“No!” I scream at the top of my voice, trying to alert the rest of the coven.
Menacing growls fill the air, making every fine hair on my body stand on end. I can’t tell if Norbert has regressed into something more terrifying than a corpse determined to make me his eternal companion, but his grip on my ankle loosens.
I lie with my back flush against the wall, farthest away from the other edge of the bed, trying to put as much distance between myself and what’s happening.
“Easy now.” Norbert’s voice trembles. “I have no quarrel with the Barghest.”
My breath catches, and I gaze out into the bedroom, not seeing any trace of Norbert. King Henry mentioned the Barghest in my dream. But what is a monster that feeds on terror doing in Grandma’s house?
The Barghest snarls so loudly that my stomach churns and every inch of my skin tightens into goosebumps.
Norbert’s scream curdles my blood. His head falls to the ground with a thump and settles on its side.
He stares at me through milky eyes, whispering the word, ‘help’ over and over, as whatever’s out there mauls the rest of his body.
My ears fill with the sound of tearing fabric and flesh as limb after limb falls on a pile, some of them landing on Norbert’s disembodied head.
I breathe hard, trying to remain still, quiet, trying to contain my panic. If the monster shredding Norbert apart finds me hiding beneath this bed, then becoming a necromancer’s zombie plaything will be the least of my worries.
“What the fuck?” Aggie screams from the doorway.
“Get out of here,” I shout. “Get help.”
“Stop that,” she yells at the Barghest. “You’re killing him.”
I rear back, the base of my head hitting the skirting board. Can’t Aggie tell Nobert’s already dead?
“Aggie, leave!” My voice breaks. I can’t allow her to get hurt again.
“He can’t hurt me,” she says with a huff. “I learned my lesson from the last time I dyed my locket.”
Maybe it’s the sound of all that carnage but it takes several seconds to register that she’s referring to when she got clawed by the Boogie Man. Tarnishing the metal of her protective locket must have eroded its magic.
“For fuck’s sake, Aggie,” I yell. “You might be protected, but I’m not. Call Grandma and the rest of the coven.”
“I can handle him.”
My vision fills with a flash of light.
The Barghest makes a mournful howl. It’s so familiar.
Shit.
This isn’t any Barghest. It’s the hound.
No, it’s the Boogie Man.
The Boogie Man just rescued me from Norbert.
My breath quickens, and hundreds of questions flitter across my mind, starting with how on earth he returned after getting banished.
I crawl out from under the bed to find the hound twisting from side to side with ropes of white magic around his neck, his jaws snapping at my cousin.
Aggie jerks her wand toward the ceiling, and the magic hangs him like a noose. The hound’s legs thrash back and forth, trying to free his neck.
My heart shatters. My mind flitters through every tender moment I shared with the hound, how he made me feel wanted—like I was no longer alone. My chest aches at the thought that she’s a devoted creature, even if he really is the Boogie Man.
I can’t stand to see him in pain.