by Lucia Ashta
“Look,” he said, “I’m not a bad guy, really I’m not.”
“Yeah, right. Dark sorcerers are the very definition of bad guys,” Jas said, and again I debated whether I could shift back to human. I had so much to say to this man who’d been in league with the asshole who’d tormented me since I joined the academy.
“If you let me walk out of here,” he continued, “and you leave my name out of things with the Enforcers, I’ll tell you exactly where we are, and I’ll leave you my cell phone so you can call for help.”
“No deal,” Wren said, surprising me. “We’re not leaving your name out of anything. You’ll have to live with the consequences of your choices.”
“But these weren’t my choices. I told you, I had a debt to pay off for my dad and—”
“There’s always a choice when it comes to doing the right thing and the wrong thing,” Wren said. “And in case you were wondering, kidnapping three girls so you could steal their power is flat-out wrong.”
“It’s fucked up, is what it is,” Jas said.
I growled again, and Laredo flashed an alarmed look down at me. He tried to back away from me, but there was nowhere to go.
“What can I do to keep you from killing me?” he asked, staring at Jas, who genuinely did look like she might kill him soon, though I didn’t think my friend really would. However, with Jas, it was hard to tell. She was pissed.
So was I.
We had to find a way to contain them while we got help, and hopefully also got the hell out of here. And I had an idea.
Certain that Jas was content to continue threatening Laredo, I trotted over to the binding collars that had disconnected Jas and Wren from their shifter magic. I wasn’t sure if they’d still work once I opened them, but I suspected they’d block all sorts of magic, including dark mage magic. Even if Jevan had initially designed them with shifters in mind, magic was magic, no matter what kind, right? I sure hoped so…
When Jevan had used a collar like these to block my shifter magic, I’d been able to access my mage magic regardless. However, I suspected I was an unanticipated exception to the norm, and I’d managed to overcome the collar’s dampening effect because it was programmed to identify only one power source and then clamp onto it.
I dropped one of the collars at Wren’s feet. She smiled. “You’re brilliant, Rina. This should work!”
Jas peeked over her shoulder, but wouldn’t distract her attention for any longer. “It should work on a mage as well as on a shifter, right, but will it still work after Rina broke the spell on it?”
“The girl didn’t break the spell,” Laredo said. “Jevan designed the collars to work whenever they’re closed. They’ll still work on me.”
“Well, forgive us for not taking your word on it,” Jas said.
I had another idea, and I couldn’t carry it out while in animal form. Satisfied that Laredo had a healthy sense of fear for Jas’ shiny sword and steady hand, I stepped to the side and reached for my human self, amazed that the shift back to human began with little more than an intention. For how much I’d struggled to shift at the start, the process was becoming remarkably easy.
I have my lion back.
The truth of it was sinking in, though shock formed a barrier from the exuberant joy I had no doubt would eventually follow.
As soon as I was fully back in my human body, I set to putting my plan in motion. “Jas, don’t take your eye or sword off of him.”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” she said. “What are you up to?”
“I’m going to tie him up, gag him so he can’t chant spells, and put something heavy on his chest so he can’t move at all. Then we’re going to find this cell phone of his and get some help.”
“Good. Wren, help her,” Jas ordered, and Wren set off to assist, though not until after a hefty eye roll.
“But first…” I snapped one of the magic binding collars around his neck. The light in his eyes dimmed, and I knew what he’d said was true. He wouldn’t be able to access his magic while the collar was on. But I was still going to tie him up and gag him. There was no way I was going to take any risks with a dark sorcerer when freedom was so close that I could taste it.
Five minutes later, Wren and I stepped back to admire our handiwork. “Looks good to me,” Wren said, and I nodded.
“Yeah, no way is he getting out of that on his own, and there’s no way he can do any magic either.” Though even as I said it, I couldn’t help but worry. There were no absolutes in magic. Wasn’t I proof of that? Still, it was the best we could do.
“Where’s your cell phone?” I asked him, belatedly realizing I should have asked him before. But with his head he pointed to his front pocket, and after retrieving it and pressing his thumb to the smart sensor, we had a lifeline to the outside.
A thousand pound gorilla climbed off of my back as the screen invited me to place a call. “I’m only getting one bar,” I called out, already racing out the large double doors in search of better reception.
Punching in Ky’s number, I jogged down the overgrown driveway while it rang, cutting out every few seconds.
“Who is this?” Ky demanded the instant he answered the call.
“Oh my God, Ky,” I said in a rush of relief.
“Rina? Rina! Where are you? We’ve been freaked the fuck out over here.”
“Trust me, we’ve been plenty freaked out over here too,” I said. “Listen, we’re at a barn out in the middle of nowhere. I have no idea where we are, though we came through lots of alfalfa fields. I’m using one of the sorcerers’ phones.”
“Leave the phone on. Maybe someone here can track it. Are you safe, Rina? And are Jas and Wren with you?”
“Is that her?” I heard Leander’s voice from behind my brother.
“Yeah, it’s her,” Ky replied before addressing me again. “Are the others with you too?” he asked, while Leander asked, “Is she safe? Let me talk to her.”
