As many as half a million Hosts? In one night?
Shock continued to course through me in a way that made my skin cold, my scalp prickling as if being jabbed by thousands of needles at once. How could Amory expect to accomplish stealing such an incredible number of Host bodies?
The advisors around me applauded, all except Jalen and me.
Amory looked at me and I forced a brilliant Bryna smile and joined in the applause.
“Where will you accomplish such a feat?” I asked.
“New York City,” the Sorcerer said.
My mind raced. When would that many people be gathered in one place at one time in the city in the near future?
Then it hit me so hard that it was like any remaining heat in my body rushed out of me in an ice cold wave.
“New Year’s Eve, Times Square,” I said as horror started to roll through me. “Tomorrow.”
“Your Host mind knows well,” Amory said. “You are correct.” Then he smiled. “Although you are forgetting that time is different here. It is already New Year’s Eve Day in the Earth Otherworld.”
Panic nearly had me jumping up from my chair. “Over half a million people in one place. One time. In just hours.”
“With five hundred thousand of our people in place early,” Amory said as he nodded, “we will crowd out any amount of people over that number. Reporters will report unprecedented numbers. Before they know anything, we will have taken a half-million Hosts.”
Shock almost made me forget where I was and who I was with—the Sorcerer and a roomful of his advisors. Then I felt Colin’s warm palms on my shoulders as he gave them a squeeze meant to ground me. To remind me of where I was and what I was supposed to be doing.
I didn’t look up, knowing Colin was still in glamour, then felt his warm breath in my ear. “We will get back in time to warn Rodán and the other Trackers,” he murmured. “First we need to find out all that we can. A few more moments of knowledge will save more lives.”
To let him know I’d heard and that I agreed with him, I gave the barest of nods.
A glow lit up Amory’s end of the room and I turned my attention toward it, barely able to keep to my seat. Colin continued to rest his palms on my shoulders, reassuring me of his presence and that I could make it through this.
My skin itched with the desire to jump up and do whatever it took to stop the Sorcerer now. But I had no power of any kind here, including being able to slip out of the room unnoticed or use my elements to protect myself or my team members if any one of us was discovered.
I didn’t like the helpless feeling coursing through the Host body I was trapped in. Didn’t like it at all.
A glow emanated from the Sorcerer’s hands and I watched as an image of Times Square floated up, almost like a projector casting an image onto the white wall.
“This is where we shall take many Hosts at once.” Amory smiled, a cold, chilling smile. “Once we have secured such a large number, it will become easier and easier to accomplish our task of controlling this Earth Otherworld.”
“What is your plan?” I asked. “I hate to have you repeat only for me, but I am excited to hear this fantastic news.”
Xella shot me a look telling me she was obviously perturbed that Amory had to retrace the steps of the plan that everyone knew but me. She wasn’t a pretty female—at least her Host wasn’t—and the way her lips were twisted into a smile it made her look almost evil. From Bryna’s familiarity with the female I knew she was exactly that. Evil.
“When it grows darker in the city of New York, we shall start transferring the rest of the stones,” Amory said.
“The rest?” I couldn’t help myself. “You have already sent some there?”
A pleased expression crossed Amory’s features. “We transferred close to half a million stones last night.”
My stomach dropped and I could almost feel my face whiten. I drew on Bryna’s confidence and her feelings to recover from my own reaction.
“This is amazing, Lord Amory,” I said and let Bryna’s smile shine through. “How did you accomplish such a task?”
The Sorcerer gave me a hard look. A suspicious look. I had to force myself to meet his dark eyes. “How do you think, Bryna?”
“Your incredible abilities and power, of course.” I tried not to rush the words out. Instead I spoke in the easy, careless way of Bryna. “Forgive me for asking.”
Amory turned back to the image and began gesturing to it and explaining that the stones would be given out by his people as mementos of the evening. The moment a Sentient passed a stone to a human, the Sentient would take control of the Host and leave its Shell—a Zombie—behind. He said that the Zombies would be released for the first time en masse.
Inwardly I shuddered.
“I have been keeping a rein on the Shells until now,” Amory said. “But as of this exchange, I shall leave them to wreak havoc among those we have not chosen to use as Hosts. Those not on our lists.”
“How will the Shells know the difference between future Hosts and those we wish to dispose of?” Xella asked.
Amory looked at Xella, then for some reason, me. “I have programmed all Sentients with this knowledge that will remain with their Shells once they are in their new Host bodies,” he said. “Just as the Shells do not destroy one of our own, they will not touch future selected Hosts.”
The thought kept pounding at my head.
The Zombies would be free to terrorize the city.
I gripped the arms of my chair so tight my hands ached as I absorbed Amory’s words. The pressure of Colin’s grip on my shoulders increased and tension radiated from him.
The enormity of it was almost too much to comprehend.
How could we keep such a large-scale takeover of human lives from happening?
And if we didn’t, how could a mere two dozen Trackers stop a half-million Zombies from terrorizing our city?
THIRTY-SIX
Friday, December 31
Afternoon
“Lord Amory,” a male voice said from the entrance of the enormous chamber. “You said to interrupt when we found the creature. It was in the gardens.”
