by Lola Dodge
“I’m going now.” I swung my backpack over my shoulder and grabbed my suitcase, knowing Wynn wouldn’t help with carrying. I’d rather leave his sword hand free, anyway. One of the Servants moved to grab the handle, but I maneuvered the suitcase of the way. “I’ve got it.”
Downstairs, a huge SUV idled under the awning. I threw my bags in the back seat. As I climbed into the driver’s seat, my heart jumped like a mosh pit was churning under my ribcage. Calm down.
Telling myself to be calm worked as well as casting a spell when I wasn’t feeling the enchantment. I couldn’t flip a switch and be normal when I was running toward the danger.
Wynn climbed in the passenger door and reached for his seat belt, but I leaned to cover his buckle. “Don’t sit in the seat. I want the car to look empty.”
“Where else would I sit?” Wynn was already scowling. It was the most comforting thing in this whole situation.
Fighting a smile, I gestured to the floor. “Down here? Or you can lie flat in the trunk?”
Muttering, he slammed the door and moved back a row.
“Make sure no one can see your head,” I reminded him as he squeezed into the back seat. He was too tall to fit easily, let alone balance his sword. Watching him try to fold himself into the little aisle of floor space was the most satisfying thing I’d seen in ages.
“You’d better focus.” Wynn found my gaze in the rearview mirror.
“I’m focused.” It took me a second to figure out how to adjust the seat on such a fancy car, and the new leather smell made me that much more nervous. Peggy was loaning me this one from her fleet, and I appreciated that it was a big safe car, but I’d feel more comfortable in Mom’s lemon. I patted the steering wheel to reassure myself and the vehicle. You take care of me, I’ll take care of you.
With a last deep breath, I threw the car in drive. As I flicked the turn signal to head out, I realized a shakier part of the plan that I hadn’t considered. I’d never driven such a massive car before. Even though I could see fine, it felt like driving a tank. The ride through the canyon was all curves and slopes. So don’t fly off a cliff.
Gripping the wheel too hard, I headed toward the highway. Passing through the town kept me from speeding. Once we were through the last stoplight, I hit the gas. It was much later in the afternoon than we’d planned, but Agatha had texted again to say she and the rest of the Syndicate were still waiting.
Heading down the last straight part of the road before the canyon, I kept glancing over my shoulder. There were no cars following yet. All I could see was the top of Wynn’s head where he sat jammed on the floor.
Every mile down the road weakened the call of the vortex. The constant hum faded along with the compulsive desire to cast. Even though I’d started feeling the pull as soon as I arrived in Albuquerque, there was a clear difference in the amount of power as we drove away. It was like someone had turned off a fan in the background, making the silence ear-ringingly obvious.
Magical silence was good. Every few minutes on the road meant that much less power Seth could draw from if he followed like he was supposed to.
I slowed to take the first big down-sloping curve in the road. It was stupid to be nervous about my driving when a warlock could be chasing us, but it wasn’t like I’d gone to spy school. I usually drove back and forth to the grocery store on a two-lane road where the speed limit was forty-five. Not through steep canyons that had falling rock signs between cliff faces and sheer drop-offs.
Leaning over the wheel, I focused on the stripes. Just make it to the choke point.
When I hit one of the curves too hard, my backpack rolled off the back seat and thunked into Wynn. He tossed it up front. “Pull over and let me drive.”
“Pull over where?” The shoulder was non-existent and I wasn’t stopping on the wrong side of a blind turn.
He was climbing into the passenger seat when something white flashed on the horizon. I pushed him sideways so he didn’t block the mirror.
A white car zoomed toward us. I lifted my foot off the gas, slowing so I could see the driver.
It wasn’t Seth.
Just a guy driving.
I would’ve let out a breath, but Wynn’s hip caught my shoulder, making me twist the wheel. We veered over the double-yellow before I could swing back. “Careful!”
“You be careful.” He hunched like he was setting up for a sulk, but then he froze staring at the side mirror. “Who’s in that car?”
