“This is not you,” he told Daisy, and I could tell it was a struggle to keep his voice calm. “You can fight this. Remember what I taught you.”
But not even the smallest hint of understanding flickered on Daisy’s face. That was the scariest part. Even Alice, as insane as she’d been, had seemed human. Daisy was nothing but a monster, her face twisted with rage.
Moving so quickly we barely had time to react, Daisy reached into her waistband and pulled something out. It was the same piece of demonglass that had hit me at my birthday party. The substance sizzled in her hand, burning her, but Daisy didn’t flinch. She charged us, her eyes the same violet-red Alice’s had been that last night.
The next few moments were a blur. Daisy rushed at me, demonglass hoisted high, and then there was a flash of light from above me—Dad—but once again, it was like Daisy couldn’t feel any pain. Dad was suddenly beside me, throwing his body between mine and the jagged, black shard, and I think I screamed.
Suddenly, a shout rang out, a word I’d never heard before. In fact, I’m not even sure it was a word, but whatever it was, there was power in it that made my head feel like it was splitting open.
Daisy went very still, her eyes wide. The demonglass dropped harmlessly from her fingers, and for just a second, she looked like the Daisy I knew. Then her eyes rolled back and she crumpled on the stairs, rolling down several of them before coming to a rest on the landing. Somewhere in the house, one of the clocks rang out eleven bells, and I realized with shock that it had been less than four minutes since I’d walked out of Dad’s office.
Dad ran down the stairs and over to Daisy’s inert body, pressing his fingers into the hollow beneath her jaw while I stared at Lara. She stood next to the fallen statue, breathing hard.
“What the heck was that?” I asked her, my voice sounding very loud in the silence.
“A simple immobilization spell,” she replied as she crossed the hall, her heels clacking.
“You’re lying.”
Dad spit those words out with way more venom than I’d thought he was capable of. Lara must’ve been shocked too, because her face paled. “Excuse me?”
Rising to his feet, Dad stared her down. “There is no immobilization spell that can stop a demon that has crossed over.”
Dad sounded so scary that I shuddered a little bit, but Lara didn’t even blink. “Clearly there is, because I just used it successfully.” She gestured to Daisy. “That girl was going to kill you, James.”
I moved down to stand next to Dad. “What will happen to her now?”
Dad never took his eyes off of Lara. “She’ll have to be contained somehow. One of the cells in the lower level, I should think.”
“Contained?”
Dad looked at me, his eyes sad. “She’s gone, Sophie. The Daisy part of her, at least. Once the magic takes over…there’s no reversing it.”
Daisy groaned, her eyelids fluttering, as if therewere some tiny sliver of her left in there that had heard and understood. “Someone has to tell Nick,” I murmured.
Dad sighed and loosened his tie. “Of course. Jenna.” I glanced up, surprised, to see Jenna standing a few feet behind Lara. She must have heard all the commotion. Her face was pale, her eyes wide as she hurried across the hallway and grabbed my hands. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I said, but seeing her made tears spring to my eyes. I wasn’t sure if it was from guilt or from seeing the fear on her face.
“If you wouldn’t mind, go find Nick and have him meet me in the conservatory,” Dad said to her. She looked up, surprised, but said she would, then headed off toward the back hallway.
Crouching down again, Dad brushed Daisy’s black hair from her forehead. He murmured something I couldn’t understand, and she stilled, seeming to fall deeper asleep. “I’ll see that she’s taken care of,” he said. “And Lara, after I meet with Nick, I want to talk to you. Is that understood?”
She gave a tiny bow, but her mouth was tight with anger. “Of course.”
Once she was gone, I gave in to my wobbly knees and sat down on the steps. Roderick and Kristopher showed up a few minutes later. They picked up Daisy with surprising gentleness, and carried her off to one of those mysterious cells in the bowels of Thorne Abbey. The thought of Daisy, even a demoned-out murderous Daisy, locked away, sent a fresh wave of sadness rolling over me.
