Page 31 of Star Witch
That was about the most nonsensical thing I’d ever heard – for many reasons. ‘You know I can’t run,’ I told him.
‘Ivy, this is not the time.’
I drew back my shoulders. ‘No, it’s not. Because if you think I’m leaving you here alone with that thing, then you’re doolally.’
‘Doo what?’
The monster man threw his head back and screamed. For a fleeting moment, his face was visible – what remained of it. I saw a swarm of maggots in the soft flesh of his cheek and little more than dark holes where his eyes should have been. I swallowed hard and tried not to vomit.
‘Doolally,’ I whispered. ‘Whatever this thing is, it’s going to take both of us to bring it down.’
Winter didn’t answer immediately. I wondered whether he was still going to argue the point. Instead he gave me a small, tight nod. ‘Fire,’ he said. ‘Fire will stop it in its tracks. If you release the ward, I’ll cast out enough fire to cremate it to kingdom come.’
I shook my head. ‘It’ll die with fire but it’ll take too long. It’ll be on us before it collapses and we’ll end up getting burnt too.’
The monster man snorted, as if he thought both of us were being ridiculous. Still on all fours and moving with the litheness of a cat, he began to circle round us apparently searching for weaknesses in the ward.
‘We’re running out of time. We need something.’
‘Tell me something I don’t know.’
Winter reached into his pocket. ‘Calendula flowers. They’ll offer us some protection.’
Not much. I nodded, however. The energy I’d expelled in order to cast the three runes was costing me and my whole body felt drained and weak. Even if I wanted to run away and leave Winter to it, I wasn’t sure I could. ‘We have to work together,’ I said in a strained voice.
Winter shot me a quick look of concern. ‘Yes.’
‘We need to stop the thing. We don’t necessarily have to kill it.’
His left eyebrow twitched slightly. I had the feeling there was something he wasn’t telling me but there wasn’t time to pursue it now. ‘Not fire then.’ He paused. ‘Ice.’
That could work. I stretched out my hands. There was enough moisture in the air, I reckoned. Just.
The monster man began to growl. He was preparing for something. He threw himself down to the ground and began to scrabble in the earth at the base of the barrier, as if he’d decided that he couldn’t go through it so he might as well go under it. Every time he touched the ward, the magic flickered. We had seconds.
‘Use the calendula. I’ll release the spell.’
Winter agreed. ‘I’ll draw on the water in the air.’
‘And I’ll draw a rune to drop the temperature.’ I nodded. This could work.
Winter reached out, grabbed my hand and squeezed it. ‘We’ll be fine.’
‘Sure.’ I smiled unconvincingly. ‘No problem.’
‘Aim for its feet and legs,’ he advised.
The monster gave up on its scrabble and reared back before launching itself at the ward once more. The second after it crashed into it I sketched out the rune to dissipate the barrier; at the same time Winter threw the calendula in an arc in front of us. The monster grunted and heaved itself back onto its hands and feet. Winter drew his own runes and the molecules in the air almost immediately coalesced. The monster threw back its head, displaying a slashed, maniacal grin, then it lunged just as a wash of water rose up to meet it.
‘Now, Ivy!’
I wasted no more time. Hastily flicking out a double-handed rune, I forced Winter’s water to freeze. The magic was fast. Winter pulled me backwards as the monster’s claws scraped towards us. Then it fell heavily to the ground with its feet and legs encased in a large chunk of ice.
It groaned – but it wasn’t giving up. It stretched out its arms, flailing towards both Winter and me as if it thought it could still catch us. There was enough ice to hold it in place for an hour or two. That would give us time to work out what to do next.
I walked over and crouched down beside its head. It wasn’t easy; the smell of putrefying flesh surrounding it was extraordinary. A troubled thought pricked at the back of my mind but I pushed it away. This monster man was unlike anything I’d ever dreamt of but that didn’t mean I should start thinking the impossible.
‘Careful, Ivy!’
