Wicked Rebellion (Darkwater Reformatory Book 3) Page 9

  “Jace?” I said, and her lips tightened.

  Fire roared through my blood, and I feared my heart would leap out of my chest.

  She’d kill us this time.

  “Where are they?” she yelled.

  Titan, her henchman, entered the rookery in human form. His glare swept the room. “Where are they?” Claws popped from the tips of his fingers. Would he shift into his raptor form and devour us?

  My skin crawled with terror. We had to do this fast, before Bixby stopped us.

  With a nod to each other, Jacey and I sent magic toward the chain, breaking the final dragon free.

  “Stop.” She stomped toward me with Titan at her side; an evil duo we had no chance of defeating. “I won’t allow you to do this.” Her gaze drilled onto my tennas. “They’re malfunctioning. They must be. But I will take care of that.” Her hands lifted.

  Too late.

  Brodin leaped into the room, still in Eerie form, and snatched up my dragon.

  Bixby pivoted toward him, and even Duvoe seemed eager to get into the action, his arms lifting and fury filling his face.

  As Titan leaped onto Brodin, Brodin bailed out the window with my dragon in his paws.

  Titan’s cry echoed around us, followed by a solid thud. Even I shuddered at the sound. Had Brodin dislodged Titan during his shift to the other realm?

  Bixby ran to the window.

  Kylie stood near the opening, peering out. When she turned back to us, her face was paler than the moon on a cold winter’s night. She ran her finger across her throat. Wow. Titan was finished. I couldn’t mourn his loss, not when he’d been so eager to kill us, but what a way to go.

  Bixby whirled back to face us, her black dress fluttering like a bat’s wings. Red mist coated the air around her, a churning mass of rage. Her growl ripped through the room.

  Oh, shit. This was it. She was going to get revenge, not only for our involvement in Titan’s death, but also for spiriting away the dragons.

  Duvoe snarled, and boards slapped over the windows, leaving us trapped with them in darkness.

  Bixby grabbed my arm and hauled me toward the stairs.

  Crap. This was it. She’d kill me, and I wouldn’t be able to save my sister.

  The door opened, letting in enough light for me to see it wasn’t Bixby shoving me down the stairs.

  Duvoe’s fingers dug into my arm.

  Chapter Twelve

  I wrenched away from Duvoe.

  He snarled but didn’t try to grab me again. “Keep going. Stop at the first landing. We need to talk.”

  A glance up the stairwell showed Bixby rushing down the stairs behind us. My friends hovered in the doorway; their eyes wide.

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked.

  He said nothing and shoved me in the spine.

  Picking up speed, I pulled ahead of him, leaving him puffing on the stairs, trying to keep up. When I hit the first landing, I was tempted to keep going, to outrun him all the way to my uncle’s cottage. Or find a hiding spot somewhere on the vast grounds. But he’d find me no matter where I went, and I didn’t want to discover what sort of punishment he’d dole out to someone who disobeyed an order.

  “Inside,” he said, tipping his head toward the only door on this level. Inside, I found myself in a big open storage area filled with dust cloth-covered furniture, stacks of paintings leaning precariously against the walls, one solitary window at the end letting in muted light through the dusty panes, and, strangely enough, a gleaming black baby grand piano.

  “I don’t play,” I said, only half-joking. This dude scared me in ways Bixby never had. Maybe because he was silent all the time. His fuse had been sparked, but I always sensed the flame had some distance to travel before it hit the dynamite and exploded. Right now, I got the impression the fire was licking closer.

  “Sit,” he said, pointing to a cobwebby sofa covered with a floral sheet.

  I perched on the edge while he sat at the piano, his back to me. He lifted the lid and started to play, a lighthearted yet creepy melody that echoed through the room.

  While he played, Bixby crept into the room and sat on a big old rocker. She tipped back and forward and the creek-creek-creek of the wooden rockers on the ancient floorboards made my skin pepper with goosebumps.

  Duvoe kept playing until he finished his song, then lifted his hands and held them above the keys for a moment before turning to face me.