I rested my head on folded arms and tried to process what had just happened. “Dad,” I said at last, “Daisy was going after me.”
I expected him to do his usual thing of “Oh, Sophie, but that is impossible because of this big word, and that big word, and also this abstract concept.” But for once, he didn’t. He just sat down next to me and said, “Go on.”
“She called my name right before she attacked. And all that with the dagger. You were the bigger threat. I was too wiped out from teleporting to fight her off. But she only went for you when you got in front of me.”
Dad took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I told you my trip was unsuccessful. That was true with regards to the Brannicks, but not for the entire trip. The warlock I visited in Lincolnshire, Andrew Crowley, had some very useful information. Do you remember the section on controlling demons inDemonologies? I believe it’s in chapter five.”
“Um…no.”
Irritation flashed over his face. “Honestly, Sophie, I gave you that book for a reason.”
“And I’m really sorry, but it’s long and boring, and can we just skip to the part where you tell me what it says?”
“There are legends of witches and warlocks summoning demons in ancient times and manipulating their powers.”
“Like what Elodie’s coven was trying to do with Alice.”
Dad shook his head. “No, that was trying to summon a demon and hold it. That’s different. Had their ritual worked, they would have been able to use Alice, to some extent, but they wouldn’t have controlled her. She still would have had free will.” He studied me, and then said, very carefully, “But according to Mr. Crowley’s research, in order to truly control a demon, you have to be its maker—the witch or warlock who performed the possession ritual.”
“Lara. That word, or sound, or whatever it was. It stopped Daisy dead in her tracks.”
Dad released a shaky breath. “Yes.”
Everything started clicking into place, but that only made me feel worse. “So itis her. She’s the one who made Nick and Daisy.” My thoughts kept rolling, like a particularly awful snowball. “She knows I was on Graymalkin, Dad. I don’t know how, but she does. And she sicced Daisy on me because of it. She only called her off because Daisy was about to hurt you.” Sweet, friendly Lara. Bizarro World Mrs. Casnoff, Jenna and I had called her. And she had just tried to kill me.
“So what now?” I asked him. “Do you go magically arrest her?”
“I can’t.”
That was just about the last answer I’d been expecting, and I stared at Dad in shock. “Dad, she just tried to kill me. Not to mention she’s raising demons and using them as weapons.”
“You don’t understand,” Dad said, weary. “Lara, Anastasia, and I are bound by blood oaths. If I throw them both in a dungeon with no proof, it could look like a political power play.”
“But you have proof. The place on Graymalkin. Trust me, Dad, anyone would be able to tell there was hard-core stuff going down there.”
“It wouldn’t be enough. And Anastasia does have complete control over everything that happens at Hecate. She could easily come up with a plausible excuse.”
Frustrated, I shook my head. “But Daisy and Nick—”
“Daisy in completely insensible now, and Nick has no memory of anything that happened before he became a demon. They’re of no help in this.”
I shot to my feet, then immediately regretted it. Too much magic and too much stress had made me dizzy. Still, I leaned against the railing and said, “So you’re not going to do anything?”
Dad stood up, too. “Sophie, I
told you once that being head of the Council required a great deal of sacrifice. That woman has lied to me, destroyed a young woman for her own purposes, and just attempted to murder my daughter.” Magic was rolling off him so strongly that I felt like I should probably sit down again. “Believe me,” he continued, “I want nothing more than to smite her out of existence. But I can’t. Not until I have concrete evidence.”
Smiting sounded good to me, but, as much as I hated it, I knew he was right. “Man, politics suck,” I muttered.
Dad took my hand. “Sophie, I swear, we will get to the bottom of this. And when we do, Lara and Anastasia and anyone else who had part in this madness will be punished.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
I wanted to wait for Nick to show up, mostly to lend Dad some moral support, but he told me to go on up to my room. “You look like you’re about to fall over,” he said, walking me across the hall to the back staircase. “I could get Cal—”
“No,” I said quickly. “I just need some alone time.”
