Alexander sliced through the hound with his sword. Nicole screamed again as blood splattered everywhere. Alexander sent her an apologetic smile, then turned to deal with more hounds. Nicole rolled away from the body, trying not to vomit, and picked up the effigy, grateful to see it wasn’t damaged. She grabbed the last two containers and jumped to her feet, watching as large numbers of hounds started pouring through the door of the castle and materializing in the corners of the courtyard.
Take your friends and go to higher ground where the hounds can’t appear.
Nicole mentally thanked the dragon and turned to the others. “To the big tower,” she yelled.
The dragon plowed a path through the hounds, allowing access, but only briefly. Already the hounds were trying to close the gap between Nicole and the tower.
She raced along the path the dragon had created, springing through the doorway into the tower. And then froze.
Light glinted off multiple canine eyes. Alexander and the guard ran into Nicole’s back, pushing her closer to the Xolos, obviously not expecting her to have stopped in the middle of the tower.
“There are hounds here,” she said. “Waiting for us.”
Alexander growled, then limped to Nicole, handing her the sword. “I can’t fight as a human anymore—I’m far too exhausted. I’ll shift into a dog. It will give me a short burst of energy, and hopefully that’ll be enough.”
Without waiting for an answer, he changed into a dog. He was right—the burst of energy was short, but also quite impressive. He took out three of the dogs in one move. But then another dog jumped onto his back, sinking its teeth into his neck. Alexander slumped to the ground, and the dog turned and faced Nicole.
“Effective,” Chuck said. “I’m sorry I’m unable to fight.”
“You’re too important,” Nicole said. “We can’t do anything without you.” She put the containers down and handed the effigy to the guard—ignoring his grimace—before raising the sword. “Stone golem, come help us here. Dragon, continue to keep the other hounds out.”
She sensed as the two beings that were under her control began to obey her. She raised the sword higher and rushed at the hounds. She swung and gasped, surprised, as the sword flashed through the air faster than her eye could keep up with it.
Before it could hit the hound she’d targeted, everything around her slowed down. The dogs moved slower, Chuck, the guard—everyone practically froze. Nicole realized then that the sword’s ability was to speed up the person holding it. Pretty cool.
With only three swings of a weapon that felt lighter than air, Nicole was able to take out the remaining three dogs. She whooped with excitement, tossing the sword from one hand to the other, marveling at how wonderful it felt to hold such an instrument in her hands.
“Impressive,” Chuck said. “It definitely responds to you.” He motioned to the staircase. “We need to move, though.”
Nicole grabbed the containers, and holding them with one hand, she kept the sword in her right hand, frequently checking over her shoulder to see if more hounds were coming. She commanded the golem to carry Alexander upstairs while she, Chuck, and the guard followed.
Nicole looked where they were going, dismayed at how far they’d need to hike. The staircase lined the entire inner wall of the tower, rising higher and higher, going at least twenty stories, if not more. Her poor legs—they’d had enough stairs to last a lifetime.
As she continued, she approached a hole in the stone and peeked out. The dragon was there, still fighting the hounds—many of whom had shifted into their human forms—but it was having a hard time staying ahead of them. It was barely staying off the ground, and enemies kept attacking its wings.
“Is there anyone else we can summon?” she asked Chuck.
Chuck nodded, but the draw on Nicole’s stomach was weak. She didn’t know what that meant, but from the expression on Chuck’s face, it wasn’t good.
A little creature appeared on the step just below Nicole, staring up at her and Chuck.
Chuck made a disgusted sound. “Worthless.”
Nicole raised an eyebrow, not willing to discard the creature so quickly. “Stop the hounds from coming after us.” Maybe its powers were hidden.
The little thing just stared at her, obviously not understanding anything she said. No wonder Chuck had been disgusted.
“I can’t summon anything more—the draw on your magic is too much right now, and I need to save my ability for the effigy.”
Nicole felt a pull on her heart as the dragon was injured badly.
I can’t keep them out.
Nicole sensed as the dragon’s strength began waning. “Run!” she cried.
She, Chuck, the guard, and the golem started up the stairs again, pushing themselves hard. Around and around and around they went. Nicole couldn’t even begin to guess at how many stairs they’d gone up. She heard when the dogs began pouring into the tower. Their growling and barking echoed through the entire edifice.
“We won’t reach the top in time!” Nicole said. “We have to keep working on the effigy while climbing the stairs.”
She handed the sword to the guard and took the effigy from him.
“Get out the hair,” Chuck called back to her.
Nicole opened the appropriate container, grateful she’d thought to tie it in elastic.
“Got it!” she said.
“Press it to the kidney,” Chuck huffed, struggling with the stairs, “the way it would cover a real person’s head. Leave space for a face.”
Nicole snapped off the rubber band. Careful not to drop the hair, she began pressing it into the kidney, marveling as the upper ends melted into the thing. So gross.
She nearly dropped the effigy when one of the fingers started to twitch.
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Heavens,” she breathed. “Disgusting.” Once the hair had finished melting into place, she called up at Chuck that it was done. Her legs were burning—she could barely feel them anymore—but she continued pushing until she and the others burst onto the top of the tower, and there were no more places to hide.
