Page 82 of Shadow's End

“Then go, discover for yourself.”

“Maelle, no,” I said. “We need her?—”

“No, you do not,” she cut in, and flicked her rope to the left, toward that hovering pool of darkness I could feel but not see. A heartbeat later, there was a sharp report, followed by an almost metallic scent, then that darkness was gone.

As was all sense of Jaqueline.

Maelle spun on her heels and stared at me for several seconds. Her eyes were flat and yet luminous and her expression remote, but her emotions nevertheless roiled around me. While anger and regret were definitely present in that turbulent cloud, it was for the most part something far more dangerous.

Hunger.

Even as I watched, the tips of her canines began to protrude over her thin lips.

I froze and somehow managed to keep my inner wild magic restrained. If it so much as flickered into existence right now, she would attack, of that I had doubt.

For several more interminably long seconds, neither of us moved. Then she blinked, and the danger retreated, even if its remains echoed in the turbulence that still surrounded her.

One day, all too soon, she would give into temptation and attack.

“I thank you for your assistance in this matter,” she said, her voice soft and polite, showing little evidence of her ongoing battle against her baser instincts. “And I offer a word of advice. Protect those that you love, because Marie will be aware of the part you played in this evening’s events, and she will seek revenge.”

And with that, her magic rose and a vortex of dark energy appeared in the room behind her. She turned, stepped into it, and disappeared. A heartbeat later, the vortex did the same.

I briefly closed my eyes and rested the side of my head against the nearby wall. All I wanted to do was give in to the call of unconsciousness, but Maelle’s words echoed and the urgency to get out of this house hit. Marie could and would visit hell upon this house that had cost her a trusted power source, and probably sooner than any of us wanted.

Coming out, I said to Belle.

Coming in, she replied, and a heartbeat later she appeared around the corner. And she wasn’t alone. Monty was with her, and I could hear Ashworth and Eli on the porch. I pushed unsteadily to my feet.

“We need to leave. I think Marie—” I paused as energy prickled across my skin. Saw the consternation flicker across Monty’s expression, suggesting I wasn’t the only one sensing it.

“Run.Now,” I ordered, as panic surged.

Belle and Monty swooped in, each wrapped an arm around my waist, then lifted me between them and charged for the door. But the dark energy was drawing closer and closer, the washof it burning across my skin so fiercely it felt as if I was being consumed by its fire.

As we raced out of the house, I looked up. Saw, in the starlit sky, a tumbling mass of purple fire arching toward the house.

“Fuck,” Monty said as we leapt off the porch and raced after Ashworth and Eli.

Five steps. That’s all we were able to take before that purple mass of fury hit the house and sent us all flying.

Chapter

Eleven

As we were catapulted high into the air, I reached for my inner wild magic and imagined it forming a protective ball around the three of us. It flowed from my skin without its usual force and wove a net around us, though it wasn’t exactly spherical in nature. It nevertheless provided a buffer between us and the ground as we hit hard and then rolled in an ungainly, tangled mess toward the street. We stopped just shy of the three-foot drop onto the pavement, but none of us moved as bits of wood and brick, roof tiles and glass rained all around us. None of it pierced my barrier, though. While it didn’t hold any of its usual force, it certainly saved our lives.

It seemed to take forever for the deadly rain to ease, and every bit of me was shaking with exhaustion and pain by the time it did. I released the net, detangled myself from Belle and Monty, but didn’t immediately move. I simply didn’t have the energy to sit up, let alone stand. I sucked in a deep breath in an effort to stop the inner shaking, but the thick stench of smoke caught in my throat and made me cough. The pain in my head immediately intensified, and I closed my eyes, groaning. A heartbeat later, Belle was in there, dialing the pain sensors back to a survivable level.

“Better?” she asked.

I nodded weakly, but didn’t open my eyes. “What about Ashworth and Eli? Anyone seen them?”

“I’ve contacted both and they’re fine,” Belle said. “Ashworth’s gone to grab the SUV, and Eli is just about to call in the fire brigade.”

“I imagine the neighbors have already done that,” Monty said. “There’s plenty of them peeking through curtains right now to see what the hell is happening.”

“I’d rather them be peeking than confronting,” I muttered. I really didn’t have the energy or the patience to be dealing with questions from curious onlookers right now. “What about the house? Anything left of it?”

---