Dad nodded. “All right. Go get some rest.”
Those were the easiest directions I’d ever been given. But as I turned to go, Dad added, “And I am calling your mother now.”
There was no use in arguing with him. I knew a determined face when I saw one. He would call Mom, and she’d fly out here ASAP and drag me back to…well, I didn’t know where. It wasn’t like I could go back to Hex Hall.
Those thoughts were way too tired-making, so I dragged myself upstairs and then took the longest, most scalding shower known to man. I knew it would take a lot more than hot water to wash away all the dread and sadness that threatened to overcome me, but it still helped. And I was meeting Archer in just a little bit, so I definitely wanted to clean up for that.
I was feeling a little better when I opened the shower door, but that immediately vanished when I saw Elodie standing in my bathroom. She looked a little more solid this time and a lot more freaked out. Her lips were moving fast and furiously, and I couldn’t make out a thing she was trying to say. “I know,” I muttered as I wrapped a robe around myself. “I probably need to hit the gym more often or something, but honestly, if you’re going to haunt me, we need to establish some boundaries.”
She threw up her hands and floated up higher, her face a mix of anger and anxiety. Something told me that whatever she was trying to say was more important than the ten pounds I could stand to lose.
A sharp rap at my bedroom door made me jump, and even Elodie’s head swung toward the noise. “Stay right here,” I said, pointing a finger at her. She responded by flipping me off. Lovely.
It was Lara at the door, her face every bit as worried as Elodie’s. “Have you seen Nick?”
My skin prickled. “No, why?”
She twisted one of her rings. “We still can’t find him. And after everything that’s happened with Daisy, you can see why that’s very troubling.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Elodie hovering outside the bathroom door, waving her ghostly arms for all she was worth.
“I’ll keep an eye out for him,” I said before shutting the door—gently—in Lara’s face.
“What?” I whispered, turning back to Elodie. She floated back into the bathroom, gesturing for me to follow.
But when I got in there, she was gone. “Oh, great,” I said out loud. “Even in death, you’re a pain in my—”
But then writing began to appear on the steamy mirror. It was slow and painstaking, but finally, one word appeared.
ARCHER.
Two more words appeared, and dread curled in my stomach, heavy as a brick.
MILL. NICK.
“Oh, God,” I murmured.
GO.
chapter 35
As I ran out the front door in my bathrobe, it occurred to me that someone would surely ask me where I was going. Panic surged through me even as magic coiled up from my feet.
The teleportation spell. I’d never been able to move more than ten feet, and the mill was at least half a mile away. Still, I had to try.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, drawing my powers deep inside myself, trying to calm down. It probably only took five seconds, but it felt like hours until I felt the frigid wind wrap itself around me, felt my blood slow in my veins.
I was almost afraid to open my eyes when the cold subsided, but when I did, I found myself standing right in front of the corn mill. Any relief I might have felt over the spell working faded the instant I stepped inside. I could feel the residual charge of magic in the air. Dark magic.
“Archer?” I called out, my heart pounding so loudly I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hear anything else.
But then, from the back of the mill, I heard a faint and wheezing, “Mercer.”
A sob burst from my throat as I ran to the alcove. Archer was lying on his back, his hands on his chest. In the moonlight he looked like he’d been splashed all over with ink.
But the substance covering his chest and spreading out in a large pool underneath him wasn’t ink or black paint, or any of the other things my desperate mind tried to tell me it could be. There was a faint metallic smell that reminded me of when Jenna would feed in our room.
I dropped to my knees beside him, touching his cheek. It was felt cool and clammy under my hand. “This is…what I get…for coming early,” he gasped out, trying to smile at me.
“Please don’t joke and bleed at the same time,” I said as I gently lifted his hands from his chest. It was too dark to see the extent of his injuries, which was probably a good thing. Still, his shirt was shiny and slick with blood, and his breathing was shallow.
“It was this guy,” he murmured. “Came…out of nowhere. Think he had…claws.”
