Binding the Shadows (Arcadia Bell) - By Jenn Bennett Page 0,105
tell them to strap me down. Put anti-magick sigils up around the room. Because I’ll be dangerous if she’s controlling me.
His voice cracked. “Oh, Cady.”
“You need to go, Lon.” That was Mick talking. I recognized his voice now.
Lon leaned closer. “I’ll find a way to stop your mother. I don’t know how, but I will.”
I don’t know if she can be stopped.
“If there’s a way—”
“Lon,” Mick said firmly. “Come on, buddy.”
I didn’t want him to go. I love you. You know that, right?
He murmured something anguished I couldn’t understand, laboring for breath, as if he’d been running. Mick pulled him away. His horns retracted as they forced him out the door. Two nurses took his place. Mick gave them directions, then stood over me, running a hand through his short hair, which looked more red than brown under the surgery lights. “I know you can’t talk, but I think you can hear me. I’m about to put you under.”
I blinked. That was the best I could do to answer.
Mick’s halo swirled, big and blue. “I also wanted to tell you this before we started. I didn’t know if Lon knew, which is why I made him leave.”
Knew what?
Mick lowered his voice. “The baby survived. I’m not sure how—you’re badly bruised and your hip is broken. But it showed up in the blood work, and I can detect the heartbeat with my knack.”
What was he talking about? I stared up at him, unable to ask.
“You’re about seven weeks along, I’d guess. Maybe eight.”
Impossible—he was crazy. I couldn’t be. I was on the Pill! I had a repeating alarm on my phone to remind me. There’s the week you don’t take it, and the pack gives you sugar pills so you don’t get out of the habit, but sometimes I skipped those. Which is fine, as I long as I remembered to take the real pills a week later. And I always did. Well, except that one week after Halloween when my phone alarm went buggy. I missed a few days then, but I doubled up on pills when I finally remembered. Okay, maybe I missed more than a couple of days, but Kar Yee said she forgot and doubled up all the time, and it wasn’t a big deal. Besides, I’d been taking it regularly ever since, so I couldn’t be pregnant.
I mean, I remembered my last period. It was . . . when was it?
Oh, God.
It was before Halloween.
I looked up at Mick.
“Did you know?” he said. “I thought you did, but now I’m having doubts. I wish I could tell. We’ll get a telepath in here later, someone who can read and send, unlike Lon.”
Oh, Christ! This couldn’t be right. Wouldn’t I know if I was pregnant? I thought of Jill, one of the Tambuku waitresses. She’d had a baby earlier in the year. I tried to remember back to when she was pregnant. She was tired all the time. Nauseous. Vomiting. I’d vomited, but not in the mornings—just after magick, which was normal. After my mom visited me in the dream that first night. But that could’ve been related to whatever magick she’d done to me.
I’d been crying. A lot. Jill cried a lot when she was pregnant.
I remembered Hajo’s gross comments about me gaining weight. My breasts were uncomfortable. Maybe even tender. Was that a symptom? I didn’t know!
How did I not know?
Beep-beep, beep-beep.
The machine was going crazy.
“Whoa, your pulse is too high. You need to calm down. Your body is . . . I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’m bringing in a second healer who works here. We’ll do what we can, but I can’t fix everything at once. Might have to keep you sedated for a few days while we do additional work. I’ll do everything I can to save the baby. I just wanted you to know.”
Beep-beep, beep-beep.
No, no, no! This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t be pregnant. I thought of what Dare’s men had done to me. Kicked me in the stomach. In the back. Broke my bones. Oh, God. Tears obscured my vision.
Oh, Christ—did my mother know about this? She hadn’t said anything. Maybe she didn’t know. Oh, please let her not know. Lon didn’t know.
“She’s hemorrhaging. We can’t wait any longer.”
Wait—hemorrhaging where? What was going on? Was I losing the baby?
“I’m putting her under.”
Maybe it was better if I lost it. I was a monster. Lon was a demon. What the hell would we create together? Something unnatural and wrong?
Or something beautiful?
I’d only known about it for a minute. Now it suddenly seemed like the most important thing in the world. More important than killing Dare. More important than my mother’s diabolical plans. More important than running off to Florida.
Whatever it was, Lon and I created it. And I wanted it.
I had to tell Mick somehow. He had to save it.
“She’s almost under,” he said as my eyes closed. “Let’s get started.”
Acknowledgments
Without my hard-working agent, Laura Bradford, Arcadia wouldn’t exist. I’m eternally grateful for her steadfastness, golden advice, and generous heart.
My new editor at Pocket, Adam Wilson, has faced down wild dogs in the back alleys of Thailand: how badass is that? His keen observations made both this and “Leashing the Tempest” far stronger. Julia Fincher also did some heavy lifting; her edits were sharp, thoughtful, and tough: exactly what was needed. (I secretly call her Julia Awesome.) Big thanks to folks on Team Pocket: Sarah Wright, Mandy Keifetz, Anne Cherry, and everyone else behind the scenes. Kudos to Tony Mauro for the best Arcadia cover yet.
My husband is a genius. He is also patience personified. Not only does he tolerate my insular moods, he also calmly brainstorms me out of plot holes and listens to all my Crazy Writer paranoid ramblings.
The online book community has been terribly generous to me—bloggers, reviewers, readers, and authors. Without their support and word-of-mouth enthusiasm, I’d be nothing. And lastly, thank you to everyone who’s taken the time to write love letters to Cady, Lon, and Jupe: long live the Bride of Frankenstein, pirate mustaches, and geeky teenage boys!
JENN BENNETT is an award-winning visual artist. She is also the author of Kindling the Moon and Summoning the Night, the first two books in her critically acclaimed series featuring irresistible heroine Arcadia Bell. She lives near Atlanta with her husband and two pugs.
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Kindling the Moon
Summoning the Night
“Leashing the Tempest”
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Pocket Books
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Jenn Bennett
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First Pocket Books paperback edition June 2013
Author photograph by Bill Skeel
Cover design by Tony Mauro
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ISBN 978-1-4516-9508-3
ISBN 978-1-4516-9511-3 (ebook)
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Acknowledgments
About Jenn Bennett
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Acknowledgments
About Jenn Bennett
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Acknowledgments
About Jenn Bennett