Page 123 of Witch Unexpected
“We don’t have any iron bombs,” Poppy points out. “And there are four revenants.”
“Get some bombs and grab the amplification crystal. We’ll start the negation spell. Move fast.”
Poppy sprints away and the rest of us run onto the roof, straight at the revenants. The negation chant is already bubbling past my lips, and Jessie and Brie join me a moment later.
Our voices rise strong and sure, and the revenants’ movements slow. But a negation spell isn’t meant to take down more than one revenant at a time, not without a crystal to amplify it.
We’re gonna have to wing it till Poppy gets back.
The wolves keep attacking, helping to keep the revenants busy while we wrap them in the negation threads and begin to pull them tight.
My diaphragm aches with the effort of holding these creatures in thrall, my throat burns with the twisted, awful words—the only words that can unmake these creatures.
Jessie and Brie flank me as we move in. It’s working; we’re doing it. Fucking hell.
My gaze flicks to the left to see Cora and Bramble battling the banshees. They’re quick on their feet, fast. The elders are safe, huddled together, their chants mingling with ours and working to mute the banshees’ cries.
All we need is Poppy and we’re good.
Movement by the exit. The flash of bubble-gum hair.
Yes.
Poppy races toward us, flinging an iron bomb in the banshee’s direction as she passes, neutralizing that threat. She’s almost with us, crystal gripped in her hand, ready for activation, but she trips and falls. A shadow darts across the ground, too fast for me to catch what it is.
A gust of cold air slaps my cheek. I turn toward the revenants, my heart squeezing painfully as I realize I’ve stopped chanting. I pick up the words just as a barbed tentacle whizzes past me and buries itself in Brie’s chest.
For a moment, the world is still and silent. My brain refuses to compute what it’s seeing, but when it does, my scream shatters the bubble.
Blood spurts from Brie’s mouth, her eyes go wide, lock onto mine, and then she’s whisked up into the air. I make a grab for her ankle but miss. The revenant flicks its tentacle and dislodges my friend. My second scream is stuck in my throat as I watch her make an arch through the air and land with a crack. Her neck… Her neck is at an odd angle.
Another crack and my cheek erupts in a fiery sting.
“Chant!” Jessie screams in my face.
Poppy is beside me with the glowing amplification crystal, tears streaming down her cheeks, mouth moving in the negation spell.
I tear my gaze from my best friend’s dead body and break into a chant.
* * *
CORA
Brie was dead. Oh fuck. Oh, fucking hell.
“More revenants!” Leif ran toward me. “You need to go. There are more coming.”
The ground was bubbling all around us.
I rushed toward the elders. “Can The Elites take them all on?”
“No,” Anna said. “Butwecan if we finish the ritual.”
Sten appeared, holding Charlotte's hand. “I found her. I think she’s in shock.”
Charlotte trembled, her eyes like saucers.
“Get her to the statue and complete the ritual,” Anna repeated. “It’s the only way.”
