“There are men outside the library,” he states in a calm voice, but the twitch of his wings shows his agitation.
“Who?” I demand, rising from my seat.
His eyes travel up to me, beady black in a leathery face. “Ansel, Walthers, and your father.”
My fists clench at my sides. I hadn’t expected dear old Dad to actually take time out of his schedule to come here. He must think there’s still time to stop me before I sign my life over to the library. He fears its power. The knowledge might have given me more satisfaction if I weren’t worried about Zosia. His timing, as always, is horrible.
“Can he enter with Ansel? Can anyone enter?”
The little goblin shifts, his eyes tracking the distance between Bren and me. “Ansel is no longer the interim protector, and he can’t admit anyone. No one is supposed to be able to enter, but if Zosia wakes and uses the gargoyles to see our visitors, it might upset her.”
There’s something he isn’t saying. I glare at him menacingly, but he shows no fear. He knows I won’t hurt him; it would be akin to attacking the library.
“Besides the obvious problem of intruders intent on entering, why would their presence disturb Zosia?” Avery asks, picking up on the same peculiarity I have. His insight increases my respect for him.
The goblin sighs. In some ways, they’re so human. In others, they’re more alien than every other supernatural I’ve ever met. “Right now, Zosia is living her memories. If she wakes to find one of her captors outside, it may prove overwhelming.”
Everything within me stills. “Walthers or our father?” My body is so tightly wound with tension, I’m surprised the movement of my lips doesn’t crack my face. The goblin simply stares at me, and it’s answer enough.
“The children will pay for the sins of their fathers,” Bren murmurs. His voice is sad, but I turn on him because it’s the only thing I can do.
“Did you know about this?”
He shrugs. “I believe I assumed. Like I said, though, I don’t see the past. I see the future. Father will be our greatest enemy, not just to the supernatural world, but also to the library and our woman. I didn’t realize he was continuing the work of the past.”
I stare at him, ignoring my beast. The griffin wants to growl at him for referring to his mate as our woman. Instead, I focus on the facts. Zosia is younger than me, roughly Bren’s age. If this is correct, it means that when we were just children, when my father went away on extended business trips, he was actually torturing little girls? Bile rises within me. Optimistically, I’d hoped he still possessed some good in him, a speck of humanity I could appeal to, but this shatters every hope of that happening. My goals change. I won’t settle for just toppling him from his seat of power. He will die for what he’s done.
“How do we get rid of him?” Avery asks, ever intuitive. He understands now is not the time for a fight. Although it irritates me, he’s correct. Zosia needs to be stronger. She should also have the choice to take part in her vengeance.
“I’ll go.” Kodi’s voice breaks the silence. “If everything we believe is true, he’ll know me but he can’t hurt me.”
I roll my eyes. “No need to play the hero, Ghost. What exactly do you intend to do? Talk him out of it? Reminisce about old times? You don’t even know what part you played unless your memories have miraculously returned?” He shakes his gray head. “What will you accomplish by going out there?”
Kodi doesn’t reply as he hovers, and Avery speaks into the brief silence. “It’s not entirely true that he can’t hurt you. They’ve already tethered you once. It can happen again. They can drain you of everything that keeps you here and you’ll cease to exist. Worse still, a tether can force you to act against Zosia. She’ll never recover from a betrayal of that magnitude.”
Kodi floats down until he’s almost standing on the floor, looking at all of us. “Not if I can convince him I’m a spy.” His words are soft.
I snort. “Father isn’t an idiot. We have no idea if you willingly helped him or defied him when you were alive.” I shake my head. “Zosia will never forgive us if we let you go out there.”
“But will he just go away?” he taunts.
My jaw clenches. If there’s any trait I’ve inherited from my father, it would be my stubbornness. No, he won’t just go away. “It’s me he wants to talk to,” I say, straightening my spine.
