“Now,” she said, eying Lunatrabem and Tic meaningfully, “we take out the rest of the trash.” Before the final word was out of her mouth, Clepsydra unleashed the arrow trained on Dex.
“Noooooo!” I screamed, running toward him. But before I even got two steps, Dex jerked forward, pulling out of grip of the two warriors guarding him. He looked down at the arrow, sticking out of his chest that’d pierced him clean through. He too crumpled to his knees, his gaze agonized as it met my own. And then his eyes went sightless and he fell forward face first.
Ember let out a heartbreaking howl as she pulled and struggled against the leash held by Sipowicz who yanked hard on the leash and kicked her with his knee.
Meanwhile Gorch and the Amazon laughed at the smacking sound Dex made when he hit the pavement.
I’d stopped running toward them the second Dex had sunk to his knees. Tears stung my eyes and my heart hammered in my chest as a fury so powerful engulfed me that I felt my essence build and gather toward my hands holding tight to the hilt of the sword. My energy mingled with Lunatrabem and I turned toward Clepsydra.
She nocked another arrow and took careful aim. At that exact moment, out of the corner of my eye I saw Sequoya draw her knife again and come at me from the side.
The arrow and Sequoya would each deliver a deadly blow to me at the exact same time and I knew I couldn’t fend off both of them no matter how fast I moved.
So I used the only option I had left, hoping it would be to my advantage. Shoving my hand into into my pocket, I wrapped my fingers around the pocket watch Finn had given me, pushing some essence into it as I tightened my grip. In the next instant, everyone around me was moving in slow motion but I was moving at what felt like normal speed, which meant I was actually moving far faster than anyone around me.
Bolting forward I began to race toward Clepsydra who had unleashed her arrow. I saw it coming at me moving fast but not fast enough for me to knock it from the air. Lifting Lunatrabem high, I ducked away from Sequoya on my right, and was about to bring my sword down on the arrow when from my left Ember appeared right in front of me, blocking the arrow from view.
I gasped as her body flew past me slow enough to appear to be floating. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, a terrible cry echoed across the parking lot and in almost that exact instant the tip of an arrow exploded out of Ember’s side.
Dropping my sword, I caught my beloved pup before she landed on the hard pavement and she went limp in my arms. As I fell into a crouch, I stared down at the life fading from Ember’s eyes and it was like a part of my soul shattered into a million pieces.
Behind me there was a rush of movement and somewhere in the very recesses of my mind I realized that the sound of footsteps nearing me was far faster than it should be given how the pocket watch had slowed down time. Next to me, Lunatrabem hummed. Without thinking, because I couldn’t even form a coherent thought, I reached for the sword, let go of Ember and twirled to a standing position to face Sequoya, wielding her dagger and coming at me fast.
Around her neck a medallion glowed brightly. “Two can play at that game, Thief!” she yelled as she leapt in the air ready to bring down her dagger into my shattered heart. Lunatrabem came alive moving of its own accord, blocking the blow just in time.
Sequoya’s body, however, knocked into me but I twisted quickly and threw her off. She landed gracefully and turned again toward me wearing a ferocious expression.
I stared at her dully for only a moment until the warrior’s power of Lunatrabem flowed into me and blocked out the pain of losing everyone I loved in this world.
I raised my sword to counter her blows, backing away from her in calculated steps that brought me nearer to Tic and Clepsydra.
It was a purposeful maneuver. Sequoya struck at me again and again and each time I easily defended myself, luring her in. When we were within feet of Tic and Clepsydra, I unleashed the restraint I’d placed on Lunatrabem and the sword danced in my hand, coming up in an arc as Sequoya brought her dagger down.
My blade cut through her wrist without even pausing.
Sequoya stood in front of me, staring in stunned horror at her dismembered limb. I waited until she lifted her gaze to look into my murderous eyes before fully unleashing Lunatrabem. The sword jerked up and sideways, slicing right through her neck.
Freed from the magic of her pendant, Sequoya’s head and body began to drop slowly and separately to the earth. Snatching my ballpoint pen from her jacket, I whirled in a circle and cut through the rope attaching Tic to Clepsydra.
