by Sam Cheever
“What do you mean?” I asked him before I thought better of it.
He shrugged. “I have no leverage over her. Trudy cares about very few things. One of those things is family.”
My laugh was harsh. “You mean the family that banished her here? She isn’t going to care what I think. I barely know her.”
“You’re mistaken, LeeAnn. She does care. Very much.”
I should have known I was in trouble when his gaze went shrewd. Unfortunately, I was distracted by the idea of Trudy caring about what happened to me.
Was it possible?
Rough hands grasped my arms before I could react. My legs were knocked out from under me and I fell to the grass. I realized for the first time that there was something in the grass. A silvery kind of netting which I quickly found wrapped around me. The mesh tightened as soon as it touched my skin and compressed against me until I panicked.
Struggling did no good at all. The mesh only tightened until it cut into my bare flesh.
I screamed, part rage and part pure, animal fear. A shadow fell over me and I looked up into Reggie’s hated gaze. He looked appropriately somber. “I really am sorry about this, LeeAnn. I’d hoped you’d help us willingly. But since you’re determined to defy me…” He let the thought trail away, his implication clear.
If I wasn’t going to help him capture my aunt willingly. He’d force me to help him trap her.
I barely noticed when the guards hefted me off the ground and dropped me on a wagon. All I could think of was my friends, deep in the bowels of hell in the catacombs.
And there was nobody left who could help them.
Chapter Nineteen
I’m not sure when I became aware that we were going the wrong way. I think it might have been when we set upon the demon pathway I remembered all too well.
We weren’t heading to the Heavenly dimension.
We were heading toward home.
Panic clawed through me, making my heart race. If we were heading toward the human dimension that meant Trudy was there.
Along with my mother, our friends and allies.
And possibly Celeste.
I couldn’t just lie there while they were in danger.
I forced myself to calm, controlling my breathing and slowing my heartrate until I could think again. I had to get out of that webbing.
I tested it with a small infusion of magic and pain radiated through my wrist.
I’d forgotten about the cuff. But it hadn’t stopped me before. It had merely slowed me down a little. If I could just shift into my cat…
“How are you, LeeAnn? Comfy?” Reggie asked.
I didn’t bother answering him. He knew darn well I was miserable. And seriously peeved. Plus, I felt like a sausage wearing ugly jewelry.
“I’m sure you’ll be glad to be home. I know your mother will be happy to see you.”
The very purposeful way he’d mentioned my mother told me all I needed to know about his plans. He wasn’t going to use me to entice Trudy at all. Or at least not only her.
He was going to use me against my mother.
I frowned. What possible purpose would that serve him?
Unless he couldn’t break through the human realm as he had the others…
Then it hit me. The obvious answer.
“Sir?”
Reggie glanced up as the handsome guard I’d thought was Trudy’s friend addressed him. The man bowed slightly and skimmed me a look as he straightened. “We’ve sensed foreign magic near the bogs.”
Reggie glared at the guard. “Well, then take care of it. Do I have to do everything?”
The night behind Reggie and the guard exploded. The guard’s hand snaked out and Reggie was suddenly flying through the air. Wasting no time, the guard bent over the wagon. I tried to shrink away but couldn’t move.
Frowning as chaos exploded around us, the guard ran a strange looking object over the mesh and it fell away.
More explosions and shouting increased the activity in the ranks of Reggie’s soldiers. They were running everywhere, weapons drawn. Some of them shed their armor and took to the sky.
Trudy’s guard offered me a hand and, after a moment’s hesitation, I accepted it. He helped me out of the wagon, fixing me with a stern look. “Can you shift?”
I rubbed the torn skin where the mesh had been. “I think so.”
“Do it then and get out of sight.” He turned and ran into the fray before I could ask him what was going on.
A white-hot bolt of pure energy sheared past, ripping the planks of the wagon I’d recently inhabited into kindling.
I ducked behind what was left and spotted Reggie on the ground. His eyes were open and he was lying very still, but I could tell by the rise and fall of his chest that he was still alive. I had no idea what the soldier had done to him. Judging by the enraged glint in his eyes the man would pay dearly if he was captured.
I forced my gaze away from the evil wizard and grabbed for my shifting magic, visualizing my cat even as I braced for the bracelets to fight back. The result was as violent as I’d expected. The explosion of energy blew the wagon away from me. Reggie’s stiff form whooshed away with it, smacking hard against the remaining tatters of lumber and sliding to the ground in a heap.
I really hoped that hurt.
Agony ripped up my arm and speared my chest as my body arched, twisted, and formed claws and fur. I gritted my teeth and leapt into the air to aid the change.
I landed hard, my feline limbs only half formed, and screamed as pain ratcheted through me from the cuff. The sound came out as a feline yowl.
The cuff was white hot against my flesh, the stench of burning fur mixing with the sulfurous leavings of exploding magic. In sheer desperation I shook the leg still inside the cuff and it scraped free.
The pain immediately disappeared. I lay there panting for a beat. Until another energy bolt tore the ground up a foot away from me.
