Miss Enid moaned and dropped to her knees.
“Stop it,” Bryn said. “You’ve taken enough.”
“Enough? You think so? There’s never enough power. There’s always more to be had.”
Miss Enid slumped to the side and if Janelle didn’t quit soon, she’d die. Bryn produced fireballs in both of her hands. “Let her go.”
“So sentimental,” Janelle said. “It’s a weakness.” She pushed Miss Enid’s unconscious body through the trap door and down the stairs. Then she locked the door with the librarian’s key. “Don’t worry. She’ll recover just like you did.”
“Why are you doing this?” Bryn asked.
“My IQ is off the charts. Garret is a flyspeck compared to me. But everyone has all these rules which I’m expected to follow.”
“What about Adden?” Jaxon said.
“Now he’s trapped,” Janelle said. “He thinks I work for him, which is hilarious.” Janelle’s eyes changed from brown to steel gray and her hair went from dark to silver.
“They make hair dye for that,” Clint said.
Janelle flicked her hand at Clint and a blast of wind sent him flying off his feet and through the door out into the library.
“Anyone else have a comment?” Janelle asked.
“No,” Bryn said. Maybe she could talk her way out of this. “You’re more powerful than any of us. Adden has what you want. Why do you need us?”
“Well,” Janelle said. “I don’t need her.”
She flicked her hand at Ivy and sent her flying backward into the wall. There was a crunching sound, Ivy cried out in pain, and then she dropped to the floor, clutching her shoulder.
Fire roared in Bryn’s gut. Smoke crawled up the back of her throat. “You crazy bitch.” She blasted flames at her former friend. Janelle blocked the attack with a tornado made of sleet. It extinguished Bryn’s flames.
Shit. How was she supposed to compete with that?
“Play nice,” Janelle said. “And you’ll all walk, or at least limp, out of here.”
“Let Bryn and Ivy go,” Jaxon said. “You only need one of us to guarantee safe passage.
“Sorry,” Janelle said. “One of you is for me and the other is for Adden. He should be along any moment now.”
“I thought we were friends.” Bryn growled.
“Fine,” Janelle said. “Since you were nice to me, Ivy can leave.”
Maybe Janelle wasn’t completely unreasonable. “Thank you.” Bryn turned to Ivy, who looked conflicted. “Go.”
Ivy nodded. Clutching her shoulder, she ran out the door.
The floor shook, and a wave of power came up through their feet.
“Adden is using sonic waves.” Janelle chuckled. “Such a show-off.”
Best to reason with Janelle before Adden made his appearance. “My grandparents will give you whatever you want, if you let us go now,” Bryn said.
“Are you afraid to face Adden?” Janelle said. “Don’t worry about him.”
“Janelle,” Adden’s voice came through the trap door. “Are you there?”
“I’m here, love,” Janelle said. “Did you need something?”
“Let. Me. Out.”
“So crabby,” Janelle muttered. “On one condition. You have to share your toys.”
Bryn moved the slightest bit toward the doorway which led out into the library. Jaxon followed suit.
“I have a lovely sapphire ring for you,” Adden said.
“It’s not an artifact,” Bryn whispered. “He’s trying to trick you. You want the ruby ring.” If she could turn them against each other maybe they could make a break for it.
“I prefer rubies,” Janelle said. “If I open the door, I want the ruby ring.”
“Fine,” Adden said. “Just let me out of here.”
Janelle put the key in the lock. Adden pushed from below and it popped open.
“You had me worried for a minute,” he said, “leaving a librarian in my way. That’s quite rude.” He climbed out and then slammed the trap door. “Still, you’re my favorite conspirator.” He held out his hands. “Pick a ring.”
He wore a ring on almost every finger.
“Oh, they’re so sparkly,” Janelle said. “Which ones are artifacts?”
“Most of them produce daggers,” he said. “Take two if you want.”
She pulled the ruby ring off his left hand and a black pearl ring off his right.
He gasped like someone had stabbed him. The knuckles of both of his now ringless fingers were bleeding like someone had cut him with a scalpel.
“What’s wrong?” Janelle asked.
He stared at her as foam bubbled from his mouth. His eyes rolled back into his head and he started to twitch.
“Oh, one of the rings was poisoned? I didn’t see that coming.” She turned to Bryn. “Did you know about this?”
“No.” Bryn cringed as Adden dropped to the floor, where he gagged and coughed up bile and blood. “But some of the glass cases had poisonous darts. They had the same effect.”
“Well, we should leave,” Janelle said. “I know your cuff links and Bryn’s bracelet are safe to take. Too bad about the rings.” She grabbed Bryn’s bracelet and then started to remove the cuff links from Adden’s sleeves. “This is what happens when you get greedy,” she told Adden.
Wow. Janelle was crazy.
“Now I only need one of you,” Janelle flicked her hand at Bryn. A gust of wind slammed into Bryn’s chest, enveloped her, and moved her forward.
“No.” Jaxon blasted frozen flames at Janelle, but she shot sonic waves at him with her free hand, shattering his ice.
Janelle latched onto Bryn’s arm. “Now I’m going to show you how to really use your Quintessence.”
Bryn felt a strange pulling sensation on her arm. Janelle was going to feed off her? She had to stop this. Dizziness hit her. She could hear Jaxon yelling. Blocking everything out, she grabbed Janelle’s hand like she meant to break her grasp, instead, she focused her Quintessence into Janelle’s veins, reaching into her blood and imagined the blood thickening, moving sluggishly, clotting and no longer flowing.
“What are you doing?” Janelle tried to push Bryn away, but she held on tight.
“I’m ending this.” She reached further into Janelle’s veins, turning her blood into clotted sludge, slowing and then stopping the beat of her heart.
“Bryn.” Jaxon’s tone sounded like it came from far away. “Bryn, you have to hurry. There’s a bomb.”
She released Janelle’s arm and Jaxon shoved her toward the door. “Run.”
She stumble-stepped and then ran. Just as she made it out the door someone tackled her. She growled but went rolling over and over before she could stop. She sucked in a breath to blast her attacker and then realized who it was that had her pinned to the ground.
“Derek. What the—”
K-boom! The floor shook and books toppled off shelves.
Bryn shoved Derek aside, and half crawled, half ran toward the sound of the explosion. Smoke filled the air, obscuring her vision. No. No. No. This cannot be happening.
Clint stumbled toward her, carrying Ivy. Thank God.
“Jaxon?” Bryn tried to push through the Red guards in her way. Everyone was shouting at once. Where was Jaxon? He had to be okay. He had to be.
“Jaxon?” This had all been part of a plan. His plan. He must have known what he was doing. Right?
“Move.” She shoved at a guard.
He turned and blocked her path. “Believe me, you don’t want to see this.”
“No?” Flames ignited in her gut. Sparks shot from her nostrils. “Let me through,” she growled.
Someone grabbed her from behind. “Wait. Let the Medics through first,” Derek said.