I grabbed the half-burned envelope and poured what was left of the charred powder into my hand. The Shedim charged again. I recited the incantation at warp speed and threw the powder at the beast.
It didn’t freeze.
The fire must’ve changed the chemical makeup of the potion. The demon wrapped its claws around my throat and lifted me from the ground. My feet dangling, I clutched its hand and kicked, but it only squeezed me tighter.
“Discord,” I rasped.
He whirled toward me, his expression livid. Three more of Commodus’s lackies descended on him, trying to drag him to the ground. He fought back, landing a punch on one guy’s jaw that ripped it from its socket. Even with his mandible hanging loose, the frigging demon continued his attack.
Another guy hit Discord with an uppercut while yet another kicked him in the gut. The shedim holding me looked to its master, and the guy actually gave him the thumb down gesture as if we were in the movie.
It looked like the monsters might get to use my hair as floss after all, dammit.
The shedim grabbed a handful of my locks, and my pulse sprinted. I whispered a prayer to the goddess that I’d pass out from lack of oxygen before it ripped my head from my body. Black drool dripped from its teeth, the stench of its sulfurous breath making my stomach turn. It snarled, opening its mouth like it was ready to chomp my face.
I’m sorry, Ash. I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to suck in another breath. I wouldn’t say my entire life flashed before me in that moment…only everything I’d ever done wrong and every regret I’d ever had. I was the oldest sister. The next in line to lead our coven. The entire town was counting on me to end the curse, and I had failed them. I’d made one mistake after another during this entire ordeal, and…
The shedim wheezed, and I squinted blearily. Its eyes bugged, and it loosened its grip enough for me to drag in a breath. Its grip loosened more, and I scrambled away, gasping and coughing.
The demon exploded. Its guts blasted out in every direction, and two arrows fell into the heap of goo.
Another arrow whizzed by my head, landing in the center of a demon’s chest. Thankfully, this guy didn’t explode, because I couldn’t handle swimming through any more gelatinous innards. He turned blue and then crumbled into ashes instead.
“Cinder!” Discord grabbed my arm. “Run.”
Before I could make my feet move, an arrow clipped my shoulder. Searing pain ripped through my arm, jerking me into action. My boots pounded the rocks, adrenaline—and maybe the remnants of Ash’s speed sigil—powering my strides as I pumped my legs, matching Discord’s pace, my lungs heaving in the oppressive heat.
“This way,” he said.
We hung a left down a narrow alley, darting behind a row of two-story buildings and slowing our pace, but my heart kept up its sprint, thanks to the adrenaline still surging through my system.
My shoulder screamed, reminding me how much the Underworld amplified pain. I’d had cuts before, bigger and deeper ones, but this felt like someone had sliced me open and sprayed liquid nitrogen into the wound.
“Where are we going?” My chest tightened and my head spun, so I leaned against a wall to steady myself. “I need to sit down.”
“We have to keep moving.” He took three long strides before turning around.
I must’ve looked like death warmed over because his expression went from determination to horror to anger in two seconds. He strode toward me, gingerly taking my arm and lifting the torn sleeve from my shoulder. He winced, but I didn’t dare look to see why. Most of the blood from my head had already plummeted to my feet. I didn’t need to push it.
“This isn’t from the shedim.” He placed his palm over the sigil and inhaled deeply, focusing on healing my injured shoulder, I assumed.
“Someone got me with an arrow.” I leaned my head against the wall and closed my eyes.
“Poisoned with hoarfrost root. It’s toxic to all who are born of fire and can turn them to ice.”
“I guess that includes fire witches. Can you fix me like you did before?” The freezing pain shot down to my elbow, triggering the funny bone nerve, and I groaned, opening my eyes.
“I cannot. We must get you to the seer before…” His breath came out in a mist, as if it were below thirty.
“Before?”
He lifted his hands. The color in his fingers receded, turning them white from the tips to his palms. “We must both get to the seer. Can you walk?”
I pushed from the wall, squeezing my eyes shut as the world spun. My stomach flipped, but I opened my lids and managed to stay upright. “How far?”
“The cave just beyond that stream.” He pointed, and whiteness crept up his arm, freezing him to his shoulder.
“Looks like I have no choice.” I headed in the direction he indicated, and he trudged behind me.
