Mo rounded on Circe, her bottom lip trembling, her eyes wet with tears. 揧ou don抰 get to tell me I can抰 go get my wife back. That抯 not up to you.?
揕isten to me,?Circe said. 揑 understand what it抯 like to lose somebody you love. Selene died in my arms.?She paused, cleared her throat, then continued. 揑 didn抰 have a chance to bring her back. Nobody could have stopped me from trying, though. So, I get it.?
Mo hung her head. 揑抦 sorry. I抦 so sorry I just棓
揇on抰 apologize,?Circe said. 揑 know that you抮e going through it right now and I wish you weren抰。 I can抰 stop you from following us out the door when it抯 time. All I抦 saying is that if you choose to go, there抯 a really good chance you won抰 survive. And if by some chance we can抰 get Thandie back, then you抣l be gone, too. Then what??
Mo looked at me with tears in her eyes. 揑 need a minute,?she said.
She turned and walked out of the room and out the front door. Not two seconds later she walked back inside, and I heard the locks click shut. She came into the front room and stood, visibly trembling, her fingers interlaced on top of her head. I rushed to her side and took her by the arm.
揥hat抯 wrong??My heart raced. I glanced to the front door. 揗o? What happened??
Nyx stood outside the window, peering in through the glass.
揗o!?I shouted. 揥hat is going on??
揑梚t抯桰 saw 厰 Her legs went out from under her, and if I hadn抰 been holding on to her arm, she would have cracked her head on the edge of the table. I tried to guide her down, but she still hit the floor with a loud thud.
揙h my god! What happened??I screamed, my heart cartwheeling in my chest. 揗o!?
Circe raced to the front door, and just as she reached for the handle, the room suddenly darkened as vines slithered across the windows, blotting out the light. My heart punched inside my chest. The twisted foliage pushed its way through the crack under the door. A tapestry of Peperomia prostrata unfurled from the second floor banister, dropping down around me and Mo like a curtain.
Circe yanked the front door open, glanced outside, and sighed. 揘yx! Come on, now! You抮e gonna give her mom a damn heart attack. She passed out!?
Nyx and Marie came stumbling through the front door. Persephone appeared at the top of the stairs, peering down at us.
揙h no,?Marie said, crouching down and effortlessly readjusting Mo so that she was lying on her side. 揇amnit, Nyx. I thought he was hibernating or something.?
揌e doesn抰 hibernate,?Nyx said. 揥hat else was I supposed to do??
揟ell him to stay his ass at home!?Marie shot back.
揧eah, okay.?Nyx rolled her eyes. 揧ou know how disobedient he can be when he misses me.?
揥e抮e gonna put his funky ass on a leash and tie him to a tree or something,?Marie said.
揙ver my dead body,?said Nyx.
揥ell, we both know that isn抰 gonna happen, so I guess we抣l have to figure something else out,?Marie shot back.
揌e抯 outside all the time,?Nyx grumbled. 揌e doesn抰 mind, but maybe we could let him in棓
揑n where??Marie asked angrily. 揘ot in the house? Are you serious? He can抰 even fit in there! And I know you抳e seen the size of his droppings. Ain抰 no way.?
They were both breathing hard, and then they exchanged glances. Marie抯 chin wobbled, and then they both descended into a fit of cackling. My heart continued to beat out of my chest, but Marie and Nyx weren抰 overly concerned about whatever it was that was happening outside.
I was about to cuss them both out when a shadow engulfed the front entryway. Not the patchy darkness the vining plants had created, but a full and total eclipse of the fading evening light filtering through the windows flanking the front door and the stained glass at the top of the wall.
Something enormous was standing in front of the house.
A familiar sound split the air. The same sound I thought I heard from the bluff the other night at Marie抯。
The rhythmic beating of wings.
CHAPTER 6
Mo stirred as I cradled her head in my lap. I stared out the open front door, unsure of what I was seeing. I shut my eyes and opened them again, thinking maybe I was seeing things. Maybe I wasn抰 immune to the poisonous plants, and their toxins had finally caught up with me. Hallucinations were a side effect of deadly nightshade, henbane, and mandrake梐ll of which I抎 come in contact with at some point.
That didn抰 make any real sense, but neither did what I was seeing梐 mass of black feathers, taloned feet, four heavily muscled legs extending above the roof of Marie抯 black sedan, slope of a fur-lined belly. Wings.
Mo抯 eyes fluttered open, and she sat up groggily. I scrambled to my feet as the creature folded its giant wings against its body and lay down in the driveway.