Page 44 of Wicked Warlock
Beckett shook his head then faced me. “Last chance. Run.”
I shot forward, tripping over the debris from the door. I stumbled, catching myself, and bolted for the door. My heart hammered so hard it shot pain across my chest and down my arms. But I wasn’t going to stop now. I pumped my arms, running down the hallway toward the exit sign. I pressed both hands to the metal bar across the door and shoved it wide open and froze. Red light, dank cement hallway, and no place left to run. I glanced over my shoulder to see Beckett marching out of the room and following me down the hall.
“It’s not nice to play with your food,” the bigger guy called.
Beckett opened a portal and stepped through. I turned and tried to run. My arms and legs felt sluggish. Air, I needed air. My breath wouldn’t fill my lungs. He opened the portal right in front of me, and I dropped to my knees, staring at that serrated blade, waiting for him to shove it down my throat like in my nightmares.
I slumped forward. Pain exploded in my chest like an elephant was sitting on it. Vomit, I was going to vomit all over myself. My throat closed, and I couldn’t expand my lungs, not even for a moment’s reprieve.
The crystal-eyed elf bent over me and pressed his fingers to my neck. “I think you gave him a coronary.”
Beckett knelt down next to me. “Too easy for you.”
I gasped, reaching for him, but I couldn’t lift my arms. Couldn’t breathe… Blackness swarmed in my vision. I opened my mouth and closed it.
“Death by terror. Cool.” The accomplice rose to his feet and stared down at me.
“Feel what I felt as a child. Choke on it.”
Blackness turned everything hazy, and my body went limp and cold. His face would be the last thing I saw in this world, and I hated him for it.
Chapter 21
Penndolyn
“Go and see Professor Margarite Charles, he said. Now here I am, traipsing through the woods.” This was not what I had in mind when Aidenuli sent me to find the professor. I wasn’t even sure why he sent me here when my path, my decision, was final.
Professor Margarite Charles lived deep in the woods off the Warlock campus, well beyond the school buildings and out in the middle of a dense forest. There were no roads leading out to her home, not even a walking path. I was following the directions one of the other professors gave to me to find her. The advice about hiking boots also went a good long way. The air was so crisp, so cold, that I shivered in my too-thin coat. I held out my hand, covering myself in green smoke, manifesting exactly what I needed. My power was so strong now, nearly too strong for my own body to contain. Dressing myself in jeans, a black turtleneck sweater, and a black wool peacoat was simpler than walking. One more bit of magic, and I put on a snow hat. My head instantly grew warmer.
The forest hadn’t grown any thinner yet, somehow, I felt I was going in the right direction. To my right, a waterfall fell from the top of a thirty-foot cliff. Fresh Water. Very nice. I paused, looking up at the waterfall and then I saw it—a cottage tucked into the woods that blended in perfectly. The dark wooden exterior was the same color as the tree trunks. Thick layers of moss covered the roof and ran over the sides of the small building. There was only one window on each side and a tiny covered front porch. A plume of smoke drifted up from the chimney and flickering candlelight filled the windows. This was it. I wasn’t sure why Aidenuli sent me here, but for some reason, hope bloomed in my chest, even though I knew there was no other answer to my problem.
I climbed up the side of the cliff, steadily making my way toward Professor Charles’ home. The rocks were slick from the mist from the waterfalls and the flurries that had continued all morning. When I finally reached the top, my pristine wool coat had smudges of mud across it and the soles of my boots were caked in it. From up here, there was a clear view of the forest in all directions. It was miles of empty land filled only by the evergreens and low-hanging clouds that looked more like fog in between the trees.
It was peaceful here, secluded, the kind of life I might’ve wanted for myself one day, had my life been allowed to continue. I sucked in a deep breath and trudged up the two steps leading to her front door. Before I could raise my hand to knock, the door flew open and Professor Charles stood there with her arm raised and a glowing ball of bluish-gray energy in her hand, ready to fire. I threw up a hand reflexively and the wall of my power rose between us.
“Penndolyn Fairmont?” She extinguished the ball and dropped her hand. “I’m so sorry.”
I let my power slowly seep from between us. “Were you expecting trouble?”
Her brows furrowed and the wrinkles around her emerald eyes deepened. Though she was on in years, showing in her short gray hair, she had a youthful air about her that I couldn’t put my finger on.
She motioned to the woods behind me. “This far out? The only kind of visit one could expect is a troubling one. Please, come in.”
She stepped back from the door, opening it widely and inviting me into the one-room cottage. A bed with thick blankets sat to my right. In the center of the room was a single round table with only one chair stationed at it. The table was stacked high with books, some in various stages of being read; others were stacked in precarious piles. Across from the front door was a kitchen area with one countertop and very few cabinets. A fireplace in the corner was stoked high with burning wood that heated the small area so much that I felt the need to remove my coat.
She pulled out the lone chair for me. “Make yourself comfortable. May I offer you a cup of tea?”
“No, thank you.” I slid off my coat and draped it across the back of the chair before I took a seat. “I’ve been sent here because—”
“I know why you’re here.” She pulled a single cup from the cupboard and placed it on the counter next to her. “I’ve been waiting for you for a very long time.”
Was it possible that Aidenuli was right, and this was the woman I needed to help me, help us?
I sat forward in my chair. “So you know how we both can live?”
She walked over to the fire and used a hook to pull the kettle from over the fire. Steam rose from the spout up toward her. The only sound between the two of us was the popping of the burning embers. She paused for a moment and sighed. “Yes.”
“How do you know?” A thread of excitement ran through my body. I didn’t know how badly I wanted to live until just this moment. Maybe I didn’t have to die, maybe everything could be set right, and maybe she had the answers.
