Hex You, page 4
“We don’t want you here!” Emily’s energy rooted her to the ground, a glimpse of who she could be if ever gifted with magic.
“Go back to whatever seashell you climbed out of!” Jax joined in, all traces of fear and unease erased.
Amphitrite’s torso rippled and grew as a great swell of water surged along her outstretched arms and shot from her fingertips.
“With this knot, I bind your body from doing harm in this realm!” Hunter boomed, wrapping the twine around the glowing poppet’s middle and tying its arms to its sides.
A sharp hiss, and the devastating waves burst into steam.
“Witch! I will—” Amphitrite’s howls were cut off as Hunter tied knot after knot along the poppet.
The once-great goddess of the sea wriggled and thrashed but couldn’t break free from the magical restraints that prevented her from giving life to her evil.
“Blessed Tyr, bind this goddess’s body from doing harm to anyone in this mortal realm!” Hunter thrust the poppet into the air, and lightning bisected the sky, slamming into the twine-covered doll.
A scream like a train scraping its tracks and Amphitrite popped—a stuck balloon splashing onto the grass.
Emily groaned, stepping back as the wave of salt water lapped against their shoes.
“Goddess guts.” Jax frowned, tapping the toe of his shoe against the shallow waves as Xena let out a series of disgruntled meows and lifted one dripping paw and then the other.
But Hunter wasn’t bothered by the surge of cool liquid surrounding her boots. Instead, her attention was fixed on the poppet, each knot the same glimmering sapphire as the depths of the sea.
“Amphitrite?” she whispered, brushing her thumb over the cold, wet twine.
Hunter sucked in a breath, her eyes wide.
“Mercy!” she shouted and took off toward the cauldron, Jax, Xena, and Emily in her wake. “I can get you out!” Hunter panted as soon as she made it to the enchanted moon water.
Mercy stared up at Hunter, her brows nearly lifting to her hairline. “What the bloody hell was that? What happened?”
“I’ll explain everything after you’re safe.” Hunter swallowed the lump growing in her throat. She had so much to reveal, so much to apologize for, and she was terrified her truth, not the Egyptian Underworld, would be the thing that would take her sister away for good.
Mercy tented her hands on her hips. “What’s your plan?”
Hunter winced as Jax jabbed her bicep with his pointy elbow. “Our H just slayed an octopus woman.”
Emily’s curls bounced with another series of emphatic nods. “Turned her into a puddle.”
Mercy dropped her head back and groaned. “Oh my goddess, you all are on drugs.”
Ignoring her sister, Hunter clutched her pendant and whispered a silent prayer to Tyr as she stared at the shimmering poppet. She closed her eyes and reached, up, up, up, to the treetops, to the clouds, to the stars. She was fire and light, collapsing and forming, a star in the making. She wrapped the scattered bits of herself around the moon, the stars, and the vastness in between. Magic washed through her, a steady pulse that would lift her physical body off its feet if her heart wasn’t tethered to earth.
Beside her, Jax and Emily gasped.
Hunter’s eyelids fluttered open. Blue flames crept along her hands from the poppet, and the goddess energy trapped in its knots and licked up her arms.
In the cauldron, Mercy sucked in a breath and pressed her fingers to her lips.
Hunter reached her flaming limbs into the basin and through the magical portal that had denied her access before she’d harnessed the energy of a goddess.
“I am Hunter Goode, and I command the power of the cosmos.”
She gripped two outstretched hands and pulled Mercy and Khenti from the Underworld.
FOUR
“It was quite horrible, kitten. Horrible I tell you!” In human form Xena was curled up in the corner of the couch swathed in Abigail’s plush bathrobe with a chenille throw wrapped around her shoulders. Her hair was drying in a crazy halo around her head, but she still looked drenched. “I should have been faster. I should have pounced on her and raked my delightfully sharp claws down her watery”—the cat person paused there to shiver in disgust—“body.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.” Hunter was sitting on the arm of the big recliner that was always Jax’s favorite and the seat he’d claimed when they’d all piled out of his car and the Camry and hurried into the Goode family home. “Amphitrite would’ve just found a way to hurt you to get at me.”
