Page 65 of How to Woo the Undead

A person.

I’m a person.

I am Hyacinth.

Tears welled in her eyes as a panicked happiness seeped into her blood stream.So, this is what it feels like? Or have I finally accepted it?She didn’t know how to tell Austin he helped her figure it out. Or maybe it was the vines, tying him up, focusing on his pleasure, it freed up her mind too. There was a silly thought that begged to tie him up again. To linger in that free, thoughtless bubble of pure bliss.

Unfortunately, as she opened her mouth to voice it, something else came out of her mouth.

A gasp. “Marquis.”

Austin lurched in front of her; eyebrows knitted down on his face. Hyacinth stared past him into the trees where the cleric stalked out of the shadows. Inky clouds filled the forest, and the pair were surrounded in only a moment.

Six clerics loomed, all with their staffs brandished. Her attention was on the man with the silver eye. She knew his name. Knew who he was and why he was there and why he chased Sabine through the woods that night. Her hands trembled at her sides, wings rigid behind her.

“You’re here to try and kill me.” She couldn’t feel Sabine. Not in her voice, not in her veins, and certainly not creeping around the edges of her vision. The ghost of her bodies previous host was gone. And she was alone. Terror prickled along her insides. “Because she killed your brother.”

“You…” Marquis exhaled heavily, stepping up into their clearing finally. “Killed Janus. Do not attempt to shift blame, demoness. I see through your tricks. You will not manipulate my mind.”

“Hyacinth,” Austin whispered softly as a warning for her to stay back. He put an arm in front of her.

“Beast, our quarrel isn’t with you yet.” Marquis glanced at Austin for only a moment before he leveled his hardened gaze on Hyacinth. His silver eye flashed as something swirled on its surface. “You ought to run back to your master. Prepare your final prayers. Once I’ve put her soul to rest, we’ll cleanse this entire forest.”

“You won’t touch her,” Austin snarled.

“I tried to give you a chance,” Marquis sighed. Hyacinth glanced around their clearing, finding the other clerics creeping closer. Her heart hammered in her chest. She actually searched for Sabine in the trees. If there was ever a time for the evil, angry ghost to possess her, it was when they were surrounded.

Because Hyacinth didn’t actually know how to use her powers. Not enough to save their skin.And something about them smells wrong.It carried on the light breeze as they twisted their staffs.A dark, pearlescent light flitted between each of them, encircling them. Marquis pulled a staff out of thin air, putting his palm out toward Hyacinth.

“Witch, you were given a chance to repent and take Nexxus into your heart. Then you saw fit to take your fury out on my blood. I will return that pain in kind.”

Hyacinth squinted at him.Given a chance?What she did know was that Sabine murdered Janus. The ghost told her as much, knew it like she knew everything else. But she didn’t remember being given a chance. “Repent?”

“Of your dastardly ways. We approached you within the city. You twisted Janus’ mind, enchanting him to return to you and that putrid tree. You seduced him into its branches then devoured his soul!”

Hyacinth grabbed onto Austin as a memory played out in front of her eyes. Sabine, knelt in her garden, pulling up weeds. A face underneath the soil looked up at her in terror and she shoved it deeper into the earth. Then a pair of clerics leaned over her fence. Sabine told them to move along. She continued to garden through the day, only one of the clerics came back. Janus returned that evening, trying to sweet talk his way into her garden gate.

The tree hungered for him…so she fed him to it.

That’s when things went wrong.

Hyacinth trembled, “She didn’t even want to kill him! He’s the one who returned to her.”

“Silence!” Marquis slammed the end of his staff against the ground again. “I’ll not have your hearsay taint his memory.”

“You better run back to your temple, priest,” Austin spat. Only Marquis didn’t respond a second time. Instead, he raised hisother hand up and over his head. The trees behind them immediately hissed like scared cats and skittered further away. Branches burned, leaves turned to ash, and roots slithered away fast. Hyacinth glanced around once more to find them even more alone in the forest. The smoke crept closer to the point it made her eyes burn. Like it were some sort of noxious gas.

You need to stop them.Hyacinth clenched her fits, bent forward, and did the one thing she did know how to do. She screamed. It rattled through her body, shaking the earth. The sky vibrated as the encroaching clerics were pushed back another foot. Their boots dug into the loose soil. Each leaf that passed under them shriveled up and burned like a tiny match. Smoke rose off the ground in tiny silver plumes as she stared at Marquis directly. He hadn’t moved. He stabbed his staff into the earth directly in front of him and brandished some sort of symbol at her.

Everything was so hot. Like he’d lit a fire under her. She flung her arms, left and right, trying to brandish plants or trees or anything. Something to disrupt their spell. Each branch lit up with tiny black flames and turned to ash. It only made her angrier. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks as her wings fluttered rapidly behind her. Their robes whipped around them till they were forced to cover their eyes. Marquis continued to approach, one boot after another, yelling into the wind that kicked up around them. The skies darkened to a slate gray. With one crack of lightning, the other clerics’ eyes widened.

Her feet left the ground, her body following the magic into the sky. Marquis yelled out into the air, lurching after her.

It was like the world turned into a painting. Dripping paint slowly on a canvas, everything stopped. And she watched whatever spell he was conjuring, mid-cast. She was in the air, staring down at him, his staff pointed at her.

But his spell never reached her. Austin burst through their painting like a bull in a room made of porcelain. Hyacinth’s airwas stuck in her throat, another scream lodged in her body, as Austin threw Snuffles to the ground. He barreled into Marquis, taking the spell to the chest. As the pair tumbled back to the earth, they snapped out of existence. Austin and the silver eyed cleric Marquis disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

No…no.