Didn't matter anyway. My warning was too late. The golem halted a yard away and lifted both its hands, showing its palms. It might have been a gesture of surrender if I hadn't already sussed out what it was going to do with those hands.
"Get down," I yelled.
That was too late too. I expected a black gush of power that would burst forth and coat whatever struck its path. But apparently, the creature had other talents with magic as well. Or it was getting stronger. This time, the magic released with an electricity that made my hair stand on end. The whole of the playground lit up, making the lamps sizzle with heat. Insects dropped from sight or burst into smoke that stunk of basements and old leaves.
In the next instant, before I could even throw myself at the creature’s legs and knock it off balance, a snap rent the night air and a pressure-filled burst of air, like the feel of a sound wave rippling out toward the perimeter, collided into my chest.
I fell a foot from the golem. My chin skidded along the grass and mashed my tongue against my molars bad enough that I tasted blood. My eyes watered. Screams assaulted the air around me.
The sound after that was eerie silence. And somehow that was even worse.
The gritty taste of dirt and grass mingled with that of blood, and realized I had landed face down. I wasn't sure if a second had gone by or an hour. My ribs ached as though something had pommeled them from the inside.
I tried to roll over. Pain lanced up through my wrist and curled my shoulder inward. Broken, no doubt. I sucked in a hissing breath. One cast glance behind me revealed a dozen young bodies littering the grass along with me. None of them were moving. As hard as the blast had hit me, I didn't know what it had managed to do to a young, vulnerable body. I didn't want to think about it.
My hearing came back next and I only realized I'd gone briefly deaf when I discovered Scott was shouting from somewhere above me and he'd only been yards away before. Someone else was crying but that sound was so faint, I might have been imagining it.
A low rumble, like something rattling in a mucous ridden chest rolled over my head, and I tilted my head upward to see the golem standing over me.
Scott had managed to wrap a chain from the swings around the golem's waist and was yanking hard on his end. I had no idea how he'd managed to get hold of and wrest the links from the swing-set, but he was doing his damnedest to garrotte the creature while I lay prostrate at its feet.
He was having no real success. Although its muddy flesh had let the chains bite in, it resisted much more than an inch of pressure.
"Pull," I shouted, thinking that if Scott could topple the thing, maybe we'd have a chance. "Yank it off it's feet. I'll push."
With the golem fighting to remain standing, I had time to climb onto my knees and heave against its legs. Much like moving a car that exercise was, except the grit from its skin bit into my palms and made me feel as though I was rubbing against sand paper. I knew the skin was chaffing raw. Up close, the thing smelled of swamp and grass and there were places on the legs that looked like a bird's nest, with twigs and thorns and muddy glue.
I wished we'd thought to text Joy for help instead of just sending a cleaner to the hospital. I wasn't sure we were going to manage to even knock it over let alone break it in half. Whatever had animated it wasn't about to halt it.
"I think he killed all those kids," Scott said in a strangled voice. "Every one of them is flat out."
So I'd been right. My throat clogged up as I imagined parents getting the news. Shame coursed through me when my thoughts swept to the waste of life all around me, due in no small part to our failure to contain the thing.
"Graves," Scott ground out. "Get back in the game."
I'd stopped pushing, apparently, too caught up in things I couldn't control. I renewed my efforts to heave against the golem's legs with my good shoulder and Scott grunted as the thing took a swipe at him.
"That's good," I said. "Keep him distracted."
"Sure," Scott said but his voice was strained and I knew he was doing his best not to avoid getting hit.
One more failed swipe from the golem and I was able to use its momentum to buckle its leg. Not a lot, just enough that the thing shifted its weight. I felt its weight shift as it swung for me, and I ducked just in time to avoid a cuffing across the cheek.
"It must have used up its magic," I said. There were no more blasts.
"Or it can't get a good aim," Scott said.
"Heave," I yelled at Scott. "On three."
I counted out one and two in measured intervals. The third number exited my mouth with a good blast of air from my lungs as I threw everything I had into my shoulders and the thrust of heaving against the golem's legs.
It swayed then it caught itself.
"Again," Scott said.
He'd obviously felt the same thing I had.
This time, the repetition of the assault took its feet out from beneath it. I felt it give way and topple but I didn't have time to catch myself. When it fell, I went with it. I sprawled over its torso, my bad hand coming down on its shoulder. I yelped and rolled, praying I'd not done more damage but too afraid to stay within range of the golem's reach to baby the hand.
I heard Scott's feet landing as he leapt sideways. Gravel crunched beneath his boots. Seconds later, I hit the ground on my bad side after rolling off the golem. Pain lanced up my forearm again and I grit my teeth.
I scrambled, lips pressed together, to get to my feet, afraid of the golem snagging my ankle.
A sound, like that of a hawk crying out, pierced the air.
I was still on my knees, propping myself with one hand as I tried to swing to face the golem instead of leaving my back to it. I felt Scott's arms beneath my armpits and around my torso as he hoisted me to my feet.
"Don't panic," he whispered. "I got you."
My legs felt like bags of peas but I was on my feet. One quick look revealed the golem had gone dark. One arm, its right one, the one toward the sky, twitched once and went motionless.
