Chapter Sixty-Eight:

  “This Close”

  Keira barely heard Hex’s final words. They were just noise, distant and unimportant.

  She knelt, her shield forgotten, her arms limp at her sides. Her mind refused to register the empty space before her, refused to accept what had just happened. All of them, just, gone.

  A notification pulsed in her vision.

  New Ability Acquired: Analysis.

  It didn’t matter.

  They had lost. She had lost.

  She was still staring at the nothingness where Rachel had been when Hex moved again.

  A soft hum, almost a sigh of satisfaction. “Well, this was delightful.”

  Keira didn’t react.

  She remained motionless, hollow. The sickly green glow coiled at Hex’s fingertips, spiraling toward her.

  Keira didn't react, not until she took a breath.

  The gas blazed into her lungs like fire.

  Her chest seized, a familiar burn igniting deep inside her. Smoke. The same suffocating heat, the same acrid sting that had filled her world before. The fires. The wreckage. The collapse of everything.

  Her vision blurred, the memory folding over reality. This wasn’t a temple. This was.

  The past.

  She was dying.

  Keira's body jerked violently against the cold stone, her breath coming in ragged, wheezing, broken. The poison worked through her, scratching at her lungs, rattling her body with each shuddering convulsion.

  Hex watched with sick fascination, her fingers flexing, guiding the swirling green mist like a puppeteer. She tilted her head, eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

  “I wonder when Mommy will finally get a toy that doesn’t break?”

  She sighed, almost disappointed, though there was amusement in it too. They always broke. They always screamed, then stilled, then were gone.

  But this one?

  Hex’s expression darkened as Keira fought through it. She should be gone by now. The gas should have torn her apart, shredded her lungs from the inside out, reduced her to another pile of fading lights. But she was still here.

  “Oh?” The sound seeped from her throat, slow, intrigued.

  A slow smile spread across Hex’s lips, something gleeful, something wicked. She crouched, watching Keira’s muscles twitch and seize, her eyes struggling to focus through the pain.

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  “I’ve never had a toy withstand my gas before. Are you the unbreakable toy?”

  The thought sent a spark of excitement racing up Hex’s spine. She giggled, bouncing slightly on her heels before throwing her hands wide, the poison around her flaring in response.

  “Let’s find out!”

  “Let’s not.”

  The voice cut through the noxious air, sharp and effortless. Before Hex could react, something snapped around her wrists. A sharp clink of a metal chain rang out, and her arms jerked downward, caught in mid-motion.

  Not just a chain, a whip.

  Hex’s black eyes widened in genuine surprise as she stared at the chains binding her wrists. Hex gave tug, testing it, but it held firm.

  Someone else had come to play.

  Uninvited.

  And not just one.

  Her attention turned to these, intruders.

  The first one, a boy in dark leather and a hood, crouched low, daggers gleaming in each hand. His posture was relaxed, but the sharp glint in his eyes told a different story.

  The second, a woman draped in deep reds and black lace, her crimson hair cascading in loose waves. The delicate touches of roses on her attire might have been lovely if not for the smug, knowing smirk on her lips. She gave the chain a small flick, tightening it around Hex’s wrists just enough to be felt.

  A third, cloaked in white and red, a staff in her grip, her presence radiating pure goodness. Gross.

  Another, an archer, the fire in her hair catching the dim light, a nocked arrow already drawn, aimed directly at Hex’s throat.

  Hex blinked, then let out a soft giggle. Oh, this was going to be so much fun.

  Her eyes landed on the last one to step forward.

  A broad-shouldered fighter, stance squared, fists clenched. His coat bore the marks of battle, but there was something else, something deeper, an ember beneath the surface, not yet fully lit.

  Hex's smile spread ear to ear.

  “Well,” she purred. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

  “Expect this.”

  The words left the Archer's lips as the arrow flew.

  It streaked through the air, straight and true, aimed right for Hex’s throat. The moment stretched, a perfect shot about to land.

  Then, just before impact, it stopped.

  Less than an inch from its mark, it hung in place as if caught by invisible fingers. A heartbeat later, it dropped, clattering harmlessly against the stone floor.

  Hex giggled. “Oh, I did.”

  The sound barely faded before the whip-wielding woman gave a sharp yank, every muscle in her body straining with effort.

  Hex was ripped off her feet.

  For the first time, her body wasn’t in control. She lurched forward, pulled violently toward her captor, her limbs weightless in the sudden force.

  Then the fighter stepped in.

  A fist met her face with a sickening crunch.

  Hex shrieked, her head snapping back, blood misting the air as the blow connected. The whip released as her body went airborne, hurtling back, slamming into the cold stone wall with a brutal thud.

  For the first time, Hex wasn’t laughing.

  Hex pushed herself up from the cold stone, one hand clutching her face where the punch had landed. Tears welled in her black eyes, her lower lip trembling before she let out a sharp, petulant wail

  “You big meanies!” she shrieked, voice cracking with fury. “I’m telling my Daddy!”

  A swirling vortex of black and purple energy tore through the air beside her, bending space with a deep, resonating hum.

  The archer’s voice filled with urgency. “Don’t let her through!”

  She fired, another arrow streaking toward Hex. At the same time, the chain-wielding woman lashed out, sending the whip flying toward Hex and the portal in a blur of steel and leather.

  The hooded boy was already in motion. His boots barely made a sound as he sprinted, a shadow moving at impossible speed, aiming straight for Hex’s escape route.

  Meanwhile, the woman in white rushed past them all, her staff gripped tightly as she dropped to Keira’s side. Unconscious, unmoving.

  The chain. The arrow. The hooded boy.

  All three struck the portal at the exact same time.

  And all three hit nothing.

  The black and purple energy collapsed inward, folding into nothing with a soft pop of displaced reality. The stone floor where Hex had stood was empty.

  The hooded figure exhaled sharply, lowering his outstretched hand. "Dammit, I was this close." He held up his thumb and pointer finger, less than an inch apart.

  The woman in white, her face filled with quiet compassion, lowered herself beside Keira . She placed her hand over Keira’s chest and spoke one word.

  "Mend."

  A warm sensation spread through Keira’s limbs, dragging her back from the void. She coughed, her body shuddering as breath filled her lungs again. Her vision swam. Blurred shapes sharpened. And then, clarity.

  The first thing she saw was a broad-shouldered man kneeling beside her, his hand extended toward her.

  He grinned. "Hi, I'm Leo. Need a hand?"