Nicole whirled, not knowing what to do, looking around at her companions. She faced the stone golem. “Put Alexander down and keep the hounds from entering.”
The golem did as asked, laying the unconscious man by a wall before stepping to the hole that led to the tower.
Chuck motioned at Nicole to come to him. She did so, pulling open the last container—the one that had Lizzie’s clothes in it.
“I have to use your powers to do this,” Chuck said. “Aretes have control over dead and inanimate things—the skin is dead.”
Nicole felt a tug on her stomach, chest, and head. It was much stronger than earlier, and a blinding migraine screamed across her scalp and behind her eyes, then down the back of her head and neck. She crumpled to the stone floor, unable to hold herself up anymore, sensing as her connection to the dragon and golem weakened.
Chuck looked down at her with concern. She barely could see his face. The links to the golem and dragon strengthened, and Nicole gasped, pulling herself back up again.
“I’m sorry, my dear,” Chuck said. “Once you come to your magic fully, it won’t be nearly as painful. At least, I hope not.”
Nicole noticed that a dark little cloud of dust was hovering in the air between her and Chuck, the moonlight getting obscured by it.
Chuck noticed it as well and got back to business. The dust cloud moved to the effigy that was still in Nicole’s hand and covered it entirely. The effigy began squirming, and Nicole dropped it, shrieking.
Instead of landing flat or in a way that Nicole would’ve predicted, it landed squarely on its fingers, like a cat would on its legs, then tried to run away.
Chuck jumped after it, grabbing and lifting it. He muttered chants to it over and over again.
The effigy froze in his hands. The kidney turned toward him, as if listening. Then the entire thing started glowing.
A huge magical pulse pounded through the air around them, pressing toward the effigy. Nicole was pushed against the wall of the tower as the pulse grew in strength. Even the guard seemed to sense something going on. The sword hung limply in his hand and he stared at Nicole, Chuck, and the effigy.
Nicole gasped when the wind around them became scented. It smelled like Lizzie. Happy emotions swelled over Nicole—the ones that always accompanied her best friend. It made her eyes prickle with tears. She missed Lizzie so much!
She wasn’t the only one who noticed that Lizzie’s presence was there. The hounds on the ground below and in the tower went completely crazy—howling, barking, thrashing, and scrambling to get to the effigy. The dragon screamed, and Nicole lost complete connection with him. Was he dead?
Chuck turned to the guard. “You have a good arm?”
“Excuse me?”
“Can you throw things?” Chuck asked impatiently.
The guard nodded vigorously. “Yes, I can. I’m quite good.”
Chuck handed the effigy to him. Nicole was surprised that the guard didn’t seem at all disgusted this time. Obviously, the events of the evening had changed his perception.
“Throw it as far as you can,” the magician commanded.
Nicole was already at the side of the tower, but she turned as everyone else rushed to join her. She and Chuck watched as the guard tossed the effigy as hard as he could over the wall.
Men, women, and dogs flooded the top of the tower, surrounding Nicole and the others. They shrieked and howled as the effigy sail through the air.
The guy was right—he had a fantastic arm.
Nicole could see the fingers attached at the bottom of the forearm frantically wiggling, almost as if they were running in midair.
The thing landed on the roof of one of the houses in the village. In a feat that Nicole thought would be impossible for such stubby little fingers, it dashed over the side of the roof and disappeared.
The Xolos freaked out even more. They seemed to have forgotten that Nicole, Chuck, and the guard were there. Many of them started back down the tower steps only to sense that they were getting farther away from the effigy by doing so. Several of the others jumped over the side of the wall. Nicole watched as they shifted into dogs midair, landing smoothly on the ground below and taking off as fast as they could in the direction the effigy had gone.
All the hounds on the ground were already charging to the exit and corners of the castle. The rest of the hounds ran back up the stairs and sailed off the top of the tower, shifting into their dog forms as they fell.
Nicole turned and looked back at the village, hoping, hoping the effigy would stay ahead of the hounds. It wasn’t difficult to see where the thing was—a glowing pinprick at the opposite end of the village was receding, and dark shapes barreled after it. Nicole could still feel the slight pulses that felt like Lizzie emanating from it, and soon everything—the emotions and glowing light—disappeared.
The Xolos that were chasing after the effigy howled in despair, and Nicole watched as they piled into the nearby buildings.
Screams sounded through the air. Nicole figured the hounds had probably traveled through the corners to chase the effigy.
Just then, the dogs that were unconscious, including Conor, rose to their feet, the pulses from the effigy too strong to ignore, even as injured as they were.
The place fell quiet, and Alexander stirred, moaning from where he had been laid by the stone golem. The guard slumped down on the floor of the tower, putting a hand to his head.
Nicole turned to Chuck. “Are we sure the dogs won’t be able to catch up with the effigy?”
Chuck shook his head. “Magically, it’s impossible. The spell used on it is very strong and very intricate.”
Nicole shook her head. “Shouldn’t I have been able to feel you perform it? All I could sense was when you borrowed my powers to pull dead skin from the clothing.”
