Page 45 of Tangle of Lust and Lethargy

I spun, suddenly aware of how exposed I was. The clearing around the pool offered no cover, no place to hide. My earsstrained for any sound beyond the gentle lapping of water as the stream fed into the pond. But there was nothing. No rustle of leaves, no snapping of twigs, not even the call of a bird. The silence was absolute and somehow more terrifying than any noise.

The sunlight that had seemed so welcoming moments ago now felt like a spotlight, marking me for watching eyes. My grip on the mirror tightened, my palms slick with sweat.

As I turned back to my petrified friends, questions raced through my mind. How long had they been like this? Was there a way to reverse it? And most pressingly, where were the demons responsible?

The stillness of the scene was a stark contrast to the chaos of my thoughts. Garrick and Maggie were frozen in a moment of desperate battle while I stood free but utterly alone.

My gaze dropped to the mirror in my trembling hands, hope and desperation warring within me. This artifact, a simple piece of glass and metal, had proven to be our most powerful ally in this nightmarish realm. My heart raced as a wild thought took hold. Could it undo the sloth demons’ cruel magic?

With renewed purpose, I surged forward. Garrick and Maggie were so close, their frozen forms a silent cry for help. My friends, my family. I couldn’t bear to leave them like this.

Suddenly, a bone-chilling snarl ripped through the air, stopping me dead in my tracks. My blood ran cold as a dark shadow passed overhead, blotting out the sun’s warmth. Maci. The air seemed to tremble as she descended, her wings casting great swaths of darkness across the clearing.

Terror clawed at my insides as I watched her chest glow an ominous red, the promise of destruction building within her. The heat radiating from her was palpable.

In that moment of paralyzing fear, something deep within me snapped. A surge of protective fury overwhelmed myterror. Without conscious thought, I thrust the mirror forward, positioning it before Garrick and Maggie like a shield.

Time seemed to slow. I watched, breath held, as life flickered in their eyes. They blinked, confusion and surprise breaking through their stony expressions. A sob of relief caught in my throat. It was working!

Maci’s shriek of rage shattered the moment. The sound was primal, full of thwarted vengeance. As if in slow motion, I saw the stream of fire burst from her mouth, a ribbon of death hurtling toward us.

Now fully animated, Garrick moved with supernatural speed. His arm wrapped around my waist while the other snagged Maggie. The world tilted as he leaped, carrying us toward the pond.

We hit the water with a deafening splash. The cold shock of it drove the air from my lungs. But as I submerged, I felt the water heating, bubbling, and churning as Maci’s fire turned the serene pond into a scalding cauldron.

Underwater, held tight in Garrick’s grasp, a maelstrom of emotions washed over me. Relief at freeing my friends warred with the terror of our current situation. Gratitude for Garrick’s quick thinking mingled with a gnawing fear of what awaited when we surfaced.

My lungs burned, screaming for air as the seconds ticked by with agonizing slowness. My heart pounded, each beat a desperate plea for oxygen. The last precious bubbles of air slipped from my lips, rising in a silvery trail toward the surface that seemed impossibly far away.

Raw, primal panic surged through me like an electric current. It clouded my thoughts, turning rational decision-making into pure animal instinct. My arms and legs thrashed, clawing at the water around me. Each movement felt sluggish, as if the liquid was fighting against my desperate bid for survival.

The cruel irony of the situation wasn’t lost on me, even in my oxygen-deprived state. I faced an impossible choice. Stay submerged and drown, or surface and face Maci’s fiery wrath. Death by water or death by fire. Was this to be my fate after everything we’d endured?

The previously cold water pressed against my skin with increasing heat, growing warmer by the second, a stark reminder of the inferno above. The contrast between the suffocating depth and the scorching surface paralyzed me.

Spots danced at the edges of my vision, a warning that my time was running out. The instinct for self-preservation overrode all else. My body made the choice that my mind couldn’t. I had to breathe, consequences be damned.

With the last reserves of my strength, I kicked upward, driven by the primal need for air. As I clawed through the water, a thought cut through the panic. Where were Garrick and Maggie? Had they already surfaced? Or were they, like me, caught in this watery limbo between two deadly fates?

As I rose through the water, lungs burning and mind reeling, I held the mirror ready to use on any demons waiting to lunge at me.

I burst through the surface, and someone grabbed me and yanked me from the pond. I spat out water, kicking and flailing my arms.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

A firm hand patted my back, and the impact sent shockwaves through my water-logged body. “Sawyer, calm down. It’s me.” The voice was familiar, an anchor in the chaos of my senses.

I coughed violently, and water spewed from my mouth and nose. My throat felt raw, as if I’d swallowed fire instead of water. As my vision slowly cleared, I stared into a pair of eyes I knew all too well. Yet, instead of the warmth and love I was accustomed to seeing there, they blazed with anger and disappointment.

“Justice?” I rasped.

His jaw clenched tight, a muscle twitching at its corner. His hair was disheveled, droplets of water clinging to the strands. Despite the anger in his eyes, his hands were gentle as they steadied me.

“You broke your promise,” he stated, his voice low and controlled with an undercurrent of hurt that cut deeper than any shouted accusation could have.

The pond had been nearly boiling, but out here, I was freezing. My teeth chattered, and I shivered. “No, I didn’t,” I sputtered. “I promised…not to follow you back…to Garrick’s house.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Splitting hairs, are we?”

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