I leapt up and ran into the underbrush, intending to circle around and help whoever was firing at Reggie’s soldiers.
The scent of another cat teased my nostrils as I took off running. I screeched to a halt when the animal stepped out from behind a tree. I hissed as I recognized Mack, Mabel’s brother. If you’re here to try to stop me, don’t count on it. I told him. I’m done being shoved around and abused.
I don’t want to stop you. Mabel sent me to get you. Things have gotten complicated in the human realm. Your mother needs you.
I thought about what he was saying for a moment, trying to piece together something that felt real. I’d been told so many conflicting stories since the current adventure started that I had no idea whom or what to trust. I was told you were working for Trudy against the human realm. Why should I trust you?
Even as I asked him the question, I knew that story was probably false. Reggie hadn’t taken me to the heavenly realm because that wasn’t where Trudy was, apparently.
I felt the kitten frown in my mind. Haven’t we proven our loyalty to you again and again?
Your sister has. Until she betrayed me to Reginald.
He shook his head, sneezing. He sat down, licking a paw and wiping it over his nose as his voice filled my mind. That couldn’t be helped. Reginald was starting to distrust Mabel. She needed to prove her loyalty. But we knew he wouldn’t hurt you. He plans to trade you for your mother’s spot on the council. And we intended to rescue you anyway.
Very handy excuse. I turned back the way we’d come. Back toward the catacombs.
Where are you going? I wasn’t lying, LA. We need to go back.
I have to save my friends. Then I’ll happily go back home and let all you jerks clean up your own mess.
Your friends are here. Who do you think is fighting Reginald?
Hope soared. All of them?
Yes. They’re fighting alongside my sister.
I reached out for Deg, tentatively prying open our private communication channel. Deg?
There was a bit of stat
ic and then nothing. You’re lying.
I’m not. He’s probably just busy…
LA?
Relief spun through me. I dropped to my haunches as my limbs went weak with it. Are you all right?
Yes. Are you?
I’m alive. I was just coming to look for you guys. Brock and Mandy are all right too?
Yes. And you can’t stay here, LA. You need to go home. We’ll be right behind you. Go with Mack.
I hesitated a beat and then realized what he was telling me. My mother and our friends were in danger as I’d suspected. Mack had been telling me the truth. I’m not leaving you. I’ll help here and then we’ll all go home.
No. Time is short. And LA, there’s something else you need to know.
I’d stopped listening, my mind was occupied with trying to come up with an argument for staying with my friends. But the urgency in his voice captured my straying attention. What’s wrong?
The demonic realm is still intact. It hasn’t been breached.
I thought about the surprising news for a beat, a dozen questions rising in my mind. But we saw it fall.
No. We saw what someone wanted us to see. Brock was there. He said it was still intact when he was captured. And that the guards at the prison were bragging about the demons being stronger than all the others.
But why…?
I don’t know. But it’s important somehow. The answer is at home. And we need you to find it.
I gave up fighting the inevitable. He was right. I needed to go back. Stay safe, okay. I’ll see you at home.
Take care, LA. Someone we know is behind all this. And it’s going to be dangerous finding out who.
All was quiet on the home front when Mack and I stepped through the passage into Illusory Park. The early morning air was moist and cool and a sense of something ominous rode the breezes wafting past.
We decided to stay in our feline forms because we could cover ground more quickly and sense changes in the air better. We hit the perimeter barrier at a dead run, the energy snapping against our skin and then falling away as we landed on the sidewalk outside of Familiar, Inc.
Instinct made me stop, the fur along my back lifting with alarm.
A dark haze surrounded the building, rising into the sky high above its uppermost floors.
I sensed dark, oily evil riding the haze.
My grandmama’s face flashed in front of me, her expression dire. It wasn’t the first time Celeste had sent me such a warning. Though her cautions generally included some kind of word puzzle that only I could solve. I didn’t need to hear the words to know what she was telling me. But I did wonder if the warning meant that Grandmama was still alive.
This is not good. I told Mack.
What do you want to do?
I thought about it for a moment and then made a decision. I’m going to confront it head on. I’ll pretend I don’t know what’s going on and stall them for as long as I can. I’ll try to get a feel for what’s happening. You hang back, stay in your feline form and wait for the others. When they get here we’ll decide how best to tackle this.
Are you sure you want to go inside alone, LA?
No. But something’s telling me it’s the right play. I couldn’t very well explain to him that I was getting flashes of my possibly dead grandmother’s image. He’d think I’d lost my mind.
I just need to do one thing first.
Without waiting for Mack’s response, I moved into the haze surrounding Familiar, Inc. and put myself into the shadows for protection. Then I allowed my feline form to slide away and flashed back to human.
The change was quick and mostly painless, which told me I’d been doing far too much of it of late. It was getting easier.
I wasn’t sure that was a good thing.
Closing my eyes, I reached out and touched the warm, slightly electric surface of the wall before me, sending my sensing energy into it and opening my receptors fully to accept whatever readings I received.
