toward it and shoved my sword into the belly of a bear-like demon standing on two legs. The tip of a golden glade pierced through the demon’s ribs and poked out toward me. My blade sank all the way through. It burst into dust – and my eyes met Riah’s face-to-face. He smirked and then pointed over my shoulder.
I spun and took down two more wolf demons but as I plunged my sword into the skull of a third it got lodged. I pulled and yanked but the damn thing wouldn’t budge. Suddenly, a blue transparent man appeared beside me. He reached down and wrapped his hands around my sword and pulled – and my sword popped right out. I turned toward him and spotted the faded VIII Mark of a former Strength Card.
“Thank you.” But he didn’t deserve to be stuck either, so I blew golden glittery dust right into his face and whispered. “Be at peace.”
He smiled. Blue light flashed and he was gone.
I spun around to look for Riah only to be nearly trampled by an army of Devons chasing a massive demon the size of a car. Hunter skipped behind her with a smile. I shook myself. Where’s Riah? I turned again and Albert, the black mastiff puppy, lunged and tackled a demon to the ground and then bit its head off. Black blood splashed onto the sand.
Braison and Paulina fought back-to-back with two swords raised.
Sand shot straight up in front of me but before I could react Olli pounced and sank his teeth into the neck of some kind of sand demon.
“Olli! Don’t swallow the blood!” Chutney screamed, then slid in front of me, slicing the sand demon in half with her wicked curved sword. She glanced up at me with a grin. “You go fight, I’ve got the puppers!”
Fair enough. I nodded and spun around…then froze.
Blue flames crept across the sand, igniting demon after demon. Jackson followed behind his magic, finishing the job by sword and making it look easy, he wasn’t even breathing hard. Yellow mist flashed in the corner of my eye as Lennox fired all kinds of spells from her wand. Warner shadowed her moves, killing anything she didn’t.
The beach rumbled and the ground seemed to move. Sand-demon-people popped up near the shore. Bettina cursed and thrust her arms out. Ice covered every inch of the sand forms. Timothy leapt into the air and swung his frozen angel’s sword through the head of a frozen sand-demon. The two made a great team with that ice sword and her ice magic. The matching grins on their faces told me they were enjoying themselves, which would’ve seemed crazy to anyone not in The Coven. Every time his new sword vaporized a demon he cackled.
Fairyflies swarmed by my face and shot to the left. I turned to follow them just as a wolf demon lunged for me. I ducked and let it soar over me, then jumped up and sliced its underside.
“Safferella!”
“I’m fine!” I shouted and jumped back up. “I got this—”
Silver magic wrapped around my waist and yanked. My feet dragged through the sand as Riah’s magic pulled me to his side. Savannah stood in his shadow, firing spells from her wand and not leaving his side. Riah was a demon slaying machine. He moved with grace and ease like this was a typical day’s work. I wanted to just sit and watch him fight but I couldn’t desert my Coven-mates.
Three demons dropped from the sky and I remembered The Coven referring to them as Oozers because of the orange venom dripping from their mouths. I summoned my magic in my hands and then threw it in their faces. Bright pink and yellow flowers erupted from inside of them, searing through their skin to bloom. They thrashed and swatted at their bodies as thick green vines coiled around their legs and shot into the sand. They shrieked as flowers burst in their mouths and eyes.
Savannah cackled beside me. “FINISH HIM!”
I lunged forward and buried my sword in each of their chests until they exploded into dust.
“DUCK!” Bentley screamed.
Savannah and I dropped to the sand just as a dark object flew over our heads.
“I need action spells, dammit,” Savannah grumbled.
“NICE THROW, BENNY!” Cooper shouted but I couldn’t see him. “Amelia! Landy! Stay with me!”
Something shot into the sky in my peripheral vision so I spun with my sword raised – and my jaw dropped. It was those same water hydras Riah and I had