Oh, God. That explained the gashes, but the thought of Nick, every bit as savage as Daisy had been, slicing into Archer made bile rise up in my throat.
I breathed in through my nose until the feeling passed. “You’re going to be okay,” I said, but my voice was wavering and I was shaking. “It’s probably not even that bad, and you’re just being a big drama queen as usual.” My magic was crashing around inside me like a choppy sea, and I was too upset to focus on anything. Still, I tried. I stroked his forehead and tried to channel my powers through him, tried to close all the gaping wounds on his chest and stomach.
The bleeding slowed a little, but that was the best I could do, and he’d already lost so much blood. I sat back on my heels, wanting to scream in frustration. What was the point of having the powers of gods if you couldn’t help the people you loved?
Shivering, Archer grasped one of my hands with his. “Lost cause, Mercer.”
“Don’t say that!” I cried.
He shook his head. His teeth were chattering so hard he could barely speak, but he managed to say, “This was always going to happen…sooner or later. Wish…it had been…later.”
I wanted to tell him no again, that he would be fine, but there was no point. Even in the darkness I could see how white he was, and how scared his eyes were. The pool of blood under him was so huge it was hard to believe there was any blood left in his body.
He was dying, and we both knew it. There was nothing I could do.
But there was someone who could.
I leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear, “Cross, please, just hold on for a few more minutes, okay? You promised to make out with me in a castle, and I’m holding you to it.”
He tried to laugh, but it just came out a weak gurgle. I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth to keep from crying out, and stood up.
His fingers grabbed for the hem of my robe. “Don’t leave me,” he whispered.
It killed me to do it, but I stepped out of his reach. “I’m coming right back, I swear.”
There was more I wanted to say, but we were wasting time. If he died before I got back…I couldn’t think about that. Before I had time to second-guess myself or weigh the risks, I closed my eyes and vanished.
I reappea
red in the hallway just outside my room, and dashed down to Cal’s room.
When he opened the door, he looked rumpled and sleepy, and pleasantly surprised to see me. That was the worst part.
As soon as he realized I was covered in blood, however, his smile faded, and he clutched my arm. “Sophie, what happened?”
“It’s not my blood,” I said quickly. “Someone is hurt, and I need you to get to the mill as fast as you can. Don’t tell anyone. I’ll meet you there.”
He frowned, confused, but I teleported back to the mill before he had a chance to ask any questions.
I didn’t know if it was all the practicing I’d been doing with Dad, or what, but it hardly took anything out of me to do such a huge spell. When I flashed back to the mill, I felt clearheaded and not even a little bit dizzy. But fear raced through me as I made my way back to Archer. Thank God his chest was still rising and falling when I reached him, but he seemed to be breathing faster, and his eyes were closed.
“See, told you I’d be back,” I said as I crouched at his side. I tried to keep my voice light, like if he thought I wasn’t afraid, he wouldn’t be either. I’m not sure it worked, but he took my hand and, without opening his eyes, pressed my palm to his lips. I held his other wrist so I could feel his pulse.
I focused on that, each steady beat underneath my fingers, until at long last I heard Cal call out, “Sophie?”
“Back here!”
I could hear him stepping over the loose rocks and fallen beams, and when he finally appeared in the doorway, I thought he might be the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. “Oh, thank you,” I breathed, but whether I was talking to Cal or to God, I couldn’t have told you.
“What happened?” he asked, moving toward me.
And then he saw.
A mix of emotions crossed his face. He looked shocked at first, but that gave way to a cold, quiet anger. His eyes went hard and his mouth tightened.
“Cal,” I said, but it came out like a whimper.
“Move,” he said tersely. I scrambled to my feet, walking around to Archer’s other side as Cal knelt where I’d been. He grabbed Archer’s arm with none of the gentleness I’d seen him use healing other people, me included. It was like he was trying to touch him as little as possible. I had one horrible moment of doubt, but then Cal dropped his head, and little silver sparks started running over Archer’s skin.
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