Abigail surged to her feet. “Run!” she screamed and pushed her daughters back toward the darkness of the open field.
Hunter’s feet cemented to the ground. Her mother’s shoves only jarred her enough to make her dizzy. This wasn’t real. None of it.
Sealskin black liquid gushed from the tree, and spurted around the slick and matted fur of the giant wolf clawing its way into their world. It flashed in and out of focus, unstable as it tried to gain hold in this new realm. Its talons dug trenches in the grass and it bared its teeth and growled, wet nose sniffing the air. This was a nightmare, sixteen years of anxiety spilling out of Hunter’s subconscious and raining down on this made-up version of things to come.
Hunter reached out for Mercy. In any nightmare, she could grab hold of her sister and will herself awake. Emptiness met her fingers. Nothing but spring air and the guttural moans of the fanged beast. Hunter whirled around. The breeze tugged at the skirt of Mercy’s ivory dress as she followed their mother’s instructions and ran. But Mercy wouldn’t leave her. That’s never how it happened. Not in Hunter’s dreams and especially not her nightmares.
Mercy glanced backward and skidded to a halt. “Hunter!” she shrieked and focused her wide-eyed terror past her sister.
This was all too real. Hunter felt the monster behind her. Felt the rank air tighten and heard the otherworldly liquid slosh as the creature spilled into their realm. She couldn’t turn around, couldn’t force herself to move. This was supposed to be peaceful, magical, the beginning of years and years of happiness and light. What had she done to deserve this?
“Stay back, vile beast!” her mother roared over the steady crackle of the charged night air.
Hunter heard the beast’s heavy footsteps crack rotting apples and beat against the earth. She whirled around as her pulse battered her eardrums.
Abigail had gathered the white candle and held it in the air. “Athena, I call to you!” The wolf cowered and its ears pressed back against its wet coat. “Give me strength in battle!” Against the crackling wind Abigail scraped a match. It left behind a trail of sparking orange that ripped through the black sky like a tear in a page and doused the scene in orange light. Magic heard Abigail’s cry, but Athena hadn’t shown.
The beast’s image flickered as its gaze swung from the tree to the flaming arc and back to Abigail. It bared its wet teeth and stalked forward as the Goode witch pressed the flaming match against the candle’s wick. She gripped the wax pillar with both hands and held it in front of her. “Athena! I call to you, my goddess, my protector!” The flame shot skyward, illuminating their small space on earth.
The wolf’s top lip rippled with a growl as it sprang toward Abigail. It flashed in and out of focus as its giant paw struck out and swatted her aside. She slammed into the ground and crumpled like a rag doll.
Hunter reached out, her cries for her mother strangled by the cords of fear lining her neck. “Get away!” she finally managed as the creature prodded Abigail with his enormous muzzle.
Its ears flicked in her direction. It raised his massive head and blew out a burst of mucus-specked air. Hunter’s mouth went dry, her tongue turning to paste behind her teeth. The wolf’s lip curled. The magical light painted its teeth a shiny orange as he stepped over Abigail and charged at Hunter.
Mercy’s bare feet slapped the earth behind Hunter as she scrambled away. Hunter stumbled over fallen apples. Her arms flailed as her feet slid out from under her and she crashed onto the ground. As the beast lunged forward, Mercy wrapped her arm around Hunter’s chest and tucked herself behind her sister. Hunter squeezed her eyelids shut and held up her arms. This was the end for them both. A sob tore from her throat as hot, foul breath blew back the hair that had fallen against her cheeks.
Fangs pierced Hunter’s forearm. A deep, searing ache twisted around her lungs and squeezed. Blood oozed hot and wet around sharp teeth as they sunk into her flesh. Mercy’s chest shook against Hunter’s back as she shouted words Hunter’s pulse drowned into a whisper.
Xena was there in an instant. A streak of yowling fur, the cat hurled herself at the beast. Her howls pierced the night as she wrapped herself around the wolf’s snout and dug her claws into its leathery muzzle. With a roar that rattled Hunter’s bones, the creature released her arm and clamored back. It whipped its head from side to side. With a shriek, Xena flew off its face. She tumbled through the air and struck a tree limb, landing in the grass with a sickly thud.
