Circle of Enemies

She turned toward me suddenly, scowling. “Run? Now?”

“So they’re not …” Dangerous? I almost said.

“Oh, they’ll kill you. They’ll hunt you like a pack, tear you apart, and drag the pieces into the Empty Spaces. And they’re not stupid. They know what I did to the one inside. That’s why they’re hesitating.”

The predators were trapped inside the buried circle, and if Wally was right, they were starving. They wouldn’t pass up a meal, but they were being careful. I needed to make them a little reckless.

I hopped away from Annalise, nearly falling over. I took a deep breath to relax my shoulders and kept my balance better as I went out in front of the house. I’d played decoy for Annalise before—that’s what a wooden man was for—but I’d never done it in full wounded-bird mode.

The predators at the edge of the gravel seemed to be moving back and forth. I was no expert on living spots of darkness, but they looked agitated. Their hunting instincts must have been screaming at them.

I hopped toward them again and almost lost my balance. The predators moved toward me, then stopped. I needed to draw them in, so Annalise could take out more than one with each ribbon. As long as they were careful and keeping their distance, we were never going to kill them all.

It occurred to me that I might have been thinking of this all wrong. What if Wally’s spell had simply created an opening between our world and the Empty Spaces? What if it wasn’t six predators we were facing but one?

One of the talons emerged from the darkness ahead of me. I could see them better now as my eyes adjusted —there were five curving shapes, blotting out the moonlit landscape behind them. And they were getting closer. I tried to spot the one I’d mangled with my ghost knife, but I couldn’t.

Five? The edge of the circle wasn’t that far. Talbot should have reached freedom by now—or been killed—and the predator should have had enough time to get back up the hill.

Goose bumps ran down my back. I turned to Annalise just in time to see a dark shape come over the top of the ruined cabin and fall on her. I didn’t even have time to shout a warning.

The hissing sound grew louder. I turned again and saw the other predators rushing at me. Instinctively, I reared back and, having only one good leg, fell sprawling onto the stones.

A predator clamped down on my wrecked ankle, and the pain made me scream with a high, shameful voice.

I sat up, reaching for that claw with my injured arm and wishing I’d switched my ghost knife to my left, and another predator clamped down on my other ankle.

Just as they were about to tear me apart like a wishbone, I swept my spell through the talon on my injured leg, severing it at the wrist. If the predator shrieked with that metal-grinding sound again, I couldn’t hear it, because I was too full of my own screaming—the pain wouldn’t quit, and my fear was tearing through me.

Before I could swipe at the claw on my left leg, another grabbed at my left arm. I swung the ghost knife at it, feeling something long and sharp slash through my right biceps as another talon barely missed me. I cut my arm free, but the pressure against my left leg was hurting like crazy and I couldn’t see a damn thing.

Something slammed down on the left side of my chest, pinning me to the ground. Another talon caught my right wrist. I could still throw my ghost knife with a flick of my fingers, but I had to concentrate to aim it, and damn, they were already pulling me apart. The talon on my chest slid up onto my face and neck, and it was too much all at once; I couldn’t concentrate. They were going to kill me, and my brain was screaming at me This is it this is it oh thank God …

Then green firelight flooded around me. The iron-gate spell beneath my right collarbone flared with pain as it protected me from Annalise’s spell. The predators released me immediately, and I slapped my spell against my chest. It was only made of laminated paper, and Annalise’s green fire could burn a human being down to the bones in seconds.

Then the fire was gone. There was no hissing and no grinding shriek. I blinked at the darkness around me, but my vision was full of spots. Were they all gone?

“How badly are you hurt?” Annalise asked. Her high, funny voice startled me, although it shouldn’t have.

“Boss, I …” I started to shake. I’d come close to death yet again. Damn, did people really get off on this?

I pushed myself to my knees. “I think I’ll live, boss, but I’m going to need some help.”

She grabbed my left arm and raised me up. Her grip hurt, but I hid the pain as best I could. My left ankle was going to be bruised, swollen, and stiff by morning.

Annalise led me to a tree at the edge of the tiny gravel lot. “Did you get them all?” I asked. My vision hadn’t quite cleared, and I wasn’t sure if I should still be on alert.

“Yep,” she said as she walked toward the house. “We’ll get you fixed up soon. Good job.”

Well. A compliment. I nearly fell over from the shock.

My ghost knife was still in my hand, and it appeared to be undamaged, as best as I could tell in the moonlight. I tried to consider what that meant, about her spell and mine. Was the ghost knife protected by my iron gate? Did her green fire affect everything but spells? Or was something else going on?

I kept turning it over in my head, anything to avoid thinking about that moment of relief I’d had when I thought I was going to die.

Annalise set a fire in the cabin, then I leaned on her while we returned down the long gravel drive. I hopped, she stayed close to me, and we went very slowly. It was exhausting, and it would have been so easy to fall flat on my face, but to hell with that.

Of course, Annalise could have carried me as easily as I’d carry a loaf of bread, but to hell with that, too.

On the way down, I showed her the pictures I’d taken of the drawings in Wally’s closet. The phone’s screen lit her face, but I couldn’t read her expression. I wanted to ask if this was news to her or if it was goofball conspiracy stuff, but I was afraid she’d give me an answer I didn’t want to hear.