Bound

by Christina Garner

  “Perhaps she’s not completely stupid then.” He turned to go.

  “Mikel.” He glanced back over his shoulder. “You were going to tell me why I’m here.”

  “Ah, yes. As I said, it’s nothing special.” He strode toward the altar and didn’t look back. “You’re here to die.”

  Eden’s breath caught at his words and the casual way he’d delivered her death sentence. She twisted her hands around and around, but if anything, it made the ligatures tighten. Her eyes darted wildly over her shoulder. If there was a jagged edge, maybe she could cut—

  “I was afraid you weren’t going to be happy to see me.”

  Eden recognized the voice, but the context was all wrong. She checked the area for its source but saw nothing.

  “But now I think you’ll prefer me to the alternative.”

  Finally, she saw him. Or at least the sliver of him the crack in the stone allowed. One gray eye stared back at her, and she held back a gasp.

  “Ash.”

  Chapter 39

  Alex had gathered the ingredients of the locator spell, and Sarah watched as she now laid them out on her desk.

  “You.” Alex snapped her fingers at Kai then pointed to the corner. “Over there.”

  Sarah thanked the goddess Kai didn’t argue.

  “Give me what you have.” Alex held out her hand.

  Alex had said the spell would be stronger if they had something of Eden’s—the more connected to her the better. Sarah had raced to Eden’s room and rifled through jewelry and trinkets on her dresser top.

  “It’s the ring her parents gave her for her eighteenth birthday. I know she wears it sometimes.”

  Alex took it and closed her hand around it. “It’ll do.”

  She placed the ring in the center of the other items.

  “Where’s that map?” she barked over her shoulder.

  “Here.” Quinn raced over from the printer holding a sheet of paper.

  Alex took the map of Somerland and set it down too. She jerked her head in Kai’s direction. Quinn went to the corner, casting Sarah an anxious glance.

  Sarah nodded, trying to instill more confidence than she felt. Alex had removed the hex that had blocked her sight, but all that meant was the pain had gone. She still couldn’t see Eden. She could sense her, sense the danger she was in, but couldn’t hone in any farther.

  What good is second sight if I can’t actually see anything?

  “I know we need to do the locator spell, but isn’t there something you can tell me, or give me some kind of guidance for making my visions clearer? Carolyn was working with me and always—”

  “I’m not Carolyn,” Alex snapped, arranging a handful of crystals in precise order. “This might shock you, but bestowing me with the title of High Priestess didn’t magically grant me the decades of experience she had, so excuse me if I don’t know everything there is to know.” The four candles that touched the edges of the desk flamed to life. “Now be quiet and let me work.”

  Sarah remained quiet, fighting the urge to tell Alex to hurry up. Eden was running out of time. She just knew it.

  Chapter 40

  “What are you doing here?” Eden asked in a hushed tone.

  “I’ve been following you for the past week,” Ash said, moving his face so she now could see the other eye.

  “Following me? Why?”

  “Because I knew something was coming. I didn’t know what, but all the signs pointed to something big, and when my sister disappeared…”

  Ash’s sister, Ani, had nearly killed them to take—

  “The stone!” Eden whispered, “Is this about that relic you two tried to steal from us?”

  Ani had done more than try to steal it, she’d almost killed them.

  At the mention of the incident, Ash’s cheeks flushed, and his face twisted. Eden could make it out even in the dim light. “How is Jules?”

  He didn’t deserve sugarcoating, not after what he’d done to her friend. “She’s dead.”

  Confusion mixed with pain on his face. “But I just saw her post something online a few weeks ago.”

  “It happened right after that.”

  “The fire. I heard something about it, but not the details. I didn’t know it had killed her.”

  “Not the fire—an Av Rek. The Council of Magic used the fire as a way to explain all of the deaths. No one died in the fire except the demon.”

  Not strictly true…

  Eden bit the inside of her cheek.

  “What was an Av Rek doing in our world?”

