Deni’s chin dropped. “It siphons off my magic.”
“Siphons it?” Lydia asked, glancing between me and Deni. “What does that mean?”
I had a horrific idea. Unfortunately, Deni didn’t disappoint. “That man takes it. He uses it to do…things.” Deni’s face paled further.
“Huxley?” I needlessly asked.
Deni gave a weak nod.
I thought for a moment and asked, “Not Shadow?”
This time I got a hesitant headshake. “No. I don’t think so. It’s difficult to tell. I’m not sure if they are the same or—”
“Different entities,” I supplied and got another answering nod.
Lydia’s focus remained on Deni. Eyes narrowed and eyebrows pulled together, she asked what I’d been wondering. “How long have you been here?”
“Here as in this room? Or here with Huxley?”
Lydia took a moment to consider before answering, “Both I suppose.”
“I’m not certain. Time is…difficult. I can say that this room is fairly new. I can’t remember how I got here. I was somewhere different for a very long time though.”
“You poor dear.” Lydia ran her fingers through Deni’s dull, brown hair. As I’d feared. Some of the strands broke at her gentle touch. This brownie wasn’t well. Considering brownies were made of magic, if Huxley had been draining the magic from this one, then it stood to reason that was why he was so ill.
The question was, how did Huxley entrap a brownie? Fairies feared brownies for a reason. This one might be only a child, butbrownies were even more protective of their children. “How did you…?” I couldn’t think of a delicate way to ask the question. Thankfully, Deni seemed to understand.
“How did I get in this situation?” Deni raised his shaking arms, showing off his shackles. “It was my first translocation.”
Lydia and I shared a confused look. “I’m not sure I know what that means,” I said.
Deni grimaced. “Brownies don’t reallylearnhow to translocate. It just sort of happens. The first time is the scariest because we don’t know how to control it or where to go. Some of us get lost and a few are lost forever.”
Lydia gasped. “That sounds terrifying.”
Deni shrugged. “I suppose it can be. Most of the time we just translocate to somewhere in the house. We’re found and slowly gain control.”
“But not you,” I rightly guessed.
Deni flinched. “No. I… Poppa sometimes consults with the Magical Usage Council. I’d been there a few times with him and I guess…when I first translocated, that’s where I went. Huxley found me. I thought he was safe.” Deni stared down at his hands. “I was wrong.”
I cupped Deni’s cheek. “You weren’t the only one. Huxley fooled a lot of individuals, and most of them were adults. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Franklin’s right, dear. You’re another one of that awful man’s victims.” Lydia’s anger grew. Wrapping her arms around Deni’s shoulders, Lydia glared at me. I could see the same determined fire in her eyes I’d seen a hundred times in Boone’s. “We’re taking him with us. We’re not leaving him behind. His poppa and momma must be so worried.”
“We aren’t leaving him,” I agreed. I just wished I knew how we were going to get ourselves out, let alone Deni.
“We need to get these shackles off.” Lydia glared at the metal as if it had personally offended her. “There’s a latch right here and—”
I sat up, reaching for her wrist and halting her motion. “Shadow warned us not to touch them. He said the backlash could kill a human.”
Lydia jerked her wrist from my hold. “As if I would believe anything that monster says. Besides, Shadow said itcouldkill a human. That implies no human has ever tried.”
“And if Shadow isn’t lying?”
Lydia’s shoulders stiffened. Pushing her hair over her shoulder, Lydia said, “If I die, then that’s one less piece ofcollateralto use against my son.”
“Then let me be the one. Let me—” My words cut off as Lydia grasped the metal encasing Deni’s left wrist. I sucked in a breath, bracing for the backlash that never came. Instead of a power blast sending Lydia Boone sprawling, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. The metal remained quietly quiescent.
