Page 77 of Shadow's End

Once Ashworth had shouldered his own pack, he hit the button to close the hatch door and then glanced at his watch. “Let’s go. Eli and Monty will be in place by now.”

I nodded, and we headed down the slope, walking along the edge of the still-warm road simply because there were no footpaths. The street remained empty, and the only sound to be heard was the occasional hum of distant cars. Tension nevertheless crawled through me. I had absolutely no doubt there’d be other guards here somewhere, even if we couldn’t see them—especially after the mess that was Moonlight Flats—but it was unnerving not to have any scent or sense of them at all.

When we reached the intersection, I padded across the prickly grass verge into the shrub-filled corner of the block. The second my feet touched the bare ground, energy stirred around me. A heartbeat later, a tiny luminous thread wound itself around my wrist.

The wild magic was ready and waiting.

The old gum tree that dominated the corner was ringed by bushy native brooms that almost entirely blocked the housefrom sight. Which, while necessary to stop any watchers within the house from spotting us, was also something of a hindrance. While I technically shouldn’t have to see the house to guide the wild magic, I suspected things would go a little faster if I could. I shifted around and eventually spotted a small gap between the bushes low to the ground. After drawing in one of those deeper breaths that did nothing to curb the growing tension, I glanced at Ashworth. “Ready?”

He nodded, a cage spell already buzzing around one hand and a repel spell around the other. “Tell Belle to go.”

I did so, and her magic rose, sharp and clear across the night. I knelt, dug my toes deeper into the dust and then pressed both hands against the ground. The Fenna’s chorus briefly rose, but they already knew what I wanted and intended, and the wild magic responded instantly. Its force surged into my hands then up my arms, across my body, and back through my feet, before racing across to the house. Between one heartbeat and the next, a net of sheer wild magic crawled around the outside of the house, wrapping it in a pulsing, luminous sphere of energy.

A scream rose, fierce, sharp, and familiar. Jaqueline. We’d got her. We’d fucking got her…

Her magic surged, a dark spell designed to destroy. It hit the sphere hard, and the wild magic rippled briefly under the attack, but held. Another spell rose, this one unfamiliar. The result was the same, and another scream rose.

“That,” Ashworth said, “very much suggests your sphere was successful.”

“Yes, though I can’t guarantee how long it’ll hold if she keeps hitting it magically.” Because every time she did, it rebounded through my brain. I pushed to my feet and brushed the dirt and bits of pine from my hands. “I’ll ring Maelle. You, Monty, and Eli had better?—”

I cut the rest off as movement caught my eye. Two men, coming in fast from the right. Ashworth swore and unleashed his repelling spell, hitting one in the chest hard enough to knock him high into the air. The other neatly avoided the cage spell and kept on coming, but before I could react in any way, Ashworth flicked his cage spell around and snared the bastard from behind.

They weren’t alone, however. There were others, but I couldn’t tell how many because they were wrapped in shadows, making them invisible to regular sight, and I couldn’t even feel their weight against the ground thanks to the thick layers of tarmac.

“Apparently the showers aren’t working wherever these lads have been hiding,” Ashworth said, voice wry. “You should ring Maelle, then go do whatever you can to keep that sphere up until she gets here. I’ll deal with these bastards.”

“Four against one isn’t the greatest?—”

“For them, not me, lass. Go, before Jaqueline calls in more reinforcements.”

I hesitated briefly, then thrust to my feet and ran around the shrubs, the scattered pine bark digging into my feet but not really hurting. I dragged out my phone as I ran across the grass and made the call. Maelle answered immediately and I gave her the address. She didn’t reply, didn’t say thank you, didn’t even say she’d be there soon.

She didn’t need to, because I’d barely hung up and shoved the phone back into my pocket when the air shimmered on the footpath below and she stepped into existence.

Her face was pale and thin, her clothes black, and her eyes as luminous as the moon, with no discernible difference between their sclera and iris. Hell, even her pupils were almost nonexistent. It was a frightening sight, made more so by the darkly dangerous river of energy that rolled around her. It wasa protection spell and something else. Something that wasn’t so much a spell as a presence.

Goose bumps trailed across my skin, and I swallowed heavily. I had no idea what that presence was, but I had a very bad feeling it was something supernatural. It just felt … wrong, in the same way demons felt wrong.

In the same way the basilisk had felt wrong, though not as foul as Maelle’s leashed demon.

This insubstantial, ghostly presence wasn’t a basilisk—it was far too small—but that didn’t discount the possibility of some other sort of demon snake. She had admitted that they were hers to call, after all.

But why in the hell would she bring one here to confront her daughter?

I really didn’t know—really didn’twantto know—but feared I’d find out soon enough.

Her white gaze went briefly to the house and, just for an instant, a myriad of emotions flowed across her flawless features, the strongest being anticipation, determination, and perhaps a touch of fear. The latter surprised me. Why would she fear Jaqueline, given she was so sureshewas the stronger mage?

Or was there something else going on? Something to do with that ghostly presence and her earlier statement that Jaqueline’s fate had always been hers to decide?

She leapt lightly from the footpath to the top of the raised bank and strolled toward me, her movements elegant and unhurried despite the tension radiating from her. Once close, she motioned toward the house with a gloved hand. “I cannot step through your barrier.”

“I know—I’m going to retract it.” I hesitated as the sound of fighting increased. “You’ll have to watch my back while I do so, though.”

“Oh, trust me, any vampire foolish enough to come near either of us will quickly be apprised of their mistake.”

She flexed her fingers as she said that, and it was then I noticed not only the length of her nails but how sharp they were. She wasn’t intending to dine on them. She was intending to gut them, and no doubt swim in their remains at a later point.

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