A voice that was not my own burst through me. "NO!"
My scarred arm, no longer under my command, wrenched free from the throne's grip, snapping through the wood as easily as if they were made of glass. I watched, dumbfounded, as my arm swept through the air in front of me.
The spirit could control my body now?
Across the circle, the silver crescent in Matilda's hand went flying, torn from her grip by some unseen force.
But it was already too late.
Luc coughed, spitting up red. Blood poured down his front, soaking into his white shirt, splattering across the stones. He slumped forward, going limp against his restraints.
"NO!" I screamed again, in my own voice this time. "NO! LUC!"
Matilda fixed her forceful gaze on me. "Now I see what you've done," she hissed.
"What did I do?" I shouted back. "You're the one who fucking stabbed him!"
Matilda just continued to glare at me. I felt the spirit behind my eyes, glaring back.
The air changed then, crackling with strange electricity. It was frightening, because it was familiar. It was a sensation I hadn't felt in a long time, but I'd recognize it anywhere. It buzzed through me, rumbling in my ears. The static rose, pitching higher and higher until it became...
A scream.
A scream I never thought I'd hear again.
The Beast was back.
It seemed impossible, but I knew it was true. It was like all those times before, when I could feel its presence—a presence that I knew as well as my own. A presence that was burned into my memory.
And I felt it now.
Panic surged through my veins, sending my heart racing. How? Hadn't we sealed it away? I twisted my head back and forth, searching the room for a glimpse of it. Wasn't this supposed to be over?
I expected the familiar monster to appear, with its glowing eyes and flaming mouth. Instead, my gaze fell on a very different creature looming in the corner. It stood on its hands... It's many, many hands. It was like there were only hands, of every shape and size and colour, all jumbled together, seething like tentacles. A few snaked upwards, knotting together to form a long neck, the hands at the end holding up an oval of shattered glass.
Its face was like the broken face of a mirror, jagged edges circling a deep hole in the centre—a mouth. Inside the cavernous maw were layers and layers of other pointed shards, stacked together like rows of teeth.
And in each shard, a single eye stared out at us.
Something triggered in my mind, dragging a memory from my blackout to the surface. The golden mirror with its broken face, several arms emerging through gaps in the glass. Watching in horror as it rushed at me. The ghostly girls dragging me away. The wet arms around my middle—
It all made sense then. This was what they had been trying to warn me about this whole time. They had tried to tell us that the bind on The Beast was going to break. They had been trying to save me—save us!
Only now it was too late. Now the Beast was free.
Only 'Beast' no longer seemed like an appropriate name. It no longer acted like some mindless animal, focussed only on destruction. Now its many eyes surveyed us with cool calculation.
I had no idea what to call it.
Or why it was here.
Did it want me?
I didn't have to wonder for long. The creature hurried forward, charging at us.
I recoiled into the chair. Though I had one free arm, the tree throne's restraints were growing thicker to compensate. I was stuck good. There was nowhere for me to go.
But the creature passed me over. It ran straight through the circle, right over my head, and descended on Luc's bloodied body. Matilda was forced to jump back to avoid it, leaving Luc exposed.
I strained against the throne's restraints, wanting to leap up and protect him.
However, the creature didn't attack him. Instead, it crouched over him, its many arms bracing against the floor, forming something like a cage around him. It screamed again and gnashed its shard-teeth at Matilda like it was warming her to stay back.
It was protecting him.
"I thought that might draw you out," Matilda said to the monster, wiping Luc's blood off her hand. She was eerily calm despite facing down something from a nightmare. "You're a Malix, aren't you?"
The creature just screamed in her face.
Malix? I wondered. What the hell is a Malix?
The spirit in me twinged, reacting to the strange word. It knew what it meant.
Matilda didn't bother to explain. Instead, she raised her hand into the air, and a burst of light shot out of her fingertips, arcing through the room. It must've been some kind of signal because suddenly the room was very full. In the blink of an eye, the room was thick with people. Everywhere I looked was another blue-cloaked stranger, poised and ready to do battle against this strange being.
