“Perhaps you should allow us leechers to speak for ourselves, my dear earth elemental.” Spencer, in all his haughty British glory, spoke up. “We’ve come at the request of the Council. Like it or not, we’re members of this world. Now that we are no longer considered criminals for simply having powers beyond the rest of your comprehension, we’ll happily come out of hiding to fight for our right to exist.”
This just went from bad to worse. Leechers had been banned from our world, hunted down and terminated. They’d been considered extinct until Spencer had shown up. Now they were invited to the party?
“Tell us where the coven is hiding.” Graves brought us back to the conversation.
“No.” I’d never betray Renee’s trust like that, even though she’d refused to join our side. That wasn’t reason enough to turn her over to the Council.
“Tell us, or suffer the same consequence as Stacey Layden.”
I glanced her way, caught her chanting something that sounded vaguely familiar, and decided to buy her time to finish whatever spell she was in the middle of casting. “How would that look if the Council arrested the prophecy? You decreed me the one standing in the way of supremacy. Maybe this is what I was destined to do, to stop you. Ever think of that?”
He paused, clearly contemplating my comment.
Stace hadn’t finished her incantation, so I kept going. “I’m the prophecy, the one destined to save our world. I’m taking a stand, Graves. I’m taking a stand against you and everything you’re doing to destroy this world.”
“Very well. Perhaps the two of you can be cellmates up at Carcerem. Take her, but leave Mr. Gunderson. I have a feeling he’ll break as soon as I bring in his mother.”
“No! You leave her out of this.” Bryan charged forward, bringing up his hands as he’d done at DB. If he used a forbidden call on the head of the Council and in front of everyone, he’d be deemed dark for sure.
I jumped in front of him and forced him to look into my eyes. Whatever Stace had planned involved him, I was sure of it. “You can’t protect her if you’re in prison. No, Bryan. You keep your focus on me. Right here.”
“But…” He abruptly stood up rigid and stared straight ahead, the expression gone from his face, no movement in his muscles. It was as if his mind had suddenly taken a vacay and left his body.
Oh shit. Oh holy mother of all shits. That was exactly what she’d done. Stace had sent Bryan back to the void. He couldn’t answer their questions if he couldn’t make a sound. It wasn’t what I would have done, but it was effective. Muting her elemental powers with the elemutus didn’t weaken her powers as a witch. Good to know.
“Why is he like that?” Graves asked.
“The void,” Alec answered before swinging his sharklike glare Stace’s way. “What did you do?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.” She held her head high, her chin out proudly.
“You sent him back to the void.”
“Back? You mean he’s been there before? How would you know something like that?” Her innocent act was very convincing.
“I—” He stopped before implicating himself. Admitting that he’d sent Bryan to the void wouldn’t earn him any brownie points with the Council. Then again, with the way Graves had gone blind to all things dark, maybe it didn’t matter anymore. “I’ve only heard rumors, from Samantha, mostly.”
The mention of my mother’s name sent my heart into painful palpitations. No one had dared speak her name since she’d come back from the dead just to kill me. Mom of the Fucking Year, everyone. Then again, Alec had been one of her boy toys. I was sure there’d been some level of pillow talk involved for him to know as much about me as he did. And for her to know the details of the plethora of battles I’d had with Alec.
“It seems to me he might need a little help finding his way out. If only there were some way to sense where he is.” Stace stole a glance my way and lifted her eyebrows. I nodded, covering the gesture by looking away before the Council caught on.
“Witch!” Graves practically spat as he pointed at her. “You cast a spell, didn’t you? How? How did you do it? Someone check her elemutus. Do it. Now!” His eyes nearly bugged out of his head as a vein in his temple throbbed. I’d never seen someone turn purple so fast.
With the snap of her fingers, the metal contraption around her neck shattered into splinters and floated away, hovering inches from her throat before dropping to the ground. “An elemutus only works on elementals, Virgil. If you had half a brain, you’d already know that.”
“Someone get her!” he screamed. Several Council members sprang forward.
Stace had them all frozen in an instant with nothing more than a flick of her wrist, including the head of the Council. Casually, she waltzed up to Virgil Graves. “This is where I bid you adieu. Virgil, good luck. Although, I don’t think you’ll need any luck running the Council into the darkness. From what I can see, you’re well on the way.”
She took several steps back and raised her hands. The cuffs snapped and fell to the ground. With a clap above her head, she created a sonic boom that sent several of us reeling back. When we recovered, she was gone.
That had to be the coolest exit I’d ever seen.
Not to be outdone, I grasped Bryan’s wrist with one hand and waved at Graves with my free hand. “I guess now is as good a time as any to tender my resignation. Find someone else to do your dirty work. I quit the
