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Owein barked, his magic ripping another stone from the floor and hurling it in Hogwood’s direction. Hogwood used wind spells to shift that stone, then another, and another, away from him. Spells that left him gasping for air. His left hand crooked up, and the air popped as lightning came down from the ceiling and struck the dog.
“Owein!” Hulda cried, trying to push herself up. But Merritt, recovered, was faster, darting to the dog’s side.
Hogwood shifted to wolf form and barreled after him. Panic flooded Hulda’s limbs. She flew to her feet. The wolf bit down on the back of Merritt’s trousers, sending him crashing into the torn-up floor. But as Hogwood pounced, Merritt reared and flung up a protection spell that sent the wolf crashing into another invisible wall.
Merritt winced and hissed through his teeth. The side effect of wardship was physical weakness—he would be feeling his bruises acutely.
Hulda searched for a weapon. Moved for another glass shard—
Her blood dripped onto stone and earth, forming an uneven pattern that pushed an image into her mind. It washer. She ran to the doll cage. Hogwood shot a kinetic spell after her to crush her—
The future.
Ignoring the glass, Hulda turned around and bolted for the dolls.
She heard the popping as Hogwood shifted back into a man. The spell was coming. She was almost to the cage—
Hulda dropped to her stomach, bruising her knees and hips as she did so, nearly breaking her nose against the floor. The kinetic spell she’d foreseen flew overhead and struck the cage, so powerful the iron bars groaned and snapped. Two of the dolls toppled to the ground.
“No!” Hogwood bellowed. He crawled along the floor toward her. The shock of losing more magic had to be reverberating through his body.
Owein barked, and to Hulda’s horror, the dolls began jumping off the shelves, bobbing about on their mutated, bulbous limbs as though trying to escape. Hulda screamed and reeled back before one could touch her.
Owein whimpered and shook his head.Of course!He’d used a spell, just like the one that set the books dancing in the Whimbrel House library. Chaocracy spells caused confusion—Owein wouldn’t be used to suffering side effects, after having an ability to cast without cost for two hundred years.
With the dolls spreading out, Hogwood couldn’t protect them all at once.
“The dolls, Merritt!” Spinning on her hip, Hulda smashed her foot into a small one, sending it into the wall.
“I willkill you!” Hogwood leapt to his feet. Shot out a hand. Nothing happened.
Whatever spell he’d planned to use was gone.
It was working.
He shot out his other hand. Hulda’s corset began squeezing in on her, its size shrinking with an alteration spell that threatened to snap her ribs.
Merritt leapt onto Hogwood’s back. Her corset released, but a kinetic spell rippled out from Hogwood’s body, striking all three of them. Merritt, the hardest. He flew backward into a narrow alcove in the wall. He didn’t move.
“Merritt!” Oh God, what if they didn’t escape this?
Owein, limping, snatched one of the vile dolls in his mouth and shook it until something snapped.
Hogwood faltered. Another burst of lightning hit Owein’s hind leg. The dog yipped and collapsed.
Hogwood whirled around, fiery countenance focused on her. He moved toward her with stiff legs, his kinetic spells having sucked the mobility from his knees and hips. Lifting an equally stiff arm, he reached his hand toward her. A larger, unseen hand scooped her up, gluing her knees together and pinning her arms to her sides. A tendril of lightning pierced the back of her neck and needled to her ankles. Her body seized with the pain of it. A second followed, setting her limbs on fire, and the strain frosted the tips of Hogwood’s hair.
“I would love to make you suffer, little canary, but I’ve work to do.” He squeezed her tighter. Shuffled toward her, growling at the scattered dolls that no longer danced. “Give my best to that little maid of yours when you reach the other side.”
The fingers closed in, cutting off her air. Blood pooled in her face. Her head felt like an expanding balloon. Her bones bent and—
A densewhap!echoed through the chamber. Hogwood’s face slackened. Hulda dropped, landing on her feet but falling forward onto her knees. She coughed. Gasped for air. Looked up just as Hogwood teetered to one side and collapsed in a great heap on the stone.
Behind him stood Merritt, shoulders heaving, his mess of hair netting over his face.
And in his grasp was her crowbar.
They held their positions for several seconds. When Hogwood didn’t move, Merritt gradually straightened. Blew hair from his face. Looked down at his weapon.
