Ava squints at the duo. I don’t know what exactly happened here, but I’m sure reinforcements are coming. We need tomove. “Alright,” I say. “Your friend can go with Ava and Chiyo.”
“No!” Ava says firmly.
“Ava, please. Take her friend to safety, get the others, and we’ll meet up with you.”
“I cannot just leave you.”
“I’ll stay,” Chiyo signs. “We’ll be fine.” She gives Ava’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
I remove the ring from my finger and hand it to Chiyo who slips it into Ava’s palm. As she closes Ava’s fingers around it, so much emotion fills Ava’s eyes that I’m not sure if she’ll cry or rage. Instead, she yanks Chiyo close, her lips practically crashing against Chiyo’s. As quickly as she kisses her, she releases her.
“I hate this,” Ava says, her face contorting. Her jaw clenches as she shoves the ring onto her finger. “I hate every bit of this. You allbettermake it out of here alive, or I’ll find you in the Underworld just to kill you again.”
She grabs the blond’s arm and they disappear.
Winnie dries her face on her upper arm before offering me her hand. “Ready?” she asks.
Chiyo blinks, still stunned, but I grab her hand. “Ready.” As soon as I clasp Winnie’s hand, we hurtle through the shadows and touch down inside a cold, damp place. Guards rush at us, but Winnie stomps and they stumble over a newly made fissure in the ground. One guard draws a sword, slashing wildly, and I summon a shield of darkness before I send out a whip of shadows. I grab on to whatever memories I can find. A cut of a blade, a death in the family, and I force all the feelings upon them, pulling them down until they’re overcome with grief andpain. Until they’re lying on the ground, writhing, useless, then unconscious.
Pain arcs through my head. I squint through my spotting vision as Winnie steps forward. Her fists close around the bars of the cell, muscular arms quivering as she slowly pulls the bars apart.
Within the cell, a figure cloaked in red holds Tiernan firmly against their front. There isn’t a weapon of any kind visible, but one arm is wrapped around his neck. The other is somewhere behind him. Winnie looks at me and says, “She has a dagger against his back.”
My heart is ready to split in two as I look at Tiernan’s ghostly face. Beneath copious amounts of blood and dirt are deep gashes. One of his eyes is swollen shut, and his teeth glisten red as he grits them against the pain. His shirt is in tatters, the grey fabric darkening from the blood seeping around his midsection. Tears streak down Chiyo’s face as she levels an arrow in her brother’s direction.
The figure behind him has a crimson cape drawn over her body, but her legs and feet are bare. Frizzy blond hair spills over her shoulders and across a face marred with angry red welts and puckered skin. The damage is concentrated to both her cheeks and her disfigured nose, but burn scars continue over her chin and down her neck.
“Take one more step and he becomes one with my pretty new dagger,” she says. Her bright green eyes are wild and frantic, her pupils tiny—animalistic.
My breath catches as recognition sinks into me. “Eefa?”
She tilts her head then smiles crookedly, her warped skin pulling taut as her pupils expand again. “Well, hello, Miss Durvla. You have missed quite a lot since you left Paramount. Let’s see, where do I start?”
Anger bubbles in my veins. “You can start by releasing Tiernan.”
If Eefa had eyebrows, they would’ve risen. Surprise blooms on her face. “Oooh, how bold you’ve gotten.” Her eyes flick to Chiyo. “Tell your friend to lower her weapon.”
“You first.”
She pulls Tiernan tighter, and his heavy-lidded eyes settle on me. He isn’t fighting her and his breathing is too rapid. I’m certain he can feel the dagger against his back.
She has the upper hand; if I strike, she can still stab him. Unleashing my shadows would be too obvious and give her a chance to make a move. My pulse thunders, my breath growing short. “Lower your arrow,” I say to Chiyo, feeling my voice crack.
I wish Winnie knew sign language. I wish I was the Mimic right now. But there’s no magic to fall back on, and my wits seem scattered. Maybe Ava was right. I have no mind for combat. How am I going to get us all out of this in one piece?
“Do you have the stone, gorgeous?” Eefa asks, looking at Winnie.
Winnie’s lips remain sealed, but her eyes dart to me. I nod very subtly to her, and she reaches into her pocket.
Eefa repositions the dagger, pulling it out from behind Tiernan’s back and pressing it against his side. The blade is black as obsidian, a vein of glowing purple running through it. It’s a very loud threat although Eefa doesn’t say a word. Chiyo’s hand flies to her mouth.
I have to thinkfast. “Eefa,” I say, gently. “Tiernan has done nothing to you. If you can just … release him, we’ll be out of your hair.”
A scornful grin crawls across her lips before she says, “So, so very clever. But no.”
Tiernan’s eyes are glassy and unfocused as he tries to settle his gaze on me. He’s trembling so much that I fear he’llinadvertently get himself stabbed regardless. The familiar nudge of his powers against me is such a warm welcome—I drop my shields. His voice in my mind is so faint, so distant. “She’ll kill me rather than lose. Get everyone out of here and don’t look back.”
I keep my face as stoic as I can though my chest lurches painfully. “I can’t?—”
