Chapter Thirty-Three

‘You, chime child,’ Black Annis spat, her voice rasping and cruel. ‘You leave me to do your work – to thwart these pathetic human magicians who seek to destroy me?’

Callum balled his hands into fists, ready for any sudden attack. ‘I think it worked out pretty well, actually,’ he snarled back.

With a furious cry, Black Annis flashed through the air with super-human speed and slashed her claws at him. There was so much strength behind the strike that Callum almost felt his bones rattle. But instead of cutting into him, Black Annis’ talons ricocheted off his invisible shield.

‘Callum!’

It was Jacob’s bell-like voice, firmly calling out his name.

‘Remember your powers, all your training – you are able to resist her. Do not fear her magic.’

Callum turned his head toward the iron cage the coven had built around the ghost. Cringing away from the touch of the iron bars, Jacob was coming to his aid in the only way he could now: as a guide, as a teacher.

Callum nodded, his breath coming out in bursts as he struggled to maintain his shield against the demon’s slashing, gnarled hands. With an enormous effort he thrust the barrier forward, forcing Black Annis to scuttle backwards on her clawed, bare blue feet. Another push of the barrier and she skidded across the floor, crashing into the bars of the cage in which Doom was enclosed. Recoiling from the iron and Doom’s snapping jaws, Black Annis rounded on Callum.

‘Fool!’ she snarled. She raised her hands once more, and with a burst of power, launched another onslaught, her claws tearing at the shield with all her might. Callum’s barrier kept her talons from breaking through, but he felt a rising sense of panic as his entire body tingled with the relentlessness of Black Annis’ attack. Although she couldn’t injure him, she was forcing him backwards again and he’d soon be trapped.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Callum saw Melissa move out from the shadows where she’d been hiding from the fight, clutching something in her hand. Before he could shout for her to stop, Melissa ran straight at Black Annis and flung a handful of dirt from the cave floor at the crone’s glowing eyes. She whispered something quickly under her breath and the dirt seemed to balloon, enveloping the demon in a cloud of dust.

She’d taken Black Annis by surprise, but the hag flailed her arms, enraged, swiping blindly with her claws. Melissa cried out and stumbled away, and Callum saw gashes all along one side of her face dripping thick blood.

That was all it took.

Callum threw himself forwards, feeling the anger and determination building inside him until his hands burned with the energy he was about to release. He burst through the cloud of dust towards Black Annis with a grimace that almost matched the crone’s own. Pushing his hands together he put all his being into creating a blast of power like the one he had used on that fateful day in the alleyway. He felt the energy flowing through his hands, making the air around them shimmer and crackle.

And this time, Callum hit his mark.

The ripples of power slammed straight into Black Annis’ chest and she went flying backwards, smashing into the other side of the cave. She fell into a heap and groaned, shaking her head from side to side as she tried to recover from the blast. For a second Callum thought it was over. But as he watched, the crumpled figure gave a shudder. His eyes widened as Black Annis gathered herself off the hard ground. She found her feet, hunched, crouched and then tensed for a leap. The power in her legs was incredible, and the dead skins of her skirt slapped against her blue flesh. She sailed five feet into the air, talons outstretched, ready to tear and strip. Callum threw his hands out towards her once more, and another blast of energy sent the hag hurtling backwards. This time he refused to relent, putting every ounce of his being into it and holding the beam steadily on her. It pinned the demon to the ground, and she hissed, snapping her putrid teeth, writhing and wriggling in her attempts to get free.

Callum closed in on the demon, taking the initiative as his powers began to take their toll. Reaching her quivering body, he bent down and grabbed Black Annis by her thin blue ankles. She went rigid with pain as the energy radiated out of his fingertips with a crackle and fizz. The hag cried out in anguish, spraying flecks of blue-black spittle, and Callum swallowed bile as his hands brushed against the skins at the edge of her skirt. But he held on, his palms firm against the crone’s flesh. Ripples of power flowed from him and spread across her body.

‘Callum, be careful!’ Melissa cried out from behind him, but her voice sounded muffled through the ringing in his ears.

With a strangled growl, he sent another wave of energy rippling over Black Annis’ body. With the last of her strength, she let out a terrible grating shriek. She twisted this way and that, kicking out at Callum violently, but he refused to let go. He dodged to avoid getting a razor-sharp toenail in the eye, and he could feel sweat pouring off him with the effort of keeping her down . . . but then he saw it.

Smoke.

The energy from his hands seemed to be causing Black Annis’ blue flesh to combust. The dried skins of the hag’s skirt began to singe and burn. Callum choked, but he didn’t let go. In that instant, the swell of power burst from his hands in a blaze of blue-white flame as pure as starlight. Wave upon wave of power surged through Callum’s hands. The energy ignited a raging blue blaze that roared like flames in a chimney around Black Annis’ body. The fire engulfed the crone, and Callum pulled his hands away, standing up he let his arms drop to his sides in exhaustion. His work was done. The blaze raged out of control, and he stumbled back and away from the demon, his eyes wide with amazement.

From amongst the flames, Black Annis let out one last, inhuman screech that made the hairs on Callum’s neck stand up.

Then she was gone.

For a few long seconds a cloud of ash swirled around the cave, then settled gently to the ground in a harmless heap, like the sand at the bottom of an hourglass.

Black Annis had finally come to rest in her lair.