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A spine-chilling chorus breaks out in the forest around us, sounds that no human could make. The hair stands up on the back of my neck, warning of the impending danger, urging me to run.
"It's too late for that," I whisper, my eyes going wide as I feel us surrounded.
There's no way I could make it back to the palace with all of these things lurking in the shadows...
Mira's startled blue eyes snap to mine as the gravity of our situation fully registers.
We're alone and cut off.
This was a trap. And we walked right into it.
"Jess, go!" she yells, panic lacing her tone as she scans the forest surrounding us. Eerie clicks and inhuman sounds echo from the shadows in all directions.
"I'm not leaving you!" I growl, shaking my head. "We're safer together."
Our conversation is cut short as the first creature walks out of the forest. It's as tall as a man, maybe more, but very lean, with rudimentary features, and pale tannish grey skin. The closer it gets, the less like a man it looks. Its limbs are too long, features too moulded, and inky pools for eyes. The closer I look, the more it looks like a clay man left in the sun.
"Golems?" Mira gasps. "What happened to you?!"
The fuck are golems?!
As if in response, the creature's jaw opens impossibly wide and it lets out a screech, summoning more from the forest around us. The distorted clay men surround us but wait with their soulless black eyes locked on us.
"This doesn't make sense," Mira mutters, shaking her head. "Golems are helpers..."
"These are anything but helpful," I whisper, backing towards her. Instinctively, my hands go to my lower back and palm the Guardian blades I keep there. The feel of the smooth leather in my palms aids slightly in slowing my racing heart and letting me focus.
'Chris? CHRIS!' I feel like I hit a wall trying to reach for him.
'Mack? Derek?! ANYONE!' Fear wells in me as I realize we are completely cut off.
"I can't get through," I mumble as I scan the ring of golems, searching for an out.
"No one's coming," Mira replies, despair lacing her voice like her heart is breaking on the spot. Her eyes fog over like she mentally slips away and she whispers, "I'm on my own again."
"You are not alone," I counter, looking over my shoulder at her. The fierce confident woman I know is nowhere to be seen, leaving a scared girl in her place. "Mira!"
Her eyes snap to mine as the fog of memories fall away and she rejoins me in the present, though still a little shaken. The air once again begins to hum around her.
"Go," she orders the lead creature, her voice dripping with authority. It hesitates and she flexes her aura, crackling the space around her as she radiates power.
The golem flinches back but a moment later lurches forwards, its fingers contorted into claws as it lunges for Mira. My heart races as I throw my first dagger, hitting him square in the chest.
He stops mid-lunge, slowly turns to me, locking his soulless black eyes on me, and making my stomach drop. My gaze shifts down to the dagger in his chest that would have killed anyone else as it pushes out from his body and falls to the ground.
"Shit!" I hiss, taking a step back.
"That won't work," Mira warns, shaking her head. "They don't bleed like us."
"Well now what?!" I gasp, backing into her as I put more distance between myself and a second one as it approaches.
"Fire," she says with a determined look in her eyes.
Mira summons blue flames and reaches towards the first one as it lunges once more. In a blinding flash, it's engulfed and begins to writhe, black goo leaking out of it as it slowly reduces to a charred state.
I slash at the second one as he goes for me once more, severing his hand at the wrist. The beast shrieks but comes for me with renewed vigour, clawing with his good hand.
"They don't grow back, that could work," Mira encourages. A moment later, she sweeps her hand towards me, finishing the wounded creature and reducing him to a burnt-out husk.
Agitated clicking noises and groans break out around us as the golems take stock of the fallen ones. Almost in unison, they flinch then set off towards us.
I slash at the closest one, cutting his claw like fingers off. The creature shrieks, pulling back his mangled hand and lunges with the other. I barely sweep with my blade up in time. He crashes into me, knocking me to the ground and burying my dagger in his chest.
"Jess!" Mira screams, blasting the creature off of me. Her blue eyes are wide but relief flashes in them briefly as I make it back to my feet.
My heart hammers as I scan around. Four of the golems are dead but there are easily three times that many surrounding us. Even with my back to Mira, we're too exposed.
"We need cover," I call, reaching for the blade deep in the charred golem's chest.
Mira gestures to the ground beside us and a wall of blue flames links across the forest floor. I'm transfixed by the azure inferno that creeps like it's alive but doesn't burn the leaves.
"Jess, look out!" Mira yells, blasting another golem as I drop and roll, unable to free my blade from the charred corpse that holds it captive.
"Fuck," I hiss, scanning for any weapon to use. "I've got nothing!"
Blinding blue flames lash out ahead of us, so intense I flinch back and throw my arm up to shield my eyes. Heat licks at my skin and her magic crackles between us but I'm not burned.
"Get out of here Jess!" she yells, panic and despair lacing her words.
She's giving up...
I need to find something, anything to use as a weapon! They're here for Mira, she's the key! Panic rises in me as I realize there's no way out and nothing to use to defend myself, nor help her.
'We are the weapon,' Ember reminds me, pushing to take over.
I pause for a second, locking my gaze with Mira's. "I'm not leaving you," I promise. "So stop holding back! I'll try to buy you time."
