Page 10 of Hex You

Hunter cocked her head and lifted a brow. “And I thought we didn’t have anything in common.”

She held out the poppet and released the spool of twine, pinching one frayed end between her thumb and forefinger.

“Mighty Tyr, God of the Cosmos! Acknowledge this poppet of the goddess Amphitrite.” Power crackled like lightning and the heavens churned as Hunter’s god answered her plea, and she squinted against the brilliant blue light that beamed through each stitch of blue silk.

“Naïve!”Amphitrite spat.“You think your simple incantations will work against me?”She stalked forward, and Hunter, Jax, and Emily held their ground with a yowling Xena ready to attack.“I am a goddess! An immortal! Ruler of the—”

“Enough!” Hunter shouted over the roar of ocean waves that battered her ears.

“We don’t want you here!” Emily’s energy rooted her to the ground, a glimpse of who she could be if ever gifted with magic.

“Go back to whatever seashell you climbed out of!” Jax joined in, all traces of fear and unease erased.

Amphitrite’s torso rippled and grew as a great swell of water surged along her outstretched arms and shot from her fingertips.

“With this knot, I bind your body from doing harm in this realm!” Hunter boomed, wrapping the twine around the glowing poppet’s middle and tying its arms to its sides.

A sharp hiss, and the devastating waves burst into steam.

“Witch! I will—”Amphitrite’s howls were cut off as Hunter tied knot after knot along the poppet.

The once-great goddess of the sea wriggled and thrashed but couldn’t break free from the magical restraints that prevented her from giving life to her evil.

“Blessed Tyr, bind this goddess’s body from doing harm to anyone in this mortal realm!” Hunter thrust the poppet into the air, and lightning bisected the sky, slamming into the twine-covered doll.

A scream like a train scraping its tracks and Amphitrite popped—a stuck balloon splashing onto the grass.

Emily groaned, stepping back as the wave of salt water lapped against their shoes.

“Goddess guts.” Jax frowned, tapping the toe of his shoe against the shallow waves as Xena let out a series of disgruntled meows and lifted one dripping paw and then the other.

But Hunter wasn’t bothered by the surge of cool liquid surrounding her boots. Instead, her attention was fixed on the poppet, each knot the same glimmering sapphire as the depths of the sea.

“Amphitrite?” she whispered, brushing her thumb over the cold, wet twine.

Hunter sucked in a breath, her eyes wide.

“Mercy!” she shouted and took off toward the cauldron, Jax, Xena, and Emily in her wake. “I can get you out!” Hunter panted as soon as she made it to the enchanted moon water.

Mercy stared up at Hunter, her brows nearly lifting to her hairline. “What the bloody hell was that? What happened?”

“I’ll explain everythingafteryou’re safe.” Hunter swallowed the lump growing in her throat. She had so much to reveal, so much to apologize for, and she was terrified her truth, not the Egyptian Underworld, would be the thing that would take her sister away for good.

Mercy tented her hands on her hips. “What’s your plan?”

Hunter winced as Jax jabbed her bicep with his pointy elbow. “Our H just slayed an octopus woman.”

Emily’s curls bounced with another series of emphatic nods. “Turned her into a puddle.”

Mercy dropped her head back and groaned. “Oh my goddess, you all are on drugs.”

Ignoring her sister, Hunter clutched her pendant and whispered a silent prayer to Tyr as she stared at the shimmering poppet. She closed her eyes and reached, up, up, up, to the treetops, to the clouds, to the stars. She was fire and light, collapsing and forming, a star in the making. She wrapped the scattered bits of herself around the moon, the stars, and the vastness in between. Magic washed through her, a steady pulse that would lift her physical body off its feet if her heart wasn’t tethered to earth.

Beside her, Jax and Emily gasped.

Hunter’s eyelids fluttered open. Blue flames crept along her hands from the poppet, and the goddess energy trapped in its knots and licked up her arms.

In the cauldron, Mercy sucked in a breath and pressed her fingers to her lips.