Page 28 of Heart of Mischief

She drew to an abrupt halt. What hehad? What the Hel did that mean? Had he taken something of hers? Or worse—someone?

“You’re lying,” she said, keeping her eyes forward and her voice as flat as possible. “You have nothing.”

“Maybe I am lying,” he whispered, drawing closer, his cool breath trailing down her neck. He circled silently around her shoulder, coming to block her path forward. “Maybe I’m not. Maybe I have exactly what you need.”

Eyes down. “I don’t need anything.”

“No?” His shadows drew closer, licking at the air between them. “Not even the location of the person controlling Rattatosk?”

Like a rubber band snapping into place, Charlie’s head whipped up, her eyes meeting Elias’s.

Until that moment, she’d been too afraid to look directly at him.Afraid that he would see through her, past her skin and straight to all the secrets she needed to keep. Ruining her plans before she even had a chance to make them. As far as she knew, mares couldn’t read minds; they could sense fear, and they couldgivethoughts to people—visions, nightmares, whatever grotesque thoughts enabled their ability to possess—but they couldn’tlistento what their victims were thinking.

Still, she hadn’t wanted to take any chances.

She’d been right to be afraid. Looking Elias in the eyes was a mistake—but not for the reason she’d thought. Not because she could feel him worming into her brain. No, it was a mistake because it felt, first and foremost, like staring straight into a solar eclipse.

All at once, she was hit with the full force of his gaze: the swirling color of his eyes and the intensity with which they locked onto hers, as if a magnetic current rushed between them. And just like with an eclipse, you knew you weren’t supposed to look directly at it—that it wasn’t safe, that it could cause irreversible damage, marring your vision forever—but you did it anyway. You had to look. You had to know. And when you did, it was both beautiful and terrifying—a dizzying reminder of just how small and powerless you really were.

Elias didn’t blink, gaze as steady as ever.

There really was nothing behind his eyes. No emotion whatsoever, outside of detached amusement. How could she have ever believed otherwise? Had he really been that good of an actor?

“Just like I thought.” His eyes twinkled. “I had a feeling that was why your sister paid you a visit.”

Shit.“She didn’t—”

“Don’t bother denying it, Charlotte. I saw her and her Valkyrie friend fly down and crash through that skylight. I seeeverything.” He quirked an eyebrow. “One of the benefits of being made of shadow.”

Shit, shit, shit.

“That’s not how your powers work,” she said, trying to divert the subject. “You might be made of shadow, but I can see you perfectly well.”

“Why do you think you know how my powers work? Because you spent a few days with me in the past?” He tutted. “I was holding back, Charlotte. You have noideawhat I’m capable of.”

Without warning, he stepped under the shade of a pine tree. Once his whole body was in the tree’s shadow, he vanished.

Just like that.

Charlie gasped. She took a step backward, glancing around the clearing. Had he slipped behind another tree? Ducked into a bush? Her brain was trying furiously to come up with an excuse for it, but deep down, she knew the truth: He wasn’t hiding anywhere. He was standing exactly where he had been before.

Only now, he was invisible.

“How did you—” she started to whisper.

Elias’s voice interrupted her own. He sounded like he always did, though she could swear there was a distant, echoey quality to his voice. “I can melt into any shadows that I want. Those cast by trees, boulders, buildings…” His voice seemed to be moving closer, so she took another step back. “I own the shadows, Charlotte.”

Like snakes emerging from their nest in the ground, clouds of darkness began to unfurl from where Elias must have been standing. They slid across the forest floor, billowing outward and licking at the sky—like fog, only colored a pure, impenetrable black that stood in shocking contrast to the bright fall leaves on the ground.

On her shoulder, Henry whimpered quietly.

Before Charlie could think to step away, the shadows were upon her, wrapping around her ankles and slithering up her legs. She gasped. They didn’t hurt; on the contrary, they felt cool, almost soothing. But when she tried to lift her foot off the ground, the shadows became suddenly corporeal, tightening around her ankle,gripping like great black vines. No matter how hard she tugged, they held her legs firmly in place.

“Letgoof me,” she said, glaring at the source of the black fog, which is where she assumed Elias stood.

“Oh, come on.” His echoey voice slithered across the clearing. “I thought you kneweverythingabout my powers. Surely escape shouldn’t be too difficult?”

Escape.Charliecouldescape his shadowy cords—she’d learned as much on homecoming night, when she’d sliced right through them with her Valkyrie knife. She made to grab the knife out of its hiding place, but before she even touched the pocket, Elias’s shadows snapped up and wrapped around her wrists, drawing them down and pinning them to her sides.