Page 55 of The Blood Witch
And just like that, I’m the top of the hourglass: empty, hollow, and completely out of time.
17
Elon rakes his fingers through his dirty hair as the realization that Jamie’s jumped the gun, or rather the demon, hits him too. He starts to breathe harder, terror bleeding into his eyes. He paces inside his cage, looking like a savage lion ready to destroy anything that dares try to corner him.
If only it were that easy.
If only our will to stop this made it possible.
How many times has he had to stand there trapped and unable to stop the horrors taking place at the front of this cursed building? How many times has he been forced to endure the torture and live with the scars?
“Don’t look, okay, Elon?” I warn, giving him permission to shut me and everything that’s about to happen out. I don’t want to add to his trauma. I don’t want to be one more thing that chips away at his soul.
“You two are too cute, trying to save each other,” Jamie coos venomously, her evil cackle echoing off the stone walls of the church. “As if anything you do would change what’s already been decided,” she jeers. And then, just like the first time I watched her murder another witch, she opens her mouth and snaps, “Delio!”
I do my best to quash the terror bubbling up in my stomach as I feel a pull in my gut. But then, I’m forced to watch in horror as the spell once again takes someone else.
No.
No, no, no!
I rush to the front of my cage and slam into it hard, as though the sheer impact will break the barrier separating me and Elon. I scream as he’s brutally yanked from his feet and dragged toward the altar. I ignore the pain that crashes through me as I bellow, “Nooooo!” my cry feral and filled with raw panic.
It’s supposed to be me!
He’s supposed to go last!
“Fight!” I order Elon, my enraged eyes moving to Jamie, who’s watching me like a vulture that’s just spotted its next meal.
“Take me first!” I scream at her, my words half warning, half plea. “I won’t fight, I’ll do whatever you want,” I promise her, but in a blink, I see that my declaration is a mistake.
Fuck! Stupid, Lennox!I berate, because that’s not a bargaining chip that will work for this nightmare of a soul. She wants us to fight, to suffer, to die anyway, despite all our efforts not to. She gets off on it. The disgusting truth of it gleams in her one eye, and I want to rip it from her face and crush her until she’s nothing.
“You fucking bitch, you stay the fuck away from him,” I snarl, slamming my hands against my magical barrier, breathing in the pain it causes me and using it as fuel for my fury.
Elon’s shouts ring all around me as he’s dragged up the few stairs that lead to the dais and lifted against his will onto the altar. I can see that every muscle in his body is tense; he’s fighting as hard as he can, but the demon magic is too much.
I scream and spit every possible curse and threat I can think of to try and stop what’s happening, but it only seems to feed Jamie’s cruelty. I screech in frustration, pulling at my hair and trying and failing to get past these evil markings. I watch Elon fight the magic that’s pinning him down, but nothing is happening beyond the strain I see in his face, in his body. His eyes find mine, and the fear I see in them makes me shatter into a million pieces of rage.
I can’t let this happen.
I have to stop this, but how?
Think, Lennox, think!
I shove my magic at the barrier again, but like all the other times, it ricochets back at me and punishes me for even bothering. I snarl through the pain as Jamie steps over to Elon and dips her hand in the gold bowl. Blood coats her skin as she fists the heart and lifts it out, moving to rub it all over Elon as she begins to chant.
I witness each crimson streak and scarlet splatter on his skin, when suddenly I no longer see the stain of someone else’s life on Elon’s skin, I see a way.
Elon’s voice sounds off in my mind.There’s no way out of these unless Jamie wants you out. They’re tailored to fuck with our magic…
Our magic…
Bone magic…
I don’t know how I haven’t thought of it before, but the thing is, it’s not just bone magic running through my veins anymore. Could that be it? Is that the key to break us out of this whole fucked up situation? It’s possible that Elon meant witch magic in general versus demon magic, but for some reason, I don’t think that’s it. I think he specifically was pointing out that these cages are designed for Osteomancers.
I block out Jamie’s chanting and the sounds of Elon struggling, and start searching my cage for a sharp piece of bone from the owl skull fragments I scattered all over. I shove a frantic, terrified message through the tether, hoping Rogan hurries the fuck up, and then I start pleading with my magic, with Rogan’s magic, to show me what it can do.
