Page 6 of Villainous Greed

The strange object in the sky had been suffocating and hot. I wasn’t sure if I liked it. No matter how hard I tried to peer up, spots dotted my vision, and its brilliant beauty forced me to squint. It was strange. The Underworld was cold in comparison, but I couldn’t imagine being under the human world’s sun without water or food.

“Maybe,” I told Cloud.

It was possible that a creature carried off and ate the corpse somewhere, but what dared roam those woods while Derricklived there? I couldn’t imagine encountering anything besides his soldiers.

“I’m so hungry,” Sofia mumbled.

“If Odin mastered the spell, we’d get food!” Finn yelled.

Odin’s face reddened. “I will get it right. Don’t worry! You haven’t had to learn that spell yet.”

No, he wouldn’t master it.

I used what magic was available to me each time Odin tried, ensuring he failed. Derrick didn’t sense me tampering, but it wasn’t the first time — or twelfth. I’d been doing it for four years. When a child didn’t learn spells within a certain time, Derrick had a goon kill them. That’s what he thought happened, anyway. He never did it personally, always making one of his men. All I had to do was convince the soldier he killed the child and disposed of the body. By altering their reality and memories, that was how I saved twelve kids after those four came into my life.

It was a small number compared to the one hundred and five who died before I realized what I could do while being trapped there. Just by entering my life, those four forced me to fight evil in my way. I had no idea what happened to the saved children. Their only chance was risking the dangerous city. But escaping Derrick gave them a fighting chance—the one thing making my life bearable. Giving them the chance I’d never get. I was the only one shackled to Derrick.

The explosion spell was the last mastered. I didn’t intervene until the final training stage, helped by the spell’s difficulty anyway, avoiding suspicion with so many failing. I faced more confrontations with Derrick, but better me than them.

“You need to stay here while I get food,” I said, spotting the City of the Dead. My legs trembled at the distance—so much walking, needing to be quick. I couldn’t risk them getting closer. Derrick wasn’t the only Underworld monster. We were food for plenty of demons. I had to walk alone.

“Climb that tree. All of you.” If a creature was out there, I wouldn’t risk them being low.

“Can we go to the river after eating?” Finn asked, pinching his nose at Odin. “Odin stinks.”

Sofia snickered. “I don’t think you stink, Odin!”

“Shut up, Finn!” Odin yelled, his cheeks reddening.

Then I sensed the hunter’s intense presence from the day before and froze. How? I killed him, but I recognized that massive energy flow—how I found him before. The sheer power sizzled the air for yards around him. He wasn’t a warlock proxy like Derrick. The magic was different, maybe not magic at all. But with his youth, I suspected it hadn’t fully developed yet, like mine.

I killed him. It shouldn’t be possible he was alive. Did he fake death and then return for revenge?

I scanned the trees until I found him. My heart sank. I sensed him in the same tree I told the kids to climb, Odin already halfway up. “Odin, get down!” I shrieked.

Odin turned too fast, boots slipped on decaying bark. None of them were used to me shrieking. As his hand slid from the branch, I sent magic to catch him.

The hunter appeared, catching Odin effortlessly and setting him down.

“The hunter’s a ghost!” Sofia screeched, running to me, terrified to see the hunter back.

“Clearly, a zombie, or whatever humans call reanimated dead. He’s not see-through,” Finn said like we had time to debate it.

Coal-colored eyes narrowed on me. “Before you say boom again, explain why you’re calling me a hunter.”

I stiffened. A trick? How could he not be?

“Come here, Odin,” I said sternly, holding out my arms for him to rush into. I slowly inspected the probable hunter. His clean white shirt and dark blue pants were foreign clothing for any man in those woods.

“You’re not a hunter?” I asked.

“What am I supposed to be hunting?”

“Us!” Odin shouted.

The stranger quirked a dark brow. To avoid giving too much away, I changed the topic. “If you’re not a hunter, why were you here yesterday and today?”

The corner of his mouth lifted, and he pointed toward the city. “Observing from a distance. Sometimes you need to view from the outside to see.”

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