“I can get it here, but it’ll take time,” Danzig said, completely giving up on the ruse.
“Gale told me it was on a dog,” Lomis said. “Someone put it on a dog like it was a collar. My most powerful creation is being treated like a decoration for a pet.”
As far as hiding places went, it wasn’t a bad idea. Especially since none of us had noticed it, which was the first requirement of a good hiding place!
I looked past Beatrix’s shoulder to see Lomis holding another tie in his hands. It was whole so it must be ready to be broken and unleash more of his deadly magic.
“If it isn’t here in ten minutes, I’m killing the human, the pixie and leaving,” he said. I was confused how he thought he could get away without Danzig attacking him when he reached out a hand and stroked the air.
A sparkling black line appeared. It widened enough for someone to step through.
“He’s cut an opening into the void,” Beatrix whispered, her voice full of fear. “Arthur told me about this but said he’s neverseen it. Dealing with pure void magic is so dangerous almost no one can do it.”
“No one does it because it’s hard to do?” I asked
“Yes, but also because it’s so unstable it’ll kill the user,” she said.
“If only it would kill Lomis,” I said.
“Except if he loses control of it, then it’ll probably take us all out,” she said. “And maybe a lot more. This is so bad.”
Danzig moved his body between Lomis and us. He was naked. If I was going to die, at least his bare butt would be the last thing I saw.
“Your void-tie will arrive, but I reject your timeline," Danzig said, unconcerned with his lack of clothing. “It comes when it comes and neither of us has control over it.”
“Unacceptable!” Lomis screamed, his attitude going from relaxed and confident to enraged in a split second. The change was startling and pointed to someone who was barely in control of themselves.
“What’s the thing he’s holding?” Beatrix asked. We were sitting side by side now, still clinging to each other, with her left side dragonfly wings still shielding us.
“That’s what he’s calling a tie,” I said. “It’s made of all kinds of endangered animals and it’s how he gets his power.”
“It looks like this one,” she said, pulling something out of the bag slung across her chest.
“Oh shit, that’s what he wants!” I whispered-shouted. “That’s the void-tie that was on Hugo!”
“It looks so ordinary,” she murmured. “Danzig asked me to carry it in case we needed to use it later. I didn’t know what it was.”
That answered my question of whether or not the guys knew about the void-tie.
“Should we give it to him?” she asked.
“No,” I said. “Once he has it, we’re all dead.”
She nodded. “You’re right, that was a dumb suggestion.”
Danzig was still talking to Lomis, using a lot of words to say very little. The only reason he’d do that was because Marduk must be getting close.
“Your suggestion isn’t dumb. In fact, you gave me an idea,” I said. “It’s probably a bad idea, but at least it’s something.”
“If it’s bad and works, it wasn’t bad,” Beatrix said. “What is it?”
“Do you have anything to start a fire with?”
Chapter 27
Marduk
After Beatrix left with Danzig wrapped around her neck, we got into Titan’s vehicle and tried to follow. Beatrix traveled too fast for us to keep up with on the ground. We lost them within a few minutes.
