Persie Merlin and the Door to Nowhere by Bella Forrest Page 0,127

the zombies to a halt by heaving backward on the young woman’s arms, legs, and hair, but she still made the motions as if she were moving forward.

I was about to turn back to Genie when I noticed the Wisps swarming—by the hundreds—and they were looking for a fight. Splitting in every direction, they launched their assault on the pixies. And my poor Purge beasts didn’t see it coming.

Now on their home turf, the Wisps were strengthened in violence and fury. They outnumbered my creatures considerably, surrounding the pixies and powering up their central flames, building to that scorching heat that had stung my skin in the sphere. Then I heard the most heart-wrenching sound… the scream of a dying pixie. I searched desperately for the creature who’d made the sound, but there were too many Wisps, their light hiding the pixies’ torment from me.

Another scream pierced the air, brimming with untold agony. They would all die, I realized, unless I did something.

“Let me out!” I yelled at Nathan. “They’re killing them!”

Nathan dipped his chin to his chest. “I can’t, Persie. If you go out there, they’ll hurt you too.”

A third scream shivered through the bubble, chilling me to the bone. I felt his last moments as though they were my own. I’d made the pixies, and I didn’t want them to die for me. I couldn’t just sit back and let them all get burned to a crisp while trying to protect me. I might not have been the bravest person in the world, but I wasn’t a coward, either.

“Let me out of here, NOW!” I shouted.

Nathan’s eyes hardened. “I won’t do it, Persie. I’m sorry. I don’t like this any more than you do, but I can’t let you go out there.”

“Listen to them, Nathan!” I was beside myself now, my voice cracking. “They’re dying! Please, let me try. I have to try!”

“No,” he said simply.

Frantic, I hammered on the inside of the bubble, causing the magical shield to spark. For a moment, it reminded me of my nightmare again, only this felt way worse. The helplessness came from a different place, heavy with the responsibility of the pixies’ fate. “Stop! Please, stop!” I bellowed, tears streaming down my cheeks. “They haven’t done anything wrong! Please, stop! They’re only trying to protect me. They don’t deserve to die! Please, please, please!”

I pounded harder on the bubble. “Please…” I slumped back on my haunches, holding my face in my hands. They weren’t going to listen to me. Who was I kidding? I’d brought the pixies here; I’d done this to them, and now they were paying the ultimate price. I owed it to them to look, but I couldn’t. It hurt too much.

“Persie…” Nathan nudged my arm.

I shrugged him off roughly. “I know, you won’t let me out. You said already.”

“That’s not it. Look.”

I peeked through my fingers, and my jaw dropped. The zombies had frozen in their tracks, and the Wisps had buzzed away like they were innocent little fairies who hadn’t killed anyone I cared about. And, in the midst of it all, a man emerged from the crowd of zombies, striding right up to our protective bubble. He had a mane of fiery red hair that touched his shoulders, impossibly green eyes, and the outfit of some kind of soldier—a cavalryman, perhaps, judging by his battered leather riding boots and riding crop.

“You were not led to this place. What are you doing here?” he demanded in a thick Irish brogue. The words didn’t sit comfortably on his tongue, as though he wasn’t used to speaking.

Breathless, I asked a question in return. “Who the hell are you?”

His eyes narrowed, his mouth twisting in a scowl. “I’m Fergus McLeod.”

Thirty

Persie

“How?” Nathan maintained the protective bubble, muscling between me and this strange man who claimed to be Fergus McLeod. It made me wonder how secure these defenses were if he felt the need to act as a human shield.

The red-headed man turned up his nose. “What d’ye mean?”

“How can it be you? No offense, but you should be dead.” Nathan discreetly pushed me further behind him. I appreciated the heroic sentiment, but I was more concerned about scanning the area for my pixies.

My heart wrenched as I saw the tiny bodies on the ground—far more than three. I counted twenty in total, prompting bile to rise up my throat. Only three had called out in their last moments, while the rest had died in stoic silence. Was it any wonder