The puzzle broke, and Cooper was free.
The puzzle broke, and Cooper was free.
The puzzle broke, and Cooper was free.
And then Cooper was free.
Sort of.
He came barreling through a door to my left, backwards, kicking at the air as though he was fighting something. I saw no wounds, but he was limping. Maybe he only thought he was hurt.
“Cooper.” I was afraid to get too close, punching and thrashing as he was. “Cooper!”
When he showed no sign of hearing me, I turned back to Serena and touched her shoulder. She met my unspoken demand, and once again I felt a surge of her power.
“Cooper!”
Finally, he turned at the sound of my voice. But in the next moment he saw something behind me and rushed it, jumping at thin air. It failed to hold him up, as thin air tends to do. He landed on the floor with a bone-crunching sound.
But the fall seemed to rouse him. He looked around, startled and confused, then focused on me.
“It’s okay,” I said. “You’re out of the puzzle.”
He got to his feet and pulled me into a fierce hug, much less gently than had been his habit of late. He kissed my temple, my cheek, the corner of my mouth, and finally, deeply, my lips.
Wondering just what he’d seen, I slid my hands inside his coat and ran them over his chest. His heart was hammering like it was trying to fight its way out.
“It’s all right,” I whispered. “You’re fine. I’m fine.”
“It was a hallucination?”
“An illusion, I guess. That seems to be a Wick talent.”
“It was…” Cooper trailed off and then shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. At the end there, a door just kind of materialized out of nowhere. I take it that was you breaking the spell?”
“It was us breaking it.” I nodded at Serena, who had resumed rocking in her chair. “Cooper Blackwood, meet Serena Blackwood.”
Serena once again became the gentle damsel in distress, treating Cooper to her rotten smile and sweetest voice. “So, this is young Cooper.”
I watched Cooper take it all in, her injuries and missing parts, her decayed teeth, the endless rocking. Finally he said, “Nice to meet you at last, Serena.” But although his voice was unfailingly courteous, his jaw was set—he wouldn’t forgive the curse easily, torture or no torture.
“Young Cooper,” Serena repeated, slowly this time, as if tasting the words. “I’ve heard about you from Arabella. Shame I can’t see you. I hear you’re quite attractive. Extraordinarily attractive.”
My mouth dropped open. Could she possibly be hitting on my boyfriend, in our worst enemy’s cold enchanted basement, in her condition, and with all of our lives on the line? I no longer had the slightest doubt that Serena Blackwood had been driven mad.
After a quick, bemused glance at me, Cooper said, “I’m sure Arabella was exaggerating to be polite. She sends her greetings, by the way.” He stopped, a look of great discomfort crossing his face, and cleared his throat. “Dalton…”
“I know my husband is dead, if that’s what you’re trying to say. I’m a seer, remember? A shame, poor man.” But Serena didn’t sound like she was grieving too deeply. Quite the opposite; she might have been talking about a pet she’d lost when she was young.
“Right,” said Cooper. “Well. I’m sorry for your loss. But we’re here to take you home. It would be a great help if you could take your curse off Verity now.”
“Impossible.” Serena’s mood seemed to have changed again; she raised her chin and waved her lone hand imperiously. “Once a curse like that has been set in motion, not even its caster can break it. You have to see this through to the end.”
“Meaning what?” I asked. “Will getting you off the property do?”
“No, no, the curse is tied to my house, not this one. You need to bring me through the front door of Number Twelve Fenwick Street. But we may have to enjoy the hospitality of our Wick hosts a tiny bit longer. What time is it?”
I glanced at my phone. “Eight-fifteen.” Then I stared at Cooper, dumbfounded. “Eight-fifteen? How long were we trapped in that puzzle?”
Cooper looked equally shocked. “It was just getting dark when we were going through the maze. We’ve been down here two hours at least.”
“Phineas will be frantic.” I looked at my phone again. “Still no signal, of course. We need to get moving.”
“Whoever Phineas is,” Serena said, “he’ll have to wait another forty-five minutes. The boy will go to bed at nine, and his mother will go up with him.”
“I thought his mother didn’t leave her room,” I said. “That’s what Harry told us.”
“She comes down once a day, for dinner, and stays until nine,” Serena said firmly. “And when they go up, Jeeves will go off to sneak some television. Don’t let his demeanor fool you, that old monster loves reality shows. That’ll be the time for us to get out. When the coast is clear, as they say. If Jeeves should come down in the meanwhile, you can hide in one of the other rooms.”
I shook my head at Cooper. “It’s been so long already. We don’t know when the guards will snap out of that trance. I think we should go now.”
But he didn’t look convinced. He turned to Serena, his expression thoughtful. “How can you be so sure of their routine, if you’re locked down here all the time?”
“Some of it I’ve learned through visions, when I’m strong enough to have them. The boy is such a natural vessel, he may even be a bit of a seer himself. The rest I’ve gotten from him directly. He’s terrified of lying to me.”
Cooper tensed. “Did he tell you anything about the seeds?”