Amory glanced toward the entryway. At the top of the steps was one of the guards I had met on my way into the manor.
The male held up a squirrel by the tail.
“Angel.” Her name was out of my mouth before I could stop myself.
“Oh, shit,” came Joshua’s whisper from the shadows to my right, startling me on top of everything else. Without my Drow senses, I hadn’t even known he was there in shadow form.
The Sorcerer whirled to face me, shock then rage on his features.
“I saw that paranorm while in the Earth Otherworld.” I rushed to cover up my mistake even though I knew it was too late. “Her name was Angel. She shifts into a squirrel. Like that one.”
I realized too late that I’d just made two more huge mistakes. Mistake number two—Bryna would never have hurried to explain anything. She would have maintained her haughty attitude and would have said the information casually.
Not like an idiot, like I just had.
And mistake three, probably the worst of all, I’d just spoken in English.
I’d operated undercover plenty of times and I’d never done anything so incredibly stupid. The only reason I could come up with was that I literally wasn’t in my right mind. The shock of seeing Angel had thrown me out of character.
“Who are you?” the Sorcerer bellowed as he pointed his finger at me. “Where is my niece?”
I pushed my chair back and dropped to my knees on the floor.
Vibrant, sizzling orange ropes of magic lashed out.
I ducked under the huge circular table.
The ropes wrapped around the chair where I had been. Wood charred and smoldered where the ropes touched the chair.
My heart thundered. I smelled burnt hair. Two locks fell from my head onto the floor beneath the table. I’d barely missed having my head fried.
Then I realized he was only going to hurt me. If he killed me, he might lose his niece in the process.
“Who. Are. You?” The room reverberated with the power in the Sorcerer’s shout.
I scrambled beneath the round table. The feet and legs of all of his advisors surrounded me.
Adrenaline pumped through my body. What good could the extra burst of energy do me as a human? Nothing more than amp up the fear that was causing my whole body to shake.
“Get out of here!” Amory bellowed and his advisors started pushing their chairs away.
At the same time I heard a roar that made even the floor shudder.
A Dragon. Colin.
The scream of a jaguar about to attack—Ice.
The shrill call of a bird—Meryl.
Battle cries from Joshua and Mandisa.
A shout from Penrod.
My team was here. And I was cowering under a table.
Feet around the table moved. The advisors were in a mad rush to flee.
Something furry bolted toward me.
I started to dodge it, then realized it was Angel’s squirrel Host body.
I lunged for the squirrel and caught her to my chest.
The Sentient inside Angela’s Host body fought and struggled, scratching me through my clothing and across my face.
“Stop it!” I managed to get her in a chokehold under my arm, but without actually choking her.
If I could get Angel’s stone from Colin, maybe it would work in reverse if somehow I got the squirrel to touch it and then Angel would be back in her own body.
Sounds of shouts and confusion echoed through the Inner Circle chamber.
Blasts of magic made the chamber light up as if a lightning storm was inside instead of out. A flare, then dark, a flare, then dark.
“Kill them all, except the Bryna Host!” I heard the Sorcerer yell as pounding footsteps came from the direction of the entryway. Bryna’s Host told me it was Amory’s guard come to fight. “Capture her but don’t kill her—now!”
Shouts, yells, roars, screams—
Complete and utter chaos.
The squirrel struggled as I crawled toward the big Dragon feet I saw behind the now upturned chair where I’d been sitting.
I scooted closer and just as I reached Colin, the squirrel bit my finger.
“Ouch,” I cried out and the squirrel dove out of my hold. “Colin!” I shouted as I dove for her and caught her by her bushy tail. “I need Angel’s stone!”
Colin ducked his massive Dragon head beneath the table and he blinked at me with his big burnished gold eyes. In a bright flash of light and a whirl of golden sparkles, he shrank down in size to his human form and crouched. He dug the cloth covered stone out of his pocket and tossed it to me.
At virtually the same instant he morphed into a Dragon again.
With one hand holding the squirrel’s tail, I reached up to catch the airborne stone with my free hand.
The cloth fell away. The stone landed in my open palm.
An explosion of colored lights in my mind. I felt like I was bathed in purple, orange, green, yellow, blue, red.
Sights and sounds twisted and whirled. Images flashed through my mind too fast for me to grasp. A whirlwind of color, light, and sound.
Everything grew suddenly very large around me. Gigantic.
I was shrinking.
And my butt hurt like hell.
I twisted—
And found Candace Moreno’s Host holding my tail.
My tail?
Oh, crap.
We stared at each other for one moment. The stone lay on the floor between us.
The Host had her mouth open wide. My little squirrel jaw had dropped.
Angel’s body must not have been sealed, just like Candace’s hadn’t been.
If I was in Angel’s Host body, then who was in Candace’s?
I squeaked out—in squirrel—“Angel?”
At the same time Candace’s Host said, “Nyx?”
Someone grabbed Angel-Candace by her feet and dragged her from me.
She shouted and let go of my tail.
I scampered after her. Had to help her. Had to help Angel.
How was I going to do that as a squirrel?
