Page 117 of The Unweaver

His gaze cut to her. “We do not have time for this—”

“It would appear you have an abundance of time. Why—”

A snarl cleaved the air. Close by and getting closer. A feral creature leapt through the air, claws and fangs and flashing amber eyes honed on her. A wolf. Cora screamed. Dropping to the floor, she braced for evisceration.

Bane fired and the rifle’s curving bullet found its target between the ribs. The wolf thumped sideways with a keelingcry. Blood dripped from its fur, then from its bruised flesh as it deformed back into a young woman, jerking and groaning. Death was a heartbeat away.

They didn’t wait for it. Bane helped Cora to her feet, and they sprinted down the hallway. By the screams and gunshots and crackling magic, the others had run into their own trouble. They slammed open every door they passed, chased by the sounds of battle.

Heart straining to escape her ribs and head whirling around, Cora could scarcely concentrate on finding the girl. Each sound and scent and shadow were a new threat. Only empty rooms and cupboards greeted them. Sloane had been right. The Oneiromancer was long—

A beast burst out of the room and lunged at them. Cora flung her knife, embedding it into the thick fur of the beast’s neck. It kept running. Bane aimed his rifle.

At the end of the hallway, a flash of white-blonde hair streaked around the corner. Cora hurled another knife at the beast and pursued the blonde, her hands ripe with death’s awful energy. Even with her longer strides, the girl was quicker. Her laughter goaded Cora as she careened around another corner.

“You little bitch—”

The girl stood at the hallway’s end, her hands folded primly over her sailor dress. Her Mary Janes gleamed in the moonlight spilling through a window. Tilting her head, she watched Cora run at her with silver eyes and a teasing smile. At her throat winked a bloodred ruby. The Oracle Ruby. Teddy’s prison.

Cora launched herself at the girl, who slid into the door at her back. Moments later, Cora plowed through after her.

“Cora, no!” Bane traversed behind her, reaching for her coat. “Don’t—”

A blunt object struck her temple. Stars exploded across her vision. Cora dropped to the floor, breath and wits knocked outof her. Hands like iron manacles clamped onto her arms and dragged her. Dimly, she saw a blur of darkness pursuing her. Darkness that was shot with a single bullet and crashed down beside her.

“Fuck’s sake,” she heard a deep voice gasp. “Fuckin’ Sephrinium bullet.”

The world dimmed.

* * *

Skull pounding, Cora blinked her eyes open. Through her cloudy vision she struggled to take everything in. Her back was propped against something solid, her arms bound to her torso with restraints that tightened when she tugged. Chains, made of metal that irritated her skin like a thousand mosquito bites. Groggily, she reached for her magic to rust the chains off, but the harder she channeled, the more drained she felt.

Sephrinium.

Her startled eyes swept Mother’s ballroom where she’d once been lashed into a clumsy waltz. A fitting place as any to be tortured in again. The blonde girl was gone. A half dozen people lined the far wall, slouched like puppets dangling from limp strings. Faces haggard, their eyes moved from side to side beneath closed lids.

“Grand,” a lilting voice rumbled at her back. “Just fuckin’ grand.”

She jerked her head and immediately regretted it at the burst of pain. When she shifted, he shifted along with her. They were chained together, back-to-back. “Bane?” Words dripped from her mouth like molasses. “Is that you?”

“Who else would it be?” His voice was faint and strained. “Your idiotic stunt got me shot. Again.”

Shot with another magic-absorbing bullet, he couldn’t traverse them away, and she couldn’t decay their restraints without draining herself. With the rest of the gang nowhere in sight, they were fucked.

Mother swept into the ballroom.

They were very fucked.

Mother stopped before Cora, eyes flashing amber in the chandelier light. She rested her hands on her mustard jumper-clad hips and smiled a pernicious smile. She took in her disobedient pet chained on the floor with unfettered delight. “Owens,” she said, eyes not leaving Cora. “Be a dear and fetch Theodora her medicine. You, my pet, have beenmostrude. But you shall incommode me no longer.”

The old crow flocked to her. Owens’s dour shadow sneered down his beak of a nose at Cora as he pried her mouth open and forced an effervescent potion down her throat. She choked on the taste of bitter almonds. The Sleepwalker’s Draught drowned her cries.

Frantically, Cora spit it into his face. Mother’s backhand stopped her. Cheek burning and ears ringing, her heavy eyelids began to sink. She tried to unweave the draught’s magic before a thick fog encroached her mind, but she was so very tired. Drooping forward, the chains dug into her gut.

Behind her, Bane thrashed. He gargled a shout, then grew slack.

“Stay awake…” came Bane’s fading voice through the fog. “Veil thinnest... between dreams and… death.”

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