“No, and to answer your next question, I don’t know where they are,” Serena said. “I do know that they found out the seed Dalton gave them was a fake. They took a pound of flesh for that, I can tell you. I assume you’ve recovered the real one?”
I assured her that we’d recovered the real North Seed from Dalton’s safe, and had it securely in our care. Cooper didn’t seem to be paying attention. He paced the room, then interrupted me to ask, “What about the puzzles? Will we have to do any more of those to get back out again?”
“No,” Serena said. “Those are only designed to keep people out. They have other ways of keeping me in.”
“Such as?” I asked, wondering what fresh horrors we would face on our way out. To think that I’d actually complained that the way in felt too easy.
But Serena turned her face to me and snapped, “They gouged my eyes out, dear. Makes running away a bit of a challenge.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“I was made to eat one of them. That was during one of Talon’s visits, of course. Uncivilized little bastard, wasn’t he?”
I apologized again, and agreed that he was.
“Can you give us a second, Serena?” Cooper took my elbow and pulled me aside. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” I said, and for the most part, I meant it. I was tired and aching, but my bruise was quiet, for the moment. I didn’t think I was in any danger of an attack. “The stairs won’t be fun, but walking out of here is nothing I can’t handle.”
“You sure?”
“Positive. Why?”
“I think maybe you and Serena should wait until nine, like she says.”
I shook my head. “That’s cutting things too close. Phineas said we have to be gone when the guards come around.”
“He also said they’d be in the trance for four or five hours. It can’t have been before five-thirty when he used that potion. We should have time.”
“Should,” I repeated. “That’s a big risk.”
“It’s just as risky to go now, with three people on the first floor, one of whom apparently patrols the place. You only get one chance to get out of this house unseen, and Serena probably can’t move very fast.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my hearing,” Serena said. “Or my legs. But I won’t be running any sprints, not a
fter being half-starved for months on end. We will wait until nine.”
Cooper waved a hand in a there-you-have-it sort of way, as if the mad witch’s ruling was final. But I wanted nothing more than to get out of that place. Preferably right that second, and definitely while the guards were still out of the picture. I was about to argue more when I was belatedly struck by his choice of words.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What do you mean, you and Serena should wait?”
He smiled, as if that would get him off the hook. “I need to have a look around. I told you, Harry’s eyes—”
“You don’t even know if that means anything. Of course a little kid’s eyes are going to get wide when you’re scaring him.”
“No,” Cooper said, with a firm shake of his head. “It was that particular question. It was only when I asked whether the seeds are in the house.”
“There are people in the house! That’s the whole reason you’re telling me we can’t leave right now.”
“It’s a little different for me to sneak around alone. I’m not blind or cursed.”
“Well, I am cursed,” I said. “And I’d like to get uncursed, if you don’t mind. I’d prefer minimal risks to that mission. Obviously we need to search for the seeds, but we should come back when I’m strong again, when we have a plan, when—”
“When Wick already knows that we’ve not only found out where this place is, but we’ve actually compromised it and rescued his prisoner? As soon as he finds out Serena is gone, he’s going to guess who’s responsible. And if the seeds are here, he’ll probably move them.”
He saw that I still wasn’t convinced, and squeezed my shoulders. “You know I will never get another chance like this. You know the South and East Seeds might very well be here. And you know this is the duty I was born to, and have trained my whole life for.”
I scowled at him. “Well, when you put it like that.”
“I’m putting it like that because it’s true. And there’s nobody in my way except a little kid and his apparently invalid mother.”
“And a creepy butler,” I pointed out.
“Look, worst case, he catches me and that provides a nice diversion you can use to get away.”
“That may be the worst plan I have ever heard.”
“How about this? If I find anything before nine, I’ll come back, but if you don’t see me, you two go out the way you came in. I assume you memorized the code to Wick’s door?”
I nodded.
“We agree to meet in the center of the maze at ten past nine,” Cooper went on. “I’ll touch base with Phineas and let him know. If I don’t make it on time, then you all go on without me.”
I still didn’t like the idea, but I knew he was right. How many opportunities would we get to infiltrate Cillian Wick’s inner sanctum? Probably none, ever again, after this.
I sighed. “Go. But if you get caught, Cooper Blackwood, I will kill you myself.”
“You sure you’re okay with it?”
Of course not.
“Of course. You’re right, we need to take the chance while we have it. Just be careful.”
Cooper kissed me, then asked Serena, “Which door?”
There were four in the room, and I’d gotten so turned around when I was under the effects of the illusion that I had no idea which direction was what anymore.
“How should I know?” Serena asked. She seemed less inclined to flirt, now that he was abandoning her. “Perhaps you’ve noticed that I’m blind?”
Cooper tried one of the doors, then came back a few seconds later. “Not that one,” was all he said, but he sounded disgusted. He tried another, and didn’t come back after that.
“It’s not easy for him to leave you,” Serena said. “I heard the fear in his voice. He thinks you’re weak.”
“I am weak,” I said, and couldn’t help but add, “thanks to you.”
“But still, he left despite his fear.”