“Wren and Jas are with me,” I told Ky before a panicked Leander could press for more information. “We’re all fine right now, but you guys need to hurry. One of the sorcerers left, but—”
But he hadn’t gone far enough.
I had time only to register that the mother-effer Radley was about to swing a plank of wood at my face before he swung it. I sidestepped his attack while simultaneously ducking to avoid impact.
Somehow, the nasty sorcerer anticipated both reactions.
The board smacked my head hard enough that I managed nothing more than a grunt before I fell to the sparse grass covering the dirt drive in a crumbled heap, the phone—and the chance of rescue—dislodged from my hand.
23
A steady pulsing in my head finally woke me, the persistent throbbing a ready reminder of what had happened. It all came rushing back to me in a flash.
Radley. That asshole! Even though Rage wasn’t going to be paying him anymore, he’d still attacked me.
Wrenching my eyelids open, I blinked as my eyes watered at the sudden brightness. I was outdoors somewhere, in the middle of another alfalfa field from the looks of it, staring straight up at the mid-day sun almost directly overhead.
And I was bound. Again.
And I was wearing a collar. Though I couldn’t see it, undoubtedly it was one of Jevan’s design, meant to impede a shift.
Oh. Hell. No.
I was not going to play this game again. There had to be some kind of limit to how many times a girl could be taken against her will. I’d long passed mine. I was going to kill Radley. He was messing with the wrong girl. I was no longer in the mood to be reasonable.
In addition to my new lovely choker, my hands and legs were bound behind me by what very much felt like normal rope, but with a dark sorcerer, there was no guarantee that it was. As I moved, trying to get a better sense of my surroundings, my head hurt like I had the mother of all hangovers, and my arms and legs tingled with a cold burn when I moved, suggesting I’d been immobilized in this position for a long w
hile.
“If you’re looking for your phone, don’t bother. I hung up on your brother and took the battery out of the phone. There’s no way for them to track it now.”
I tilted my head backward, searching for the source of the voice. My long ponytail was trapped behind my back, causing a firm tug on my scalp. Before I could stop myself from giving Radley the satisfaction, I groaned.
He chortled. “I told you not to mess with me, and that if you did, you’d regret it.”
He actually hadn’t told me that, but he didn’t seem the kind of person to get hung up on the details of his own self-aggrandizing story.
“I think you’re going to be the one regretting this before the day is over,” I said, wishing I could see the effer.
He barked a cold, heartless laugh from somewhere behind me. “That can’t be what you really think. You’re no match for me, and you know it. You might have gotten your shifter magic back, but it’s of no use to you now. For all the idiotic things Jevan did, he got the collars right. And I know about your little trick to open them. That’s the whole reason Rage called me in. I’ve added my own twist to the collar around your neck. There’s no way at all you’ll be able to open this one. Guaranteed. My magic is bolstering Jevan’s design to new levels. And your mage powers...” He chuckled again. “Well, let me put it this way. If you train for decades, you still wouldn’t be a match for me. I’m adept at magic in general, and dark sorcery in particular. You’re completely out of your league.”
“I see your reasons for thinking that,” I said, just to say something to hold him over as I figured out what to do. I wasn’t about to drag this out or wait a second longer than necessary to bust out of my restraints and kick his ass.
I had no idea how I was going to escape, I was simply certain I was going to. I was done, done, done with these idiotic assholes thinking they could swoop in and do whatever they wanted, hurting whomever they wished along the way of achieving their insane goals.
Though he was convinced I couldn’t break the collar around my neck, I wasn’t. But opening it required at least two steps: I had to find the way to break the unbreakable, and then I’d have to transform into a mountain lion and bite his ass. And I’d have to accomplish all of this while under his watch.
I needed something faster and more direct. Something that would catch him off guard, so that by the time I attacked, he wouldn’t have time to prepare a defense.
“Why did you kidnap me if Rage isn’t paying you for your ‘services’ anymore?” I asked, mostly to stall for time. It wasn’t hard to guess his motivations.
“Despite what I might think of your skill level, I won’t deny that the combination of your powers is highly unusual. So rare that I’d never heard of it before. Though hybrids among shifters are uncommon, they aren’t scarce, and two shifters from different races may produce a specimen with the traits of both parents. You, however, are unheard of. Mage powers don’t mix with shifter magic. They never have. Not in all of recorded magical history.”
This wasn’t anything I didn’t know already, but I allowed him to drone on while I formulated a plan.
“Obviously your mage magic is compatible with shifter magic,” he continued. “Which means that if I take your mage magic and combine it with mine, and then I take your shifter magic and add it to my powers, I’ll be unstoppable. I’ll be a powerhouse, the likes of which the magical world has never seen before. I’ll rule them all, easily. No one will dare oppose me, not the likes of Rage. Not even Sir Lancelot, or Mordecai or Albacus, will be able to do anything to stop me. No dragon or magical object will be strong enough to oppose me.”
“I see,” I muttered noncommittally to keep him going, though it didn’t seem he needed much encouragement.
“I’ll rule the entire magical world,” he said on a gasp. “Wow. That’s incredible. The supernatural community will answer to me, even those nasty vamps and all their Machiavellian plans to take over the world.”