  Should I clap? Perhaps not.

  “Where did you take the dragons?” he asked in a low voice as tight as the strings of the piano behind him. One twist, and he’d snap.

  “Nowhere.”

  “A lie.”

  “Everywhere,” I said. I wasn’t being sarcastic. While I had my suspicions, I didn’t know where they were now. Brodin had taken them, not me.

  “Another lie.”

  “They’re around here somewhere.”

  His gaze remained locked on my face. “That is not a lie but not the full truth. Tell me.”

  My spine stiffened. “No.”

  With a flick of his hand, invisible hands latched onto my throat and tightened. I couldn’t suck in air. My lungs on fire, I struggled, but couldn’t break free of his bindings. My face had to be scarlet. Or blue.

  Frenzied stars danced around the periphery of my vision. This must be it. He’d magically choke me to death, and I’d flop on the sofa. My friends would come looking for me later and find my cold, still corpse where Duvoe left it.

  Brodin. I’m sorry.

  Duvoe released my neck, and I gasped, drawing air in through my raspy throat.

  “Don’t challenge me again,” he said.

  Bixby tipped her head back and released a high-pitched cackle.

  Witch. I hated her.

  I hated him even more, because he lulled me into thinking he was harmless, when he could be the true viper of Darkwater.

  My heart thundered in my ears as I stood and glared at him. “Do not do that to me again.”

  He huffed. “You have no say in anything here. I do as I please, as does my sister. If anyone has any say, it’s the fae king, whose will we perform. Not that of a lowly former apprentice Seeker.”

  As if insulting my Seeker abilities meant a damn thing? I was a teenager; few rose to their highest skill level before their fifties.

  “I’m leaving,” I said, stumbling toward the door. My feet wouldn’t cooperate. They kept scrambling together, threatening to send me to my knees. I feared if I fell, I’d never get up again.

  “Not so fast.” With his magic, Duvoe tugged me back to the couch, forcing me to sit. “Tell me how you did it.” His voice came out pleasant, as if we sat, drinking tea while discussing the weather.

  “How I did what?” Best to play dumb.

  He lifted his hand. “Do you need another lesson already?”

  “No,” I said weakly. Inside, fury roared through me like a freight train. I tugged in sketar magic and held it close. If he tried to hurt me again, I’d show him the strength of the power my stepfather had taught me.

  “Ah, so that’s how it is,” he said, relaxing back against the piano. He clasped his hands on his belly. “Sketar parlor tricks? Paltry stuff. Not even worth magicking your tennas to suppress it. For now.” He inhaled and slowly released the air. “I can assume you used your fluffy little sketar power to steal our dragons.”

  “More or less.”

  “I’d like them back, but I have a feeling you’ll refuse, even if I choked the very life from you.”

  “You’re right. I don’t have anything to lose any longer.”

  “That’s not exactly true.” He lifted one eyebrow. “Someone told me you have a sister you love very much; someone you’d like to keep safe.”

  I leaned forward, growling. “Leave her alone!”

  “Your whining and fussing is tiring.”

  Bixby cackled. “Tell her, brother.”

  He held up his finger as if to silence her. She rose and drifted away from t
he rocker, and settled in a chair beside him, her slimy gaze fixed on me.

  “Perhaps you would like to make a deal?” Duvoe asked.

  My gaze flicked between them, but their expressions gave nothing away. “I’ll never agree to a blood bond promise again.”

  “No need for anything that drastic,” he said. “Your word will be sufficient.”

  “What are you proposing?”

  “I want dragons. At least one.”

  “Find someone else to retrieve them for you.” I stood but he magically shoved me back onto the sofa again.

  “I could do so, of course. I’m sure Kylie could be persuaded. But I’m interested in the dragons you brought to me.”

  “We didn’t bring them to you, and you know that,” I said. I watched Bixby, who stared forward blankly. Bored, most likely, since she wasn’t controlling the conversation for the first time since…well, since I’d met her. “If we’d known you planned to kill them, we would’ve ended things in the tower and never brought them here.”

