[ Johanna grunts as he snatches her wrists, trying to pull back and failing. The words feel like they echo, like they're pulled from somewhere much deeper than a teenager's lungs. Hebrew, Greek. She recognizes the sounds of the languages, but not the words.
Extraordinary strength. Speaking unknown languages. That's two out of four.
Staring into the black eyes, the bared teeth, Johanna feels a crazy sense of déjà vu. The Latin phrases she's normally reach for are nowhere to be found; her mind is a blank whirl of horror and shock. A kid asks if she can help. She says yes. She's lying. The kid, who isn't the kid, calls her bluff.
You feel the scree slipping under you and know there's no handholds left.
Even if she could remember the rite, there's no time. He lets go of her wrists and Johanna is flung onto her back, skidding a foot -- and breaking the chalk lines holding the spell in place.
The power that they'd been feeding into the spell bursts outwards, like a flash bulb made of the opposite of light. The candles all snuff instantaneously, their makeshift candlesticks sent clattering across the floor. Salt and rosemary ash go flying. In the kitchen, the faucet rattles and starts to drip in a rapid patapatapat. Johanna's head explodes in pain, brief and blinding as a lightning strike, leaving her lying there stunned and panting. ]
cw for the linked post: violence by a child, death of a child, strangling
Extraordinary strength. Speaking unknown languages. That's two out of four.
Staring into the black eyes, the bared teeth, Johanna feels a crazy sense of déjà vu. The Latin phrases she's normally reach for are nowhere to be found; her mind is a blank whirl of horror and shock. A kid asks if she can help. She says yes. She's lying. The kid, who isn't the kid, calls her bluff.
You feel the scree slipping under you and know there's no handholds left.
Even if she could remember the rite, there's no time. He lets go of her wrists and Johanna is flung onto her back, skidding a foot -- and breaking the chalk lines holding the spell in place.
The power that they'd been feeding into the spell bursts outwards, like a flash bulb made of the opposite of light. The candles all snuff instantaneously, their makeshift candlesticks sent clattering across the floor. Salt and rosemary ash go flying. In the kitchen, the faucet rattles and starts to drip in a rapid patapatapat. Johanna's head explodes in pain, brief and blinding as a lightning strike, leaving her lying there stunned and panting. ]