After checking that the cage is still intact, Ani joins me with the others to check on Stevie, Kirin, and Baz.
“How much longer?” Ani asks, looking at Stevie with so much concern and longing in his eyes it nearly breaks me. More than anything, I want this to be over.
More than anything, I want her to come back to us.
I can only hope she’ll keep that promise.
“We don’t know, Ani,” Isla says. “The professors say we just have to let this run its course.”
“I can’t promise that cage will hold Casey and Janelle all night,” Ani says. “Physically, yes. But there’s a spell within the fire keeping their magick on lockdown. That’s the part I’m worried about.”
“Good thinking,” Professor Maddox says. “We have reason to believe both women are being possessed by someone—or someones—using them to steal the Arcana objects. Stevie sensed Fairy’s Breath at play.” She fills in Ani, Isla, and Nat on the whispered conversation we had with Stevie before she slipped under the dream spell.
“Dark Arcana?” Ani asks.
“A strong possibility,” I say, “but it could just as easily be mages or witches eager to make a name for themselves. We can’t rule anything out.”
“Ah, well.” Ani shrugs, his mood light despite the situation. “I guess we’ll just have to torture it out of them.”
Professor Maddox shoots him a stern glare. “We will do no such thing, Mr. McCauley. But wedoneed to bind them—prevent whatever’s possessing them from hightailing it out of here before we’ve had a chance to question them.”
“How do we bind them?” I ask.
“I’ve got a spell for that. I just need—”
“Licorice root, witch hazel, and Dragon’s blood.” Professor Broome retrieves a small glass vial from her bag. “That should do the trick.”
Professor Maddox reaches for the bottle, all smiles. “We make a pretty good team, don’t we?”
“I’ve been telling you that for a decade. Now stop fangirling and let’s go put those motherfuckers in chains. Metaphorically speaking, of course.”
Professor Maddox beams. “Of course.”
I raise an eyebrow, but say nothing as I lead the women back to the cage, knowing deep in my soul that Stevie was right to trust them.
That I’m right to trust them too.
“There’s just one more thing I’ll need, Dr. Devane.” Professor Maddox smiles, her eyes glinting with dark delight. “Your blood.”
Eight
KIRIN
A shadow falls over me as the dark druid stands tall, one hand reaching toward the heavens, the other grasping his staff. At his words, flames lick along the wood, hungry for more.
Called to confess, called to atone
Beg for your flesh, your blood, and your bones
Unwashed and unworthy, you shall be cleansed
For evil Arcana shall meet evil ends
With a final wicked grin, Judgment thrusts the fiery staff into my chest.
The pain is like nothing I’ve ever endured, fire gnawing through my flesh, burning it clear to the bone. My vision swims, my ears ring, blood pools at the back of my throat.
Death can’t come quickly enough.