  “Apparently—and possibly with the help of that stupid stone of yours—I invited him.”

  They both fell silent for a moment—Eden with guilt, and Ash appearing as though he were trying to work something out.

  The urgency of the situation broke through Eden’s remorse. “I don’t have time to explain all of this. Are you getting me out of here or not?”

  “Not,” he said, with the flatness of deferred grief. “But I can help you get yourself out.” He pulled a chain from around his neck, a faint blue glow emanating from the contents of a small vial that dangled from it. “I know you’re strong, but you’ll never be able to take them all on. But you can use this.”

  He inched it closer to her.

  “Power.” Eden’s heart sank, and she hung her head. “You want to give me power.”

  “If I could use it, I would, but everything I know is rudimentary. It’s better if you use it.” He squeezed his hand through the crack and held out the chain, the glowing vial swinging.

  “I take it you just got here? You didn’t catch the conversation Mikel and I had?”

  “I’ve been crawling through a tunnel for the past hour, trying to find you. I just heard him say they were going to kill you. I figured that was the important part.”

  “Well, then, spoiler alert, but I’m bound from doing any magic at all. A couple of days ago, I could have used that vial to level this place. Now?” Eden jutted her chin toward the container in question. “Now that might as well be neon in there for all the good it will do me.”

  Ash scrubbed a hand across his close-cropped scalp.

  “Can you show me how to unbind you? I’m not sure how much magic will be left afterward, but if you teach me, I’ll do it.”

  Relief washed over Eden at the realization Ash could unbind her. Her mind tingled with the remembered sensation of being unbound. Of being free. Not just by a fraction, but on the whole. She could use the power to escape. She would be free.

  Yes, came Bes’tal with his velvet words. Yes…

  “You can’t.” Eden shook her head vigorously. “You can’t let him loose. You can’t.”

  Tears streamed down her face. If it meant she would die, then she would die, but she could not unleash Bes’tal upon the world. Not again. He’d been playing her—letting her think she was in charge. Controlling the voices, quieting them when it suited and giving them free rein when he wanted to push her to the edge. All in preparation for a time she would need power—would need his power. If she gave in, she would be his forever.

  “He can’t get out…”

  “Who is ‘he’?” Ash demanded with urgency.

  “Bes’tal.” The words hurt to say out loud. “The Av Rek. It’s how I beat him—by taking what was left of his wretched soul.”

  Ash sucked in a breath. “Oh.”

  Chapter 41

  Trees zoomed past Sarah’s vision as Kai sped along the highway, but Sarah hardly noticed.

  “You said you’ve been here before?” Kai turned where Sarah indicated.

  “A little while ago, with Eden and Jules.” Sarah had recognized the place as soon as the dot on the map had begun to glow.

  “What were you doing way out here?” Quinn asked from the backseat.

  “Praying,” Sarah said. “Sort of.”

  “Praying?” Alex repeated behind her.

  “There’s a power vortex. Jules told us about it. We made offerings to t
he goddess, Selene. It was all very innocent, non-witchy stuff.”

  Not entirely non-witchy, but it wasn’t worth splitting hairs. And Sarah wasn’t even going to get into what happened when Jules’s boyfriend showed up with his deranged sister. Ash was a jerk, but Ani was psycho.

  “Stop here.”

  Kai did as Sarah bid, easing the car still.

  “The clearing is half a mile that way,” Sarah said as they piled out. “But according to the map, she’s just past it.”

  Quinn broke into a run, the other three bringing up the rear.

  “When this is all over, the two of you have a lot of explaining to do,” Alex said, already short of breath.

  “Good,” Sarah said, picking up the pace. “I’m tired of keeping secrets.”

  “If you unbind me, I won’t be able to control him.” Eden whispered so only Ash could hear. “Bes’tal won’t just kill these people. He’ll take their souls, and then he’ll be even more unstoppable.”

  And then his next stop would be Coventry House. And then Quinn’s place, and Kai’s.

