Chapter 38
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
“The air is starting to get cold.” My arms folded around myself to preserve every spot of heat.
“Fall weather must arrive sooner on this side of the continent,” Sebastian answered from where he walked by my side through the center of Lumosia’s courtyard.
The gardeners had replaced the vibrant summer flowers with warmer toned buds and some greenery that would be able to withstand the season change. We had been here for about two months now, and in those two months we had accomplished next to nothing.
Sebastian held my hand in his, the combination swaying slowly as we meandered across a narrow stone walkway. “This is nice.”
“Yeah. Weird, though. Almost seems too normal for us. Taking a morning stroll after breakfast and coffee…Strange,” I replied.
“I’ll take every small victory we can get.”
He directed us to a bench that centered the space.
Surrounding the cylindrical courtyard was a covered patio which circled the entire perimeter and was essentially an open entrance aside from support pillars every few feet.
Beyond the coverings was the palace, and though mostly marble, there were a few doorways leading inside and one opening that led to the forest.
It was beautiful, and for the first time in the months I’d been here, I could visualize a life here. A future within the bounds of this tucked away kingdom. With him.
For a while we sat together in silence, fully absorbing the peace that we so rarely got. That was until Delani’s voice coursed through the mild breeze and into my ears.
“Look at you two, acting all normal and stuff.” She smirked from where she stood in front of us.
“Funny. We just said the same thing,” Sebastian snorted, rising from the bench so she could sit next to me instead.
“Why are you up so early?” My brow arched at her.
“Early for you maybe. But for most people, ten in the morning is almost lunch time.”
Sebastian laughed while tucking his hands into his pants. “I’ve been telling her that since I had to escort her to classes last fall.”
My eyes drifted across the lawn, halting on a familiar figure.
Sawyer sauntered through the covered terrace, a permanent scowl on his typically charismatic face.
“I’ll be right back.” I rose and started off in a jog over to him. He and Sebastian were hardly on speaking terms, and with how I’d left him the other night, I had a feeling he could use someone to talk to.
“Sawyer.”
He turned to me, pausing in his tracks. “Hey.”
A deep breath pulled into my chest before I spoke. “How are you?”
His brown arched. “Um…fine?”
I nodded softly. “Good. Good. Um…I wanted to apologize for the other night in the arena. I shouldn’t have—”
My words lost me when a low growl filled my ears.
Silently and deliberately, I pivoted in a tight circle, searching for where the noise came from.
“Did you guys hear that?” Sebastian called across the courtyard.
Sawyer and I nodded and the same noise began to play on repeat. A wet, tumbling snarl, inching closer and closer to us.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me into him, using his body to shield me as he guided us to where I had left Sebastian and Delani. He let go of me upon arrival and I sidestepped into Sebastian's hold instead.
“I’ve never heard anything like that,” Delani whispered, backing herself into Sawyer’s chest.
“Me either,” Sawyer answered under his breath.
Another deep growl congested the surrounding area.
“I have,” Sebastian murmured.
Our eyes settled upon it at the same time, standing yards from us, its distended jaw dripping drool and blood.
A Hykah.
“How the hell did it find us?” My voice wavered as I buried my body into Sebastian’s, pointlessly trying to hide. There was no way that the other Draemornian had already made it back to Draemor, and by the looks of the thing, the Hykah couldn't move that fast.
“I don’t know,” Sebastian whispered through the tight barrier of his clenched teeth. “But I’m not going to question it right now. Everyone just back the fuck up. Slowly.”
The Hykah’s jaw snapped open and shut at such speed and force, that one bite from it would decapitate its prey.
Its ribs expanded so far with each breath that I thought they would rip through its cream-colored flesh.
Its eyes were black—soulless—and its fist glimmered with five different jewels.
This Hykah in particular had the power of Thea, Emrys, Jesper, and two jewels from Zenith.
Quite the combination. It had height to its advantage, but it’s body was so disfigured that there was no possible way it moved quicker than we could run—and good fucking thing, because chances were that we would need to.
The small steps we had taken put only a minimal amount of distance between the creature and us, so when the thing lunged—moving much quicker than I’d expected—we had no choice but to run.
Sebastian pulled me by the arm, sprinting across the threshold that brought us back into the palace, not daring to take a glance back.
Delani and Sawyer crashed in behind us, one of them slamming into my back, shoving me forward.
