Persie Merlin and the Witch Hunters - Bella Forrest Page 0,115

to happen. He just stood there with the ball gripped in his hand, his gaze flitting from me, to his fist, and back again. You could’ve heard a pin drop in the rancid fishery, everyone on tenterhooks.

Then, Reid dropped to his knees with an almighty howl. He lurched forward on all fours, his spine arching violently, the veins popping out of his neck, reminding me of my worst Purges. His face twisted in pain, and his fingernails raked at the gelatinous residue on the floor as a fiery trail of glinting red shot up his arms and spiderwebbed out across the visible parts of his skin. As he unleashed another ground-shaking roar, his head shot up, revealing two burning red lights in his eyes. They weren’t the same as his Fear Dearg flames, but they still scared the living daylights out of me, prompting me to stagger back a few paces.

I chanced a look at the other witch hunters. In response to Reid’s howls, their heads had snapped up toward the ceiling, and the red mist was pouring out of them in rapidly tumbling torrents. The mist pooled onto the floor, slithering along the ground like it had a mind of its own, heading toward Reid. As he bucked and writhed in agony, the mist wound up his braced arms and disappeared into his skin, returning to its source. A second later, a tear in the fabric of reality appeared in the crumbling rafters of the fishery, the edges fizzing with speckled black light. Out of the atmospheric wound, more red mist spilled out, swirling in the air above Reid like a cyclone before powering into him in a violent cascade—likely, the infection from all the other witch hunters who had succumbed, traveling all this way to be reabsorbed into its original host. Reid roared in pain, his whole body swamped in the mist as it fought to find room inside him. I thought it would never stop until, with a deafening snap, the tear closed and the last of the contagion was sucked into Reid, leaving him a trembling, gasping mess on the floor.

Is this good? Is this bad? I stared, utterly stumped, until the ringleader of the witch hunters spoke.

“Well, that feels better, don’t it!” He tilted his neck from side to side, presumably to relieve any cricks. “I can breathe proper, and me mind’s clear as day. How are the rest of ye?”

“Grand,” the older woman said, with a pleased grin.

A murmur of agreement ran through the group, but Reid looked anything but fine. The bright red fire in his eyes and his veins had gone out, and all the mist seemed to have been reabsorbed, but he continued to breathe heavily, sweat running down his face.

I crouched beside him. “What about you? How do you feel?”

“I don’t feel no different,” he rasped.

“Pity for ye then, aye?” The squat witch hunter mocked, patting a hand against his rotund belly.

I frowned. “Maybe the antidote just stopped the contagious part. Maybe it didn’t fully heal the curse in you, only the people you infected, and to prevent you from infecting anyone else.” This possibility filled me with a jarring disappointment. It didn’t seem fair that Reid should still have to suffer when he was the one who’d sought out the antidote in the first place.

“Hey, at least no one else is goin’ te get infected.” Reid peered up at me with watery eyes. “I’ll take that as a win, so… thanks for all ye’ve done. I had a moment where I thought ye might’ve foxed me, but ye didn’t. I’m grateful. I just wanted the infectin’ te stop. That’s all I can ask for.”

I heard the heavy thud of footsteps and my head whipped around. The ringleader had taken a few steps forward. “Looks like ye’re a useful device after all. Might be more we can tap out o’ ye. I’d say it’s time te grab this little witch and leg it out o’ here before someone comes lookin’ for her.” He glanced at his pals and they all leered in assent, edging closer. “And if ye’re still as loyal as ye say ye are, Reid, ye’ll not mind givin’ us a hand.”

Are you freaking serious?! I wanted to scream at them until their ears bled. How could they turn on me after what I’d just done for them? They’d clearly ignored the small print about leaving this part of the world alone after I’d cured them. Couldn’t they