All That Lives Must Die - Eric Nylund [199]
So much in balance. Forces of destruction and love and betrayal orbiting her the likes she had not seen since the War in Heaven. She smiled, tasting the anticipation of victory on her lips.
Sealiah turned to her guards and, with a nod, singled out their shortest member.
Her champion came to her, kneeling on one knee, head bowed.
Sealiah gestured for the spiked helmet to be removed.
Jezebel shook loose her platinum curls. Her eyes burned with hate and she quickly lowered her gaze. “He is dangerous, My Queen. I beg you; give me the order to destroy the Deceiver.”
Sealiah smiled. “Not yet, my pet.”
She appreciated her protégée’s viciousness. Under normal circumstances, she would have agreed with her. It was an instinctual reaction: erase one’s smartest enemies when the opportunity presented itself, and allow the stupid ones to live to breed inferior competition.
But instinct changed and evolved or a species perished. Even for the Infernals. Especially facing the new order heralded by the Post twins.
Sealiah lifted Jezebel’s face. The girl’s shattered bones had mended, and her battle-won bruises all but faded. Only the slightest imperfection marred her features, but for what Sealiah needed her for next, her broken doll had to be perfect.
“We must make you ready.” The bones would have to be rebroken and properly aligned. Sealiah brushed a finger over her cheek.
Jezebel stiffened and stood straighter, and a flicker of horror flashed across her features.
“Are you ready for the next act of our little drama?”
“Yes, My Queen,” Jezebel relied. “I will perish for the cause if so ordered.”
“Very good,” Sealiah whispered, “because that may be precisely what I require.”
53. The magic (or wishing) well is common in fairy tales, often depicted as granting three wishes, dispensing healing waters, or giving (all-too-often unheeded) advice to young heroes. The earliest stories of these wells, however, contain sinister forces: trolls or imprisoned spirits eager to pull in unsuspecting children. Many of the tales relate that these wells were conduits to hell or the Fairy Lands. Coins were dropped into their depths in the hopes of appeasing the evil within. Gods of the First and Twenty-first Century, Volume 5, Core Myths (Part 2). Zypheron Press Ltd., Eighth Edition.
57
HOW TO FOIL A DEATH TRAP
Fiona stood in the middle of a war zone.
Not entirely unexpected . . . not after the last few times when Mr. Ma had ramped up the difficulty of the obstacle course, but this was ridiculous!
She ducked—a jet of flame roared over her head.
Eliot knelt next to her and pointed his guitar at the pipe hissing fire. He twanged and held a single note, made it waver and warble and growl with feedback.
The pipe sputtered and sparked. It exploded, extinguishing the flames.
She twisted the shutoff valve closed.
Fiona wasn’t sure where Eliot had gotten his new instrument (or, for that matter, how an electric guitar made so much sound without any wires or an amplifier). He’d just showed up at the start of gym class today with the thing. No explanations.
Time for question and answers later . . . if they made it through today’s class. She scanned the course, trying to reorient.
They were thirty feet off the ground. The ramp she crouched upon was aluminum, fireproof thankfully (one of the modest safety considerations Mr. Ma had allowed for his reconstructed course), but the surface reflected heat so she felt as if she were in an oven.
Mitch was at the top of the ramp. So was Amanda.
Twin waters cannon pelted her teammates with high-pressure streams—forcing them into a corner to keep from getting blasted off the edge.
Mitch tried to shield Amanda from the worst of it, but they both looked as if they were drowning.
“Are you sure this is the easiest way?” she yelled at Eliot over the noise.
Eliot gave her that I know what I’m doing look, but nonetheless strummed his guitar, turned back and forth, and nodded his head.
Fiona squinted through the smoke and mist. Lines of fire crisscrossed the obstacle course. She didn’t see any trace