Chapter 3
Marina tried covering Ross’s eyes to block his view, but that didn’t work.
He just kept on walking toward the woman in the green dress, pushing through her hands.
Pardon me, vampire in the green dress. The hum grew until it was no longer soft, but loud enough that the sound grated down my spine like fingernails down a chalkboard, but it didn’t seem to bother Ross or Gary one bit.
If anything, it only seemed to pull them in faster.
As the two boys pushed forward, they inadvertently shoved Marina and I closer to the vampire.
I slapped Gary hard across the face, stinging my hand and snapping his head to the left.
No dice. I turned my head and looked right at the vampire. “You knock that off right now or you’re going to end up having a really bad night.”
With her head tipped back, her laugh came out like a warbled bird cry.
I stepped back from Gary and spun the rune to throw him backward – a correctly spun rune, thank you very much.
The rune smacked into Gary and sent him tumbling back over the path, a good thirty feet away from the vampire.
“Good call.” Marina took a half step back and cast the same rune, shoving Ross almost as far as Gary.
Fable, Ellie, and Caterina ran to Gary and Ross.
“Drag them if you have to,” I yelled over my shoulder. “Try that propelling rune on their feet . . . the one that Ty—"
Shit. The rune that Typhon had taught us in one of our classes. Just thinking of him was enough to make my brain turn off.
The three of them hurried to the guys, dragging Gary and Ross with them. I turned just in time to see the vampire launching herself right at Marina and me.
So much for her not attacking women. Then again, we’d just stolen her dinner.
There wasn’t a single moment of thought, not for me, just reaction. I whipped off a fire rune – the same one I’d used to burn the bridge between Typhon and me. Fire and vampires don’t go together, right?
Seemed logical.
The rune flared and smacked the vampire in the chest. It let out a shriek, and the green dress burst into flames all at once, almost blindingly bright in the darkness.
But, as the smell of burning skin filled the air, something pushed back against the power, extinguishing the fire in the blink of an eye.
I blinked, my eyes still blurry as the vampire slammed into me, radiating heat from my fire attack.
I cursed, shoving her backward as a wave of revulsion rolled over me. The fire had burned away her disguise along with the top layer of her skin, leaving behind something that was no longer even human looking.
Whatever magic had made her beautiful was gone. With the skull of a deer, hooves of a horse, and limbs seemingly made of branches and bones woven together with thin pieces of metal, she bared her fangs.
Her strange, clawed appendages shot forward, slashing at me.
I brought my arms up just in time to block her attack but could only wince as her fangs closed in on me – on my right arm, holding my fingers down. A rune. I needed to cast a rune without using my hand.
Impossible. I took a breath, gagging on the scent of rotting death that flowed from the baobhan sith.
“Coming!” Marina yelled as she blasted a rune right into the creature’s side, sending it tumbling into the bush.
“Thanks!” I stumbled back and then Marina and I ran to catch up with the others, which was more easily said than done, since they were in full-on flight mode and I was spent, the adrenaline the only thing holding me upright.
Behind us, the baobhan sith shrieked, half warbling bird and half twisted demon from hell. Worse, she didn’t sound all that far away. I pumped my legs even harder, pushing through the pain and bone-crushing fatigue as I struggled to catch up with the others.
“Faster.” I hissed the word, sending up a silent prayer as my eyes flitted over to Marina, who was barely keeping pace next to me.
The last bit ahead of us was a hill that dropped down toward the water, and I took advantage of gravity’s pull, scrambling down it in a barely controlled free fall.
One last hissing warble cried out from behind us and then . . . quiet.
Not that either of us slowed, hell no. We were not that stupid.
Marina and I caught up to the others on the outskirts of the town of Lairg, sweating despite the cold snap of wind in our faces. The sound of water lapping a shoreline in the distance told me we’d almost made it, even if we couldn’t see the loch in the dark.
I felt like we’d run a two-minute mile, with the way my lungs screeched, and the sweat ran down the center of my back.
The last week of my body and mind working to break the bond meant I hadn’t slept or eaten much.
In short, I was not at my best. The cold air was welcome now – at least for the moment.
“Not the way I’d thought we’d start the night,” I panted, bending at the waist as I stared back the way we’d come. No vampire that I could see or hear now, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other things waiting out there for us.
