Page 117 of Creatures of Chaos

“That wasn’t it. Some secrets aren’t mine to tell.”

“But this one is.”

“Not really.”

Not really?What does that even mean? If not his secret to tell, then whose?

“I know what I’m asking you isn’t fair, but you can’t activate that dagger.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Kerrim cuts in. “He’s just trying to save his own skin. What’s one life in exchange for the lives of your parents?”

Talon grasps the bars of the cage, his gaze boring into me. “It’s not just one life. If he brings Shadow Striker into the human world, the dagger’s powers will multiply. He’ll be unstoppable. It won’t just be my life you’re ending, but the lives of millions, maybe billions of beings like you.”

“If you don’t, your parents won’t live to see another day,” Kerrim growls, his face contorting into the picture of rage. “And after I’ve killed them, I’ll go after Becks, then your friends, and anyone else you’ve ever cared for. I’ve been in your life for years. I’ve been watching and studying, learning your weaknessesalong with your strengths. I know exactly who means something to you, and I will destroy them to get what I want.”

“You wouldn’t . . .” But looking at Kerrim I’m not so sure. I might have known him for a good part of my life, might have even had affection toward him, but right now I don’t recognize the creature in front of me.

“I’m not evil, but you have no idea the depths I will go to see this through.”

Tears stream down my face. Whatever I decide to do, someone dies.

There has to be another way.

“My patience is running thin. Perhaps I need to make an example of your parents before you believe me.”

“No!” I shout, holding up my hands to stop him from doing something rash. I take a step forward, bringing me within an arm’s length of Kerrim and the dagger.

“Then are you ready to do what needs to be done?”

I look over at Talon through a veil of tears. “I’m so sorry. I don’t have a choice.”

I expect his face to harden, for him to toss insults or scream at me, but instead his gaze softens. He looks resigned when he says, “I understand, Freckles. Do what you have to do.”

With a nod, I look back at Kerrim, my hand shaking as it nears Shadow Striker. There’s a feverish look in Kerrim’s dark eyes as his gaze laser focuses on my hand as I reach for the dagger.

Good. That’s exactly where I want his attention.

Still reaching for the dagger with one hand, I snap the other out and snatch the key ring off his belt loop that I spotted the moment he shed his robes. Turning, I go to toss the keys to Talon, but as I’m about to throw them Kerrim plows into me from behind, taking me down. The keys arc through the air, and I lose sight of them as I hit the ground.

“You stupid, stupid girl,” he says, and slams a fist into my kidney. “I’ll kill everyone you ever loved, taking pleasure in every death.”

He’s completely and utterly unhinged. I manage to flip onto my back, but he crouches over me, unrelenting in his onslaught, using both fists to hit any fleshy parts of me that he can reach. I’m trained for situations like this and how to get out of them, but Kerrim’s wrath seems to be giving him superpowers and I can’t squirm free or get a hit in. All I can do is protect my face against his onslaught.

“Hang on, Freckles. I’ve almost got the keys,” Talon yells, and Kerrim’s head snaps up.

While he’s distracted, I reach out blindly, patting the ground for a rock or something to smash into his face. I don’t even register what my hand comes in contact with until my fingers close over it and I’ve swung out. At the last moment, Kerrim rears back and the object in my hand slices harmlessly through his shirt.

I start to strike again, but the look in Kerrim’s eyes makes me pause. Pure glee radiates from his face as he stares at my hand. When I look down, horror fills me, because clenched in my fist is Shadow Striker.

Thirty-Eight

I dropthe dagger and scramble to my feet, spinning toward Talon and freezing when I find him standing just outside the open door of the cage, staring back at me with the keys I tossed still in his hand.

“Freckles?” He tries to take a step, but staggers.

I jolt forward, reaching him just as his knees give out. Helping him to the ground, I prop him up against the cage’s bars.

No no no. This can’t be happening.

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