Bren shakes his head. “Nothing good comes of you going outside. He’ll kill you once you reveal you are beholden to the library. You’re more powerful here, and he knows it.”
“What are the other options?” I growl angrily. “Allow the ghost to go? Wait until Zosia wakes up and roll the dice that she might not be able to deal with the tormentors of her past so close to her safe haven? The library opens in two days. I won’t put it past Father to wait on campus until he’s able to enter with the other students. He can come in here once the library opens, right?” I direct my question to the goblin.
A quick nod confirms my suspicions. “There is something…off…about Walthers and your father. It reduces the library’s defenses.”
“Can he hurt Zosia within the library?” Avery asks quickly.
Duggar doesn’t answer, giving us the answer we need. He either doesn’t know or it’s possible. Neither are good options. I swipe my hand over my head again, feeling my beast prickle under my skin. Maybe it is time for him to die. I take a step forward, but Bren places his hand on my chest.
“No, Rett. Every timeline in which you face him now leaves the library in ruins.”
I growl again, frustrated beyond belief. What use is all my power if I can’t use it to protect the library, my fellow allies, and my mate?
“I need to go,” Kodi repeats, a look of resignation on his face. He glances at Bren. “What do the timelines say about that?”
Bren grimaces. “It doesn't look good. They might tether you as Avery said, or Father might find another way to control you. He could turn you against the library.”
“I’d never go against Zosia,” Kodi hisses through clenched teeth. I wonder, not for the first time, whether he was supernatural in life. I know he wasn’t a shifter, but there’s a good chance he was some sort of mage.
“Desperate men take desperate measures,” Bren mumbles. He tends to fall back on cliché lines and quotes when his visions are unclear or his farseeing powers can’t predict a situation.
A shiver passes through the library. It’s nothing more than a slight shudder, but we all feel it. “What was that?”
“They’re trying to enter with magic,” Duggar explains. “It won’t work, but it will distress her more.” He points to Zosia. Her expression has become more concerned, her brows drawn tightly together.
“I thought the library could defend itself!” Kodi roars at the little goblin. The creature stares down the ghost, his wings twitching with agitation.
“It is defending itself, but it’s also fully in Zosia’s control. That defense relies on her direction now. With her mind so far from her body, she can’t do anything to counter the threat.”
“But they can’t enter?” I clarify.
Duggar shakes his head. “All evidence says they cannot. Ansel lost the ability to be a guide the moment the fourth guardian signed.”
I wince. Once Father realizes the man’s uselessness, he won’t go easy on him. “We wait,” I state firmly. “We keep telling Zosia she must believe in herself. We need to believe in her, too. She’ll conquer her memories, wake up, and assist the library in countering the threat.”
Duggar simply nods, his expression unreadable. Avery mimics the gesture.
Kodi sighs heavily, a strange sound with no breath behind it. “If she doesn’t wake up soon, I’m going out there,” he repeats stubbornly.
I ignore him, observing the beautiful woman sprawled on the loveseat. I want to fight her battles for her, protect her from harm, and keep her safe. What I’m suggesting goes against every instinct within me, but my gut is urging me to w
ait. She’ll never learn to believe in herself if we constantly shield her. She has the power here.
I hope I’ve chosen correctly. If not, I may never forgive myself.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Zosia
The minute I made the decision to confront my memories, my mind sucked my consciousness back in time. My physical body doesn’t come with me, but I know the men and the library will keep me safe while I delve into the past. Worry trickles through me as I still feel that I have a body. For a moment, I’m terrified I’ll be dumped into my childhood mind where I’ll have to relive the fear firsthand. But that doesn’t happen. I feel like Kodi. I have an odd semblance of a form or body, and I’m hovering in the corner of the ceiling while I watch the past unfold. As an observer, I’m able to separate my current self from the scared little girl I see in the strange, dreamlike state. It allows me to distance myself somewhat from the pain and fear.
