Page 14 of Marked By the Dark Lord
“Who are you?” I asked. “I’ve never seen you around.”
The man sniffed with a disdain that seemed to come easily to him. “I prefer not to sully myself by leaving The Place Behind. The mortal realm is not suitable for someone of my … stature.”
My eyebrows rose. “You’re speaking words but not making any sense.”
“Yes, I get that a lot from your kind.”
“I don’t know if you know what a mirror is or not, but you and I, we’re the same. Well, other than the fact that you bothhavea dick andarea dick. But let’s not get too pedantic, shall we?”
“My, my, such big words for a gutter rat,” he spat with aristocratic arrogance.
“The library is free,” I said calmly. “Public resources and all. You should try it. Might bring you down a notch or two.”
The man’s narrow, axe-like face tightened in anger.
“You are under arrest,” he said stiffly. “For the unauthorized use of magic and by an unlicensed practitioner at that. Two very serious charges. You are to come with us to The Place Behind for trial at the Court.”
I stared at him, then the bull-thing next to him. “Can you tell him to speak plainly, please?”
The man sighed. “You used magic. Without permission. That makes you naughty. We catch and punish naughty people. Is that simple enough for your pathetic human brain?”
I glared at him, then looked down at the book.
Come on, baby, help me one more time.
The book started to glow red, and I reached for the clasp.
“Ha,” I hissed softly, eager to usemoremagic on the egotistical twatwaffle.
Something shuffled behind me, and the world went black.
***
When I came around, I was being carried by four of the Gray Knights, each holding a limb. My clothing was ripped and torn.
“Let’s go,” the gray-clad man ordered, and we stepped toward the river’s edge and the portal.
Clearly, I hadn’t been out long. Perhaps the jolt of being picked up had brought me around.
I started to speak but then fell silent as my eyes landed on the gray man’s right hand. It was curled around the book.Mybook. I wanted to reach for it, to grab it and take it from him.
Then we went through the purple oval and emerged on the other side.
“Hey,” I said in sudden recognition. “I know where we are. We’re behind the Falls!”
I’d taken the tour many times over the years. Niagara Falls had always held a special fascination for me. I could watch water tumble over its edge for hours on end and had done so frequently. But it wasbehindthe Falls that had always called to me for some reason. Being back there, I felt almost at peace, in a weird way. Like I was close to where I belonged.
Now I was scared shitless.
“Hush,” the gray man said, waving his hand at one of the walls.
I gasped as the solid rock wall wavered, then disappeared, illuminating a tunnel. “Noway.”
The gray man glared at me. I gave it right back, but it slid off him with ease.
We entered the tunnel and followed it around a corner. Behind us, the fake wall shimmered back into place once the last of the Gray Knights was through.
But my attention didn’t last long on that fact. Because, moments later, we emerged from the tunnel onto a platform high above a yellow-tan landscape.
