Now that I could see the whole picture, I wish I hadn’t opened my eyes.
Camber and Arden huddled together, their fingers laced, and their heads bowed until their hair tangled.
“Are they…?” Clay stepped into the water. “Did you check for a pulse?”
“No,” I rasped, my throat sore like I had been screaming. Maybe I had been.
Slow to leave my side, the daemon joined Clay in pulling the cage onto shore and unhooking it.
“There’s no door.” Clay scratched his head. “The bottom must be hinged.”
On trembling legs, I stood and joined them. Upon closer examination of the cage, I wanted to kill Taylor all over again. “He grew it around them.”
There were no hinges, no seams, no doors. No escape. The entire piece had been twisted from roots and vines that had slithered under and around the girls until it finished weaving the spoked dome over them.
No wonder they had been screaming. They were terrified. He had sealed them in and made me listen.
The spell he used on the fae girls he preyed on wouldn’t work on humans. Their souls were too faint, too ephemeral, to make consuming them worthwhile unless there was no other food source available.
But there were petrification spells, freeze spells, sleep spells, any number of vicious options that killed their target, if they remained in stasis for too long. Hard to believe, but those were the best-case scenarios.
Before I understood her intent, Colby flew between the bars to land on Camber’s shoulder.
Eyes shut, wings flexing, Colby’s power lit her tiny body.
“They’re alive.” She shot up over to me. “I don’t know what’s wrong, though.”
Sweet relief crashed through me. “We can work with that.”
“Want me to crack it open?” Clay tested the bars. “They seem flexible enough.”
“Yes.” I didn’t waste more time dressing, just retrieved my wand. “We need it off them.”
The daemon gripped two thick vines and strained with all his might. They bent, but they didn’t break.
Clay tried his luck, but he might as well have been wrestling with a ball of rubber bands.
“It must be part of the spell.” I touched my wand to a vine for a reading. “It’s definitely part of the spell.”
“Rue.” Clay rushed to my side. “Don’t move.”
Heart kicking up, I froze in place as he cupped my shoulder. Jerking my head toward his hand, I watched as Colby’s legs buckled. The stubborn girl hadn’t warned me she was fading, but Clay had been keeping an eye on her. She slid off me into his waiting palm with a sigh and didn’t so much as twitch afterward.
“Colby.”I grasped his hand, yanking it to me, certain my worst fears had come true. “Are you…?”
I knew I shouldn’t let her help. I knew it. But I did it anyway. I even liked it.
No, no, no.
“She’s asleep.” He smiled softly down at her. “Her battery is empty.”
For several long seconds, I watched to be sure she was breathing easy. “I think you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right.” He cradled her gently. “Look, I’ve known a lot of familiars in my time. A hundred or more. I’ve seen burnout before. Many times. This might be my first loinnir, but I’m telling you that’s what this is.” He scanned the pond. “She threw around a lot of magic. Probably discharged an accumulation since she’s never functioned in her familiar capacity.”
The cage waited beyond, but this was Colby. “You’re sure…?”
“I’m sure.” He held her close in a gesture of protection. “I’ve got her. You work on the girls.”