“Will someone please tell
me what this Dark Onyx thing is?” cried Rosemary. “Dorothea and Ernest are in
that thing and I need to know what we’re dealing with!”
Elise lifted her hand to
her shoulder and Roark crawled onto it looking at her with sad eyes. “For every
familiar that vows to protect a witch, there is an opposite. Roark’s opposite is,
well was, in the Dark Onyx. Placing that evil demon in the onyx stone was the
last thing my father did before he died.”
“The demon in the stone
is said to have more power than ten familiars,” explained Cage, “especially if
a hunter sacrifices his own life to free it from a confines spell. Paul was
able to free Mozath and has now come to seek revenge from Elise and myself.”
Roark started to tremble
and Elise knew he was about to change to his natural form.
“Roark no,” said Elise,
snuggling the spider up to her cheek, “he’ll kill you.”
“We need Roark,” stated
Cage, “in his true form.”
Elise shook her head. “No,
he and Rosemary need to stay inside. As do you. I will face Paul and Mozath
alone.”
“Absolutely not!” snapped
Cage.
“Cage is right,” said Rosemary,
“you can’t do this alone.”
“I’m the only one with
the magic to contain him,” said Elise. She handed Roark to Cage, a bit
surprised that the spider didn’t fight the transfer.
“Elise,” Cage warned, but
she was already circling her fingers.
“Stay
you must, inside this trust. Leaving this space is forbidden, please value the
safety you’ve been given. This spell of safety will protect, while this demon I
collect. ”
“No,” Cage gasped as
Elise walked out of the shelving room and into the main part of the library. He
tried to follow her but was barred from passing over the threshold of the door.
“I know Paul. You have to let me help. We have to do this together.”
Rosemary and Roark also
tried to pass through the door, both being stopped. Roark let out a roar, while
Rosemary began to sob, “Don’t do this, Elise.”
Elise looked at her
friend and fought to keep the fear from flooding her face. “I have to.”
Chapter
10
Elise walked out of the
library with her arms hanging loosely by her side and her fingers moving ever
so slightly to stir the magic inside. She knew she wouldn’t have time to cast
spells and the magic that needed to flow from her would be raw and powerful.
She cleared her mind, erasing the fear she saw on Cage, Roark, and Rosemary’s
faces as she left them in the library.
They couldn’t help her.
Rosemary was but a ghost, Roark hadn’t transformed into his true form in ages
and Cage was a human who dabbled in magic. He knew how to hunt, but this wasn’t
the typical prey. You couldn’t just punch or stab a powerful demon-human hybrid.
She would have to figure out how to banish the creature. She wished she had a
stone, like the powerful onyx her father had used when he captured Mozath the
last time.
She turned the corner and
saw the black fog. Her eyes flicked to Pammy who was on the ground in the fetal
position, rocking back and forth as she sobbed. It should have brought Elise
comfort to see Pammy’s father beside his daughter, but the look of agony on his
face gave truth that he couldn’t protect Pammy and was enduring his own
internal nightmare.
Movement caught Elise’s
eyes as she saw Ms. Welch walking up to the fog with her walker.
“No,” cried Elise, but
Ms. Welch either couldn’t hear her or didn’t want to.
“Listen here you beast,”
yelled Ms. Welch as she clenched her fist at the fog, “You stop this right now.”
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