Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 47052 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 235(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47052 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 235(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Which, she now supposed, it was.
In the end, when all is lost, clarity is found.
Poppy’s ability wasn’t to mute curses. Nor was she a source that fueled someone else’s hex. She was a conduit between the nightmares of humans and reality. She could conjure their fears, corporealize them, and control them.
Manifesting horror. What a dark, sinister power.
Her lips curved. Perfect for a witch.
She turned her smile to the visitors, who all flinched again—as if she was the horror villain. I’m their nightmare.
Their queen.
They’d been goading her, testing her boundaries to make her act and take control. I’d still had more to learn. But wasn’t that always the way?
When she curled her fingers and beckoned them, the visitors solidified around her. They were monstrous. Ominous. Now they’re mine.
Rök whirled around with widened eyes. “Poppy, don’t move!” With Annelise in his sights, he raised his sword, like he was about to swat a lethal bee.
“Demon, wait.” As even more visitors took shape, her body began to vibrate. “Something’s happening.”
Poppy backed from Rök, urging him away from the entry. With each of her steps, the stone floor cracked beneath her vibrating body. “Come. I won’t let those ghouls take you from me.”
Her words recalled Mariketa’s: If you find your prize . . . don’t let them steal it from you.
Rök had never planned on stealing her prize; he was the prize.
Those who thought to steal from a witch didn’t live to regret it.
“Poppy, the door’s about to open.” How confused he must be! “We’ve got bogeys front and back. Use your power against the visitors, so I can do what I need to.”
Her voice was unrecognizable. “That’s not the mission, love.”
TWENTY
Poppy’s hair streamed around her radiant face, and her lavender eyes shone with menace, even as her smile was as brilliant as the coming dawn. Her body vibrated until her steps cracked stone. Looking like a terrifying goddess, she continued to back away from the door.
He couldn’t stop his feet from following her. He’d follow her forever. But he needed to defend against the coming blitz—against a primordial and more. “Hey, what are we doing here?” Had she been taken over by these visitors? They were everywhere, more appearing at every second.
Stone grit swirled around Poppy like a cloud of his smoke. “Don’t you see, Rök? I am the scariest thing in this castle.”
CAWWWW! cried the raven.
The front door swung wide.
Rök whirled around as the primordial charged inside with a roar, the others on its heels. “Stay behind me!” He gripped his sword—
Out of the corner of his vision, he spied Poppy wave her arm in sync with the doll on her shoulder.
His jaw slackened when the ghouls’ bodies left the floor—the primordial’s included. Suspended in the air, they thrashed their limbs, claws whistling with each useless strike.
Rök pivoted to Poppy, thunderstruck. “You’re controlling the visitors?”
Slow nod. Moving her hands, Poppy telekinetically turned their foes this way and that, like a ghoulish snow globe.
Mesmerizing to watch, but . . . “We’re on a clock, witch.”
“Very well.” Another wave of Poppy’s arm launched the ghouls out of the castle. They howled as they sailed all the way to the distant cemetery. Tombstones cracked like dried mud when they landed, dazed.
She turned to the Horseman. “Do your thing.”
Sword raised, he spurred his steed and raced through the doorway. A legion of others followed—scuttling, tumbling, loping after him—like he was a cavalry officer mounting a charge.
Rök could imagine him yelling, To the cemetery, villains!
CAWWWW! cried the raven.
“That’s the second one, Red. We’ve got to go.”
Poppy’s vibrations eased until she was able to walk naturally. When she took Rök’s hand and they started into the crowd, the mass of visitors filing out of the castle parted for her like a current around a boulder. Together he and the witch hurried to the door.
He held his breath as they crossed the boundary. “Free.” Trapped no more, tension flowed from him—until the ghouls recovered to speed back toward the castle.
Poppy’s eyes glowed even brighter, and a wall of vampire bats materialized to intercept them, blocking their vision. Gremlins clung to their legs, slowing them for the werewolves and skeletons to attack.
When the witch cricked her neck, aliens tackled Truller, stabbing him with their tails, treating him like a sword dummy. Green blood spewed.
The Horseman and more aliens targeted the primordial, taking it to the ground. The slasher, the killer clown, and a gang of others joined in.
CAWWWW! cried the raven for the third time.
Should Rök trace Poppy away? He turned to her. “Are you going to kill the primordial?” What would the ramifications be?
Bloodlust in her eyes, she smiled. “Yes. Yes, I think I will.”
Glorious witch.
With a flick of her hand, her minions redoubled their frenzied attack. As they mauled the primordial, screams rent the night. “Listen to them.” She faced Rök, gaze shimmering. “What music they make.”