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SHANE
For the next day,I waited for a miracle.
Once, one of Conri’s demons came to report that they saw my friends outside the barrier. One witch trying to break the barrier, one vampire, and a handful of werewolves.
Even if Thea, Almae, and other vampires were on their way, I wasn’t sure they would arrive in time to help me. I needed them here before the full moon.
As time passed, my hope faded.
And my dreaded plan B seemed to be our only choice.
During the past day, Raika and I received little food and water, and we had even fewer bathroom breaks—escorted by the demons and Conri’s shadow magic.
Of course, each time they took me out, I tried breaking away, but the magic was too strong for me, especially with the damn cuffs around my wrists. In the end, I always returned to my cell with a new bruise.
Raika became quieter and quieter. I thought the pain Conri had inflicted on her and the day she had spent in the witch’s circle outside, added to the starvation and isolation, were getting to her.
I couldn’t blame her.
After a year living a nightmare, when things finally started looking up, it all came crashing down again.
I hadn’t told her about my plan B. I wasn’t so sure about it myself, and I had no idea of the outcome yet, but it was our only chance.
I could feel it deep in my bones as the full moon approached. Each day, each hour, each minute, closer and closer, stronger and stronger.
Then finally, the time came.
The sun was almost done setting when Conri and his demons came for me.
“Are you ready?” Conri asked as his demons opened the classroom’s door.
He promptly wrapped my arms in shadows and aided as his demons tied my arms with some kind of magical rope in front of me. Why not tie them behind my back? Not that I was complaining.
As if reading my thoughts, the devil said, “I’m assuming you’ll need to use your hands.”
The demons pushed me out of the classroom and I stumbled forward. I was going to go, but I wouldn’t make this easy for them.
Until Conri turned to Raika’s door. His demons opened it and dragged her out. She looked weak and dizzy on her feet, her long hair dull and dirty, her face pale and her cheeks hollow.
My heart tugged.
“What are you doing?” I asked as the demons tied her hands behind her back.
“She’s my insurance that you’ll behave,” Conri said, a wicked grin on his face. I would claw that grin out of his head. That was a damn promise. “Let’s go.”
Raika and I were taken to the main square. Streetlamps illuminated the space and directly in front of one of the broken benches in the four corners. The bench was gone but in its place was a round black mark, which looked suspiciously like a small trap door.
I frowned. Engraved on it was the Nightshade pack’s symbol, the silhouette of a wolf’s head in a silver line. Curiosity fought with reason and I found myself trying to open the trap door. I wanted to see the crystal. Maybe I could even use it to defeat Conri.
But when the full moon rose, I wouldn’t need anything.
I knelt down beside the mark and ran my finger over it.
There were five small, round indentations. I wondered … I placed my fingers in each of the ridges. A quick sting pricked my fingers, and I flinched from surprise. A small drop of blood fell from each finger.
A hiss escaped the trap door as it swung open.
Inside, a red crystal the size of my closed fist floated in the air in the chamber’s center.
