Sugar Spells

by Dodge, Lola

  Carrot started to glow like a firefly. She let off a blue-green light like the mold that caked the cavern where we’d found her. It didn’t cast as much light here—or maybe the darkness was sucking it up?—but when she pawed her way into the tunnel, I saw rock walls instead of yawning nothingness.

  “Stay close.” I offered an arm and Carrot climbed all the way up, not stopping at my shoulder, but jumping onto my head. Like the heaviest possible headlamp. I fought not to tip to the side. “Is that the best spot?”

 

  I hurried, neck-strain be damned.

  Our footsteps made soft noises on the cave floor, mixing with the echo of dripping water, and the farther we walked, a breathing, wheezing, air-passing-between-rocks noise.

  A breeze?

  Maybe an exit?

  Was it that easy?

  The hunched shape in front of us answered that question fast.

  I froze.

  Wynn tensed next to me.

  A man-bat lay in the middle of our path like a Franken-farm-sized sack of potatoes. But potatoes didn’t have fangs, claws, or razor-tipped wings.

  The earthquake in my knees jumped a few points on the Richter scale.

  “Go around,” Wynn whispered so close to my ear that a tingle danced across my shoulders.

  I blinked.

  The creature hadn’t budged. All it did was breathe.

  Even breaths.

  Asleep.

  My spell actually worked. But the thrill of victory died fast, too. Because now I had to get around this monster without waking it.

  Trying to move slow and silent, I tiptoed, hugging the cave wall. The creature’s breaths didn’t waver, hissing steadily in and out.

  In and out.

  Pieces of gravel scratched the cave floor when I shifted my feet. The tiny pebbles sounded like rolling boulders.

  But the bat didn’t stir.

  I let out a huge breath when we were past.

  Until I saw the rest of the minefield.

  More giant bats were passed out, some spread on the floor, others half seated, sprawling on top of each other. They rustled and twitched and blocked our path like a solid carpet of meat lumps.

  Carrot tensed, digging paws into my scalp.

  I barely noticed her weight.

  Carefully, I tiptoed around the bats. Around and over, half-climbing the cave walls where too many of them fell against each other in a tangle. As minutes ticked, my stomach churned in a mini-maelstrom.

  Yes, the spell was working, but it wouldn’t work forever.

  When I cleared another pile of tangled bats, the sound of the cave changed, opening up a hollowness in my ears. The pounding heartbeat of power beat against my skin.

  We’re here.

  The tunnel opened up into a massive cavern. Dark and dripping. There was no chittering or screeching.

  Just the war drum noise of ancient magic.

  I stepped forward and instead of that familiar guano squish, my sneaker sparked a chain of clinks.

  I blinked, squinting into the dark that Carrot’s light barely cut. Mounds filled the cavern. My first thought was guano, but the cave smelled more metallic than batty.

  I crouched down. The mound glittered.

  Coins.

  Carrot’s light caught the faces of a gemstone, and reflected, lighting up more piles of loot. Heaps and mounds and even a few mountains of gold nuggets.

  That explained where Girrar was getting all that treasure.

  But where was the god we needed to kill?

  Avoiding the loud, loose heaps of treasure I tiptoed deeper into the cavern. I couldn’t see far in the sticky darkness, but it couldn’t be that hard to spot a—

  God.

  A statue loomed over the piles of treasure.

  My chin tipped back, following the shape up and up and up, over the massive spread of stone bat wings to the cruel, contorted monster face. Taller than a house. Its fangs were longer than arms and stained a color darker than the rock it was carved out of.

  Dried blood.

  Long trails of dried blood, crusting all the way to the base of the statue.

  Its monumental size matched its monumental power, and now that I’d glimpsed the cave’s master, his power hammered in my bones.

  THUNK.

  THUNK.

  THUNK.

  My throat freeze-dried itself.

  An army of nukes couldn’t destroy this monster, let alone magicless me armed with a shovel.