  “If you don’t—”

  Eden hissed in warning, and Ash stopped talking, retreating into the shadows.

  Mikel and the others had been ignoring her, but now the council member made his way back over, a pleased smile on his face.

  “Our preparations are complete. It is almost time.”

  “Time for what? Besides me dying.”

  “To bring him forth.” A rapturous expression took over his face. “The Blackest Sun.” His gaze locked onto Eden. “Agamon, The Made God. Long may he reign.”

  Eden’s flesh pebbled. “You’re…summoning a god?”

  She didn’t fully understand the ideas behind multiple worlds and the hierarchy of deities. She always skimmed those parts of the books. But she’d learned enough to know it wasn’t smart to mess with gods.

  Mikel made a sound of disapproval in the back of his throat. “Did Carolyn teach you nothing?” Then his face relaxed. “You hold such an honored place. I forget you’re just a first year.” His tone became lecturing. “Generation after generation has waited, even as our ranks and hope dwindled. But tonight, we will free him from his unjust imprisonment. Tonight, Agamon will redeem all.”

  He turned. Eden didn’t try to stop him with more questions. She wouldn’t have thought it possible for there to be anything worse than Bes’tal, but any god with the moniker “Blackest Sun” that had followers willing to make a human sacrifice…

  “We have to get out of here,” Ash hissed, reappearing at the crack. “If they are planning to free Agamon, that means they found the last stone. I didn’t think that was possible while it’s veiled, but if there is even a chance, we need to be as far away from here as possible. If he gets released…” A shudder passed through him. “You can do this, Eden. You have to do this. Whatever you think Bes’tal might do, Agamon will do ten times over.”

  Eden didn’t understand everything he’d just said, but she didn’t need further convincing.

  The threat of a dark god trumped the power of a demon—even one as deadly as Bes’tal.

  “I don’t understand.” Sarah’s words came out ragged, her breath gone from the run. “How can… How can she be inside this thing?”

  Alex studied the tall rock face but said nothing.

  “Tunnels?” Quinn offered, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

  “Could the spell be wrong?” Kai asked, rubbing a muscle in her still-injured leg. “Or just off a little?”

  “It’s not a tunnel, and the spell worked fine.” Alex stepped back and turned to Sarah. “Soften your eyes. What do you see?”

  Sarah knew what she meant. It wasn’t about just physically softening her eyes; Alex was telling her to see magically. Sarah exhaled and tried to still her racing pulse. Another breath and she saw it. The rock face shimmered, wavering enough for Sarah to see the blackness behind it.

  “It’s a glamour.” Now that she had seen it, she couldn’t unsee it.

  Quinn and Kai crowded in, squinting, but they wouldn’t see past the illusion.

  “Okay,” Sarah said, stepping forward. “Let’s go get Eden.”

  “Wait.”

  On habit alone, Sarah obeyed Alex’s command.

  “No waiting,” Quinn said. “Only going.”

  “Look, champ, I appreciate testosterone as much as the next girl,” Alex said. “But if that cave has wards, whoever is in there holding Eden—if there even is anybody holding Eden—will know about it the second one gets tripped.”

  “If anyone is holding her?” Quinn said, anger flashing in his eyes.

  “Sarah said it herself—they’ve been here before. Can any of you seriously tell me it’s just so out of character for Eden to come up here by herself to do something she thinks is heroic?”

  All three stared at the ground. But whether by herself or not, Sarah knew Eden was in trouble.

  “That’s what I thought.” Alex took one step closer and held out her hands. “I just need a minute.”

  Sarah watched as Alex closed her eyes and got very still.

  “Wards,” Alex said finally. “Too strong for me to lift even with Sarah’s help. Whoever did this knows what they’re doing.”

  “Still think she’s in there by herself?” Sarah didn’t try to keep the heat from her voice.

  “No,” Alex said. “But if we go in after her, the one holding that spell,” she gestured at the rock face, “could kill her before we’ve taken three steps.”

