the blast, adjusted his grip on the spell, and did something that extinguished the fire.
Silent. I heard nothing. Smelled nothing. Felt nothing but the hard-hitting heartbeats at my wrist. The Containment Terric held was amazing. It made it seem as if there were no one on the grounds, no fight, no magic. Nothing but a quiet night in a quiet field.
Zayvion pressed Chase, chanting, even though I couldn’t hear him, the machete in his hand flicking like a rapier, then slashing out like a broadsword. The blade changed as he used it, and used magic to morph it, a wicked weapon of speed, power, steel, and magic.
Chase gave ground, breathing hard. She was bleeding—at least I think it was her blood that left a dark trail on the grass behind her.
I’d fought with Zay. I knew the punishment he could inflict on the practice mats. And that had been sparring. I had no idea how Chase endured his assault.
Why didn’t she give up? What did she think? That she could beat him down? And then what? Kill him with Terric standing by? Kill Terric too? Run? It didn’t make sense. Zayvion was the best at what he did. And it didn’t look like he had any trouble not pulling his punches.
Chase was not stupid. She was a Closer. She certainly wasn’t foolish enough to take on Zayvion and Terric alone.
The soft moth-wing flutter of my dad in my head brushed behind my eyes. Then snapped so hard, I gasped. Stars flickered at the edge of my vision, and my dad’s awareness pressed down on me like an avalanche.
Something was wrong. Something was wrong with this whole thing.
Zay had said where we found Chase, we’d find Greyson. So where was he?
The flutter behind my eyes flicked hard again. Pain snapped at my temple. Allison, Dad breathed. Behind you.
I turned, and dropped Sight just as the man—no, not man; Shame—lifted his hands and threw the world at my head.
Chapter Fourteen
I dodged, and wove Block. As I crouched, Block surrounded me in a defensive shield.
Shame’s spell burned past me, leaving a scorched stink of burnt cherries in its wake. While one part of my mind was pulling out the swearwords, the other couldn’t understand how he could have missed. Shame dealt Death magic. He was a master at it. If he wanted to hit something, that thing got hit.
I pulled my machete, to block his next attack.
Instead of attacking, he stood there, breathing hard, his hands clenched into fists in front of him, head tipped down so that I could not see his eyes.
But it was the smell of sweet cherries that told me exactly what was going on. Blood magic.
Chase had marked him, cut his gut. Bound him to her with blood. Now she was using him.
Holy shit. I’d thought he was going to call his mom.
Shame’s fists shook and the fingers of his right hand slowly opened, one at a time.
“Don’t,” he said, one ragged word. “Don’t let the bitch.”
He groaned. His hand jerked into the beginnings of another glyph. The grass beneath him was drying up, going brown as he drew on Death magic to fight her control over him.
Or—and this would be on my list of bad things—maybe she drew on Death magic through him to use it on me.
Shame tipped his head up, eyes burning with hatred. Sweating, teeth bared in a growl. Furious.
“Fuck her hard,” he said through clenched teeth.
To do that, I’d have to knock Shame out. He knew that. And he was buying me time.
I dropped Block, and stood back up while calmly reciting a mantra. I drew a spell for Sleep.
Not an angry spell, something a parent would use on a fussy child.
It’s always the simple things that no one expects to work.
Of course, I put so much magic into it, Shame would be out hard and fast.
His eyes narrowed, but I thought I saw him nod.
I finished the spell, and hurled it, filled with all the magic burning in my body, my bones. I threw it at Shame with everything I had.
He jerked, but didn’t lift a hand to block. He held his ground and let the spell hit him full force.
Gutsy. Like staring down a heat-seeking missile.
I felt an echoed flash of pain at my wrist, his anger—and that man knew how to hate—and then his eyes rolled back in his head. He crumpled to the ground.
Terric’s heartbeat sped up, his worry bleeding through.
Okay, maybe there was a downside to being connected