Page 84 of Magic Betrayed

I was getting my own dang phone.

Not that it would have changed my current dilemma. Even if I’d let Faris give me a second phone, my kidnappers would have taken it and I would still be stuck on this roof. But I was definitely coming around to the idea of being able to make calls or texts whenever I needed to. I could have warned Kes of danger the moment Shane told me about the bounty, instead of worrying about who might see the text and waiting until I got home. I could have called Faris for help after I was attacked, instead of wandering around Bricktown with a head injury.

And if I had a phone right now, I could send a silent message to the ridiculous Tanner twins, telling them to pack up their cameras and run for their lives.

But my stupid pride had gotten in the way, and the ensuing series of events had landed me here—trying to communicate in some other, much less subtle way.

If I could only get their attention…

But Tegan was busy setting up their equipment, and Trey, I discovered, was constitutionally incapable of not talking for more than a few seconds at a stretch. He was pacing back and forth in front of the house babbling into his phone, alternating between awed and excited and trying to sound just a little bit scared. He clearly was still under the impression that he was part of an attempt to distract the occupants of the house, and I had to admit that either this was just his normal personality or he was giving a genuinely inspiring performance.

There was nothing around me I could throw. No way to signal without making noise. Maybe I could use a bit of fae magic to blink an SOS, though Trey might misinterpret it as me needinghishelp. It could also just as easily be seen by the bounty hunters—wherever they were lurking as they set up their “plan”—but would they know what it meant? For that matter, wouldTrey?

As I paused there, flailing for ideas, I heard a slight scuffing sound from behind me, and it was almost too late by the time my brain registered that there should be nothing and no one else up here to make any sounds at all…

I rolled to the right, caught a glimpse of a dark form looming over me, and instinctively jerked away. But I was too close to the edge. My legs went over and I barely caught myself by my fingertips as my assailant moved in.

Just in time, I recalled that the porch roof was only a few feet below me and dropped, hitting hard and rolling to the side.

Trey, of course, did not react, because my fae magic was suppressing the sound of my fall. I realized my mistake a little too late, as my pursuer—who appeared to be the goblin of the group—leaped down after me. He landed nimbly on his feet, bared his fangs in my direction, and then it was officially past the time for stealth. I dropped the sound dampening.

“Trey, Tegan, get out now! This isn’t fake, it’s for real, and you’re in danger! Go!”

But I hadn’t fully accounted for the instincts of a born live-streamer, who instead of running—as one might rationally assume under the circumstances—simply tilted his phone camera up towards the sound and gawked.

“Are you getting this?” he screeched over his shoulder.

If he was, we were all in a heap of trouble.

But I didn’t have time to explain, because my pursuer was still staring straight at me. As if the darkness I’d pulled around me like a shroud wasn’t affecting him at all.

Could goblins see through it? I made a mental note to ask Shane—if I survived—and dropped the shadows, too. They were splitting my concentration, and I needed all my energy for not dying.

“You’re meat, half-breed,” the goblin snarled at me, so I hit him with a wallop of fae magic, and literally leaped off the edge of the roof. It was a hard landing, but I rolled and came up with nothing worse than a slightly tweaked ankle.

Trey was staring at me with open-mouthed awe as I hobbled towards him at an awkward run, grabbed his arm, and tugged.

“Getout,” I growled. “Go! I can’t protect you, and you couldliterallydie here.”

I was pretty sure I’d finally gotten through to him, because his eyes went wide—with terror, I hoped.

“Dude, really? Who are these guys?”

Scratch that. This was going to require more than just words. After a quick glance over my shoulder, I snatched Trey’s phone out of his hand. There was no time to make a call, and Ari would have summoned reinforcements by now anyway, so I reached for my elemental magic. I had to pull from deep below the surface, but I found just enough water to yank it towards me, wrap it around the phone, and freeze it solid, before handing the resulting ice cube back to Trey.

He let out a sound like a wounded seal.

“Listen. To. Me,” I hissed. “You are in the wrong place at the wrong time and theywill kill you. I don’t care about the plan. I don’t care about your streaming or your show. Get. Out.”

My speech was punctuated by the sound of a car engine and a sudden flare of headlights. Tegan, at least, had gotten the message. He threw the car into reverse, made a quick U-turn, and stopped directly beside us.

I opened the passenger door and shoved.

Trey tripped over his own feet, and half fell onto the floorboards, babbling wildly. Thankfully, his brother got a firm grip on his collar and helped him the rest of the way. I tucked his feet inside, shut the door, and they sped off, spraying me with dirt and rocks as the headlights receded quickly into the distance.

Score one for sanity.

Unfortunately, their precipitate exit meant the twins had left at least some of their probably heinously expensive camera equipment behind. I would have to try to get it back to them, but for now…

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