Marco’s eyes widened in slow motion when I grabbed his hand, shoved the pen into it and used his thumb to click the plunger. He disappeared from view. While I still had hold of him, I pivoted him toward the nearby patch of woods, giving him a small shove in the process.
I then focused my full attention on Clepsydra. But then something weird happened. In the blink of an eye, she stopped moving in slow motion or rather, I stopped moving with lightning speed.
Finn had warned me that the effects of the watch would be short-lived.
Still I held the element of surprise and I didn’t waste it when I stabbed Clepsydra through the heart while she watched her lover’s head fall at her feet.
I then turned to face the rest of the group, hearing the sound of the chantress’s dead body hit the pavement with a thud.
The Amazon warrior and Gorch rushed toward me. I waited patiently, standing with Lunatrabem held at ease by my side.
Three feet from me they both reached out with hands curled into claws, ready to rip me to pieces. I cut off all four of their arms at the elbow. I then twirled neatly in a circle, cutting them both in half.
A dozen meters away, Sipowicz stood stunned and shaken. I thought about how cruel he’d been to my beloved Ember, how he’d muzzled her, yanked on her leash, kicked her with his knee, and ultimately had allowed her to get loose to save me which had killed her in the end. All that anger began to well up inside my chest as I stared at him across the lot.
He read my expression correctly when he turned to run. I hitched Lunatrabem’s handle up above my shoulder, caught the hilt deftly, stepped back to use the sword like a spear and launched my weapon. It flew as straight and true as one of Clepsydra’s arrows.
Sipowicz didn’t even make it ten steps.
A moment later I walked over to him and pulled the sword from the center of his back. I then moved over to where Clepsydra lay, pale and lifeless. I waited and sure enough color returned to her and she sucked in a sharp breath.
Before she had fully recovered herself, I bent down and snatched the broach with Petra’s insignia from her shirt. “How many lives will it give?” I demanded.
The chantress stared up at me in panic, the wound at her heart already sealed shut but she was still weak and feeble. Clutching at the ground—no doubt in search of a weapon, she refused to answer me.
“Fine,” I said. “Have it your way.”
I raised Lunatrabem, ready to end her as many times as it took to actually end her when she raised her arm and gasped, “Thief, wait! Listen to me! I’ll use the succubaen to find the egg and the phoenix! Together we can join forces and rule the world!”
I lowered the sword, considering her. No doubt she thought I was mulling over her offer, but really I was thinking how pathetically ironic it was that, at one point in the past ten minutes, she’d had the phoenix, the succubaen, Lunatrabem and the key to finding the egg all within her evil clutches and she’d blown it so magnificently that it shamed her as a mystic and Petra’s chantress.
For her part, Clepsydra stared up at me with wild, panicked and then hopeful eyes. I hardened my gaze, letting her know the truth before I even spoke it. “No deal,” I told her.
A moment later, I was the only living being in the parking lot.
Chapter Twenty-One
Day 4
I went to Ember first, sinking to my knees at her side, the pain of seeing her lifeless was nearly mor
e than I could bear. Letting out a sob, I pulled the arrow from her side, broke it in two and threw it away, feeling the urge to murder Clepsydra all over again.
Tears slid down my face as I stroked her soft fur, praying to feel the rise and fall of her chest, but no sign of life emerged. Gently I placed Clepsydra’s broach on her shoulder, pushing a bit of essence into it, but while I waited for it to activate, it remained stubbornly cold.
Desperate, I reached into my pocket and pulled out Finn’s lieutenant’s pin. I laid that on her shoulder, waiting and hoping, but nothing in her stirred.
It was then that I knew for certain what I’d long suspected; a trinket’s magic wouldn’t work on Ember. She was immune to their curative powers.
With a sob, I hugged her to me, kissed the top of her head, then lay her back down again.
Brokenhearted, I stood up and brought the pin and broach over to Dex. Standing over him I pulled the arrow from his back and turned him over. He had no pulse, and his complexion was pale and gray.