  “How droll,” he said with a sigh. “I’d like one of the dragons, and you can bring it to me.”

  I smirked. “Maybe you should enter the Reformatory Challenge and find your own dragon.”

  “Yours are bonded with…student wizards, which makes them, in turn, more valuable.”

  Huh. What did us being “students” have to do with anything?

  “You’ve never had a quad make it through the Challenge, have you?” I said. “In fact, I bet Kylie is the only who has brought you a dragon.” An assumption on my part, but his lips twitched, telling me I guessed correctly. “That’s why you want one of ours, because their bones will be more powerful.”

  “Bring me a dragon!”

  Leaning back against the dusty cushions, I smiled. “It appears this lowly former apprentice Seeker has some power after all.”

  “You are nothing,” Bixby said. She shot her brother a glance. “Tell her. Make her do this, or I will do it for you.”

  Great, they were vying for who’d get to burn me to a crisp.

  “You wanted to make a deal,” I said.

  He flicked his hand my way, and his eyebrows dove together. “Go on.”

  “I want to get off this island. All of us do, actually.”

  “Kylie belongs to me.”

  For the first time since we’d been inside the catacombs, I felt pity for her.

  “We want to leave but not as fugitives. We want clear passage and forgiveness of our crimes.”

  Bixby lifted her arms and huffed. “You’re out of your mind.”

  “No, I just strike a hard bargain. You have something you want? Well, so do I—we.”

  Duvoe leaned forward, eagerness on his face. “I believe—”

  I held up my hand. “I’m not finished yet.”

  He snarled but compressed his lips together.

  “We want clear passage, forgiveness for our crimes, and we want it delivered within four days.” The weight of the clock in my pocket dragged me to the center of the planet.

  “And in exchange, you will deliver the dragons?”

  There had to be a way around this. How could I phrase it so he’d think I’d give him the dragons but instead, I’d hide them from him forever?

  “Release us with my conditions, and I’ll tell you where to find the dragons.”

  Was that vague enough? If only I could think quicker on my feet.

  The slick smile Bixby release made me worry I made a promise I would not be able to keep.

  “I need your word on it,” Duvoe said.

  “In what way? I told you I won’t give blood.”

  “A simple, I promise with the stated conditions will suffice.”

  There had to be a trick here. He wouldn’t give in this easily, would he?

  “We want clear passage, forgiveness for our crimes,” I said, and I felt the weight of his magic fall on my shoulders. What was he doing to me? “And we want it delivered within four days. In exchange, I will tell you where to find dragons.”

  Like manacles had been clamped around my ankles, they suddenly grew heavy. There was a trick here. What wasn’t I seeing?

  I leaped off the sofa. “I’ll leave you to get this organized.”

  “Not so fast. I also have one condition,” Duvoe said, standing.

  “Yes,” Bixby hissed. “Do it, brother!”

  “No one is allowed to leave Darkwater Reformatory without completing the trials,” Duvoe said.

  “No more tests.” I was determined never to take a challenge again.

  “This isn’t my rule; the fae king has bespelled the island. No one can leave without completing the four path challenges. Make it through all of them, and our deal will be completed.”

  I was heartily sick of tests, but we did well with the ones we were given in the catacombs. Could we make it through these, as well? My uncle had suggested we’d be expected to complete them. This wasn’t a complete surprise.

  “I…”

  Bixby twitched but said nothing.

  “We, that is,” I said as fear bolted through me. There was something else going on here. Why couldn’t I figure it out?

  Duvoe scowled. “Decide now. My deal will be gone in three…two…”

  I growled but nodded. “We accept your offer.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  When I left Duvoe and Bixby, I found my friends downstairs in a front parlor and settled in an empty chair near the cold fireplace. A bold spider had crafted a web in the brick opening. I hoped it caught lots of flies and scurried away with the wrapped bundles before someone lit a fire.

  I explained the agreement I made, apologizing for including them in my decision.

