Free Marked: A Two Halves Novella by Marta Szemik Page A

sister appeared—alone.
    “Ahh, two for the prrrice of one.” Aseret laughed, but his
joy diminished when the blue light reappeared at my feet. “Take it off!” he
yelled, but his demons only looked back at him, puzzled.
    Eric now stood on the other side of the hall, palms up,
balancing blue spheres of light. New hope flared in my chest. Aseret’s plans
weren’t going the way he’d hoped.
    “You’re meddling in my businesss, benderrr!” Aseret hissed
at Eric, his words harsh despite coming out at a snail’s pace.
    “ You are my business, Aseret. Have you forgotten I’m
an evil-bender?” Eric smirked.
    “Bend elsewhere, not in my underworld!” Aseret’s flat nose
twitched as he floated backward.
    “It’s not your underworld, you hypocrite! Need I
remind you what the underworld was supposed to be used for?”
    “I remember,” Aseret snapped. “That has changed—and it will
soon be changed forever.” He looked down at the crevice into the hereafter.
    “It’s time you’re reminded of who we are!” Eric’s lifted his
chin, and the fleshy spikes on his neck lengthened.
    “Xander, don’t do it.” Xela’s familiar voice came from a new
body I no longer felt a connection to. “I will be bound here forever.”
    My eardrums heard sizzling acid, not her sugar-coated plea.
“You are no longer part of me,” I grated through clenched teeth. My body
yearned for my black witch, but I knew I would never get her back. I was
furious with Xela—this Xela, not the old one. My instincts warned me that my
witch’s soul had been changed and was now controlled by a foreign influence.
The anger bubbled in my veins. Ready to jump at Aseret’s throat, I bent my
knees, but the blue light under my feet held me still.
    Aseret floated closer to his seekers.
    “Control yourself, Xander. We need to bind Aseret to the
underworld. You’re still vulnerable,” my sister warned as she stepped up
beside me. Eric wiggled between us, his palms balancing the fiery balls of blue
sparks. The light holding me in one spot disappeared.
    “You wouldn’t dare, benderrr!” Aseret hissed again, his
zombie seekers closing in on all sides.
    “Don’t pay attention to them. They won’t hurt us,” said
Eric.
    “They won’t? How?” I asked.
    “The keepers will protect us.”
    Aseret’s face sagged, and the strain to maintain his
composure showed in his eyes as they swung from right to left, looking for the
keepers. “Thisss is not a balanced fight!” Aseret growled.
    “Actually, it is balanced now.” My father’s voice echoed
down a staircase that ran up a side wall. He stood before the velvet curtains
covering an entry at its top. Gabriel and Drake flanked him, their arms
outstretched. A thin beam of transparent light flowed from their hands toward
us. The magical energy formed a shield around us, protecting us from the seekers.
    “It’s time you learned how to obey the rules of this world,”
the three keepers said in unison.
    I had never seen Aseret show fear and didn’t expect him to
this time. Sure enough, he chose to revel in what he was about to do—he held
his arms out over above the crevice, the spirits within held only with a sheer
covering of light. “You’re too late!” He threw his head back and laughed. The
hood of his cloak fell from his bald pate. He snorted for air in between loud
laughs as he wallowed in his glory.
    The seekers tried to break through the protective shield,
but they were zapped one by one, thrown to their knees.
    “He’s unlocking the door to the hereafter,” I yelled as
energy from Aseret’s palms flowed toward the opening.
    “Put your hands in my palms to bind him,” Eric said. “The
light won’t hurt you. We cannot let him open the hole.”
    I placed my left hand on top of the blue sphere. Mira did
the same on her side. The electricity travelled through my body to form a new
sphere in my other hand.
    Eric closed his eyes. The fleshy spikes protruding from his
neck vibrated.