  “This?” Air escaped me in a panicked hiss. “We have to kill this?”

 

  I would’ve laughed crazy, but my throat was pinched tight and my heart had clawed its way up into my head cavity where it drowned my ears with the roar of rushing blood.

  “Stay. I’ll look closer.” Wynn spoke close to my ear.

  Even he must be afraid of waking the beast.

  Wynn crept away, but he didn’t get far before I was creeping after him. We shouldn’t separate. And even though every step forward felt like chugging down the thickest, gloppiest protein shake of dread, I had to see for myself.

  I had to figure out how we were going to survive.

  A black stone altar rested at the base of the statue, right in front of the bat god’s carved feet. The whole area was slicked with sludge—a thick, decaying mixture of blood and ash.

  Trying not to breathe through my nose, I moved closer. Humped shapes were half-buried in altar sludge. Stumps of old candles and jutting-out bones. A pulpy rectangle that might have been a book before it was eaten away.

  God or not-a-god, this didn’t look like a place to worship. More like a place where giant owls regurgitated their kills.

  But an eerily familiar magic wormed through the god-level current of power. Tiny pieces of macaron and their ashy dust scattered over the altar.

  A tide of guilt almost dropped me to my knees, but it was followed by the brightest flash of hope. If my magic was strong enough to revive a god’s power, then it should be strong enough to fight back.

  It better be strong enough.

  Carrot jumped off my head and soared to a landing just wide of the puddle of dripping…yerch…that surrounded the statue.

  “No weak points.” Wynn had completed his lap and moved to stand at my shoulder.

  Ideas?

  I’d say tear the statue down if we had a wrecking ball or blow it up with dynamite. But me? Alone? “All I have is fire magic.”

 

  “Can’t. Girrar has my power—”

  Carrot’s voice whispered through my brain.

  “Touch…” I moved past the altar, but being closer made the statue that much squickier. Dry blood. Wet blood. Chunks of…ugh.

  I took a few steps until I found a spot that wasn’t clean but was at least dry. Gritting my teeth, I placed my hand against the stone.

  THUNKTHUNKTHUNKTHUNK.

  Power drummed between my ears. Like the bat god had clawed inside my skull to headline a heavy metal concert.

  Stop. Wincing so hard my eyes stung, I fought the sound and power. Trying to beat it back. I sucked a few breaths through my teeth, pushing and pushing until my brain was my own again, but the bat god’s magic beat against my fingertips and its pulse pounded all the way to my shoulder.

  I called to my magic. It hummed under my skin, but the god’s power quickly drowned it out.

  Carrot jumped down to my shoulder, leaning toward the stone. Her power glowed like blueberry moonlight and I could feel its strength, even against the overwhelming god-magic.

  Please lend me your power.

  Her rainbow rush flowed into me and through me, casting away the darkness and despair that had settled on my shoulders.

  I can do this.

  I
wished I had more earth-centered powers, so I could just crack the stone, but fire could melt rock. I’d made lava cakes before. Now I just had to make lava.

  Totally the same thing. Totally.

  Bracing both hands against the statue, I conjured my flames. Red and orange, they danced and spread, but all they did was lick the rock.

  Carrot moved back to my shoulder, ducking away from the flames.

  Blue was easier with Carrot burrowing into my neck and her magic blending into mine. I shifted my energy, thinking science class Bunsen burner.

  The flames shifted, turning blue around my fingertips.

 

  Sweat dripped down the back of my neck and I’d barely started casting. But I had to push. I had to risk everything and more if we wanted to get out of this cave alive.

  A teeny science class flame wouldn’t crack stone.

  Instead, I thought volcano. Red and black, bubbling and burning. Creeping lava and churning, molten-rock heat.

  The blue flames lengthened. Sweat dripped all the way down my back.

  Carrot cowered against my neck, but even though she wilted away from the heat, she gave off a subtle purr.

  Channeling her magic and mine strained my limits, but giving in to the urge to stop and rest wasn’t an option. I pushed harder.

