Hexen's Binding by J Kowallis

Author:J Kowallis [Kowallis, J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781646067220
Published: 2019-09-22T18:30:00+00:00

Fifteen

My body trembles. What’s worse, my fingers feel frozen to the bone.

I slowly open my eyes to find that the wind, the rain, and the lightning have all stopped, but I’m lying in a puddle of mud. The smell of algae, petrichor, and marshlands is overwhelming.

Slowly, I push myself up with a lot more shaking. The earth slops and slides beneath my hands and knees until I roll over onto my back and look up at the still, gray, cloudy sky.

Hellia Morrigan.

Somehow, she was here. But not, at the same time.

My body trembles with cold again so I push myself up and look around. Hair, mud, and grass cling to my face like slimy rubber cement. I turn around to see the grimoire laying open on the ground behind me. It looks innocent, mundane even. Scooting toward it, I smear even more mud on my clothes. At this point, it doesn’t matter. As if I could get any wetter, muddier, or more disgusting.

The leather pages are soaked, but the writing is still as crisp and clear as it was when I first opened the book. I perform a drying spell on it. When the pages stop fluttering and the book closes, I pull the lock around the side and clip it into the front clasp. The iron snaps into place and I respond with a sigh before pulling the large book toward me. I place one more spell on the book to clean up the cover, removing the water damage and mud.

I could do the same to myself, but I’d still feel it. The filth, a layer of unnatural residue saturating myself. My clothing.

Taking one last look across the lake, I shiver. The remedial spell for Coll is in the book I hold. That means there’s still a chance I could get him back.

That one thought, despite just battling Hellia, who technically should be wedged somewhere in a dark hole in the world of the dead, actually brings me a measure of relief.

I stagger to my feet and begin the slow shuffle back to Angie’s cottage. At first, I think about using a tiaseal spell, but I don’t know how long I’ve been passed out near the lake’s edge. Angie and Dad could have returned by now and without knowing if Angie’s in her room again, or if it’s even safe for me to step inside that house yet, I’m going to take my time.

Flashes of the battle with Hellia play through my mind. The explosion of water, the absolute agony driving through my head. The only thing I can possibly imagine that she was trying to do,

was . . ..

My footsteps slow down.

The block on my mind. She was trying to break through the barrier that Angie placed there the moment Dad and I arrived on her doorstep. She was trying to get into my mind.

“Sonofabitch,” the words slur in my mouth.

The thought sends chills down my spine and I hug the book closer to myself, afraid of losing it, but terrified of having it in my presence.

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