Tears slip down her cheeks and she nods, a sliver of hope and relief blooming in her. I surrender control to Ember and feel my skin ripple and clothes shred as she shifts in record time.
The golems pause, assessing the new threat but ignore us, focusing once more on Mira. Ember snaps and snarls at the closest monsters making them step back and swipe at her.
Like a switch flips, the very air changes and they come for us with renewed desperation. Ember launches herself at the closest golem, sinking her fangs deep into his throat.
It screeches and staggers back but Ember isn't fazed, digging her razor-sharp teeth deeper, coating her mouth in black goo. She kicks with her back feet, gutting it while she rips out his throat. Spitting the vile flesh out she bites again, twisting and thrashing until she rips his head from his body, dropping him in a crumpled heap.
I cheer, feeling a sliver of hope bloom as I watch Mira finish another. Charred corpses litter the clearing but earthen smoke hangs heavy in the air.
Ember focuses, scanning for the next biggest threat as her muscles flex and tighten, readying for her next attack. Two lunge for Mira, who engulfs them in flames when suddenly a third goes for her.
My wolf springs into action, jumping on his back, biting, and straining to rip his head off. He crashes to the ground, buying Mira the time to finish hers and ready for the next.
The air shimmers around Mira, more than ever before. Her aura bends the light around her giving her an ethereal glow but her eyes... azure centers rimmed by sage green.
There's something more there...
My reflection is cut short as an unearthly sound cuts through the air, making Ember flinch as it feels like someone claps her ears. Her attention snaps to the source and the largest golem of the lot.
Desperation takes over as we fight the onslaught. Ember takes full control, biting, snapping, and ripping pieces off of every golem that comes near.
I fight to keep my panic at bay, focusing on Chris, trying over and over again to get through. Ember yelps as a golem manages to take a slash to her hindquarter.
There's too many.
Even with the wall of fire at our backs, we're outnumbered and they're all attacking at once in a last-ditch effort to end us. I lend Ember all of my strength as we press on, as she makes our last stand.
Where is everyone?! Someone had to have seen Mira's blue flames!
Time slows suddenly as I watch her unleash the biggest wave of flames yet, taking out three and freezing them in place. My stomach drops as I see the play and Jace's words about fighting strategies float through my mind.
"Battle is about reading and playing the field... You have to take a hit sometimes to get the opening you need to end it..."
The latest golem was hanging back until this very moment, sacrificing the others to hold Mira's attention and strike while she's vulnerable. The realization makes my blood run cold as I see his hands distort into vicious spears and shoot for Mira's unprotected back.
Ember launches from the back of her last victim before I even realize what's happening and crashes into Mira, knocking her out of the golem's striking distance. Blinding pain rips through me as I'm pulled away from Mira.
"No!" she screams, reaching for me as the monster throws me behind him like garbage. Even through my pain I feel something snap through the air and blue flames explode across the clearing in all directions.
The golem screams but Mira doesn't stop, instead focusing the heat and incinerating him. My vision blurs as I feel like I'm burning up from the inside out.
Movement just inside the forest catches my attention. All I can make out as black dots fill my vision is a flash of blonde but it's gone as soon as I see it.
Ember whimpers, struggling to get to her feet before dropping once more to the ground. Pain radiates from our abdomen, making it difficult to catch our breath.
"No, no, no," Mira chants as she rushes over and drops beside me, her blue eyes filling with tears. She lays a hand on my stomach, sending fresh waves of pain that make me yelp and whimper as my body convulses.
"Goddess above," I hear Derek curse. His dark eyes swim with concern, cracking his regularly guarded expression, warning me how bad I must look.
In my agony, I missed that we aren't alone anymore but I can't focus on anything but the burning pain spreading from my stomach. My insides burn as I gasp for air between whimpers.
"Mack!" he bellows. A moment later, I catch sight of Mack and Chris running towards us.
'Mate,' Ember cries through the unblocked link.
"Baby," he whispers, crouching down next to me. His anguish and guilt wash over me as I fight the encroaching blackness. "Heal her!"
I brace myself for the snap of Guardian healing but instead feel a whoosh as Mack is knocked back mere inches from making contact with me.
"Wait!" Mira orders, hovering over me. I cry out as a new wave of pain causes fresh cramping. Chris snarls and turns on the witch, confusion and anger contorting his features. "Wait," she begs.
"She can't wait!" he snaps. Brown takes over the green in his golden ringed eyes, warning that Cyrus is right at the surface.
"If she heals her, Jess is dead for sure!" Mira counters, going toe to toe with the Alpha king.
"If we do nothing she'll die!" he yells.
"Look, she's been poisoned! If we seal that in her, it'll kill her!"
I can't hold back my whimpers and cries, the pain reaching overwhelming levels. Panic wells in me as I gasp, unable to breathe and the blackness threatens to take me down.
"Do something!" Chris begs.
"I-I can't, this is beyond me," Mira stutters. "Maybe Doc or Willow... All I can do is put her into a deep sleep to ease her pain."
"Do it," Derek answers when Chris says nothing.
Fear wells in me as I feel Mira's hands on my temple and the familiar tingle of her magic seeping into me. Darkness begins to swallow me and I feel like I'm falling. Chris' voice is the last thing I hear.
'Stay with me baby,' he whispers through our link.