by Carey Corp
I ducked around the tree, narrowly avoiding Sean’s next strike. As the monster followed, I raised my shield to defend myself. Making him angry seemed to increase his strength. His sword beat against my shield again and again until a final slam sent it flying into the dirt. I whirled and kicked the vile thing square in the chest. The blow pushed him back, but when I brought my sword around he blocked and then went on the offensive. Our weapons crashed together over and over until I struggled to block his strikes. With a massive swing, he knocked me off my feet. I fell on my back, the sword flying out of my hand. As he raised his sword over his head to deliver the final blow, I pulled a dagger from my belt, buried it in his thigh, and rolled away.
Scrambling on my hands and knees, I grabbed the sword, swung around, and slashed blindly. The blade cut halfway through his calves, bone breaking through skin. With a bellow of rage, he toppled face-first. I leapt to my feet and swung, my blade slicing into the monster’s neck as he fell.
I circled his prone body, sword pointed at his head. I had to be sure. Reluctant to touch the unholy creature, I grasped his sleeve and rolled him onto his back. He still blinked, his jaw working as he tried to speak. I straddled his chest, grasped the sword in both hands, and hesitated. Could I kill him all over again?
The answer flashed through my mind in a moment of seamless clarity. This was not Sean, but another mental torment sent from the witch. If I let it, my guilt would destroy me from the inside out and Adelaide would win. What I’d done could not be changed, but I could accept absolution and move on. When I freed this soulless abomination from his torment, this time it would be out of compassion, not anger.
“I forgive you, Sean.” I raised my sword and lifted a prayer, “Deliver him, Lord, for he knows not what he does.”
And then I slammed the blade through his throat. His eyes flew wide, but it wasn’t until I lifted his head and dislocated it from his body that he stopped moving.
Exhausted, but finally free, I dropped the monster’s head and glanced to the field. The Destined had defeated the last of the skeleton battalion and were making their way toward me. As my head cleared, I began to hear snippets of words. Veronica’s voice. Ja . . . you . . . army . . .
I snatched my shield out of the dirt, grabbed Crusoe’s reins, and began to run.
CHAPTER 43
Veronica
Jamie! Where are you? Addie’s army has us surrounded!
The skellies swarmed and I threw my last ax. End over end, it hurtled through their ranks, knocking three . . . four . . . five creatures down like bowling pins, three of which lost their heads completely. Arms shaking, I raised my sword as Ken knocked down a row with her staff, blowing them apart with the impact. Working as a team, Duncan stepped into the void she created and decapitated the following row with his claymore.
“I dinna understand,” Duncan mused. “What’s the witch’s end game? The skeletons are almost too easy to take down.”
“Good point.” Kenna moved into position as we fought back to back.
Another group scuttled forward, and I turned away, letting my friends take the lead under the pretense of readjusting my shield. Jamie hadn’t responded to my mental calls and I could tell Duncan was also concerned his brother had yet to return.
Knowing Kenna would hear my desperation, but unable to care, I projected, Jamie, if you can hear me, please answer. Say something to let me know you’re alive!
Silence met my call, and then I heard his voice echoing through the trees. “Save some skellies for me!”
Jamie ran into the clearing bloodied, bruised, and the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. He charged the last cluster of skeletons from behind, using his shield and sword to knock them to bits. Then he raced over and we threw our arms around him in the best group hug in the universe.
“What kept you?” Duncan asked.
“Zombie Sean,” he replied matter-of-factly.
“What?” I growled, my voice hoarse from shouting orders.
“Aye,” Jamie answered. “He can rest in peace now.”
I pulled out of the tangle of arms and searched Jamie’s face. Dirt and sweat streaked his skin, but his eyes were clear and golden brown. In truth, he seemed lighter than he had in a long time.
In unspoken agreement we moved into the fire circle and slumped against the log benches. My whole body shook with fatigue as I reclined next to Jamie, laying my head on his shoulder. Without the incessant click-clack of skellies, the camp seemed eerily silent.