  “Don’t count on me,” Kylie said. “I’m not doing any more trials.” Her hand flicked forward to take in all of us sitting across from her. “You guys can if you want, but I’m done.”

  “I imagine Bixby will be happy to send you to retrieve more dragons,” I said with a lift of my brows.

  “I’ll do what I must to protect my sister. You know that” Her eyes darkened. “From what I hear, you’ll do the same.”

  I leaned forward. “What have you heard?”

  “No time,” Rohnan said, standing. “I’m in. I want out, and the conditions you set work for me.”

  “Me, too,” Jacey said with a grin. “I hope you’ve figured a way out of our part of the bargain, because we’re not telling them where the dragons are.”

  Our. I made the deal. I was expected to deliver. But I loved that she saw us as a team.

  “In,” Brodin said with a grin. “We did an awesome job with the other tests, and we’ll breeze through these, too. Before we know it, we’ll be back on the shore, ready to leave and take on new…challenges.”

  Like killing his father. I wasn’t sure what to say about that other than I didn’t want him to battle the Master Seeker. Unless the dream I had of him dying during the confrontation came true. I knew what it felt like to be torn in two. I needed to save my sister, but I also wanted to save Brodin. I couldn’t bear to lose either of them.

  But fate had a way of stabbing you in the back when you weren’t looking.

  We’d split from Jacey and Rohnan, because we all had goals to fulfill. Would we meet up with them again?

  Kylie grumbled. “I don’t want to do this.”

  “Then don’t,” I said, holding my hand out toward Brodin, Rohnan, and Jacey. “A new quad without a creepy test to form the union?”

  The three of them nodded and locked their hands with mine.

  Around us, the world wavered, as if a seam in this world thinned and broke. As we were dragged from the parlor to…I didn’t know where, Kylie leaped forward and locked her hand around my wrist. Her wide-eyed, panicked gaze met mine as we were sucked from the room.

  I landed hard on a packed-dirt path. Heavy woods surrounded me, and night eclipsed the world.

  My friends were not with me.

  “Brodin?” I whispered; my vo
ice muted. I didn’t want to draw the attention of anything that might be lurking around me

  No reply.

  Turning slowly, I looked for my friends. We were supposed to do this together, right?

  Vines grew in perfusion along the edges of the trail, dangling like nooses from the trees, and strangling bushes. A few trailed whimsically across the path, but when one twitched and a blood-red flower bloomed and reached toward me as if to entice me, I turned and stumbled in the opposite direction. My skin crawled, and I swore I felt vines reaching out to scrape down my spine.

  “Jacey?” I said as softly as possible. What a dilemma. I wanted to be heard, but I also didn’t want to be heard. Not by the vines. Stupid on my part to think they’d hear anything, but nothing about Darkwater behaved as it should.

  A tap on my shoulder made my heart leap up into my throat. I yelped and stumbled forward, falling to my knees when I tripped.

  Something smooth glided around my ankle.

  Reaching down, I gulped at the thick band of vegetation looping around my leg.

  My belly surged as I scrambled to unwrap the vine before it took hold.

  I leaped to my feet and bolted, not caring where I ran to as long as I got away from the vines.

  “Brodin,” I shrieked. “Jacey. Rohnan!” And, okay, at this point, even her company would be welcome. “Kylie!”

  “I’m here.”

  Kylie’s voice called to me from the right, from inside the deep vegetation.

  No path, but I plunged in that direction with trees grasping at my clothing and pucker brushes scratching my arms.

  I ripped them away and stumbled toward where I thought I heard her voice.

  “Here,” she said, sounding calmer than me. But she’s been here before. Not on the path or in this test, assuming this was a test, but she’s been to the Reformatory. That had to give her an edge.

  Tripping over a solid object, I fell forward onto my knees, scraping my palms on something sharp. Around me, something sparkled like glass in the light of the moon filtering through the leaves above. I got to my feet and wiped my bleeding hands on my pants, wincing when the cuts bit back.