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“Where is your brother?” I hissed.
Cadence didn’t answer. She’d run out of pillows.
“Don’t let them catch you,” I told her. “Use the knife if they get too close.”
Without further hesitation, I lunged for the fire poker. As Cadence darted around the small room, the golems thumped into each other. I muttered a quick spell to strengthen the poker and slashed it through the two closest to me.
With perfect timing, Walker emerged from the kitchen and snagged Cadence by the waist, right before a golem struck her. I severed the golem’s legs, and it crumpled to the floor.
“Took you long enough,” I said.
Walker and Cadence sidestepped the golem. The golems shifted on the floor and tried to piece themselves together. It wouldn’t be much longer until they were back in action.
Walker held out a glimmering web. “I thought we might need this.”
I balked. "You took Arachne's web?"
"It's a shield," Walker explained, "against the Bloodblade."
"That's why mom summoned her," I said. “Let’s get to the portal."
As I skirted between the fallen golems, Walker took the knife from Cadence, and the siblings raced after me. Unfortunately, the first golem had finally recovered. It charged from the left and blocked the path down the hall. Its huge hands swiped at me and knocked me to the ground. Walker struck the blade into its chest and twisted it. The blade clanged as it collided with golem’s stone heart, and the creature crumpled into a pile of sand at our feet.
Walker stared at its remains in shock.
“Nice,” I admitted and rose.
The other golems roared behind us. We quickened our pace. We reached my mother’s doorway, and nausea turned my stomach. My hand wrapped around the brandished handle but failed to turn it. The golems footsteps grew louder.
I cursed myself for my foolish emotions and turned the damned handle. I didn’t let myself look at her silky maroon bedspread or the jewelry still on her vanity. I didn’t inhale her familiar vanilla perfume or glance at the closet full of her clothes. If I did, I wouldn’t have the heart to leave this place in the hands of these monsters.
Instead, I grabbed Mom’s emergency bag from her armoire and ran to the mirror that stood proudly on the right side of the room. No one would know it was over a century old. Its bronze frame gleamed, and Mom’s magic still emanated from it like a familiar lullaby.
I whispered the first spell my mother ever taught me—the one that unlocked our emergency portal.
A kaleidoscope of light and color swirled in its depths. Tears burned the backs of my eyes. The portal had my mother written all over it. It was beautiful, but well-concealed, and I knew it wouldn’t fail me.
Walker hissed in pain. I searched his body for an injury I might’ve missed.
He shook his head. “I’m fine.”
The golems burst into the room. They splintered Mom’s doorway and barreled into her antique dresser.
I tried to cast a sleep spell to keep them from breaking anything else, but it didn’t work. They weren’t mine to control, and they’d clearly been commanded to follow us. They would do as their master instructed.
I glanced back at the portal. Its thrumming magic was a song to my ears.
The last existing spell of my mother.
A tear slipped down my cheek.
I knocked the charging golems back with a powerful blast of wind and winced when they collided with Mom’s furniture.
“Close your eyes.”
I grabbed the siblings’ hands and leaped through the portal.
Just before jumping into its familiar warmth, I closed my eyes and envisioned Walker’s front yard exactly as I’d last seen it. I recalled the gravel driveway, the mountains that nestled the property, and the fresh air that wafted through it.
