“Oh my God,” I whispered.
Darek Delacroix wasn’t powerless. Not at all.
My knees buckled. “Killian,” Darek explained as he guided me to the floor, “is helping me.”
“Don’t hurt her,” Crowe pleaded, slamming his hands against the barrier.
“Then don’t make me,” said Darek.
I couldn’t feel my feet. Not my arms. Or my hands. Not even the breath in my lungs. My mind felt fractured from the rest of me, separate from my body.
Hardy beat his fist against the shield. It held firm. No one except another locant kindled could break through it, I knew. I had put this one up with intention, and I was stronger than I’d believed. Maybe even as strong as Dad. Too bad I had discovered it at exactly the wrong time.
“I’ll liquefy her insides if you don’t back the hell up,” Darek said.
I retched, and blood splattered on the floor. Whatever Darek was doing, I couldn’t feel it, and I was suddenly grateful for the disconnect.
Crowe grabbed Hardy and the two of them backed away, holding up their hands. “Okay. Okay,” said Crowe. “Please stop hurting her.”
I reached for my magic, trying to pull the barrier down, but the more I tried to sense it inside me, the farther away it seemed, until I felt abandoned by it entirely. My pulse thumped wildly beneath Darek’s fingers. He squeezed harder, and ashy black skeins of magic filled the barrier bubble, magic only I could see and smell.
“What are you doing to her?” Crowe said.
“Taking what I need,” Darek replied. “It’s kinda my thing.” He crouched over me, bending low to kiss my cheek, his smug tone softening. “I didn’t want to hurt you, but they made me do it. I love you, Jemmie. You never thought you had much magic, but you are so wrong. It’s the reason I’m going to succeed.” He set his forehead on mine. “I wanted to tell you. So many times. And I’m going to give you one last chance.” His eyes glittered with emotion as he stroked my hair. “When this is finished, come to me. I’ll give you everything. I’ll never hurt you again—and I’ll make sure no one else touches you.” His gaze flicked to Crowe and back to me. “Just choose me. That’s all I ask.”
He stood up and reached out, tearing down my barrier as if it were a spiderweb. Crowe lunged for him, only to be blown off his feet by a stinging, blue-tinged wind. When Darek shifted, the light caught him and I saw the telltale sign of an impenetrable barrier hugging him close, like a second skin.
I’d never seen anything like it, even though it was my magic that had created it.
“I’m going to walk out of here,” Darek said. “And you’re going to let me.”
“Where’s my sister?” Crowe growled.
“You can have what’s left of her back when I’m done with her.” Darek stepped toward the door. “You Medicis. So tough. Think you run things in the kindled world. Your dad was the same.” He rolled his eyes. “I gotta say, he really set me on this path when he came after me.”
Crowe went very still. “You…”
“A life for a life,” Darek said casually. “He killed my father. And I killed him.”
We all stared at Darek, who was glowing with a swirl of blue and amber clouded only by an acrid stench of black magic.
His magic. Tollat magic. Power he’d been cloaking ever since we met by slowly siphoning my power and using it to hide—it was why no one at the festival could remember his name, why no one thought of him as a threat, why I had only detected my own magic and only hints of his. And he’d done it all with the magic he must have inherited from his father.
“You’re Henry Delacroix’s son, aren’t you?”
“Uncle Killian hid me away as best he could,” Darek said. “At first I was a good boy and did as he said. But the more I learned about who I was, the more I knew I was never meant to hide.”
“My father found you,” Crowe said. “He knew who you were.”
Darek shrugged. “He figured he’d take me out and that would be that. A preemptive strike—no justice, no fairness. So I gave him what he deserved.” He smiled. “He was pretty surprised when I carved my initials on his heart using his own magic.”
Crowe let out a wrenching sound and dove for Darek again, only to be slammed against the wall by the power of Darek’s locant barrier.
“It was a messy job, I admit. I mean, I was just borrowing his power, after all. It never lasts as long as I want it to.” He looked down at me. “It’s why I have to recharge, Jemmie. But I’m working on a more permanent solution. I won’t need to take your magic ever again.”
“I won’t let you do this,” Crowe said, grimacing and bleeding from a cut on his cheek. He was on his hands and knees, trying to push himself off the floor.
Darek’s smile was so bright, so beautiful. “Come at me, Crowe Medici. I want you to. Let’s see who comes out on top.”
He turned and walked for the doorway. Hardy stepped back, reluctantly allowing him through. There was no point fighting him anyway. He’d drained all the magic I had inside me, so for now, with a barrier like the one he’d conjured around himself, he was nearly invincible.
Hardy followed him out at a distance as Crowe scooped me off the floor and into his arms. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I was so stupid.”
He squeezed me. “Shut up. Focus on breathing.” His fingers scrabbled at my shirt, pulling it up at the hem until his fingertips touched my skin. Warmth spread from that point of contact. I leaned my head on his shoulder as the healing spell wound along my limbs. A sigh escaped me. This felt better than I wanted it to.
“Good?” he asked, and I nodded. “On your feet.” With his help, I managed to stand upright, feeling a little woozy but otherwise all right.
“He’s got Flynn,” I said, pulling my thoughts back to our current problems. “I’m sure of it. Killian was covered in inlusio magic when he was impersonating Flynn, then he tried to convince me.…” I frowned. “Actually there was something wrong with him. I’m not sure he’s helping Darek willingly. Killian had traces of Darek’s tollat magic all over him—maybe Darek had siphoned Killian’s omnias power and turned it against him, like he did to Michael.”
“You heard Darek—Killian’s the one who hid him away so no one would know the kid had the same power as his father.”
“I get that, but it doesn’t mean Killian wanted history to repeat itself.”
“Crowe!” shouted Hardy from outside.
Crowe and I rushed to the front door. Using the magic he’d been born with, Hardy sprinted after Darek’s car as it tore down the road. His fingers scrabbled at the trunk. “Gina!” he shouted.
A massive blue barrier exploded around the car, and Hardy collided with it at top speed. He crumpled to the ground as Darek’s car sped away. Crowe and I ran across the lawn to reach his injured best friend.
“I’m sorry, Jemmie,” Hardy muttered, climbing back to his feet. “I’m really sorry.”
My heartbeat was hollow as I took in the tortured look on his face. “What?”
“I heard thumping as he drove away,” he said, gesturing to his ears to indicate his uber-sensitive hearing. “He has your mom in the trunk.”
Crowe picked up a rock and hurled it down the street. It bounced off the shimmering blue barrier that spread so wide I couldn’t see around it.
“Oh God.” I covered my mouth with my hands. “He’s going to try to use her for the spell,” I said weakly.
Crowe’s brows lowered. “I thought Gina had no dominant magic.”
“She doesn’t, not really, but she definitely has traces of merata in her blood. She never gets sick.…”
“Remember when Owen had that accident while she was riding on the back?” Hardy asked Crowe. “Your dad had to heal Owen’s broken leg and cracked ribs, but Gina—”
“Had only a few scratches despite hitting the pavement at thirty miles an hour,” Crowe finished for him.
“Merata magic is rare. She’s the only person in this area who has even a little bit of it,” I said. Tears filled my eyes. “God, Crowe, we have to do something. He’s going to kill them all.”
“We will,” he said, squeezing my hand.