The wood of the sliding door glowed with my magic and slowly absorbed it. Anyone who tried to open the door on the other side would be shocked—the kind of shock that packed the wallop of a set of defibrillator paddles, and their heart would stop for several seconds.
It wouldn’t kill them, but it would buy us time as they recovered.
I ran down the steps as the first howl of pain ripped through the air. Three hits. The door would give three hits, maybe four if we were lucky. In other words, we had to hurry.
Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, it wasn’t far to a doorway that opened into a shop of sorts. A small goblin with oversized ears and a bloody bandage on his forehead sat on the counter, his eyes wide and his hands spread out to either side. Rory stood in front of him, the other four guys now ranged out behind him.
“Tell me what she bought and where she went,” Rory demanded, and by the sounds of it, this wasn’t the first time he’d asked.
The goblin fanned out his spidery fingers. “Can’t. That’s confidential. You know that. Wouldn’t want me telling the next person what you came here looking for, now, would you?”
Rory turned as I came in, his eyes tight.
“We can find her,” I said. “We have Pete’s nose.”
Rory looked over at Ethan. “What we need is something to keep Ethan up and moving for the next twenty-four hours. After that . . . after that, he’ll need a healer for sure.”
I looked at Rory and then each of the others, my friends. “They want to capture one of us, and . . .”
“Kill the rest,” Ethan said. “I know.”
“Well, my money’s on Ethan for making it through alive,” Gregory drawled.
I shot him a look and he shrugged. “You can’t say I’m wrong.”
No, he wasn’t wrong. Ethan would be taken. And we would be killed.
“Yes, that’s their plan,” I whispered. “They didn’t think I could hear them.”
Gordy tipped his head to the side, making his bat ears flop. “Damn, you brought the heat on me this time.”
Another howl came from up top. Two down, but it wouldn’t be long before they were on our heels.
“Hurry,” Ethan rasped. “We have to hurry.”
“Something to give him a pick-me-up?” Gordy hopped across tables to the smallest of his counters. “I got something. A bit of juice, if you will.” He rummaged around until he pulled out a Flintstones vitamin jar that looked about twenty years old, the label half scratched off and the plastic dingy.
He unscrewed the lid and shook the bottle, popping two green gummies out. Literal gummy bears. “Two pills as needed. Should keep you on your feet. Right until you drop dead, that is, so take care.”
He gave two to Ethan, who ate them quickly, without question.
Another scream from up above. I grabbed the bottle from the goblin. “We’ll take it. And a way out.”
“Hey, you gotta pay for that!” he barked.
“Mr. Helix is coming down here. You tell him it’s for his son and he can pay for it,” I said as I turned toward the guys.
Pete did a slow turn and sniffed at the air, then went to his hands and knees. He shuffled along until he pressed his face against the wood paneling of the far wall. He turned and tapped his nose and pointed to a hallway that led away from the door we’d entered. “She went this way. I think.”
“Go,” I said as the sounds of footsteps rattled down the stairs.
I pushed the guys in front of me, shoving the bottle into Rory’s hands. “Go, you have to find her.” I paused. “I’ll slow them down.”
“No fighting in my shop!” Gordy yelled. “None!”
Rory gave me a slow nod. “Catch up when you can.” Then he gave me a quick hug and kissed me on the top of my head.
I could tell he knew what I did. I wouldn’t be able to catch up, not at all. If Helix caught us all together, he would kill all but Ethan. Better for Ethan to get out and for me to be caught and used as bait.
But I would make them work for it.
I put my hand on the door that led into Gordy’s room and wrapped it in another touch of death.
“Necromancer,” Gordy said with more kindness than he should have, considering he didn’t want any fighting in his shop. “You can’t go up against mages. They’re stronger than you. And they’ve got years of training.”
“There is less than a three percent chance of me being able to best these mages based on their age, strength, and general knowledge, that is true.” My voice deepened, and I shuddered, shaking it off. I lifted my head and stood back. “But I have to slow them down. My friend’s life, all of my friends’ lives, depend on it. And I won’t fail them.”
“Even the goblin?” He seemed surprised.
“Gregory is smart and capable, and we wouldn’t have made it this far without him,” I said. “I count him as one of my closest friends.”
Gordy gave me a kind smile. “You’re a better friend than most deserve.”
The door behind me shuddered, and a bolt of fear shot through me. I swallowed hard, my confidence in my new strength wavering. “I . . . I won’t let them down. You should go. Hide if you can.”
Gordy sighed. “Why is it the good ones always die so young?” He hopped off his table and went to the door the boys had gone out. He waved his hand over the wood, and it smoothed into stone and mortar as if a door had never been there. I gaped at it. That was a handy trick.
A bellow of rage came from behind me, and the main door splintered. A wand poked through and I snatched it away, throwing it across the room. Gordy caught it. “Excellent. I’ll count this as payment for the damage and the vitamins.”
“Damn it, she took my wand!” one of the twins shrieked.
I glanced at Gordy, and he crooked a finger at me. “You want me to follow you?”
He shrugged and then grinned. “There’s always more than one way out, if you dare to follow me, one from the House of Unmentionables.”
There was no choice as far as I was concerned. “I trust you more than I’d ever trust a House of Wonder mage.”
His smile widened as he clutched at the wand, a glimmer in his eyes. “Well, then, let us be gone.”
I took a breath and dove into the darkness of his back room.
What had I gotten myself into this time?
7
Wild
I jogged at a steady pace, using up precious energy to get where I needed to go as quick as possible. Through the dark of the night heading north through New York City, straight toward Central Park. The rubble of the House of Claw would provide me with a place to curl up for a few hours, lick my wounds, read the note that Gordy had given me, and get a plan together to get my friends out of Frost’s hands.
I almost opened my connection to them to see if they really were in the jail with Frost eating their energy. Nausea rolled through me at the thought of losing another of my friends. Of feeling one of them die.
For just a moment I could feel Colt’s body in my arms as I held him, staring at his closed eyes, searching for the bond between us. Finding nothing and feeling that emptiness soar once more inside of me. One minute he’d been promising to kiss me and the next he was dead.