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It happened so fast A spire of rock jutted out fro clods of dirt and chunks of jagged stone every which way Higher and higher it climbed, until it was taller than a man, then as tall as a house I followed the rocky spike to its peak, and my heart swooped when I saaited on its pointed tip

“Well, well,” said Agatha Black “Now isn’t this a coincidence”

Chapter 16

We weren’t ready for that At least I could say that I wasn’t, because before anyone could limmered Bastion had already erected one of his force fields

Had we caught Agatha’s attention soive away our location?

“You’re not getting the sword,” I blurted out

Agatha’s laughter filled the meadow “Little one You may keep your toy A witch knohen she needs tools for her rituals” She pressed her hands together, levitating off the spire of rock “But I am no mere witch I am the hand of the Eldest that crushes the weak I a of doom”

“Then if you aren’t here for the sword,” I said,with the question, “why are you here at all?”

Agatha sneered at me “Must the lioness repeat herself? I told you Mere coincidence I came here to do my holy work You have your cereaze across us all I caught Asher flinching at the sight of her, his eyes filling with terror, and it atha even more “You have your rituals, and I have mine”

“Doesn’t h to alert us all “Stop her Kill her”

We advanced as one, Agatha’s laughter raining down as we launched the first salvo of arcanetowards her But she was protected by the very talent she had given her descendants, that bizarre gift of occult telekinesis As strong and sturdy as Bastion’s shields were, Agatha’s were nigh i it to let Vanitas fly out and join the fray I’d becoh as he soared straight for Agatha’s heart This tihter Vanitas knew exactly ere up against Maybe he was even frightened

I searched for Prudence aatha with another one of those ridiculous combos? Last time, the only e had stopped her was for Prudence to assuht torrent of both shadow and flame that I called from the Dark Room

Wincing, I remembered that we also had a third, cruci

al ingredient in the h to annihilate her: Odin’s horse, Sleipnir, in the forleaatha as each of our missiles struck her force field It shimmered around her, an invisible bubble If only we could crack it

So else cracked, just then, the terrible sound of stone shattering and snapping My eyes went huge as the spire that Agatha had summoned fro straight for her Bastion had uprooted the darand raatha’s defenses I paused in battle just then, considering how ridiculous I sounded, hoe’d never fought anyone or anything as powerful as the lioness