Page 122 of Elora and the Crow

He jumped to his feet and yanked his knife from the dead zombie’s head, as Ronin bent over and gagged. “Oh God, I have zombie brains in my mouth. I need a Tic Tac.”

He gagged again before straightening and wiping his mouth. He grinned at Jonah. “Hey, what’s up?”

“What are you doing here?” Jonah asked as Cece lifted her foot and, with a look of disgust on her face, stomped on the zombie’s head. Her foot went right through its skull with a slippery squelch.

“Oh, you know, just taking a walk in the woods, heard the commotion,” Ronin said as Cece joined them. He studied her boot-clad foot. “Girl, you’re never gonna get the brains out of those laces.”

“Cece,” Jonah said, a wave of love washing over him for the curvy witch. A blast of yellow light hit the tree behind them, and the tree exploded with a deafening bang.

Ronin grabbed Cece and dove to the left, pulling her down with him and covering her body with his. Jonah hit the ground as well, covering his head with his arms, the cold snow filling his nose and burning his face as tree branches landed on him with heavy thuds. Pine needles poked his skull, and he grunted in pain when a branch smashed into his left knee.

He heaved the branches off his body and stood up. Ronin was helping Cece to her feet and she gave him a dazed look as a shriek shattered the cold air.

Jonah whipped around, staring at Malencia as she burst into bright blue flames. Elora stood a few feet away, her voice rising and falling as she spoke the incantation. Malencia screamed again before the fire died out, and she glared at Elora.

“You bitch! That fucking hurt!” Her hair was smoking, and Jonah could see burn marks on her face. Elora had broken her protection spell.

Malencia screamed an incantation and a stream of yellow light erupted from her hands and shot toward Elora. It was met by the stream of blue light shining out from Elora’s hands, and Jonah watched in disbelief as both witches rose in the air, hovering a few feet above the ground as their lights pulsed between them.

“What are they doing?” Ronin asked as Elora and Malencia stared at each other, their mouths moving as they both spoke rapidly.

Jonah didn’t understand what they said, but Cece said, “They’re trying to curse each other. If Elora’s light touches Malencia, it’ll kill her and…”

“Malencia’s will kill Elora,” Jonah said.

“It was more exciting when they were blowing up trees,” Ronin said. He raised his gun and fired at Malencia. The bullet dropped from the air a few feet from Malencia, and Ronin frowned before firing again. The second bullet dropped neatly next to the first.

“She’s using a protection spell,” Cece said.

“Shit, she was burned, and I thought maybe Elora broke the protection spell,” Jonah said.

“I think she did, for a few minutes anyway,” Cece said.

“Can you break it?” Jonah asked.

Cece hesitated before shaking her head. “No, my magic isn’t strong enough.”

“We just supposed to stand here and stare at them, or do you think we can sneak up behind Malencia and do the old stabby-stab to her while she’s distracted?” Ronin asked.

“Not with the protection spell in place,” Cece said.

“Maybe, but it can’t hurt to try, right?” Ronin said.

“I tried to stab her earlier, and it didn’t do a fucking thing,” Jonah said.

“Unless Elora breaks the protection spell, we can’t harm her,” Cece said.

“Well, shit,” Ronin said. “Then what are we… uh oh.”

Jonah followed his gaze, staring at the horde of zombies emerging from the trees. “Fuck me, more zombies.”

“Who brings zombies to a magic fight?” Ronin asked before studying Jonah. “How’s the old PTSD? Don’t suppose you got into therapy and solved it? Because if so, now’s the time to shapeshift. Might I suggest a hippo?”

“A hippo?” Cece said.

“Most dangerous land mammal there is, am I right?” Ronin said. “Stomp those undead bastards into the ground.”

“I still can’t shift,” Jonah said, shame and anger spiraling through him.

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