Chapter Twenty Eight

Chapter Twenty Eight

Con’s eyes widened with horror, and Paura and I spun around to see another figure standing in the doorway. I drew in a sharp breath. Even cloaked in shadow, I would recognize that outline anywhere.

Cousin Gumdrop stepped into the light, illuminating her red hair and X-shaped paintmarks. She was swinging her chainhammer in lazy circles, grinning savagely as she eyed my brother.

“Thanks for your help, blueberry,” she sneered. “I admit, the creep managed to give me the slip. But I knew if anyone would find him, it’d be you.”

My cheeks burned with anger. “Some Hunter you are, letting other people track your prey for you.”

Cousin Gumdrop paused, her paintmarks flashing with red light, and then she threw her chainhammer at me. The chain wrapped itself around my front legs before I could react, and with a cruel yank she had me sprawled out on the floor.

“Henry!” Con exclaimed.

While I strained to pull the chains free, Cousin Gumdrop sauntered leisurely over—and then kicked me in the face.

“I like the new look,” she said, stepping on my head before I could get up. “You always were a horse’s ass.”

“You would like it,” I spat. “For you, it’d be an improvement!”

She pressed down a little harder with her foot, making my skull throb with pain. I fought to get up, to raise my head even an inch, but Cousin Gumdrop was stronger than she looked. Much stronger. The ceiling may as well have collapsed on me for all that I was able to move.

“Go ahead,” she hissed at me, her paintmarks flickering. “Get it all out. Every insult you’ve ever wanted to say to me. You’ll never get another chance!”

“Stop it!” Con yelled.

Cousin Gumdrop turned to him. “Don’t worry, I’ll get to you in just a minute. If you want to run, go ahead. A quick chase will make it more satisfying when I finally kill you.”

Con hesitated. “No, I’m…I’m not going anywhere. I’m the one you’re here for, so let Henry go and I…I won’t fight you.”

“Con, no!” I yelled, and then groaned when Cousin Gumdrop pressed down even harder. Lights were flashing in front of my eyes now.

Cousin Gumdrop laughed. “Let her go? Why would I do that?”

“Because she’s—”

“She’s what? The Hunter?” Cousin Gumdrop’s voice turned sharp and cold, and her paintmarks flashed again. “As if she’s ever deserved that title. I’m the strongest klaon alive. I’ve killed more maiams than even McGus has! But does that matter to them? I’m just a scab while precious little Henry,” she ground her heel into my ear, “is out of commission! Well, I think there’s about to be a job opening.”

“You’re going to kill her? Paura asked in shock. “Your own cousin?”

“No,” Cousin Gumdrop said icily, “he’s going to kill her.”

Eggs benedict! I thought, panic shooting through my veins as I realized what she was getting at.

“I just have to bring your corpse back to the council,” she went on, “and tell them that you slaughtered poor Henry. They’ll make me the new Hunter. Permanently. I just have to make sure there’s no one left who knows the truth…”

She leaned down to whisper into my ear.

“…and that means I have to kill your boyfriend too.”

I froze. “Ethan and Jade are gone. They don’t even know you’re here. Leave them alone!”

“Oh, I know. But there’s no point in leaving loose ends, is there? Besides,” She bared her teeth in a wicked smile, “I want to hurt you, blueberry. I want you to suffer. I wish I could leave you alive long enough to watch me kill him, but I guess knowing that you know what I’m going to do to him is good enough.”

My eyes went wide. Fear worse than anything Con could ever inflict filled my heart, like a solid chunk of ice in my chest. Looking into my eyes, Cousin Gumdrop’s smile widened.

“That’s it,” she whispered. “You’re a failure and a disgrace. You always have been. And now your friends are going to pay the price!”

“Don’t you dare lay a hand on them,” I screamed, “you candy headed PIECE OF—”

Cousin Gumdrop leaned her head back and cackled. “Ooh, that doesn’t sound like a food! You must really hate me, baby blue!” She fixed me with that cruel smile again. “Keep it coming. Imagine all the things I could do to him before he dies. All the different kinds of pain I could make him feel. And you know I will, Henry. I’ll make him squeal. I’ll make him cry. And I’ll make sure he knows he’s suffering because you were an idiot in over her head and—”

“Henry is an idiot who’s in over her head.”

A bright light ignited in the far side of the room.

“But she’s also my friend. Cogito et creo!”

A beam of white hot magic shot across the room, forcing Cousin Gumdrop to leap off of me to dodge it. The attack went straight through the wall, and the wall behind that, and the one behind that, piercing the wood and metal as easily as if they were wet toilet paper. Cousin Gumdrop rolled and was back on her feet in an instant, glaring at the doorway—and the two wonderful, beautiful boneheads standing in it.

Ethan looked like he could barely stand. In fact, I got the distinct feeling he would have collapsed if Jade hadn’t been there for him to lean on. The new white streak in his hair was visible even from across the room. But he still held the glowing spellhammer with a steady hand, and his eyes were locked on Cousin Gumdrop like a mama bear whose cub had been threatened.

“So, you want to be the first to die?” snarled Cousin Gumdrop. The chain around my ankles—or whatever it was horses have—retracted, and she began to spin her chainhammer until it was a humming gray blur. “That’s fine by—”

I thrust out as hard as I could with my back legs, kicking Cousin Gumdrop square in the face and launching her into the air. She crashed into the wall just like Con had, but landed on her feet with pure rage burning in her eyes. I raised Splatsy in a fighting stance.

