breathless horror as Landon began to shake violently. His soul was being raked from him in waves of green and blue and purple in time with the drums that no longer pulled at me. A black haze clung to it, tendrils spiraling up to try to keep them together. It was the baku, and my lips parted. I could see it. There was so much unfocused energy in here, drawn from the lines like static, that the baku was glowing black.
And then Landon’s cries ended. Which was almost worse in a way.
Hodin exhaled in wonder as Landon’s soul wafted up from his spasming body, the man’s eyes fixed to his soul even as he choked and died. The baku clung to it as if to drag it back down, and then with a snap, it let go and both the baku and Landon’s soul floated free.
“Rhombus!” I exclaimed, hand outstretched as I made a free-floating circle around the black haze of the baku.
Trent stumbled, his hand reaching for support. The line poured through me, and I took all it could give, not wanting the globe now hanging over the spiral to fail because I hadn’t been enough. Within it, I could see the baku as it looked for a way out.
“You got it!” Hodin said, shocked as the baku turned the inside of my circle black.
I didn’t care. I was more concerned with Landon’s soul, free and unfettered. Breath held, I watched as it rose alone, drifting as if unsure. If we lost it now, Landon would die; I couldn’t hold the baku and Landon’s soul at the same time.
“Shrink the bubble,” Hodin said, mesmerized. “Damn my dame, you’re going to do it.”
Trent’s jaw was clenched and his back hunched as his haggard gaze flicked to me.
“Shrink it!” Hodin insisted, but Landon’s soul was still free, and I strengthened my hold on the line as Trent resumed his chant to lure his soul to touch one of the spirals before it simply . . . moved on. My throat tightened and my stomach hurt, but finally Landon’s soul touched the outmost ring of the spiral, and with a burst of light, raced through the chalk lines to vanish into Landon with a soft and silent boom.
I waited, breathless. On the floor, Landon’s chest moved. Relief fell on me, crushing, and I gripped Bis’s foot, tears starting. We hadn’t killed him. Landon still lived.
“You fools, shrink it down!” Hodin exclaimed, and Trent looked up, bleary from his spell casting. “Bottle it! If you wait, it will find a way out.”
White-faced, Trent came to join me. His hand was damp as it slipped into mine. “Let’s be done with this,” he rasped, and I realized what this had cost him. Landon’s screams would haunt both of us.
I took the baby bottle in hand, and together we began to shrink the circle. The ley line coursing through us began to warm, and the sphere floating over the fading spiral shone with an odd purple-and-gold shimmer. In a breath, it was as big as a beach ball. Another heartbeat, and it was the size of a grapefruit. But the smaller it got, the harder it was to hold it and the stronger the ley line burned my mind.
Struggling, I felt my body warm. My synapses began to singe as we spun the sphere before us down tighter and tighter, smaller and smaller. My breath came in with a rasp, and I held it. My hand in Trent’s grew cold. “Trent?”
“I’m fine,” he ground out between clenched teeth, but he wasn’t, and in my moment of distraction, the bubble pushed back to its original size . . . and vanished.
“Trent!” I exclaimed as he collapsed into my arms. I struggled to hold him as both of us fell to the old oak floor. My chest burned with Hodin’s glyph as I gathered Trent to me, and Bis flew up, hissing at the door. Someone had come in, but Trent . . . Trent was unconscious. I could no longer feel the ley line through him. Hodin’s curse wouldn’t work if one of us was unconscious.
“It was too much for him,” Hodin said, his gaze tracking Bis to the door. “He passed out and you lost control of your circle. Two female demons might accomplish it, but not an elf.”
“Trent?” I sat on the floor of my church and patted his scruffy cheek. “Trent!” I looked up, not seeing the baku. Damn it, we were right