"I don't panic," I said but Scott lent me his frame to lean against while I got my wind.
We both scanned it for life, our hearts no doubt pounding with equal ferocity. I know I could hear mine in my ears.
"Is it—" he said.
"I think so." I nudged it with my toe as he pulled his cellphone out and turned on the torch. The blue light swept over the creature.
"No shem," he murmured. "You were right."
"Then what halted it?" I said. It couldn't have been the impact of hitting the ground. Something wasn't right. Neither one of us looked over our shoulders at the kids, I noticed. Instead, our gaze was pinned to the creature. There was no shem. A traditional Jewish sorcerer would use a symbol to animate and control the creature. We'd used a spell for our small golem, one that could animate earth, one paid for from a white witch who owed us because we'd let her go free after she'd bound herself to a banshee by accident. She had promised to go white. I believed her. So did Scott and Chase.
When we'd checked on her, she said she'd turned to earth magic and that had given Chase the idea to try out a spell in order to test potential hunters without putting anyone in imminent danger.
It was a one-off, and while we believed it would only work on one creature, one formed and anointed by us, it was possible the spell was more powerful than we'd thought.
"Do you think we made it?" I said, voicing the real concern. Had we accidentally animated a sculpture of some kind when we'd animated the trials golem and given it purpose? Did some art project get caught in our magic and decide to obey the command to attack?
"Do you think Marj's magic is just as uncontrollable as it was before?"
Scott leaned into me. "You mean do you think she's powerful enough to animate statues all over hither and yon?"
His tone indicated what he thought of the worry. I sighed. It wasn't rational to think a woman who couldn't control the bit of magic she owned would be able to conjure a spell powerful enough to offer
this muck and mud man her cast off magic.
But I would rather believe it was her fault than believe Remi had turned bad.
"What the heck is that?" said a small voice, startling both of us and we immediately swung around.
"Oh sweet Jesus," I said in relief when I saw one of the kids standing several yards away.
He pointed at the golem with a hand shrouded in a grim reaper's cloak sleeve. His posture didn't exactly look steady; in fact, he swayed on his feet, but at least he was standing. And breathing. My shoulders sagged just looking at him. In fact, several other kids began picking their way to their feet.
Scott grabbed my hand and squeezed and I squeezed right back.
"It was a hell of a blast," he said to me beneath his breath. "Maybe too big. Maybe it couldn't manage a killing blow giving off all that energy."
"Thank God," I said and took a few unsteady steps of my own toward the crowd of kids now assembling in a circle, looking dumbfounded and confused.
"Go on home," I said to them and jerked my thumb over my shoulder to indicate the fallen golem. "This poor guy needs a doctor, and you all need to get out of here before the cops come."
Experience had shown me that threatening kids with cops made them feel sufficiently guilty to hightail it out of an area I needed contained. I hoped that would be the case now. The last thing we needed was a bunch of preteen lookie-loos.
As I'd hoped, several of them bolted without me saying anything more.
Two hung back after the last of them hung about, considering their options until it was obvious Scott's pretend 911 call was threat enough.
But those two, they didn't just stay. They approached us.
I recognized the Hulk and Orphan Annie.
"Scott," I said in warning.
"I see them."
He went forward to head them off and I could hear him admonishing them for not taking the cab we'd called and gone to the hospital to see their mom.
The girl crossed her arms over her chest.
"Danny," she said. "We can't just leave him out here."
I toed the dirt, casting a look at the golem. I wasn't sure what Scott was going to tell them about what might have happened to the boy. It was obvious to us that the golem had done something with him, and experience told us that no good ever came of someone disappearing.
I was just glad it wasn't going to be me breaking the news.
I caught sight of something in the trees on the perimeter of the playground. A shadow moving, or the breeze moving branches just enough to show that something wasn't quite right in the bushes. I leaned forward, trying to see beyond the shrubberies.
When I couldn't make out anything conclusive, I inched forward, stepping over the golem's thighs to investigate. I cradled my wrist in my hand, holding it against my chest to keep it snug and out of harm's way.
Whatever was in there was watching us, that was for certain. I could feel the hairs on my nape signaling to my brain stem like an ant waving its antenna. It wasn't big, whatever it was. The shadows were too small to be another golem.
I was still thinking it might be a kid who had managed to hide at the golem's attack when I felt an iron vise on my left calf, squeezing until the pain felt like pressure points about to plunge through my skin.
I didn't need to look down to know the golem had come alive again.
And that it had me in its grip.
Chapter Ten
I expected to feel a pulse of magic coursing through my bones, but I didn't expect it to hurt so much. I cried out without meaning to, making the girl scream in reflex. The burning would leave a mark, I knew just from the stink of burned fabric. I instinctively yanked on my foot, trying to dislodge it from the creature's hold, and when it wouldn't loose, I bent over and started pounding on the muddy flesh.
I rained blows on it without caring where they landed. My leg felt like it was on fire, and in sheer panic, I turned into a screaming banshee. It was only when I felt hands on my wrists that I realized Scott had come to help and I was beating on him as well as the golem.
"Stop, Graves," he said. "I can't deal with you both."
