Angie Fox - ADS 03 - A Tale of Two Demon Slayers

“We’ll do it, Diana. We’ll get you there.”

I didn’t know exactly how—for her or for myself. But I knew we had to try.

The three of us hit the training grounds early, while Talos patrolled.

Diana drew a fresh line in the rocky path. “Talos wants us to try something simpler today,” she said, regret flashing across her features.

“Oh yeah?” I said, in attempt to lighten the mood. I’d learned time and again how important it is to relax and let instinct take over.

“We’re going to summon one cloud and that’s it,” Dyonne said, dejected as she surveyed a perfect sky.

“Ready?” Dyonne had her stone out. It was wider than Diana’s, flatter.

Together, they began drawing patterns in the sky above us. At least I hoped that’s what they were doing. I shaded my eyes with my hand and waited for the cloud.

It never came.

“This is none of my business”—I was still trying to figure out my own powers—“but what I do is locate my power like this spark of energy in my mind. I know exactly where it is. Then I aim my whole self on it while I try to do what I need to do.”

Dyonne lowered her hands. “What? Like focusing your energy?”

“Exactly.”

They spent the rest of the day holding their stones out in front of them, sweat beading their foreheads, desperate for a wisp of a cloud.

But still nothing came.

They worked so hard, and they supported each other. I wished I could do something, anything, to help them.

I tried to act like this was a minor setback, but I was really worried.

Diana and Dyonne should have been growing stronger since Dimitri had saved them. Something was very wrong. I understood their fears. It was killing me to watch them weaken, and I hadn’t nursed them for months, seen their struggle from day one.

“I give up.” Diana sunk down onto the red soil, the Skye stone tumbling from her hands. “Don’t you see?” Tears filled her eyes. “This isn’t going to happen.”

“It has to happen.” And not just because I could lose a part of myself if they failed. “This is what you were meant to do.”

“We were meant to die, Lizzie,” she said, her fingers digging into the earth.

“But you didn’t.” I crouched down next to her. “Look at me. This is your destiny. It’s not easy and it’s not pretty, but this is where you are supposed to be. You can’t control the circumstances that brought you here, but you can decide to do your best. Right here. Right now.”

Diana swallowed. “Okay.”

I didn’t know if she believed me or not. Heck, I didn’t know what I was doing either. All I knew is that we could not fail.

The earth rumbled as hot flares shot out from the direction of the villa.

I scrambled to my feet. “What the—?”

Diana’s eyes widened. “It’s the attack alarm. We have to go!”

“To the house!” Dyonne streaked past us and somehow managed to scoop up Pirate on the first try. His stubby legs flailed in midair, still running.

“Who’s attacking?” I asked, searching all around as Diana and I ran for the house. I didn’t see anything. Of course, that didn’t mean something wasn’t about to try and eat us alive. After being in the magical world for almost a month, I knew how these things worked.

And it worried me to no end that I’d lost the ability to sense the woman who’d stolen my magic.

I stubbed my toe on a rock as I looked to the sky. At least it was still blue. I almost hoped it was the imps again. It’s not that I wanted to face down monsters hurling curses, but it was better than another green sky.

I steeled myself. If somebody felt confident enough to strike, I was willing to bet they had the upper hand.

Yeah, well too bad for them I was used to fighting on the fly.

Talos streaked across the sky from the direction of the forest. Dimitri soared over the hills beyond the gardens. The griffins dove toward the main villa like giant eagles. As we rounded the corner of the house, I could see Amara out in front, waving her arms over her head. She bent and set off another round of flares. They burst from the mouths of the stone lions flanking the stairs to the porch.

“Quickly!” Amara dashed for us, her white dress plastered to her legs as she ran. “An attack is coming! Get in the house. Arm yourselves and stay down!”

“Already done,” I said, one hand on my switch stars as I reached her. “What’s coming?” I hadn’t seen anything. My radar wasn’t going off.

She shook her head, swallowing hard. “I don’t know what’s after us. But we’re about to be invaded.” Her eyes bugged out. “Chaos shall rain down!”

Okay, so having a psychic around could be handy—as well as scary.

“When?” Dyonne demanded as Pirate tried to bury himself in the crook of her arm.

“Soon!” Amara urged us toward the stone lions.

“No more fireworks!” Pirate pleaded. He was a brave dog, but everybody has a limit.

Amara took the porch stairs two at a time. The front entrance was stacked with bronze swords and battle-axes. “The wards in the house should protect you,” she said, opening the door to the villa. “But grab a weapon anyway.”

Good. Backup weapons. I liked how she thought.

“I’ll fight,” I said, handing Dyonne a sword as she passed.

“No,” Amara snapped. “I have it covered.” She unhooked her chunky gold necklace and shoved it at me before starting in on the thin gold belt at her waist.

She had to be kidding. “Why? Because you don’t want a demon slayer on your side?” I hooked her necklace over the front doorknob. It was time to let go of petty differences and fight the true enemy.

Her eyes blazed at the challenge. “We don’t know what’s coming. I’ve fought for this house before.” She tossed her gold belt off the porch. “I will always fight for it, even if it seems hopeless.”

“Ever faced a demon?”

“Ever fought with a griffin?” She struggled as her side zipper caught on her barely there pink bra.

Oh please. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“We’re fast,” she said, as if I’d never seen a griffin attack. “We’re everywhere when we fight and I’m not about to have you or any other inexperienced yahoo shoot one of us in the back.”

“For Pete’s sake, if chaos is going to rain down from the sky, you flying lions needed all the help you can get.”

The side of her mouth quirked. “Flying lions?” That’s when Amara the arrogant Greek actually smiled at me. “You don’t know anything, Lizzie.”

“I’m not the one stripping on the front porch.”

She groaned as she pulled a bronze sword from her scabbard. “Here, use this. It’s the lightest one I have.”

“I’ll stick with these,” I said, patting the switch stars at my belt.

She watched as they began to respond to my touch, spinning and throwing off sparks.

“They’re pink.”

“So’s your bra.”

She barked out a laugh. “Yes, well let’s hope I don’t have to use it as a weapon.”

Talos landed hard on the lawn like an immense cat. He folded his wings and crouched in attack mode, watching the road. Dyonne and Diana had retreated into the house. I felt bad for them. But at least they knew their magic, in its present state, would do them no good in a fight. And poor Pirate. At least he’d calm down now that Amara had stopped shooting off flares.

Where was Dimitri? I scanned the sky. It was as if he’d disappeared.

He’d better not be doing anything heroic .

Dimitri liked to strike out in his own. At best it was dangerous, and at worst—well, last month it had almost gotten him killed.