Chapter 28
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
Franklin
Lydia gasped before falling to her knees beside the brownie. Her hands fluttered around him, as if she weren’t certain where to touch or if she should. Finally, she sat back on her heels, palms planted on her thighs and asked, “Are you okay?”
Those large, brown eyes slowly blinked. “W-who are you?” His voice was soft and small.
“I’m Lydia, and this is Franklin.” She pointed at me before grabbing hold of my wrist and pulling me down too.
I’d like to say it ended in a graceful landing, but my right knee took the hit worse than the rest of me, eliciting a grunt I couldn’t hide.
Lydia tossed me an apologetic glance but quickly moved on. “And who are you?”
“Deni.” He shifted, pushing himself up. If the grimace on his face was anything to go by, the motion took more effort than it should.
Deni didn’t even glance at the shackles on his wrists and ankles, nor did he reach for the collar around his neck.
Now that he was upright, I could easily see the dark black stone embedded in the collar.
That stone briefly flared crimson, and when it did, Deni sucked in a breath and nearly doubled over.
“Careful,” Lydia cooed as she grabbed his shoulders, helping to hold him steady. When the stone faded to black again, Deni’s breathing steadied, but he appeared even weaker than before.
“What was that?” I asked while pointing at the stone.
Deni’s chin dropped. “It siphons off my magic.”
“Siphons it?” Lydia asked, glancing between me and Deni. “What does that mean?”
I had a horrific idea. Unfortunately, Deni didn’t disappoint. “That man takes it. He uses it to do…things.” Deni’s face paled further.
“Huxley?” I needlessly asked.
Deni gave a weak nod.
I thought for a moment and asked, “Not Shadow?”
This time I got a hesitant headshake. “No. I don’t think so. It’s difficult to tell. I’m not sure if they are the same or—”
“Different entities,” I supplied and got another answering nod.
Lydia’s focus remained on Deni. Eyes narrowed and eyebrows pulled together, she asked what I’d been wondering. “How long have you been here?”
“Here as in this room? Or here with Huxley?”
Lydia took a moment to consider before answering, “Both I suppose.”
“I’m not certain. Time is…difficult. I can say that this room is fairly new. I can’t remember how I got here. I was somewhere different for a very long time though.”
“You poor dear.” Lydia ran her fingers through Deni’s dull, brown hair.
As I’d feared. Some of the strands broke at her gentle touch.
This brownie wasn’t well. Considering brownies were made of magic, if Huxley had been draining the magic from this one, then it stood to reason that was why he was so ill.
The question was, how did Huxley entrap a brownie? Fairies feared brownies for a reason. This one might be only a child, but brownies were even more protective of their children. “How did you…?” I couldn’t think of a delicate way to ask the question. Thankfully, Deni seemed to understand.
“How did I get in this situation?” Deni raised his shaking arms, showing off his shackles. “It was my first translocation.”
Lydia and I shared a confused look. “I’m not sure I know what that means,” I said.
Deni grimaced. “Brownies don’t really learn how to translocate. It just sort of happens. The first time is the scariest because we don’t know how to control it or where to go. Some of us get lost and a few are lost forever.”
Lydia gasped. “That sounds terrifying.”
Deni shrugged. “I suppose it can be. Most of the time we just translocate to somewhere in the house. We’re found and slowly gain control.”
“But not you,” I rightly guessed.
Deni flinched. “No. I… Poppa sometimes consults with the Magical Usage Council. I’d been there a few times with him and I guess…when I first translocated, that’s where I went. Huxley found me. I thought he was safe.” Deni stared down at his hands. “I was wrong.”
I cupped Deni’s cheek. “You weren’t the only one. Huxley fooled a lot of individuals, and most of them were adults. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Franklin’s right, dear. You’re another one of that awful man’s victims.” Lydia’s anger grew.
Wrapping her arms around Deni’s shoulders, Lydia glared at me.
I could see the same determined fire in her eyes I’d seen a hundred times in Boone’s.
“We’re taking him with us. We’re not leaving him behind.
His poppa and momma must be so worried.”
“We aren’t leaving him,” I agreed. I just wished I knew how we were going to get ourselves out, let alone Deni.
“We need to get these shackles off.” Lydia glared at the metal as if it had personally offended her. “There’s a latch right here and—”
I sat up, reaching for her wrist and halting her motion. “Shadow warned us not to touch them. He said the backlash could kill a human.”
