I look where he’s pointing. A circle of red-capped toadstools lines the property. “A fairy ring. He’s warded the place.” Not a particularly strong ward but the best he could do with luck alone. He’d need old magic like Godmother’s to create something stronger.
“I’ve got it.” Seven focuses his energy, and I feel his power swirl between us. He leans down and digs up one of the mushrooms with his bare hands, breaking the ring. He carries it to the fountain and places the bottom in the water. “I’ll replace it on our way out.”
We walk together toward the front door, but then he takes my hand and leads me around to the back of the cabin. He stops in front of a subterranean window with a deep well lined in stone. It’s dark, dank, and home to one too many spiders.
“You can’t be serious.” I flash him an incredulous look.
“This is how I got out last time.”
I feel my eyes bulge. “Wait, you had to break out? I thought your father let you out!”
He reaches down and jostles the narrow window. The lock gives way, and it slides open. Without another word, he slips through the dark opening.
I can’t believe I’m doing this. My skin turns clammy and my heart flutters at the sight of that dark hole.Sure, drop into my father’s dungeon where pixies are being held and maybe tortured and killed.Pixies like me. Held by a leprechaun who outwardly hatesme. Why am I doing this?
“Crazy,” I mumble to myself. But I know why. There’s no other way. If the worst is happening, Seven and I are in a unique position to take Chance down, but only if we can stay ahead of him. If I don’t do this, his next victim could be someone I love, someone like Penelope or gods-forbid, Arden. That last thought drives me on. I blow out a breath and drop through the window.
My eyes adjust, and I see Seven at the end of a long stone hallway. It’s too dim for me to read his expression but his body language is grim, his shoulders slumped, his head bowed. I walk toward him but pull up short when I pass the first room. These aren’t cells with bars but chambers with glass-paneled doors. I can see inside, but if the pixie caged there can see me, she doesn’t show it. She’s filthy, dressed in rags and thinner than any pixie should be, sitting cross-legged on a narrow bed.
A primal urge to run sends a tremor through me. I force myself to try the doorknob, but of course it’s locked.
“Seven, get her out of there,” I say. It will take more luck than I have to find the key or crack the lock.
“There are five of them, Sophia. The other five.”
I rush down the hall, counting the women behind the windows. My voice shakes as I say, “I see that. Let’s get them out of here and call Godmother for backup. Your father did this. He has to be stopped.”
Seven turns to me, and I realize why he isn’t moving. A lump forms in my throat at the defeated look in his eyes. He’s broken. Damaged. Burning up from the inside. I can see him turning to ash right in front of me.
I take his face in my trembling hands. “This is not your fault. Your father did this. Not you. He’s a very sick man. But right now it’s up to us to make this right. Help me get these people out of here.”
The words are barely out of my mouth when the door that must lead to the rest of the house flies open and Chance Delaney strides in.
ChapterTwenty-Nine
I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take morechances. —Brian Tracy
“What areyoudoing here?” Chance growls. He straightens his tie, looking as if he came directly from the boardroom in his carefully tailored suit. Not a hair out of place. No one would suspect the horror show he created here just by looking at him.
My skin crawls thinking about what he’s done. Slowly, I inch toward the window. If I can slip out, I can call Godmother for help.
“Why? Why did you do this?” Seven gestures toward the locked rooms, toward the vacant eyes of the women inside them.
“This is where they belong, son,” Chance says seriously. “They’re a lesser species. They’re ours to own. Don’t tell me you haven’t wanted one for yourself. Dammit, the truth is standing right there.” He points at me.
“I want her but not to own. As a partner… to love.” He glares bravely at his father.
I stop moving, frozen by the revelation. Seven wants meto love. Warmth spreads through my torso, even as the horror around me leaves me cold.
“Don’t be a fool. No one will accept it. It just isn’t done. Besides, theywantto be owned.”
“Then why kill her? Phoebe?” Seven asks through his teeth.
“That… was an accident. That little bird swore she’d never sullied herself with a human. I caught her with her hands on him. I thought it would be enough to kill the human scum in front of her, but she wasn’t content like my other birds. She wanted out. And of course I couldn’t allow that to happen. Once something is mine, it’s mine. She said she wanted a relationship, then changed her mind. Flighty little bitch. Ihadto punish her. Sadly, she broke under pressure.”
My blood turns to ice at his evil grin, and I take another slow step back. Almost there. I can feel a breeze drift through the open window and my heart races, desperately wanting out of this room.
“So you killed her and fed her to Yissevel.”
