“They’re going to escape,” she hisses. “They threw akoil’nashrathrough my window.”
Malach lays his hand on her shoulder, then yanks it back, his face twisting with pain.
I smell blood, and my eyes bulge as I process the damage to his hand. “Shit, man, that doesn’t look good.” His palm is raw, the skin shriveled and uneven—like the first few layers were burned or ripped off.
“Listen to Luca,” he rasps. “They’re trying to lure us out.”
Celine grits her teeth; her eyes caught on his ruined hand. “There’s nothing stopping them from throwing more of those,” she argues. “We’refish in a barrel.”
“Wait a second,” I interrupt. “They don’t know what I am, right?”
Malach raises his eyebrows. “S’lach likely doesn’t know anything about Celine’s associates yet. He hasn’t had time, and you hide your heritage well.”
I jerk my head toward the shattered glass. “This is a shot in the dark.”
“Yes,” Celine says, her face pinched. “And it almost worked.”
“But it didn’t,” I remind her, winking as I kiss her cheek. “You draw their attention, and I’ll show them how to make a shot in the dark count.”
“Don’t joke,” Celine mutters. “Walk me through exactly what you mean.”
I point to the sword and keep my eyes on the broken window, still mostly concealed by the room-darkening shade. “You stick your head out the window and wave that sword around. Once they look at you, I’ll pop out and turn them to stone.”
“And if they throw anotherkoil’nashra?”
I grin. “Then we’ll find out how good you are at bat, baby.”
Celine studies me with sharp eyes, her messy bun listing to one side. She adjusts her grip on the sword, kisses my lips, and makes for the window without another word.
I curse and blink rapidly to prepare my eyes. “Don’t make eye contact with me,” I whisper. “I mean it. Under no circumstances will either of you look at me.”
“Duh,” Celine says.
Malach dips his head, slow and grimly. It’s the most serious nod I’ve ever seen in my life.
Walking to the window, I crouch to Celine’s right, keeping my gaze focused on the floor.Let’s do this.I tell my basilisk, embracing the cold, bristling feeling of its magic.Our magic.
Icy, sluggish tendrils creep into my eyes, coating my vision in a yellow, poisonous mist.
My eyesight isn’t great as a basilisk, but it doesn’t matter if I can make out my targets’ pores. If they lock eyes with me even once, that blink will be their last.
It’s petrification, and it’s fucking permanent.
In nature, it takes thousands of years for bone to mineralize and millions more to become stone. That’s if decay doesn’t win out. But me? I don’t need time. I don’t need patience. I just need a motherfucker to give me one good look.
“I cannot see a thing,” Malach grumbles behind Celine. He’s cradling his injured hand against his body. Once the emergency is over, we’re going to have a long talk about what the fuck that angry crystal ball of death was.
“Grab a blanket off the couch,” I hiss at him. “In case another one gets through, so you don’t lose the skin off your other hand.” His heavy footsteps tell me he’s following my advice, and I tap Celine’s foot with my hand. “Ready when you are, baby.”
She yanks the shade down and throws it behind us, the screws coming loose from the drywall with a crumbling pop. Through the yellow film over my eyes, I see smoke, a strangely round, SUV-sized ball of metal, and... a deserted street.
Celine leans out the window, hanging dangerously over the edge, and more glass snaps. “Careful,” I say, grabbing the back of her sweatpants. The leverage isn’t great, but maybe it will be enough to keep her from falling out the window.
Her wings are pinned tightly to leave room for me at her side, the blade-like feathers rubbing against each other with faint metallic whines.
Celine screams out the window. While I don’t have a clue what she said, from the way Malach gasps, it wasn’t polite. Until told otherwise, I’ll assume she said something metal like, ‘Face me and fry.’
A yellowish blob moves on the ground, and I squint, realizingit’ssomeone, not something. “I see one,” I whisper. “If you get them all to come out, I’ll draw their attention.”