She’s cute - all crazy brown hair and flashing golden eyes. She hasn’t been broken yet because the small body struggles against the restraints that trap her in a hospital bed. Tubes stick out of her arms. The tiny figure fights valiantly before sinking back on the pillow, sweat slicking her skin. I can’t tell how old she is, maybe six or seven.
Even though I can’t actually feel my body, my mind makes me think it’s still there, because my heart races with fear when men with masks covering the lower halves of their faces stomp into the room.
“And this one?” one asks clinically, his voice cultured and firm. The other man, a portly, balding fellow, flips through some pages on his clipboard.
“We’ve just acquired this one, Master Addington.” The name rings a faint bell, but I can’t remember where I heard it before. “It’s a sphinx.”
It is a she, I want to yell, but I can’t. I’m helpless. The realization highlights Kodi’s plight, able to see everything but unable to do anything about it. It’s horrible. The man called Addington perks up at the mention of my species. He strides toward the bed and peers at the girl like she’s an exquisite specimen in a lab or zoo. My younger self hisses and growls like a cat.
“An Abrams?” Addington asks with a touch of wonder in his voice.
The fat man nods, pleased with the other man’s interest. “The last, I’ve heard. Her parents were found slaughtered, and she was brought here. She was living ferally while the family was on the run. We weren’t the only group trying to catch her.”
“Of course not,” Addington snaps. His hand reaches toward the girl on the bed, and my dream self flinches. The ring he wears, the ring I remember, flashes in the bright glare of the lights. The child snaps at the hand as it approaches. “He who controls the sphinx controls the greatest library in the entire western world. It’s nothing but power, this library. The magic within it could fuel a million shifts, spells, or wards.” Greed suffuses his words.
Fuel? How can they extract magic from a supernatural being? I look closer at the wires and tubes, but they don’t appear to be anything different than a human hospital would use.
The man with the ring continues. “This won’t control her for long if she’s already shifted, which it appears she has. She’s close to her beast form right now. Have her transferred immediately. Put her in a stone cell with enough creature comforts to make her docile but nothing she can use as a weapon. Don’t assume she’s weak just because she’s little. My assistant and I will handle it from there.”
The balding, portly man shifts on his feet. “Of course, Master. There is the question of payment, though. This one is special, and it was quite difficult for our team to extract.”
Addington waves his hand. “Yes, yes. Whatever you want, we’ll pay for it. For now, put her under sedation.”
Not only was I a prisoner, but I was sold like a slave. The operation appears to be much bigger than we expected, possibly involving several different groups of people. The man Ansel’s friend saw executed was probably just one of many. The man inserts a syringe into the girl’s IV. She falls asleep, still growling.
The first reveal into my memories leaves me rattled. Why aren’t they starting when I was younger? I want to know about my parents too, although I don’t believe I’m ready to see them slaughtered if I actually saw it happen. Maybe the recollections will skip around?
The scene flashes, and I’m no longer looking at a tiny girl in a bed. The place looks like an ordinary room at first glance, but the paint peeling on one wall gapes to reveal the stone beneath and the door is an iron monstrosity with a barred window in the upper half and a crack at the bottom. It takes me several minutes to connect the prowling creature with myself. Shaped no bigger than a half-grown lioness, her sphinx form isn’t exactly what one calls beautiful. It’s bizarre to see a human face on the body of a lion. Her hair, once wild, has been shaved close to her head, and it only makes the cat ears above her human ears look stranger. When someone comes to the door, she growls and bares tiny, needle-sharp teeth.
“Shift to human,” a voice commands.
The sphinx growls louder and the person behind the door sighs. He doesn’t sound very old. “Please,” the figure adds, and the eyebrows on my nonexistent form fly up to my hairline. For a prison guard, he has polite manners.
The girl continues to pace back and forth, her beautiful wings tucked against her back and ruffling in agitation. “Shift, Sphinx, or I shall make you. I’d rather you do it yourself.”