“Because weak or not, he knows he can trust me to lead you up a couple of flights of stairs and out one door without him.” My voice was taking on a definite edge. I took a deep breath, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of needling me. “He’s doing the right thing.”
“Oh yes, the seeds,” Serena said with a sigh. “We must always think of the seeds.”
“Yes, we must, when the safety of the people we love depends on taking them back and keeping them out of Wick hands.”
“It can be done, you know. Keeping the seeds, all four together in your safe little nest. But it will have a price. I wonder whether you’ll be willing to pay it.”
“We—”
“I don’t mean plural you,” Serena interrupted, her voice cutting across mine like a blade. “Everyone knows the Blackwoods will pay whatever it costs. But you’re the one who’s going to be billed. I wonder whether you’ll balk, when you see the total.”
I won’t have a choice. Not with Bristol on the line.
I pushed the thought away, and the fear brought on by Serena’s prophecy along with it. This cold dungeon was no place for it. One thing at a time.
With nothing to do but wait, Serena commenced rocking again. I sat on the hard stone floor beside her and leaned against the wall. Balls, I was tired.
“How did you curse me, all the way from here?” I asked. I figured I might as well get some answers to my questions, if we were just going to sit around.
“You woke up my house,” Serena said, as if that explained everything. “You bonded with it. You used it. That has a price of its own.”
“Yes, fine, but even place-magic can’t—”
“It’s not just place-magic. It’s more like the house is my familiar. When you make it stronger, you make me stronger. I saw what happened there. And you stirred up so much power that I was able to… borrow… Marissa Collins and work my will through her.”
“The woman in the costume,” I said. “I don’t think she appreciated it when she woke up.”
Serena shrugged. “She shouldn’t go dressing as a witch, if she doesn’t want to dabble in witchcraft.” She reached out with her intact hand, feeling in the air. “Give me your hand.”
I did. She gripped my fingers in silence for several seconds, then finally let go. It wasn’t magic, at least not any that I could feel. More like a benediction.
What was that all about?
“It was me, you know,” she said. “Who told them where to find you. I had no choice.” She let out a bark of laughter that startled me. “Well, of course we always have a choice, don’t we? I suppose it would be more accurate to say I didn’t consider you worth losing any more body parts for.”
“All last fall, you mean,” I said. “When Talon kept finding us, everywhere we went, and we couldn’t figure out how. You were telling him because you could see me…” I frowned and stared at her. “Because of the house?”
“From your first visit there,” Serena said with a nod. “Bonding with it meant bonding with me. Of course, the Wicks had no way of knowing that. I could have kept it to myself. But I’m not ashamed. I was happy to give them something they could use.”
For a second, rage flared inside me. Talon had tortured me too, for a few hours. Stripped me naked and hurt me. And Cooper got it way worse than I did. Talon would have taken great joy in killing us both, if not for Arabella’s timely arrival. All because Serena had volunteered our whereabouts.
But I couldn’t exactly fault her—at least not much—for disloyalty to strangers, in her position.
In any case, it was pointless to argue with her. And I preferred her in the relatively placid mood she seemed to be in at the moment. I had no desire to rouse her temper while I was stuck waiting down there with her.
“I assume the boy helped you in, by the way,” she said after a few more minutes of quiet rocking.
“Yes. Like you said, he’s terrified of you. Seems to be under the impression you might curse him any second.”
Serena laughed. “I’m kept weak most of t
he time, except when they want me to do some seeing, or work some other magic for them. I’ve broken free a few times to do something for myself, but it’s never easy, and there’s always a price to pay.”
“They know when you do magic,” I said. “You said it before, that they would be able to tell.”
“They bring people by on occasion, to check whether any magic’s been done down here. More often lately. They think I’m up to something.” Another harsh laugh.
“Did they know when you cursed me?”
Serena shook her head. “I did that by channeling my will through Number Twelve, so it was as much the house casting the spell as me. Call it a loophole. They sensed something, but they seemed to think I was just trying to curse Jeeves. And doesn’t he deserve it? I was punished, but not too severely.”
“So you threatened to curse Harry if he didn’t help us, but you wouldn’t really have done it,” I guessed. “You wouldn’t have risked it, or spent the vitality.”
“That doesn’t matter. The fear of a thing almost always holds more power than the thing itself. Especially with children.”
Poor kid. Awful woman.
Nine o’clock came with no further word from Cooper.
“Do you need help walking?” I asked Serena.
In answer, she rose from the chair and began feeling her way forward, arms outstretched. “I was blinded, not tied up. I walk every day.”
We took the last door he had gone through, which brought us to the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. We crept up them as quietly as we could, Serena behind me gripping my elbow, her handless arm resting against my hip.
I eased the door open. The first floor seemed as quiet and deserted as she’d promised it would be. My phone was vibrating like mad, with all the text messages Phineas had sent while I was in the basement unable to receive them. Unfortunately, he would have to wait another minute or two. I checked the walls and even the baseboard around the back door, but I found no keypad—or anything that might be hiding one—on the inside. Praying I wouldn’t set off an alarm, I stepped out into the night.
Witch Bound (Devilborn Book 3) Page 7