Behind me, Devon shifted.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Something’s digging into my back,” he muttered.
“Mine too,” Felix chimed in. “Do you think it’s safe for us to move now?”
I stared out over the river, but I didn’t see the lochness’s tentacles or its blue eyes. “I think it’s gone . . . for now. Besides, we can’t stay here all night.”
I stepped away from Devon, and he pushed away from the wall. Beside him, Deah and Felix did the same thing. Devon and I had managed to hang on to our stolen swords, Deah still had her own weapon, and we all raised them back up, ready for another attack, while Felix fished his phone out of his pants pocket. It still worked and he used the screen as a flashlight and held it up to the wall.
Coins had been driven deep into the stone, all of them in neat rows, stretching from the bottom of the wall all the way up to the top and then across the underside of the bridge over our heads. Quarters, mostly, with some nickels and dimes mixed in. But no pennies. I guess the lochness preferred the way the silver shined, since all the coins gleamed as though they had just been polished.
At first, I didn’t see any order to the rows, but then I realized that symbols had been scratched beside some of them—vines, flowers, trees, and more, many of them looking like Family crests—almost as if the lochness had used the coins like a kid with a piece of chalk.
“The lochness,” I whispered, pointing to the symbols. “It looks like it actually keeps track of who pays its toll.”
The others squinted, but they didn’t have my sight magic, so they couldn’t see the faint marks, not even with the light from Felix’s phone. But the longer I looked at the symbols, the more I noticed that one kept appearing over and over again—a five-pointed star.
The Sterling Family crest.
It was scratched on the wall in several places, as well as on the underside of the bridge. One, two, three . . . I lost count of the number of stars, but it looked like my mom and I had given the lochness more coins and had paid its toll more times than anyone else. Maybe that was why it had helped me again tonight. My mom had always told me to pay the tolls so the monsters would leave me alone, but I’d never considered that there could be something more to it than that.
“There has to be thousands of dollars’ worth of coins here,” Deah whispered.
I thought about telling the others about all the stars on the bridge, but I didn’t know what to make of the symbols, or how I felt about them right now, so I decided to keep it to myself. Besides, what really mattered was that the monster had protected us from Blake and the Draconi guards, so I was going to consider all the coins money well spent.
“Come on,” I said. “I’m all out of quarters, so let’s get out of here before the lochness decides that it wants more tribute tonight.”
The others nodded, and Felix used the light from his phone to guide them out from under the bridge and toward the riverbank so they could climb back up to the street. But I lagged behind my friends, staring out over the river again. I didn’t see anything, so I turned to catch up with the others.
A long, black tentacle hovered in the air right in front of me.
I froze, not knowing what to do. I couldn’t get around the tentacle, and the others were too busy climbing the riverbank to realize what was happening. Besides, they couldn’t have saved me from the lochness anyway.
The tentacle slowly moved back and forth through the air, almost as if it were a person gesturing for me to come closer. I eased forward one step, then two, then three, until I was less than three feet away from the lochness.
The tentacle kept waving back and forth, creeping a little closer to me with every passing second. I stood absolutely still, not wanting to do anything to upset it. Finally, the tentacle reached out and touched my shoulder, almost as if it was giving me a pat and making sure that I was okay. Then it retreated and started waving back and forth in the air in front of me again, waiting for me to make the next move.
I hesitated, then stepped forward, reached out, and gingerly ran my fingers over the tentacle. It was cool and wet, but not unpleasantly so, and the lochness’s skin was much smoother than I’d expected, almost like damp velvet. My attention seemed to please the creature, and the tentacle leaned in to my touch, like a dog wanting me to keep on scratching its ear. So that’s what I did.
The river started rippling again, but the motion was calming rather than threatening, and I actually found myself enjoying the steady rush of water slapping against the shore—
“Lila!” Devon called out. “Are you okay? I can’t see you under the bridge.”
