“Stay back—whatever you are, just let me leave and I won’t hurt you.”The detective’s voice was shaky.
I didn’t wait any longer, but slammed open the door and raced in.There, in the corner of the small galley kitchen, Chase was backed against the cabinet.On the counter, the dog-sized kappa crouched, staring at Chase like he was lunchmeat.As I burst in, the creature turned his head, his already-ginormous eyes widening.
He reallydidlook like a frog, but his limbs were thicker, meaning he could probably walk as well as jump.His eyes were golden with drops of red in them, and as he opened his mouth, a long, pink, slimy tongue unrolled.I grimaced.
“Camille—what should I do?”Chase looked downright petrified.He was a brave man, but he had never dealt with anything like demons or Cryptos before we came into his life.At least, not that he knew of.
“Stay still.Don’t let him touch you,” I said as Delilah and Iris joined me.
We stared at the kappa.I hoped it would just leave—seeing it was outnumbered.
But the next moment, the creature turned toward me and flicked out its tongue again.
This time, it landed around my throat.Startled, I tried to pull it off, but it tightened, and I began to grow foggy-headed due to the sudden lack of oxygen.I scrambled, reaching for the tongue, but the organ tightened around my neck even more, and I began to lose consciousness.
CHAPTERFOUR
I flailed,trying to keep conscious as the room began to fade.
But before I could pass out, Delilah brought her dagger slicing down through the long stretch of tongue that had me in a chokehold.I fell back against the wall as the kappa shrieked.Blood sprayed out, spattering all over me as my sister gave the kappa a roundhouse kick in the face, tipping him over backward.
I scrambled to my feet, grabbing the counter for balance.My neck hurt like a mofo, raw and prickly.Chase jumped over the counter to land at my side, dragging me away from the fight.I shook him off, turning back to the kappa.
“Nobody fucking chokes me out!”My voice was raw, and it spurred on my anger.I held out my hands, the energy rising.As I released a bolt of energy, it forked out like lightning to strike the kappa.Delilah slashed again, but jumped back as the creature began to convulse.I joined her as we watch.The kappa’s back was splitting open.
“Get out of the way!”Iris shouted.“Move!”Her voice echoed through the room, and Delilah and I immediately responded to her command, backing off.I grabbed Chase’s arm, pulling him with me.Iris’s eyes shimmered like a frozen lake as a centipede-like creature began to emerge from the inside of the kappa.
“Freaking hell, what is that?”I whispered.I rubbed my neck, wincing as the raw feeling grew.
Delilah shook her head.“I don’t know.”
Chase stared at me.“Your neck—it’s turning purple.”
He reached for his gun, but before he could shoot the kappa, I grabbed the weapon and tossed it across the room.Luckily, it didn’t go off as it hit the sofa.
“What the hell?What did you do that for?”
I met his angry gaze.“Think!You can’t use that.You have no idea what bullets might do.They couldfeedits energy.”
“What?”He narrowed his gaze, but fell silent as Iris stepped in front of us.
Fixed on the kappa, she held out her hands, fingers pointed directly at the remains of the frog.Well, now it was acentipede, and it was still wriggling out of the kappa’s body.
“Frost-flame,” she whispered.
A shower of frost began to spray out of her fingertips, blasting against the skin of the centipede.It reminded me of a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis caught in an ice storm.The spray hit it hard, and the centipede struggled, trapped half-in, half-out of the kappa’s body.But the ice was too strong against its newborn body, and the creature flailed, reminding me of one of those wind socks at the oil-change shops.
The ice crystalized around the creature.It began to droop, then slid to the floor as it sprawled across the kappa’s body.Another moment and both began to melt against the carpet, and then—in another moment—they vanished as if they had never existed.
I caught my breath.Then—my neck stinging—said, “Way to go.I didn’t know you could work weather magic.”
“Snow and ice…sometimes sleet.I can’t create heat or sun.Rain, well…it depends.”Her voice had a peculiar lilt in it.“Anyway, I don’t use my magic all that often.”She turned to me and her eyes widened.“Your neck!Sit down.”
As she spoke, the chill began to fade from the room.I sat on the sofa as she examined my neck.“You’re lucky.I think the poison from the kappa’s tongue only penetrated the outer layers of your skin.We’ll treat you when we get home.”
Delilah leaned in to watch over Iris’s shoulder.“That looks painful.”
“Well, it doesn’ttickle,” I said, catching sight of myself in a mirror on Chase’s wall.The ring around my neck was a muddy purple, and it looked like I’d been given a wildly inappropriate hickey.“Ugh.I hope it doesn’t get worse.”