Page 57 of Stone Seduction
End of conversation. Seth held out his hand.
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“Asher is a distraction.”
I folded my arms, my powers bubbling away. “No Asher chats during training. Promise.” My tone was filled with the audio version of a sneer. “But I’m not taking it off.”
He stared and stared and scowled. I waited for a row to kick off, for me to lose my shit and melt his face off. But he accepted the terms.
“Your word is binding,” he said before stepping back.
Oh, so hecouldbe reasonable.
Billy joined him.
Luna took the reins, clearly annoyed by all this. “Firstly, let’s activate the absorb scenario.”
“The what?”
She pulled a small remote control from her pocket with three red lights on the black plastic.
“Absorb the monster’s power, Luke. Use it.”
I looked to Seth, who puffed on a joint with nothing to add.
Taking a step back, Luna pushed the first button from the top. A pane of glass rose from the floor, cutting me off from them. Green gargoyle magic rippled across the surface, an echoing shimmer igniting my body.
Crap. Crap. Crap. Protection or not, being sealed in this chrome hell wasn’t my idea of fun.
Isn’t it?
I guess banging on the glass wouldn’t do a thing to get me out of this. Anyway, this training might help me save my brother. I mean, I could be powerful enough to make it happen. If I started to believe it, maybe a solution would manifest.
Hello, positivity. Nice to have you onboard.
Vibrations hummed in the floor, tickling my feet before a line of white light formed in the center of the room, drawing a square.
Here we go.
The square lifted, bringing four thin beams of fluorescent light with it, sort of resembling an elevator.
A monster stood within those beams.
“We meet again, Luke Garland,” it whispered.
Ah, yes. The cloaked figure with barnacles smothering the billowing fabric, face hidden within the dark maw of its hood.
Not exactly the greatest reunion ever.
“They hurt me here,” it moaned, reaching out with a skeletal hand. “They lock me within these beams, using the magic of my creators against their very own child.”
I rolled my neck.
“I will not be a prisoner,” the monster hissed.
“But you already are,” I countered. “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.”
My powers offered themselves up, forming a line of options to play with—fire, water, invisibility, and steal. The latter craved the gooey magical insides of the monster’s essence, along with the energy of the three bodies behind the glass.
