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“No!” I screamed as protection magic welled inside of me.
I never got a chance to cast it. Leto was knocked to his feet, and Professor Warbright landed on top of him. He’d regained consciousness and tackled Leto to the ground.
The spell that had been pinning us to the wall let up, and we all collapsed to the ground. Leto used his magic to toss Professor Warbright off of him. Warbright flew across the room and smashed into the dresser so hard it crumbled to pieces. Lucas jumped on top of Professor Leto before he could get upright, and the Mentalist Wand flew out of his hand. It rolled across the ground and stopped at Chloe’s feet.
Lucas must’ve thought the Wand was the source of his power, but Leto didn’t need it. A single flick of his wrist swept us all off our feet. My friends and I screamed as his magic pinned us to the ground so hard I could barely breathe.
Leto focused his attention on Lucas and used his powers to dangle him in the air. “You want to fight a demon? Fine. I’ll give you a demon.”
His voice took on a deep, hellish growl as he shifted before us. Leto’s attractive features morphed to become animalistic. His entire body grew to at least eight feet tall, and he towered above us as his curved horns grazed the ceiling. His face became that of a ram’s, and his eye sockets glowed bright red. His nails elongated into sharp claws, and massive fur-covered feet burst from his shoes.
He laughed a deep, guttural laugh that sounded anything but human. Dark magic swirled out of the tips of his fingers and entered Lucas’s body through his nostrils.
It had to be some sort of torture magic demons learned in hell, because Lucas’s whole body convulsed as he screamed out in pain. I’d never heard such a hollowing cry before. It was the sound I imagined a person might make if they were being skinned alive and their flesh was on fire. I couldn’t move my head, but Leto had positioned me in a way that forced me to watch.
Lucas’s body trembling from head to toe. Rage flared in my bones, and I threw up a shield between them. Leto’s demon magic was strong, though. He broke straight through my shield like it was a thin sheet of ice. We’d sorely underestimated this demon. He’d been gaining power for months, and he was capable of more than we could ever imagine.
He paused for a beat and turned to me. He looked amused that I would even try to defend Lucas. “You wait your turn, little priestess. I’m going to torture each of you one by one, until your frail little bodies give out.”
He flicked his wrist, and the ghosts began swirling around us to his command. The air chilled around us, and I began to shiver. Leto was using the ghosts’ energy to drop the temperature. A ghost floated over me, then plunged its hands into my chest. I screamed as the ghostly hand swept through my insides, chilling my body from the inside out. It was as if someone had sliced my chest open and placed a block of ice where my heart should be.
Instinct kicked in, and I tried to create a shield. Over and over again, shields bloomed out of my chest, but it did nothing to deter the ghosts. Spirits surrounded us at all angles. Leto had grown strong enough that their hands turned solid, and the ghosts began striking me, leaving large welts all over my body. I tried to fight it, but I barely had the mental capabilities to find my magic, let alone control it.
Echoing screams pierced the night. My eyes watered, and through the tears I saw the hungry look in Leto’s eyes. He thrived off trauma. It gave him power. The ghostly hand inside of me drew away, moments before I thought my heart might give out.
Killing us wouldn’t satiate the demon. He had to make sure we suffered.
I gasped for breath as warm blood filled my heart again. It was a pain I never thought I’d feel—like the sting of running your ice-cold fingers under warm water, except everywhere, inside and out. The moment I felt the air enter my lungs, it left again. Solid, cold hands curled around my throat.
“You’re no god,” Lucas strained to say. “You never will be.”
“You wouldn’t believe my power,” Leto said. “I have your coven to thank for that. I used to be just a lowly demon, but all your trauma has made me strong. I am a powerful Mentalist now, and I can make you do whatever I want—no contract required. These are spells you cannot break.”
My head spun as we were all whipped upright with the force of his magic. I landed on my feet, but not to my own free will. Before my eyes, Lucas’s flesh began to peel off his body. I saw the bone and muscle beneath his skin.
“Lucas!” I screamed, the same time I heard him cry out for me. All around me, my friends screamed each other’s names.
Abruptly, Lucas’s flesh appeared back on his body. He continued dangling in the air where the demon left him, but he was in one piece.
“I can play with your minds,” Leto said. “I can make you see whatever I want you to see.”
The scene around us shifted, until we weren’t in Pinewood Manor anymore. My friends and I stood on a large rock overlooking a lava pit. Steam rose around us, and it looked a lot like what I’d picture hell to be like. Sweat broke out on my brow, and I felt close to passing out from the heat.
“I can make you feel what I want you to feel,” Leto said.
The false lava began to rise, and boiling bubbles popped, sending hot lava splattering over our skin. I screamed, but I barely heard my own voice over the sound of my friends crying out in pain. The lava may only be in our heads, but the pain was real.
Leto laughed. “I can make you do whatever I want you to do.”
The lava disappeared in an instant, and we stood in the bedroom at Pinewood Manor again. I spotted the Mentalist Wand at Chloe’s feet, but none of us could move.
“Stop it!” Talia begged.
My head snapped in her direction, but not of my own free will. I began moving across the room toward her. I couldn’t stop it.
“Shut your mouth, you bitch,” I heard myself say, before I cracked my palm against the side of Talia’s face. It’d been so hard that Talia landed on the ground, and a welt formed on her cheek.
I hadn’t wanted to do it. Leto had become so powerful; he didn’t need to trick me into a contract to become his puppet. I imagined Talia had no intention of punching me in the stomach either, but her fist sank into my gut. I dropped to my knees as my breath ceased.