The moment I opened myself up to it, the energy slammed into me, sending me back onto my heels. I dug in and forced myself to stay open to it, riding out the initial burst of sensation and emotions that battered my system.
Shock, fear, a feeling of betrayal, all mixed with a heightened sense of excitement tinged with dark energy. I focused harder, driving toward the dark power in the hopes of keying in on its source.
Rage burst over me, infusing my system like a million, tiny needles that caused my pulse to flare. Anger infused the air, emanating from several different sources, but focused like a laser on one entity in particular. I followed that focused emotion, riding it across a space that felt like the council chambers. I dug deeper into my sensing power, adding a touch of tracking magic to heighten the results.
My perspective shifted…rolled underneath me and left me panting on the ground. My chest burned with hate. My skin crawled with a dozen sources of magic trying to penetrate a barrier I’d created to keep it away.
I threw out a hand and watched as a bolt of unimaginable power shot from my fingertips, sailing across the well-known space and hitting its target.
I cried out, stumbling backward and slamming into the wall as the target looked up at me, eyes widening in sudden recognition, and shock, and then folded beneath the attack and fell.
LA?
I forced the image away, dragging myself back to the place where I stood, a young man with dark gold hair and pretty green eyes staring down at me with a worried look.
Mack touched my arm but I shrank away, mewling pitifully.
“What did you see?”
I shook my head, pressing myself against the wall as tears fled down my cheeks. “I can’t…” I shot a tortured glance upward. “Celeste!”
He frowned. “What about her? Is she alive?”
I sobbed before I could stop myself, the sound reverberating through the haze as if in a cavern. “I killed her! How could I have done that?”
“You haven’t killed Celeste,” Mack told me. “You would never do such a thing.”
“But I saw…” Then the meaning of the vision came to me, hitting me in the center of the chest like a punch. “It wasn’t me.” I’d somehow put myself into the killer’s perspective. I shoved to my feet. “I have to go.” I ran past Mack and toward the door at the side of the tall building that housed our family business. It was hidden by a tall row of evergreens and the door was always unlocked so shifters could get inside. The room had lockers lining all four walls, with two wooden benches down the center.
The locker room was filled with clothing that could be donned after a shift. I grabbed the nearest locker, not even bothering to try to locate my own, and pulled a soft, cotton dress out of it, slipping it over my head as I ran for the door.
I took the back elevators to the Council Room level on seventeen. The elevator stopped and I pulled energy into my fingertips.
As the door slid open I looked up into the surprising face of Adriel, the demon who’d helped us in Axismundi. “Adriel, what are you doing here?”
“I’m helping. Trudy sent me. Come on.” He motioned down the hall, toward the council chambers. “She and your mother are waiting.”
I fought with myself for a moment, feeling strangely let down that the drama I’d been expecting wasn’t going to happen.
But then relief filled me at the realization that what I’d seen must not have been real. I let the energy in my fingers sizzle away and fell in beside Adriel. “How did you get here?”
He glanced my way and gave me a half smile, the expression strange in his demonic face. “The council came to get Trudy and she asked me to come along to protect her.”
“But the last I heard you’d gone to the border to help save your people.”
He nodded, reaching for the door into the chambers. “When Reginald grabbed your friend, I followed him back to the catacombs. I was glad to have been there in time to save him.”
I frowned. That meant Trudy had still been in Axismundi when Reg
gie captured us in the catacombs…
Adriel threw open the door and I stepped through.
A horrifying sight met me. But before I could make sense of it, Adriel snapped his wrist and a long, coiled whip wrapped around my shoulders, jerking me to a halt and locking my arms to my sides. “Not so fast, LA.” He grinned when I glared in his direction, nodding toward the whip. “You seem far too able to blast through the cuffs. But this whip is warded with stronger magic. You won’t get free of it.”
“We’ll see about that,” I grumbled.
Adriel glanced across the room. “Silence. I believe my king has something he’d like to say.”
Growling in rage, I jerked my gaze in King Al’s direction. “You bastard!”
He smiled, his handsome face a much more appropriate canvas for the gesture than Adriel’s had been. “I’m sorry, my dear. Believe me when I say that I would have preferred another outcome.”
“Brock’s going to kill you,” I growled out, though, even as I said the words I wasn’t sure. Was blood thicker than loyalty and friendship?
I turned my head, my heart heavy as I looked around the room at the dozens of massive demon soldiers, every face taut with a smug sort of rage. They stood three deep around the walls and, as Adriel and I had entered the room, they’d fallen in behind us, cutting off any escape I might have considered.
But I had no intention of leaving that room.
I cast a tearful gaze over my mother and the other members of the ruling council. They’d been cuffed with the magic dampening bracelets. The ones who’d tried to fight back were lying on the floor, deathly still.
Tears fell from my eyes as I saw that my mother was among them. She was so pale. Like Celeste had been the last time I’d seen her.
The thought brought my head up, the pieces of the puzzle snapping together. “You killed Celeste. She was getting better and you hit her with enough energy to drain her remaining strength.”