The creature was not pleased to see the new company. It reared up and lashed out with several of its arms, sweeping through the crowd. More than a few of the blue-cloaks went soaring through the air, landing hard against the wall and floor. Some got up, some didn't. But with every one struck down, it seemed like two more pushed forward to take their place. They advanced on the monster, fearless.
"Take it alive," Matilda called to her army, rising above the crowd on a platform that was growing out the ground. "Take them both alive!"
Alive? Luc was still alive? Even in the middle of this seething hell, my heart swelled. I tried to see him through the crowd, but there was just too much in the way.
"And get her out of here," Matilda said, her words filled with venom.
I snapped my gaze to Matilda.
She was shooting a glare right through me. Her forceful gaze pierced like an arrow, driving straight to my core, pinning me to the throne. The spirit inside me winced, too, like they had been hit. Maybe that's exactly what Matilda meant to do—hurt them.
"What are you going to do with him?" I shouted at her. "Don't kill him!"
Matilda kept up her glare. "I'll do whatever is needed."
"No, you can't—"
But Matilda was already turning away, refocusing on the battle. I gasped as her gaze released me.
And as she commanded, two blue-cloaks approached, ready to carry me away. They took hold of my arms and yanked me up out of the seat. The throne's branches retreated, finally freeing me. My escorts pulled me to my feet and began to drag me across the room. I tried my best to struggle, but they held tight, dodging the battling forces as we went.
The battle was going better than I expected. Whatever had happened to the creature—the Beast, or the Malix, or whatever it was actually called—it had become much stronger. But The Gathered had numbers. Even if the creature managed to land a good blow, they had enough people to maintain the assault. The sea of blue-cloaks worked together to restrain the creature, binding its many arms with the greenery that was now growing from every surface in the room.
I struggled against the grip of my escorts. For the first time, I wanted the Beast to win. I wanted anything if it meant that Luc would be safe.
But it was losing.
I fought against my guard's hold on me, but it was no use. Help me, dammit! I shouted at the spirit inside me. I can't leave him here!
Allow me, came a voice from inside.
Before I had a chance to ask questions, I felt myself go limp, unable to move. My escorts stumbled to carry the sudden dead-weight of my body.
And then, just like that, I was a passenger in my own body. It was like one of those horrible dreams where you float over yourself, unable to do anything but watch.
And so I watched my body move. I watched my arms wrench free of the blue-cloaks grip. And I watched a burst of force emanate out from me, pushing the crowd back.
Matilda was looking at me again. The Beast, Malix, whatever, was subdued now. It was sprawled on the ground, pressed down by many crisscrossed branches and vines. With the room less hectic, she had been able to see our little commotion in the corner.
I wanted to stretch to see if I could see anything of Luc over the crowd, but my body wasn't responding to my commands.
"Let him go!" came the stranger's voice, through me.
Matilda's mouth hung open like she was shocked... or offended. She shook her head, almost exasperated. "You know I can't do that."
"There's another way... A way to fix this without him dying!"
"Is that what you believed?" Matilda said and then gave a shrill cackle. "But that didn't exactly work out for you, did it? You bit off more than you could chew."
I watched as my teeth ground together and my brows folded into a fierce glare. And though it was my own face contorted into this foreign expression of hatred, it looked nothing like me. It was not me.
The blue-cloaks, no longer distracted by the Beast, were turning to look at us. They were starting to close in. I watched myself glance between the new enemies advancing from every side. We couldn't fight them all. If the Beast was no match for them, we certainly weren't.
"I'll be back for him," the stranger's voice hissed through my lips.
"It doesn't matter," Matilda said. "He'll be dead before then."
"We'll see about that."
The blue-cloaks lunged for us.
Another force emanated from my body, pushing back the crowd just a little, just enough. The stranger in me cursed and then spread our arms—my arms—wide. A shadow opened up beneath our feet—my feet—and we slipped down, out of sight.
🔮
What do you think is going to happen to Luc?