Page 36 of Tangle of Lust and Lethargy

Justice’s clothes were torn and stained as he moved with inhuman speed, fending off Garrick and Maggie with his barehands. His usually warm eyes blazed with a primal fury that sent a shiver down my spine.

Garrick stood a few feet away, his hands glowing with barely contained magical energy as he hurled spell after spell at Justice and Maggie. And Maggie…oh god, Maggie.

She was a blur of fur and fangs, twice the size of a normal wolf. Her dark coat was matted with blood. Hers, Justice’s, Garrick’s, I couldn’t tell. She snapped and snarled at Garrick, the love of her life.

This was bad. Nightmarish bad. Never-waking-up bad.

The chaos was escalating rapidly. If I didn’t act fast, my friends would tear each other apart. Justice’s vampire strength was on full display as he grappled with a snarling Maggie, her wolf form snapping dangerously close to his throat. Garrick’s magic crackled in the air, barely controlled, threatening friend and foe alike.

How long could Justice keep this up? He must be working on pure adrenaline. This was a life-or-death situation. This combat would drain all his energy, inching him closer and closer to death.

“Stop!” I screamed, but the cacophony of growls, shouts, and the sizzle of wayward spells swallowed my voice.

Movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention. I whipped my head toward the trees surrounding the clearing, and my blood ran cold. Dozens of glowing red eyes peered out from the darkness, blinking in and out of existence like twisted Christmas lights.

“What the hell?” I muttered, squinting for a better look.

The eyes vanished as quickly as they appeared, leaving me to question if I’d imagined them. But a nagging feeling in my gut told me otherwise. Could they be the lust demons? The thought sent a shiver down my spine.

An image flashed in my mind. The flying monkeys fromThe Wizard of Ozbut infinitely more sinister. These creatures, whatever they were, radiated a malevolence that made my skin crawl. They were watching, waiting…but for what?

To see who would fall and who would triumph?

I wouldn’t give them the sick satisfaction. Was Maci lurking in the shadows, too, betting on who would win?

Time to put an end to this Game of Thrones fight.

I shook my head, forcing myself to focus on the immediate threat. My friends were still locked in combat, oblivious to the lurking danger in the woods. Justice had Maggie pinned, but she was writhing furiously, her powerful legs kicking up clods of bloodied earth. Garrick swayed on his feet, magical exhaustion evident in his pale face and trembling hands.

“I have to stop this,” I murmured, gripping the Mirror of Aethereal tightly. “Before they kill each other. Before those things decide to join in.”

The weight of the hourglass under my arm and the compass in my other hand reminded me how far I’d come. I couldn’t falter now. Not when we were so close.

I replaced the artifacts in my backpack, inhaled deeply and stepped forward, trying to figure out whose attention to get first. The face in the ice palace had said to show the mirror to my friends. It was supposed to break the demons’ spell. But how would I show them when they didn’t even acknowledge me, let alone the mirror?

A twig cracked somewhere in the darkness, followed by the rustle of leaves. My arms broke out in gooseflesh. The lust demons had to still be here. The glowing red eyes were gone, but the feeling of being watched lingered, oppressive and unnerving.

The chaotic scene before me shifted suddenly. Maggie, caught in the crossfire between Justice and Garrick, took a powerful blow that sent her sprawling. She rolled across theground, leaving streaks of red in her wake, her fur matted and bloody.

“Maggie!” I cried, my voice cracking with desperation.

At the sound of her name, Maggie’s head snapped toward me. But the eyes that met mine weren’t the warm, familiar ones I knew. These were feral, filled with a rage that didn’t belong to my friend. She snarled, lips curling back to reveal sharp fangs. The fur along her spine stood straight up, making her already massive form seem even more imposing.

My heart raced as Maggie lowered herself, muscles bunching as if preparing to pounce. Time seemed to slow. Behind her, Justice and Garrick were still locked in fierce combat. Justice’s vampire speed was a blur as he dodged Garrick’s magical attacks, the air crackling with energy. Neither showed any sign of stopping or even noticing what was happening with Maggie.

In that moment, instinct took over. I thrust the Mirror of Aethereal forward, pointing it directly at Maggie. “Please work,” I whispered, not even sure what I expected to happen.

For a terrifying second, nothing changed. Then, slowly, I saw a shift in Maggie’s eyes. The feral rage faded, replaced by confusion. Her snarl softened, her jaw going slack. She tilted her head, looking at me with a bewilderment that was so characteristically Maggie that I almost cried in relief.

To my amazement, Maggie lowered her head in what could only be described as a bow. As she did, a strange, smoky substance seeped from her mouth like a noxious fog, dissipating into the blood-soaked ground at her feet.

“What the—” I started to say, but an ear-piercing shriek that seemed to come from everywhere at once cut me off.

The sound was like nothing I’d ever heard before. Part scream, part howl, with an undertone that made my bones vibrate. My mind flashed to the glowing red eyes in the trees.

“A lust demon?” I wondered aloud, my voice barely audible over the continuing shriek.

The smoky substance that had left Maggie was now completely gone, seemingly absorbed by the earth. As the shrieking faded, Maggie was coming back to herself. But when I turned to Justice and Garrick, my heart sank. They were still fighting, oblivious to what had happened with Maggie or the unearthly shriek that pierced the air.

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