Page 71 of Spelling Disaster

“Maybe your friends and family need to know your little secret,” he continues. “Don’t you think?”

All eyes fall to me again in a sort of military movement. And for a moment, just a tiny moment, their eyes clear and they focus on me with a clarity that I know is his doing as well.

“Tell them, Yasmine, howyouare responsible for this torture, for the destruction of everything they have held sacred.” His voice drops to an all too human purr.

I bite down on my lip and refuse to answer.

It’s not me. I’m not the one. I’m nobody.

“Perhaps you need a bit more to push you to answer, then. To act.”

The Horned God steps back with his arm raised and the vines part, dragging three new bodies into the circle around us. No, I correct with horror dawning, four.

He has Blaire. Remi, Atlas, and…Theo.

No. No, no.

I’m too scared to move, and standing in place is nearly impossible with the way my blood thickens and shifts inside me like insects.

“The destitution has to count for something,” the Horned God says. “The reason you were confined to this library, this place, is because theyallknew you were too powerful. The one destined to ascend to the highest position of Clerics known. To sit at my side.”

I can’t tear my eyes away from Theo, but staring at him for too long will only show how important he is to me. Although I suppose the Horned God has already figured it out.

“I will never sit at your side. I refuse to ally myself with a man like you. That’s right, a man. You only got to this position by stealing power from others, not out of your own merit.”

There is nothing human about him anymore, not even the small shred of humanity I thought I’d heard in his voice.

“That’s fine. Your agreement is not necessary. I only want your magic.”

There’s no warning of his impending attack until he sends a ball of fire flinging straight at me. Screaming, I duck, hands going overhead with the book a terrible shield. His attack lands true and the fire sets the book alight until I’m left holding a handful of ashes.

“No.” The word explodes out of me in a harsh and burning whisper.

The ashes from the book, his prison, slowly sift through my fingers.

That’s it, we’re done. There’s no chance of getting him back in now. He’s destroyed his own prison and I let him. So easily. So fast.

If I’m really as powerful as he thinks I am then I wouldn’t have allowed him to do such a thing. What can I do now that the only thing that can contain him is destroyed?

I’m helpless. Whatever magic I’m supposed to have has failed me now.

“Yasmine!”

I shake my head, the wind picking up around us, blowing the leaves of the vines but not dislodging them.

“Yas, remember your training!” It’s Mom’s voice, but that’s impossible. She’s still under his spell.

The Horned God controls everyone just like he controlled me and got me to bring the book right to him.

“Your training, the books, the portals. The book destroyed was once created by a witch like you. You have to—”

She cuts off on a gargle as the spell is reactivated and clicked into place, keeping her silent again.

“What are you going to do, little witch?” The Horned God squares off against me and the pavement beneath his feet shakes with each step he takes.

“Do you really believe you’re capable of facing me and winning? Or is it just the delusional mind of yours? The one who prefers to live in fantasies rather than reality? All your power, wasted,” he continues.

I cast a hand out in front of me, a spell for protection rippling out from my outstretched palm and lashing against the Horned God. He glances down at the spot where the spell hit and bounced off of him. His eyes are indulgent when he looks back at me.

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