“No one.” I glanced at the rearview again. “Just—”
Just a guy in a ball cap that covered his eyes. He’d sped up, closing the gap between our cars.
The cockroach-leg energy of Hand magic crawled over my arms. I hit the gas as we took another downslope. The space between our bumper and his was closing fast. My heart pumped double-time. “He’s going to run us off the road.”
Wynn craned around in his seat, lifting the hem of his T-shirt as he turned. The next time I could look away from the road, he was cocking a handgun.
“Jesus!” I accidentally jerked the car to the side and he sent me a glare.
“I’ll shoot for the tires.” He rolled down the window, letting the roaring wind blow inside.
My hair whipped around my face. I pushed the car past eighty, but the guy was feet behind our bumper. I could only look away from the road so long if we were going to stay between the lines, and hitting the twists at this speed already had me ready to vomit. I couldn’t split my focus to cast any kind of spell that would stop the Hand.
“Wait. Don’t shoot anything yet.” I had to slow so we didn’t spin off the road. He closed another foot between our cars. At this rate, he’d be inside our trunk within the mile. But if Wynn hit the mark, we could lose our chance at Seth. I spared a glance for the GPS screen. “We’re only a few miles from the spot. If we can draw him there, the Syndicate can use him to summon Seth.”
At least, I was pretty sure they could. It was Seth’s magic powering the guy.
“We’re not going to make it that far.” He leaned out the window, gun first.
My arms shook. The sedan was already so close I couldn’t see its headlights in my mirror. As much as I wanted to draw the Hand into the trap, Wynn was right. “Do it.”
Gunshots echoed like cannon blasts inside the car. My ears rang. A huge pop sounded behind us, and the sedan skidded, swinging over the double-yellow. Tire blown out.
Instead of slowing down, the Hand sped up, coming at us more from the side this time. We were through the steepest part of the canyon but the flat part of the road was just as dangerous. Rock wall to our left, drop off and a river to our right.
“Put on your seatbelt!” I floored it as we hit a straightaway.
Wynn ignored me, leaning out the window to line up another shot.
The car zoomed toward us.
I glanced back right as the Hand plowed into my back tire.
The sickening crash was the last noise before we flipped over the guardrail.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The world flipped and flopped like the inside of a washing machine. Jerking us in rough circles. Bursts of light and pain scrambled my brain. The airbag exploded. I hit my head front and back.
Still spinning. Metal roaring and creaking.
Survive!
I scrunched my eyes shut, praying it would stop.
When the car finally stilled, the world kept spinning. I held my temples while my body tried to decide if I should hurl or cry or scream. It went with the full-body shakes.
The deployed airbag looked like a half-melted marshmallow except for a splotch of red.
Blood?
I lifted my fingers in front of my eyes. Blood smudged my right hand.
But there was no pain. Not a good thing. My thoughts were fuzzy. I needed to get out. To move. To find help.
“Wynn.” My voice croaked. I couldn’t focus while the blood rushed to my head. I tried to turn and realized I was hanging upside down with my seatbelt keepin
g me in my seat.
Wynn hadn’t buckled.
The passenger seat was empty.
And all that was left of the windshield was shards.
I groaned. Please be okay.
Fumbling, I tried to undo my buckle. Before I could hit the button, someone reached through the window.
“Wynn. Help me—”
The man yanked my arm. Not Wynn. A wave of warlock energy rolled over me. I reached for my magic, trying to resist whatever spell he’d thrown, but it was too late.
Darkness fell, taking me far away from the wrecked car.
I was vaguely aware of being dragged. Rocks and plants tearing at my bare legs. Then the sizzle of magic as I passed through a ward.
Seth’s ward.
The gross feel of his magic was too hard to miss, even if I was concussed or whatever was wrong with me. I fought for consciousness, but all I could do was drift in and out of clarity. I caught glimpses of the wide sky above and the hard ground under my cheek.
“Put him in the circle with her,” Seth said, his voice so chilling that I forgot to breathe.
