Kathleen’s lips touched his and he could feel her magic pulling at him, pulling at his Fae form.
Kathleen was a Croanoak, a Fae creature that travels the planes, hungrily searching for a stronger form for themselves. Their greatest weapon is their ability to forcibly steal another’s form and make it fit them. For some reason, probably because of the Story’s bidding, Kathleen was not only searching for the perfect body, but the perfect love as well, so it would fit the frog prince tale.
He could feel Kathleen pulling at his Fae side, and it was as if he could feel her hands begin to mold his power into a different shape. She ripped through the planes and began to reveal his other nature.
Help!
The bushes moved, and a black form rushed from them screaming in fury, with a glowing gold spear in her hand. Mina landed next to them and smacked the shaft of the spear across Kathleen’s face.
Instantly, Jared was released, and he fell backwards into the creek. His body ached, and his soul felt like it was putty. His breathing felt ragged and his chest hurt.
He lifted up his hand and saw that it was no longer a flesh tone, but a bright green hue. Kathleen had started to change him already, in her terrible revenge. He rolled over and splashed through the creek until he was standing among the boys, looking as confused as them.
Mina, once again wearing all black, faced the still Kathleen. Her hood had fallen down and her brown hair spilled over her shoulders. She’d swung the spear around and had the point directed at Kathleen’s heart. But instead of stabbing her, she stopped and studied him.
“Are you okay, Jared?”
He should have been relieved that she was worried about him. In some ways, it made him happy. In other ways it made him angry. What was she thinking? She’d taken her focus off of the enemy.
“What are you doing?” he yelled at her.
She frowned at him. “Saving your life.”
“No, you are being stupid.” He was about to point out her mistake, when Kathleen used Mina’s distraction to knock her legs out from under her. Mina slipped and slammed flat onto her back. Jared rolled his eyes and tried to step out of the creek to help her, but he found he couldn’t.
He couldn’t leave the water! His heart thudded loudly in his chest. He was terrified.
Kathleen had rolled on top of Mina and was using the spear shaft to choke her. Her throaty cackle filled the night with evil delight as Mina gasped for breath.
“Flip her off. Twist your body!”
Mina gripped the spear and used her body weight to twist and knock Kathleen off. They both rolled, and Mina did what she could to direct their momentum so they rolled down toward the water.
With a splash, they both landed in the creek. Kathleen crawled away into the water, trying to lie down and soak up as much of the water as she could. But it also put her within reach of all the vengeful boys. They grabbed her and lifted her up out of the water. She couldn’t fight them all at once.
She tried to touch one, and Jared could see one of the boy’s eyes go heavy-lidded. For a moment, he thought for sure Kathleen would win.
Then another boy knocked her hand down to protect his friend. She wiggled away from them but found herself surrounded by a circle of her old beaus. Furious beaus.
“Please…please help me,” Kathleen croaked out to Mina.
Mina stood up and grabbed the gold spear. She whispered a word, and it changed forms. It shrunk until it was the size of a small golden orb.
Jared smiled wryly when he realized what Mina was doing.
“Here catch this,” she called, tossing the golden ball Kathleen’s way.
Kathleen caught the ball with one hand, mid air. The orb enveloped her hand and then her arm. It slowly grew in circumference as it began to swallow her whole.
“No, no, no!” she cried out, as the ball-shaped Grimoire pulled her further and further in. The boys ran down the creek bed, away from the strange glistening object. The wind picked up, and a blinding bright light emanated from the ball. It opened up like a vortex, and in an instant the Croanoak was gone.
Jared stood there, supremely proud of Mina. She’d done it and hadn’t flinched in the face of danger. She turned to him with a huge grin on her face, and he ached to return it. But he couldn’t.
She’d been sloppy, and sloppy gets you killed. Jared didn’t want Mina dead. Just the thought of what could have happened made him bark at her angrily. “You almost blew it!” He stormed to the edge of the creek bed and was happy to see that he could leave it without any repercussions. His arm had turned back to normal.
Mina’s smile slid from her face. “Yeah, well I wasn’t the one kissing frogs.”
“That wasn’t a frog; that was a Croanoak,” he grumbled.