“I can’t let you go through that portal,” Garrett snarls.
“Garrett? What the hell are you doing?” I shout. “Let her go!”
Caz steps in front of me with his gun drawn. When I glance at him, his eyes are narrowed as he looks Garrett over from head to toe.
“Not a scratch on you,” Caz mumbles. “Impossible, considering I broke several of your limbs.”
“Fuck you,” Garrett spits at him.
“He’s been touched by Decius,” Korah says raggedly. “I feel it!” Her eyes flash purple, and she vanishes from his arms. She appears on the opposite side of the room, near the mirror again, and when she does, Caz raises his gun at Garrett and shoots him in the head.
I cup my mouth after the ring of the gunshot and the thud of Garrett’s body on the floor. It’s so eerily quiet afterward that all I hear is the beating of my heart, my pulse pounding in my ears.
I expect him to be dead, for that gunshot to have ended it all, but then Garrett’s hand twitches. He sits upright, and when he staggers to a stand, the bullet in his head pops right out and clinks to the ground. Not a wound is in sight.
What the hell? How is he not dead? The snaked died with one slice!
“Fuck,” Caz curses, and with a smirk, Garrett charges toward Caz, slamming him down on Korah’s table. The table smashes to bits on the floor, and Caz grunts as he manages to shove Garrett onto his back and wrap his hands around his throat and squeeze.
Garrett sneers, like the choking doesn’t bother him—like he’s breathing despite the hands locked around his throat—and Caz blinks down at him, just as shocked as I am.
Someone mumbles behind me, and I swing around to spot Korah facing the mirror again. This time, the portal opens immediately, and she grabs me by the wrist to drag me toward it. “You must go first. Get to Hassha and show her that piece of broken crown I gave to you. Tell her who you are and what’s happening. She will help you. Go.” She drags me closer to the portal, but I resist.
“What about Caz?” I cry.
“He will meet you there!”
“No—I don’t like this! I can’t go back without him!”
“You must!” she shouts.
I look over Korah’s shoulder, and Garrett flings Caz across the room, throwing him into one of the shelves. A loud grunt falls out of Caz when he hits the shelf and lands face down on the floor. His gun scatters across the room, and when he rises to his knees and attempts to reach for it, Garrett kicks it away.
“Korah!” I scream. “You have to help him! Please!”
Korah’s purple eyes are wide with panic as she peers back at Caz. Picking the gun up, Garrett points it down at Caz, and Caz’s eyes swing to mine.
I’m not able to run to him after that, despite how badly I want to, because Korah shoves me into the portal.
I’m sucked into blinding purple light, arms flailing, but I can still see a glimpse of Korah’s shop. Korah has her back to the portal, her hands raised at Garrett, who has dropped the gun to clutch his head. Blood drips from his eyes and nose, and he roars loudly from whatever pain she’s inflicting.
Garrett staggers toward the portal as Caz lumbers to a stand. But whatever Korah is doing doesn’t last long because Garrett snatches his hands down and glares at her. He grimaces at Korah, and as she rushes across the room for one of her daggers on the floor, Garrett chases her.
Caz looks into the portal, his eyes landing on mine. I shake my head because I know what he’s thinking. I hear his voice in my head, telling me it’s his only option right now. He must.
Before Garrett can reach Korah, Caz tackles him with all his strength and brings him into the portal with us.