The shifter must understand because, with a final roar, she is back to being just a girl a year or so older than the previous scene. A naked child. With her bottom lip protruding into a pout and her eyes fierce, she snatches a robe from the bed and wraps it around herself, but not before I see the collar around her throat. It’s golden and glittering; it might have been jewelry if I didn’t know any better. I’ve seen a collar like that before. It looks like Kodi’s tether, although it’s a different color and design. Can all supernaturals be drained?
The door opens slowly, and my heart falls to my feet. Even though he’s several years younger than his ghost age, I recognize Kodi. My eyes drink him in, memorizing the colors. He’s a scrawny boy just nearing his teenage years. His wavy, reddish-blonde hair extends everywhere in unruly tufts and his face is dotted with acne. The blue-green eyes are undeniable, though, the same ones I glimpsed when he flickered into solidity. He doesn’t appear happy to be doing what he’s doing, but there’s no collar around his neck. My chest tightens with pained understanding.
“Good girl,” the guard says, patting the girl on the head as if she were a housecat. She snaps at him, but it doesn’t appear like she actually means to bite him. The boy leads my younger self to a different room, one that doesn’t look too different from the hospital room. Machines line one side of the room, blinking ominously, and a steel table is equipped with leather cuffs for wrists and ankles. It sits in the center of the room, the focal piece.
I want to scream at the girl as she climbs on top of the table, her movements jerky. Why isn’t she fighting back? Why doesn’t she escape? Kodi takes his time circling the table and fastening the straps, securing her until she’s lying spread-eagled on her back. My stomach turns over.
“Just remember - go along with it, and he won’t hurt you too much.” His eyes are haunted as he whispers the words. The girl whimpers, her bravery faltering, and Kodi’s face twists into a grimace before he takes a step backward and stands in the corner with his arms crossed in front of him.
Minutes later, two men enter the room. One is the guy from the previous scene. Even without the face mask, I recognize him. He carries an aura of power with him, a barely-restrained sense of violence and confidence that makes people fear him on sight. He’s suave and handsome in his three-piece suit with his dark hair slicked back carefully. When the man turns toward my vantage point, I suck in a nonexistent breath. I recognize the slant of his brow and the shape of his nose. The significance of his last name pummels me in the stomach.
Addington. Garrett and Bren Addington. The
re’s no doubt in my mind that this man is the guys’ father. Do they know what he did when they were younger? Do they know that he was responsible for my captivity? My brain spins as it contemplates all the ways I might have been duped into taking them on as guardians. All of the things I’d been told repeatedly, that no one would want a cripple for a girlfriend, haunt me and strengthen the worries. Instead of being surrounded by friends, my guardians could be enemies.
The other individual in the room is one I don’t recognize immediately. He’s a nondescript man in his older middle age with a scar bisecting his brow. The line makes it appear as if he has a permanent frown. Now that I’ve seen it, I remember his face. My inner self shivers with fear. There’s a look of barely restrained excitement on his face, excitement about torturing me. Addington was my captor, but this man was my tormentor.
“Why isn’t the extraction working?” Addington snaps. His barely contained power rolls through the room and makes the other man pause momentarily.
“She seems to be protected, Master. Perhaps if we’d caught her before her first shift, it might be different, but her magic is protecting her. Sphinxes are different than normal shifters because they still retain their humanity in some sense, and they generally experience their first change younger than normal shifters. Whereas most shifters become the animal, she becomes both human and animal. Her human self is aware enough to fight, even if it goes against her primal instincts to prevent pain and ensure survival. Her beast lends her the power to fight.”
Addington growls and the scarred man shrinks backward a step. “Then prevent her from shifting again, Shawnessy. Maybe that protection will falter when she’s been only human for a while.”
“Yes, Master,” Shawnessy replies in a sycophantic tone. Afterward, he glances at Kodi. The boy remains stoic, looking anywhere but at the men or the little girl.
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