Timespell

by Diana Paz

Julia hardly knew. She could barely get the words out to say, “I—I saw something.”

  “A snake,” Brian said, turning to his brother, but behind him Julia met Ethan’s eyes. She shook her head from side to side.

  “Why don’t you get Julia some water,” Ethan said. “She looks freaked out.”

  “Right,” Brian said, heading for the kitchen.

  As soon as Brian was out of sight Julia said, “We have to get out of here.” She pulled him after Brian. “There’s a monster out there. A real one.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “One of the creatures of Mythos, I don’t know which. I never paid attention.”

  “What does it look like?”

  She described the thing, remembering the terrible, serpentlike eyes and head full of slithering snakes. “It looked like that thing my English teacher talked about.” She shuddered.

  “You’re probably thinking of a gorgon. Medusa was one.” He steered her upstairs. “Get a hold of the other Daughters. You have to freeze time and return to your task and seal that portal. If you don’t, worse creatures will slip through the rift.”

  “Why did you tell us to return to our own time if this could happen?”

  “There’s a lot of ancient magic at work here. I’m still learning it too. But I do know one thing.” He gripped her arms. “These creatures will stop at nothing until you are dead. With a rift open, if you die, there will be nothing to stop them from pouring into the world. Do you understand?”

  “I do. But we have to tell your family to get out of the house.”

  “I can handle the gorgon.” His tone softened. “But we don’t have much time. If you’re seeing a gorgon, the other Daughters are probably in serious danger. Call them. Now.”

  Julia nodded, her hands shaking as she scrolled the contact list on her phone. “How did you know something was wrong?”

  “We’re connected, remember? I feel you. Right now. Your heartbeat echoes in my chest. Your emotions rush through my soul. If anything happens to you, it’s like it’s happening to me, and when you were out in the garden,” his voice became rough and raw, “I almost didn’t notice when your emotions turned to fear. I was trying to block you out.”

  Brian walked into the room. Ethan took a step back.

  “Here’s some water,” Brian said. “My uncles went out back to find the snake. Don’t worry, Julia.”

  “Oh no,” she whispered.

  “It’s okay,” Ethan said. “I’ll take care of it.”

  His gaze remained hard below his mop of black hair. He didn’t look at her as he headed out into the garden.

  Chapter 23

  Julia

  “You’ve barely said two words to me since we left my house,” Brian said, his hand on the steering wheel. “I thought we were okay.”

  Julia’s lips parted. Her mind couldn’t move forward, stuck in the middle of the ten thousand problems going on. Angie and Kaitlyn were waiting at the Santa Monica pier, possibly being attacked by a vicious snake-lady. Ethan had to fight off a monster in his own house. Ethan was Brian’s brother. It was too much. She couldn’t fake small talk at a time like this.

  He rattled the gear shift. His gaze darted down to her hands. “Why do you keep checking your phone every two seconds?”

  She set it down.

  “And why am I taking you to Santa Monica? Half an hour ago you were too tired to hang out with my family.”

  “I told you. It’s Angie’s birthday. She texted me about a last-minute girls’ night.”

  He glared at the road.

  Julia slunk down in her seat. Anything she said seemed to make things worse, so she stared out her window instead. The lights of the Ferris wheel stood out against the black night sky. Ethan should be there by now, shouldn’t he? Her stomach twisted with worry. If Ethan hadn’t been able to kill that gorgon ....

  She closed her eyes.

  Come on ... come on ....

  And there he was in her mind, tearing off his helmet and leaving his motorcycle parked under a pool of lamplight. She exhaled, her teeth releasing her lower lip. He didn’t look hurt. The gorgon must be dead.

  He paused abruptly. Julia. Stop it.

  She still hadn’t mastered answering him without talking out loud, so she didn’t say anything.

  Don’t do this. He continued walking, his jaw set. Not when you’re with Brian.

  Her eyes stung at his tone, immediately fluttering open to break their connection.

  Brian pulled up to the curb at the mouth of the pier. Julia barely waited for the car to stop before reaching for the door handle.

  “Bye,” he said, his defeated tone tugging at her heart.

