Chapter 23 – Hecate
HECATE
Idon’t know if I was ever truly going to run and leave them behind. But I’d gone out to the tunnel and started climbing, my thoughts spinning. It'd been so long since I was on the surface. So long since I practiced real magic. I felt that years ago I would’ve known what to do, but now I don’t.
Those creatures weren’t human. They weren’t supernatural. They weren’t the undead.
I’d tried every spell I could think of, and nothing would hurt them. They were just...glowing shadows with necklaces. And then, I’d frozen. Old memories came slamming back into me, and I turned and climbed right back to that room.
Orion and Blaise are dying. Left on their knees and without the ability to move or fight, they are sitting ducks.
And so, I try to save them with the simplest of spells.
The red glow explodes from me and dives at our enemies.
The necklaces are plucked from their throats, and come flying into my hand.
As the metal touches my skin, I sense a great evil, but also a great power.
The two shadows begin to change, to remind me of the many lost souls that waited for eternity on the banks of the Styxs river.
I murmur old words of life and death, a spell meant to dispense evil spirits, and I grow that spell in my hands until it’s so large and powerful that it seems to drain magic from my very soul, and then I launch it at the two creatures.
They scream, a terrible wailing that echoes all around us.
Their faces turn up to the ceiling, and their hands twist into claws as if they could fight the magic of the first witch.
When they begin to burn, to fade away in a wave of smoke and embers, I smile and watch until every last part of them is gone.
And then I head toward my men.
My head spins. The floor beneath me seems to tilt, and the necklaces in my hand feel too heavy, so I throw them into the fire and take a shaky breath before facing my men. Orion falls first, and then Blaise. Both men are trying to get up. Their legs and arms move, but they can't rise.
I stand over them and spread out my hands.
Channeling the power in the necklaces as they crackle in the flames, but ignoring the evil, I use them as fuel for my spell.
The green glow that comes from my hands illuminates the men.
I put some of my own magic into it, blending them together until I’m sure both men will be well.
Until I’m sure it will be enough to heal them completely.
Unfortunately, as the spell fades away, I realize I’d done something foolish.
Something that every magic-user knows not to do.
I had used too much of my magic. It’s something I’ve done before, when I was very young.
It was a painful and difficult recovery, but I’ve gone long past that point this time.
When I fall, I have no idea how far I’ve gone when I channeled my magic out, but I know it’s too far.
And after everything Hades put me through, I realize that this could be the thing to finally kill me.