At the sound of his voice, the tentacle waved at me a final time, then sank down below the surface of the river. I tiptoed over to the edge of the ledge and peered down. Two bright, sapphire-blue eyes stared up at me through the water. My gaze locked with the lochness’s and the creature’s emotions flooded my chest. Sly satisfaction at protecting me and my friends from Blake and the Draconis. Calm respect for the way I always paid its toll. And most of all, aching loneliness that was slowly being overcome by warm happiness and pride that it was finally communicating with me. Maybe monsters needed friends too, as crazy as that sounded.
“Lila?” Devon called again.
I blinked, breaking eye contact and shaking off the creature’s emotions. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I called out. “I’m coming up right now.”
I hesitated, then waved goodbye to the lochness before stepping out from under the bridge and hurrying after my friends.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I scrambled up the riverbank to where Devon, Felix, and Deah were waiting at the top.
“Now what?” Deah muttered, swinging her sword at the grass like she wanted to hack through every single blade of it.
“We have to get back to the mansion,” Devon said.
Felix pulled his phone away from his ear. “I’ve called the main line three times now, but no one’s answering. I also tried some of the guards, but no one’s picking up.” Concern filled his face. “Do you think the Draconis attacked the mansion too?”
Devon shook his head. “I don’t know. Surely, by now, everyone at the mansion knows what happened. But the fact that they’re not answering their phones . . .”
His voice trailed off, but we all knew what he was thinking. That Victor could have easily sent some of his guards to attack the mansion at the same time we were all gathered at the White Orchid. It would have been the perfect way to wipe out all the Sinclairs at once. That’s exactly what I would have done, especially since the Sinclair mansion was just a short hike through the woods from the Draconi compound. That was probably the reason why all those extra guards had been at the Draconi mansion last night. So they would be in position and close enough to attack the Sinclairs tonight.
A cold fist of fear and dread wrapped around my heart. Oscar and Tiny had stayed behind at the mansion. If the Draconis had indeed attacked, the pixie and the tortoise could already be captured—or worse.
“Devon’s right,” I said, trying to ignore my worry. “We have to go back to the mansion to see what’s happened to everyone.” I paused. “And that’s not the only reason we have to go back.”
“What do you mean?” Felix asked.
“We have to get the black blades—the real ones,” I said. “They’re the only leverage and the only bargaining chip we have right now.”
Understanding sparked in Devon’s eyes. “You think that Victor would be willing to trade my mom and the other Sinclairs for the black blades?”
I shrugged. “You heard him threaten Claudia when he realized the weapons were fakes. Victor wants those black blades and the magic that’s inside them more than anything else. If he’d had them tonight, he could have killed us and taken over all the Families. Maybe he thinks that if he gets them back, he can still do it. It’s worth a shot, anyway, and it’s the only chance we have.”
“Lila’s right,” Deah chimed in. “My dad
will do anything to get those weapons back, and he’ll . . . hurt your mom to try to get her to tell him where they are.” Her lips pressed together into a tight line. “I’ve seen him do it to other people.”
Devon’s jaw clenched, and it took him a moment to force out his next words. “You mean he’ll torture her and the other Sinclairs.”
Deah winced, then slowly nodded.
The thought of Claudia being tortured, the thought of Mo being tortured, made hot, sour bile rise in my throat, but I swallowed it down and forced myself to stay calm and think about what we needed to do next—get to the Sinclair mansion.
Devon scrubbed his hands over his face, as if the simple motion could erase all the horrors of the last hour. If only it could, we all would have been doing it. Felix kept scrolling through his contacts, dialing every single Sinclair’s number, but no one answered him. Deah started whacking at the grass with her sword again.
I was as scared and worried for the Sinclairs, especially Claudia and Mo, as everyone else. I kept waiting for one of my friends to move, to speak, to step up and take charge, but they were all too numb with shock and grief right now. Up to me then.
“Well, we can’t do anything from here,” I said. “So first things first. Devon, you still have the keys to the SUV, right?”
