Page 114 of Shifters Unifying

She snorted. “The multimorph will never accept me or forgive me for the things I’ve done.”

“She will,” I argued. “Let us go, and I’ll show you. Trust me.”

She said nothing as a war between hope and despair seemed to rage inside her.

A whistle cut through the heavy silence in the underground room and echoed off the walls. “Aye, lass. She will. That multimorph is a special one.” Jasper sauntered in and came to a halt beside me and tugged on his red beard. “Now that looks a wee bit uncomfortable, friend Logan.”

The battered woman straightened, took a step back, and raised her hands as if to deflect a blow. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

Jasper flashed his most charming grin. “But I am, so we’ll work from that bit of truth. Shall I help ye release my friends? And what shall we call ye? What’s yer name, lass?”

“I don’t remember who I am anymore.” She blinked and bent over me. With a quick movement, she dragged her hand over my shackles, and all four popped open. Every muscle ached as I jumped to my feet and jogged the direction Oliver had been howling in the Iron Maiden.

“Get the others,” she murmured to the boy next to her. “We have to hurry.”

The boy darted across the room to Olivia and more chains rattled.

“Thanks, kid,” she said, rubbing her wrists as she climbed to her feet.

The keys rattled as I grabbed them and shoved the most used-looking one into the lock on the metal, coffin-like box. The hinges creaked as I opened the lid, and Oliver stared up at me, wide-eyed and bloodied from the stakes fastened to the inside of the lid. He took my hand when I offered it, and I yanked him out.

He landed on his feet but leaned into me while he tried to steady himself. “I’ve got to say,” he said, smiling weakly. “That was my first Iron Maiden experience.”

I clapped him on his shoulder and led him to the center of the room. “Let’s not repeat the torture box anytime soon, huh? And maybe let me tell Emma about what happened?”

He flashed a thumbs up. “Deal.”

Phil, John, and the others collected in the middle of the room beside us.

“You said something about the living dead mages. Are they patrolling?”

She shook her head. “No, they only come out when I summon them by delving shifting magic into the runes, and I didn’t haveto do that to catch you. You fell into the trap he set for you. I only had to drag you down here and tie you all up.”

Olivia glared at me. “Great! The stars have aligned. Now we have to get out of here.” She tugged at my elbow and turned toward the woman. “What’s the fastest way?”

The woman grasped the arm of her son, and she hurried us toward the mouth of a tunnel which angled up and out of the underground space. Daylight shone at the end of it. I really must have been out for hours.

With each step we took away from her prison, she trembled from head to toe, and she tripped on her own feet over and over.

After the fourth time I lifted her and set her upright, she pushed her son toward me. “Make sure he gets free of here.”

“I won’t leave you,” the boy whimpered.

“It’s okay, bud,” I said. “We’re not leaving your mom behind. We just have to hurry faster.” I scooped the kid up and thrust him to Jasper. Then I crouched down with my back toward her. “Get on.”

“What?”

“It’ll be faster than helping you up every few steps.”

At that, she hopped onto my back, and I winced over how little she weighed, like daypack of bird bones and feathers. Starving herself to death.

We sped across the front lawn, over the driveway, and between the piles of body parts. Jasper shielded the kid’s eyes from the grotesque reminders of who Acheron was.

How much shit had that boy probably seen? His mom, too. She would be a wealth of information about how Acheron did things.

Torbin could delve them, Emma could heal them, and maybe Dr. Wise could recommend some decent therapists. For both of them.

Jasper high-stepped across the metal cattle guard and landed on the other side with a flourish that had the kid grinning. Phil, Olivia, John, and Oliver followed, and I brought up the rear—first on in, last one out.