  “Good night,” she said. He watched her through eyes that shone with confusion, and she gave him a quick kiss. “I’m sorry. I have to go.”

  His face lost some of its dimness. “Don’t apologize. After yesterday, tonight just ended quicker than I hoped it would.” He let out a long breath. “Have fun.”

  She watched him drive off, red lights dimming and brightening as he moved through traffic. Geez, what was she doing? Kaitlyn and Angie needed her. She ran across the pavement toward the pier. The Ferris wheel was in the middle of the carnival rides. The carousel was so much closer. Why hadn’t they agreed to meet there?

  She pushed past the crowd in the food court, spotting Ethan and Angie by a ticket booth.

  “Angie,” she yelled, but the sound of hissing stopped her dead in her tracks.

  Ethan’s head flipped up, his eyes locking with hers. He wove through the crowd until he was by her side. “What’s wrong?”

  She looked behind her. People played games on the midway, while others stood in line for rides or ate popcorn. Everyone on the pier seemed normal. “I thought I heard hissing.”

  He scanned the pier as Angie rushed up to them, a blur of white-blonde hair. “I lost Kaitlyn. She saw some guy she knew. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen.”

  “Which way?” Ethan asked.

  Angie raced to the place on the pier where wooden steps led down to the sand. Why was Kaitlyn always making things harder for them? All they had to do was Voyage back in time and seal the stupid portal.

  “There she is,” Angie said, rushing down the stairs.

  Kaitlyn was locking lips with someone. The frayed edge of her micro-mini dangled above thigh-high black leather boots.

  Angie skidded to a halt on the pavement at the base of the stairs.

  “Um, Kaitlyn?” Julia asked. “Did you forget we have work to do?”

  She tugged the guy’s long hair. “You’d better go. My keepers are here.”

  “Call me?”

  She slapped his cheek and kissed him again. “Don’t count on it.”

  “Kait, you don’t know what you do to me, girl,” he said, passing them as he climbed back up the steps.

  She turned away. “Yes. I do.”

  A wave crashed on the shore, its boom louder than normal. Julia jumped at the sound, unable to calm her heart. Everywhere she looked, shadows seemed to move.

  “He’s one of my favorites,” Kaitlyn said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “What the hell?”

  “Something’s coming,” Julia said, a wave of panic cresting over her as hissing sliced through her words. Angie said something. Kaitlyn’s face continued its mutinous glare, but Julia couldn’t move. She couldn’t make a sound. Her heart hammered out of control as the hissing grew louder in her ear.

  “Yesss, Daughter. Be ssstill.”

  Her vision blurred.

  “Ssshe must gaze upon usss, yessss.”

  She couldn’t smell the thick, salty air or hear the waves in the distance. There was only one sound now. The low, rustling words found their way deeper into her skull.

  “Yessss, Daughter ... look into our eyessss.”

  The gorgon appeared, the only clear figure in the haze surrounding her. The chiseled face was breathtaking, terrifying in its beauty. Except for its eyes. The
pupils that slit down like twin blades. A serpent’s eyes in a woman’s face. As soon as Julia looked at them the woman’s beauty twisted in on itself. Her flesh unveiled reptilian scales and her cracked, bleeding lips pulled back in a savage snarl. Julia tried to look away but her blood was thick with the venomous words that held her still, the eyes that froze her soul.

  “Don’t look at its eyes,” Ethan yelled.

  “Too late,” the gorgon rasped. “You are mine, Daughter!”

  Magic engulfed her, scorching hot as the gorgon’s snake-hair reached out for her. The mark on her arm burned and she would have screamed if she could have broken away from the power of the gorgon’s horrible eyes.

  A spray of white brightened the edges of Julia’s vision. She staggered forward and the gorgon’s face twisted with rage. Her snake-hair grasped for Julia, their mouths opened wide, dripping with venom.

  “Use your power, Julia,” Ethan yelled. A pile of limp snakes lay at his feet and the gorgon in front of him clutched at her half-bald head. “Stun it.”

  She writhed to avoid the monster’s gaze. Snakes lashed out and bit her. One wrapped itself around her wrist. She punched with her free hand, only to have that wrist ensnared by the lashing snakes as well. “How am I supposed to stop this thing?”

