Finn’s gaze caught mine. His expression filled with shock for perhaps half a second, but that burned away, and all that was left was a demand: Come to me. Mari. Come here.
Another lance of fire shot at us. This one wasn’t from Finn—it was Darin. I hadn’t noticed him standing next to Finn, perched at the top of the lighthouse.
I yanked the square knot loose, and the fire fizzled and died.
Finn was surrounded by illusion. Just like last night, when he held out his hand, a thousand knots were perched there, ready to unleash Armageddon.
He threw a black swarm toward us. It was a circular abyss, ready to swallow us whole. I unraveled the figure-eight knot in seconds.
Finn shook his head. What? Telling me not to untie it?
He threw another. I unraveled it.
His mouth tightened.
That was the look he wore when something frustrated him. I’d seen it on him when he talked about things he wanted to change but couldn’t: his mom dying, people who abused animals, Luvic always drinking straight out of the milk carton and leaving the empty container in the fridge.
I narrowed my eyes on him. Felt Jagger’s hate sweep through me. I wanted to deny he’d killed Griff and sent me a message. I wanted to deny he’d set off earthquakes and terrorized the city. Yet here he was, shooting fire lances and sending black swarms at my brother and me.
Another swarm shot our way, followed by a lance from Darin. I tugged their knots free.
Then I spun the grotesque around, circling Jacob. Last night, Jagger said I couldn’t speak to old friends, but that order had ended the moment the sun came up. The order that had stood until he rescinded it was that I couldn’t let any conjurer know by word, action, or deed that I once cared or still did care.
I veered close to Jacob. “Hi.”
There. That was noncommittal.
He smiled. He looked so far from the conjurers’ boogeyman that I almost laughed.
“Hey.”
“What are you up to?” I asked, unraveling another bolt of fire.
“Oh. You know. Just . . . having fun.” He tossed a bolt of lightning at Finn and Darin. It hit the lighthouse. The metal railing sparked, then twisted.
“I think you might electrocute them,” I said, hovering next to him.
“Hmm.” Jacob glanced at me out of the corners of his eyes. I felt him poke and prod at the center of me, that slight knocking on the door of my power. “Ah,” he said, nodding. “I see. That’s going to be a problem, isn’t it? How much power does he have over you?”
I didn’t say anything, and Jacob nodded.
Behind the lighthouse, Justice burst through the fog. He saw me next to Jacob, batting away another giant black abyss. He kicked his grotesque and dove toward the lighthouse.
But then that boat with the idiot storm chasers broke through the fog. It was two men. One of them was young and large, with the build of a sumo wrestler. At first glance, he looked like an angry boulder. The second man was small and slight, with pale skin, a thin mustache, and a bald head.
I’d discounted them as idiots before, but now, I saw the boat was made from illusion and the men were swamped in knots.
As soon as they broke though, Darin threw a wall of fire at Justice. At the same time, Finn threw a black swarm at Jacob and me. I untied Darin’s fire. I unraveled Finn’s black swarm.
I missed the giant water hand that reached up and swatted Justice from the sky.
It smacked him from his grotesque. He catapulted through the air and then slammed into the rocky shoal at the base of the lighthouse. His head struck a jagged rock, and he went limp. Unconscious. That was twice in less than twenty-four hours. He lay completely unprotected and exposed. The waves crashed over his legs, threatening to suck him into the water.
I clenched my hand and fought the urge to fly to him and hoist him to safety.
His grotesque, riderless, flew back into the fog. Jagger had made them so that if they were ever without a rider, they returned to Hell Gate to their perch.
The men in the boat were doing something. They were conjuring, tying ropes and knots between them like a cat’s cradle. Their tiny boat was bucking on the waves, tossing about like a paper boat in a waterfall. I was certain it would capsize any second.
