He was faster than me. Even as he was being dragged away by the force of the tunnel he knew what I was doing. The red light of his magic shot right at me, smashing into the green rope I weaved between my hands and threatening to shatter the little strength I had inside me.
‘The silver box! I have to get to it!’
It was the only playing card I had left. I let it unshift from inside my body and used the last of the magic I could summon to float it from my forearm and out of my skin. It levitated right before my face. I was nearly ready to let the lid come flying off so the silver lightning could strike wherever it may when a flash of emerald green magic struck Dirk right in the back, breaking his focus and causing him to fall down to his hands. The vixra magic in my bracelets struck him right at the crown of his head. Along with someone else’s.
Adeline was attacking Dirk from inside the tunnel.
She stepped out of it with the wind flapping at her back. It pulled at her hair and clothes as if she was walking through a storm. She took one cautious step at a time, making sure her magic gained strength with each step. The closer she got, the more the grandmaster screamed. Her magic was weakening him. Only it wasn’t just any magic. She held the svethulka in her right hand, letting emerald light shoot out of the tip and suck away the grandmaster’s power just like the svethulka had done to me.
Dirk clawed at the ground, desperately trying to stop his body from being dragged backward into the tunnel where Lothar and Jake could apprehend him and tie him up until we returned. He knew what awaited him. When he looked up at me, I saw fear cross his arrogant face.
“This is for my grandfather,” Adeline cried out, launching her other hand in the air to funnel more magic into Dirk’s backside.
Rodrick came out of the vixra tunnel with his trench coat wafting in the strong breeze behind him. The crimson red light of his magic spun about in his hands. He thrust both forward, forming a radiant glow until he forced his hands outward to let his magic lasso around Dirk and begin dragging him toward the entrance of the tunnel.
Rodrick and Adeline cleared the way, leaving enough space between the two of them to let the grandmaster slide right in.
Cobalt blue light wafted around the grandmaster’s body, refusing to let him reach for anything as he struggled in vain to stop what was happening. Margaux’s magic formed locksin over both his wrists and ankles. She wrapped it tight and made sure if he fought us anymore, he would live to regret it.
I bent my knees. I had feeling again in my arms. I summoned every last fiber of energy I had left inside of me and lifted myself to my knees. I took the silver box into my hands and let the lid come flying off, making sure that silver lightning inside hit its target. It smashed into Dirk’s chest right as his legs left the ground and the vixra tunnel became stronger, sucking him away.
“And this is for my brother you miserable bastard!” I shouted.
Lightning strikes came out of the box so loud and so fast that I wondered if I would be able to hear anything afterward. As it was, I could see what electricity did to a body when it came at someone as fast as it did to Dirk. Strike after strike hit him square in the chest, sending him flying through the air until the vixra tunnel swallowed him whole and shut so fast that it took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the rapid change in light.
The wind calmed. The tension surrounding me vanished. The gray hue of the shadow charm lifted. And my heart stopped hammering inside my chest.
My hands barely caught me as I fumbled down to the ground, reaching for the lid of the silver box and closing it tight. The lightning stopped striking. I was left a mess of emotion, exhaustion, and confusion.
I collapsed on the ground and rolled over onto my back, staring back up at the sky and glorifying in the sight of its expanse without a single shadow covering the stars.
Rodrick was the first to see me fall. He ran right over to me and took me into his arms, holding my head in his lap and checking for my pulse.
“I’m not dead,” I said weakly as Adeline rushed over to my side followed by Margaux.
“I know you’re not dead,” he said. “But you damn well could have been.” He turned his attention up at Margaux and Adeline. Adeline was distraught. Margaux, however, was clearly pleased with herself.
“The only way for this to work was for Margaux to take Riley by herself,” Adeline spoke up. “The grandmaster would have sensed our presence immediately. There was no other way.”
“You could have told me that,” Rodrick spat.
“You never would have agreed if I had.”
“You could have told me though,” I said, peering up at her with venom in my eyes.
“No, we couldn’t,” she said sternly. “Your reaction had to be real. The grandmaster has been difficult to apprehend for a reason. He’s always been good at knowing how to avoid getting caught. Mostly because he only trusts a few people. The luxra witchling from the inner circle was one of them. She’s proved her commitment to the Dolch Erbe with ruthlessness throughout the years.”
I shook my head, not understanding entirely and not really concerned with whether or not I ever would. Dirk was probably in the Bloody Tower by now. Lothar and Jake will have tied him up and the grandmaster would be far too weak to fight them off. It took all three of us along with the svethulka but we got there in the end.
I let out a sigh of relief as my body slowly recovered from the damage Margaux had inflicted. It was easier now that my heart wasn’t racing with the prospect of being kidnapped all over again.
“The knife was a bit much,” I grumbled at her. “Did you have to stab me right where my back broke?”
She looked down at me curiously. “You broke your back?” She scoffed as if the words coming out of my mouth were ridiculous.
I shook my head. “Never mind.”
“I can still feel some of the vixra magic inside of her,” Rodrick said, refusing to move his hand away. He brought me up to a standing position, slowly and with care. I might have been able to move my legs and bend my knees but that didn’t mean they were fully operational yet. The muscles inside my calves felt like they were turned into jam, wobbly and not quite solid.
