Page 93 of Her Psycho Beasts

“Look,” Uncle Ben says, putting his arms up like he’s being arrested, “I’ll just take you as far as I know, and then you can do as you please. The next watch will take over soon. If I’m not back, there will be an alert.”

“Of course,” Aurelia says, glancing at Scythe withsee?eyes. “Thank you.”

We walk through the archway, me sniffing for slithery magics the entire time. Aurelia probably knows what it feels like more than me, so I just make sure nothing jumps out and tries to attack us. Uncle Ben makes a sharp turn into a room that has less light. Aurelia follows him right in.

It’s a bigger space, with black stones on the floor that feel softer on my bare feet than the other stone. There are two statues of women with serpent tails from the waist down, their hands out as if to say ‘stop’. The room beyond them is dark.

I don’t like the way it smells in here either.

“Wow,” Aurelia breathes, wandering forward to marvel at the statues like she’s Indiana Jones.

Lyle is the last to walk in.

There’s a click.

Everyone freezes.

“No one move,” Scythe rasps.

But it wasn’t my paws that did the clicking. I lunge at Uncle Ben, ripping open his shirt. Buttons go flying in all directions.

“I knew it!” I say, pointing at the curling black mark over his right man-boob.

Aurelia’s face pales in horror and she takes a step back away from him.

“Lyle, donotmove!” Scythe commands harshly.

“I’m sorry,” Ben sobs, his shoulders shaking. “I’m so sorry, Lia. I had no choice.”

Chapter 46

Aurelia

“Don’t kill him,” I say quickly to my mates. I didn’t know which one of them would be first to try. “Please. Just don’t.”

“I deserve it, Aurelia,” Uncle Ben says, tears falling from both eyes. “I really do.”

I quickly decipher the contract on his pale, exposed chest. If I came to him for help, he’d have to lead me into whatever serpent trap was closest to hold me captive. My dad must have plenty such traps all around, including at Aunt Charlotte’s House. He’d really thought of everything and knew that if I was going to anyone for help, it would be Uncle Ben.

In being so kind to me, he’d made himself a target.

“You had no choice,” I say softly, tugging his shirt back over his chest. “The best thing you can do now is go back and not raise an alarm. Can you do that?”

Uncle Ben nods, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

Savage growls ferociously.

“There’s no further instruction in the serpent contract,” I say calmly. “He’s not bound to do anything else, so we can let him go.” I turn back to a sweating Uncle Ben. My kindest relative who was really out of his league in this dark business of my father.“Leave slowly. Don’t run, otherwise you’re dead,” I advise, noting the pure violence coiling around Savage.

Uncle Ben nods, moving slowly the way we’d come. “Unravel the serpent curse on the tile.” He nods to the stone Lyle has his right sneaker on. “Be careful, sweetheart. Read the signs. I’ll try and clear a path if you come out.”

I choose to ignore his choice of wording as he rounds the corner, and when the sound of his pounding feet fades away, I return my attention to Lyle’s foot. Savage follows me closely while Scythe and Eugene examine the room for other dangers.

“Luckily for us, I’ve actually heard of a trick like this,” I say, crouching down to examine the grey tile. “Rosalina used to tell me about the protections they had in the ancient Naga temples in India and South America. My great-grandfather must have been trying to replicate that.”

“Can you undo it, angel?” Lyle asks quietly.

The tile is unmarked to the naked eye, so I shift my eyes into their eagle version. The stone sharpens in new focus and shimmery, decades-old letters appear. The instructions must have been written in blood, I decide, because of the ruddy oxidised brown colour. Serpent spells work the same as a serpent blood contract—there is an agreement made, instructions, clauses, and consequences given. In some ways, they’re like poems laced with computer code.

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