Magic Misled (Lizzie Grace #7) - Keri Arthur Page 0,114
be able to release the seat belt?”
I nodded. Once she’d maneuvered into position, she said, “On three,” and then counted down. I released the catch, and she grunted as my weight dropped into her grip. But within seconds, she was hauling me out onto the top of the truck and then helping me down to the ground.
She got out her phone, called in the ambulance, and then said, “Won’t take them long to get here. I’ll head back to the road so I can guide them in.”
“Hopefully, John will last that long.” Aiden’s grim tone suggested he didn’t think that would be the case.
As Tala disappeared into the trees, I slowly made my way across to Belle. Honor sat cross-legged on the ground a few meters in front of her, her face a grotesque mix of human and wolf that had been fused together in a random and brutal pattern. Her body was little better, and for the first time, pity stirred. It couldn’t have been easy living in flesh so twisted.
The closer I got, the worse her scent. Foulness emanated from every pore. It wasn’t just her flesh that had been twisted by the spell. It had altered her entire being, even her smell.
“I feel it.” I stopped beside her and crossed my arms. “How bad is her mind?”
“She has lived and breathed revenge. She is a weapon raised, and she wouldn’t have stopped killing even if she had gotten John.”
I hesitated and then asked softly, “Can you help her?”
Belle’s gaze came to mine, silver eyes troubled. “I could erase her mind, but doing so would basically leave her a vegetable, and she doesn’t deserve that.”
“And yet she’s too dangerous to leave as she is.” I hesitated. “I think there’re two problems here. One, while I’m sure Ashworth gave a full explanation of the situation to the psych people he’s called in, the minute she’s out of your control range, she may well go full-on ballistic again.”
“Possible, given that her rage still beats at the cage I’ve placed around her mind. What’s the second problem?”
“The fact that, while her dark master might have said he’d severed his ties with her, was that the truth? Would he really risk losing such a powerful source of dark magic, whether or not he was retired?”
Belle wrinkled her nose. “From the little I know of those bastards? Not likely. But I can’t erase her magic—not when it’s as much a part of her being as the wild is with yours.”
“What if, instead, you erase all that she’s been taught about it? Henry did say the only reason she hadn’t come here earlier was because she was too young and had no control over her powers. If you erase the learning, then at the very least, she’ll have to relearn it all.”
“And if I fudge the implanted hate and her memories of where she was raised, she might have no reason to do so.”
I nodded. It would give her some chance of normality, even if I doubted she’d ever leave the walls of the psych facility.
Belle took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Right then, let’s do this.”
As her telepathic energy surged and its force washed through the back reaches of my mind, the sound of sirens bit into the air, drawing close. I hoped the crew hurried, because even though I couldn’t see John from where I stood, I was well aware the shadows of death were closing in fast around him.
I rubbed my arms and kept my gaze on Honor, watching as the thick light of fury slowly faded from her eyes.
Tala stepped back into the clearing, followed by the medics and rescue. A few minutes later, Ashworth, Monty, and two men I didn’t recognize appeared. The psych specialists, I guessed, given the strength of the barely concealed witch energy that rolled around them.
“Looks like we’ve missed all the fun,” Monty said as he strode toward us. “You two okay?”
“We survived.”
He stopped on the other side of Belle and studied Honor for a second. “She looks docile. I’m guessing there’s a little brain rearranging happening?”
I nodded. “It’s the only way anyone was going to be safe in her presence.”
Belle took a deep, shuddering breath and then said, “Done.”
“What did you do?” the taller of the two strangers said.
Belle explained and then said, “Her magic is still there and still very strong, and there’s no guarantee that she won’t accidently unleash it.”