He nodded, dug in his pants pocket, and pulled out the keys.
“Good. Let’s go back to the SUV then. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the Draconis haven’t found it yet.”
“And if they have?” Felix asked.
“Then we’ll find some other way to get back up to the mansion. Now come on. The longer we just stand here, the longer Victor has Claudia, Mo, and the others.”
That cold, hard fact finally cut through some of my friends’ shock, horror, and fear, and they followed me as I turned and hurried away from the lochness bridge.
It didn’t take us long to hike back to the tourist section in the center of town. Even though it was after nine o’clock now, throngs of people still flowed up and down the sidewalks and moved in and out of the shops and restaurants, so it was easy for us to disappear into the crowd. We got a few odd looks, but no one stopped to question us, even though we were all still soaking wet and Devon, Deah, and I were carrying swords. As we walked, Felix dialed the Sinclair mansion and all the guards again and again. Still no response. He tried Poppy Ito and Julio Salazar as well, but they didn’t pick up either.
Finally, we reached the street where Devon had parked the SUV when we’d first come down into town earlier tonight. I made the others hang back while I peered around the corner, looking up and down the street and using my sight magic to stare into all the shadows, making sure this wasn’t some trap set by Blake and the rest of the Draconis. But this area wasn’t one of the main drags, and all the other cars that had been parked here earlier were gone. It was deserted except for the four of us.
I nodded at the others, and we jogged down the street. Devon used his key fob to pop open the doors, and we slid into the SUV. He cranked the engine, threw the vehicle into gear, and pulled away from the curb.
Devon drove, with Felix in the front, still calling and calling the mansion, but still with no response. I sat in the back with Deah, who stared out the window, her face blank.
“How are you holding up?” I asked. “I know tonight has been hard. Especially for you.”
“Why? Because my dad called me a traitor and my brother tried to kill me? Why would I be upset about that?” She let out a bitter laugh, but she didn’t turn to look at me. “Even after you showed me that room full of weapons, I still didn’t want to believe what my dad and Blake were up to, but you were right. All the two of them care about is destroying the other Families.”
“What happened tonight?” Devon asked. “Before the Draconis stormed into the restaurant?”
“Dad called everyone into the dining hall at the Draconi mansion and told us about his plan to attack the other Families at the restaurant, and Blake started passing out the fake black blades to all the guards.”
Deah glanced down at her own sword, which was propped up in the floorboard at her feet. The glow from a nearby streetlamp made the three stars carved into the hilt gleam.
“That’s your regular sword,” I said. “They didn’t give you one of the fake weapons?”
She shook her head, making her damp blond hair flap against her shoulders. “Of course not. My dad could tell that I was horrified by his plan. I argued with him and Blake, tried to convince them not to go through with it, tried to tell them that it was cold-blooded murder, but they wouldn’t listen to me. They never listen to me.”
Felix finished his latest unanswered call and glanced over his shoulder at her. “Then what happened?”
“Dad took my phone away so I couldn’t warn anyone about the attack.” She hesitated. “He also had a couple of guards lock my mom in her room and stay behind with her. Just in case I got any ideas about fighting back and trying to stop him.”
“So he threatened Seleste and blackmailed you into going along with them,” Felix said.
Deah nodded. “They forced me into an SUV, and we drove down to the restaurant. But when we got there, I noticed that not all of the guards had come with us. I wondered why, but no one was even talking to me at that point. And now that Felix can’t reach anyone at your mansion. . . ”
She bit her lip and looked at Devon in the rearview mirror. “I think . . . I think my dad sent the rest of the guards to the Sinclair mansion.” Tears gleamed in her eyes, and her voice dropped to a hoarse, ragged whisper. “I’m sorry. So sorry. For everything.”
Devon glanced back at her and gave her a sharp nod. “It’s okay. I understand. If it had been my mom in danger, I would have done the same thing.”
