Child of Fire

I’d seen the ghost knife take away people’s vitality and hostility, but I’d never seen a reaction like this. I’d meant to make Cabot more docile to get honest answers out of him. Instead, I’d cut away his bravery and uncapped his fear. I’d broken him.

The ghost knife was a spell I’d cast. My first. It was a part of me, and there was still a lot I didn’t understand about it.

“The book. Who has it?”

“I don’t know! I swear I swear I swear I swear-“

“Enough.” He shut up.

What was I going to do with this guy? He’d recover if I left him, but was I allowed to leave him? What if he was also carrying a predator, like Emmett Dubois? What about his iron gate?

I didn’t know what Annalise would do with him if she caught him. I didn’t know if carrying a spell, even one he didn’t cast himself, was reason enough to murder him. If it was, his whole family would die, too.

Could I do that? Could I tell Annalise about Cabot’s iron gate, and the iron gates on his kids, knowing it meant she might hunt them down and kill them? Hell, she might make me kill them, as a kind of initiation.

Or should I keep my mouth shut, let them walk away, and betray Annalise again?

I looked down at Cabot. He didn’t look dangerous, but I couldn’t leave that spell active. What if Annalise laid her scrap of wood on him? I reached down and slid the ghost knife through the iron gate.

The mark burst in a shower of black steam. Cabot bucked, kicking the desk. Papers fluttered to the floor.

I felt something go out of him as the spell came apart. It was like a third person in the room had walked out and I hadn’t noticed its presence until it was gone.

Cabot moaned and wept, laying his face against the floor. He looked miserable and pathetic, but I wasn’t done with him yet. I had to make sure he didn’t have any more spells on him.

I pocketed the gun and dragged him out from behind the desk. He didn’t resist. I wasn’t sure he could resist, even if he’d had the guts for it. All he did was cover his face with his hands and plead in a voice so small that I couldn’t make out anything he said.

There were guys I’d met in prison who would have gone stiff as a rod to see a man break down that way, but it made me feel queasy. Still, I had to be sure there were no more spells on him. Annalise would want to know.

I rolled him over. I slid the ghost knife through the top front of his pants, cutting the belt and zipper wide open. Then I grabbed his pant cuffs and pulled.

I really hoped no one would walk in on us now.

I studied him long enough to confirm that there were no other marks on him. I kicked his pants to him.

“Humiliating, isn’t it?” I said. “Some guys would be so furious at being treated like this that they’d get themselves a gun and come after me for revenge. Don’t be that stupid. Understand?” He nodded. “I want a couple things. First, tell me where the book is. And don’t lie. If you lie, I’ll know.”

“I swear,” he said in a pathetic voice. “Please, I swear I would never lie to you. I don’t know. Maybe Cynthia has it-“

“Second, keep away from Cynthia.”

Cabot shut up and nodded. His eyes were as big as saucers.

“Third, you aren’t protected anymore. I don’t know when the next kid is going to die, but I do know you’re going to start forgetting them soon. Maybe you’ll be happy to forget. But don’t forget this: I don’t want to see you again.

“Last, get out of town. Don’t go back to your apartment. Just get in your car and go to Whidbey. Tomorrow, go see a lawyer, but to night go be with your kids. You may still end up dead or in prison, but at least you’ll get to see them.”

That was it. I couldn’t look at him anymore. I couldn’t look at what I’d done to him. I backed away, quickly scanning the room. I didn’t want to leave anything behind. I didn’t want to come back here ever again.

I walked to the stairs and went down. They creaked and groaned. I could hear Cabot behind me, quietly weeping to himself. The ghost knife had destroyed him in a way I’d never seen before. I took it out and looked at it in the semidarkness of the stairs. I could feel the power in it, and I could feel that power was partly mine, but only partly. How would it feel to have the spells on my body destroyed?

More important, what would Annalise think of what I’d done? We were here to destroy predators and steal spell books. Spells were too powerful to circulate out in the world. The scorched black earth all over Hammer Bay was proof enough of that.

The only exception, as far as I could tell, was the Twenty Palace Society. From talking to Annalise, I knew they had strict rules about the use of their magic, and if they were a little too ruthless with it, it was only out of fear and a desire to protect us all.

Even so, I felt like a hypocrite. I’d done a lot of stupid things in my life. Who’s to say that it was okay for me to walk around with spells all over me, but Cabot couldn’t? And who says the Twenty Palace Society should be the ones who decide?

I walked across the wooden floor toward the door. I was going to tell Annalise about Cabot and his kids. If she decided they had to die, or if that was some sort of rule for the Twenty Palace Society, so be it. Maybe I would be the one to do the deed. It would serve me right.

I hoped we could let them go, though. Cabot didn’t have any spell book. I was sure of that now. I would just have to ask Cynthia next. And Charles the Third.

I stepped through the doorway into the dim daylight. Four men were standing on the curb. They pointed snub-nosed.38s at me.