This Wicked Fate (This Poison Heart #2)(74)

“That’s not how it works,” I said.

Viv glared at me. “It’ll work the way I say it does.”

A snapping of branches drew my attention up just as Circe and Persephone emerged from the tree line on the other side of the clearing near the towering enclosure. Circe set down the two cages.

I began to sob. I was so relieved they were safe. Circe’s face twisted into a mask of anger as she looked me over. She curled her hands into fists and a rumble shook the ground under my feet.

Viv clamped her hand down on my shoulder and squeezed as hard as she could. “You better tell them something. Don’t let them come any closer or I’ll put you in a coma.”

I held up my still zip-tied hands in front of me. “Stop! Just—just stay there!”

“Everybody calm down,” Dre said.

Circe still marched toward us. Viv inhaled sharply and a wave of sleepiness washed over me. My knees buckled and I almost fell. Circe stopped.

“She’s one of them, one of Jason’s descendants,” I said through a yawn. My arms and legs felt heavy. I struggled to keep my eyes open. “She can put you to sleep, just like Hermes could.”

“Hermes?” Viv asked in confusion. “Why are you talking about him like you know him?”

Circe narrowed her eyes at me—no—past me. Behind me.

Something slammed into me from the side and I tumbled to the ground. A growl like a wild animal cut through the air. Viv broke for the tree line. Persephone was on her in the blink of an eye. She caught her by the throat and lifted her up.

“Hold her!” Circe yelled.

Viv twisted around in Persephone’s grip and locked eyes with Circe, who suddenly gasped and fell straight back into the sea of black flowers.

Hands looped under my arms and pulled me back into the brush. I kicked and screamed, trying to break the person’s grip. I reached up and grabbed at their shirt, tearing it, clawing at their face. A face I knew.

Karter.

He pulled out a pocketknife and slipped it between the zip tie and my wrist, cutting the plastic. As soon as my hands were free, I hauled off and socked him as hard as I could, catching him somewhere close to his nose, judging by the amount of blood that began to leak from his face. I pummeled him with closed fists. I screamed at him until my throat hurt.

“Get away from me!” I screamed through a torrent of tears.

“I’m helping you!” he yelled back as he attempted to catch me by my wrists. “Briseis, please! I’m so sorry! Please!” Tears streamed down his face.

I scrambled to my feet and darted back out into the clearing. Viv lay still and silent, her neck bent at an angle that told me she was dead. Marie was crouched over Circe, cradling her head. Persephone had Dre by his neck, his feet dangling off the ground.

I ran up to Marie. “Is she—is she hurt?”

“That woman did something to her.” Marie’s voice was changed, as were the color of her eyes. “I can’t wake her up.”

Circe’s chest rose and fell so slowly, with a pause so long in between, that for a second I thought I had watched her take her last breath. When she drew in another, I realized Viv had put her into one of those sleeps that she wouldn’t wake up from.

I frantically searched Circe’s pockets to see if there was anything I could use to revive her. The vials from her stash of apothecary plants were all mixed up, and in my panic I didn’t know which one was which. I tried to think. I needed smelling salts, ammonia. I scanned the glade and found what I was looking for near the walled enclosure. Clover.

I sprinted over and plucked several out of the ground. Scooping up a handful of soil I pressed the clover into the dirt and tried to do something I hadn’t attempted before. I could make plants grow by pushing my power outward, focusing on the plant. But I needed to do the opposite. I needed the nitrogen-rich clover to rot—and quick. I concentrated on reversing the flow of energy, drawing it back up and into myself, taking from the plant instead of giving. The clover wilted and crumbled into the mound of soil in my palm. Stirring it with my finger, the overpowering scent of ammonia wafted into my nose.

I rushed back to Circe’s side and held the dirt by her face.

“Bri, what in the hell is that?” Marie asked, covering her nose and mouth with her sleeve.

Circe flinched, coughed, then sat bolt upright. I tossed the dirt away and brushed off my hands.

“Are you okay?”

“What happened?” she asked groggily.

“Viv put you to sleep again,” I said. “She did the same thing to me last night.”

Circe picked herself up and stood next to Persephone, who still had Dre held up in front of her.

“Look,” Persephone said. She lifted her other arm, revealing the handle of a knife protruding from between her ribs.

“Oh my god!” I shouted.

“Somebody shanked you!” Marie said.

Persephone clenched her teeth. “It’s not gonna kill me but it still hurts! Pull it out!”

Marie walked up and yanked the knife out in one quick motion. Persephone winced.

I leaned over and put my hands on my knees. “I’m gonna be sick.”

“You gotta be kidding me,” Marie said angrily.

“C’mon,” I said. “Give me a break.”

“No. Look.” Marie pointed, and I followed the gesture to see Karter walking slowly toward us. Marie was gone from my side in the blink of an eye. She snatched Karter up and brought him over to me. “Look who decided to crawl out of the brush like the rat he is.”