said the house was on a ley line. Had Rhianne’s father tapped into that, sending ensorcelled snakes to either fetch her home or kill her?
“What’s a taser?” she shouted.
“Never mind.” Ben glanced over his shoulder at her. “Hang on to me, no matter what.”
Rhianne wound her arms around him from behind, and she wasn’t about to let go. Another snake snagged her ankle while others rose up, higher and higher, surrounding them like a serpent forest.
Ben’s body changed. His shirt dissolved and vanished as his shoulders widened and his chest broadened. He grew, the mid-sized, affable Ben becoming the tall, thick bodied monster she’d seen in the dungeon.
Rhianne clutched him as his skin hardened into an almost wood-like texture. She rose three feet off the ground as she gripped Ben tight.
The snake that had wrapped her ankle came up with them, pried from the ground with a sucking sound. The snake didn’t like being in the air, though, and started to flail. Rhianne kicked and kicked until it finally dislodged.
Ben turned, ponderously, his tattered jeans falling away. He battled the snakes by the simple feat of crushing them. Rhianne hung on as he headed for the garden gate and the house beyond.
Something darted past them, snarling and spitting. Behind it, only a little slower, raced a large russet-colored wolf, the earth rumbling with his growls. Ben turned from the gate, wading back into the fray.
The first animal was a leopard, its spots flashing in the moonlight. The leopard leapt and pounced with consummate grace, knocking snakes aside, tearing them apart with a single blow of a paw.
The snakes never touched the leopard. Whenever they struck, they hit empty air, the leopard sailing straight upward with honed cat instincts. The snakes hissed their fury, the hisses cut off as the wolf cut them in half with his claws.
Ben joined the wolf, the two of them decapitating and splitting open the snakes that the leopard batted to them. Rhianne could only hold on to Ben and pray to the Goddess she wouldn’t fall.
A trickle of mysterious energy sparked inside her, bolstering her spirits. Perhaps she’d be able to use the word of power again more quickly than she’d thought.
This magic felt different, though, unlike the tingle that built in her fingers and throat when she gathered strength to use the words. Her heart skipped and throbbed, and her limbs twitched. The magic built, hammering at her as though desperate to get out.
Rhianne forced herself to calm. If she fell, those snakes would be on her faster than Ben and the others could stop them. She held on to Ben tighter, but magic jumped up and down inside her like a mystical case of hiccups.
The leopard continued to battle, light on her feet, springing with impossible speed whenever a snake lunged for her. The wolf used brute strength instead of speed, and together they made a perfect team. Ben came along behind them to destroy whatever tried to escape.
Slowly the three with Rhianne edged toward the garden gate. The garden, so peaceful and beautiful under the moonlight a short time ago now roiled like a cauldron of evil.
The rose vines shuddered. Rhianne braced herself for the next horror to spring out of the ground, but the vines themselves seemed to come to life. Were Rhianne and the others about to be attacked by the vegetation?
The vines began to flow across the garden—no, their roots did, Rhianne realized. They swarmed around the snakes, entwining the creatures, and then began to squeeze.
“They’re helping,” Rhianne yelled in surprise.
“Yeah, they are.” Ben’s response was jubilant. “Jaycee, Dimitri, get out of there.”
The wolf swerved and ran with all speed toward the gate, Ben behind him, his size decreasing to that of his human guise as he went. The leopard lingered, batting and swatting at the snakes, playing with them with the focused intensity of a house cat with a mouse toy.
The red wolf turned and ran back into the garden, howling in despair as the snakes converged on the leopard.
Rhianne thumped to her feet on solid ground outside the gate, free of snakes and roots. The tingling rush in her body swelled. She turned back, raised her hands, and shouted the word of power once more. “Shantar!”
Light burst over the garden, glowing on the snakes and roots alike. Snakes shriveled into ash under it, and the vines pulled back.
The leopard shot upward from all four paws, twisted in the air, and came down squarely on the wolf’s back.