Sawyer wielded a heavy stream of water which Sebastian froze on command, the two of them crafting a thick wall of ice to barricade the open archway in hopes it would hold should the thing try to get in.
“Yup. Those things are just as terrifying as I remember,” Sebastian panted, his non-frozen hand still clenched around mine.
“How did it get here?” Delani whimpered, her fear peeking through every aspect of her body as she stepped further away from the barricade.
“How are we supposed to know, Willawood two?” Sawyer responded, running a hand over his face. “Those things are freakin’ ugly.”
“Are there more?” I asked, peering through the semi-translucent icy barrier. The Hykah still wandered around the courtyard, its pointed snout sniffing the air. Gods, I hoped no one else was out there.
I turned to Delani. “Go warn Archer and the others.”
She nodded, taking off in a sprint down the corridor.
My bravery found me, swallowing me in one large gulp. “If it's the only one, we should try to kill it. Sure, we could stay hidden and hope that it leaves, but I’d rather not test our luck.”
To my surprise, Sebastian agreed with me. “I would imagine cutting its head off would work, but I don’t think my sword can reach the right angle that high. The thing is like eight feet tall.”
“Do you think it came with the Draemornians that followed Leighton?” Sawyer asked Sebastian.
“I would think it would have killed them. Or tried to, at least. Unless the Draemornians have a way to control it, which is possible, though I don’t know how you regulate something like that.”
Leaning forward, I peered back through the ice. The Hykah prowled around the courtyard, its arms dangling by its sides while it searched for its prey—us.
With a sharp jerk of its skull, black eyes locked on to mine through the icy glass, and every nerve in my body stilled.
Sawyer yanked me back just in time for a blast of fire to hit the barricade, burning a perfect hole in Sebastian's wall of ice.
“Fuck!” one of them cursed, backing us up further onto the staircase behind us.
“Do you think mental shields will work against it?” I asked, though I doubted it.
“Unlikely,” Sawyer replied. “Too powerful. Wayyy too powerful.”
Sebastian extended his magic and reinforced his wall, filling in the gap with pointed shards of ice. “Stay out of sight,” he ordered, holding me back with his free arm and glaring down at me. “No one is dying today.”
“Someone is going to die if we don’t kill that thing first,” I stated. Maybe not one of us, but there were homes all over Lumosia, and that thing didn’t look like it had any intention of granting mercy.
“Any suggestions on how to do that?” Sawyer inquired with a snap. He unsheathed his sword. “If what Kohen suggested is true about them needing to be killed by a god, then we're fucked.”
I contemplated for a second before a thought struck me. “Maybe the power of the gods will be enough. We're all gifted, therefore we all hold an element of the gods within us. Maybe that alone is enough to destroy them.”
“If we're going by that logic, then anyone without a jewel would be unable to kill them? What if they cut its head off, would it just regrow?” Sawyer asked, plain cut sarcasm laced in his voice.
I shrugged off the acidity of the comment.
“Maybe, and forgive me because this is going to sound horrible, but maybe anyone ungifted doesn't stand a chance against the creatures anyway. I mean, if Delani approached that thing without any magic, it would kill her before she even knew what was happening.” I shuddered at the horrific thought, but it was the stone-cold truth.
“I don't like that,” Sawyer deadpanned.
“Let’s try the old fashioned way first,” Sebastian suggested, drawing his sword from his thigh sheath. “If that doesn't work, we can try the magic theory.”
“What a great time for trial and error,” I snarked, rolling my eyes.
I had a better idea, but neither of them would like it. I could potentially take care of this problem in a matter of seconds, but needed to throw them off.
“Wait. Since I have you both here,” I glanced between the two of them, “can you please apologize and make up?”
Their absolutely stunned expressions matched, and if we weren't on the brink of being attacked by a freakish hybrid, it would have made me laugh.
“Are you serious right now?” Sebastian deadpanned.
My nonchalance was forced. “Yeah. One of us could die trying to kill this thing. And it would be really unfortunate if it was one of you, and you two hadn't made up yet.”
In sync, they glared at me, each other, then back at me, not missing a beat.
Neither spoke.
I clapped my hands together. “Come on. We have a monster to kill. Kiss and make up so we can get this show on the road.”
“On the gods, Maeve,” Sawyer drawled, rolling his eyes towards the veil.