Page 56 of Midlife Demigod Unexpected

“Yes, but that’s a totally different thing,” Chloe said. “Destroying us was Styx’s plan. This plan is to get us fighting fit. We’re going to share our energy and the combination of all of us will uplift the entire group and get us back in condition in no time.”

“I’m in,” said Jane.

Chloe and Kartika both nodded when Aris’s eyes came down to me.

“You ready to take the plunge?”

“It can’t be as bad as the plunge in the River Styx,” I said. “Get us out of here. Get us back to Cougar Creek.”

A ferocious wind surrounded the six of us as red light burned everywhere with gathering speed, ferocity and brilliance until it was too much to keep our eyes open. I closed my eyes as light exploded around us.

Chapter 40

We landed in a twisted pile in the altar room at The Estate. We looked around and took a collective deep breath as we jumped to our feet.

“I feel like a million dollars.” I stretched my arms up, my body pulsating with heat.

“You better feel like a million.” Jane twisted her wrists. “We’ve got zombies to fight. Let’s go.”

“Wait,” Mae held up her hand. “Before we leave, we need this one chance to make our own magic with the six of us right here. This way we will show we have strength.”

She took her position at the center of the room, the five of us took ours around the edges. She began chanting a spell, “Dominus latinu rigonato.” She repeated the line one more time until we caught the refrain and then we all joined her in the chanting of the lines.

I wasn’t sure what she was doing, but I trusted her implicitly and I knew whatever she was giving us would be the right thing for this moment. An energy swirled around the room as I saw the purple and green light come out of Mae in the center. Bianca, in her human form, began emitting a green energy, Jane a turquoise blue, Chloe a red, Kartika a burnt orange and around me was a golden glow. All of these colors of lights went to the center and poured into the cauldron, spilling over as all the colors blended together, making an iridescent platinum.

“Together we bind all of these energies and all of these powers, creating communion and close ties. No longer will one magic be felt without the aid of the others. No single one magic will ever stand alone, and all of our magic shall live through the strength of the others.” Mae proclaimed the words. “And so, mote it be.”

“And so, mote it be,” we all answered together.

We closed the spell out by reciting the incantation again three times.

Upon completion of the spell, a bright light flew up from the cauldron and out to each one of us, right into our heart chakras and then it flowed up and down our centers until my entire body was buzzing with a line of energy. I could only imagine the rest were feeling the same way.

“Okay. Now let’s go get them,” Mae said, walking out of the altar room and leading us to the arsenal. We put on padding and grabbed the remaining swords and guns that were there, then headed down into town in the back of one of the trucks.

“We can only stop them partially with force,” Mae said. “We have to use magic, but this time we have to take the magic to the zombies. We can’t handle it up here.”

The only problem was, to get to the middle of the zombies we had to basically be willing to fight them off.

“Let’s cast a spell and get them to Gargoyle Park,” I suggested. “I think the fastest way to get them all into one location is to corral them.”

“Once we get them into the location,” Mae agreed, “we can cast a spell to turn them all back into bones.”

“Do we have the power for that?” Jane asked.

“Well, if we don’t, then zombies are going to take over the human world,” Mae said.

Bianca shifted and began howling, racing ahead of us into town.

The blood on the streets was intense already. Citizens of Cougar Creek had died. I watched Sherriff Tom coming toward me, lurching and limping, clearly already suffering from the impacts of being a zombie.

“Oh no. Sheriff Ted,” I said, turning to Chloe.

She looked sad and disappointed. I couldn’t blame her. He hadn’t been a bad sheriff and had been a strong, upstanding member of the community.

“Someone has to put him out of his misery,” I said.

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