In his enthusiasm, he began to walk, gesticulating wildly with his hands. Finally, he crossed my line of sight. He was as enamored with himself as with his plans to become emperor of the world or whatever.
This was my time to act. My plan was flimsy at best, but I couldn’t stand the thought of remaining here at the whims of this nutjob for a moment longer.
He was in the middle of saying something I was barely registering when I cut him off. “So what will you do once you rule the world? Do you have plans for how to best shape the future of the magical community?”
He turned to me, surprise lighting his entire face. For a few moments he looked almost friendly. Then he opened his mouth again. “Wow. That’s such a great question. You’re actually more intelligent than you seem.” He sighed contentedly. “Once I’m in charge, obviously the humans won’t have a chance against me, so they’ll fall into line and do as I say. I’ll probably keep the Enforcers, or some kind of force like them, because I’ll need people to follow my rules.”
He droned on, and I tuned him out entirely, satisfied that I’d set him on a path he’d remain on for long enough for me to take him by surprise.
I shut my eyes, playing up a genuine wince of pain just in case he was watching. While my shift to my mountain lion and back again had definitely instigated my super shifter healing, I could still feel every one of my internal organs, when I definitely shouldn’t have, and my hair was matted and stuck to the left side of my head where this jerk had slammed me with a wooden plank. I had no doubt the injury on my head had bled freely. I felt a thick, slow drip along the side of my skull.
But I was in good enough shape to make my move. Because I had to be.
I didn’t take the time to delve into myself and search for the source of my magic. I couldn’t risk any delay that could cause Megalomaniac to figure out I was up to something. So I tried something new, and what I hoped would be a shortcut.
Professor Hapblomb had made it clear in her Basic Defense and Attack Spells classes that no novice should consider making up spells, willy-nilly. A new spell, no matter how basic, should be tested in a controlled environment before it was used in the field. The risks of using an untested spell were high and obvious. Stacy barking her complaints was reminder enough that making up a spell on the fly was a piss poor idea.
Still, it was the best I had. I could utter a spell quickly enough under my breath that it should take effect before Mr. Full-of-Himself caught on. It would circumvent the time it would take me to connect with the well of my magic, time that would necessarily need to be focused, not with one ear half listening to mad rantings. And it had the chance of taking effect silently, giving me the advantage of continued surprise.
If I failed, I lost nothing. Besides, I had the feeling I wouldn’t.
Radley was still immersed in his dreaming of his future conquests when I chanted beneath my breath, as softly as I possibly could manage while still voicing the spell aloud.
“Magic that isn’t mine
isn’t allowed to affect me.
I claim my sovereignty now.
I repel all spells that influence me or my actions.
I dissolve all bindings and limitations.”
I took a panicked breath and stopped to listen: “I’ll have to give the Enforcers another name though. A fresh start, something that shows my people that the Enforcers now align with me. Perhaps the Radleys or…”
I tuned him out again and continued with a breathy whisper, reaching for things to say to complete my spell.
“I am in full control of my body and my mind,
Nothing else controls me.
My light outshines the darkness,
And, uh, makes Radley Clark Raschund III my prisoner.”
At his whispered name, Radley stopped his meandering and spun to face me, but I blinked up at him innocently.
“Where was I now?” he asked.
I had no idea. “I was wondering, what will you do to me once you’ve taken my power?”
“Oh, t
hat’s sad now, isn’t it?” he said, not sounding regretful in the least. “I’ll surely have to kill you. No person or creature can survive having so much of their magic taken. Your mind will probably be all mush. You might drool on yourself. It won’t be pretty.” He frowned for my sake, but he didn’t quite manage to keep the excited gleam from his expression. “Killing you will be mercy.”
I nearly choked on my disbelief, but managed to eke out, “You could be Radley the Merciful.”
His eyes widened and he grinned. “You know, I like the sound of that. It has a nice ring to it.” He spun to face the other direction again, staring off across wide alfalfa fields and into a mad future.
I hurried up with my spell. Professor Hapblomb hadn’t made it clear how long we had to complete a spell before it dissolved, but it couldn’t be that long, and I’d lost my train of thought. I didn’t remember what I’d already said.
In a rush, I whispered:
“I claim my power now, every single bit of it.
No other magic can affect me.
I am free.”
Surely there was something else I should say, but I had no idea what. I was starting to wonder if I was a bit cuckoo myself for thinking I could make up a spell on the go and hope to use it to escape one of the most powerful dark sorcerers alive.
“I, uh, perform this spell right now, this second.
I place all my power behind it.”
I squeezed my eyes shut while Radley babbled, and I waited. But nothing happened. Not even a tingle swept across my prone form.
And then, just as I was about to give disappointment free reign, I stilled entirely. Something was happening. Oh, something is most definitely happening.
A rush of energy, of heat, swept across every part of my body. It set my head to thumping wildly all over again, my organs and tissue to hurting as much as they had when Radley first experimented on me. But in a flash, the pain was gone, and in its place remained a warm, buzzing power that spoke of one thing with extreme clarity: strength.