Page 98 of Sticks and Stones and Broken Bones

I took his hand and let him pull me up. “How?”

“Spread your wings and fly.”

“Really?”

He tilted his head from side to side in thought. “More or less.”

A cloud started to move in front of the sun, and I felt the temperature instantly drop. “It’s time sweetheart. I’m sorry you couldn’t stay longer.”

“Will I see you again?” I asked, hopeful that this wasn’t the only time.

“Of course,” he replied with a wide smile. “Don’t you have a day pass?”

I frowned. Did I?

“You do, trust me. And I’m sure Ares will grant you another if you ask it of him. We have plenty of time to learn all about each other, but first, you have some witches to deal with.”

I wrapped my arms about his waist and squeezed him to me in a tight hug. He laughed a little and it was a musical sound that I hoped I remembered when I got back. His lips pressed against the top of my head and a tear slipped down my cheek. Oh, what I would have given to have felt this all my life.

“Now, this is going to be uncomfortable, so apologies for this.”

“It’s okay. I’m sure it’ll be fine.” And by ‘fine’ I obviously meant I was completely freaking out about what was going to happen the minute I left here.

“It will. I’ll be seeing you soon, Raevyn. Now, go kick some butt.”

Then he slammed his hand into my chest and the world faded to nothing.

Life poured back into my veins and water poured into my lungs. I managed to get my feet onto the silt at the bottom of the water and drag myself upwards. I coughed and sputtered water, spitting it out and dragging a deep breath into my lungs. Habit and all that.

It took a minute for my senses to return, my brain still foggy from being in the water. Sounds of screams and yells, chants and curses ripped through the air and when I looked across to the beach at the edge of the lake all I saw was chaos.

Different colours of magic filled the air and shadows swirled and flew, one minute a shadow, the next a physical shape. They attacked the witches, and I could hear the swishes of blades, the thud of axes and the sounds of my guys whipping ass. A thrill ran through me at their thirst for blood. I wanted to get into the skirmish and headed towards the sand when I realised… she’d stolen my magic.

“No, she hasn’t, Raevyn. Power comes within.”

Cronus was right. Or at least, I hoped he was. I looked inside and panicked when I couldn’t feel it. No, I just had to search deeper. I closed my eyes, under the light of the full moon, and looked deep inside my core. I found a tiny little ember desperately trying to stay alight and hope fanned it into a flame. I poured more into it, fuelling it until it became an inferno.

I snapped my wings out and took to the sky, spinning through the air as I felt my power return fully. It was euphoric and I finally felt complete. Like I was who I was meant to be.

I shot down to the ground, landing like a fucking superhero – cheesy, but so cool – a sonic boom hurling the nearby witches into the air.

I stood up and scanned the chaos around me. Rook and Korbin fought like a well-oiled machine, kicking slashing and tearing limbs from creatures the witches had called from the Depths. Adrenaline started to pump through my veins at the prospect of bloodshed. Hawk let out a whoop as he drop kicked a daimon and Nox seemed to be having fun with his blades. Apollo flew through the air, dropping bodies from a great height and enjoying the way they hit the ground. And Deimos, he moved like a shadow, leaving wounds in his wake.

We could do this.

We could fucking win.

I just needed to take down the woman who had made my life a living hell.

“Oh, grandmother,” I called. “Come out, come out wherever you are.”

A strange sensation brushed against my mind, a call to arms but it didn’t come from me. My eyes locked with my grandmother across the battlefield, and I saw the smug grin curl across her face.

To my right, Rook cried out in alarm. Minions, the lowest form of daimon, crawled from the ground and started to attack us. There were so many. She was doing this. She was controlling them.

My heart dropped. We weren’t going to win this.

“Give up now, Raevyn!” she yelled. “My offer still stands. Give yourself to me willingly, and I will let them go.”

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