Page 192 of Malicent
Screams erupt from the halls, followed by the sound of fighting.
Iris.Felix.
I focus, ripping open two portals. Twyx and Nyx emerge with their fangs bared and their eyes blazing. They flank me instantly, growling at the threat ahead.
I sprint toward the ballroom, ignoring the maze of halls. I blast through a few walls, uncaring who sees or what I destroy
This wasn’t supposed to happen. I wanted to freak him out because he deserved fear. That was all.
I wanted to rattle him, to show him what sedatives feel like when they blur the lines between grief and madness, to leave him shaking from a nightmare of loss, the way I’ve lived mine.
Not cause loss for Iris and Felix.
Nyx and Twyx rip through any twisted crows that draw too close. Their snakes lash out with venom, shredding wings, hissing death.
Once I finally reach the ballroom, it is an ocean of red.
Blood streaks the marble floors. Ripped bodies litter the space like broken dolls. Screams mix with the sound of flapping wings as creatures pluck victims from the ground, gorging in midair.
Kalix guards Tyran like a steel wall. Iris stands beside them, a green aura pulsing from her skin. Several crows hang in the air, stilled by her power. Others circle above like puppets waiting for command.
Some relief washes over me when I see them in one piece.
I move with Nyx and Twyx, jumping over bodies, my feet slipping through blood as I vault to Tyran’s side.
“Millicent!” Felix shouts, eyes wide.
“What the hell is happening?” Kalix demands.
“I—I don’t know.” My voice cracks. I meet his eyes.
Kalix’s expression turns to stone. “Millicent.”
His voice is cold steel.
“What have you done?”
“Forget whose fault it is. Just fucking handle it.” Felix snaps.
I’ve never heard him like this, rage dripping from every word. His eyes land on me, full of disappointment and anger. That look burns deeper than any curse ever could. I turn away, unable to face it. Not now.
Taking inventory of the room, I let Twyx and Nyx roam free, slaughtering as many as they are able.
They surge forward, their jaws splitting down the sides until four panels of gruesome teeth fan wide. Their tongues lash out like spears, dragging the creatures from the air to the floor.
From the corners of the ballroom, the shadows obey me. I call them in, shape them in my mind into lances—long, deadly, and sharpened to perfection. The air thickens as they begin to take form around me.
I let them fly and send my lances toward their forms. Crows shriek and spiral down, bodies punctured and split as the lances pierce through bone and muscle. One lunges for my side, too fast to dodge.
Nyx is faster.
His tongue impales it mid-flight, and with a guttural roar, he launches upward. They crash across the floor, limbs snapping, until Nyx’s four-jawed maw closes over one’s skull, severing it cleanly.
My heart pounds. I need to end this. I need to close the box.
“Iris!” I yell over the chaos. “Do you know anything about the artifacts in the locked room?”
She glances back. One of her controlled crows drags a corpse to her. “No, but Cage does! Where the hell is he?” She hammers into the crow, muttering an incantation before It rises under her command.
