Lydia harumphed in triumph. Her fingers deftly slid across the metal to the clasp encasing his wrist. The sound of the mechanism giving way was music to our ears. The metal dropping to the floor was a sweet symphony.
Deni’s eyes widened as he stared at his raw, uncovered wrist. “That… I can’t believe you can do that. When I’ve tried to touch them…” He cringed. “The pain is too great. I tried pushing through it once, but I was knocked unconscious. I think I lost days that time.”
Lydia moved onto the right wrist while I took the ankles. Within a matter of seconds, we had Deni free of all but the most important one around his neck.
“Maybe his restraints respond to magic,” Lydia theorized. “They were most likely created with magical creatures in mind. I doubt anyone thought twice about what a human might do.”
“You could be right.” I thought back to that horrible day Dr. McCallister had attempted to kill Boone and steal Warlock Holland’s power. The symbols he’d etched on the floor, the trap he’d set, hadn’t taken into account non-magical, human blood. All it took was a little of mine to disrupt a single symbol. That action had released Warlock Holland, and he’d unleashed hell upon McCallister.
“Humans are always underestimated,” Lydia proudly proclaimed. That was generally true. What was also generally accurate was that underestimation was typically well earned.
Cocking her head to the side, Lydia examined the collar stealing Deni’s magic. “I don’t see a locking mechanism on this one. What about you?” Lydia glanced my direction.
Twisting my head, I tried to see around the collar, but this corner of the room was too dark. The sun had already set. There were no light switches and no lightbulbs that I could make out. However, the moon was three-quarters full, and it was lighter at the other end of the room. Now that Deni was free of his restraints, we could move him.
“Do you think you can stand?” I asked Deni. “It’s lighter at the other end of the room.” My instinct had been to reach for my phone and the flashlight app on it. But predictably, my phone was long gone, as were all of Warlock Holland’s charms. Lydia’s were too.
Deni pushed up but quickly fell back on his knees. “I-I don’t think so.” He sounded winded and dejected.
“Can I pick you up?” I asked before reaching for him.
Deni’s eyes shimmered with what I thought might be unshed tears. “I… Th-that would be fine. If you’re able.”
“I’ve picked Boone up, and I’d guess you weigh half what he does.” Standing, I scooped Deni into my arms. I wouldn’t say it was the most graceful retrieval, but I think I managed well enough not to hurt either one of us. He really did weigh next tonothing. Brownies were small, but this…this was something else. Something that wasn’t natural. Something that malnourishment and mistreatment had created. The list of atrocities Huxley had to answer for was growing ever longer.
I moved Deni as close as possible to the moonlight streaming in through the window. I halfway expected the shadows to stop us, but they didn’t. I wasn’t certain if Huxley wasn’t currently watching us or if he wasn’t concerned with what we were doing. If the latter were true, then Lydia and I didn’t have a prayer of getting the collar off Deni.
My fingers skimmed the edges. It was smooth all around. I couldn’t locate where it came together. Pulling my hands away, I hung my head. “I can’t find anything.”
“Let me feel,” Lydia said while gently pushing me to the side. Her fingers slipped around the collar, eyes closed as she narrowed her focus. Fingers tilted, Lydia ran her nails along the surface. “There,” she reverently said. “I found the seam.” Lydia tapped the area with her fingernail.
Circling Deni’s body, I squinted at the spot Lydia found. It took a few seconds, but I saw it too. “You’re right.” My joy quickly faded as I studied the area. We found the connecting seam, but I couldn’t figure out how it was latched. To Lydia’s frustration, neither could she.
“I need a nail file,” Lydia all but huffed. “I have no idea what Huxley did with my purse. I swear, if someone’s gotten a hold of my credit cards and personal information, I will castrate that man.”
I had no idea if Huxley had the parts in question for Lydia to make good on her threat. If not, no doubt she would locate another valued body part and find a way to remove it.
Deni’s head drooped. “I appreciate your efforts. Simply having my wrists and ankles free is a relief.”
The skin where the shackles had been was red and irritated. Deni kept rubbing the raw areas, making them even more inflamed. I didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop.
Sitting on my ass, knees bent, I stared at the damned collar and the stone embedded within. So far, it hadn’t turned crimson again. I didn’t know how often it did that. I also didn’t know if Huxley was directly alerted when the magic was siphoned off. If we could figure out a way to remove it, would Huxley immediately know?
I wasn’t certain how long it would take Deni to regain enough magic to be able to translocate out of this room, but by the looks of him, I figured it would take more than a few minutes. I was estimating days to weeks at this point. Although to be fair, an expert on brownie magic I was not.
I was staring at the floorboards, my mind wandering when I circled back to that day we’d fought Dr. McCallister. Twisting my palms up, I stared at my calloused hands. I had no idea how magic worked. As a lowly, completely unmagical human, I was devoid of the stuff. Lydia was too. Presumably, that’s how we’d been able to touch Deni’s restraints. My non-magical blood had made the difference before. Could it do so again?
There was only one way to find out.
Standing, I started a new search. I needed something sharp enough to scratch the symbols and cut through my skin. I could always bite my finger but considered that a last resort.
“What are you doing?” Lydia asked, her voice a little farther away since I’d moved deeper into our attic prison.
“I’m not sure. Looking for something sharp.”
“Why? Do you think we can cut the collar off?”
“Nope.” I didn’t elaborate, and thankfully Lydia fell silent. I caught the glint of something metal sticking out of one of the rafters. It was a nail that had gone through at the wrong angle, the business end sticking out. But it was too high and still tooattached to do much good. I kept looking and finally found something that might work.