Chuck shook his head. “I didn’t use your powers to give the effigy life. I borrowed those from someone far more powerful—someone who will probably force me to return the favor someday.” Chuck half smiled. “I don’t quite look forward to that meeting.”
Nicole raised her eyebrows. “Anything I can do?”
He glanced at her. “Oh, no. No, not at all. You are mortal—I am not. If you go up against this person, you will be destroyed.” He leveled a stare at her, seeming to appraise her. “Though, you have quite an impressive future. You handled yourself extremely well today, and I was very surprised and pleased. I wouldn’t be shocked if you came out unscathed in confrontations against even more powerful beings than this individual. And actually, the fact that you are a guardian of Shonlin says that you will, indeed, face incredibly powerful beings.”
Nicole felt her insides twist and turn. She didn’t know how to feel about what he just said—it made her excited to see what the future held, but it also made her want to puke.
Chuck turned and looked at the horizon where the effigy had disappeared. “The hounds won’t be able to shift back into human form while chasing it. And they won’t be able to stop chasing it until they catch it.” He smiled. “Clever trick, if I do say so myself.”
Nicole frowned. “Why did the hounds chase after the effigy when it started smelling like Lizzie? I thought they didn’t know who she was.”
“They didn’t. The effigy took on the scent of the prophecy about her—a sort of mental scent that they are attracted to. It also had to smell like your friend, because as she starts to get stronger, her powers will begin to draw them too and they’ll gradually become familiar with how she smells. If they ever get close to her, they’ll know who she is. This way, they’ll have another reason to chase after the effigy.”
Alexander stumbled to his feet, stepping toward Nicole. “It’s time to start erasing memories,” he said.
Nicole shook her head, waving her hands back and forth. “No—no. I realize it has to happen eventually, but at least allow me some closure. Let me know that the castle will be okay—that we will be able to mend it. And that you all will be fine after this whole ordeal has officially ended.”
She glanced at the guard. “I especially want to make good on the promise I made to you.”
The guard nodded, his head still in his hands, staring blankly at the stone floor near his feet.
“Very well,” Alexander said. “It won’t harm you to see a few more things.”
Chuck nudged Nicole with his elbow. “Especially since we still have to use your powers to fix the castle.”
Nicole looked down at the courtyard. It was a complete wreck. Stones littered the place, most of the grass was torn up, and huge pits were everywhere. The dragon lay motionless near the base of the tower. “Oh, no!” Nicole said. “What about the dragon? Is he dead?”
Chuck closed his eyes for a moment. “Not dead. He just needs to be sent back to his time where he can heal now that he is no longer being used here.”
Nicole felt a slight draw on her stomach, this time much smaller than before, and the stone golem, dragon, and the little creature Chuck had summoned all disappeared.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“That was a lot easier than the first time,” Nicole said.
“Sending them back where they belong is an easier task. Forcing them to go somewhere they naturally don’t exist is always difficult.”
Chuck motioned for Nicole to retrieve the sword from where it still hung limply from the guard’s hand before miming drawing a box in the air again.
“Thanks for your help,” Nicole said to the guard as she took the sword. She turned and placed it back into the little room she’d taken it from.
Then Chuck began cleaning up the castle, drawing from Nicole’s powers as an Arete. It was a long process—they had to wait for her magic to build in between each little project. Nicole fainted several times, and Alexander was there to make sure she was okay. She was grateful for that.
At some point, the guard sho
t Nicole a worried glance. “We have to hurry this up. I’m glad you’re holding up your end of the bargain, but my replacement will be here at seven a.m.”
“Okay,” Nicole said. “We might need you to distract him for a little while, just in case.”
Finally, at twenty to seven, they finished repairing the entire castle—making it look exactly as it had when Nicole and Alexander had first entered it the evening before.
Nicole thanked the guard again. She rested her hand on his arm. “Keep the money. If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”
The guard nodded, but still hung around, probably wanting to make sure no more damage was done to the castle.
Alexander turned to Chuck. “We need your abilities one last time. I can only help one person forget events, especially when it’s something as large as what has happened lately.”
“Very well. Do you have something I can put the magic into? You have to send me away before you can perform your memory-erasing trick. Otherwise, you’ll have to do it all over again.”
Nicole knew what he was saying. If they erased her memory while Chuck was still there, Alexander would have to explain the magician’s disappearance. Especially if Chuck left the same way he came.
Alexander searched around, looking for something that would hold magic. His eyes landed on the burlap sacks and containers Nicole was holding. “Would one of those work?”
Chuck studied the items in Nicole’s hands. “Well, cloth holds magic better than plastic, metal, or wood. How about we use one of those?”
Alexander nodded, taking one of the burlap bags, holding it in his hands, watching the magician.
Chuck closed his eyes and started mumbling. Alexander winced and gasped, and suddenly, the burlap bag he was holding filled with something.
“That should do it,” Chuck said.
The four of them stepped across the courtyard, heading to the pentagram. Once they reached it, Chuck turned to the others. “Thank you for the exciting adventure. It has been a while since I’ve been involved in something of this magnitude.”
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