Something soft bumped me. A body?
I had to start paying attention.
Drawing energy from the warm core of my magic, I forced my eyes to open. I lay on my side in a circle of stones. Seth’s ward was already in place, blocking the vortex hum. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. How the hell am I surviving this?
My body ached and stung as feeling slowly returned. The pain would get worse before it got better.
Something touched my back.
Half rolling, half flopping, I swung around to find the humped shape next to me.
Wynn.
Blood covered the top of his head like a crown. I crawled to my knees and tilted him onto his back before remembering you shouldn’t move someone with head injuries. Too late anyway. He’d been dragged into the circle, leaving a rut in the dirt. I pressed my ear to his chest.
His lungs still rose and fell. Thank goodness.
How many breaths did we had left, though? Maybe a few minutes’ worth? The sour taste of panic coated my tongue.
I couldn’t see Seth or his Hand. The stone circle trapped us in a patch of dirt, mostly surrounded by reeds. The babbling of water over rock said we were close to the river.
But how close was Seth?
“Wynn.” I bent to whisper and shake his arm. “You have to wake up.”
Inside the ring of stones were two other lines. One of salt. One of something wet.
My throat contracted.
If Seth planned on turning us into Hands, then that wasn’t water darkening the ground. It was blood.
The ward suffocated, pressing against my head until I could hardly think. All I knew was we were trapped. I couldn’t burn through solid ground to get us out.
I’d have to crack the ward the hard way, and soon. Before Seth started trying to drain me. If I could contact the Syndicate, they could still grab him. A text would signal them as well as a tower of flames, but my phone was MIA, so a magic beacon was my best bet.
I just couldn’t send up an alert with the ward trapping me in its dome.
Wynn wasn’t stirring. He needed a hospital. So did I, based on the way the solid ground kept spinning.
“Anise.”
The sound of my name on Seth’s lips sent a shiver dripping down my shoulders. I leaned protectively over Wynn.
Seth folded his arms. His dark hair was mussed, all sticking up. “You burned down my building.”
My jaw may have dropped. Did he want an apology? “You tried to kill me.”
“Only once or twice.” A cold smile tilted his lips. “Now I’d prefer you alive. For a while longer, at least.”
The ring of blood glowed, casting off a brand of magic that bile creep up the back of my throat. I reached out on the off chance I could disturb one of the rings, but my fingers jarred to a stop inches in front of the salt circle.
My magic wavered. The bizarre sensation made my elbows give out and I fell forward over Wynn. The ground doubled. Seth was weakening me—readying me so his magic could take me over. And thanks to the last attempt, I was already weak to him.
His power stirred inside me, like an ink drop spreading through the well of my power. My stomach churned.
How long had Seth been grooming me for this? Since the day we met? I’d been so happy walking straight into his traps.
That doesn’t matter now.
He didn’t own me yet, and I needed to attack before he hollowed me out and took over. If flames couldn’t do the job, I had to find another way to fight.
I balled my hands into fists and mirrored the same action with my power. My only way out was punching a hole.
I reached for every scrap of magic I could scrounge, but between the crash and what Seth was already siphoning off me, I didn’t have enough to give.
Still. I had to try.
Concentrating my power into a battering ram, I swung for the ward.
My power clanged against Seth’s, ringing like a gong.
The force rattled my teeth and knocked me onto my back. Giving up isn’t an option. I dragged my fingers through the dirt, trying to find the strength to sit up.
My fingertips brushed Wynn’s arm. If the giant clang hadn’t woken him up, I was worried nothing would.
I choked back a wave of despair so thick I couldn’t squeeze in a breath. Or was that Seth’s magic already taking over?
There was no coming back from being made a Hand. Once Seth had me, I was good as dead. He’d use me to hurt Agatha and any other witches who got in his way. I’d never make crème brûlée with the fancy Benzomatic torches that Agatha kept locked in the pantry. I’d never be able to prove that I deserved to be her apprentice.
