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 69
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 hands, and relief floods through me.
“Seth,” I repeat, putting my hands on either side of his face as I stare down at him, frantic to see the extent of his injuries. “Seth, I’m here! Stay with me!” His skin feels feverish and clammy under my fingers, and if it weren’t for the shallow movements of his chest and neck, I would mistake him for dead already. His eyelids twitch as he sucks in another strained breath before lapsing into a fit of nasty-sounding coughs that don’t exactly fill me with confidence. “Hey, hey, hey,” I murmur, “it’s going to be all right. You’re going to be fine. Just stay with me, okay? Can you look at me? Can you do that?” I feel like I’m babbling on, but it’s all I can do to keep from having a complete meltdown in the middle of the battlefield.
Mercifully, Seth lets out a low groan, his voice sounding rough and dream-like, and his golden eyes slowly flutter open. “Karma,” he mutters hoarsely, “I’m—”
“Shh,” I tell him, smoothing a hand over the top of his head before hurriedly trying to pull his shirt out of the way. “Don’t try to talk. Just keep your eyes open.”
He looks half-delirious as he watches me, uncomprehending. “Alaric…did this,” he mutters, sounding like he doesn’t quite believe it. “Friends for years. Colleagues even longer… Why?”
“Don’t worry about that,” I reply, finally managing to tug the top of his button-down aside so I can get a better look at his injury. “Mads and I took care of him.”
“You…took care of him…” He actually smiles up at me then, looking a little wistful. “Knew you would come through, Karma…”
“You know me,” I reply, my voice trembling a little. “I always come through.”
The sound of the by-now familiar groaning makes me raise my head, only to narrowly dodge the incoming swipe of one of the plant zombie’s razor-sharp branches. Setting my jaw, I extend my hand and unleash a fresh burst of green lightning, striking it head-on and sending it tumbling away. “Got to…get to Neritous,” Seth goes on, trying futilely to move. “Stop him. Leave me.”
“No way,” I reply, gently pushing his hands back down. “Don’t move, Seth. You’re going to be fine. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“Have to,” he insists. “Where’s Killian? Tell him what happened…”
Mads, who has just finished taking care of another attacking goddess, rushes over and kneels beside me, her expression twisting with horror as she takes in the extent of Seth’s injuries. “Shit,” she hisses. “Karma, this looks bad.”
“I know,” I reply, barely holding onto my composure. “We need a healing charm! Or a potion, or something! What did mum give us? There has to be something…”
“They were all offensive,” my friend replies, blue eyes wide.
“That’s impossible,” I snap, tearing a strip off Seth’s shirt and placing it on his chest to help stop the bleeding. He groans in pain. “Sorry,” I tell him.
“Karma,” Mads begins, “I don’t think—”
“I’m not leaving him,” I hiss, rounding on her, and I must look half-crazed, since she pulls back a little.
“The battle is still going on!” she protests. “Neritous could be anywhere by now! You’re going to get killed if you stay here!”
“So be it,” I reply grimly. If keeping Seth alive means sacrificing myself, I’ll gladly do it; too many people have already lost their lives because of me. At least this would even the score.
“I’m not going to let that happen,” Mads retorts, putting a hand on my arm. “We have to finish this!”
Seth sucks in another breath, and I glance back down at him. “Not…going to let that happen, either,” he rasps. “Can’t let it be all for nothing, Karma.”
I can feel tears welling up in my eyes, clouding my vision as I stare desperately down at the justice twin. Why did he have to trust that bastard Alaric? “I can’t,” I plead with him softly. “I can’t let you die.”
“Gonna…be fine,” he replies, giving me a small smile, but I can see that there’s blood on his teeth, and that means internal bleeding. “Would just…get in your way, anyhow.”
“That’s not true,” I say, fully crying by now but unable to stop. “I need you! I need all of you!”
“Keep Killian safe,” Seth pleads, grabbing hold of one of my hands and giving it a weak squeeze. “Make sure he and Storm—” But a fresh wave of hacking takes him then, and when he coughs, I can see a spray of blood droplets spatter his immaculate white shirt. I feel like I could scream, the world seeming to melt away around me. He’s dying. Seth is dying, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
He’s dying because of Neritous.
“Karma.” Mads’s voice sounds far away. “We have to finish this. Now, more than ever.” She glances up and unleashes a new lightning bolt at a couple of approaching gods, giving them pause long enough for one of Kit’s portals to appear beneath them and swallow them up. I don’t even have time to feel gratitude towards the goblin, so intense is my fear and grief. I meet her eyes, my own swimming with tears, and she pulls me close, pressing her forehead to mine. “We can’t let him win. Not now.”
“Go!” Seth implores, giving me a weak shove with his hand. Torn, I glance from him to my best friend; deep down, I know they’re right. Now’s the best chance we’ll ever have to stop Neritous, and the longer I stay here with Seth, the less likely getting to him will be. All around us, the battle rages on, louder and more intense than ever, and I can feel a lump in my throat when I realise just how hopeless the situation is.
Mads bites her lip, following my gaze around the square, and finally says, “Look, you’re stronger than me anyway. You’ve got the best odds of all of us. But maybe… Maybe I can stay here with him. Keep him safe.”
I stare at her for a moment. “You would…?”
“Yes,” she replies without missing a beat, giving me a firm nod. “I can be more use here, anyway. I still don’t have full control of my powers.”
Swallowing hard, I force myself to nod, grabbing her by the shirt and looking her in the eyes. “Keep him alive,” I instruct her. “Do whatever it takes.”
