“Shadow!” Needing nothing more than their name spoken, Shadow fragmented, its dark tendrils flying up and through the ceiling.
The house settled. Tenzen Huxley did not. My breath caught. Long gone was the gentlemanly disguise. Jacket torn asunder, a tattered shirt covered Tenzen’s chest. His shoes lay shreddedaround his feet, exposing dark black claws. His gloved hands were similar, those same ebony talons extending from elongated fingertips.
But the absolute most disturbing feature were Tenzen’s eyes. A sickening yellow ringed a slitted pupil. His goat-like eyes stared into nothing, and yet I imagined they saw everything.
“They will pay for this offense.” Tenzen’s words were sharp and filled with rage. “They will pay dearly.”
Athumpsounded to my left, and my hand flew to my mouth, covering my joy with overwhelming dismay. Momma and Franklin lay on the floor, black shadows writhing over them. It was all too easy to see who Tenzen’s rage was directed at. He was murderously furious with the people I loved.
Chapter
Thirty
Franklin
I’m pretty sure I woke quicker this time. Not that what I awoke to was something I wanted to see or experience. Lydia groaned beside me. Our landing hadn’t been soft. I’d been sprawled on my back and was quickly yanked up onto my knees, my arms twisted behind me and my wrists pinned. Lydia was forced into a similar position.
“Momma! Franklin!” Boone’s worried voice kicked my heartrate into a higher gear.
“Boo—” His name was little more than a muffled sound as those damn shadows covered my mouth. They’d barely left enough room for me to breathe through my nose.
“Stop!” Boone turned frantic. “I don’t know what happened but—”
“How did you do it?” Huxley demanded as he stalked closer. “He is gone. Gone! What did you do?” Huxley hovered over me. Smoke curled from his nose, and ash scattered over me like snow. The very air heated, and sweat poured down my spine.
The shadow covering my mouth slid away, and I gasped, drawing in air in painfully heaping gulps. Nothing about ourcurrent situation should have made me happy. The grin tugging my lips spoke otherwise.
“A little trick I learned from a brilliant warlock.”
“Pops?”
Huxley’s shadows wouldn’t allow me to look at Boone.
“Impossible. You are the weakest of all the species. Not even a fairy could have broken his bindings. Not even the most powerfully magical being would be able to touch them.” Huxley’s words dripped with arrogant derision.
“Good thing I’m not a powerful fairy then.”
Huxley drew back, his goat eyes simmering as realization slammed into him. Lips pulling back, his sneer revealed a row of shark-like teeth. “You succeeded because you are so pathetically useless and weak.”
I wanted to shrug but couldn’t, given my shadow confinement. “I won’t argue that. Regardless, Deni is free.” I had no idea where he’d translocated off to. I took solace knowing he’d gotten out. That he was free of his enslavement.
“I can once more feel where Lydia Boone and Franklin O’Hare are. The mechanism blocking them from my knowledge is now gone.” I hadn’t even known Aurelia was here. Huxley still wouldn’t release my head, and I couldn’t get a good look around the room. Had Boone come with anyone else? Were Phlox and Leon here with him? And if so, were they okay?
“Deni’s a brownie,” I supplied. “Huxley had him enslaved and was draining his magic, using him for his own perverted reasons. Deni was just a child when he was taken.”
I wasn’t sure if the feral sound I heard came from Aurelia or if the scuttlebutt was with her. “Just like all masters. He used another against their will. The brownie was the reason I could not locate you earlier.” The level of hatred filling Aurelia’s words should have frightened Huxley. If so, he showed no indication of unease.
“The brownie was mine.”
“Wasbeing the operative word. I hope like hell that Deni made it home. And if he did, I can’t imagine his momma and poppa are going to be too happy finding out what you did to their child. I’ve always heard brownies are peaceful by nature but vengeful when it comes to wrongdoing against their loved ones.”
Huxley huffed, sending another cloud of ash raining down. “A couple of brownies is nothing.”
Dark laughter rumbled from deep within my chest. “Somehow I doubt it’ll just be acouple.” Brownies took care of their own. Not that they needed it, but I had little doubt Fairy would back them up and add whatever resources requested.
“It is no matter.” Huxley turned and stalked to a nearby fireplace. I desperately tried turning my head. I wanted—no, Ineededto see Boone. But it was no use. I was stuck tight. Lydia too, if her frustrated huffs and silence were any indication.
Huxley grabbed a rock from the mantel, reverently holding it in the palm of his hands. “There is but one power on Earth or Fairy that will be able to stop me, and I hold that power in my hands as well. Isn’t that right, Necromancer Boone?”
