“If I let them go . . .”
“You have to, it’s the only way,” I said.
His shoulder straightened and then he dropped his hold on the other vampires and shot toward us. His hand latched on tight and the key sunk all the way in.
Bodies slammed against us, Ethan hollered as he was dragged backward and I cranked the handle to the right, yanked the key out, and stumbled through the door, the guys right behind me.
Ethan was wrestling with one of the vampires. Orin snaked a hand outward, threw the vampire off Ethan and jerked him through the door with us.
“Lock it!” Pete yelped.
I jammed the key back in the keyhole, the skull pressing against my palm as it clicked, and the lock slid home.
Still on my knees, I looked over my shoulder.
“Wally!” She was on the floor of the windowless, doorless room, seemingly asleep.
Pete reached her first, carefully pulling her into his lap. “She’s . . . her heartbeat is really slow. Slower than Orin’s was.” His eyes shot to mine. “Wild, is she dying?”
I crouched next to her and took one of her hands in my good one. The room immediately softened, and two ghosts came into view.
One was Tommy, the other was my mother. I focused on Tommy first as he seemed the more solid of the two. Not that my mom wasn’t a draw, but I needed current information.
“A little help here would be amazing,” I said as I pushed some of my energy into Wally. Whatever was draining her was going to have to go through me first.
Tommy crouched next to me. “Your vampire friend is right. The master vampires want her—they want her as a vampire, because she is such a strong necromancer. Just like each of the houses want the other members of your crew. You were the key to them finding their abilities, Wild. But now . . .”
I stared hard at him as Wally slowly came around, muttering under her breath.
“Fifteen percent of people who drown do so . . . eighty-six out of every hundred who face a boa constrictor . . . one percent chance of survival against a T-Rex . . .” She curled against Pete, who blushed rapidly but didn’t let her go as she mumbled into his chest.
Smart guy.
“Keys. Everything is about the keys,” my mom said and I looked to her.
“What do you mean?”
Behind us, the door rattled. “Pick her up, Pete.” I kept a hand on Wally, and Pete did as I asked, his face going a bit redder, but he was strong enough. I was sure of it.
My mother looked us over. “You have one of them. There is a place where they all fit. Five houses. Five keys. The sickness that is raging . . . it is tied to these keys. You have very little time, Wild.” Her smile was sad. “Your father has this sickness. Every null has this sickness. It has been spreading slowly, but a new strain has been developed. One meant to change our world and reshape it . . . there is very little time before there is no chance to reverse it. Tommy died trying.”
Chills rippled through me. How did she know this? This was the task that Tommy had been after, this was what got him killed.
“You cannot trust him,” my mom whispered, looking over her shoulder at something I couldn’t see. “He is tied to another—”
The walls around us rippled and were torn apart with a shriek of metal screeching, beams twisting, and tile shattering. The six of us crouched together, unintentionally touching one another, and there was a surge of power between us.
Alone, we could be taken down, pulled apart and made into people we weren’t.
Together we were beyond strong.
I stood and turned, my crew at my back. The dust settled around us, tinkling down with bits and pieces of mortar.
Across from me stood Frost, her hands tucked behind her back as she surveyed us. Her hair was a bright blond now, her eyes the same icy blue. She’d been over eighty when I’d met her, but draining the lives of kids had made her younger.
Now she wasn’t much older than me.
“You were right. The fear drove them and yet they still completed the tasks at hand. I believe even I could learn something from them.” She snapped her fingers. “Excellent idea, Nicholas, to bring them here. Of course, it is disappointing how easily she fell for the ruse. Then again, brains were never a strong suit for Shades.” Her lips curved down.
Time slowed as I turned to see Nicholas step up beside her. His gaze didn’t meet mine.
Ethan growled. “I knew we shouldn’t trust him!”
Hindsight was a real bitch.
“What do you want to do with them now?” Nicholas asked softly. Subservient. But no Ash, the gargoyle was missing.
Slowly from the shadows we were joined by others of what I assumed were Frost’s crew. A white gargoyle. A lion shifter. A necromancer and a vampire. And for the House of Wonder? Helix himself. Each went to stand behind one of my crew.
She clapped her hands together. “I will bind the others to me, then give them to their masters. The last thing we need is a third Chameleon running loose. The amount of power they have together will sustain me for years.” She laughed. “We have let her stay free long enough. It is time to break her.”
Nicholas turned and flicked his wand at me, picking me up as if I were nothing. Just like in the House of Wonder.
I twisted around to see my five friends pushed by someone from each of their houses down to their knees, necks held in harsh hands. I could not let this happen. Because if I did, I had no doubt that not only would my friends be hurt even worse, but my family would be next. My sister. My brother.
My dad.
“I am sorry, niece,” Nicholas said as he deposited me at Frost’s feet, forcing me to my knees, the same as my friends.
With everything I had, I lurched upward so I stood and stared her in her face, rage and a healthy dose of fear driving me, pumping my blood and giving me strength.
“You will never break me.”
Her smile was nothing short of wicked as she reached out and grabbed me by the chin, her power sinking into me. I locked my knees, and her hand tightened until the bones in my jaw ached.
“That is exactly what your brother said . . . right before I killed him.”
Copyright © Shannon Mayer 2020
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Mayer, Shannon
Shadowspell Academy: Year of the Chameleon, Book 5
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