Page 30 of Hooked on a Witch
“Who told you this?”
“A Greek god threatened me.”
“Is that why you were after the scrying glass?” In the scant light peeking through the foliage, she made out his skyward eye roll. “We’re both descendants of Greek gods. They like to sell that crap about end of the world scenarios to get us to play their games. Do you think they really want the world to end?”
“Right now, it sure feels like they do.” She traced the jagged scratch-like scar on his cheek. The old damage incited her need to soothe, which made no sense.
His gaze met hers, so intense her breath caught. Then his eyelids drifted shut. “Damn it. It’s too late.”
“What? Are you dying?” Her hands roamed his chest, neck, and arms.
“I wish. Please get out of here. Go.” He grabbed his knife and pulled himself up using tree branches. “These guys are particularly nasty. Don’t let them touch you.”
He faced a horrific creature that was the size of a man and shaped similarly to one, but its head was narrowed to a point and covered in dark scaly skin. A few slits of skin composed its nose. Rows of sharp teeth gaped open as the creature panted. Bulbous eyes locked on to her. It jumped for her, but Merck tackled it. The creature’s clawlike fingers slashed down Merck’s side.
The snake creature was fast.
Merck was faster. The snake man fell to the ground, its neck gaping open from Merck’s knife. Its body still twitched as Merck attacked a second snake man. She saw only a blur of motion while they parried into the woods.
Stay or go?
She couldn’t leave him. She should attempt her newly inherited elemental magical skills to help him. No water or fire nearby to draw upon. Wind.You’ll botch it and might hurt Merck.
A third snake man appeared and stalked toward her. It almost seemed to be leering, although emotion with the toothy mouth was difficult to interpret. She crab walked backward until her back hit a pine tree.
On instinct, she reached for wind, hoping to whip up enough of a gust to throw the snake man away from her. A strong blast pushed against the creature, keeping it at a distance from her, but not powerful enough to toss it away. She needed the wind to be fierce.
I can’t do it. Crap.
The wind died. The snake man caught its balance and headed her way.
Merck attacked the snake man threatening her, jumping onto its back and slashing at its neck before it could react.
“You okay?” he asked while pivoting as if in search of the next one.
“Yes.”
“More are coming. You can’t get scratched. It changes people into one of them.”
“Will it change you?”
“No.” He waved behind her, toward the creek. “Get out of here. I don’t mean run for the house. I mean go wherever you can go that’s not here. Disappear.”
“It’s not safe for me to take you with me.”
“I didn’t ask you to take me.” He crumpled to the ground, gripping his side where she’d seen him get slashed.
She couldn’t take anyone to the other dimension who wasn’t her soul mate or a child. Explicit details of the consequences remained unclear, but her mom had implied serious badness.
She chewed on her lip. Screw risks. Her only lead to understand what was going on and potentially save everyone she cared about would not die today. “Why did you help me today and yesterday?”
“Seemed like the right thing to do.”
“Just being a gentleman? Right.” She leaned over him, gripped each of his biceps, and stared into his eyes.
“If you’re taking me with you, then head for water. I need the ocean.”
The world dimmed and swirled. Wait. She wasn’t ready to change dimensions yet. She hadn’t visualized their destination. She was so new to this. Pain clobbered her skull.
Badness.
She whispered, “This might kill us.”
