeing a world of snow and ice. As her vision cleared, she realized she was far out in the haunted forest, just beyond where she’d ended up with Giovanni. She stepped, barefoot, over the frost toward where she recalled seeing the cave. A soft humming lured her forward. Her body floated, not really sinking down, but she was still making the motions of walking. She even watched her footing as she stepped over a crunched log in the snow. The air was quiet except for that lullaby that tugged her toward the mouth of the cave.

Stepping through its open maw, she saw the glow of a fire pit roaring to life as Persephone dropped things into a cauldron over it. She hummed happily to herself and danced around the massive cavern. It was decorated like a mansion with an expensive rug, vanity full of crystal accents, and a massive four poster bed in the back. Persephone took up another book, plucked the eyeballs out of the front of it, and dropped the tome into the bubbling brew. Then, tossing her head back, she dropped the eyeballs into her mouth. She happily swung her hips with every sickening pop and crunch.

When she stopped, her wicked gaze turned to Melody looming in the cave with her. “Oh, Wolfie, what’s that look for?”

“I hate you a little less now,” Melody pouted, shuffling forward across the floor. She avoided stepping on the dead bear rug but couldn’t feel the other one that was currently being turned to cinders by the spitting fire under the cauldron.

“I had a feeling you’d feel that way,” she chuckled, extending a hand to Melody. She slumped into her arm as Persephone pulled her into a side hug. As she worked to toss things over her shoulder into the cauldron. “Then I take it, this isn’t a Lich projection and that this is your soul returning to me.”

Melody nodded, sighing. “I know why you made me kill Giovanni. She collared Smith the same way. She buried a blade in his chest. She engraved her spell onto Giovanni’s heart. When I broke the dagger in his chest, it broke.”

“But I’m taking the rather massive hole in your neck as evidence that she did not go out without a fight.” Persephone hugged Melody tighter. “Can I tell you a secret, Wolfie?”

Melody nodded, unable to do more than let herself be scrunched by Persephone’s tight embrace.

“Necromancers, they’re really a lazy bunch. They find one or two spells they like and just use that to fix all their problems. Our little necromancer was trying to conquer the world with an army of undead. Too bad it didn’t work out the way she hoped.”

Melody shrugged. “She kind of won in a way. She got to collar Smith.”

Persephone eyed the ghost before pressing a motherly kiss to her ghostly hair. “Come, you might be a floating soul at the moment, but you can still toss things in a cauldron.”

Melody numbly grabbed up things off the vanity in the cave. It took a lot of concentration to keep the thing in her hand and keep it from falling through her wispy visage. She dropped a few things that the crow scooped up off the floor and tossed in the cauldron for her.

“Why are you boiling her things?”

“That’s acid, little Wolfie. I told you, I don’t want anyone stumbling onto her chaos. And I love chaos. I’m the Goddess of Chaos.”

“I thought you were the goddess of lost souls?” Melody arched a ghostly brow, teasing Persephone. She flashed her a cheeky grin.

“I am that and so much more. I’m very complex, Wolfie. Now, are you going to help me or not?” Persephone winked as she took another book out of a drawer, ripped a few pages out to toss them to the fire and the rest went into the cauldron.

Melody worked to pluck and drop things into the cauldron as Persephone hummed, dancing around the room. Even as the cauldron splashed and bubbled, it didn’t do anything to her wavery reflection.So, I’m dead. I’m actually dead.

“Oh, don’t pout, Wolfie.” Persephone held up a large map of King’s Fall covered in tiny notes and marker. “You won’t be dead for long.”

“What?” Melody gasped, dropping a handful of gems into the cauldron.

“What do you think she was attempting to do? It feels so strange to collar the Slender. I mean, sure, your lawyer bedfellow is handy in a fight. Especially well fed, he’s rather snappy. And they are powerful. But why not go for the Lich? Or, dragons fire, do you think she was going to challenge Dahlia? Try to capture The Hungry One herself? Hmm,” Persephone tapped a long finger against her chin.

Melody blinked rapidly, spiraling. What had Elyth wanted? Hadn’t it been obvious. “She wanted to be the strongest witch ever known.”

Persephone lurched, halting mid-step. Her head snapped to Melody with wide, curious eyes. A wicked grin curled up her lips. “You don’t say.”

“She told her grandmother she was going to be the strongest witch there ever was. That she just wanted power…why?” Melody glanced around for other clues.

Persephone snickered, “What an audacious ambition. Maybe she had other plans. Hopes that maybe she could use her collared Slender and whatever other dead things she could gather up to challenge me. Well, that explains the spell circle under her bed. What silly ambitions.”

“If there’s anything I know about Elyth, it’s that she had all the audacity.” Melody huffed as she picked up the last bit out of the vanity.

“Hmm,” Persephone made a non-committal noise. Then, she shrugged, tossing her arms out to the side. “Guess we’ll never know, huh, Wolfie? Come on, that things bound to blow soon and I need to get you back inside your body.”

Melody scrambled across the floor, following the witch back out into the snow. The gurgling cauldron began to pop and overflow, filling the cavern with smoke and fumes as it ate through everything in sight. Melody and Persephone were among the trees when the cavern itself cracked and fell apart. Persephone dusted off her palms for a job well done. The dead werewolf stared at it in disbelief.

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