Opening his palm, I wrapped his cold fingers around Clepsydra’s broach, again trying to activate it, but it was empty of power. The broach had held no more than one life to give, which made sense given the threat to Petra of Clepsydra’s considerable powers.
Throwing the broach across the parking lot, I then placed Finn's lieutenant’s pin into Dex’s palm and the second it touched his skin it activated on its own. I watched him for a moment and when he sucked in a breath, I let go a relieved sob. I stroked his hair and called his name but he was still unconscious. I looked to his wound which was very slowly starting to heal. I kissed him too and moved off to see to Finn.
He was lying on his side in the fetal position, his skin also pale and a pool of blood surrounding him. After removing his arrow, I dug through his pockets and came up with the key fob to the Escalade. I went to the SUV and drove it from its spot in the parking lot over to where he lay.
With considerable effort, I loaded Finn the Flayer into the cargo space of the Escalade, and then I went back to Ember and knelt down.
Gathering her in my arms, I rocked her for a bit, feeling her body grow cold. Slowly I got to my feet and carried her over to Finn’s car, placing her in the back seat and covering her with my jacket.
I bent forward to kiss her cheek one last time, then closed the door and headed over to Dex again.
Squatting down, I felt for a pulse and let out a breath of relief when the throb of his pulse, steady and strong, beat against my fingertips. His eyelids fluttered, then opened, and he stared up at me in confusion. “Owwww,” he moaned.
I stroked his temple, careful to avoid his swollen eye.
Only the mortal wound on Dex had healed. I lifted his hand and felt the pin. It was cold to the touch, and I knew that its powers were also limited. “Can you stand?” I asked him.
“No,” he grunted. “Not yet.”
“We have to go, Dex,” I said, looking anxiously toward the eastern horizon. The first whisps of dawn were starting to streak across the sky. Even on a Saturday I didn’t think the morgue would remain closed. Focusing back on Dex, I said, “Can you try to get up, honey? I don’t think I can get you into the car myself.”
“Ezzy, I can’t,” he gasped.
“Stay here,” I said, moving off to the car. There I placed the pin in Finn’s palm hoping and praying that it activated again but it remained cold as a stone.
“Dammit,” I swore, leaving the pin in his hand. I then got in the Escalade and drove it over to Dex. Keeping the engine running, I came around to stand over him and pulled him up by the arms to a sitting position. He winced and gasped in pain, but I had to continue to hurt him a little in order to get him into the car and away from here. Crouching down next to him I managed to get my shoulder underneath his arm. “Help me as much as you can,” I told him.
Dex grunted sharply several more times as I hauled him to his feet. I felt terrible about causing him even an ounce more pain, but I didn’t have a choice. The parking lot would be descended upon by both the bound and the unbound any minute, and we had to get out of there.
As I was easing him onto the lip of the tailgate, he hissed through his teeth and asked, “Can you fish that book out of my waistband? It’s digging into my ribs.”
I blinked but quickly felt along the back of his jeans and discovered the rare book that revealed all of Ember’s secrets. I threw the text into the front seat, cursing it under my breath.
“I was in the courtyard … about to mix the cement … when Clepsydra … showed up,” Dex wheezed, leaning heavily against me and gasping for air. “They walloped me pretty good … but they never found the book.”
I nodded, not even wanting to think about that cursed thing, and then managed to ease him gently down next to where I’d laid Finn.
“Oy! He’s dead, Ezzy,” Dex complained, when he realized he was staring into the sightless eyes of Petra’s lieutenant.
“I know,” I told him. “Hang tight, okay? I’ll do everything I can to get you home and healed soon.”
“Where’s Ember?” he asked, right before I closed the lift gate.
My voice was horse when I said, “She’s in the back seat.”
Dex nodded. “Good,” he said, his eyes fluttering closed again. “I was worried they’d hurt her.”
I did a little cleanup in the parking lot, crying quietly while snatching several trinkets littering the scene then got into the front seat of the Escalade and wiped away my tears. The whole process had only taken two to three minutes and I would’ve skipped it but it had to be done. There were some trinkets I couldn’t leave behind.
