The Phoinix: Age of Demigods (37 page)

Eversor laughed at his
feeble assault and snapped his fingers. The snap was loud in the
clearing, but it was not the snap of Eversor’s fingers that rang
out. Caedmon’s head jerked to the side, his neck sickeningly
misshapen.
His limp body landed
inches from Haley’s feet.

Bre covered her mouth to muffle her
scream. Eoghan fought his rage to prevent himself from attacking.
The need to protect Bre and Haley held him back. If he died, they
were vulnerable.

Haley shrieked and sobbed.
All she wanted to do was crawl to her brother, but Eversor stood in
front of her, barring her
from
reaching him. All she could do was hold her
extremely large belly as she cried.

Eversor looked pleased, even amused,
as he said, “Anybody else wish to try?”

Lupa growled as she stood next to Bre
and snarled, “You will pay for everything you did on these sacred
lands.”

“Hey! Look who woke up!”
Eversor seemed excited to see Lupa out of her possession. “I love
when I have an audience.” He
menacingly
grinned at
Haley.

“Why did you leave the
safety of your protection spell?” Bre asked, attempting to distract
Eversor from doing any more harm to Haley
.
She hoped
it
was not Eversor’s
baby.

“Because, my sweet
Breanna, I felt your beautiful essence and I just missed you so
much,” Eversor
said as he
placed a hand over his heart and faked a look of
admiration
. His expression then
turned contemplative
.
“Although, we are missing
somebody. Ah! I know!”

Eversor snapped his fingers and a puff
of green smoke appeared next to Breanna. Standing, waving away the
smoke was Alina.

“Mother?” Breanna said
stunned. She jumped in front of Alina to shield her from
Eversor
.
“No, you
can’t have her!”

“Oh, darling, I can have
anything I please.” Eversor flashed a wicked
smile
.
“Like
,
for
instance, I want you all to bow.” Eversor held two fingers in the
air then pointed downward. Everyone, including the animals, fell
against their will and bowed to Eversor.

“See how easy that is for me?” Eversor
laughed.

Eversor bent down and
dragged
Haley
in
front of the bowing group as if presenting her on a platter. She
tried to shield her stomach, but he waved his finger in a
‘tisk-tisk’ motion. He
then
held two fingers in the air and separated them
quickly. Haley’s arms fell to her sides and felt as if they were
glued to the
ground
.

Eversor hovered his hands
over Haley’s stomach and mumbled under his breath. Haley
belted
out the same
nauseating scream heard from the woods.

Once again, Bre’s stomach felt as if
it were being ripped apart.

As Eversor continued to mumble,
Haley’s stomach grew bigger and bigger. With each scream, tear, and
plea from Haley, Eversor smiled excitedly.

“Stop hurting her, she is a High
Priestess. You are being sacrilegious to your own religion,” Alina
pleaded.

Eversor removed his hands
from over Haley’s belly. Her stomach grew
to
twice the size it
was
when they emerged
from the woods. Instead of looking eight months pregnant, she
looked as if she were
sixteen
.

“Why are you growing a
child, Eversor? What could you possibly get from a baby?” Alina
asked
,
trying to
distract him.

“Not what, Your
Majesty
. Who…”
Eversor answered
,
staring at Alina with a ravenous look on his
face.

Eversor moved so
quickly
that neither
Alina nor Eoghan could see him, but Bre saw him perfectly clear. He
stood up and raced towards Alina, grabbing her by the arm and
dragging her to Haley.

When he returned to normal speed, he
had a firm grip on Alina’s arm and a dagger in his hand. He slit
her palm open and rubbed the open cut over Haley’s stomach,
smearing Alina’s blood. When he was done, he tossed Alina aside
like a ragdoll. She fell back on the grass next Eoghan, who was
still kneeling and unable to move.

“Thank you kindly,” Eversor said
sadistically.

The blood smeared on
Haley’s stomach absorbed into her belly
,
and her screams filled the nemeton
again. Whatever Eversor incubated through Haley was about to
emerge.

In his delight at watching
Haley,
Eversor forgot about the spell
holding everyone to the ground
.
They stood up
,
recognizing their chance to escape
.

“Go,” Alina, whispered to Eoghan and
Bre.

They sprinted towards the
entrance of the nemeton until something yanked
Alina
backwards.

“You are mine, Your
Majesty,” Eversor’s eyes widened with frenzy as he grabbed Alina by
her hair. He conjured chains around her wrists and flung her next
to Haley
,
who now
had an infant sized head pushing through the skin of her
stomach.

Alina gasped. She touched
the bulge in Haley’s stomach and whispered to herself, “The
prophecy. ‘Many will die and one will be reborn. The Queen will
rise again and half will be stolen.’” Alina turned to Bre, who was
being restrained by Eoghan
.
“I am so sorry, Breanna.”

A loud crack broke Alina’s
apologetic gaze. Haley’s stomach, too heavy for her body, slumped
to the left side towards Alina. The top of her stomach almost
touched the forest floor
,
while her upper body remained straight
and
unmoved. The twisted
position of her body made it obvious her spine
had broken
under the weight of her
pregnancy.
Her
legs went limp as she grabbed Alina’s hand, screaming from
the burning pressure inside her belly. Water gushed from between
her legs and a golden light erupted from her stomach.

