Chapter 28 #2
I had no idea if Huxley had the parts in question for Lydia to make good on her threat. If not, no doubt she would locate another valued body part and find a way to remove it.
Deni’s head drooped. “I appreciate your efforts. Simply having my wrists and ankles free is a relief.”
The skin where the shackles had been was red and irritated. Deni kept rubbing the raw areas, making them even more inflamed. I didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop.
Sitting on my ass, knees bent, I stared at the damned collar and the stone embedded within.
So far, it hadn’t turned crimson again. I didn’t know how often it did that.
I also didn’t know if Huxley was directly alerted when the magic was siphoned off.
If we could figure out a way to remove it, would Huxley immediately know?
I wasn’t certain how long it would take Deni to regain enough magic to be able to translocate out of this room, but by the looks of him, I figured it would take more than a few minutes. I was estimating days to weeks at this point. Although to be fair, an expert on brownie magic I was not.
I was staring at the floorboards, my mind wandering when I circled back to that day we’d fought Dr. McCallister.
Twisting my palms up, I stared at my calloused hands.
I had no idea how magic worked. As a lowly, completely unmagical human, I was devoid of the stuff.
Lydia was too. Presumably, that’s how we’d been able to touch Deni’s restraints.
My non-magical blood had made the difference before. Could it do so again?
There was only one way to find out.
Standing, I started a new search. I needed something sharp enough to scratch the symbols and cut through my skin. I could always bite my finger but considered that a last resort.
“What are you doing?” Lydia asked, her voice a little farther away since I’d moved deeper into our attic prison.
“I’m not sure. Looking for something sharp.”
“Why? Do you think we can cut the collar off?”
“Nope.” I didn’t elaborate, and thankfully Lydia fell silent.
I caught the glint of something metal sticking out of one of the rafters.
It was a nail that had gone through at the wrong angle, the business end sticking out.
But it was too high and still too attached to do much good.
I kept looking and finally found something that might work.
Similar to the others, the one thing this nail had going for it was it was attached to a lower piece of loose wood. A few solid kicks, three curse words, and a hell of a lot of grunts later and the board and nail fell free.
Breathing heavily, I picked up the board, turning it this way and that. The nail was sticking out just enough. “That’ll do,” I murmured while heading back to Deni and Lydia.
“What are you planning?” Lydia asked as she eyed the board. “I don’t think we can use that to break through the bars on the windows.”
“I’m not using it for the bars.” I stared down at Deni before crouching before him. I hoped removing Deni’s shackles bought me enough trust to test my theory. “I’d like to try something, but it’s going to entail this sharp nail near your neck and some of my blood.”
Deni’s eyes widened, and he licked his dry, cracked lips. “You think…?”
“I’m not sure. All I know is that magic doesn’t seem to think much of human inadequacy. Magic wielders also don’t seem to figure humans into the equation when they’re crafting their spells.”
“W-what do you have in mind?” Deni’s eyes were fixed on the rusty nail.
“I’m going to try and scratch the hell out of those sigils carved into that metal collar of yours, and then I’m going to rub my blood in them.
” My plan sounded even more gruesome when spoken out loud.
“I’ve done something similar before, but I’ll admit I doubt it’s exactly the same. Regardless, it’s all we’ve got.”
Deni’s lips pursed before he tilted his head to the side. “Do it.”
I didn’t waste any more time. “Here we go.” Careful as I could, I brought the board up to Deni’s neck. The bulk made the angle awkward, but I managed. The sound of the nail grating across metal hurt my ears, and given Lydia’s cringe, I doubted I was alone. “Am I hurting you?”
“It’s not comfortable, but don’t stop.”
That was good enough for me. I kept scratching, moving from one sigil to the other.
I had no idea if all of them needed to be disrupted or just a few.
I also had no idea if this would even work at all.
Regardless, I quickly made my way around, marking each and every one. So far, to no obvious advantage.
“Does anything feel different?” Lydia asked.
Deni’s eyes flashed her way and his lips pulled down. “I don’t think so.”
Lydia looked as crestfallen as Deni sounded.
“We’re not done yet.” After scratching through the last sigil, I tilted the board and nail.
“Lydia, if we make it out of this, remind me to get a tetanus booster.” Without overthinking it, I dragged the nail over my finger.
“Fuck, that stings.” I’d had a lot worse pain in my life. This was akin to a nasty papercut.
“Sorry if I get my blood on you,” I apologized before smearing my finger over the first sigil. My heart sank when nothing happened. Regardless, we didn’t have a lot of other options and considering my finger was still bleeding, I kept going.
One, two, three sigils down and a whole hell of a lot of nothing. I was on the fifth one when the collar vibrated. I pulled my finger back and stared. “Deni?”
“Keep going.” There was a hint of hope in his voice.
I started on the sixth sigil. The quivering increased, and tiny fissure lines formed within the metal. I’d barely touched the seventh when the metal shattered, falling to pieces at our knees.
Deni’s head tilted back, his brown eyes wide and arms thrown akimbo. The air filled with a deep blue mist. It swirled and danced around Deni, concentrating around his heart. That swirling mist sank into Deni’s chest. It was as if his body couldn’t absorb it fast enough.
I pumped my fist in the air, high-fiving Boone’s momma in one amazingly surreal moment.
“You did it! Franklin, that was—” Lydia’s words cut off as the house shook. A long, low howl erupted all around us, filling up the space and pounding through my head. Lydia and I slapped our hands over our ears. Shadows rushed in from all sides, swarming us and heading for Deni first.
Deni’s crazed grin laughed in the face of the looming threat. Between one blink and the next, Deni was gone.
And then the shadows came for us.