Addie’s undead army was gone. Although there were casualties all around camp, I couldn’t think about that yet. I needed this one moment to regroup.
“Is it possible tha’ we’ve defeated them all?” Alasdair strode into the fire circle, appearing spry as usual. Only a slash on his arm and a slight limp betrayed that he’d just fought the battle of his life.
“Let’s hope so.”
None of us spoke the question that was surely on all of our minds: Where was Addie?
A horrid thought broke through my exhaustion, causing me to straighten up despite my protesting muscles. “We need to get everyone into base camp and restore the shield. Addie’ll be looking for more souls to rebuild her army.”
“Or she could just do that . . .” From Kenna’s weary tone, I couldn’t tell if she was trying to make a joke or on the verge of hysteria. But as I processed what had captured her attention, I had no urge to laugh.
In the center of the fire circle, a bone that had once been part of a skellie’s leg twitched. “Please tell me I’m not the only one seeing this!” Her voice pitched higher with every word as several more bones came together.
I leapt to my feet as all the bones around us began to rattle. “They’re regenerating.”
Everyone rose, warily watching the bones dancing toward each other and fervently hoping it was just a bad dream.
“You mean we’ve got to fight those things all over again? You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s like Groundhog Day from hell!” Kenna moaned. She tugged the tail of her braid, her eyes wide. “Maybe I can wake myself up.”
The ground vibrated as hundreds upon hundreds of bones around us convulsed, trying to reunite with their former bodies.
“We can’t last another round!” Panic gripped my chest. “We’ve lost too many already.”
The upper half of a skeleton dragged its way through the dirt, its violet eyes intent on my face. I scuttled back on my hands and it sparked.
“What in all that’s holy?” Jamie raised his sword to the laboriously advancing skellie.
“Wait!” Kenna shrieked. “It’s glowing . . . with dark magic. Igniting . . . like a sparkler.”
“Maybe they’re about to disintegrate,” Duncan suggested.
“Tha’s no’ what happened to them in the castle garden.” Jamie backed away from the creature that seemed to have stalled in place.
“Tallyho!” a call sounded from some distance away.
I shot to my feet. “Ewan?” I jumped onto a log and my heart squeezed. The missing Doonians and Destined, led by Ewan and Ana, raced toward camp. “They saved them!”
Kenna hopped up beside me. “Oh my . . . there’s Cheska, and Jerimiah, and Ezekiel.” Her voice thickened with emotion as she gripped my arm.
As they ran, I made out Sofia’s tiny form next to Ewan. Kenna and I jumped off the log and raced to meet them, Jamie and Duncan on our heels. We dodged sparking bones as other Doonians joined us. I couldn’t keep the smile from spreading across my face. Even if the skellies did re-form, we had reinforcements. The Destined were our second chance!
Jamie looped his arm through mine and we pulled ahead, jumping over rattling bones and debris. A whistling sound drew my gaze up to where a violet orb of magic streaked across the blue sky in a perfect arc. Robbed of words, I yanked Jamie to a stop and pointed at the ball as it whizzed over our heads toward camp.
A low cackle rang in my ears, raising the hairs on my neck as the voice from my nightmares resounded inside
my head. Checkmate, Queenie.
CHAPTER 44
Mackenna
Click. Boom!
The explosion launched me through the air. I slammed into the ground, gasping for breath as debris rained down around me. My ears rang and I could barely hear the chaos in the camp. Rolling to my side, I pushed myself into a sitting position.
The bomb had created a car-sized crater where Calum Haldane had stood seconds before. Scanning the carnage around the blast, I saw Oliver face-down in the grass. Whether he was alive, I couldn’t say—but there was no sign of the storyteller. Something wet landed on my cheek. I swiped at it and my finger came away with a hunk of bloody flesh, confirming my suspicions that the man was gone.
For a brief moment, I felt nothing . . . . The next thing I knew, I was on my feet, screaming at the top of my lungs. Duncan charged through the mass of downed people at full speed. When he reached me I tried to bury myself against his chest, but held me firmly at arm’s length.
