Storm Gods - G. Bailey Page 0,61

only a cat god can manage. I’m getting overwhelmed, but I set my jaw and keep it up, trying not to think about the pain in my back, trying not to think about how tired I’ve already become…

But then, frosty blue lightning joins mine, and I look over to see Mads coming to stand at my side, arms outstretched and brow furrowed in concentration. Together we continue to light them up, and that turns the tide; within moments, they’ve either all gone down or retreated. I shoot my best friend a grateful look. “I owe you one,” I tell her.

Mads gives me a half-crazed grin before we go racing across the square in search of the others. We reach Seth, who has just taken down a duo of plant monsters, first. “Where are the others?” I ask breathlessly.

“And where’s Neritous?” Mads adds.

Seth opens his mouth to reply, but then a voice from behind him draws his attention. “It’s a shame we had to meet again like this, Seth.” It’s a newcomer, dressed impeccably, with ginger hair almost as unruly as my own.

The justice god’s eyes go wide. “Alaric?” he says. “What are you doing here?”

“What has to be done,” the other god says, sounding melancholy. “I really wish it didn’t have to be this way, Seth.”

“You know me, Alaric!” Seth protests, approaching the other god. “How many times have we worked together? You know I want what’s best for the world!”

“Neritous wants what’s best for the world,” the man, Alaric, replies grimly. “Times have changed, old friend. This is the way things have to be. It’s not too late,” he adds, holding up his hands. “You could still join us. This doesn’t have to be like this.”

I see a flicker of doubt on Seth’s face. “Don’t do it, Seth!” I yell, drawing his attention back to me. “Don’t let him get in your head!”

“You must be the one at the heart of all this,” Alaric says, turning to look at me. “Pretty thing. It’s too bad you picked the wrong side.” He extends a hand to Seth. “Let me kill the karma goddess, Seth, and this can all end here.”

Seth’s expression hardens. “I’m not going to let that happen,” he tells the other god.

Alaric looks disappointed, but not surprised. “That’s a shame,” he mutters, and then a bolt of black lightning surges out of his hand and strikes Seth squarely in the chest. The justice god collapses onto the ground, unmoving.

“Seth!” I cry, already moving towards him, but another bolt of lightning narrowly misses me, and I turn back to the other god. “You’re going to pay for that,” I hiss and raise my hands.

“We’ll see,” is all he says, and his black bolt of lightning collides with my green one, leaving us at an impasse as we each try to overcome the other’s magic.

“Mads!” I yell desperately.

“Here,” she replies, already getting into position beside me, and lets loose an unguided but still powerful bolt of her own blue electricity. It meets Alaric’s, merging with mine to create a single bolt of blue-green lightning that surges against the other god’s like a tidal wave. For a moment I wonder if it will be enough, but between the two of us, we’re stronger, and we manage to overpower him, our magic striking him in a death blow.

Mads looks at me triumphantly, but my breath is already catching in my throat. My eyes have returned to Seth. Whatever Alaric did to him, it wasn’t good.

Chapter 19

I feel unsteady on my feet as I race over to where Seth is lying, unmoving. The blast knocked him a decent distance away, and it’s a struggle not to trip over myself as I scramble to get to him, momentarily oblivious to everything that’s going on around me. “Seth,” I say, my tone bordering on frantic as I drop to my knees in front of his form. He’s lying on his side, facing away from me, and I feel my hands shaking as I reach out to gently roll him onto his back. There’s a scorch mark on his chest. The blast was clearly enough to burn through his clothes, and the burn looks bad—third degree, if I’m not mistaken. Blood seeps out from the edges of the wound, in spite of the lightning’s cauterising, and for a brief, terrifying moment I’m sure that he’s dead, taken out the exact same way Hugo was…but then he gives a ragged, hitching gasp, his body jerking under my