The moon shined down on all three of us, showing the castle in a new light. The ominous feeling I got from the atmosphere in Prague gradually faded away. Perhaps because Dirk wasn’t there anymore. Or perhaps because I knew I wasn’t going to die. Margaux didn’t betray me. Neither did Adeline. Well, they didn’t mean to intentionally. They just didn’t tell me the whole truth. And for the first time in ages, I didn’t care about the whole truth. We had Dirk. That was enough to make me forgive any past transgressions. It took emotional and physical agony to get here but I did it. I got Dirk.
“I want to go back,” I said to Rodrick as he steadied me. “I want to see him. I have to.”
“Lothar, Jake, and Alexei can guard him for the time being,” he said. “We’ll get there soon enough. Then Adeline will write to her grandmother about our progress and you will take time to recover.”
It caused my neck to pop but I couldn’t help but pivot my head toward him. “What? You cannot be serious! I’m not resting right now. We finally have Dirk. We have to-”
“Rodrick is right,” Adeline stopped me. “You’ve put your body through far too much, Riley. You must recover. I will help you as best I can and Nurse Roslyn probably has a few tricks up her sleeve as well. I’m sure Margaux can brew you a special potion to quicken the process but you must rest. I’ve asked a lot from you. Now it’s time for you to give yourself a break.”
The three of them stared at me as if I was the crazy one. As if somehow I didn’t understand the magnitude of the situation and I needed to be talked down to.
I tried gathering my words but only an awful amount of stammering left my mouth. I couldn’t think of the right words to argue.
“I…I haven’t seen my brother in over two years,” I mumbled.
“And you won’t tonight either,” Adeline said. “
We have yet to free him and you need all your strength for that.”
“Rodrick can’t do it with you?”
“It has to be you,” she said. “The connection between the two of you won’t break unless you break it. And the only way to do that is for you to be the one to banish the grandmaster from Dirk’s body. He cast the spell over you to create it. You have to unspell it. I will be there to help you along but you must let your magic heal inside you. I can tell it’s been sufficiently damaged. Not even lycanthrope can go on forever without taking proper care of themselves. Even if they do have healing abilities beyond mere humans. Besides, Margaux and I need to conduct our own interrogation first before freeing Dirk. If the grandmaster killed Daniella and has control over the Sorlin-Vontaine, we must know the extent of his influence over them before removing him. We can’t know how much Dirk will remember and we need all the answers we can potentially get.”
I sighed, realizing she wasn’t going to let me win this one. And as my ankles gradually gained a bit more strength, I knew she wasn’t entirely wrong. I could usually sense my magic brewing inside of me but it wasn’t nearly as powerful as it once was.
Rodrick slid his arm out from under my shoulder, encouraging me to try standing on my own. He kept one hand on me as I tried my hardest to prove I was alright.
“Fine,” I begrudgingly gave into her. “We don’t have to break the possession tonight. But I want to see him. I have to look in his eyes.”
“Seeing him just now wasn’t enough?” Margaux stared at me with a hardened expression. “He won’t be any different.”
“Just let me see him. Let me look into his eyes. Just once. Then I’ll rest.”
Adeline’s shoulders slumped. I was managing to bring down her resolve. And if I got what I wanted, I really didn’t care. I pleaded with my eyes, letting her know that after what she just put me through without telling me what was going on, the least she could do was give me this one small mercy.
“Only for a moment,” she said. “Then it’s off to the infirmary while Margaux brews a potion to help you heal faster. Agreed?”
I nodded. “Agreed.”
I knew it wasn’t Dirk I would be looking at. It wasn’t even a small version of him. It was someone twisted. Demented. Evil. Self-righteous and damn proud of it. Even so, I didn’t care. I knew in the back of my mind that all I needed was to look into his eyes. I would be able to tell if my brother was still in there somewhere. We were of each other’s blood. We were twins. And we shared a bond, unlike many siblings. I had to see him.
“Very well,” Adeline said as she turned around and placed the svethulka deep inside her trouser’s interior pocket. Then she lifted her hand and dragged it down diagonally. A vixra tunnel opened up right before us, glowing in a radiant light that no longer made me wince with dread. I was going back to the lycan academy. And this time, Dirk would be there waiting for me to rid him of the bastard possessing him.
‘The hardest part is done. I already helped free Margaux. I can free Dirk too.’
This time, Adeline led the way.
“I believe these are yours,” Margaux said nonchalantly as she handed me my belt of daggers. I took it from her and attached it to my waist.
She stepped into the vixra tunnel with Margaux close behind. I expected Margaux to give me a look of concern. Maybe a nod of the head for some silent reassurance that I was alright. I didn’t get anything. She walked into the tunnel as if it was all another day for her. Just business as usual. Until it dawned on me that was probably exactly what it was. That’s what it had been for her since the day the luxra witchling from the inner circle possessed her. And the discomfort I experienced was only a matter of minutes hers lasted weeks. Not to mention that I had been involved in torturing her twice and sliced off her arm. I wasn’t wrong to assume she might have wanted a touch of revenge.