Even as I thought that, I sprawled on the floor. My body elongated, stretched out. Everything started getting smaller again. Long blond corkscrew curls bounced around my face and I felt myself suddenly in a petite, perky, compact human body.
I’d just shifted into Angel.
“Angel!” I shouted. I started to crawl from beneath the table when I spotted the stone Angel had been in. I snatched up the cloth and wrapped it around the stone, which now had a mousy-looking woman staring out from it. Aela was her name, according to the remnants of her essence in Angel’s Host body.
I shoved the stone into the pocket of the jeans I was wearing and crawled out from beneath the table.
Two guards were dragging Angel-Candace away.
“Help save Nyx!” came Joshua’s shout.
Ice as a jaguar launched himself into the air and over the table.
I thought he was coming to help me then realized he was going after Angel-Candace, thinking it was me.
Knowledge came to me from Angel’s essence—of the power and strength she had as a Doppler and as a Tracker.
Ice went for one of Angel’s abductors and I dove for the other.
I slammed my shoe into the back of his knee. It buckled. As the guard came down I grabbed his head, turned it. Rammed my knee into his nose.
He screamed as blood spewed from it. I stomped on his wrist and ground it against the floor.
The guard screamed again and sagged.
It gave me just the right angle. I was operating on pure Angel-Nyx-drive.
I clasped his skull in my hands. Braced my knee. Then twisted his head and snapped his neck. I glanced at Ice who’d taken equally good care of the other guard.
Ice shifted into his human form and we dragged Angel-Candace up the stairs of the huge chamber and out into the hallway.
“Damn,” she said and held her arm to her chest. It was broken, twisted into an odd angle. “A human? How’d I end up in a freaking human body?” She pointed back toward the chamber, which was illuminated with more flashes of light. “Go. Just go!”
Ice transformed into a white mouse and darted through the entryway.
Despite Angel’s essence I was afraid to intentionally shift into a squirrel because I didn’t want to get stuck in that form. I needed to fight in human form anyway.
I hurried to the entryway and peeked inside to see the battle going on.
Dead males and females, wearing the same uniform as the twins who had been at the front gate, sprawled across the floor of the chamber.
My heart dropped to my toes when I saw an oriole lying completely still on the floor between the Dragon and the Sorcerer.
Meryl. Was she still alive?
Amory whipped ropes of orange magic out at the Dragon who blasted them away with fire every time one of them neared him. Walls were scored with tracks of fire from Colin.
Mandisa was in glamour and I guessed that Penrod was close by, both trying to edge their way toward the Sorcerer. He wasn’t looking toward Mandisa, as if he didn’t know she was there, but Angel’s senses told me Amory was not only aware of Mandisa but of Penrod, too.
The Sorcerer was entirely aware that they were there and letting them close in on him.
Ice as a white mouse was scrambling over rocks and debris toward Amory.
“It’s a trap!” I shouted, my mind racing as I tried to come up with a plan. “He knows you’re there!”
The Sorcerer flung out his arm toward me. An orange rope snapped in the air.
I reached up and grabbed the magic rope before it could wrap itself around me. I jerked it away from the Sorcerer.
My hand burned with fire, the pain shooting through my arm. I smelled sizzling flesh and I almost dropped the rope from th
e strength of the pain. Angel’s hand would heal when she shifted but right now it hurt like hell.
Amory looked at me in shock as I snapped the rope in the air. Angel was an expert with a whip, her choice in weapons, and my choice to fight with now.
The magical rope sizzled and crackled as I whipped it back at the Sorcerer. He had to fend off Colin’s fire and my whip, and he knew the others were closing in on him.
As I snapped the whip at Amory, it hit something hard, solid, just inches from the Sorcerer’s face. An orange shimmer in the air told me that he’d just thrown up a shield between himself and all of the Trackers.
“He’s shielded,” I shouted. Desmond had said it was impossible for any of the Trackers to truly defeat the Sorcerer on our own. I didn’t know for sure if that was true, but I did know we needed to recoup and make our escape before more of Amory’s guards showed up. “Get out of here. Now!” I screamed over the noise.
But everyone kept their places and continued to advance on the Sorcerer.
No one recognized me. Angel’s Host body had been taken over by a Sentient, and for all they knew it was the Sentient trying to trick them.
“It’s me, Nyx.” I called out over Colin’s roar and the sound of thunder in the chamber. “Somehow I got transferred into Angel’s body. You have to believe me. We’ve must get out of here before Amory’s guards come.”
My team members were too professional to lessen their concentration on their task. They were listening, but also aware that it could be a trick, a trap.
“Colin. When you gave me Angel’s stone I touched it by accident.” I held onto the magic whip, ready to snap it at the Sorcerer if he dropped his shield. “And Angel is now in Candace’s body.”
“It really is Nyx.” Colin had shifted back into human form before shouting out the words. “Listen to her and fall back. Get to the portal.”
Penrod appeared beside the oriole. The Sprite put Meryl into a pocket of his baggy pants before cloaking himself in a glamour again and disappearing from my sight.
Ice transformed from a mouse into a white falcon and circled the room.
Mandisa nocked a poison arrow in her bow as she backed away from Amory.
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