by Nicole Thorn
An arrow flew before I saw who she aimed at. A man dropped dead onto the floor, a gun falling from his hand. It clattered to the ugly dark carpet, and Verin kissed Juniper on the cheek. She looked quite happy with her reward.
The celebration was cut short when three more people appeared in the room, all with guns on their person. Before a woman could go for hers, I raised my bow in the air, and let an arrow go. It hit her in the stomach, and she silently gasped at the pain. I pulled back another one, but Juniper got to it first. Less than a second apart, we fired. The last two arrows took the woman down.
I got a real taste of what the seers could do now, because Jasper moved before I could even register it. He got behind a man, and bashed his cudgel against the back of his head. I heard the skull cracking with the one hit, and a body went down. That left Jasmine and Zander going for the last one, but I knew more were coming. That thought solidified when a gun went off, and Jasmine ducked to avoid it hitting her throat. That wouldn’t have killed her, but it would have hurt like hell.
I had the bow, but that wasn’t my only ability. I stood with my back against the wall as more people poured in, and I called my magic up. From the very edges of the room, I started growing vines. I knew it would take some time to get them where I needed, but I let that go while the fight went on.
I couldn’t stand there anymore when the room got flooded. Each person had a gun and they weren’t afraid to use them. Every time I heard the sound, I got a flash of when we found the seers dead at home.
I felt one rip through my arm, and it landed in the wall. I didn’t scream, but I grabbed the wound with my hand. Jasper saw it, and it made him pause. The person behind him thought that would give them an advantage. Jasper moved faster than that, turning and cracking their jaw with his weapon.
My arm burned as the wound started healing, the blood slowing before it could even get to my forearm. I’d never been shot before, so that was a new feeling. I got past it, going for a man who aimed at me again.
I let three arrows loose, two landing in him, and another going through the leg of a woman near Jasmine. I watched my sister-in-law stab her in the shoulder, only for the woman to be yanked back by Verin. He put his garrote around her throat, and I couldn’t look at the rest.
My vines moved up the walls like I told them to, breaking through the floor as if it had been made of nothing. Then they waited for me.
“Guys!” I shouted. “We need to move up.” Argus wouldn’t come down here, so that meant we had to take the fight to him. The coward would want to get at us when we were weak, and maybe less in numbers.
Verin pulled Juniper along with him, headed for the stairs that led up. I went next, followed by Jasper and the others. We zoomed past the people there, getting to the top of the stairs before anyone could catch us. Zander lingered at the end of our little line, holding his sword in hand.
When a cluster of fighters showed up, I heard my brother flip the Charm on. “Stop,” he ordered, his voice sounding too soft and too inviting. The people stopped, letting us know that they were all susceptible to his magic. I had assumed a lot of them were demigods like us, but they could have been a lot of things. Most creatures could have children that looked human, if they were half something else.
“Where is Argus?” Zander asked. “Tell me now.”
A man in front looked into Zander’s eyes, blinking slowly. “He’s upstairs, trying to contact someone.”
“Thank you,” Zander said. “Now, I want you to lay your weapons on the ground.” They did. “Leave this place, and don’t look back. Get in your cars and don’t stop driving until you’ve either run out of gas, or you leave the state. Do you understand?”
Five heads nodded, and they turned to leave the hallway. I heard their footsteps as they hurried off.
“Whoa,” Jasmine said. “Why didn’t you try that when everyone was shooting at us?”
“Too many,” Zander answered. “The thinner I spread it, the less effective my magic would be. Those people won’t make it out of the state as it is. It just got us some extra time and answers.”
Verin shrugged, heading to the stairs. “Great, then let’s go kill us a giant.”
Jasper checked on my arm as we walked, and only settled when he saw that the wound healed. Even though my clothes had been flecked with blood, I didn’t have any marks to show it. None of us did.