The group heard gurgling
and another loud crack
as the light
streamed out from Haley’s abdomen.
Screams
of a baby replaced
her
agonizing screeches. Eversor reached into the light and
emerged with a newborn girl. He gaped at the child with such love
and devotion, sickeningly gazing at the child as if she were a
lover.

“
Hello, Darling,” Eversor
said
, swaddling
the baby in his black cloak
and
rocking it in his arms
.

Eoghan loosened his grip
around Bre in shock of the baby and Breanna
dashed
to Alina.

Eversor did not want to physically
hurt Bre; he still had plans for her. Instead, he chose to hurt her
emotionally. He sent an energy ball large enough to electrocute her
animals and Eoghan while she rushed to her mother’s
side.

However, Breanna’s powers
instinctively took over and she shouted, “
Integere.
" A purple light shielded
the animals and Eoghan from Eversor’s attack.

Bre unsheathed her sword
and slashed through the chains around Alina. Breanna knew
that
she needed help and
without thinking, her power pulsated from her chest. Shortly after,
swarms of birds dove down at Eversor. The trees once again came
alive and swung their limbs at the baby.

Bre and Alina tried to
pick Haley up w
hile nature distracted
Eversor with its attack, but her arms were slack and
her
skin cold.
Bre
slowly turned to
Eoghan to find him staring at Haley lying dead at their feet. Blood
trickled down from Haley’s eyes and mouth. The gurgling noise had
been her choking on her own blood.

“Eoghan, I’m so sorry, but we have to
go.” Breanna grabbed his hand and dashed towards the exit, dragging
him behind her.

Breanna whistled and
Whisper raced to her side. Before they climbed on his back, Breanna
looked over her shoulder to check for her mother and froze. Alina
stood still a few feet away from Bre with her back slightly
arched
,
a small
puddle of red liquid
forming
on her chest.

“I told you, you would
suffer more than you ever thought possible. You should have died in
the palace before I realized who you
were
,” Eversor whispered into
Alina’s ear as he held the enchanted dagger in her back.

Eversor
had
managed to destroy
the birds and the trees attacking him. Smoldering trees and dead
birds
littered
the field behind him. With a baby in one hand and the dagger
in the other, he twisted the blade deeper into Alina’s back. Once
satisfied with the wound, he kicked Alina in the middle of her back
to slide the dagger out. The dagger emerged with a small red ribbon
wrapped around the bloody blade.

Alina fell forward,
helpless after her attack. Eoghan caught the injured queen and
dragged her over to Clover
,
who stood over the queen protectively. Eoghan
turned to snap Bre back to her senses, shaking her, but shock froze
her body. All Bre
could manage
to do was watch Eversor dangle the dagger with
the ribbon over the baby. To Bre’s horror, Eversor plunged the
dagger into the baby’s chest.

“Bre!” Alina shouted and
held out a hand
to summon
Bre to her side.

Bre tore her eyes away from Eversor
and ran to her mother and Clover. She whistled once more for the
rest of her animals, including Lupa. Alina slammed her fist into
the ground and the earth split in two.

“Follow me,” Alina whispered,
hyperventilating as she rolled into the pit. All the animals
followed.

“Where in Tartarus does that lead?”
Breanna asked in alarm.

“That is exactly where it leads.”
Eoghan grabbed Breanna’s hand and jumped after Alina.

Breanna strained her neck
upward to make sure Eversor
did not
follow.
She witnessed Eversor’s baby
glowing red as the mouth of the pit closed above them, cloaking
them in silent darkness. A cool wind carrying the scent of moldy
earth and fresh fruit filled their
noses
.

A booming laugh and a
coarse voice broke the silence in the pit
.
“Welcome to Annwyn.”

Chapter 29

Annwyn

B
reanna and Eoghan fell fast through the darkness. Eoghan
clung to Bre’s hand, almost crushing it under his desperate
grasp.

A dim light filled the pit around
them. The ground rapidly approached and their bodies tensed to
embrace for the impact when suddenly, they stopped midair and
hovered inches above the ground. As abruptly as they stopped,
whatever halted their decent released them and they fell face first
onto soft grass.

Bre coughed, sputtering dirt out of
her mouth.

Eoghan laughed at her
disheveled
appearance
with grass sticking out of her hair. “It could have been
worse, Bre. We could have not stopped at all.”

“Yes,” Breanna replied, pulling the
green blades from her hair, “but I would have preferred not landing
on my face.”

Still holding hands, their
knuckles white from their unyielding clutch, they took in
the
breathtaking
surroundings. They landed in a beautiful garden filled with
every kind of flower imaginable
,
whose fragrances mixed flawlessly and intoxicated
the air. The scent of the flowers pushed every bad memory and
worried thought from their minds. Blissful existence
was
all that remained in
their world.

Birds sung in
harmony
, adding
to the calming effect of the garden. Clear blue skies
stretched across the horizon. The sweet
,
scented air had the perfect
temperature
:
not
cold enough to require winter cloaks
,
but not hot enough to force them
to strip their clothes.
The
Trees were filled with bright green leaves and
ripe fruit. It was a seductive environment to remove all troubles.
It felt like home.

Overwhelmingly hungry,
Eoghan’s stomach growled at the sight of the fruit. Still holding
hands, Eoghan dragged Bre over to a tree and pulled down two
peaches for them. The sweetest juice filled their mouths as they
gorged on
the
fruit.