Burn them all.
Both Vertes glowed with magic. The voice was seductive and the power wound its way along my insides. It felt different from the first time I had used it at Crow’s. There, it had been a single voice, a single thread. There were multiple voices now, one had a tinny quality to it, another distinctly woodsy. And the thread had grown into a twisted strand. If I focused inward, I could almost see the newest shiny thread, and I still had the metallic taste of the gigan’s life magic in my mouth.
Right then, I finally realized the full danger of the curse. At the least, I thought Hydra had been warning me against using all my own life and, at worst, warning me that I would grow to like the feel of power and control and become addicted. Both valid concerns, but I foolishly thought I would be okay—that I could be stronger and tune out the voice if I just used the flames sparingly. But in feeding the Tinman to the curse, I’d taken in more than just his power.
I could feel his mindless savagery fused to the flames within me, the dinner guest that wouldn’t leave. Moony too. If I killed Griz and Blanc with emerald fire, they would join in and become my evil Jiminy Cricket consciences. I’d be madder than a March hare in minutes. I would burn down the world and laugh while doing it.
Being lost to my thoughts for just a moment was long enough for Griz to take advantage and hurl a silver bolt my way. One second, I was staring at the silver mercury coming closer, the next, I was staring into Rexi’s wide green eyes. She smiled a little half smile and fell forward into my arms.
Her weight dragged me to my knees. The bolt in her back melted and oozed away, losing its shape as it trickled onto the floor. I laid Rexi down flat on the ground, and a mixture of silver and blood pooled beneath her.
My tears were there, but the flames burned them before they could reach the surface. Rexi’s final choice answered the questions that had been plaguing my mind about our friendship, and it proved she was not the cowardly lion she believed herself to be.
Griz sighed. “That was…unfortunate.” The opal necklace clattered to the ground. Its bright, pulsing light dimmed.
By jumping into the path of the stormbolt, Rexi had not only saved me, but she had also deprived Griz of her source of magic. Unless the Gray Witch had something heavy to float at me, she was out of tricks.
The scuffed-up Verte yelled at me while pointing to Griz, and her green face reddened with anger. “What are you waiting for? Blast her!” In the beginning, she had been hunched over and injured, so I couldn’t get a good look at her. Now that I wasn’t drugged and had a clear view, I could tell that I was looking at the Mimicman. Even his ability to mimic couldn’t copy the emerald eye in Verte’s belt. His looked like cheap green glass.
Griz confirmed what I had just figured out. “Don’t listen to him!” She put her hands out in defense. There was something in her face that I hadn’t seen yet.
Fear.
If the Mimicman wanted her dead as well, the only ally she had left was locked behind a prison of fire and my number of allies had just increased. Kato padded into the room, panting and favoring his left paw.
Perfect timing.
“Kato, will you please go eat the Mimicman? He’s the Verte closest to Griz.” I pointed him out.
The false Verte looked about to protest, but as Kato drew closer, the Mimicman gave up the game. With a great shudder, the Verte disguise flaked off. Now he was a chimera, with golden horns.
The Beast King.
“It’s a lie,” Kato growled.
If that was true, then why did it look like Kato was struggling and unable to move any closer?
Griz ran to hide under the golden horns. “You finally reclaimed your first true form, Bestiamimickos. Now is your last chance to reclaim your former glory and side with us. Once the bindings are broken, your powers will be restored and all will be forgiven. Just prove your loyalty and bring this whole mountain down on the Emerald brat once and for all.”
The last piece of the sordid puzzle. Apparently some parts of the story get glossed over in the retelling. The noble Beast King led astray by unrequited love was really just a magnificently spineless weasel.
He roared, making both Griz and Kato back up. “We both know the empress would kill me before her bracelet bindings hit the floor. And even if I believed you, it seems I’m destined to make the same choice again and again.” Looking over to me, his eyes seemed to burn gold. “In that blaze of green, you are more perfect than you can ever know. I will find you once more. You will love me.”
“Only in your worst nightmares,” I snarled.