When we made it to the next floor, all my vines had broken through. At least ten people waited there, and I didn’t waste a moment. I sent the vines after those people, and the ones that came in. They tangled the people up, trapping them as they grew more. I pulled out my magic, letting the vines become strong enough to keep even demigod arms tied. No death needed.
“Nifty,” Jasmine said, bumping my hip. “Do you see Argus?”
While people shouted names at us, we looked around for the giant that made my blood boil. Knowing he was here made my heart race. It would be over soon. He couldn’t win against three gods and three pissed off demigods. Part of him must have known too, because he didn’t come out.
“Argus!” Verin growled. “Either you come out, or we come find you. If you make us come for you, I promise that your death won’t be easy or quick.”
We waited, and he didn’t come. That made us all stalk forward, only to be greeted by more fighters. My siblings and I didn’t even get a chance at them before the gods swooped in, taking them out. Juniper shot off two arrows while Jasmine slashed a throat. Jasper swung his cudgel, breaking two heads, one after another. Five people went down in seconds, and I tried not to get turned on by watching my husband take care of business.
The bound people stopped yelling.
Argus walked out of a room, his hand freshly sliced open. Blood dripped, and I wondered which god he had been attempting to summon. They could have said no to him, or he didn’t get the chance to call on them yet. I would never know.
Verin’s jaw clenched at the sight of the man, and it took a lot of control to stay standing where I was. I had Argus on strength, but the man knew how to fight. I watched Verin tuck his weapon into his pocket.
“You’ve made quite a mess,” the giant said, looking around.
Verin smiled. “We’re not quite finished yet. I think the walls could use a little of your blood on them.”
He chuckled. “You would go for something violent. When I broke your mother’s neck, it was quick and clean. Same as that little seer over there.” He nodded to Jasmine. “Though I went messy with your girl, so I understand.”
“You want to stop talking now,” Zander said.
“Do I? I haven’t even reminded your little sister of how I killed her boyfriend. It was so easy that I barely had any fun with the lot of them. I’ll be sure to take my time this go.”
My body went tense, and then relaxed all at once. I tossed my bow aside, and dropped the quiver onto the floor. When Juniper looked at me, she seemed to think I lost my mind. “What the hell are you doing?”
My voice sounded flat. “I don’t want a weapon for this. I want to kill him with my bare hands. I want to feel it.”
I heard something else drop, and Zander’s sword laid on the floor. Next went Jasmine, who set her dagger down with Juniper as she put her crossbow on the floor. Last was Jasper, who tossed the cudgel aside. It made me smile, and made Argus take a step back.
“My father has grand plans for when you see him,” Verin warned.
The six of us bolted for the man, but the gods left us in the dust. Argus couldn’t run from them, and Juniper got his left arm while Jasper got his right. That left Jasmine to kick him right between the legs with strength that made the front of Argus’ pants blossom with blood.
The rest of us wanted to play too, but I worried we wouldn’t get the chance. When Jasper let go of Argus, Juniper swung him around. The man flew, and his body went through a glass wall, leading into an office. The glass sliced into him as he laid on a broken table. It gave the rest of us a chance at him.
&
nbsp; I made my way inside, and I grabbed Argus by the shirt to pull him up off the floor. He swung at me, and I took his arm. One bend, and it snapped with a sound that didn’t bother me in the least. I shoved the man out of the room so my brother could take a turn.
It looked brutal when Zander got his hands on him. He held Argus with one hand, and used the other to bash his face in. Over and over again, he punched the side of his head and nose, and I smelled blood heavy in the air. Zander must have been holding back, because it should have killed the giant. He could have turned his brain to mush in a second, but he chose not to.
He dropped the man at Verin’s feet, like an offering to him. A silent one that Verin understood. He ducked down, pulling the garrote from his pocket.
“You attempted to take everything from me,” he said. “And for a little while, you did. No matter what I do to you, I have to live with loss for the rest of my days. Killing you slowly wouldn’t change anything.” He stretched out his weapon, and hooked it around Argus’ torso. “That doesn’t mean I would waste this chance.”
