Page 84 of Hexbound

Something hooked at her, like a magical hand grasping the collar of her dress, and she slammed back into real time and space, directly into the back of one of the constructs.

A spark of green light appeared above the crate and a shimmering dome of vivid green formed, trapping her on the inside and the flesh constructs on the outside. The one she'd crashed into turned and looked at her but it couldn't push through the shimmering ward. Thank goodness for small mercies.

So far the ward wasn't doing anything. Just keeping her inside. Testing the ward again earned her nothing more than an abrupt slam back into her body. Damn it.

What the hell was Lady E doing? She'd promised to deal with the wards!

Sorcery crackled. Red light shimmered into a dome around her and then a ring of gold sparks began eating away at the bottom of the dome, slowly lifting—

"Come on!" Verity whispered, eyeing the flesh constructs that circled the dome. The second it was gone she was out of there.

"Who's there?" called a hollow, cadaverous voice.

Verity ducked low, her heart rabbiting in her chest. Horroway had returned, no doubt sensing the ignition of his ward.

The constructs moved aside for him, barely paying her any attention at all. Horroway paused in front of her, his mouth slightly slack and his eyebrows drawing together.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded. "You ain't who I were expectin'."

Anytime you'd care to intervene, Lady E....Verity steeled herself. "Would you believe I belong to Dock Security Authority?"

His gaze dropped to the Chalice tucked under her arm. "You stink of sorcery, my dear. One o' the Prime's little rats?" He chuckled, glancing down at the ward that was slowly lifting. "Certainly trapped like one. The second that lifts, they're comin' in."

Verity swallowed, glancing at the decaying constructs around her. The odor was definitely starting to penetrate now the ward was halfway to her shoulders. One of them moaned, pushing against the ward. She drew in power, waiting for the moment the magic keeping her trapped failed. "Well, they can come in. I'm not hanging around to wait for them."

With a crackle and a fizz, the ward evaporated.

Verity punched through time and space, taking the Chalice with her. Landing lightly on her toes, she caught Lady E's hand. "Come on! They won't take long to realize what happened!"

She turned, but there was a gasp behind her and a heavy weight pulled at her.

"Lady E?" Verity turned back to the woman.

The old woman really did look quite dreadful, clutching a hand to her chest, her face bearing the strain. "Go!" Lady E gasped. "Get the Chalice... to Bishop." With a low moan, she bent over, shaking as she caught at a crate to hold herself up.

"I'm not leaving you here!" The flesh constructs would be on them at any moment. "What's wrong?"

"I'm having a bloody angina attack," the woman shot back, clutching her wrist with an iron claw hold. "Leave me here. The Chalice is more important." Some emotion tore at her expression. "Give my love to Adrian. And Marie."

Verity didn't know what to do. This was all going wrong. "If you think I'm going to return to Adrian without you—"

"You'll do what you're bloody well told—" Lady E gasped again, sinking lower to the ground.

Bloody rotting hells! Verity knelt beside her. This was outside her realm of experience. She was a thief, not a Healer. And Horroway wouldn't take long to come looking for them. She stared at the Chalice. Even now, its magic churned green, wisps of hazy fog crawling over its bronze lip and creeping toward the warehouse. Horroway would track them for sure.

But how could she leave Lady E? What would Bishop do if she returned without his beloved mentor? And how could she leave a friend here to suffer the fate that terrified Verity to her very bones?

No.

"I'm not leaving you here," she told the woman, her resolve firming. "And you can curse me the entire time, but I think it best if you just focus on breathing."

"You bloody—"

"Breathe, Agatha," Verity insisted. "And shut up and let me concentrate!"

She'd never translocated someone else with her. Only objects.

You can do it. Come on. But her heart knew the risk. What if she made a mistake, and Lady E arrived... in two separate pieces?