Phantom of the Library - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,42

council is obviously pretty upset, so they might…you know. Kill you. Arrest you, at least.”

“Did Sam know about this?”

“Yes,” Graham said. “He left the task to me because I was the grandson of one of his best friends.”

“And Sam never had a child although he wanted one so much…,” Hepzibah said.

“That was a sacrifice he was willing to make,” Byron said.

“So you’ve done all this right here in our backyard,” Isaac said. “And I guess we’ll have ourselves a whole lot of trouble because of it.”

We heard screams outside.

“The council must have sent another wave to fight us,” I said. “So there’s your trouble. I’m going to help Bevan. If you think it’s wrong to banish wizards to Sinistral just because they did something the council doesn’t like, then follow me. Otherwise, stay safe down here until it’s over.” I didn’t wait around. No time for arguments. I was worried about Bevan, and I’d never worried about Bevan before, but the magical world was changing under my feet in ways I didn’t expect. I didn’t think this would impact me, but now I was questioning whether I should have a familiar at all. My brother’s familiar had died for him. This was something I never forgot. It was a shock to me because we all used to play together when we were really little.

And then Billie’s familiar died for her, too…

I dashed out the front door and my guys were right behind me, or in Jake’s case, almost at my feet like he was my hunting wolf.

I didn’t like what I saw. The familiars were all cowering back in animal form. They seemed so small.

And our opponent? Once again, it was my favorite cousin, with a couple more guard warlocks at his side. None of them were physically intimidating the way my men were, but when it came to magic, sometimes the scrawny wizards were the toughest opponents. Piers had always devoted himself to his studies..

It’s so weird to be fighting Piers when I’m still thinking of how he was in high school, I thought. He was just a little older than me.

Piers was bringing up the rear, which is where an asshole like him belonged, and he pointed his wand toward us. “Charge them!” he said. “Get the demon! Get the map!”

Someone must have tipped Piers off that Byron could cut off magic to certain realms, because he hedged his bets with a mix of Ethereal and Sinistral warlocks, who attacked us with a wave of magic. Billie and I threw up a defense but it was hardly even necessary as the new force of familiars ran to the front to cast defensive spells—or take the blows.

“I don’t like this,” I said. “Bevan! They keep getting hurt.”

“I know!” he said. “I told them not to sacrifice themselves but it’s wired into us, you know.”

“Jenny!” one man snapped at the little female toad, who had made it through the first attack unharmed somehow. “You’re here! What are you doing protecting someone else? Come to my side at once! You know you belong at home!”

“No! No!” cried a petite girl with long brown hair. “I won’t come to you.”

“You have to come to me. What the hell is happening? Come to me now, you useless toad! You know what will happen if you don’t come home!” He was freaking out, and I had never heard anyone really consider their familiars as ‘coming home’ in the first place. Familiars had their own home in the magical world. He must be very possessive.

“Hey!” I cried, throwing an arm in front of the familiar. “She’s trying to escape you because apparently you’re an asshole!”

“She’s my familiar,” he said. “She knows what her job is.” He tried to zap her and I barely managed to block him. The familiar seemed too scared to fight back. She was shivering with the effort of trying to resist her warlock’s demands.

“I have to go to him,” she said. “He’ll kill you if I don’t. I’m sorry.” She looked at all of us. “Thank you for being so kind.”

Graham lunged for her to stop her. “Don’t go back to him!” he said. She poofed into toad form, eluding Graham’s hands, and hopped to the warlock bro. As soon as she got close, he zapped her to the ground.

“I can never trust you again,” he said.

Even some of his fellow Sinistral guards gasped with horror at this. One of the guys cuffed his head. “You don’t hurt your own familiar!