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Thea fiercely controlled her circle of enchantment, feeling Hunter’s power running through her, reaching out along the threads of connection to each member of her clan, but even so her thoughts moved freely. The humans she controlled dangled on her will with barely any effort. Ethan, the brave boy, had surrendered as readily as she’d expected. He was hers. Hunter was hers. And soon the village would be hers. Their lives, anyway. She had no use for the bodies that had contained them. Jarrod had never thought big enough. But his vision served a purpose. It would end him.
Maintaining her connection with Ethan and his friends with just a fraction of her will, she weighed her plentiful options. Hunter and Ethan would be more than sufficient for the time being. She no longer needed the two dark-haired children. Not for her original purposes anyway. Their lives would be of infinite more use. Without much effort, she turned them towards the beach and bid them to join the ranks of those she had stolen from her clan.
Renewing her focus on the host of humans that Harvey and Jasmine now joined, seeing with the eyes of each of them, she smiled as she looked now not through water but across it. The surface of the shallow waves was choppy. Ahead, still distant, was the beach. A beach she could now cross not just once, but many times, while remaining unharmed and safe within her boundary.
She would not call this her prison now. Not with these humans to be her arms and her legs. Briefly, anyway. She had a bigger purpose for these than Jarrod’s silly fishing expedition. She laughed aloud as she moved her helpless clan into place along the water’s edge to watch her work. Not so close that they hurt...yet. It would be too distracting. But close enough that their fear was a heady appetiser. And now for the main event.
She would practice first with the Nemaros’ human companions, and let her riveted clan witness her power. She would draw the soul of every single one of Jarrod’s faithful minions from their bodies while he and the others watched. And then she would take the rest of the village. Once she had secured each soul into Hunter then she would drive her feckless people up onto the shore and watch them die. And they would watch her watching them. She would stand in safety within her boundary and make them face her in their final agony. And she would save Jarrod until last.
And now with the final part of her incantation, it would be complete. “Liam, with me again,” she commanded, her voice deep, shaking with excitement. Once more Liam obediently echoed the ancient words. Hunter watched, no sign on his face that he knew what was coming, or that he objected if he did. This was...perfect. The way it should have been when –. The last words left her mouth, left Liam’s. But the shuddering rush of power she had expected didn’t come. She waited, panting in the thin air, heart pounding, anticipating the hit of power, the indescribable surge of life as the stolen lives filled Hunter, her vessel.
It didn’t come. Hunter didn’t blink, made none of the movements she had witnessed from her hiding place the day of Calamity before he collapsed.
Something was wrong. She frowned, concentrating on everything connected to her: moving into her, moving out of her, searching for the anomaly. There – a weak place, a gap, a loss. It was... Her eyes widened. It was Hunter.
His power was...different. It was less. As though he were missing something, missing a part of himself. How was that possible? She cursed in frustration. This wouldn’t work without the Keeper at full capacity. She had to find the missing piece. And fast.