  “So how do we save her?” Quinn asked.

  “I said we can’t go in.” Alex pointed to Sarah and herself. “The wards are strong but sloppy. They’re only set to go off if a person who possesses magic passes through. But you two?” She pointed from Quinn to Kai. “You two can walk right in.”

  Chapter 42

  The man and one of the women cut the bindings on Eden’s wrists.

  Eden sucked in a breath when the man’s knife sliced into one of her palms.

  “That was for the knee.” He spoke with a thick accent Eden couldn’t place.

  Warm blood trickled down onto the ground as Eden rolled her wrists, trying to get the feeling back.

  “Mikel says you will not make trouble, yes?” The woman’s hot breath in Eden’s face smelled even worse than the rest of her body.

  “Yes,” Eden said. “I mean, no, I’m not going to make trouble.”

  The woman narrowed her eyes as though trying to work out if she was being mocked.

  They each held fast to an arm and led Eden to a ring of red salt on the cave floor. On the inside perimeter lay candles, gold coins stamped with images Eden didn’t recognize, and dark silver stones—exact replicas of the one she’d won on Samhain. The one Bes’tal had shattered in his fist. A distorted face had been carved into each, hands clawing to get out.

  “Don’t be afraid.” Mikel pressed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “The sacrifice you make now is for something far greater than you can imagine. Your reward will be eternal. I will make your passage quick.”

  Mikel walked over to a side table. The man rasped in her ear, “I make no such promises.”

  Mikel returned with an athame, one more ornate than Eden had ever seen.

  The second woman stood beside him, looking as feral as ever and holding a small bowl filled with dark red liquid. Eden averted her eyes, not wanting to know whose or what’s blood it was.

  The woman dipped two fingers into the bowl. She pulled them out, dripping with blood, and thrust them at Eden’s chest, drawing a symbol she didn’t recognize.

  Eden squelched the urge to vomit.

  “If you would.” Mikel gestured toward the circle on the ground. Rough hands forced her inside of it. “That is not necessary. Eden is prepared to meet her fate. Aren’t you, Eden?”

  “Fate is for those who make it.” They were Bes’tal’s words, but for once, she didn’t mind repeating them.

  Mikel seemed pleased with her answer and w
aved the two holding her away. Eden lowered herself with unsteady legs, taking a seat in the circle. Mikel gave a single nod, and Eden lay down, the coldness of the floor radiating into her.

  The three began chanting—a strange, halting language that definitely wasn’t Latin. Eden wasn’t sure if it was even human. Within a few minutes, the air around them crackled with energy.

  Mikel closed his eyes, enraptured, as though the guttural sounds were the sweetest music.

  “Yes,” he whispered. “Yes.”

  The chanting grew louder, and the ground around them shook.

  “Now!” Eden shouted.

  Mikel’s eyes flew open just as Ash’s magic hit the binding encircling Eden.

  They’d had to time it perfectly. She’d only had a moment to explain the spell to Ash once before the pair had come to collect her.

  If he’d done it any earlier, Mikel would have noticed, just as he’d seen the binding in the first place.

  Now it was up to Ash.

  Eden felt him working even as Mikel scrambled toward her.

  A little more, a little more…

  Sparks flew from Eden’s fingertips. A small jolt, but enough to knock Mikel backward. Eden had the tiniest fraction of her power, but she could use it while Ash continued to loosen her binding.

  “It’s working!” she called. “Keep going.”

  The three minions charged at her next. She dispatched one with a kick to the head, and the other two staggered backward when she hit them with a wave of energy she’d siphoned from the room and re-directed.

  Mikel recovered, but instead of rushing at her, he stood still and stretched out his hands. Green ribbons extended, snaking from them, coming closer and closer, starting to wrap—

  Eden launched herself at him. She could not let him bind her; Ash wouldn’t have the power to undo another weave.

  The pair tumbled to the ground, and Eden found herself on top of Mikel.