“Where are ye hurt worst?” he demanded. His alarmed eyes darted from my face to my abdomen and back.
The terror in his eyes made me wonder if I was missing something vital, like an arm. But my limbs felt connected. “I’m okay,” I gasped loudly.
I followed his gaze as it moved downward to my stomach. My tattered shirt revealed a pulpy mess of mangled flesh and blood. Although I could see the injury, I still couldn’t feel anything.
Duncan let go of my shoulders. His trembling hands reached for my wound. As he touched me, hunks of flesh fell away. Startled, he jumped backward as I realized the terrible truth. I was covered from head to toe in blood and gore, but none of it was mine.
“It’s Calum.” My stomach roiled and I choked back a gag. “I got Calum on me!”
I hunched over and spewed my meager breakfast. My ears were ringing ferociously, but my hearing was coming back. Shouts and cries of distress came from all around the camp.
Bent over, trying to collect myself, I noticed the debris around my feet—bones mixed with the remnants of Addie’s witch bombs, sizzling with the acidic remnants of violet magic. I watched the skellie remains and magic dissolve, leaving an oozy black bog in their wake.
Straightening up, I met Duncan’s concerned gaze. “The residue from the bomb is mixing with the skellies.”
Pointing to the spot where the ooze had sprung from the magic, we watched as a small patch of black petunias sprouted in the aftermath. Zombie fungus!
“Duncan—”
“Aye. I see it.” He did a quick scan of the surround area. “It’s coming up all over.”
“So I smell.” I crinkled my nose as the smell of decay permeated the air.
“Incoming!” Analisa’s shrill warning cut through what was left of the camp. I spun around to see her running from the field toward the camp. As she looked up at Addie’s projectile, she stumbled and fell. Getting to her hands and knees, she started to scramble forward but it was too late. The explosion landed directly in her path, engulfing everything around it in purple fire.
The force of this explosion knocked me backward. Just as my feet came out from under me, Duncan grabbed me in a bear hug and we crashed into the ground.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I scrambled off of him and onto my stomach.
“Aye,” he replied as he turned over. “But the others?”
We military-crawled toward the battlefield, avoiding the glowing bones and oozing flowers. Doing the same thing, Vee and Jamie made their way over to a log that provided cover as long as they remained flat. We scuttled up next to them just in time to witness the ensuing chaos.
Shouting Ana’s name, Giani Rosetti ran toward the blast. He struggled forward until the heat singed his hair and his sleeve burst into flames. His father and second-oldest brother fought to pull him away—his brother beating at his smoking clothes as they forced him back. At a safe distance, Giani dropped to the ground. Mario and Matteo knelt beside him.
The other Rosettis—Sharron, Sofia, Gabby, and the other brothers—were crouched in a tightly knit group at the edge of the clearing to avoid the heat. Next to them, Lachlan crouched over Blaz, soothing the terrorized pup.
“They’re too exposed,” Jamie murmured, nodding in the direction of the Rosetti clan.
“Aye,” Duncan confirmed. “An’ the witch knows it.”
Jamie turned his face toward Veronica. “Duncan and I will fetch them. You lasses stay here.”
At the far end of the field, Addie, seated atop her decomposing steed and looking even more like something from The Magical Walking Dead, began to form another bomb between her hands. That’s when an arrow lodged into her horse’s eye socket.
Without warning the horse turned in an agitated arc causing Addie’s magic to untether. The girl responsible for the shot, the Olympic archer from China, continued to sink one arrow after another into the unholy beast from a nearly impossible distance.
The witch’s mount faltered beneath her, going down on its forelegs. Addie lurched forward and the magic ball flew out of her hands, detonating a few yards away. The blast threw her off her undead horse and the thing collapsed, convulsions racking its enormous body.
“The witch is down,” Veronica hissed. “Go now!”
“And avoid the zombie fungus,” I insisted.
“Zombie fungus?” Vee glanced over the log and for the first time noticed the little patch of black flowers popping up all around us. As we watched, the flowers expelled a puff of purple mist.