  White light sprayed through the gorgon’s chest and shot out of her eyes.

  “Like that,” Angie said.

  Julia freed her wrists from the lifeless snakes.

  “Hurry. We can only stun them.”

  “Ethan!” Julia lunged forward, but Angie grabbed her by the arm before she could reach him.

  “You have to come,” Angie said, “I don’t have enough magic to stun another one, and Kaitlyn’s being attacked.”

  “But Ethan can’t do it alone.”

  “The gorgon will turn Kaitlyn into stone.”

  Julia yanked her arm away. “I can’t leave him!”

  The gorgon kicked Ethan down the stairs and Julia raced toward him. Her heart tore in two as the gorgon leapt down the stairs after him. She couldn’t think of Kaitlyn, not now. She began gathering her magic.

  “No!” Ethan shouted, blood gushing from a cut on his brow. “Go save the Daughter of Future!”

  “But—”

  The half-bald gorgon spun its head completely around, the move so unnatural Julia couldn’t speak.

  “Daughter.”

  Ethan leapt at the creature and held it back. Dozens of angry hisses followed. “Julia, go. I’m immune to the power of the creatures of Mythos. She can’t paralyze me. And I can kill her.”

  “But she can kill you!”

  “Go!”

  She jumped at the thunder in his voice. A wave of anger rushed from his mind to hers, hot, insistent emotions that made it clear her help wasn’t welcome.

  Fine. But he had better not die or she would be pissed off.

  Tearing her gaze away, she raced back to the other girls. Angie pushed magic out with her hands, but the faint traces of light made no impact on the gorgon holding Kaitlyn in its grasp. Julia gathered her magic within herself, waiting until the mark on her arm burned. With a grunt she thrust her hands forward and shot her magic straight at the monster.

  The gorgon screeched and fell to the ground. White light flared from its eyes and chest. Julia almost fell to her knees before the gorgon finally collapsed.

  “Daughters.”

  “Holy cow, how many of these things are there?” Julia panted. She stumbled back to Ethan, who now fought two gorgons.

  The half-bald gorgon grabbed him by the throat and Julia’s stomach lurched at the sight. She shot out her magic, making no impact on the creature. She tried again, crying out with the force of her power, but the gorgon wouldn’t let go.

  Angie’s weak rays of magic reached the gorgon, who sneered and approached her.

  “I’ve got this,” Kaitlyn said, setting her spike-heeled boots apart in a wide stance. Her eyes glowed bright green as her palms filled with magic. Twin rays of light left her hands, much more powerful than any Julia had ever seen. A creature went flying, and Ethan immediately sent bolts of lightning from his palms. He and Kaitlyn eyed each other and began working together, as if they were part of a choreographed magic fight. Stun-kill, stun-kill, until there was nothing left of the creatures except steaming piles of ash.

  Kaitlyn touched the pendant at her neck as she sauntered up to Ethan with a sultry grin. “We make a good team.”

  Julia’s breath rushed out of her lungs.

  “Yeah,” Ethan said, giving her a fist-bump that looked strangely natural. “That wasn’t an easy one.”

  “Freeze time,” Angie said. “Ethan’s hurt.”

  Julia nodded, swallowing bile. She shook her head and forced herself to get a grip. A pinprick of heat formed in her chest. It grew, spilling out from her heart like acid overflowing inside her. When Kaitlyn took her hand she almost couldn’t touch her.

  “Julia? Do you need more magic?” Angie asked.

  “Hm?” Oh, right, freezing time. “No. Sorry.” She forced everything from her mind until the world fell away. She held the present in her mind. Every thought and action of every person on Earth locked in place as she released the magic and opened her eyes.

  “Losing your edge?” Kaitlyn said, her smile nearly as unpleasant as the gleam in her eyes.

  Julia ignored her, wiping her hand on her skirt as soon as she was able. Her eyes found Ethan, who braced himself against a streetlamp.

  “Are you okay?” Her voice sounded loud without street traffic and the noise of the ocean filling the air.

  “I don’t think so.” He groaned, slumping to the ground, unconscious.