“BITCH!” she screamed, forgetting about Ethan for the moment and focusing all her fury on me. She charged, whipping her chainhammer around for a blow that would take my head off.

“Cogito et creo!”

More light burst from the spellhammer, but this time it was directed at the floor. It spread across the ground in a widening circle until it was right underneath Cousin Gumdrop’s feet, and then solidified into a patch of ice. Cousin Gumdrop screamed again as her feet flew out from underneath her. Somehow, she managed to keep her balance, but her momentum sent her sliding toward me anyway. I reared back on my hind legs for extra height, raising Splatsy above my head. I even channeled some magic into her for good measure, making her burst into blue light. I didn’t care how strong or powerful Cousin Gumdrop was. One taste of Splatsy’s full power would lay her out like—

Her hand lashed out just as I attacked, stopping Splatsy in midswing. The magic I’d channeled burst free in a bright blue shockwave that knocked me clean off my hooves, but only managed to blow Cousin Gumdrop’s hair back. This time, it was my turn to crash into the wall. Cousin Gumdrop towered above me. Stopping my attack had driven her fingernails deep into Splatsy, practically nailing her to Cousin Gumdrop’s hand.

“Did you really think,” she asked in a soft whisper that was somehow scarier than if she’d been screaming, “that someone like you…”

“Cogito et—”

She spun around and hurled Splatsy at Ethan faster than he could react. Luckily, her aim was off, and it only clipped his shoulder. Still, the blow was so powerful that he whirled around like a ballerina. He fell, and his spellhammer went skittering across the floor.

“…could beat me?” she finished. She grabbed me by the throat and lifted me off the ground. My horsebutt was still on the floor, but her grip crushed my windpipe like it was a soda can she was about to recycle. Her paintmarks were glowing with a constant blood-red light now. “You could train every day for your entire life, and I would still be a hundred times better than you in every way! You are weak! You are nothing! You…are…” Her fingers tightened, nails piercing my skin, “a Blue!”

I didn’t bother trying to pry her fingers loose. She was way too strong for that. Instead, knowing it was futile, I threw punch after punch at her face. She didn’t even flinch. The world was starting to grow dark.

This can’t be how I die! I thought in a panic. Not to her! Not when that means Ethan and Con will die too!

But there was nothing I could do. She was right. I was in over my head. And this time, there was no lifeguard to fish me out and drag me back to shore. My hands were going numb, but I tried to wrap them around her face. Maybe I could poke out her eyes before I died. Let’s see how good of a Hunter she was if…she couldn’t…see…

“Don’t kill her!”

The voice sounded like it was coming from far away, but in what remained of my vision I could see Con. He was standing beside Cousin Gumdrop, his hands on her shoulders.

“I said I’ll get to you in a minute!” she snarled.

“Wait!” he pleaded. “You don’t want to do that!”

“Oh, I think I—”

“Don’t kill her. Humiliate her!”

To my surprise—and I think hers too—Cousin Gumdrop let go of my throat. I fell to the floor, coughing weakly. The whole world was spinning, and all I could see were black spots dancing in front of my eyes.

“If you kill her and blame it on me, that’ll be the end of it!” Con explained as fast as he could. “But if you let her live, and you bring me in alive, you could tell the council what really happened!”

Suddenly Jade was by my side, kneeling over me.

“Here,” she whispered, pushing something into my mouth.

“E…Ethan,” I mumbled.

“He’s hurt, but he’s alive. Now breathe in!”

There was a faint hiss, and laughter filled my mouth. I sucked it down, gasping in relief when the pain receded just the slightest bit.

“Tell them how she tried to protect me,” Con went on. “You were just following their orders, hunting down a rogue ghul, and she attacked you. She’ll lose her job, and they’ll replace her with you. But if you don’t kill her, she’ll have to live with her failure for the rest of her life!”

Cousin Gumdrop didn’t look convinced.

“You said you want her to suffer,” Con insisted. “This job is what she lives for! Taking it from her, and turning the council against her in the process, will hurt her way worse than killing her ever would!”

“Con, no!” I squawked, still hardly able to breathe. Jade tried to push the inhaler into my mouth again, but I shoved her hand aside. “Don’t do this!”

“But you have to leave her…you have to leave all of them alive,” he finished.

Cousin Gumdrop gave me a sidelong glance—and something seemed to click in her head. That wicked grin spread across her face again, and this time it was Con’s throat she grabbed. His mouth opened in shock, but the only noise he could make was a faint gagging sound.

“What do you know?” Cousin Gumdrop mused. “Even when its life is at stake, a ghul can’t help but prey on your worst fears.”

“Let him go!” I tried to yell, but it came out more like a wheeze.

“How does that feel?” she sneered. “After everything you did for him, your ‘brother’ still betrayed you!”

I groped blindly for Splatsy, but of course she was nowhere near me. Instead, I tried to get up. After nearly being choked to death, though, all four of my legs were about as sturdy as wet noodles, so I barely managed to get my hooves beneath me before I rolled limply onto my side.

Cousin Gumdrop moved into the center of the room, and with her other hand she produced the Escher Cube.

“Say goodbye, blueberry,” she cackled. “To your brother, to being the Hunter, to everything you care about!”

And with that, they both vanished in a flash of light.