“And who will run the Sorlin-Vontaine given you’ve promised Ellinor to partake in breaking the curse?” Rodrick asked.
“Daniella Decoteaux.”
My heart sank. “You can’t be serious,” I said, knowing it wasn’t my place but unable to keep my mouth shut. “You can’t possibly trust that woman.”
“I don’t know.” She let a hint of snark pass through her words, letting me know I was beyond my depth. Especially when it came to her coven. “It seems as though she’s done a good job of protecting the coven from intruders from what your headmaster described.”
‘Maybe freeing you from possession was a mistake after all.’
I could sense the so-called aggression Margaux mentioned threatening to come barreling out.
Rodrick gave me a glare that warned me not to dare raise my voice.
“The potion along with who I choose to leave in temporary command of my coven is not your concern, mademoiselle,” Margaux chastised me. “You should be thinking of how we will capture your brother.”
She wasn’t wrong. Even if nothing else worked in the end, getting my brother back was the most important thing to me.
“So what do we do?” I asked her.
‘Since you seem to know all the answers.’
She leaned toward me. Taking my wrist into her hand, she turned it over and observed the bracelet around my right wrist. A small smile crossed her face.
“The vixra have been generous to you,” she said softly.
“It was from my mum,” I said.
“But it’s spelled with vixra magic, is it not?”
I brought my other arm forward. “They both are.”
“Parfait,” she said. “We can use this to our advantage.”
“How?”
“With a powerful spell. And the use of both my arms. Which means something I’m sure no one in this room will like any more than me.”
“And what’s that?”
“The vixra. I need the use of both my arms. And the only magic powerful enough in the world to give me back my arm that someone thought wise to remove is an old and powerful vixra such as Ellinor. They are the only ones who work in restoring body parts. Even luxra magic isn’t strong enough to rebuild the body.”
“We can’t do that,” I protested. “If we go directly to the vixra they’ll arrest us. All of us.”
The second I spoke the words the floor beneath my feet vibrated. The ground rumbled with the strength of an earthquake threatening to grow more intense by the second.
Margaux’s eyes darted from the floor up to the ceiling. Dust fell from between the cracks of wood and lightly dotted her forehead. “What makes you think any of us will have the choice?”
4
The shaking turned into a thunderous roar. Rodrick’s paintings, swords, books, and cabinets all quaked on the walls. When the painting directly behind Lothar crashed and the glass framework shattered my mind instantly realized what was happening. But it wasn’t until the screams of students from outside reached my ears that crippling fear threatened to take hold of me.
‘The vixra guards found us.’
Rodrick was up from his desk and on the move before my mind could even send a signal to my feet that sitting in the same place wasn’t the best idea. He took me by the collar of my trench coat and got me up and moving.
“Go!” he shouted. He reached for the crystal containing the luxra spirit and shoved it inside his trench coat.
I couldn’t fathom where he thought he might be taking us until he moved over to the mirror hidden by a long piece of tapestry. The same one that zapped me across the room. He threw the tapestry downward and revealed it’s blue magic swirling about inside the mirror.
“Verre blue!” Margaux exclaimed. “How did you get one?”
“Never mind that. Get inside,” Rodrick demanded. He pushed me along until I was through the mirror and on the other side. I moved away to make room for the others as Margaux went in next then Lothar and Jake. Finally, Rodrick popped through it and we were standing in his study once more. Only it wasn’t being rocked into shambles like the one we left behind.
“What is this place?” Lothar said with Jake standing right beside him looking equally confused. Jake looked about as if he had just gone through a time warp.
“Come with me,” Rodrick ordered, refusing to give an explanation as he hustled to the door of his study and went through the dimly lit hall. The torches on the sides lit up one by one as we rushed through.
I couldn’t fathom where he thought he would hide us. Maybe in a copy of the alluring forest inside the mirror? How long would that last?