  She raced to his side. He was covered in bite marks and scratches. Blood dripped from the gash on his forehead. He was so pale. So still.

  She put her hands above his chest, not sure where he was the most hurt. “Restore,” she said. Please let him be okay, please let him be okay. “Ethan, wake up,” she whispered. Ethan’s long, curled lashes lay motionless on the curve of his cheek. Why wasn’t he waking up?

  Kaitlyn’s shadow fell over them in the faded lamplight. “Let me try.”

  “No,” Julia snapped. Tears burned her vision as she realized Kaitlyn was stronger with that stupid necklace. She should let Kaitlyn heal him, but she couldn’t bring herself to let go. “Restore,” she said again. Magic flowed from her body, a gentle give beneath her palms. She forced herself to remain steady, allowing the healing spell to work on him.

  His lids lifted.

  Magic—Ethan’s magic—flooded her vision. She saw him, but he was completely different. He laughed at something as he pulled her close on a beach drenched in sunset pinks and reds. She became lost in his eyes. Not the silver she had always known. They were dark, dark brown.

  Just like Brian’s eyes.

  “Jules?”

  His voice cracked on the word, bringing her back to the present.

  “I’m here,” she whispered, the vision clearing from her mind. Was that the past or the future? She searched the silver eyes that now blinked up at her, but he didn’t seem to know he had sent her a vision at all.

  “Julia,” he said in a dull voice as he turned away.

  He was okay. The relief brought tears to her eyes. Why did it matter to her so much? She hardly knew him. With a hard swallow, she brushed the hair from his face.

  He flinched.

  “We have to complete the task and seal the portal,” Angie said. “We can’t wait any longer.”

  Julia nodded, looking up as Kaitlyn offered Ethan her hand.

  He took it.

  “Thanks,” he said, getting to his feet.

  How could he just take her hand? And say thanks to her while Julia still knelt beside him? How could he?

  “We’ll need to do something about our clothes before we go,” Angie said.

  “There’s a costume shop off Pacific Coast Highway,” Kaitlyn said.

  “Good idea,” Ethan said. He tu
rned to Julia and held out his hand.

  She got up without his help.

  “Thanks,” Kaitlyn said, sauntering up and leaning against his shoulder. “Wow, I think I hit my head. I feel kind of weak.”

  Ethan glanced at Julia. “Do you have enough magic to heal her too?”

  Julia saw red. “You have got to be kidding.”

  “I’ll do it,” Angie said. “Julia spent a lot of time on you. She might not have enough power left.” She added in an undertone, “If Kaitlyn’s really that hurt.”

  “I can manage without it, I guess,” she pouted, her eyes fixed on Ethan.

  The little skank. How dare she pout at Ethan!

  Angie cleared her throat. “Let’s get back to the task, then.”

  Julia stormed up the stairs after Ethan, her feet sliding with each sandy step.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, steadying her. “Your heart’s going a mile a minute.”

  “I’m fine,” she said, wrenching her arm away.

  “What’s the matter with you?”

  “Nothing,” she said, though the word sounded harsh to her own ears.

  He pulled her close but she held herself stiff. Kaitlyn and Angie’s presence bored into her consciousness, one watching from the rails, the other keeping her gaze carefully averted.

  “I can feel your anger, and although I’m doing my best to block out your emotions, I can tell you’re confused about us.” The words were low, his mouth close to her ear. She sucked in a breath, her eyes sliding shut. “But don’t be. Let me make it clear for you. There can never be anything between us. Ever.”

  Her muscles turned to jelly. She hated the thickness clogging her throat. “You’re the one who kissed me. You messed with my head.”

  “And you’re the one dating my brother,” he rasped, the words sounding like they had clawed their way up his throat.

  Her heart rose in her chest. “I don’t have to be.”

  He let go of her, backing away like she was toxic. “That won’t make any difference. Not now. I won’t let anything come between me and Brian.”

  Words hung unspoken in the air as his gaze hardened on her.

  Not even you.

  He left her, rejoining Kaitlyn and Angie as the breaths she took burned her lungs and choked her throat. She hadn’t known Brian was his brother. Somehow, she still felt like the mess she was in was all her fault.