Verin flipped the man up, and put his foot at the back of Argus’ head while he pulled. I watched the unbreakable wire cutting through his body like butter, slicing skin, and bone, and busting through the other side as Argus screamed so loud that it would warn the whole block.
Two halves of one whole monster, laid on the floor. His scream had cut off suddenly, and blood left his corpse fast as it pooled on the floor. Verin stepped away so it wouldn’t get on his shoes.
“Well then,” Jasmine said. “I think he’s dead.”
I blinked at her. “Maybe we should check his pulse . . . ”
As our people came back to us, each couple huddled up together, staring at the body. It didn’t feel over yet, but I figured that would come in a while. Knowing he was dead didn’t make me think the nightmares would go away, or make me stop being afraid to go into the studio. I would always have those pictures in my head, seeing my family dead because of this man. We only got to kill him once, but he took four lives from us. It didn’t seem fair.
“What about them?” Jasper asked, looking at the silent people in my traps.
I blew a puff of air out of my mouth, unsure of the answer.
“One option,” Verin said. “People, I think you understand your fate here.”
They didn’t answer.
Jasmine cleared her throat. “I think I know where he’s going with this, so let me have at it. My wonderful sister-in-law could break your neck right now if she wanted to. You could all be dead in seconds, like the man who made you his bitch. But you don’t have to die.”
“Don’t we?” a woman said.
“No,” I answered. “Because I know that you’re probably scared. We’re all scared when the gods are involved. You chose wrong, but that doesn’t mean you have to die.”
Verin took over. “That man killed good people, and he would have done it again if we didn’t kill him today. I don’t know what you’ve all done, but it doesn’t have to matter. You can walk away and be done, on one condition.”
“What might that be?” another tied up person asked. “Because that girl has us all trapped, and it doesn’t feel like we have a lot of options.”
His tone made me want to tighten my grip on the lot of them, but I held back. People didn’t give me as much credit for my self-control as I deserved. So many people would have gotten broken noses if I took after my brothers a little more.
Jasmine put her hands on her hips, glaring at the doubtful person. “Hey, we’re just trying to keep our family safe. Probably like a lot of you. Now I know that you guys don’t care much for the gods.”
“Obviously,” a different person said. “What have they ever done but reject us? They make us and leave us on our own. Why are you so loyal to them?”
“We’re not,” I said. “We haven’t picked a side, and we won’t. I’m loyal to my family, and no one else. I fight to keep them safe, and if the gods get in the way, then I’ll fight them too.”
All my loyalties went away when I realized the truth about my mother. I believed for so long that she would have taken care of me if she could have. I told myself that the other gods held her back, and she loved me. Maybe she did, but that wasn’t enough. She let horrible things happen to me and the people I loved, time and time again. She only ever stepped in when it suited her and her needs, and I couldn’t defend it anymore. Jasper’s death had been the final straw.
“Here’s the deal,” Verin said. “You all can live, but you need to get the bloody hell out of the city. No more sides for you either, and you will not fight in this oncoming war. If your family is in danger, by all means, protect them. But you are not to team up with anyone like Argus again. He would have let you die for his cause, never think differently. And he would not have been able to protect you against the gods. They would have taken you down in a blink.”
As a show of good faith, I had my vines let go of them. I could have grabbed them again in a heartbeat, and they couldn’t get at their guns from where they stood. Plus, my god family could probably take them out pretty quickly if it came down to it.
“You’ll let us go then?” the woman asked. “Why should we believe you?”
“Because you have no options.”
A man held his hands up. “I want no part of this. The seers were turned into gods, and you all know that. They took down Argus with little effort, and killed who knows how many more of us. I would rather live and run until the war is over, than fight against the likes of them. I don’t want to see what else the gods have in their back pocket.”
