Elina

"Elina."

"Hmmm?"

I took out a key. Didn't have to say what it was. Recognition appeared on her face. She smiled.

I said, "Will you keep your word?"

"You'll find out." She raised her hands to her chest. The gransia handcuffs clinked. Magic pulsed in her eyes.

I shrugged. I've been trapped in her game since the beginning. Maybe even before I met her. Now that I think of it, everything was too easy. Finding her in Altheim, tracking her down, capturing her.

She wanted me to find her. She let me capture her.

And there is a reason why she hasn't escaped. She could've killed me in my sleep, but she didn't. She could've poisoned me, but she didn't. She could've left me to die in this honeytrap village, but she didn't. She stood there, watching me, waiting.

I've come this far. Might as well see what her endgame is.

I said, "You said you'll save me if I freed you."

"Mh-hmm, but I never said anything about not killing you in the process." She took a step towards me, rested a finger on my chin. "Death is a kind of salvation in itself, hmm?"

"Then at the very least, show me some good magic."

I grabbed her wrist and inserted the key. I turned it.

Clink.

The handcuffs sprung apart. Fell from her wrist. Fell to the ground.

For a moment, everything was still. Even the villagers and their bloodthirsty children froze. I never told them that Elina was a witch. They should know nothing about her power. But they stopped anyway. Maybe they sensed something.

Elina rubbed her wrists. Her eyes were closed.

Ba-dum.

A beat. Not my heart. But something in the air. Like a rock being dropped in a lake.

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

It's like the air had its own heartbeat.

She looked at me.

Her silver eyes turned to white. Like the sun. They shone so brightly that I had to shield my eyes. Her hair no longer glittered with magic. It too had turned completely white.

Her whole body was enveloped in light. Slowly, she rose into the air.

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

It was no longer a feeling. I could hear the magic electrifying the air.

Then it dawned on me. This was Elina's heartbeat. Her unleashed magic connected her to everything around her.

"There, there, no need to feel afraid."

I felt something caress my cheek. Something warm and gentle. Like a loving hand. But there was nothing next to me. Elina was floating in the air. I looked up at her. She smiled down.

"Can you hear me? Can you hear my voice?"

It was a though she spoke right into my ear.

I nodded.

"Are you sure?"

Hesitation in her voice. But what could she be afraid of?

I said, "Do it."

Elina spread her arms and silver light came out from every part of her body. They shot off into every direction, like a thousand arrows.

The light arrows sunk into the chest of every man and woman.

For a moment nothing happened. The villagers appeared confused. They touched their chests, looked at themselves, at each other, but could find nothing wrong.

Then: a single scream.

Then another.

An endless howl.

The men and women began to age rapidly. The young turned middle-aged. The middle-aged turned old. The old crumbled to dust.

Elina said, "Death is just another form of salvation." She raised an open hand. "Now give me your lives."

All around me, bodies turned to dust. One after another. Until only the children remained.

Elina said, "Salem, what do you think we should do with the little ones?"

We. A collective decision.

The children stood there, their eyes blank. They dropped their knives. Their little bodies shook with terror.

I said, "Let them go."

I looked up at Elina. She looked down at me. She sighed.

"Salem, you have too much mercy."

"Let them go."

She shook her head. She pointed at the children. "Run before I change my mind."

The boys and girls staggered back, fell into their backs, got up and ran off into the forest.

Elina said, "I wonder what will become of them."

"They'll live. For better or worse."

Elina came down. Her feet touched the ground. Her eyes were still white, her hair still shining. But there was something in her expression. Something that reminded me of Anja.

"So...what do you think?" she asked.

"I..."