Claimed By Zodiacs

Chapter 9

Few hours later

Endless Woods

#Cenna Watercress#

A walk at the beach. Hand in hand with a lovely mermaid I met at a party. Looking at the glittering stars. Perhaps earning a kiss.

That's what I should be doing right now. Instead, I'm taking a walk at the Endless Woods, with a witch staring daggers at my back.

A pretty witch, the nasty mind whispered. But a witch nonetheless.

The trees moved to make way for Gordon, who was leading the way. Goosebumps rose over my arms. Maybe it was the trees, or the witch, or the Aero guardian walking right in front of me. He was steaming in the humid woods. I could hear the crunch of frost under my boots.

His frost will eventually give us away.

"Halt," Nova whispered, too low for the others to hear.

I stopped mid-step. When I looked behind me, she was wild-eyed. Her violet eyes dilated, like a deer caught in the headlights.

The rustling trees stopped, as if hearing her. Gordon yelped.

"What is it?" Gabriel asked, his wings erupting right at my face.

"Watch it dude!" I whisper/yelled at him.

Sam blurted a string of colorful curses.

"Nova," he said, his voice rang in the silence. "I think there's a snake lurking by."

I felt a large, slippery, cold creature slither past me.

"Tell me that wasn't a snake," Gabriel blurted.

Sam started chanting. "To fight and defend. To die at the end. The enemies we send, to the Lord of the Dead."

There was a golden-green glow. The soil swirled under his feet, revealing Excalibur, the sword of legends. Sam pulled it off the ground, illuminating us with the sword's soft glow.

A mistake, I realized as I saw the huge pair of green eyes trained on the Prince. The glow lighted up the creature's skin. The snake hovered at approximately 5 feet, the rest of its body cloaked in the shadows.

"That's no snake," Nova spoke, sounding breathless. "That's a Python."

"The Python?" I asked, my voice an octave higher.

She rolled her eyes. "No, idiot. The underlings."

With a slight move of his hand, Gabriel created a sword made of ice.

The snake's eyes followed the cracking sound.

I reached for pendant hanging on my neck. If this is just an underling, then we're damned to death.

"No!" Nova shouted. "Don't move!"

I eyed the creature as its eyes followed Nova.

"Speak for yourself witch! I'm not going to die in this hell hole."

"I said don't move unless I say so," she insisted, voice hissing.

"Holy-" Gordon exclaimed.

We all followed his gaze. Nova's face, once smooth, was leathery, her eyes turned to slits. Fangs protruded from her mouth. When she spoke, her forked lips slithered.

"At my command."

She spoke again, but unintelligible words came out of her mouth.

The ground was swept from under me when the python slithered its way to her and hissed back.