I sent a worried gaze to Rath. He was struggling, and obviously in deep pain. I stepped forward, but Barbie grabbed my arm. “No, Molly. You’re safe in here. She can’t get to you.”
“I can get to them.” My mother lifted her arm and Rath bent backward, choking and flailing. Then she pulled Ally close and wrapped an arm around her slender neck.
“You’ll have to choose, Molly,” she said. “Sacrifice those you love. Or sacrifice yourself.”
“Uuuuuh!” The zombie yell was followed by Jon Lemons, who raced out of the forest. With the force of linebacker, he knocked Rath out of the air and into the circle with us.
Rath rolled across the ground and lay still.
I ran to Rath and knelt next to him. He moaned once, and then slipped into complete unconsciousness.
Fury roiled through me. I stood up, and found myself once again being grabbed by Barbie. We watched as Jon Lemons tried to figure out how to get at Mom without hurting Ally. He reached grayish green arms out, going for her face.
“See? This is why I hate zombies.” Mom aimed her free hand at Jon Lemons. A black rope of magic uncoiled from her fingertips and wrapped around his neck.
“Stop!” yelled Barbie. “You’re hurting him!”
“Silly, girl. Zombies can’t feel pain.”
Ally stomped on Mom’s foot at the same time she rammed back her elbow. Mom yelped and her magic disappeared.
Now free from Mom’s grasp, Ally dove toward the zombie, and shoved him sideways.
He landed in the circle.
“This is fucking ridiculous.” Mom grabbed Ally by the hair before she could find safety with us, too.
“Stay with Jon Lemons,” I said. “Don’t let him out of the circle.”
Barbie ran to her zombie and enchained him by the waist. With his owner clinging to him like that, Jon Lemons stopped moving and became as impassive as a statue.
I ran, and I jumped over the candles and salt, landing less than a foot away from my mother and sister.
“Let her go,” I demanded.
“You want her? Take her.” She released my sister’s hair.
I snatched Ally away from Mom. “Go, Ally.”
Ally’s eyes were tear-filled, her gaze raw with pain. She stepped over the line of salt, joining Barbie and the zombie.
I took a warrior stance.
Mom eyed me, and then laughed. “C’mon, little girl. Whatcha got?”
My first punch hit air, and my snap-kick got the edge of her jacket. One minute she was dodging me, and then next she was behind me.
Her arms went around my neck and my waist like two iron bands.
“That’s enough, Molly,” she whispered. “It’s time for you to do what you were born for.”
I kicked back, hard. I hit her knee and heard a crack.
Mom screeched and let me go, stumbling away. I whirled and executed a round kick to her chest. She flew backward, and landed on her ass.
She got to her feet, arched her neck, shook out her legs, and then—without seeming to be injured at all—she marched toward me, fury in her eyes.
“Enough.”
My mother stalled, and then she smirked at me. “Well, well. Looks like the cavalry arrived.”
I turned and saw the ancient Egyptian goddess standing less than a foot away. On either side of her were two very powerfully built men with the faces of lions and the bodies of The Rock. They bared their teeth and growled.
“Seek your safety, daughter of Anubis,” said Maat in her unearthly voice.
I didn’t need to be told twice. I scuttled sideways into the circle. I risked a glance at Rath. He was still unconscious, and that worried me. He was dead. He shouldn’t be prone to the same conditions as humans.
“Return the feather,” said the voice. “Or know the judgment of Maat.”
“Feather? Sorry,” said Mom, apparently unconcerned about Maat or her bodyguards. “I don’t have it. I guess Anubis didn’t find it, either. Whatever happened to him?”
The hairs pricked up on the back of my neck. Anubis was missing?
“You will not always have the protection of Set,” said Maat. “You will come to justice. And so will he.”
“I don’t think so,” said my mother. “We will watch this world burn. And then we will come for you.” Mom turned toward me. “I’ll see you soon, Molly. I can’t wait to catch up.”
Mom transformed into an oily shadow that drained into the ground.
“Wow,” whispered Barbie. “Your mom has serious bitch issues.”
“Molly.”
Maat’s voice had me straightening away from Ally and Barbie.
“Yes, goddess?”
“The feather of judgment was stolen. I sent Anubis to find it, and he has never returned. I now task you to find the feather, and your father.”
“Me?” I squeaked.
“Did you not agree to fulfill three favors for me in exchange for fixing the wounded soul of Rick Widdenstock?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Good.” Maat studied me. “We know they are both in the Underworld. You have forty-eight hours. Do not fail me.”
Maat and her bodyguards transformed into sparkling gold lights that shot up into the night sky.
“Holy shit,” said Barbie.
I couldn’t really add much to that sentiment, so I turned and strode to Rath. I knelt beside him and brushed the hair away from his face. “Rath?”
He groaned, and his eyes fluttered open. “Molly. You okay?”
“I’m not the one on the ground,” I teased. “How do you feel?”
“Like I’m dead.” He smiled and then leaned up on his elbow. “Did we win?”
“Maat showed up,” said Barbie. “And scared away the demon mother from hell.”
“Yeah,” said Ally. She sat down in a cross-legged position. “Then Maat gave Molly two days to find the feather of judgment and the very missing Anubis.”
“Two days?” asked Rath. “But the Kebechet challenge is—”
“I know,” I said. “It’s tomorrow. I have to start the search now—in the Underworld. I need to find my father. I need to help him get the feather back.”
Rath sat up and pulled me into lap. He hugged me tightly. “I’m sorry, brown eyes.”
“Wait a minute,” said Barbie, standing above us with her hands on her hips. “You mean Clarissa is going to win by default?”
“I guess Mom got what she wanted,” I said softly. “Clarissa’s going to be the champion of Anubis.”
So much for destiny.
All that training. All that work. All that sacrifice. For nothing. Nothing!
I would not be Kebechet.
As of now … I was unchosen.
Coming March 25, 2014
The conclusion to
THE REAPER DIARIES
First, she was Undeadly…
Then, she was Unchosen…
Now, Molly must remain…
UNBROKEN
By Michele Vail
Molly Bartolucci is officially not the Kebechet, AKA savior of the whole world, but she’s not exactly taking it easy.
She has to navigate hell, avoid her evil mother, rescue Anubis, find the feather of judgment, and return both bio-dad and heavenly object to the goddess Maat.
In two days.
With Rath, she descends into the lower echelons of the Underworld—and gets a front row seat for Set’s spectacularly gruesome prison escape.
With the world on the edge of the apocalypse, it’s time for Molly to embrace her destiny … and kick some reaper ass.
www.TheReaperDiaries.com
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Unchosen Page 14
