smile on his face. “You saved yourself. Your choice was rather unique, but you did that all on your own. You didn’t cast a spell, or weave patterns, either. You just became lighter than air and you floated.”
He looked so incredibly proud of her. Euphoria hit, but it wasn’t the fact that she really had saved herself, or that she hadn’t needed to add spells or weave intricate configurations in the air, it was that look on his face. No one had ever looked at her like that before. She wanted to etch that look into her mind for all time. She wanted to be able to take it out and examine it later when she had plenty of time.
“The cats,” she whispered. “Our cats. Why do you want them here?”
“Look at the two of them, what did you say their names were? Phaedra and Comet? Really look at them. Feel them.”
She had looked at them. She’d gone into her brothers’ experiment shed every night to try to heal the cats that were injured or hurt. Phaedra and Comet were always locked away. They would hiss and leap at her, hitting the doors of their cages, and she would almost pass out. Venom dripped from their teeth. She would be afraid to even feed them.
“You need to look at them,” she pointed out. “I love that you have compassion for them, but those two are so far gone.”
“Why would they be so far gone?”
“My brothers take turns beating them. They’re kept starved. After I found the shed, I fed the animals food, even them, although getting near their cage was taking my life in my hands. They especially hated me. All the cats did. They could smell my family on me. We have to do something now before Blue and Belle get here. I’m going to direct them away from here.”
“No, my little mage, let them come. I do not want to leave these cats behind.”
“Did you not see my owl shot out of the sky? They are coming after us.”
“They were fishing. Even as the owl dropped from the sky, they couldn’t see you. They may have caught a glimpse of the balloon, but I pulled it out of the sky very quickly.” He turned his head toward the two cats who had run up to them. “Belle. Blue.” He rubbed their heads as they wound in and out between his legs, nearly knocking him over.
Each time the cats bumped Julija, they rocked her body. They were big animals and once they took their normal forms, they were the size of panthers—healthy ones, and quite formidable. She petted the two cats, realizing she had missed them in the short time they’d been separated.
“Above us, Julija,” Isai cautioned in a low voice.
She didn’t tilt her head, but she did lift her gaze and her heart nearly stopped. Comet was crouched in the rocks above them, his body once more shimmering gray. He looked malevolent with his glowing eyes, two red pinpoints of evil staring at them.
“Isai,” she whispered, “they can do damage in seconds.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “I want you to think of yourself as molecules—”
She shook her head. “Absolutely not. I stay right here with you. It happens, or it doesn’t. If he attacks, he attacks both of us.” She wasn’t going to argue with him, but she was shaking like a leaf. She might not have to use spells or weave protections to aid him fighting off the enormous cats, but she was used to it and much more comfortable with the concept.
“Stay quiet then and let me handle them.” He lifted his hand and waved it casually toward her as if gesturing to her to stay silent.
She sent him a look that should have withered him right there. “Your bossiness knows no bounds.”
He inclined his head, a faint smile in his jeweled eyes. “You have no idea, kislány hän ku meke sarnaakmet minan.”
Julija watched intently as Isai lifted his wrist to his mouth and bit down. At once crimson drops beaded up. He held his wrist out to the large cat crouched above them. Saliva dripped continuously from the cat’s mouth as it glared down at them.
“Come to me, Comet,” Isai said in a low, compelling tone. It was a whisper of sound, but it carried on the wind and swelled with command. He held up his wrist so that the ruby drops slid down his arm in a trail of red.