Midnight Truth (Shifter Island #4) - Leia Stone Page 0,73

Make a bunch of him, and they’ll be so caught up in trying to find the real one of him we should be able to move around easily.”

The others agreed, and then Than stood still, right in front of me as I studied him.

“Can all the high masters make illusions of people?” I asked, as my thoughts jumped to Zombie Nai from the Realm of the Dead. Hopefully, I wouldn’t be making any Zombie Thans.

“They can all make illusions of the magic they’re strongest at. Lucky for you, you’re the high master of spirit.”

So lucky. An illusion of a lake or fire probably wouldn’t help right now.

My attention zeroed in on Than, and then I tried to imagine making a copy of him. Something flickered next to him, and then Than 2.0 appeared, blinking at me curiously.

Holy mage!

“Keep going. That’s not enough,” Zia quipped.

I did it again, over and over again, until my grandfather’s office was brimming with Thans.

“Uhh, that’s probably enough,” Than said.

Lucia giggled. “Than number eleven is missing an eye.”

I looked up, and sure enough, one of the Thans had a single droopy eye.

Oops.

“Yeah, I’d better quit or the next one might be missing more than just an eye,” I said.

“Now, release control of them to us,” Than said.

Looking at the dozens of versions of him, I frowned. “How?”

“Direct them! You’re in charge. They’re just energy,” Lucia said.

Okay, that was creepy. “Uh,” I spoke out loud to the blinking room of ghostly Than versions. “You three go with Lucia.” I pointed at a cluster of them, and they nodded before zooming to her side.

What the mage?

“You go with Aine.” I pointed to another cluster. “And you with Raiden.” Another couple zoomed to his side. I directed another two to the actual Than and the final cluster with me.

“You’re with me,” I told them and then turned to Zia. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like you to be with me too.”

She nodded. “You got it, kiddo.”

We all changed our clothes, with just a thought, so that we too were dressed in black ninja clothes, and then I pulled the hood up over my translucent silvery hair. After that, we all left the silent, sterile office and headed down the corridor toward the spirit castle with eavesdropping on our minds.

Even before we arrived in the foyer, we could hear the raucous laughter from the Blood mages.

Those bastards were living in my grandfather’s house!

“Kill them all,” a male voice snarled.

A cheer rose up from the rest of them, loud enough to know there were more than a few in there. And then a female cried, “We’ll drink their blood—”

“And live forever!” another bellowed.

Wait. Wait. What? I mouthed to Zia.

She shook her head and mouthed, Later.

Who were they talking about killing! Us?

We huddled just inside the hallway that led to the foyer where our death party was being discussed. I couldn’t hear them well, which I suspected meant they were moving away from us, possibly toward the kitchen.

I looked at Than—the real one. The only reason I knew it was the real him was because he’d pulled his mask down and didn’t have a zombie look on his face.

Ready? I mouthed at him.

He gave me a thumbs-up, and I crept closer, wanting to hear more. If the blood mages saw me, Than and his boys would hopefully distract them from blasting me with magic or whatever they might be able to do.

I crept along the foyer entrance and down the hall, following the blood mage voices, which were growing louder once more.

“Queen Banpiroa won’t be at full strength until she’s fully fed,” a female said.

“I don’t understand why she won’t just drink from one of the captives—”

“They’re too weak, you fool. It will deaden her power,” the female snapped. “She needs one of the high mages.”

Fear wormed through my entire ghostly body at that declaration, and I peered into the kitchen.

The moment I made eye contact with her, a woman with long black hair and pale skin snapped her head up to look at me.

“Spirit,” she shouted.

Oops.

The female blood mage held a spirit crystal tightly in her palm as she sat at the breakfast table with three other blood mages. It seemed like only she could see me, which made some sense as only she held a crystal.

Okay. So they definitely knew how to use those spirit crystals.

Good to know.

Without another word, most of the Than copies burst into the kitchen, running in circles around the table as the woman