“Outside guarding Jerry’s treasured dead bodies, thankfully. I’ll never know.”
“None of the others are probably worth anything,” Daisy said, putting her hands on her hips. “The fae is looking for power, and that hum seems to signify that power. Without it, it’s almost certainly just an ordinarycrystal or rock or strange glass sculpture with a rock driven into it.”
“Why were there so many of those magical items in this one lot, I wonder?” Lexi asked, her eyes traveling over the remaining items. “Didn’t you say there was only one in that apartment?”
“Yeah. But who knows what he found in the other places he visited,” Daisy said, stepping back and bumping into Jack. “Would you skedaddle?”
“Nope. You’re short. Bend down and start collecting the rocks on the bottom shelf.”
“I want to know how his supplier came by all of this.” Lexi stepped away, chewing her lip in thought. “This seems like too big of a payload.”
“We can cross-check?—”
Henry’s words fell away as Daisy closed her fingers over the mostly round rock in the far corner. The second her hand touched the strangely silky surface, a violent jolt flared up her arm and exploded within her body. Heat unfurled from her middle and crackled through her limbs, a feeling like her blood was flash-boiling and scalding her skin from the inside out. It rushed her length, came back to her middle, and lodged there with a heavy, white-hot flare of agony. The air pulsed around her, a sonic boom that blasted out and blotted out her vision. Something hard and unmovable hit her back a moment before her head thunked against it.
The ground. She’d fallen.
Pulses of heat, of electrical current, of raw power continued to pour into her body from where her fingers were still closed around the object, her thumb dipping in a hole in the side, the sharp points within blistering her fingers with heat.
“Get it out of my hand,” she panted, darkness threatening to take over her. “Get it out of my hand!”
13
Afoot connected with her wrist. If there was pain, it couldn’t register. The orb shook loose. Her arm tingled in its wake, and her vision was still splotchy black, with the lantern glow filtering in around.
“Daisy, hey.” Lexi bent over her, putting her hand under her head and peering into her face. “Daisy, are you okay? What happened? What was it?”
Daisy’s body shook with the residual power, like she’d been electrocuted. Her feet felt numb.
“That’s one of them,” she managed from a scratchy throat. Had she been screaming? “Maybe don’t touch it, though.”
Lexi helped her to sit, kneeling beside her. Everyone had gathered around. The orb lay up against the metal of the shelves, and she could now see its details. What she’d mistaken for rock was actuallycrystal around the outside of the misshapen sphere. It glittered in the low light, grays and creams and whites creating planes and textures within. An opening in one side went through to the other, leaving the middle hollow. Glittering points, like princess-cut diamonds, flowed along the inside like a river and spilled over in three places, where it traveled over the surface and dipped into the other side. The overall effect was breathtaking, a piece of art or décor that would be highly sought after.
“That’s it.” She could barely understand herself through her numb lips. “That’s it.” Her breath still came in quickly. She couldn’t get enough air. “That’s the crystal chalice. That’s what he’s looking for. It must be.”
Lexi didn’t even spare it a glance, still looking into Daisy’s eyes with concern.
“We got a curious sergeant,” Boman called from the front. “He must’ve felt that blast of…whatever that was.”
Daisy looked that way, her head still rattled, thoughts coming slow. “It blasted out that far?”
“It nearly knocked us off our feet.” Lexi glanced behind at Thane.
“Yup.” He bent and scooped Daisy up, hugging her into his hard chest. “Let’s get you into the car, huh, princess?”
He knew she wasn’t a fan of that nickname. He was trying to rile her up and make light of this situation,knowing she didn’t like people to take care of the Chester. Knowing she hated proof of her weaknesses.
“I’m rattled, not incompetent,” she said automatically, but didn’t struggle away from him. She might be lying. Her feet were still mostly numb, and it felt like she had bugs crawling under her skin. She wasn’t sure how walking would go just now. “I can still stick you with something sharp when you’re not looking.”
“There she is.” Thane grinned.
“The sergeant has a gun,” Boman called. “He can’t see me, but he can hear me, and he’s about to take aim.”
“I got him.” Donovan jogged in that direction. He was a telekinetic and probably intended to yank the gun away.
Daisy lost sight of them as Thane neared the back door.
“Don’t use your hands!” Lexi hollered. “Are you crazy, Mordecai? You saw what happened to your sister. Use the sack or kick it in with your shoe or something.”
