Page 26 of The Fearless Witch

I reached to shake him awake, but something grabbed me from behind again, yanking me away. I fell, rolling several times until I crashed into a soft, warm body. Looking up, I stared at Nym through teary eyes, his expression only growing more worried.

“Run,” he hissed, pushing me away just as something rammed into him with a roar.

I staggered to my feet and ran through the dark, familiar corridors. I could feel the fighting behind me, hear Nym’s threatening snarls, but I kept going, knowing he’d be alright. He always was.

The floor abruptly ended, and I flew forward, falling down a flight of stairs I was almost certain wasn’t there before. Pain exploded everywhere. I didn’t stop at the bottom of it—I kept rolling until I crashed into a large stain-glass window with a red-haired woman on it. The shards tore my skin as it shattered, a million tiny pieces sinking deep into my flesh.

The ground was softer than I expected. Spitting dirt, I realized I hadn’t landed on the cobblestone before the mansion, but the garden instead. Except, there was barely anything left of it. The herbs and flowers were uprooted, the trees broken in half as if a hurricane had passed through the place, and in its wake, instead of debris, it had left even more bodies.

Twisted and broken beyond what a living being could survive, they all stared at me with glassy eyes while I dragged my feet through the wreckage. I saw Chester first, his pristine uniform ruined and his neck twisted backward; next to him lay Julia and Kevin, clinging to each other with horror warping their features instead of gentle smiles. A pained sob escaped my mouth as I staggered back, shaking my head. Two more familiar faces caught my attention, and I turned around and threw up. The image of Lily and Jake trapped beneath the ruins with their bodies mangled refused to disappear even when I closed my eyes.

More corpses lie around them—humans, Fae, shifters, even witches. All familiar, all dead.

A roar came from the house behind me and I looked back, searching the windows for Nym’s hulking form. I screamed when something grabbed my ankle, kicking in panic, but as my gaze landed on a human hand, I froze.

Laying in a pool of his own blood, Malakai smiled at me despite the pain etched in his features. His legs were torn off, left arm broken in several places. The earth surrounding him was charred like all life and magic had been sucked from it, the plants withered and dead.

“No,” I whispered as I dropped to my knees, catching his good hand and pressing it against my chest. Cold, he was so cold. My eyes blurred from the burning tears and when he opened his mouth to speak, I held my breath. The seconds dragged and dragged until his hand slacked in my grip, his beautiful purple eyes going vacant.

This wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real. They couldn’t be dead.

When something snatched me from behind again, I was no longer surprised. The cuts and bruises from being dragged hardly registered until a giant black form collided with my attacker. The smell of sulfur and smoke filled my lungs as I rolled to a stop.

“I told you to run,” Nym said when I pushed myself up. One of his arms hung lifelessly by his body, his fur and skin torn in places like some wild animal had tried to tear a chunk out of him.

“What’s the point?” I croaked, pushing myself on my wobbly feet. “You can’t outrun a nightmare.”

Nym reached for me when I tripped, but I raised my hand to stop him. Taking a deep breath and squaring my shoulders, I turned around in search of what I expected to see next. It took only a second to find him, standing not too far away from us.

No, not standing.

Kneeling.

My eyes raked over Roman’s battered form, his arms spread as thick, rotting vines encircled his entire body, keeping him in place. The sky behind him was turning pink and even before I took the first step, I knew I’d never reach him in time.

He raised his head. The hope in his eyes broke my heart.

“You came,” he whispered, straining against his binds, but their thorns only dug deeper. I could almost feel their bite into my skin, the pain from the torn flesh and dripping desperation. The sun peeked behind the horizon, sliding up his feet and melting the skin and muscles like ice under a flame. Roman screamed, and I found myself screaming with him.

I ran. I ran faster than I had ever run in my life while the fire crawled over his stomach, drawing closer and closer to his heart. I tripped and crashed onto the ground, looking up just as the flesh over his ribs melted, revealing what lay underneath.

I reached a hand toward him, my fingers balling into a fist.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, tears pouring from my eyes. “I love you.”

I knew this wasn’t real, yet… if that was true, then why did it hurt so much?

Roman’s eyes found mine a second before the sun devoured his black, still heart. He didn’t scream this time, his body growing slack while the rest of him fell apart. A sob tore from me as I watched his bones fall to the ground, finally free from the vines. The wind picked up his ash, carrying it toward the bright sky.

I took a deep breath, trying to push down the despair that stole my strength. When I felt the presence creep behind me again, my rage finally rose above the heartbreak. I lashed out, sending a torrent of magic toward the invisible hands that had taken everything away from me.

The spell exploded on impact, but as the smoke cleared, there was nothing there. Alone in the deafening silence, I pushed myself up and waited.

The crunch of soft earth made me spin again, both hands raised at the ready. The figure that appeared seemingly out of nowhere stopped, her magic glowing like a halo.

“Mariam,” I spat, and her sweet smile widened.

“Took you long enough.” She shrugged, looking around with a note of disgust. Her eyes landed on Roman’s smoldering bones and she kicked them, snickering when they rolled away. “I had to keep myself busy while you crawled out of the hole you were hiding in. They didn’t have to die, but—”

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