“You didn’t tell me he had a twin!” Helena snapped, abandoning her plan to escape on her own to scuttle my way again, putting her back to mine as we squared off with the doppelgangers.
“One is fake,” I said. “Or possibly both. He’s a wizard.”
“Wizards aren’t real!” she squealed.
Because this, apparently, was the one moment out of the night that triggered her skepticism.
“Happy Halloween, Grim,” said the first Cedric, that smug glare leveled at me.
“More parlor tricks?” I growled.
“Parlor tricks?” mused Cedric One with a tilt of that haughty blond head.
“Come now,” added Cedric Two, “I paid a hefty price for this magic.”
“Stopped just shy of bartering off my soul,” added Cedric One.
“So we’ll thank you to at leastpretendto be impressed,” the twins said in unison.
“Well, you know what they say,” I snarled back. “You get what you pay for.”
One of them scoffed. The other rolled his eyes.
“How many rules have you broken now, Grim?” asked Cedric One. “It’s got to be at least twenty.”
“You might have bent a few yourself.” My gaze bounced from one Cedric to the other and back again. I could attack and was probably going to have to, but Ihadto choose correctly. If one of thesewasthe real Cedric and I went after the decoy, that could grant the true Cedric the in he needed to kill Helena right here and now. I could attack both simultaneously, but that might be what he wanted. To distract from a possible third incarnation that I couldn’t see. “You need to back off.”
“Or what?” challenged Cedric Two. “You going to tattle to White? I think we’re both past the point of snitching without recourse. Which levels the playing field. And the two of us—we’ve been overdue for a showdown, wouldn’t you agree?”
“You big bully!” Helena shouted at Cedric Two. “It’s your fault my car got smashed. And Ialmosthad it paid off!”
Helena tossed her bucket at Cedric Two—who she managed to clock squarely in the face. With a cry of shock, he winced and braced a gloved hand on his forehead, a reaction that identified him as the genuine article.
Which was all I needed.
Shoving Helena behind me, I stormed toward Cedric—the real one. Fear flashed in the wizard’s winter gaze as I swept my now-glowing scythe downward, missing him by inches when he managed to backpedal out of my weapon’s reach. He split as he did, more versions of himself peeling off to either side, like a deck of cards spilling.
“Coward!” I bellowed as he darted into the crowd he’d created.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones,” chanted the small but growing mob, their words creating an eerie drone, “but… you still can’t kill me.”
That was true. But it also wasn’t. I took a swipe at the wall of figures, my blade dispersing them into green mist as it sailed through. A glance over my shoulder showed Helena swinging at the doubles with her pumpkin-shaped purse.
“How about some whack-a-wizard?” Helena shouted, huffing between swings while, in the distance, sirens wailed.
I had to get Helena out of here, and there was no way I could take her home now. But then, where else was there?
Only one other place I could think of. The last place sheshouldgo.
“Let her go,” I commanded the rows of Cedrics before me. “We both know this is between you and me.”
“Are you saying you want to negotiate?” asked one of the Cedrics. “You have something I want. And now… Well, could it be I have somethingyouwant? The lady… exactly how much is she worth to you, Grim? From what I gather, our bargain could see her free ofhersituation, too, could it not?”
“What’s he talking about?” asked Helena.
My rage boiled hotter that Cedric would take this angle. GetHelena’s hopes upwhileinsulting my intelligence. “Like I’d ever trust you to hold up your side of any bargain.”
“Snuff her out,” another Cedric said as he held out one gloved hand as though to weigh the option. “Pay you off by buying her life,” he droned while he held out the other. “Either way, I get whatIwant.”