We made it as far as the hallway before the edges of the stone pillars blurred right before my eyes. Or was that my vision? I was getting dizzy. I barely caught myself before I stumbled right into one of the pillars. Only there wasn’t a pillar standing there to catch me once I ran into it. It was evaporating into thin air.
I must not have been the only one because the others came to an abrupt stop as well.
“They’re destroying the mirror. Its spell is breaking down,” Margaux shouted. “They know exactly where we are. Let me go talk to them.”
“After what we went through to get you?” Lothar snarled as he grabbed her one arm. “No chance in hell.”
“Am I your prisoner now?”
“I’m not about to let you just hand yourself over after what Riley put herself through to free you.”
“They might settle for just me once they see that I’m free of the luxra. I can show them this.” She reached for the crystal Rodrick was holding firm in his arm.
I didn’t want to say it. The mere thought of doing the first thing that ran through my mind was enough to make my stomach curl. Even so, I knew it was probably the only way out of this.
“Let me go with her,” I said. “I convinced the three of you to help me with all this. It’s almost entirely my fault.”
“Bollocks,” Lothar growled at me. “I agreed to help you. We’re all complicit.”
“Then you will make it my fault for ever coming here to begin with if we all end up imprisoned by the vixra.”
As the words spilled from my mouth I realized it might be too late. The essence of our surroundings was falling apart. It was as if they were never really there to begin with. The stones blew away like they were made of dust. The sky hanging far above us disintegrated into nothing but darkness, hiding the once vibrant moon and glistening stars. Then it too shook with violent force.
“It doesn’t matter,” Rodrick murmured. “They want all of us.”
The ground beneath my feet moved from right to left, then up and down, making sure that I couldn’t stand on my own two feet. I fell to my hands and knees only to discover that there was no ground to catch me. I was free-falling through a black hole with no end in sight. My arms and legs flailed everywhere, trying to reach for something. Anything! But there was nothing to break my fall. Through the wisps of my black hair, I could see the others falling right alongside me with sheer panic crossing their faces. The only calm person among us was Margaux. Perhaps she had been put through too much mental torment over the last several weeks to care about what the vixra might do to her.
I squinted my eyes as an explosion of bright light rushed back to my vision. I was blinded for a few seconds only to realize that it was still dark out. The blinding light had an emerald green radiance. The vixra were pulling us out of the mirror and right into the center of the courtyard of the academy.
I crashed down to the ground right on my side and rolled over onto my back. The air inside my lungs abandoned me. I was left on the ground feeling utterly helpless as I tried to catch my breath. The only problem was I felt like I left my body several hundred yards above me.
Someone else crashed right next to me. It was Jake. Then Lothar. Margaux landed a few yards away from me followed by Rodrick who got it the worst, crashing down at a strange angle and twisting his knee around. I could hear something pop inside it as his body
crumbled down to the grass.
I crawled halfway over to him before the sound of more students screaming reached my ears. They ran about in a panic, unsure of where to hide. Half stood in a large circle, watching us appear out of nowhere with utter fascination. The other half knew whatever was going on wasn’t something they wanted to be near. As I pulled my hair away to get a better look I understood why.
“Everyone go to your chambers immediately!” Professor Huxley shouted at the onlookers as he tried to gain control over the chaos. His order wasn’t enough to convince some. They were too alarmed by the sight of vixra guards entering the lycan realm and standing before them with weapons unsheathed. To make matters worse, their weapons were pointed at the dean of the academy.
The vixra guard stood around us in a wide circle, edging in closer so we couldn’t getaway. Long cloaks of navy blue velvet cascaded down from their backs. Their swords glistened under the pale moonlight high above us, showing off the pristine sharpness of their engraved blades. Green light spun about their swords and whipped around their wrists. I could feel the power they could wield vibrating through the air as though the atmosphere had developed its own heartbeat, sending blood rushing to my ears with each second that passed by. Which wasn’t long. Before I knew it the hammering of my heart and the power the vixra guard generated wasn’t my top concern. It was the woman breaking through the line of guards surrounding us and looking as though she had just come face to face with a serial killer.
