Page 116 of Witch Undecided
Chapter Thirty-Four
Leif
Cora’s eyes roll back in her head and she slumps. I grab her just as Tor bellows and lunges at Jasper.
The spirit winks out and appears by the kitchen.
Tor’s like a bull seeing red as he crashes across the room, desperate to get his claws into Jasper.
Jasper flicks his wrist and Tor’s thrown off his feet and sent flying across the room.
“Stop!” Jasper orders. “You attack me and you’re attacking her. It takes power to fend you off, and where the fuck do you think I get that from?”
Tor pulls himself to his feet. “Nice try. But the amulet stops you from drawing from her fully.”
“The fucking amulet’s been glitching for a week now, forcing power into me. I resisted the siphon,” Jasper says. “Still, so many pathways in if I want.” He smirks.
But I see behind the evil monster façade, because if the amulet’s been glitching, hecouldhave taken advantage at any time. But by his own admission he resisted. He didn’t take advantage and he won’t now. If Tor attacks him again, Jasper will take the hit.
Tor must come to the same conclusion because his rage ebbs. “What did you do to her?”
“Gave her the push she needs to fight this thing. She’s no ordinary witch. She’s no wolf and she isn’t human. Cora is an anomaly. A tulpa. And this infection has no idea what it’s dealing with, but if she’s going to fight it, she needs to focus entirely on it.”
“What do you mean?” Conah says. “She can fight this?”
Jasper’s mouth turns down. “She’s the only one who can.”
“There must be something we can do to help,” Sloane says.
She’s pale, eyes red-rimmed. Fuck, I’ve never seen her look so shaken.
“No,” Jasper says. “All we can do is wait.”
I look down at the woman in my arms, the woman who’s stolen my thoughts and found her way into my heart. I can’t lose her.
“Then we wait.” I swing her up into my arms and stride toward the stairs. “But I’m not fucking leaving her side.”
CORA
The world was gray, barren, and ashy. The sky low and heavy with clouds. What the fuck, Jasper? What had he done to me?
Where the fuck was I?
A rumble like thunder filled the air, and then the ground in front of me cracked and a slender gray form covered in black veins rose out of the aperture. It looked like a fucked-up tree person. Twig-like arms hung from its trunk-like body. The form was too smooth to be wood and too fractured to be stone. Its face was featureless, but slender inky veins formed a network across the surface. Malice and hunger emanated from it in waves that beat at my skin.
I took a step back.
Become one with us.The voice was like nails on a chalkboard.
“Um…no thanks.”
Join us.
Feed the hunger.
Be sated.
The voice echoed around me, which was fucked up because there was nothing for the sound to bounce off and create an echo.