Lydia jerked her wrist from my hold. “As if I would believe anything that monster says. Besides, Shadow said it could kill a human. That implies no human has ever tried.”
“And if Shadow isn’t lying?”
Lydia’s shoulders stiffened. Pushing her hair over her shoulder, Lydia said, “If I die, then that’s one less piece of collateral to use against my son.”
“Then let me be the one. Let me—” My words cut off as Lydia grasped the metal encasing Deni’s left wrist. I sucked in a breath, bracing for the backlash that never came.
Instead of a power blast sending Lydia Boone sprawling, there was nothing.
Absolutely nothing. The metal remained quietly quiescent.
Lydia harumphed in triumph. Her fingers deftly slid across the metal to the clasp encasing his wrist. The sound of the mechanism giving way was music to our ears. The metal dropping to the floor was a sweet symphony.
Deni’s eyes widened as he stared at his raw, uncovered wrist. “That… I can’t believe you can do that. When I’ve tried to touch them…” He cringed. “The pain is too great. I tried pushing through it once, but I was knocked unconscious. I think I lost days that time.”
Lydia moved onto the right wrist while I took the ankles. Within a matter of seconds, we had Deni free of all but the most important one around his neck.
“Maybe his restraints respond to magic,” Lydia theorized. “They were most likely created with magical creatures in mind. I doubt anyone thought twice about what a human might do.”
“You could be right.” I thought back to that horrible day Dr. McCallister had attempted to kill Boone and steal Warlock Holland’s power.
The symbols he’d etched on the floor, the trap he’d set, hadn’t taken into account non-magical, human blood.
All it took was a little of mine to disrupt a single symbol.
That action had released Warlock Holland, and he’d unleashed hell upon McCallister.
“Humans are always underestimated,” Lydia proudly proclaimed. That was generally true. What was also generally accurate was that underestimation was typically well earned.
Cocking her head to the side, Lydia examined the collar stealing Deni’s magic. “I don’t see a locking mechanism on this one. What about you?” Lydia glanced my direction.
Twisting my head, I tried to see around the collar, but this corner of the room was too dark.
The sun had already set. There were no light switches and no lightbulbs that I could make out.
However, the moon was three-quarters full, and it was lighter at the other end of the room.
Now that Deni was free of his restraints, we could move him.
“Do you think you can stand?” I asked Deni. “It’s lighter at the other end of the room.” My instinct had been to reach for my phone and the flashlight app on it. But predictably, my phone was long gone, as were all of Warlock Holland’s charms. Lydia’s were too.
Deni pushed up but quickly fell back on his knees. “I-I don’t think so.” He sounded winded and dejected.
“Can I pick you up?” I asked before reaching for him.
Deni’s eyes shimmered with what I thought might be unshed tears. “I… Th-that would be fine. If you’re able.”
“I’ve picked Boone up, and I’d guess you weigh half what he does.
” Standing, I scooped Deni into my arms. I wouldn’t say it was the most graceful retrieval, but I think I managed well enough not to hurt either one of us.
He really did weigh next to nothing. Brownies were small, but this…
this was something else. Something that wasn’t natural.
Something that malnourishment and mistreatment had created.
The list of atrocities Huxley had to answer for was growing ever longer.
I moved Deni as close as possible to the moonlight streaming in through the window.
I halfway expected the shadows to stop us, but they didn’t.
I wasn’t certain if Huxley wasn’t currently watching us or if he wasn’t concerned with what we were doing.
If the latter were true, then Lydia and I didn’t have a prayer of getting the collar off Deni.
My fingers skimmed the edges. It was smooth all around. I couldn’t locate where it came together. Pulling my hands away, I hung my head. “I can’t find anything.”
“Let me feel,” Lydia said while gently pushing me to the side. Her fingers slipped around the collar, eyes closed as she narrowed her focus. Fingers tilted, Lydia ran her nails along the surface. “There,” she reverently said. “I found the seam.” Lydia tapped the area with her fingernail.
Circling Deni’s body, I squinted at the spot Lydia found. It took a few seconds, but I saw it too. “You’re right.” My joy quickly faded as I studied the area. We found the connecting seam, but I couldn’t figure out how it was latched. To Lydia’s frustration, neither could she.
“I need a nail file,” Lydia all but huffed. “I have no idea what Huxley did with my purse. I swear, if someone’s gotten a hold of my credit cards and personal information, I will castrate that man.”