“And you really were sp-sp—ACHOO!—spectacular. Totally very scary.” Wiping her nose and smiling apologetically, Emily scooted farther away from Xena to the opposite side of the couch.
“Goddess bless you, kitten. Did you not take your medical pill that keeps you from being allergic to my incredibly powerful dander?”
“I forgot.” Emily sniffed again.
“Here ya go, Em.” Mercy emerged from the kitchen and handed Emily two pink pills. “Benadryl,” she told her friend with a grin. Following her, Khenti carried a tray filled with mugs of steaming hot cocoa, which Mercy passed out to everyone before she and Khenti sat beside each other on the couch between Xena and Emily.
“This is gonna put me to sleep in, like, thirty minutes—which is actually good because Mom just texted me and reminded me it’s a school night so I gotta get going in a sec, but…” Emily’s gaze—along with everyone’s except for Mercy’s—went to Khenti.
“What is this called again?” Khenti asked her after he took a second big swallow of the cocoa.
“Hot chocolate or cocoa,” said Mercy. “Here, you have some marshmallow on your, um…” She took a napkin off the tray and dotted the white goo off Khenti’s upper lip.
He grinned at her. “Thank you. This is my new favorite drink.”
“Wait until you try pizza,” said Xena. “It’s especially delicious with extra tuna.”
As Khenti’s smooth, umber brow furrowed in confusion, Mercy said, “Now that we’re settled and not in the middle of the park it’s time for formal introductions. Hunter, you’ve already met Khenti.”
“Nice to see you again, Khenti,” said Hunter with a little wave, the tips of her fingers caked with dirt from digging a hole near the banyan for the sea goddess’s poppet.
“Mighty Cosmic Witch Hunter—thank you for coming to our rescue.” Khenti gave her a little seated bow.
“Us Gatekeepers have to stick together,” said Hunter.
Khenti’s shoulders slumped. “I am Gatekeeper no more.”
“Why? What happened?” asked Hunter, picking dirt from under her nails.
“It’s a kinda long story. First, introductions.” Mercy gestured at Xena. “This is—”
“I know this lovely creature,” interrupted Khenti. “In human form or feline, your fur is as I recall it, quite magnificent, even if it is wet.”
“Thank you, Khenti kitten. I do appreciate a demi-god who acknowledges furred excellence,” Xena said, then went back to lapping her cocoa.
“Demi-god?” Emily chimed. “I’ve never met a demi-god before! And by the way, you two being pulled from that water thing was one of the most awesome things I’ve ever seen.”
“Khenti, this is my best friend, Emily,” said Mercy.
“It is nice to meet you, Emily,” said Khenti.
“Hey, I haven’t met a demi-god, either, though I used to really love those Percy Jackson books when I was a kid,” said Jax.
“And that is Hunter’s best friend, Jax,” added Mercy.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, too, Jax. Though you still have not met a demi-god. My father took my position of Gate Guardian away from me and disowned me. I’m afraid I am only a mortal human now.”
“Is that why you’re not dying or turning gray or whatever here?” asked Emily.
“No, I have no ill effects from being in your realm because I’m a living being. Were I, say, an In-tep demon from my realm I would eventually sicken and die if I didn’t take another’s form,” explained Khenti.
“Gross.” Mercy shuddered. “Those things are disgusting.”
Xena looked up from lapping her cocoa and licked marshmallow from her lips before she said, “I am quite pleased you aren’t a dead demon, Khenti kitten, and I do hate to correct you when you have only just arrived, but what you said about your father taking away your status as a demi-god is impossible.”
“I do not mean to contradict you, but it is more than possible. Mercy witnessed it,” said Khenti.
“Khenti’s right. His dad’s bloody awful. A major bully. For basically no reason except that Khenti stood up to him, he took away his position as Gatekeeper, disowned him, and banished us to Duat. That’s why we were stuck in Egyptian hell,” said Mercy.
“Oh, I did not mean his father couldn’t disown him or take his magical position from him.” Xena licked her hand and smoothed back her hair as she continued. “I simply meant that he could not reverse what is Khenti’s through the right of his blood. Gatekeeper no more, but he is certainly still a demi-god.”
