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The tracker had dropped the necklace next to me—he must have lost control of his limbs when Noctus hit him with that blast.
I hesitated, caught between running for Pat, trying to stop the necklace, or going after the tracker, but the choice was made for me when Noctus stepped off the curb into the street, heading for the half elf.
I’d better focus on the spell—standing next to Pat isn’t going to help him when that pendant is torturing him.
Gingerly, I picked up the necklace. The onyx magic lashed out at me, but, again, it couldn’t do anything except drift across my skin. I’d hoped lifting it off the street would stop it, but the magic flowed on, burning everyone within reach.
I twisted around, hoping to ask Charon for a hint, but Charon, Aristide, and Ker drifted off, disappearing into the soupy darkness of the night. It was then that I noticed that the spell hadn’t spared Noctus.
The onyx vines of magic crawled up his legs, leaving black marks on his armor, and tendrils of smoke drifted off him where the magic touched his clothes.
Noctus didn’t react, but he had to have felt it as he strode across the street, the magic seeping through his armor.
It’s affecting Noctus, too? I need to stop it, now! But how?
Noctus picked up the tracker by the collar of his jacket and casually tossed him—as if he were a couch cushion. While the tracker flew through the air, Noctus slashed his rapier, the sword’s blade glowing with magic and light.
The black elven script that floated around the weapon lightened to a gray, and a beam of light shot from the blade’s point, enveloping the tracker, who screamed.
Still holding the necklace, I scrambled over to Pat—no longer worried about the tracker. I didn’t want to touch Pat with the necklace and risk making things worse, so I set it down in the street, then stepped on it. Confident it was secure, I tried to rip the vines of magic off him.
Wherever I touched the magic squashed flat, but it kept on crawling across him, leaving burn marks in its wake. My touch didn’t make it disintegrate; it just couldn’t touchme.
This isn’t helping!
Noctus was still whaling on the tracker. The half elf had tried to get up and run, but Noctus got in front of him and kicked his knees out from underneath him before slamming him into the ground with an impact I could hear.
Despite all of that, the spell hadn’t stopped.
The necklace must not be keyed into him. To stop the spell, we must destroy it. Noctus could probably pull that off, but he can’t right now, so how do I negate it?
An idea glowed in my mind, one that I really didn’t like, and had a good chance of not working, but I’d tryanythingat this point.
I impulsively grabbed the necklace and ripped the black pendant off the cord.
The pendant had grit from the street on it, and the flitting thought that I was going to get a disease from this crossed my mind, but the onyx magic still streamed out from it, harming everyone in the area.
I must try.
I took a breath, then popped the pendant in my mouth, snapping my teeth shut so it was completely encased in my mouth.
Abruptly, the magic that had pulsed out of the necklace cut off.
“What did you do?” the tracker shouted at me.
Noctus seemingly hadn’t knocked him senseless yet. His hair was wild, and blood dribbled from his nose, but his eyes were bulging in shock and maybe five kinds of horror.
He stared at me, until Noctus struck him with the flat of his blade, making him face plant on the ground.
I kept my mouth shut—no way was I opening it and risking the magic getting out.
Please work, please work!
The pendant was smooth like a marble, but it was tinged with the taste of dirt from the street. The sensation of elf magic was so strong it made my ribs throb, but no magic could wriggle past my lips—I’d successfully caged the spell.
As I watched, the onyx tendrils of magic curling around Pat started to shrivel, unable to connect with their power base.
The vine-y spell died on Noctus as well, drying up before disintegrating.
