Her Beast kept doing what he did best, crushing rotter skulls between his fists with a single blow.
In a way, she kind of hoped Lily sent a few more so she could have some extra little pets to help them out. But then, she realized just how awful of a thought that was and took it back.
If she could have saved all of these people their fates as zombies, she would have.
Carefully, Karmen balanced herself on the hood, walked a few steps forward, climbed onto the roof, and then back down to the car’s trunk. Piece of cake. She just needed to get into the rhythm of it, and then they could make quick work of this entire street.
As long as she stayed in the center of the car and didn’t fall, she’d be fine.
She made a point, though, to keep her eyes off anyone trapped inside. It was just too tragic to think about.
“Let’s go,” she said, getting the hang of it enough to break out in a run.
The others climbed up behind her as the Beast ran alongside, taking out any zombies along the path. It was the fastest they had moved all afternoon, but Karmen had a sneaking suspicion their struggles in the city so far were nothing compared to what they would face ahead.
Thirty-Nine
The Witch
The Witch stood on the rooftop and looked out over the city. She could feel them now. The guardians.
She’d missed them at first, because she’d been so focused on capturing the fifth that all of her mental energy had gone to finding and tracking his magic. The moment one of her lookouts had alerted her to Zoe’s presence, she’d sent an entire horde after them.
Not to kill them, of course, but to capture them as her Mistress commanded.
The Witch still hated that there was a child involved in all of this, but it couldn’t be helped. There was no reason to hurt the girl, though. It was the fifth the Dark One wanted, after all.
What use was the little girl to her now that Parrish was in the city?
The Witch was good with children. She always had been.
Taking care of the little ones was the one thing she’d enjoyed about her time living with the Council of Fire.
Her favorite little one had been Marilon.
She was the most beautiful child the witch had ever seen. Honey-colored skin and dark, questioning eyes. She’d had a pure heart, always eager for hugs and quick to smile.
Marilon had been taken in as a baby, deserted in the forest like so many girls back in those days. It was the witch who had given her a name, even though it was forbidden to do so. She’d been careful never to speak it out loud, but she’d always used the name in her head.
It meant ‘wished for’, and to the witch, that’s what this child was. Forbidden to interact with men or to have children of her own as a ward of the Council, the witch had taken on the children she watched and cared for as her own.
But she’d never loved anyone as much as she had loved Marilon.
Even now, decades later, she wiped a tear from her eyes as she thought of the little girl. What the Council of Fire had done to her had broken the witch’s heart forever.
Watching her death had been like watching the death of love.
The witch had vowed never to love anyone again. All she’d ever wanted from that moment forward was to gain power, so that someday, she could punish people who did things like kill children.
And yet, here she was, searching for a child to turn over to the Dark One.
She wondered if she could get away with hiding Zoe once she found her. If the Dark One wanted the fifth, maybe the witch could convince her Mistress she’d found him but not the child.
He would be like the other guardians, she was sure. Young, too, but nearly an adult by the standards of this world.
Besides, the body he had now would just be a shell of his true self. He was ancient, according to her Mistress. The eldest of the guardians before they came here to be reborn.
She would turn him over, but what about the little girl?
What would the Dark One do to her?
The witch shook her head. It wasn’t her job to look after the child, and she needed to keep her mind on what was most important.
How many times would the Dark One have to torture her before she learned to obey?
This was her path to power and fame. To making sure the Council of Fire back home knew who she was and what she was capable of.
She would not let some human child keep her from that.
She’d been through too much to let old wounds like Marilon’s death hold her back now.
She straightened her shoulders and closed her heart.
If the girl had to be turned over along with the fifth, then so be it.
She reached out to the rotters on the rooftops, searching through their eyes for the fifth and the child. She wasn’t sure why, like Crash and his dreams, she could never quite see the fifth’s face when she tracked him.
But she could feel him.
Her zombie minions were doing well, chasing him to the exact location she wanted him to go, near the park.
It wouldn’t be long before he flew right into the trap she’d set for him there.
So, while everything was going according to plan on that side of the city, she turned to the south and the guardians.
Their journey had been a bit too easy up to this point, and though a part of her resisted wanting to hurt them, she had a job to do.
She called three rotters over from the group she’d gathered there on the rooftop.
Yes, these three would do nicely.
Forty
Parrish
Zoe was close.
Parrish wasn’t sure how to describe the feeling,