Everyone turned to stare at Khenti again who said, “How do you know this?”
“Oh, I know almost everything important,” said Xena before she returned to licking her hand and grooming her hair. Between licks she added, “You can prove it easily. You are a warrior, which means you should have a magical weapon under your command, correct?”
Khenti nodded slowly. “My khopesh.” His gaze found Mercy’s. “It came to me in Duat when I called. I assumed it was because I was still in our Underworld—which has a magic of its own.”
“Well, call it to you now, Khenti kitten. Then you shall see that your father cannot take away what was gifted to you through your blood. It is a simple fact. Let us pretend for a moment that our beloved Abigail had become angry at Mercy and Hunter. She could have stripped them of their duties as Gate Guardians, but she could not have taken their magic from them. That is a gift given through blood and ancestors—and it cannot be revoked.” Xena licked her hand again and reached out to rub a smudge from Mercy’s cheek. “Though our Abigail would never have done something so awful.”
Mercy leaned away from her and into Khenti. “Xena, I love you lots and missed you super bad, but you gotta quit putting your spit on me.”
Xena made a pouty face and sighed. “You let me lick you when I am a cat.”
“You’re not a cat now!”
“I’m always a cat!”
Mercy rolled her eyes and turned to Khenti. “You should try calling your weapon.”
“I—I am almost afraid to,” Khenti said softly.
“Why?” Hunter asked.
Khenti moved his broad shoulders restlessly. “Because if I am still a demi-god without being a Gatekeeper it will be as if I am only half whole.”
Hunter leaned forward. “Have you been a Gatekeeper since you were born?”
Khenti shook his head. “No, Cosmic Witch, children are not Gatekeepers. Like you and your magical sister, I had to mature into my power before I was named Gatekeeper.”
“Well, then, if you’re still a demi-god you’ll have your power and be free to decide what to do with it now that you’re not tied to a gate,” said Hunter.
Khenti cocked his head to the side and asked, “Could you simply walk away from being a Gatekeeper?”
“Yes,” Hunter said without hesitation. “As long as I was still a witch I’d still be me.”
Khenti nodded. “I shall consider what you have said.” He lifted his hand, and commanded, “To me, khopesh!”
There was a flash of light and a sound like a tearing cloth, and a weapon that looked like a cross between a sickle and a sword appeared in Khenti’s hand, gleaming the black of moonless nights and dark, bottomless waters.
“I am still a demi-god.” Khenti said the words softly as he gripped the weapon with both hands and bowed his head.
Mercy put her arm around his broad shoulders. “I’m so glad, Khenti!”
He met her gaze. “I must go back. I must save my mother.”
“You mean go back through the Egyptian Gate?” Hunter asked.
Khenti nodded. “My father tricked my mother, and because of that she is trapped in Duat, our Underworld’s version of hell. It was unjustly, unfairly done, and I must discover a way to undo it.”
“Um, no one is getting through that gate,” said Hunter.
Xena shuddered. “Not as long as those jackal-headed creatures guard it.”
Khenti looked from Hunter to Xena. “You tried to go through?”
“Of course,” said Hunter. “I figured that would be the easiest way to get Mercy back, so Xena and I went to the gate. I tried to call you first, and when the jackal guys showed up instead I asked about Mercy.”
“The jackal warriors were very unpleasant. They would not help us at all,” said Xena primly.
Khenti blew out a long breath. “Well, I’m going to have to find a way to get past them. I have to save my mom.”
“But what can you do except get banished to Duat again?” Mercy shook her head. “No. She doesn’t want you to die to be with her. She made that clear. Even if you could get past those guards wouldn’t your dad just re-banish you?”
“It is a risk I am willing to take,” Khenti said stubbornly.
“Well, it’s not a risk your mom wants you to take! You’d die, Khenti, and your mom definitely doesn’t want that. Neither do I!” Mercy brushed her hair back and then picked at her lip. “I wish Osiris didn’t let your dad be such a douchebag. It’s really not right.”
“Douchebag?” Khenti asked.
“I’ve got this,” Emily spoke up. “A douchebag is a guy who is basically useless and usually mean and arrogant, too. We also call them toxic males or mediocre, angry white men.”