Starting the engine I bit my lip and shook my head, willing myself to stop the tears. I had to keep it together because I had a lot to do in the next hour or two.
Using the Escalade’s stored location navigation system, I plotted a course and made my way through the nearly empty streets as dawn broke.
Because traffic was light between 5 and 6 am, I arrived at my destination in under an hour. Parking at the curb, I got out and made my way to the front door. Raising my hand to knock, I thought better of it and went around to the back door, which was lined with windows for a better view of the lake.
Through them I could see Gideon sitting in a chair by the fire, wearing a robe and slippers, and looking so exhausted that I wondered how he was even awake.
I rapped on the glass of the back door ever so lightly and watched as he startled, bringing up a gun, ready to shoot at the first sign of trouble.
When he looked toward me, I waved to him, and he shook his head as if to clear away his surprise, then came forward and unlocked the door.
“Esmé, what’re you doing here?”
“I need the egg,” I said simply.
Gideon stared at me and didn’t say a word.
“Gideon,” I said firmly, holding out my hand. “Give it to me.”
“How did you know I had it?” he whispered, while his eyes darted around the yard, no doubt suspecting a trap.
“I didn’t know until about an hour ago,” I told him. “It was when I realized that Grigori wouldn’t have had it anywhere in his house with him being so close to finding the phoenix. He would’ve especially not had it nearby when his girlfriend’s terminally ill sister arrived for dinner.
“And wherever he hid it, Grigori would have to trust that no one would think to look there. Who better to give it to than Finn the Flayer’s twin; an unmentored Boy Scout who hated his brother and the mystic elite enough to never reveal to anyone that he was holding the egg for safekeeping.”
Gideon offered me the hint of a rueful smile. “That’s pretty close to how he put it,” he said before moving to a backpack, hanging on a hook by the fire.
I watched as he dug through the contents, retrieving a small gold box, maybe three inches square. He brought the box to me, handing it over right before he also pulled out the serpent and staff trinket that I’d lent him.
Placing that in my other hand,
he said, “I feel well enough to give that back to you. Thanks for saving my life, Esmé.”
Pocketing the trinket, I weighed the gold box in my left hand, feeling its heft. “This is solid gold?” I asked, only then noticing the embossed double-headed eagle on the lid of the box that was the seal of the House of Fabergé.
“It’s heavy enough to be. Grigori told me that the egg would be safe from lending its power randomly if it was kept in that box.”
I opened the lid, revealing a velvet pillow with a perfect, golden egg nestled in its center. I badly wanted to touch the egg, but I didn’t dare. Closing the lid, I wormed it into the secret pocket inside my jacket.
“What’re you going to do with it?” Gideon asked.
“I’m going to use it to save two lives.”
“Good, because Grigori told me that’s all it has left.”
I nodded and turned to leave.
“Hey, hold on a sec! Whose lives?”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Mine… and an ally’s.”
Gideon stiffened. “My brother?”
“In the car.”
The tension in his shoulders relaxed. He opened his mouth to ask a follow-up question, but I cut him off.
“Get some rest, Gideon. Stay here for a couple of days until I tell you it’s safe to return home. You and your family won’t be in any danger here.”
With that I left him and got back to the task at hand.
After giving the serpent and staff trinket to Dex, I drove all of us back to the warehouse. Parking the Escalade in the garage was no trouble because the double doors had been blown clean off, which was no doubt Clepsydra’s work when she’d come looking for me and Finn and found only Dex and Ember in the courtyard.
Fishing the rare book from the floor of the front seat, I tucked it into my own waistband, then moved to the rear passenger door and opened it. The sight of Ember’s still form was like another gut punch all over again, and I bit back the sob threatening to burst out of my throat. With the greatest of care, I lifted her out of the back seat and carried her inside. Cradling her in my arms, tears streaming down my cheeks, I walked through the warehouse all the way to the opposite end and over to a door that was always kept locked. Reaching out to the door handle, I pushed a bit of essence into it and it unlocked, turning in my hand.
SPELL TO UNBIND, A Page 33