  Harder and hotter.

  A tiny crack rewarded my effort.

  It lengthened and spiderwebbed until cracks spread underneath my flame-choked hands.

  A crack that sounded like a piece of glacier breaking into the sea echoed through the cavern. The statue’s heartbeat of power stuttered.

  And a pulse of pain flashed up my arms.

  Then a silent scream ripped through my body and reverberated through every cave in this labyrinth. I flinched before I could help myself, snapping my hands away from the rock.

  Bat screeches echoed from the tunnels.

  “He’s calling for help.” I slapped the rock and gritted my teeth, relighting the blue fire that had stuttered when I flinched.

  “I’m on it.” Wynn dashed away before I could say anything to stop him.

  With my flames crawling higher and higher up the statue’s body, blue light flickered through the cavern, finally cutting away the darkness. Wynn moved through the treasure piles to stop in front of the tunnel mouth, framed tall and alone.

  The screeches were louder. Closer.

  The bats were coming and no fighter could hold off that many monsters alone.

  My heart gave a sick squeeze.

  If Wynn went down fighting, we’d both die here.

  I pulled so much of Carrot’s magic that blue stars flashed behind my eyes, and then I scraped the bottom of my soul, reaching for every breath of magic in my body. Even if I had to burn away my life-force.

  If I had to die in a cave, I was taking this bat-god down with me.

  The flames grew, the cracks spread, and the sound of screeching bats turned into a roar.

  The first monster rocketed out of the darkness, springing toward Wynn in half flight. He blurred.

  The screech choked off. Then started again, now a screech of pain. It cut off too, and Wynn straightened from the limp body on the cave floor.

  One down.

  But how many to go?

  Wynn launched himself at the next man-bat as soon as it popped out of the darkness.

  Hurry. I have to hurry.

  I forced flames into the rock until my knees started to give, and then I just leaned against the statue, not caring if my whole body sank into the sludge. It smelled like burning corpses.

  Another glacier-breaking crack sent pain shooting through my arms—the god’s pain.

  I was making progress.

  Not fast enough.

  A chorus of screeches snapped my attention to Wynn. He was fighting three at once. They beat him back, snapping, dodging. Slower than I expected and stumbling every few steps—maybe groggy from the spell?—but three sets of fangs and slashing claws were already too many to fight.

  Wynn dodged, slashed at a wing, and one of the creatures fell screaming away. But another flew out of the tunnel to take its place.

  Then another. Another.

  Six. Seven.

  Closing in.

  “Come back,” I called, but my voice was weak and wobbly when all my energy was pouring into the flames. “Wynn. The fire.” I could shield him with my flames if he came closer.

  I couldn’t tell if he heard. He kept dodging and fighting, slowly either backing or being backed toward me.

  One slashed his arm.

  His leg.

  The small of his back. He grunted, stumbling. Barely catching himself from falling.

  “Wynn!” When I took my hands off the statue, I stumbled too.

  Carrot dug into my shoulder with her claws, but I was so far past the point of feeling pain.

  “Can’t leave him.” I couldn’t run, but I wobble-rushed to Wynn, casting plain red flames in front of me.

  Not hot enough to melt, but plenty burning to beat back the vampire bats. No more green magic for them to feed on.

  Now they could only roast.

  They scattered from the flames. I caught Wynn’s T-shirt and pulled, trying to drag him, but I stumbled again. When my vision wavered, my flames shrunk. Wynn caught me around the shoulders. Bloody everywhere, but still holding me up.

  “Back.” I yanked him toward the statue. If he stayed at my side, I could keep a ring of fire around us.

  Maybe?

  Blackness gnawed at the edges of my vision. Like I needed another sign I was close to passing out.

  Carrot’s diamond-hard voice gave the sense of gritted teeth. Another rush of magic hit my veins like a shot of Red Bull.

  “I know.” I needed a case of Red Bull, but at least now I could stand up straight.

