of light flowed from Horace to the statue. Hector lay unconscious on the floor, oblivious to his brother’s plight.
“Stop!” Isabel cried, but she was too late. As the light stopped flowing from Horace, the creature came to life, its eyes glowing ember-red and each of the blades on its tail taking on the hue of flowing lava.
Hazel looked back and smiled as the demon bounded down a long hall that ended with a point of daylight from an opening in the side of the mountain.
“What have you done?!” Isabel demanded, drawing her dagger and advancing toward Hazel.
“I’ve just killed the leader of the Sin’Rath Coven,” Hazel said.
“By killing Horace?” Isabel glanced over at his withered and desiccated husk. His face was blackened, lips pulled away from his teeth, his eyes hollow and empty.
“A necessary sacrifice,” Hazel said. “The Sin’Rath must be destroyed, no matter the cost.”
The words hit Isabel like a slap in the face. She had uttered very similar words about Phane. And she’d meant them, yet looking at the cost Hazel had been willing to pay in order to deal a blow to the Sin’Rath, Isabel realized that some costs were too great, no matter the gain.
Hazel began whispering words under her breath. Sensing the threat, Isabel fled the chamber, taking a position behind a nearby pillar and casting a shield spell. She wasn’t sure what magic Hazel could wield and didn’t want to find out the hard way. If Hazel was able to charm her or even blow a pinch of henbane into her face, Isabel might be the next one sacrificed to the ghidora.
“You can’t hide from me,” Hazel said from inside the room. “And I fear you haven’t fully considered your tactical disadvantage. Do you really want to kill Ayela’s body? I’m sure you have plans to undo what I’ve done.” Her tone was taunting, filled with mirth.
Alexander appeared next to Isabel. “Slip up next to the doorway and be ready with your force-push. I’ll distract her.”
Isabel nodded and started to make her way around several cages so she could come up along the wall in the dark. Once in position, she saw herself step out from behind a pillar and advance toward the door as if she meant to murder Hazel … and Ayela with her.
“Come, Child, be reasonable,” Hazel said, a thinly veiled attempt to stall for time while the illusion of Isabel drew closer, becoming more vulnerable to Hazel’s magic with each step.
“There,” Hazel said with a triumphant smile as the illusion of Isabel entered the room. She clapped her hands once and the dust covering the section of the floor where the illusion stood rose up in a cloud surrounding her. When the illusion didn’t react, Hazel became alarmed. Isabel rolled around the edge of the door and unleashed her force-push. Hazel flew backward, tumbling to the floor and shaking her head before struggling to her feet.
Isabel was moving the moment she cast her spell, but Hazel regained her feet and quaffed a potion before she could reach her, vanishing with derisive laughter.
Ayela came into the room. Hearing her own laughter but not seeing her body, she backed up against the wall next to the door and shouted, “Give me my body back!” Laughter was the only response.
“Duck!” Alexander’s disembodied voice said.
Isabel saw a puff of powder appear before her; she immediately stopped breathing, closed her eyes, and rolled backward away from the threat, coming up with another force-push that fell on empty air.
“Your invisibility won’t last forever,” Isabel said, watching the dust on the ground for any hint of Hazel’s passage, straining to hear her footsteps or breathing.
Alexander appeared as a ball of light. “Target me,” he said.
Isabel didn’t hesitate, firing off a force-push that sent Hazel sprawling near the door, becoming visible a few moments after she hit the ground. Ayela lunged toward her, falling on top of her and trying to pin her to the ground, but her new body was no match for the youth and strength of her real body. Hazel easily overpowered her, tossing a pinch of powder into her face once she’d rolled to her feet.
Isabel raised her hand to cast another force-push, but Hazel fled into the menagerie. Ayela tried to regain her feet but collapsed, falling into a deep sleep.
“I’ll keep watch,” Alexander said. “See if you can wake Hector.”
“What about Hazel?”
“She can’t hide from me. Besides, you can’t leave them here like this. There’s no telling what’s lurking in the shadows