Deah blinked away her tears and nodded back. “Thank you. But I should have stood up to my dad. I should have found some way to get my mom out of there, or at least warned you guys about what was happening.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “It was an impossible choice.”
“And I made the wrong one. What did I accomplish by going along with them? Nothing,” she spat out the word. “Because innocent people still died, and my mom is still up at the Draconi mansion, and who knows what my dad and Blake will do to her now that I’ve basically defected from the Family.”
Her dark blue gaze dropped to the gold cuff on her wrist. We passed another streetlamp, and the glow highlighted the snarling dragon crest stamped into the metal, making it look as though the monster were about to leap off the cuff and sink its teeth into her. Deah’s mouth twisted with anger and disgust, and she yanked it off. She rolled down the window, as if she was going to hurl the cuff outside, but I reached out and grabbed her hand.
“Don’t you dare do that,” I said.
“Why not?” she muttered.
“Are you kidding me? That cuff is solid gold. It’s worth a fortune,” I drawled, trying to lighten the mood and cheer her up, if only for a few seconds.
For a moment, a ghost of a smile flashed across her face, but it quickly vanished. Deah hesitated, then rolled up the window. She stared at her Draconi cuff again, but instead of putting it back on her wrist, she slid it into her pocket before finally looking at me. Our eyes locked and I felt all of her deep, bitter, aching regret about everything that had happened tonight, along with her sharp worry for her mom.
Deah looked at me for another second before turning and staring out the window again. I opened my mouth to keep talking, but I thought better of it and clamped my lips shut. If I’d just been through what she had, I would have wanted some peace and quiet too. But I did reach over and place my hand on top of hers, letting her know I was here for her. After a second, Deah curled her fingers into mine.
And we stayed like that for the rest of the ride, drawing what strength, comfort, and support we could from each other, knowing that this horrible night was far, far from over.
Devon carefully steered up the curvy roads, his hands tensing
around the wheel every time we passed another car. But none of the other vehicles had the Draconi crest painted on the doors, so he was able to drive all the way up the mountain with no problems.
Thirty minutes later, he pulled the car into a parking lot that led to a scenic overlook of a waterfall that was about a mile away from the Sinclair mansion. The area was deserted, since it was after ten now, but we all knew that it was risky to just drive up to the mansion, expecting everything to be fine. Blake might think that the lochness had drowned us, but if I were him, I would still have posted guards at the mansion just in case we weren’t dead and decided to go back there.
Devon parked the SUV underneath a couple of weeping willows, trying to hide it in the trees’ long green tendrils and the shadows they cast. Then the four of us got out of the car.
Devon, Deah, and I drew our weapons, but I frowned at the stolen sword in my hand. I hadn’t noticed it until right now, but the black blade didn’t feel cold to the touch anymore. In fact, I couldn’t feel any magic pulsing through the bloodiron at all. Weird. And all the stolen magic had burned out of my body as well.
“What’s wrong?” Devon asked.
“This sword was one of the real black blades,” I said, swinging it back and forth. “But it doesn’t have any magic in it anymore.”
“But how is that possible?” Felix asked. “You didn’t stab yourself with it. Isn’t that the only way to get magic out of a black blade?”
Deah tilted her head to the side, studying me and the sword. “Maybe not. Maybe Lila used up all the magic without having to stab herself.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Your transference Talent lets you absorb and use any magic that you come into contact with, right?”
“Yeah . . .”
She shrugged. “So you’ve been holding on to that sword for more than an hour now. Maybe that’s all you needed to do to tap into the magic that was stored inside it.”
Even though I’d had a similar thought back at the restaurant, I still looked at the sword, unease slithering down my spine. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I’d thought that my transference Talent and the magic I stole with it only made me stronger. But when Katia Volkov had stabbed me, I’d discovered that I could also use the power I absorbed from others to heal myself. And now, I’d somehow sucked all the magic out of a black blade without even trying.
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