Page 64 of Bite of Passage
“Petra has him…” Mira waved the wand in Cade’s direction.
Cade jiggled the metal restraints around his wrists.
“Oh, my.You probably can’t feel your wrists.”Gemma rushed to him.“Are they numb?”
“Here’s the key.I reversed the spell.”The witch tossed a ring with a solitary key their way.It landed at Cade’s feet.
“Before I undo these, you heard my promise, right?”Gemma asked and waited for Cade to agree.“We’re going to help Mira out of here.You’re not going to kill her or bite her.We’re also not leaving your brother.”
Cade cleared his throat and muttered, “I can talk again.”Louder, he replied, “I heard.Vampires don’t bite witches.If she fucks us as I fully expect she will, that’s on you.She’s as twisty as Petra.Don’t let the fact she looks twelve fool you.”
A tiptoe stretch was necessary to unlock him, but she paused.
“You’re going to help me get out of here?”Mira asked behind her.No smile.
“A deal’s a deal, kid.”Gemma glanced around.“Where do we find Skarde?”
Mira didn’t answer.
Cade said, “Petra is torturing him.She probably wants him to bite her.She heard the prophecy and dreams of being all powerful.Or she wants the crystal.Or both.”
“Why did she bring you here?”Gemma asked Cade.
“The crystal.I’m next on the agenda to interrogate if Skarde doesn’t cough it up.”His eyes dropped to her neck.“You really shouldn’t be here.”
She leaned in front of Cade to make eye contact.“I’m going to need you to forget whatever crap the Directorate ordered.Do you understand it’s important that you help me get Skarde?”
Cade’s jaw tightened.“Not that the stubborn bastard needs my help, but yes, I’ll get him for you.”
She stepped away, not yet ready to free him.“Are you like a pirate and I have to be careful to have the correct wording of our accord before I undo you?You’re not going to purposefully misinterpret me, whack me over the head, and drag me to the Directorate, are you?”
“Bloody hell, woman.Just get these off of me.”He shook the shackles.“If I were you, I’d be more worried about her.”He chinned toward the witch who was flexing and rotating her leg.“I’m not leaving Skarde here.If anyone’s going to kill him, it’ll be me for getting us into this mess.”
“Great.Let’s go save Skarde.Again.”
ChapterTwenty-Six
Gemma’s mindrefused to process the sight of Skarde hanging by his feet from the ceiling in the middle of a lecture hall of sorts.The high-ceilinged stone room had stadium style seating in a semi-circle around a raised dais above which Skarde hung.Dozens of spectators watched as his body, encased in a cocoon of shimmery, moving bugs, remained motionless.Spiders, centipedes, and other things with many moving parts shrouded him.
Gemma didn’t do things with too many legs.
Her stomach twisted.With a hand to her mouth, she struggled not to retch.To have those spindly legs moving over her body would be horrifying.
“Skarde,” she moaned.
Cade slapped a hand over her mouth and dragged her down behind the stone seating in the uppermost row.“Shh.”He crouched next to her and removed his hand.“Here’s how this is going to go.You will stay here with the witch.Keep quiet.I’m going to take out the humans and spectators.Then?—”
“There’s got to be thirty of them,” Gemma interrupted.
“I got this.I don’t see Petra in here, but Mira is going to keep her occupied or frozen or whatever she can do to keep her busy.”
A smile filled with payback spread across Mira’s lips.
“Once I deal with the humans, I’ll figure out how to get him down.Or maybe he can do it himself—he needs a reason to care.”
“The bugs?Isn’t that VanFliet’s thing?”
“Perhaps, but I don’t see him here.Could be Petra.”Between one eye blink and the next, he disappeared.
