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The group, dumbfounded, looked at each other, then at him. “Who…?”

“Evan,” Xen growled, staring only at Celie. “Where is he?”

Celie blinked, then frowned at his tone. “He was feeling a little unwell. Aaron took him to his room—”

Before she could finish her sentence, Xen turned and stormed back out of the front door. Even though he’d not touched the door, it automatically slammed shut after him, making the group jump again.

They sat dazed in shock for a moment, wondering what had happened yet again. Everyone seemed to be acting strange around them.

It was Rumi who unfroze first. She meekly stood up, walking past the front door, which was still vibrating from the impact of that slam, towards the door at the end of the hallway: Evan’s bedroom.

The rest watched her, confused and slightly alarmed by the look of dread forming in Rumi’s dark eyes. She’d always been a bit gloomy, but that face… She looked like she was approaching a portal to hell.

Rumi stopped in front of Evan’s bedroom door, staring at the handle like it would turn into a snake and leap at her at any moment. With a heavy swallow, she shakily reached for the handle and turned it.

An eerie creak echoed in the house as the door opened, followed by Rumi’s inaudible gasp.

For some reason, everyone’s tongue was frozen. No one dared ask her what she saw. Instead, they jumped up from their places, trepidation stirring inside them as they approached. When they peeked inside the room, color drained from all their faces.

No wonder Xen hadn’t even bothered to check.

The room was empty.

Windows locked from the inside. Not a thing was misplaced. No sign of the two men who'd walked in.

Only the body of a black cat lay in a small puddle of blood at the edge of the bed, neck twisted in a strange angle, golden eyes drained of life.

16. Creatures Of The Night

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The booming of gongs echoed at a distance, vibrating through the hard ground below Evan and up his tied legs. With every clang, a nerve pulled inside his skull. Eyes still shut, his head rolled to the side, groaning softly as an ache throbbed in his temples. A series of curses rose in his throat, but when an unfamiliar voice spoke up from not so far away, he shut his mouth and pretended to be unconscious.

“We still have a day left. Why would the Lord drag him here already? He’s a risk to keep around.”

Another annoyed voice snapped, “Don’t question the Lord’s actions. Are you tired of living?”

“I’m just saying. What if he starts stirring up trouble? Because his guard was down, he could be fooled once with a Numbing Spell, not twice. The Lord is not here. What if he wakes up? There will be no way to subdue him."

Evan didn’t need to guess who they were talking about.

The last thing he remembered was slumping against Aaron before everything went dark. So Aaron had used the Numbing Spell to freeze Evan’s body and knock him unconscious. That made sense. If it wasn’t Aaron, no one could’ve used such a pathetic spell successfully on Evan. He would have sensed it coming from a mile away.

“There’s Thousand Knots binding him. He won’t be able to use his powers,” the annoyed voice stated. “And without his powers to boast, he is just a pesky ant. And we’re the boot.”

Evan shifted slightly and felt the scraping of a rough binding around his wrists. He tried to summon his spiritual energy to his fingers, but it simply orbited his core, unable to surge forward.

Thousand Knots was a spell-woven rope used to suppress the spiritual powers in an individual. The spells woven into it were ancient and meant for powerful beings, so a mortal could barely break through it on his own.

Evan’s eyes rolled behind his closed lids. Then his brows furrowed.

Did he just call me an ant?

As if in response, the other voice scoffed. “Oh, please, even without his powers, he’s cunning enough to find a way out of everything.”

Admiration combined with bitterness poured from the fellow’s mouth. As if he couldn’t stand the sight of Evan but couldn’t ignore his capabilities either. What a conflicting feeling.

The annoyed voice replied, monotonous, “What a shame this admirable ant is going to become the conduit of destruction. Though I still believe he is being overestimated by everyone.”