Ellinor Prescott stood before us with an expression on her face that could only be described as a honed fury. The sort someone cultivates only to use against their worst enemies. I had little doubt that I was officially on that list of enemies.
“Attendez,” Margaux cried as she tried raising up to her knees with one arm. “Wait! Ellinor, please.”
Ellinor lifted her hand forward as if she was holding a weapon in her fist. I knew better. The power I could feel was the magic inside the vixra blood surrounding us. Ellinor had more of it than anyone standing in the academy courtyard. And she didn’t need to show it outside her body to use it.
“Silence!” she commanded, reducing Margaux to a sorrowful whimper.
Margaux’s lips shut so fast that I heard her teeth clink together. Ellinor forced her mouth closed with her magic. I peered over to Margaux to see her feel her lips with her hand. She couldn’t open them no matter how she tried. There were thin strings crossed over her lips like someone had stitched them shut. Only these stitches glowed with emerald green vixra magic in crosshatches over her lips.
‘Seriously? After everything Ellinor isn’t even going to listen?’
“Hear her out!” I cried. “We freed her! We freed Margaux from the luxra possessing her!”
Ellinor didn’t want to hear my words any more than she wanted to have to deal with Margaux. She proved it by lifting Margaux, Rodrick, Lothar, Jake, and me all off the wet grass and high into the air above her head, forcing our limbs out as though she was preparing us for crucifixion. For all I knew, she might be capable of it. She glared at me as if the lowliest of human scum had dared speak to her without her consent.
The students left standing in the courtyard all gasped at the sight of Ellinor’s strength, too fearful to get any closer but too entranced to look away. Even McKenzie stayed right where she was, watching as though she wouldn’t miss such a sight for the world.
“Clara,” I heard Rodrick speak the name he said back in Margaux’s apartment in Paris. “Make her listen. Tell her to listen! A great injustice will occur if you don’t.”
I forced my attention to the chestnut-haired woman standing next to Ellinor. Her bright blue eyes were fixed on Rodrick and yet, they were completely vacant of any expression or sympathy.
‘Clara? The same Clara he told me about? What’s she doing here?’
“It’s not in my hands,” she said to him, continuing to hold her sword in our direction. “I’m following orders just as you do.”
Her sharp eyes examined him. She cocked her head in curiosity and then turned her focus to me.
Ellinor Prescott told me the first time I met her in Rodrick’s study that some Blackatters worked as guards to the vixra. And now I understood why. I could feel their magic coursing through them even as my body levitated in the air. They were pure power and aggression. A lethal combination if there ever was one.
Magic spun like a spindle in Ellinor’s hand.
Gasps echoed from wall to wall of the stone towers around us as students still watching saw Ellinor wield her magic.
She brought both her palms together and formed a ball, letting the bursting energy of her green light twirl around her fingers and circle over her palm. I watched as she formed a perfect spherical globe of power in her hands. The green light lit up her flared eyes. Never before had I witnessed such pain and anger all in one fluid motion as she let the magic grow larger around her arms until it was a deadly weapon. She wasn’t going to let the vixra guard have the honor of bringing us in to face the vixra council. Ellinor was ready to finish us off right in front of the students. Witnesses be damned.
For reasons I couldn’t comprehend, my eyes didn’t stay on Ellinor. They drifted over to McKenzie standing to the side of the courtyard. I expected her to look amused. Perhaps even a bit gleeful. Her only rival for top marks at the academy might die before her eyes. And yet, she didn’t look the least bit victorious. Her face flushed. She peered down at her hand. For a brief second, I thought I saw fire sparking over her fingertips. She tucked her hand deep inside her trench coat and broke through the line of students watching from a safe distance away. Then she ran away as fast as she could.
‘Coward!’