I didn’t think of that before. The seers could be used as an example to others. Showing what the gods were willing to do to win this. They did it to keep us from jumping to the other side, and being three surviving and powerful people against them. They also wanted to keep our allies from joining up with the bad guys too. Turning the seers to gods could have been seen as a power play.
“So, we just walk away?” another person said. “We leave, and then what?”
“Then you get to live,” Zander said. “You get to say you did something stupid, and lived to talk about it. Not a lot of people get to do that, so you should be grateful.”
“Grateful,” the man scoffed. “You come in here, tear us apart, threaten us, and now we have to be at your mercy?”
“Yes,” I answered.
They considered it, and I saw that some of them were unsure. One man threw his hands in the air. “I’ll take it. I’m sick of broken bones and lies. Fuck the gods. Fuck the giants. Fuck it all, I’m getting a burger. Who’s with me?”
I watched a line of people heading for the door, making the choice before limping away. They didn’t try for weapons or anything, so I believed that was it. We didn’t even have to kill that many people.
A couple of them lingered behind, unsure about the switch. We had the upper hand, and they knew it. When they gave up, they went out the door as well. One looked back at Argus’ dead body, sighed, and then shuffled out of the room.
I sighed too, staring at the ceiling. “I don’t know about you all, but I want to take an hour-long bath and eat a whole cheese cake.”
“Oh!” Jasmine said. “A cheese cake in the bath. That sounds good.”
Juniper frowned, and Verin put a bloody arm around her. “Come along, luv. We can eat at the table.”
“Thank you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN:
I Will Not Be Afraid
Jasper
TWO DAYS LATER, and I knew action had to be taken. Kezia had been clever about the whole thing, but I knew her reasoning. The day after Argus died, the six of us had celebrated, at Kezia’s insistence. Somehow, celebrating meant going mini golfing—an endeavor that ended with Jasmine breaking one of the courses and all of us running to the car so we didn’t have to pay for it. Then we’d gone to dinner and a movie. That ended in Jasmine and Zander making out, and me wanting to get the hell away from everyone in my family.
Then, the day before, Kezia had insisted that we go shopping for new pots. She had drawn the experience out, so that we could then eat lunch together. After that, she insisted that we get something for me, which meant we’d gone to the art store. She had shuffled around behind me, on occasion jumping onto my back, and laughing about the entire thing. She also, somehow, managed to draw that out so that we could get an afternoon snack afterward. By the time we got home, Juniper had been in the process of cleaning the kitchen, and Kezia helped her while I went to put my supplies away. Then she’d started a movie marathon, and I knew what she wanted to avoid. Going into my studio.
I had to do something, because I needed that studio. I had nowhere else to do any of my sculpting, and gods knew that Juniper would have a panic attack if I even suggested that we give me another space.
That morning, I got up early, and cleaned the entire space. It hadn’t looked this spotless since I’d first taken it over. I pushed the shelf that Kezia had broken into the garbage, and then I took the wire that had killed me and threw it away as well. Everything else got scrubbed to within an inch of its life, and I set everything up so that it looked the way it always had. All my things sat on the table, and Kezia’s things went into the corner. She liked to think she couldn’t sculpt anything, but she could.
The last thing I did before going to get her, was take care of her plants. Since she hadn’t come into the studio, all the flowers that she normally doted upon had suffered. They needed water and sunlight. I could provide one of those things, so I did. The plants looked much healthier when I stepped away from them. Everything looked the way it had before Argus came into our house and violated everything that we had built.
Juniper had reclaimed the kitchen, and gods knew that nothing would keep Jasmine from sitting in the living room to watch movies with Zander. The only one who hadn’t gotten to reclaim their space was my wife. Not that she would think of this studio as her space, though she should. The two of us spent most of our time in this room, playing around, talking, not bothering my sisters though they didn’t give us the same courtesy. She needed to feel comfortable in this room again, because I needed her to.