And Mom…
Tears I wouldn’t shed seared my throat. She’d be devastated. Full-on meltdown. And Mom couldn’t even contact her friends for help getting through my death. She’d be alone.
A sob broke free. I clapped a hand over my mouth.
Seth laughed.
The sound crawled down my spine, so vile I twisted onto my side to dry-heave. What had I ever seen in him? It must’ve been compulsion. Please, let it have been compulsion.
I hated myself for falling into his lies. For letting him do this to me.
Are you really this weak?
I wasn’t supposed to be, but I still hadn’t managed to sit up. The circle of blood glowed cherry-red and the ink drop of Seth’s magic put out spider legs inside me, little tendrils sneaking into my bloodstream.
“Not much longer.” Seth lifted a hand like he was controlling a puppet. Pain shot up my arm and my wrist jerked. He gave a self-satisfied grin. “I can’t wait to show you off to Agatha.”
Gray tendrils twined in front of my eyes. Seth almost had me.
My earrings were tapped out. My magic wasn’t enough. I balled my hands so tight my rings bit into the flesh of my fingers. I hated asking the spirits for help, but I was out of options. If you’re listening, I could use a little help, Nana.
Seth waved a hand, making my arm jerk so hard my whole body wrenched to the side. I head-butted Wynn’s shoulder.
He groaned.
“Wynn?” I whispered as low as my voice would go.
“What…” His eyelids fluttered. The blood on his forehead had darkened, but there was more of it than before. He blinked at me, not quite focusing.
“We’re in trouble.” I glanced up. Seth stood beyond the haze of the ward, examining the power that glowed at his fingertips. The tendrils in front of my eyes were growing together like strands of a web. I instinctively knew what that meant.
When the net was done, so was I. “We’re warded in. We need to break through and make contact with the Syndicate.” That was the most important thing. Someone had to contain Seth.
Wynn blinked a few more times before his eyes cleared. He touched his head and winced.
Seth took a step closer to the ward, peering at his capt
ives. “The bodyguard wakes. Perfect timing.” He raised his hands and beestings pricked up and down my arms.
Don’t you dare. I tried to stop myself, but my body was already letting Seth drive. My arms mirrored his gesture, reaching for Wynn’s neck.
Wynn grabbed me by the wrists, holding me back, but his hands shook as hard as mine did. He couldn’t hold me off forever because I wasn’t the one pushing at him anymore.
“What is this?” Wynn said through gritted teeth.
A nightmare?
Seth’s power was more than a splash of ink now. Instead of a cheery red-orange, the heart of my power had faded almost all the way to gray. It took everything I had to keep from pushing down and strangling Wynn. My arms shook trying to hold back.
“He’s turning us both into Hands.” My control was slipping and my willpower faded as Seth’s magic grew inside me, but my revulsion would never budge. I’d rather burn out my own life force than live to be owned by Seth.
“Can you break through his ward?” Wynn’s muscles shook, still trying to keep me from choking him. I could feel the pressure against my wrists, but not my own muscles as I bore down on him.
“Already tried.” Already failed. “What if I give you what’s left of my power?” I asked. Wynn was in much rougher shape than me or we wouldn’t still be struggling, but having full control of his body made him our only real hope.
“Not this time.” His face was chalky pale with strain.
A breath gusted from my lungs. I should’ve died the last time Seth cornered me, but the close call hadn’t changed my mind about how this needed to end. I ducked closer to whisper in Wynn’s ear. “I’ll fight as long as I can, but…” Both of us were already screwed. “I don’t plan on letting him use me.”
Wynn’s jaw clenched. “Agree with you for once.”
I barked a laugh. “Now?” It was that much more absurd when I was actively trying to strangle him.
“Now. Neither of us dies.” With a mighty heave, he lifted my arms far enough away to sneak a thumb between his teeth. He bit down until he drew blood, then extended the thumb as far out to me as he could without loosening his grip on my wrists. “Take what you need.”
It was silly to bite himself when there was so much of his blood already flowing, but the gesture meant everything. The free offer of himself—body and power.