The week of the Horned King was when the monsters roamed more freely, and none of us had thought about it, not for a second until Calypso pointed it out.
Of course, we’d been running for our own lives for the last week, since we’d taken her offer to escape.
Initially, Calypso’s magic had taken us just far enough away from Neverthorn that we wouldn’t be immediately spotted.
After that . . . well, it had been a journey for sure. What I could remember of it.
“Almost there,” Calypso purred from my pocket.
“Ross, Gary, are you okay?” I put a hand on Ross’s shoulder.
Ross shook his head as if shaking it free of water. “What happened?”
“My face hurts, and like, all I remember is music, a woman singing, I think.” Gary turned back toward the road as if he’d walk back to the baobhan sith.
I grabbed him quick, clamping a hand on his arm. “Nope. You’re with us, Gary.”
He gave me a weak smile. “Right. Right.”
I didn’t let go of Gary, and I saw that Marina did the same with Ross, putting a protective hand on his arm and holding him tight. Ross put his other hand over hers, his eyes softening as he looked down at her.
The two of them were . . . well, they were starting to seem more like a couple every time they interacted.
Me? I felt like an older sister dragging my kid brother, Gary, through town as I followed the signs that led us toward the edge of the loch.
Not that I knew exactly where we were going.
Liam’s instructions might be helpful. Probably not, but I didn’t have anything else.
“Who has that letter?”
Caterina handed it over a second later, and I glanced down, reading it for the dozenth time since we’d left Neverthorn.
Harlow,
If all goes according to plan, I’ll meet you at the Lairg Church of Scotland.
If by some chance I don’t make it . . . there is a boat stashed at the church.
There are a few ways into Heathermoor that don’t require going through the main gate.
A secret entrance on the west side isn’t far from my home.
Once you’re in, you’ll want to find a way to my house.
It’s the only green cabin, over on the west side of the island where some of the doyens reside. Stay low until I get there.
Do NOT risk trying to go through the gate onto the campus itself until I arrive. I will be there by midnight.
Liam
As much as I appreciated the letter, I couldn’t help but wish Liam himself was here now.
He’d been a breath of fresh air at Neverthorn.
Not only helping fight off Nocta’s Franken-creatures but standing up for all of us in House Phoenix and helping unlock our Quirks.
Something about his presence made me feel . . . safe.
The polar opposite of how Typhon had made me feel –
Nope. So not going there right now.
I looked up, jabbing my finger toward a large, steepled building in the distance. “I’m guessing that’s the Church he mentions, where he is supposed to meet us by midnight,” I muttered.
It was dark as midnight already, even though it was barely past five p.m., and I couldn’t shake the sudden sense of unease for the second time today.
We were being watched.
No. Not watched.
Hunted.
“Fucking hell,” I whispered.
I shook my head. At least the damn rune gag to stop us from swearing was gone since leaving Neverthorn.
Gotta count the little victories when you get them.
“This way.” Caterina was out front, and I found myself drifting to the back, handing Gary off to Fable.
“Keep going, I’m just making sure we don’t get jumped from behind.” All of them stopped and looked at me, eyes wide. I spread my arms and shrugged. “What, you want me to lie? I think we’re being watched.”
Ellie scrunched up her face. “I thought it was just me being paranoid.”
A chorus of “me too’s” followed which, in fact, did not make me feel better. I wanted to believe it was just me being paranoid, like when I was on a job.
Thieving 104: Never let your guard down, stay suspicious.
“Caterina, pick up the pace.”
“Yes, boss.” She gave me a wave and broke into a jog, with the rest following.
I waited for half a beat, looking around, thinking I’d catch whoever was watching us. But no one jumped out of the shadows and yelled “Boo!”
Didn’t mean they weren’t there, though . . .
I caught up to the others as they took a right-hand turn, and Loch Shin spread out in front of us.
The water sloshed up on the shoreline, tiny waves that seemed like nothing, but it still oozed menace.
With no moon, no stars, no light at all, other than that which came from the town, the lake looked like black oil . . . ready to drag us under.
“The Waters of Pain,” I murmured softly. “Remember the Waters of Pain Zeed mentioned during our History of Magic class with Nikita?”
“Yeah.” Fable shot me a puzzled look.