Page 73 of Echo Power

Then he hobbles out of the room, shutting the door.

Screw this. I am not going to lie here and wait for Sefton to "consummate" our so-called union without my consent. If I can free myself and get downstairs to the exercise room, I can grab a cutlass. That's the best weapon available to me, and I've gotten pretty damn good with a blade. That, combined with my self-defense skills, should give me just enough of an advantage. Echo creatures might be wickedly strong and vicious, but they don't seem like the brightest bulbs. And yeah, I've had plenty of time to reconsider my choices. Sefton won't like what I've decided.

No more waiting. It's time to save myself.

I shut my eyes and focus on the leather restraints as I imagine them popping open. I focus so hard that a stabbing pain fires up in my temple, but I don't care.Open, dammit, set me free.I grit my teeth, clench my fists, bluster breaths out through my nostrils even as the pain gets sharper and harder.Open, open, open.

The instant the restraints break, my arms fall onto the mattress. I sit up and swing my legs off the bed. After hours of lying here tied up, my arms and legs feel a little sore, but I can handle that. The real test is whether I still have the agility to fight.

I slide off the bed until my bare feet touch the floor, then gently settle my weight onto my legs. I'm standing now, and I don't feel wobbly at all. So I take one step. That seems okay, and I take another step, then another, and another, until I've walked past the foot of the bed. Then I kick it up a notch by walking briskly toward the window, pivoting on my heels, and walking briskly to the door. I feel a few minor twinges, but I think those will iron themselves out the more I move.

Time for the final test.

I run to the window, whirl around, and run back to the door.

No twinges, no wobbling, nothing that indicates I can't handle a fight. I want to throw my arms up and shout "woo-hoo," but I don't do it. The noise might alert my captor and his minions. But in my mind, I am fist-pumping and shouting.

Once I find some socks and shoes, not to mention a bra and panties, I'm ready to go. I'd only pulled on my pants and shirt last night. Feels good to be fully dressed again. This is my battle armor.

I turn the doorknob with care to avoid making any noise, and pray the door isn't magically barred anymore. But when I try to open it, the door won't budge.Dammit. I risk sending out a small pulse of power. Though I don't hear or see anything, somehow I know I've unsealed the barrier. Yanking the door open, I tiptoe into the hall.

Nobody around. Guess they all assume I can't escape.

Tiptoeing swiftly down the hall, I head to the stairs and pause there to listen and watch. The coast seems clear. I continue down to the foyer, but freeze with my hand on the banister.

Although the sitting room door is shut, I hear voices in there. I want to know what they're talking about, but I have more pressing issues. I skirt around the staircase to scurry down the hall, staying on the opposite side from the sitting room, and make my way to the cellar door. Its lock is still broken from when Dax kicked the door open. Why Sefton doesn't guard it, I have no idea. Maybe he believes no one else has any chance of touching, much less opening, all those boxes. His arrogance is hard to overlook, but I shouldn't assume anything.

I ease the cellar door open and slip inside. The single bulb positioned in the center of the subterranean room can't squelch the shadows that seem to writhe in every corner. A damp odor suffuses the space, and the faint creak of each step sends a shiver down my spine. One step at a time, I slink down the stairs with my pulse beating faster and my breaths growing shallower. I force myself to take deeper breaths and exhale slowly because the last thing I need is to get lightheaded while I'm breaching Sefton's creepy basement lair. As I hop off the last step, the magics inside those boxes slither out to lick at me, though they hadn't done that the other day. Something has changed. I can feel it, but whether the change is good or cataclysmically bad, I need to keep going and find out what Sefton is hiding.

The closer I get to the shelves that hold the boxes, the stronger the magics grow, until they're prickling my skin with electrical currents of energy. Every hair on my body stiffens as a tingling sensation sweeps over my flesh. I raise my hand, inching it ever closer to a metal box on the middle shelf, and focus on utilizing the power within me. I wish magic came with an instruction manual, but I'll have to wing it. As I will the box to let me open it, the tingling becomes stronger and sharper, like a thousand needles pricking my skin, digging in deeper and deeper. I suck in a breath and hold it because I can't breathe anymore, not with a strange pressure bearing down on my chest. When I stretch my arm out to reach for the box, the pressure makes my hand tremble. It's like pushing through quicksand. My entire arm begins to quiver from the effort, and my ears start to ring. Black dots speckle my vision.

The box's lid pops open. The electric tingling vanishes.

Blowing out a breath, I sag against the shelves. The box lies open six inches away, but I need a minute or two to catch my breath and recover from the assault of those magics.

Holy cow, I beat them.

Once the ringing in my ears fades away, I straighten and pick up the box. It's heavy, but not so ponderous that I can't hold it. The sides of the box are half an inch thick, and the exterior is engraved with strange symbols. I'd noticed the symbols before, but now I sense their importance. One looks like a crescent moon. Another appears to show a circle with a dot in the middle. I also note the symbols for male and female, as well as various triangle symbols, some of which have lines drawn through them, and even more symbols with stranger designs.

Within the box lies…nothing. While velvet lines the interior, there's nothing inside it but air. No, it must contain something. I'm not seeing it, that's all. Not seeing or not feeling? I spread my hand over the box and gradually lower it into the vacant space until my palm settles onto the velvet lining.

Symbols on the exterior begin to glow and flash in some kind of sequence, but I have no idea what it means.

"You are very clever, Allison, to find these boxes and open one."

Sefton's voice sends a chill skittering down my spine. I glance over my shoulder and see him standing halfway across the room. "Why don't you guard the boxes the way you guard everything else? A locked door isn't a real fortification. Your creatures protect the estate, but these precious containers of magic are just lying here undefended."

"Are they undefended? I know you and Dax broke into my study and explored the cellar while I was gone. I sensed it every time you two tried to access the boxes." Sefton shuffles closer, coming up alongside me. "Only one who is worthy may open the vessels and access the magics in them."

"That doesn't answer my question. Why don't you protect these boxes?"

"But I did explain. Only the worthy may use the boxes. No further security measures are necessary, and besides, the magics need to roam free."

I had removed my hand from the box when he approached, but now I settle it inside the "vessel," triggering the engraved icons to glow. "What are these symbols? I recognize a few of them, but—"

"They are alchemical symbols." He pulls my hand out of the box and encloses it in his palms. "I needed years to research and uncover the secrets hidden within ancient texts and at last realize that alchemy holds the key to remaking the world. When I met you, I recognized I had found not only the catalyst I needed to begin the transmutation but also a soul mate who would stand beside me while the alchemy of worlds unfolds."

"You never said any of that to me. I'm not your soul mate. I'm just the employee who happened to be manning the check-out counter on the day you showed up at the library."

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