Blackbird Broken (The Witch King's Crown #2) - Keri Arthur Page 0,102
spooky to witness, as there’s absolutely no—”
“Can we concentrate?” Mo cut in. “Time is a-wasting.”
And it might already be too late … but for what? I had no idea. It wasn’t like the terrace itself provided any clues—it remained still and dark, and the undulating ribbons of energy hadn’t in any way altered.
“Luc,” Mo continued, “we’ll need you close by, just in case entering the house leads to an external attack.”
“Have you got an attack radius for the ribbons? I can’t see them, remember.”
“Best estimate, based on its reaction to my probe, is six feet.”
“Then I’ll leave seven, just to be sure.”
“Probably wise, given we’re dealing with the unknown.” She accepted the radios Barney handed her, then tossed one to me.
“Are you both going in?” he asked.
“It depends entirely on how those ribbons react,” Mo said. “I’ll let you know either way.”
“Good.”
I switched on the two-way, tucked it into my pocket, and shoved the receivers into my ears. Then I unstrapped my knives and lashed them together. “We need to move. Now.”
“Go,” Barney said. “I’ll notify the troops. And be careful, all of you.”
I strode out the door, following the still invisible Luc down the stairs and back out into the street. Thankfully, my awareness of him allowed me to not only keep an even distance between us but avoid crashing into him when he stopped.
“Here, take these.” He pressed the car keys into my hand. “If someone is watching they’ll think it odd if you don’t leave in the car. I’ll be out the front; yell if you need me.”
“I will.” Whether he’d get into the building if I did get into trouble was another matter entirely.
I squeezed his fingers, then released him and hurried back to the car, starting it up as Mo climbed into the passenger side. I waited for a car to pass, then did a U-turn and took the first left, driving around to the rear of the terraces.
Once parked, I leaned my arms on the steering wheel and studied the building. The rear gate was open—an invitation I wished we didn’t have to accept—but the carport beyond was empty. That didn’t mean the house was, of course. I bit my lip and thrust away the growing trepidation. It was nothing more than fear of the unknown, and it wasn’t like I was going in there either unarmed or alone.
My gaze shifted to the energy snake. It continued to undulate around the house, but for some reason, it felt more dangerous than it had before. But maybe that was a result of knowing we were about to tackle the thing.
“How do we play this?”
“I don’t think there’s any benefit to sneaking around—that’ll just attract attention.” Mo glanced at me. “You ready?”
I half smiled. “Am I ever?”
She laughed and patted my shoulder. “You’ll be fine, darling girl. You’re stronger than you know.”
“That’s not saying much.”
“That’s the old you speaking,” she said. “The new you knows better.”
I sighed. “Yeah, but the new me is also scared witless.”
“And yet you keep going when angels would falter.”
“Which is no doubt your genes coming out in me once more.”
She laughed again and climbed out of the car. I grabbed my knives and followed her down to the carport. The ribbons continued their sinuous journey around the building, seemingly unaware of our presence. That would change soon enough.
“So, what’s the actual plan here?”
“I noticed earlier that the ribbons’ energy withdrew to the middle of the building when it attacked the probe, leaving the roof and base momentarily free. I’m going to set up a timed probe spell; with any luck, its approach will echo what happened earlier, and give us the chance to get in through that top window.”
“And getting out?”
“Will undoubtedly depend on what we discover inside.”
“I do love your ‘seat of the pants’ method of doing things. It fills me with such confidence.”
“Ha!” she said and got down to the business of spelling.
I crossed my arms and watched intently. Spelling wasn’t my gift, and I’d never be able to replicate it, even if Lancaster blood did run distantly through my veins thanks to her. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t lock the information away just in case I came across something similar in the future. As Mo tended to say, what you didn’t understand, you couldn’t unpick.
It took nearly five minutes to complete the spell, and the result was a spinning sphere of tangled streaks of light that hovered several feet away.