his throat. He screamed around it, a terrible sound, and blood started pouring out.
“Do you see the piece?” Ellis yelled.
“The piece?”
He pointed to one corner as the alligator man dove beneath the water. And then I saw it. Something shimmered in the spider web in one corner.
“I’m going to grab it. You watch for the alligator man. Think you can fry his ass?”
I pulled out a dagger from my belt. “I’ve got you covered.”
Ellis climbed over the tent, and his feet came down on the wet green earth that surrounded the small swamp. He carefully made his way around the edges, briefly getting tangled in the webs but yanking himself free. He reached the back corner, swung his backpack in front of him, and took out a small towel. He picked up the glowing piece using the towel, then stuffed it in his backpack and threw it back over his shoulder, before inching toward me again. My gaze flickered from him to the swampy water.
I saw movement on the green surface. A second later, another alligator man leapt from the water, and my dagger slammed into his throat. His eyes rolled back in his head, and the man fell inches away from Ellis. His eyes grew glassy, and he didn’t move.
Ellis gave me a reassuring smile and continued inching around the swampy water. Suddenly, something dropped on him from above. A scream caught in my throat as the spider woman surrounded him, then seemed to yank right back above us, taking Ellis with her.
“No fucking way!” I shouted.
I wanted to throw a ball of fire at her dark shape, but I was scared to hit Ellis, not to mention the pain I knew would follow using my magic while being bound by the cuffs. I went to the end of the hall and tried to climb the tent, but I just kept falling.
“Ellis!” I screamed again.
A second later, a dark mass hit the ground in front of me. Ellis was fighting the giant spider, and I wasn’t sure if he was winning. The woman’s mouth was covered in his blood, and his neck was slashed. I leapt forward and pressed a hand to one of her legs, then reached for my powers. The cuffs began to glow, brighter and brighter, then slowly, they began to burn. I gritted my teeth, pushing past the pain. Suddenly, her leg turned red, and she let out a horrible shriek as her leg disintegrated into ash. She finally released him, and he jumped back, staggering.
I didn’t know what the hell I was thinking. I just saw the moment she took Ellis from me over and over again.
Jumping on top of her, I pressed my hand to the side of her head and reached for my powers again. Unlike when I tried to use my powers with the Horseman, I was focused on protecting Ellis, and something about that made me sense my powers in a way I couldn’t before. My ankles and wrists burned as if I was holding a hot poker to them, and tears sprung to my eyes, but I ignored the pain and released my magic. Her eyes bulged as her face turned red, and glowing embers appeared all over her. I felt her trying to fight me, but it was no use. A second later, her face turned into ash.
Her legs suddenly stopped moving, and I climbed off of her and raced to Ellis’ side, ignoring the way my wrists and ankles throbbed. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, holding the side of his neck. “Let’s just get out of here.”
I threw one of his arms around my shoulder, and we stumbled back out of the freak tent and into the light of day. He collapsed onto the ground, breathing hard, and blood continued to pump from his wound.
“That doesn’t look good.”
“You don’t look good,” he shot back, and I looked down only to realize that the spider bitch had torn bloody gashes into my legs and stomach, along with the pink burns around my wrists and ankles. “What I mean,” he corrected himself, “is that you always look good, but those wounds look painful.”
“They’re flesh wounds,” I said, touching his face.
He smiled. “I’m a unicorn, remember. I’ll be good as gold in a few minutes.”
And then we heard Alastair shout. My head jerked up, and I looked between Ellis and the direction Alastair’s shout came from.
“Go,” he said. “I’ll follow as soon as I can.”
I nodded, knowing Alastair wouldn’t have shouted