Page 14 of Bonds of Blood
A loud bang came from just off the main library hall. The private room, back where Baylor and the headmasters were looking at old books. The door was gone, replaced by a wall of solid, jagged stone. A golem made of the same spiky rock stood guard outside the room, no doubt responsible for creating the barrier. One of Baylor’s eidolons. Looking at the manuscripts was only a distraction, then, a way to keep the headmasters trapped all in one place.
“Now that?” Baylor said. He curled his fingers, dismissing the golem, the creature dissolving into a stream of pulverized rock, a cloud of sand. “That is how a summoner works his magic, Lochlann, by issuing orders directly to his eidolons. Another lesson learned, I would say, except — oh, how unfortunate. You have no eidolons left to command, do you?”
I clenched my jaw, clenched my fists, knowing it’d be wrong to answer. He knew about my minor eidolons — the doves, the wolf, the orange cat. But I never told him about the unicorns. And there was still another major eidolon on my side, one who would happily defend me with his life, and one who would gladly kill for me.
Sylvain roared as he leapt forward, his conjured sword of razor-sharp leaves held high, ready to cleave a man in half. I hadn’t even transmitted a single thought, and my fae prince still knew what had to be done.
Kill him, I thought, wondering if Sylvain could hear me, wondering if he would approve.Kill him before things get worse.
Baylor Wilde slashed his hand lazily through the air, as if he was swatting a fly. The trajectory of Sylvain’s jump reversed as he flew across the room, rebuffed by the grand summoner’s power. He crashed into another bookcase, spilling its contents to the ground.
“Pathetic,” Baylor whispered, shaking his hand, faint threads of magic falling from his fingers. “Let this be a lesson, boy. This is why you never befriend your familiars, nor your eidolons. The only true path to power is to rule by fear.”
For the first time I questioned whether Baylor ever truly loved my mother at all. Instinct drove me to run to Sylvain’s side, but he raised a hand, signaling that he was all right. Bruised and gritting his teeth from all the aching, perhaps, but mostly all right. And my mother still needed me. I couldn’t leave her defenseless right within Baylor’s reach.
When did he become so powerful? Or was he always this way, a grand summoner of legend? Summoners were praised for refining their control over their own eidolons, not for spurning the eidolons of another. Or worse, turning. I licked my lips, my heart racing. He already took Satchel. I wasn’t going to let him claim someone else.
“You got what you wanted, Baylor. And you made Satchel do your bidding. Release him. Now.”
He cocked an eyebrow, leering at me. “Very amusing, how you seem to believe that you have the upper hand, your little orders and threats. Or any hand at all, for that matter. No. I don’t think I will. Unless, of course.”
Baylor’s eyes fell on my mother’s face. She shrank away, embracing me harder. My heart could have shattered.
“Don’t do it, Locke,” Satchel cried. “I’m not worth it.”
Before I could answer, before I could begin to describe how wrong Satchel was, Baylor snapped his fingers. Satchel disappeared right before my eyes.
“What have you done to him?” I growled. “If you hurt Satchel, I swear, I’ll — ”
“Oh, please. Enough with the empty threats. I shoved him into his pocket dimension, left him there to stew for a bit. I’ve put him on time-out, which is what I should have done with you from the start.” He stretched out his hand, parted his fingers, a sphere of green light spinning in the center of his palm. “Be a good boy, Lochlann. Go sit in the corner.”
“Don’t you hurt him, Baylor.” My mother broke away from me, shoved me to the ground. “I’ll see you dead first.”
The anger of her voice melded into the sound of roaring water. Her very body had changed, a frothing, churning mirror of her elemental form when she first emerged from the Wispwell. Baylor staggered away, fear in his eyes, perhaps the first time I’d ever seen him afraid. Good. Then he knew exactly what she was capable of.
“Stay away from me, Marina,” he shouted, his voice stern, except that I could hear how the foundations of his authority had been shaken. “Stay away, or — ”
A violent jet of water struck him in the chest, throwing him off his feet. Baylor groaned as he hit the floor, scrambling backward. He raised his hand and pointed.
“Mom. Look out!”
Emerald lightning streaked from the tips of his fingers, but the surge of magic never struck. In her undine form, my mother was truly liquid, her body splitting in half from her head to her waist. Baylor’s spell, whatever it was meant to do, shot straight through the gap, striking a far wall, leaving a hissing crater. Her body reformed, the water roiling faster, harder in her rage.
“I am your spouse. Your partner. I was supposed to be your equal.” She flung a finger at me, her hand still shaped out of water, in constant flux. “And he is supposed to be your son. We’re the elementals in this family, Baylor, and yet you prove yourself far more monstrous. When did you forget to be human? When did you forget to be a man?”
Baylor’s face turned red as he clambered to his feet. Ooh. That last one definitely hit where it hurt. He lifted his hand and clenched it into a fist, his knuckles crackling with energy. “I’ve had quite enough of this. Come with me now, Marina, or else.”
I scrambled to my feet. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on her.” And that was where my bravado ended, because what could I possibly do against a grand summoner?
And then I spotted the wisp of vapor drifting toward us. It floated in a stream from the private room still sealed off by a wall of rock. The wisp swirled and grew as its droplets formed into the shape of a person, a humanoid clump of mist. The telltale robes materialized on the strange, translucent figure, the dark, empty cowl made so familiar by the absence of a face.
“You are treading on dangerous ground,” Headmaster Shivers hissed. “Cease this foolishness, Baylor Wilde, or suffer the consequences.”
An apparition emerged from the rock, a ghostly afterimage of Headmaster Belladonna floating into the room as she once again ignored the laws of physics. Her body solidified as her boots struck the ground, two ominous clicks. She extended her fingers, none of them exhibiting the light and flame of magic. Belladonna Praxis didn’t need bright colors to warn others of her danger. The woman could tear reality apart with her bare hands.
“You have always been willful, Baylor, but never unwise. Surrender, or face annihilation.”
He retreated a few steps, hands raised defensively in front of him, furious, but more importantly, afraid. A deep boom shook the walls of the library, followed by the unmistakable crack of stone. I watched as the wall of rock conjured by Baylor’s golem shattered and crumbled to the ground. I didn’t think it was possible to be awestruck and terrified all at once.
