Page 19 of Adepts and Alchemists

Poppy chewed her lip. “I don’t know. It’s never happened to me before. I think... it might be my connection to the coven.”

“Your connection to the coven? I didn’t know you were in the coven.”

She nodded. “Wanda insisted I join, for added protection. And since then, it seems like I’ve almost channeled some of the witchs’ power. I mean—I’m definitely more powerful than I used to be.”

“So, you’re a witch too?” I asked.

She shook her head. “More like an honorary witch. But it comes with unexpected side effects.”

So not only magic, but unstable magic. My friends were just full of surprises today.

The dragon let out another roar, this time sounding desperate. I wanted to pity it. No one deserved to die scared, but we didn’t have a lot of choices. I was pretty sure this thing hadbeen sent to kill us. And I also had a hunch that if we didn’t deal with it, it would continue to come after us. It might even kill innocent people in its rampage. And that was when I realized maybe I could be useful to those who were still inside. Or, I could at least check to see if all of the humans had made it out okay.

“I’m going to go make sure everyone who isn’t a monster made it out okay,” I told Poppy.

“RJ,” she started.

“I’ll be okay,” I answered. “But you both stay here.”

Then I jogged back to the situation in the store. My attention immediately settled on Indigo, and through the window, I could see her lengthening her stride, catching hold of the creature’s tail before it could disappear from the building. The effect was almost instantaneous. The lizard creature began to wail, a sound that scraped at my ears. After a moment, it began to shake violently, making still more of the roof tiles fall inward. Angelo had nearly retrieved all of the coughing witches, as far as I could tell.

The human clerk who’d been at the front was now asleep in Angelo’s arms, in the process of being spelled by a witch that I didn’t know well. I didn’t spare them much attention, though. Mainly because I wanted to make sure Indigo was okay. As I watched, the creature went limp and, a few moments later, Indigo sagged to the ground, clearly exhausted. I immediately started after her, mainly because I knew no one else would.

She didn’t stir until I came level with her and offered her a hand up. She considered it for a moment before accepting my hand, and I yanked her to her feet.

“You got Poppy and Finn out?” she asked.

I nodded. “Just like Wanda told me to.”

She smiled wanly. “I like a man who listens to directions.”

“I mean, when monsters are involved, you kind of have to, right.”

She laughed softly. “Hmm. You can be taught. Maybe you’ll survive us yet.”

Chapter Nine

Lydia

I woke inside a glass prison.

Which was a shock, since I’d been about ninety-nine percent sure I’d never blink my eyes open ever again. Andrea’s weight had looked insubstantial from a distance. She’d felt quite a bit heavier when she’d perched like a carrion crow on my chest, digging into the tender flesh of my underbelly with her serrated tongue. I’d felt her slippery tongue dart inside me, and she’d literally rearranged my guts, digging for something at my center.

I’d gone cold with dread when she finally found what she was looking for. With one terrific yank, she’d pulled me free, drawing me away from my body and into the ropy coils of her tongue. Just like my encounters with the white thieves, I was spirited away, but this time there was no Indigo or Bluebell to arrest my motion. I was whipped free of my flesh and plunged into smothering blackness.

Even without a body, the fear and nausea rose to choke me. I flailed, trying to find handholds to slow the tilt-a-whirl my spirit found itself in. There was nothing but moist, warm blackness hanging over everything like a shroud. Every so often my body would twist in another revolution, like I was moving at speed down the world’s longest slide.

Then, with a suddenness that startled me, I came to a halt. It felt like someone had slammed a steel bar into my middle, wedging it in deep enough to split me open once more.

I gagged and tasted blood in my throat. A strangled scream caught in my chest, battering around my ribs as the sensation redoubled, forcing me up the way I’d come. The muck was even less pleasant coming back up. I could feel all the stolen life Andrea had taken from others. There was the blonde single mother she’d ambushed behind a grocery store and left likegarbage near the back exit. A taxi driver she’d run off the road and drained in the privacy of the ravine. And more from...

Rodney. My ex.

I tried to squeeze my eyes shut, but couldn’t find them. I still felt like a body. It was the only shape I’d ever known, and my spirit had to figure out its composition fast. If I didn’t, I might as well just be human soup oozing all over Andrea’s insides. Though it seemed preferable to watching flashes of Rodney’s memories move past in slow motion.

She’d targeted him for a reason, had drained almost every ounce of his life for just the opportunity to learn about me. Murrain wanted the skinny on the gypsy who’d acted as an unintentional lifeline to his enemy. I plunged into the mire without slowing down, crying out when the unpleasant memory washed over me yet again.

That morning, my pillow smelled like lilacs and coconut shea butter. Both of which I hated. That was the first giveaway.