used Ivy and the others to stage it. Maximus obviously hadn't lent his voice talent to it, but there were other ways to fake or use recorded versions of his voice. I thought back to the recording on the ASE and tried to remember exactly how Maximus's voice had sounded on it. But my memory was imprecise.
And now, it really didn't matter.
"Are you also a tool bag?" the voice from the back of the room said.
"I'm a tool bag. We're all tool bags." My hands and jaw clenched with rage, frustration, and worst of all, sorrow. My sister thought I was evil. She despised me enough to toss me to the vampires so they could enslave me and drink my blood forever. I felt the hot sting of a tear trickle down my cheek. Betrayal was such a wicked thing. I had tasted it when Mom left. When she told me Dad and I were no longer part of her family. I'd felt it again when Dad told me he was giving up on Mom and marrying Kassallandra. And with this added betrayal, I just felt like crying.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I forced back the tidal wave of pity threatening to flood from beneath my lids. I thought of Elyssa and the Templars and wondered if they'd made it out of the ambush alive. Worry burrowed into my chest.
This isn't helping!
I had to do something. Figure out how to free myself. Sure, this table and the straps were made from what I had been told was nearly unbreakable material. By "nearly" I didn't know if I'd need an atom bomb or just a dragon to part the material. I'd seen Meghan press the ends of a diamond strap against concrete, bonding it to the surface. I'd seen her touch two ends of the material together to form a loop. To open the straps, she'd touched the material. Come to think of it, I'd toyed with it before as well, connecting and disconnecting it with a simple touch.
How did the material know when to bond and when to release? If I could reach one hand over and touch the strap holding the other, would it release me? Or did it somehow magically know I was the prisoner here and I couldn't free myself?
Why in the hell didn't I find out stuff like this until it was too late?
It didn't matter. I didn't have a free hand, and I couldn't slide one of my hands or bend my wrist enough to touch the straps holding them. There had to be another solution, something I was overlooking. And then it came to me. I might have the answer if I could only figure out how to use it.
Magic.
Chapter 10
Elyssa
Elyssa and Bella trudged down the road back toward La Casona. The motorcycle had apparently given its life during the chase and wouldn't start when Elyssa tried.
"I can hotwire one of these scooters," Bella said as they passed a line of them outside a restaurant.
"Why bother?" Elyssa shook her head as weariness and numbing fatigue settled over her. She felt helpless. Hopeless. This day had taken so much from her. Now all that remained of her loved ones were her mother, Leia, and Michael.
"We'll get him back," Bella said, touching Elyssa on the arm. "I promise you."
How was that possible without her father or Christian to direct the troops? Who'd be in charge now? Michael? A stranger? She slumped onto a set of stairs outside an apartment building and pulled out her arcphone. She touched the screen, but only saw garbled static.
"It appears to be dead," Bella said, taking the arcphone and looking it over. She touched her wand to it. The screen flickered and went blank a moment, then reset and came up normally. "Or maybe it just needed a restart."
Elyssa took the phone. Pulled up Michael's number and stared at it. Should she call him? Maybe he already knew about the day's events.
Bella grabbed Elyssa by the shoulder and jerked her to her feet. The short woman gave Elyssa a stern look. "I know you've been through a lot, young lady, and you're in shock."
Elyssa stared numbly at her. She wanted to say something in her defense, but the words jumbled in her mind and refused to come out. Was she in shock? She didn't feel the burning surge of anger or the gripping agony of sorrow. She felt nothing.
"We need to get you back," Bella said, and marched Elyssa to a tiny