to make him fucking pay for it with his blood and his life.
He knows. He knows he’s going to die by my hands. And the troupers still lying around? They know it too. But they just sit here, watching, because even though they were loyal to him tonight, their loyalty was always forced. Coerced. Manipulated.
I can tell that all of them are just waiting for me to end him, to be done with it. They’re hoping for it, even if they won’t lift a cowardly finger to help me do it.
In a move that I’m really fucking shocked that he’s able to do, Kaazu snags hold of his cane and cracks it against my face. I fall off of him, my head dizzy, but right before I can launch myself at him again, he sends a bolt of electricity at me, but that just pisses me off more. “I’m going to rip you apart!” I scream, teeth gritted and sweat stinging with the jolts that pop against my skin.
“His cane!”
Cliff is trying to army crawl toward me as he shouts. “His cane, Jetta! That’s where he pulls his energy from!”
I don’t hesitate—my hands shoot out and grasp the cane, and the pain is fucking unimaginable and instantaneous. I feel the power of a thousand lightning bolts course through me as I grip the source of his power. I can feel my insides singeing.
But I don’t let go. I’m not going to fail. Not when I’m this fucking close. I didn’t go through my whole miserable fucking life just to die now.
Fuck. That.
The noise that tears out of my throat sounds like something otherworldly. It rocks the air and grounds my mind, and with it comes all of the anger I’ve held inside of my body for my entire existence. With everything I have left in me, I clench my teeth and pull it out of his grip, my strength far outweighing his. Without hesitation, I toss it into the vortex, and it surges with blinding light.
Eyes streaming with water as I squint through the brightness, I grab Kaazu’s arms. I see his face contorted into real fear that looks eerie in the unnatural illumination. His entire body looks wrecked, drained. As if his cane being destroyed is sucking the life out of him.
All that time, and his goddamn cane was the source of his power. I wish I’d known. I wish I’d put it together a long time ago. I should’ve. It was right there in front of my face the whole time.
Kaazu opens his mouth, maybe to utter a plea or a curse or a threat, but I don’t let him finish. He’s talked enough.
“And now for the main event,” I hiss.
Then I shove his evil ass into the vortex.
He lands into the swirl of lightning, his body finally getting a taste of his own medicine. With the source of his power there to alight the vortex, and Kaazu himself in the mix, the thing pulses. Once. Twice. Three times.
And then it detonates.
My body goes flying back like a piece of useless shrapnel. I feel weightless for a moment, no pain, no sound; I can’t even see with the bright light surrounding me. It’s almost...peaceful.
Just until I smash into something hard, and my world goes black. But that’s pretty fucking peaceful too.
30
Heathcliff
There’s a duck in my sink.
I woke up...somewhere, with a full bladder and a groggy head. I stumbled out of an unfamiliar bed, headed for the door, only to realize I accidentally walked into a closet instead. After choosing door number two, I managed to lumber into the bathroom, feeling disoriented.
As soon as my feet hit the tile, my steps falter at the sight of a duck floating happily in a sink full of water, orange beak ruffling her feathers as she grooms. I blink and rub my eyes, just to make sure I’m not seeing things, but, no. That’s definitely a duck. She looks really content, too.
“Um.”
The duck’s head comes up at the sound of my voice, and when she sees me, she quacks and flies out of the sink. I jolt backward, my shoulder hitting the door frame, but she just waddles across the floor, heading out of the room. I stare at her for a beat before shaking my head and closing the door behind me.
I’ll just...I’ll come back to that.
First things first, I take care of business and then drain the sink of water before washing my hands. Then I get distracted with the