“Oh, snap,” she moaned. Only she didn’t say snap.
“We’ll be fine. Stay put.” Duncan shot me a pointed glance that meant Listen for once in yer life, woman and then scrambled away.
The MacCrae brothers crawled along the edge of the camp like G.I. Joes on fast forward. Avoiding the patches of black flowers, they got as close as they could to the Rosettis while still keeping cover.
Jamie whistled in a short series of bursts. Lachlan turned toward the noise. Using gestures, the prince indicated that the group needed to get out of the open.
I watched the comprehension dawn on Lachlan’s face. He whispered something to the youngest Rosetti boy, who in turn murmured something to his mom and siblings. In unison their heads swiveled toward Giani and the others.
Sharron Rosetti cupped her hands around her mouth and then whispered, “Andiamo!” Mario and Matteo hoisted Giani to his feet and ran just as the other group dashed for the cover of the camp rubble, scattering as they went.
Hunkered down behind the log we had no vantage point on the witch but her shriek of triumph reached us as clear as Lady Day. Unable to help myself, I peeked over the log toward the archer’s last position. There was a minimart-sized crater where the Olympian had been.
When I looked back at the witch, I could see the grin stretching across her ravaged face with homicidal intent as she zeroed in on our not-so-secret hiding place. The violet energy gathering in her hands began to solidify, this time in a bomb intended for us. There was nowhere to go. We’d never make it out of the blast zone before impact. Duncan and Jamie were too far away—there was no time to say good-byes, except to my bestie.
Reaching for Vee’s hands, I said, “I love you!”
“Wait.” She shook her head, refusing to deny the inevitable. We were about to die. Tears coursed down my cheeks as I tried to get out all that I needed to say.
“I’m not sorry for any of it. Doon was the best thing to ever happen to me. I’m not afraid.”
Please, I prayed, shutting my eyes. Peace washed over me as I clung to Vee. Don’t erase us from the narrative. Let Doon survive to tell our story . . .
CHAPTER 45
Veronica
I love you too, but this isn’t over. Look.”
The moment our hands had joined, the black ooze of the zombie fungus rising around us had prompted our rings to form a bubble of protection.
Kenna blinked at the shimmering light surrounding the two of us like a cocoon. Just as her shoulders relaxed, we too
k a direct hit. The magic bomb Addie had cooked up especially for us hit with the force of a thousand sledge hammers. On impact, we fell into a heap of tangled limbs on the ground, just managing to keep our hands clasped.
A groan nearby drew my attention to Alasdair’s prone figure. The old man struggled to sit up as fresh petunias sprouted all around him, their toxic mist permeating the air. He began to choke and gag.
“We have to save him! Crawl to the right.” We hobbled to our knees and scooched toward Alasdair. He spotted us just as we reached for him with our free hands. The moment his fingers linked with ours, he became encased in safety.
Another bomb hit close by, knocking us into one another like bowling pins. After we’d regained our balance, I glanced around at the chaos of camp; people on fire running, crying, others tending to the wounded. Calum, Ana, Oliver . . . I’d seen all of them go down. My heart throbbed, pushing against my lungs until I couldn’t breathe. Were they all gone? How many others? I hadn’t seen Eòran or Fergus in ages.
I sucked hard to draw in air, my head like a balloon floating above my shoulders.
“Vee!” Kenna pushed her face into mine, so close our noses brushed. “Pull it together. I can’t do this without you!”
I blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. My heart slammed into my throat as my vision started to dim and I wobbled on my knees.
“Come on, use your yoga breathing. Deep breath in.” Kenna pulled air into her lungs, her spine straightening. I followed suit. “Slow breath out.” We both exhaled, our shoulders slumping.
And I could think again. “I’m good. I’m good.”
A bomb smashed into a nearby tree and it burst into violet flames. The same tree where . . . “Lachlan! The twins!”
“I saw the twins wi’ their family,” Alasdair reassured. “And the other boy was wi’ yer dog, Blaz. They’re safe—” His voice fell off and he didn’t have to say the rest. For now.