In the end, I regretted nothing. And neither did she.
‘But why does she have to be so blatant about it?’
I watched as her perfectly formed silhouette disappeared into the vixra tunnel.
“Come on,” Rodrick said, leading me into the tunnel.
I forced myself to power through and get into the tunnel regardless of whether or not I felt ready. I came this far. I had to keep going. I had to see Dirk. And most of all, I had to resist the urge to look down. The world always sped by at such an alarming speed when I walked through the vixra tunnels. Only now I wasn’t running through it while shifting or driving a moving vehicle. Rodrick was the only one making sure I didn’t fall over. I leaned on him more so than I cared to admit that I needed. He seemed perfectly happy to oblige.
Part of me was surprised given the events of the last few days. But he got me through them. He agreed to help us free Margaux’s spirit against his better judgment, he refused to let me leave when I threatened to ask Ellinor for a transfer, and he didn’t leave my side when the vixra guard showed up. Most of all, he came with us to capture Dirk. He didn’t shy away from the danger anymore or tell me what I could and could not do. He was even forced to watch Margaux put a magical dagger in my back. He tried to save me from her, not realizing Adeline and Margaux had their own plan going on behind closed doors. And he was the first one to rush over to me after Dirk had been sucked away inside the vixra tunnel.
These weren’t the actions of a man just trying to get through a rough situation. They were the actions of a man who felt something that he couldn’t express in words.
I brought my arm around his waist as he guided me slowly through the tunnel feeling the heat of his skin through his trench coat warm my entire body. He didn’t shy away from my touch.
We popped out the other end of the vixra tunnel and landed just outside the dungeon of the Bloody Tower. Rodrick was careful to step away from me enough to avoid suspicion if there were any students close by. Once it was clear that everyone was in their classes and it was just the two of us, his hand came up to touch my cheek, lifting up my chin and forcing my eyes to meet his. He didn’t say a word. He simply rested his forehead against mine and let out a heavy breath of relief. His relief matched my own. We survived the night. And we might even live to survive the wrath of the vixra council once they discovered everything that happened over the last few days.
“Get in here,” a voice interrupted our moment of peace. Jake was standing in the doorway of the Bloody Tower. Alarm clutched his usually hardened yet playful features. That could only mean one thing. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Rodrick took me by the arm and led me inside. I walked up the stairs, making sure I had one hand on the stone wall as I went up in case I lost my balance. I knew I was back to having full use of my body. Even a little of my strength was returning to me. But I wasn’t about to tell Rodrick that. The feeling of his body up against mine brought back countless memories. And I didn’t feel ashamed about them anymore.
Once we got to the dungeon where we once held Margaux captive and where I endured shifting under the moonlight when I first arrived, I walked inside to see Jake, Lothar, Alexei, Adeline, and Margaux all standing about. Only one person was missing. Dirk.
I expected to see the grandmaster snarling and wrestling with the locksin tying him to the dungeon wall as it once had Margaux. But the shackles were hanging from the wall with the latches wide open.
“Where is he?” I shuddered. My heart sank from my chest to my stomach.
‘This isn’t happening! Not after everything I just went through!’
Adeline’s face was completely flushed. If she was worried, I knew it was worse than I could imagine.
“There’s only one explanation,” Adeline said softly. “It takes an enormous amount of magic but someone must have done it.”
“Done what?” I demanded.
“Intercepted Dirk inside the tunnel.”
“Where? Where would they take him?”
Adeline shook her head, left in utter dismay and confusion. “I have no idea.”
13
&n
bsp; Call it a second wind. Or maybe an adrenaline rush. But something came over me. Sheer panic. A searing flow of acid seeped down my throat and into my stomach, making me more alert than I had felt since Margaux shoved a sharp blade into my back.
I turned around and rushed out of the cell.
“Where are you going?” Rodrick hollered after me.
I grabbed ahold of the railing to the stairs. The strength in my legs steadily came back, urging me onward.
“I have to get outside,” I hollered back. “I have to use my magic. It will show me where to go. We have to find him.”
Rodrick came after me and latched his hand onto my arm. “You’re not strong enough for that right now.”
“I’m getting really tired of everyone telling me what I’m capable of.”
He leaned down and made sure that my gaze couldn’t leave his. “Not a single person in this academy has a shred of doubt that you’re capable of things that no mere human or lycan can possibly accomplish. We’ve all seen it. But even you have limits, Riley.”
His use of my first name made me pause. He took it as an opportunity to get through to me.
With that, he walked past me. His hand never left my arm. Only he wasn’t dragging me along. He was guiding me.
“Where are you taking me?” I demanded. “Not to the infirmary.”
“No.” Adeline’s footsteps chased us down the stairs and out the door. “We have to go to Rodrick’s study immediately.”
“Why?” I asked, looking back at her as the others followed close behind, appearing even more confused than me.
“Because this involves more than just you,” she answered me.
I stopped dead in my tracks. “You didn’t!” I shouted at Rodrick. “Please tell me you didn’t invite my father!”
Resummon: (Lycan Academy of Shapeshifting: Operation Shift, Book 6) Page 13