Scholomance 9, Logan Jacobs [best books for 8th graders TXT] 📗

the rest of its body, and the beast let out an underwater roar that made my eardrums vibrate and bleed.

I gritted my teeth through the haze of pain, and I aimed my wand at another tentacle. “Secare!”

Another sharp limb fell to the ocean floor, and inky blood leaked from its open wounds as the beast’s eyes grew even more expansive, bloodthirsty, and demanding.

“Volant!” Marina screamed as she aimed her wand at the beast.

The giant squid flew back and smacked itself against a cave wall, but then the menacing creature turned its neon-colored eyes toward Marina, and my heart hammered more violently in my chest.

The beast used what strength it had left to spring toward the siren, and I knew Marina wasn’t prepared for it to come so quickly for her. Before either of us had time to react, the ocean beast wrapped its remaining teeth-covered tentacles completely around Marina’s slim body and began to squeeze her with all its might. The purple-haired witch automatically dropped her wand and thrashed around as she tried to fight back, but the creature was at least ten times her size and far stronger.

Blood immediately began to spurt from her mouth as she tried to cry out my name, and more blood seeped from her skin and tail as the creature tried to squash her like a grape.

My strength and power were waning from moving the rocks with my mind, but blinding, boiling anger welled through my entire body as I stared hard at the creature. I quickly opened my heart to Satan and willed the unholy spirits to be with me, even in this deep, dark, and blood-filled cave, and I pictured this disgusting creature’s massive head exploding into bits of gore.

I wanted him to become a feast for the fish and nothing more, and as my body trembled, and I felt the dark lord’s power surrounding me, I uttered the ancient, unholy spell in my mind and willed what I pictured to come to life.

Modus antiquorum.

Suddenly, the giant squid’s slimy, bleeding body began to tremble, but it still maintained its firm grip on Marina. It killed me to see my witch in such agonizing pain, but I knew I had to keep focusing on the beast, which had its tentacles still wrapped around her wounded body.

I continued to keep my heart open to Satan, and I prayed for the beast’s strength to wane and for its massive head to explode into a hundred bloody pieces. The creature may have been a hideous creature on the outside, but deep in its core, I knew there was holy power coursing through its body to prevent my dark abilities from quickly killing it. I fought against the creature’s holy life force with all my might and willed my dominating darkness to take over its mind, body, and soul. I knew I was more powerful than whatever was controlling this entity, and my whole body shook with determination as I imagined its heart withering and its mind exploding.

Finally, the beast began to tremble more violently, and it released its grip on Marina just enough for her to swim away from the creature. But then, her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she sunk to the bottom of the cavern. She laid there as still as stone and bleeding from the wounds the creature inflicted upon her, and raw, sizzling anger boiled in my blood as I kept my focus on the giant squid and willed it to die a painful and brutal death.

I shook with rage and resolve as the head of the squid quivered, and its eyes were nearly bulging out of its giant sockets by now. I refused to look away until its massive head burst like a colossal, ripe melon, and as the beast sunk to the bottom of the cave, bits of gore, flesh, and viscous substances floated everywhere like chunks of bloody rain.

I swam down through the cloud of carnage and picked up the unconscious Marina, and I also snatched her wand. Then I did my best to carry Marina, push through the cave entrance, and then swim toward the shallows, where I knew the others were waiting for us.

Before I could reach the beach, though, I could feel my gills retracting back into my skin, and when I looked down at Marina’s tail, it was slowly splitting apart into two flesh-colored legs.

“Fuck,” I muttered in a spray of bubbles, and as the salty water went down my throat, I knew I was running out of time.

I kicked my feet frantically and pulled the bleeding and unconscious Marina up to the surface to allow her to breathe, and relief spread through me when we broke through the waves. I gasped and gulped for air as I treaded water for a moment, and when I looked toward the beach, I saw the others all anxiously waiting for us. They began to shout incoherently from the red beach, and I used every ounce of strength I had to bring Marina safely back to shore.

By the time I was in shallow water, the others ran to help, and Akira and Morgana both grabbed Marina by her underarms and dragged her half-naked toward the red beach. Meanwhile, Penelope and Nyx ran to help me up as I pushed through the water and stumbled toward the shore.

“What the hell happened down there?” Vanessa asked as she gazed at the bleeding Marina, and she waved her wand in the purple-haired witch’s direction. “Pallavi.”

Suddenly, a long skirt appeared on Marina’s legs and covered her up while the others attended to her wounds. She didn’t seem to be breathing, and she continued to bleed onto the red sand.

“She’ll be okay,” Beatrix said as she looked at the two of us. “We just need to wake her up.”

“Give her a moment,” I said. “The pact will