  Before I could stumble forward, something blurred in front of the altar.

  Girrar materialized from nowhere.

  But instead of lashing out or conjuring bars to cage us, he stumbled and gripped the altar to keep himself from falling. “You…”

  His eyelids drooped and flickered.

  Still sleep-poisoned.

  He shook himself, trying to throw off the enchantment.

  “I’ll handle him.” Wynn brushed off my grip.

  “Can you?” He was so bloodied…

  “Yes.” Wynn’s voice was iron firm. Determined. “Finish the statue.”

  “No.” Girrar reached and the cavern floor warped. A wall of iron bars popped out, but they were crooked and only reached my knees. I hurried around. Another set of bars grew from the floor, slightly taller, slightly straighter. I swung around them.

  I reached the base of the statue before Girrar could stop me. I fell against the stone and rekindled my flames. Cracking noises echoed deep within the rock.

  Carrot burrowed against my neck.

  “Master!” Girrar’s cry bubbled up from his soul. His power burst and so did his trench coat, tearing in half, spilling out the massive set of bat wings that had been hidden underneath.

  Girrar slapped the altar. His desperate magic pulsed through the rock and bled all the way into me. My eyes popped open wide with energy.

  A wake-up call.

  “Wynn! Don’t let him—”

  Wynn was already lunging.

  Girrar didn’t dodge.

  Girrar didn’t blink.

  Wynn’s knife bit down in Girrar’s neck, disappearing beneath his collarbone. When he yanked out the blade, all Girrar did was grin.

  One last grin, while his limp body fell onto the altar.

  His blood spilled.

  Dripping onto the altar stone.

  Power burst out from him, rocking the statue, my body, and the whole cavern. The last blast of his life-force.

  A sacrifice.

  Giving his life for his god’s.

  A piece of ston
e flaked away between my burning hands.

  Underneath was pulsing, leathery skin.

  The statue rumbled with a muffled cry. Like a bear bellowing deep inside a mountain, only this creature was the size of the whole mountain, and it could eat a bear in a mouthful.

  THUNKA-THUNKA-THUNKA-THUNK.

  Faster and faster, almost fully awake.

  The stone cracked and melted under blue flames fueled with every iota of my power. I could still—

  Vampire bats sprinted into the cavern. Man-sized and dog-sized and palm-sized, all dashing on wingtips. Wynn squared himself for a fight.

  Stupid brave idiot. “To me!”

  He dove to my side just before the flock crashed down.

  My instinct was right. They weren’t flying for us.

  The little ones hammered into the altar, killing themselves against the rock. The bigger ones fell in a mass of wings and teeth, tearing each other apart.

  Wings and limbs ripped off. Gore splattered rock. Their dying screeches clawed into my bones.

  And with every sacrifice, magic writhed. The god’s energy spiked, clawing itself from the depths of slumber.

  I tried to make my flames burn higher and faster and hotter, but Carrot drooped on my shoulder and I could barely see the statue, let alone nail the final blow.

  “There’s nothing,” I gasped. “Nothing left.”

  “Take mine.” Wynn gripped my arm and he must’ve sliced open his palm because hot blood dripped over me, shimmering with his magic.

  The power soaked in, a deep and steady purple. I didn’t have to ask his permission because he was already offering his magic. Himself.

  It wasn’t like Carrot’s power that I had to keep pulling. Wynn’s strength blended into my veins like he was part of me.

  A pin-sharp prick burned against my arm. The white bat lifted its bloodied mouth and touched its paw to the wound. The tiniest flare of power flowed into me—the bat’s own magic.

  That flare zinged into a rush. More and more power channeled through the little bat. It was offering me all the magic its friends could muster. Every scrap of power from the cave’s good bats.

  It gave a happy squeak, as if telling me—fight!

  I stood taller, took a breath, and gathered all the power I could reach.

  “Together.” I pushed out flames so hard they roared, a solid wall of blue.

  Wynn and Carrot bore down and even the little bat strained against my arm.