The wolf stalked back toward Hunter and her sister. Back to finish the job and end the Goode line before the new generation could step into their power.
A screech tore through the night. The wolf cocked his head and turned toward the magical rip burning against the black sky. Hunter squeezed Mercy’s hand as the cool spring air turned hot and thick. Another piercing shriek rang out as the gash opened wide. An owl burst through the tear, its feathers the same jack-o’-lantern orange as the otherworldly rip in space. Massive wings beat the air as it dove at the wolf. Blood spurted from the beast’s back as the owl’s talons ripped its flesh.
The owl circled Hunter and Mercy and let out another scream before landing on the ground beside their mother.
Blood oozed down the wolf’s back as it spun to pursue the bird. The owl hopped closer to Abigail, tipped its beak to the sky, and shrieked. A fiery bolt flashed from the tear in the night and struck Abigail’s chest. In an instant, her body was aglow in orange flames. The wolf stilled as Abigail rose to her feet and the owl took perch on her shoulder. “Fenrir!” Another voice coated Abigail’s and a glowing spear flickered to life by her side. “This realm is not your own!”
With a growl, Fenrir shook the blood from his coat and stalked toward Abigail, ignoring the twins. Abigail, alight with the fiery and otherworldly powers of her goddess, pressed forward toward the ancient apple tree that grew from the magic of the Norse Underworld.
Mercy pulled Hunter to her feet and clenched Hunter’s hand in her own as they crept toward Xena. The cat wound around their ankles, herding them away from their mother and the wolf who’d spilled out of its realm and flickered, unstable, into their own.
Mercy dropped Hunter’s hand, scooped up Xena, and ran. This time, Hunter matched her sister’s stride. Her lungs burned as she sucked in gulps of magic-charged air.
“I banish you back to your Underworld!” Abigail’s voice was thunder. It clapped against Hunter’s back and she whirled around in time to see her mother hurl the spear. It caught the wolf’s shoulder and knocked it back into the tree. Fenrir’s image flickered as it fought to break free. It howled and bucked and clawed the air, but the point of the spear had pierced through the wolf, into the tree’s trunk.
Foreboding gnawed at Hunter’s stomach. She left Mercy and Xena and charged back to the tree. Air fled her lungs as she slowed to a stop near her mother. She could see it now. The gash in Abigail’s temple. The skin hung like wet clothes pinned to a line. Athena fueled her, kept her on her feet, but Hunter’s mother was not long for this world.
“Hunter!” Athena’s voice shadowed Abigail’s, making goose bumps flash across the back of Hunter’s neck. “Something’s wrong with the gates! Don’t wait until Solstice to fix them. Promise me!”
Hunter blinked through a flood of tears. “I promise!”
Abigail looked at the wolf pinned to the apple tree, its form flickering under the promise of death. Then she turned and looked past Hunter to Mercy, who tripped over Xena as the cat struggled to keep the girl at a safe distance. “Take care of your sister,” Abigail said. “You’ll need each other now, more than ever.”
Hunter wailed as Fenrir caught the billowing skirt of Abigail’s dress and pulled her to him. The beast tore through Abigail’s clothes. Its teeth shredded her back and stained the fabric scarlet.
The owl shrieked as Abigail faced Fenrir and pressed her palms against the beast’s matted coat. It lit like dry kindling.
Athena’s war cry muted Abigail’s screams as flames consumed Hunter’s mother and the beast.
Hunter’s knees slammed into the earth as the blaze flashed out and the rip in the sky vanished as quickly as it’d come. Tears burned down Hunter’s cheeks and blood seeped from her torn forearm. She had been tapped, and now she would simply pour into the earth until her time in this realm was over.
Hunter couldn’t make a sound as Xena mewled and circled the charred remains of the woman who’d once brought so much light into the world. Of Fenrir, never fully in this realm, there was not a trace. Mercy threw herself against the tree, which now showed no evidence of their loss. Hunter’s chin quivered as she watched her sister slide down the trunk into the grass next to their mother’s body.
Maybe they’d all stay in the field at the foot of the apple tree and let the gentle Illinois breeze sweep them away.