Unfortunately for him, Mickey doesn’t do the same. He jerks his body to the side to instinctively protect himself from the pieces of window now flyin’ his way. But all that does is nick his bark-like skin against the blade of my scythe, and with a poof, Mickey just up and turns himself to a cloud of dust.
Well, crap.
Alder and Flint land next to me with a thud, and I can feel the rage radiatin’ off both of them. I turn to take them in as they scan the room for the threat that’s no longer here aside from hacked off pieces of wood limbs still bleedin’ on the floor and a ruined dinin’ room.
“What was that?” I demand, gesturin’ to the window. “I was about to force some answers out of him before you two bull in china shop’ed the window.”
Both of their furious gazes snap to me, and I see a flicker of surprise on their faces as they take me in and register what I’ve said. It makes me wonder what I look like. I reach over and pluck a large piece of glass from my side and hold it up to see if I can catch my reflection. I look the same, but better. There’s a weird purple haze surroundin’ my body, and I see shadows of somethin’ at my back, but when I look over my shoulder, nothin’ is there. My back itches somethin’ fierce, though.
“Did he shift away?” Alder growls, his fiery butterscotch eyes reluctantly movin’ from me to search the room again.
I point to the pile of demon dust at the base of the wall in answer to his question. “Like I said, I was about to get some answers out of him before you two stormed in here and he poofed himself on my scythe.”
“We thought he was hurting you,” Flint defends, his skin somehow lookin’ a shade darker and harder.
This must be the impenetrable thing he was sayin’ he could do. I look over to Alder and see that he has a large black rose in his hand like the delicate bloom is somehow a weapon. Knowin’ him, it probably is.
“Didn’t you assess the situation from outside the window before you came barrelin’ through it?” I ask, and Flint rubs at the back of his neck while Alder tucks the stem of the flower behind his ear.
“We were in a hurry,” Alder states simply, and then his angry eyes land on me again. “Shit, you’re hurt,” he snaps, and in a blink, both he and Flint are next to me.
“My parents?” I ask, worry simmerin’ just under all the adrenaline coursin’ through me.
“Safe,” Alder reassures me as he pulls me closer, and I exhale a relieved breath.
One second, I’m standin’ in the wreckage of the dinin’ room, and the next, I’m standin’ in the center of a bathroom that’s covered in warm charcoal tiles.
Well, that was a neat trick. When do I get to learn how to do that?
19
Plink.
Plink.
Flint pulls another sliver of glass from my arm and drops it into the bowl of bloody shards he’s already plucked from my body.
Plink.
Alder is over by the concrete countertop, mixin’ up a couple of potions, using flowers and plants that bloom over his ear. I watch, completely transfixed, as he plucks them right out and adds them to a mortar and pestle. Sometimes he blows on them, and they crumble to a fine dust to be added to one bottle or another.
“Tell me again what he said about you and Delta?” Flint asks as he pulls a long dagger-like piece of glass from my hip.
I look down to see my tank top and cute leather skirt in tatters, and I take a moment of silence to mourn their loss. I’ll miss you, outfit. You were good to me.
“He said that the Ophidian is gonna get me one way or another. That Morax’s plans won’t be messed up by me or my bloodline, and that Delta and I will never be safe. He said there is nowhere we could hide that he couldn’t get to us,” I tell them for the second time.
They’ve been quiet and contemplative while I explain what happened, but I can feel the fury rollin’ off of both of them in waves.
Plink.
More glass comes out of my thigh as Flint works his way down, pluckin’ pieces of window and table from my body as he goes. A steady stream of dark red flows down the drain of the massive shower I’m standin’ in. I keep waitin’ for the pain to hit, but luckily, I only feel a small ache pulsin’ through me. I have no doubt that ache is about to get a lot more intense, because the dark film that was over my eyes while I was dealin’ with Mickey in the dinin’ room is recedin’, and with that, I know comes the pain.
“So, the Ophidian and this Morax demon are one and the same, and for whatever reason, he has a bone to pick with you and Delta,” Alder summarizes as he lifts a bottle of whatever it is that he’s makin’ to his eye and shakes it as he stares at the liquid inside. “You think he could have something to do with the Vestibule battle?” he asks Flint.
“He could.”
“Maybe Delta’s and my presence put a kink in somethin’ he was doin’,” I guess, and Flint nods in agreement.
A soft knock raps at the door, and Alder turns and answers it in three strides. He gives the bottle that’s in his hand to the imp that’s on the other side of the door.
“Deliver this to Medley’s parents at the safe house. Have them each drink a glass, and watch over them. Tell them we’ll call