“Excellent definition, kitten,” said Xena.
“Thanks!” Emily grinned at the cat person.
“Oh, I understand,” Khenti said. “But Osiris probably has no idea my father is a, um, douchebag. He is too busy running the Underworld. He trusts that Upuant is doing his bidding justly.”
Mercy sat up straighter and turned to Khenti. “Wait, what if Osiris did find out what your dad did to your mom—and you—and me, for that matter?”
Khenti’s brows lifted. “He would more than likely be angry. Perhaps very angry.”
“Enough that he’d free your mom and reinstate you?” Mercy grinned.
Khenti retuned her smile. “I cannot speak for the God of the Underworld, but Osiris is just and reasonable. I do not know if he would reinstate me, but I absolutely believe he would remove my mother from Duat.”
“Then we need to figure out a way for you to get back to your realm without being torn apart by those jackal guards,” said Mercy.
Hunter snorted. “Get in line. We have to figure out how to fix the gates first. Well, three of them.”
“Three?” Mercy stared at her sister. “You healed one?”
Hunter picked at her thumbnail. “Yeah. The Japanese Gate is healed.”
“H! Really! That’s amazing!” Mercy’s jubilation was short-lived as Hunter didn’t reflect her joy. “Why aren’t you all happy-schmappy? And why aren’t the rest of the gates healed now, too?”
“Long story,” said Hunter. “I’m not sure if I can recreate the spell that closed the Japanese Gate. It has to do with Amphitrite.”
“Oh! That wretched goddess! Must we speak her name?” Xena manically licked her hand and groomed her hair.
“How about I do some more research?” Hunter evaded her twin’s gaze. “After school tomorrow I’ll go to the cherry tree, be sure it is completely healed, and then we’ll go from there.”
Emily yawned. “Oh, sorry! I’m not bored or anything, but the Benadryls are going to kick my ass. I really have to go home. Can we put all this on pause until tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’ve gotta get back home to my mom,” said Jax. Then he smacked himself on his forehead. “Sheesh! All this”—his gesture took in Mercy and Khenti—“made me totally forget. You guys—there’s been another murder.”
“What?!” The word burst from Hunter. “More missing eyeballs? That can’t be possible.”
“No, no, nothing like that. It was Mrs. Stoll. She was killed out at Goode Lake. I don’t know how. She might have drowned. Or, well, something worse might have happened to her.”
“What do you mean?” asked Mercy.
Jax shrugged. “My mom found her and when I got to Goode Lake she was still pretty upset. I don’t know exactly how Mrs. Stoll died. I did hear people say that she was drained of blood.”
“Oh, bloody buggering hell!” Mercy said. “Something else has gotten through one of the other gates!”
“It kinda looks like that,” said Jax.
“You mean a demon from one of the other realms?” Khenti asked.
Mercy blew out a long breath and said, “Yes. Unfortunately.”
“Then I must remain here in your realm with you until we track this new monster,” said Khenti.
“That’s really nice, Khenti, but you don’t have to do that,” said Mercy.
“Of course I do. It is part of being a Gatekeeper. And as none of you are demi-gods you will need me,” he said.
“What does that mean?” Emily asked.
“Demons or monsters from other realms can only be vanquished by a demi-god or a god,” said Khenti.
Jax shook his head. “No, Hunter killed Polyphemus and she’s just a kick-ass witch, not a demi-god.”
Hunter cleared her throat and they turned to look at her. “Well, I had help, which is also how Amphitrite got all into our business. Khenti is right. I couldn’t have gotten rid of Polyphemus by myself.”
“Will you remain with us long enough to dispatch any demon that has escaped into our realm, Khenti kitten?” Xena asked.
Khenti’s smile was fierce. “I would consider it an honor.”
Mercy took his hand and squeezed it, smiling her thanks to him.
“That’s awesome,” said Jax. “But there’s more about the new body situation that you should all know.” He took a deep breath and then in a burst of words said, “Hunter, Mercy, I gotta tell you that there were a lot of people out at the lake after Mrs. Stoll’s body was discovered, and they were saying a bunch of crap about you two—like the fact that you’re witches and that you could be hexing people, which is why there have been so many deaths recently.”