It was apparent that the creature was using me as leverage to pull itself to its feet, and that Scott was trying to pin its other arm down with his feet while trying to chop off the hand holding me with his knife. It would have been slow going at the best of times, but with me pounding on his back, it was impossible.
"Just stab it in the eye," I said. "Dig into its face."
"You think I didn't try that already. It won't die."
Another searing pain shot up my leg and I gasped. Companioned by the ache in my wrist, I wasn't sure if I could hang tight one second longer.
"Hold on," Scott said and I felt him shift toward my foot. "I'll get the fingers."
"Sweet Jesus, don't cut a hunk out of my thigh."
I screamed again as the creature sent a pulse of magic through me. This time, I felt it moving. Scott fell onto its chest as it wrenched itself sideways. The sudden weight of Scott's two hundred pounds was enough to force the golem to release me.
I jumped free and kicked at the creature's neck. Nothing would hurt it. I was getting ready to jump onto its face when I heard another shout. This time it was a terrified sound and it was coming from the trees where I'd noticed the movement.
Another shout came from behind me. The girl, my ears told me. The Orphan Annie. Hollering out a name.
The fog of pain and the rush of adrenaline can do strange things to you. It takes longer to process what would normally be milliseconds of information. As time draws out like salt water taffy, it pulls out your reaction time too. Maybe it's intentional. Maybe it's so you can fully appreciate what's going down and give you time to think about the consequences.
What my brain told me was two things. One, the girl was yelling at me to help. Two, the shadow in the trees had shifted and broken into two. One small, the other much larger.
And when they finally broke into view, I could see what the girl was trying to tell me.
The figures were both male. This much was evident when they fell out of the trees onto the perimeter of grass. Just enough light from the streetlamps pooled over them that I could recognize one face clearly.
Danny, I realized with relief. That was the name she was yelling along with mine. He was okay. He wasn't dead.
But the relief didn't last long as I noticed Saul dashing along behind him, trying to catch him. He had a stick that he kept swinging at the boy when he got close enough. He struck out at the backs of the boy's legs. I heard the impact. Then Danny spilled onto the grass.
I felt myself blink as I took it in. The sounds of scuffle beside me and of Scott's moans of pain and effort reminded me that the golem was still a dangerous threat. Scott needed help.
But that kid. He was fighting back, though was obviously no match for the much larger youth who had by now straddled his waist as he lay on the ground. I thought he was choking the poor thing. Or was the sound of fighting for breath coming from Scott?
"Graves?" Scott choked out.
My gaze swept the grass at my feet. The golem had rolled over onto Scott and was trying to get to his feet. That was where the choking sound was coming from. Scott was being pressed beneath the creature's weight and his lungs were struggling. His hands clawed at the ground as he tried to free himself from the golem's body.
I was paralyzed by indecision.
The creature got to its knees. I heard Scott's abrupt intake of air.
The golem's arms raised in two clenched fists above his head. I knew he would bring them down onto Scott's back.
The kid yelled again.
My feet made the decision for me. Scott was a big boy. He was a hunter. He'd been in worse situations and I knew he could manage if he had to. And if he couldn't, he knew the risks the same as I did.
I also knew he wouldn't forgive me for letting that kid get hurt. I wouldn't forgive myself.
That kid and all the other kids we
re the reason we battled the big bads in the first place.
I was across the grass in a hobbling sort of run that interfered with me getting there in time to stop the solid slap I heard crack against the boy's cheek.
He cried out and sobbed.
"You little bastard," I heard Saul say.
"I didn't mean to," Danny sobbed. "I didn't."
Saul's fist rolled into a ball and he struck the kid again. This time, I heard it crack bone.
A roar erupted from behind me but I couldn't stop to assess the damage even if the ground was shaking beneath my feet or the Hulk and Annie were shouting at me.
I was too close to Saul and Danny. I yelled at him to stop that right fucking now. Scott's voice behind me, echoing the shouts of the pair of trick or treaters told me he at least was still alive.
But everything happens in warp speed even if you feel like time has stood still.
Saul looked up from straddling the boy. His face went slack at sight of me charging him. He threw his hands up, warding me off or protecting himself I wasn't sure.
"You sniveling coward," I yelled at the little bastard. Even with a broken wrist, I was going to knock the hell out of him.
I flew at him, but I didn't get so far as one more step before I was knocked aside. Confused and still spitting anger, I fell onto my side with such force the air from my lungs burned its way out.
What had struck me down hadn't been something made of flesh. I'd felt the gritty scraping of hardened mud caked with detritus. Concrete. That's what the contact felt like. I knew before I lifted my gaze that the golem had got the best of Scott and was bearing down on Saul and the kid.
I didn't care if it took Scott out but that boy. He'd suffered enough. I'd fight with my nose if I had to.
I tried to push myself to a stand and fell again. My wrist was worse than I thought. I might have passed out.
Moments, seconds, or who the hell knew how long later, someone hooked me beneath the armpit on my good side even as I tried once more to stand. Scott. I knew his smell even if it was shrouded by sweat, dirt, and blood.
A Cursed All Hallows' Eve Page 140