I pulled myself up off the ground. I wavered for a moment, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
"No! Luc! Polly!" I screamed, tears welling up and splashing down my face. "Lillian, you bitch! Let them go!"
"Was that Luc?"
I turned around, surprised. I hadn't noticed anyone land next to me, but there was Polly, standing in the rain where I had just been; I had escaped unscathed, but she looked like she had already seen battle. The raindrops mixed with the tear streaks on her face and her clothing was shredded in places. Several sets of four long scratches ran along her right forearm... In her right hand, she held a tangled mass of blonde hair. She must've torn it right out of her sister's head when Luc sent her flying from the room.
Her sister's hair... It dawned on me. If the Beast was now trapped in Luc's apartment with Lillian, that meant my apartment was empty. Empty, except for everything we would need to seal away Lillian forever. The materials from the spell were still inside, and it was the last day of the month...
I could end this. I could save Luc.
"Polly! Come on!" I shrieked, bolting from my spot and heading towards my apartment.
Polly just watched me for a second, confusion scrunching her features, but she followed me anyway.
I flung open the door to what had once been my home and was shocked by what I found. The suite had been completely destroyed. Deep gouges marred the once shiny hardwood floor, chunks had been torn from the wall, and what was left of the furniture wasn't even enough to call kindling. The damage was the worst where the two apartments met—it seemed that the creature had tried to gnaw and tear its way into Luc's apartment.
But there was one part of my former home that had survived intact. The circle of candles we had used for our ritual had formed some kind of sacred barrier that stopped the thing from destroying anything within it—not unlike the barrier that protected Luc's home. Almost everything we needed was there: the candles and the doll... but the book—where was the book?
I looked at Polly; her face was blank with shock. I wanted to explain what my plan was, but the words wouldn't come... All I could do was point primitively at the sacred circle. The horror on Polly's face from seeing the damage to my apartment was quickly washed away with comprehension. She looked from the clump of hair in her hand to me, and she smiled wickedly.
"Let's roast this bitch," Polly said viciously and ran past me into the apartment.
"We need to find the book first!" I cried. There was only a small chance that it had survived the destruction, but I had hope. Hope had carried me this far, and I wasn't about to give up on my one chance to save Luc.
I scrambled through the debris. Polly joined me. As she worked, I noticed she never let go of the wad of hair clenched in her white-knuckled fist.
We sifted through chunks of countertop and shreds of what seemed to be part of my fridge door. I clawed through the piles of splintered wood and crumbling drywall, desperately searching for the small hand-bound book that separated us—Polly and me and especially Luc—from death.
Polly cried out triumphant; she pulled the book out from a pile of what looked like rough-hewn sawdust. Tears flooded my eyes, obscuring my vision, as I took it in. The book wasn't only intact, it was completely untouched. I sighed with relief, remembering that I had once speculated that a book of protective spells would most likely have a protective spell on it.
We immediately fell to our knees around the circle of candles, our hands trembling with panic as we tried to work as fast as we could. The sounds of the Beast's screeches mixed with crashes and bangs—noises of destruction—gave me fuel, pushing me to work faster and faster.
I tore away the threads holding in the contents of the doll as Polly flipped eagerly through the pages of the book, trying to find our place. The stitches of the doll fell away easily and its abdomen opened, a few crystals of salt escaping. I dug my eager fingers inside, searching for the black lock of hair that belonged to the innocent man I loved.
I found the wisps of Luc's hair and pulled it out, tossing it aside. The doll ready, I reached out to Polly. "The hair, I need the hair!"
Polly held out her fist and let the hair free from her protective iron grip. Just as the matted tangle of blonde landed in my palm, there was an ear-splitting crack. White dust instantly filled the air. I coughed and waved my arms in the fog of grime, trying to see what had happened, careful not to let go of the invaluable hair. I felt Polly hacking and flailing beside me as we both felt around blindly for answers.
A sudden burst of flame pushed Polly and me apart. It enveloped me, the wave of fire scorching my arm. I screamed from the shock and burning pain. I fell backwards onto the floor, scrambling to get away.
The rush of fire had at least cleared away some of the strange white dust, and Polly was quickly at my side, patting me down where I had caught alight.
"What was that?" I coughed, trying to regain my composure. My arms stung with fresh burns, and I suddenly realized in horror that while the doll itself was intact, the hair in my hand was now incinerated.
"I think you mean, 'who was that?'" a silvery voice teased.
Polly and I leapt up.
The mysterious white dust had begun to settle, and I could now make out the enormous hole that had been blown through the wall between the apartments. Lillian was standing triumphantly in front of it, the shimmering Beast by her side.
A sharp chill ran down my spine, and my throat seemed to restrict and congeal as I realized what that might mean. Was Luc... dead?
But the dust cleared more, and the chill was replaced by a gut-wrenching terror. The Beast had Luc between its jaws, his body limp, partially burned and smudged with blood.
I screamed.
"Please be quiet," Lillian teased. "We have strict rules about noise in this building. You'll wake the neighbours."
A jagged bolt of lightning streaked across the room, hitting me in the chest. It sent me reeling backwards, and I gagged on my scream as I hit the wall behind me with a crunch. I sputtered as I fell to the ground and struggled to reopen my eyes.
When I did, my vision blurred, I noticed Polly was still standing where we had been before. Lillian's misshapen brow bunched up in confusion. Surely she had aimed to hit her sister too, but—for some reason—it hadn't worked.
Polly looked just as baffled as the rest of us as to why she was spared, but she didn't sit and wonder. Polly rushed to my side again. As she moved above me, I saw it, dangling from her neck. The gold key—the key that had protected us when we had faced off against the Beast in Polly's home. I didn't know what it was, or how it worked, but it had repelled Lillian's attacks.
Shoving my hand towards her, I held the misshapen doll out to Polly. She took it and gave me a bewildered look.
"You need to finish the spell. The fire destroyed the hair. You need to get another part of her..." I calmly whispered to her, looking past Polly, to Lillian. Did Lillian know what we were planning? Did she burn the hair on purpose? Or did she just aim to hurt, unwittingly destroying the hair in the process?
"What? Why me?" Polly murmured back, worry creasing her face. "What about you? What are you going to do?"
I struggled to get back on my feet, with Polly's support. "You have to do it because you're protected, Polly. She won't be able to use her magic on you," I said, flicking the little key with my finger to draw her attention to it. "And that thing wants me. I'm its target, so it should be able to draw its focus. I don't think it's very smart."
Polly's mouth fell open in horror, but I gave her a look to let her know that there was nothing she could say to change my mind. This was the best plan we had, and we had to go with it. She hesitated but finally nodded, sombre, and looked back at her sister.
Lillian scowled back, probably realizing that we had come up with some sort of plan.
As Polly walked away from me, I heard her call to her sister, "Bring it, bitch!"
I wanted to make sure Polly would be okay, but that thing still had Luc clutched in its jaws. I needed to distract it to save him. I moved to the side so I could stand face to face with my tormentor at its most terrible.
It stared me down with its horrible set of eyes, its snarls teasing me, as it knew it had something I wanted. It wanted me to cry and beg for Luc's release, to waver and be scared of the thing that clutched him in its jaws. But I wouldn't. Not now. I had to be strong, to protect my friends, to save the people I loved.
"Let him go," I hissed, finally ready to do battle.
🔮
Get 'em, Rachel!