Terror overtook my body. Ellinor’s poise abandoned her in exchange for a rage I didn’t know I could possibly summon inside someone. And when she pointed her hands with magic building up to explode from her palms, she pointed them both directly at me.
My eyes squinted shut as a bright light exploded from behind Ellinor. It disappeared as fast as it emerged. My eyelids flickered from the blinding light appearing then vanishing in an instant.
“Wait!” A voice hollered from outside the circle. A jolt of green lightning struck Clara in the back, sending her down to her knees and her long silver blade rolling over the grass until it stopped just short of the vixra guard on the other side of the circle. She barely caught herself with her hands before Adeline pushed through and stood before her grandmother with equally crazed eyes.
‘Where the hell did she come from?’
“You’re not going to harm them!” Adeline fumed. “I was the one who weakened the barriers to the dungeon so the Vontex could get inside.”
Ellinor’s attention shot away from me and down to her granddaughter. “Why on earth would you do that?” she growled.
“Because the council was wrong. You know better than most that I don’t argue against their judgments but this was a mistake that will affect us for centuries to come. Lay down your arms, gran.”
“That’s not for you to decide,” Ellinor growled.
Adeline shot her hand up and forced her magic from her palm. It cascaded directly into Ellinor’s hands and subdued her magic back into her skin as if Adeline had extinguished a pit of fire with a tidal wave of water. Adeline dared step closer to her grandmother even though Ellinor’s face contorted into a state of absolute shock that someone, anyone, would openly oppose her.
“You’re on dangerous ground, Addy!” Ellinor threatened her.
“Then so be it.” Adeline motioned both her hands up and stole the swords from the vixra guard right out of their grasp with her magic, making them hover in the air above their heads. And to my shock, they didn’t try to stop her. She was a Prescott. A member of the family employing them. Or maybe they knew better than to get between Ellinor and Adeline. “I gave Riley Blackburn vixra magic to use how she sees fit, I weakened the barriers outside the manor so they could get inside the dungeons, and I lessened the strengt
h of the locksin binding Margaux to her cell. If you want someone to blame, blame me.”
Any confidence I had built up from having broken into the Prescott manor and kidnapping Margaux quickly evaporated. It made more sense now. It wasn’t some great feat that I accomplished. I knew Adeline probably created a distraction to help us along but I had no idea she made the magic keeping Margaux imprisoned weaker. And yet, a part of me knew I never would have been strong enough to pull all that off without help. I was far too weak after I battled Alina in the Colosseum.
“Look at Margaux, gran,” Adeline got right up in Ellinor’s personal space and challenged it. “Look at her!”
I could see the gears inside Ellinor’s head turning, twisting, bending, and doing everything in her power to resist what Adeline was saying. Her granddaughter stood there in defiance before the vixra guard, maybe even usurping her authority. And yet, it was exactly what we needed. Ellinor wouldn’t listen to Margaux, Rodrick, or me. She needed to hear it from someone closer to home.
Ellinor stepped aside from Adeline and slowly walked toward all five of us floating in the air. The magic keeping us suspended in a paralyzed state gradually let Margaux down to Ellinor’s eye level, all the while making sure that Margaux couldn’t move a muscle. Her mouth was still sewn shut with magic. Her ability to defend herself had been stripped away.
Margaux looked Ellinor directly in her eyes, challenging her to see the truth in Adeline’s words.
Ellinor placed her hand directly before Margaux’s face and let her emerald green light inside her skin seep through her palm. It slithered around Margaux’s head, surveying her mind and delving deep into her memories.
I waited in anticipation. On the inside, I was screaming with eagerness to defend Margaux. To tell Ellinor all that happened and how this changed everything. If Margaux could be saved, so could Dirk. And maybe even Alina. Those that fell victim to the Dolch Erbe and did their bidding over the centuries didn’t do so out of their own free will. The way the vixra council dealt with the victims had to change somehow.
Resummon: (Lycan Academy of Shapeshifting: Operation Shift, Book 6) Page 4
