And that had gone over about as well as Shadow’s next words. “Basically. I destroyed the vast majority of them. Yeah.”
Aeron cursed, then started for him, but Vawn caught him and held him back.
“Define majority,” Caleb said in a voice that let it be known Caleb was only one wrong syllable from unleashing Aeron all over Shadow.
“I was given counter instructions by someone I trusted.”
“Who?”
Shadow shook his head. “I took a vow to never disclose that. But I believe what they told me.”
Caleb let out a feral growl. “You’re an idiot.”
“Of course I am. I followed you into battle, didn’t I, Commander? And what did it get me?”
A tic started in Caleb’s jaw. “As I recall, you came out of it a lot better off than I did.”
Shadow took a step forward and lowered his voice to that demonic, evil tone. “You really want to compare those scars, Malphas?”
Nick stepped between them. “All right. Ding! Ding! Fighters to your corners!” He gently nudged more room between them, then turned toward Shadow. “If you think the swords are where you left them, check and see. It’s an easy fix. Let’s make everybody happy. How ’bout that?” He met Caleb’s gaze. “Would that satisfy you?”
Stepping around Nick, Caleb slugged Shadow.
Shadow took the blow without flinching. All he did was wipe the blood away with the back of his hand while he glared angrily at Caleb. “Calm down. I took them into the Nithing. Nothing can get to them there.”
“Something did! I was just attacked by a group of them, including Takara!”
Shadow went pale. “Impossible.”
“If one more person says that word to me today I swear I’ll gut them!” Caleb growled those words out between clenched teeth. “I know my brother’s sword.”
Technically, it was his nephew’s. But since no one was supposed to know Xev was Jared’s real father, Nick didn’t bother to correct Caleb. Obviously, he didn’t trust Shadow with their well-kept secret.
Shadow stepped back. “No one, and I mean no one, knows that I have those swords.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded. “Not even Jared was told.”
“How did you end up with them?” Nick asked.
Shadow let out a bitter, scoffing laugh as he raked him with a look that said he equated Nick to a talking gnat. “Who are you and why are you bothering us?”
Nick curled his lip as he let his own offense show. “Not the goo on the bottom of your shoe. That’s for sure.”
Caleb rolled his eyes. “He’s the Malachai.”
“Him?” He burst out laughing, until he realized Caleb was serious. “Really?”
“Yeah. Don’t underestimate him.”
The pained noise Shadow made said he was doubting, big time. But then, Nick was used to that.
Clearing his throat, he returned to Caleb’s question. “I hid them deep and have never breathed a word about their location. I knew better.”
“What about Lombrey?”
“Not even he could have found them. Believe me.”
“Yeah, well. Somebody did, Shadow. I didn’t stab myself.” He gestured to Vawn and Aeron. “And you’re lucky I’m not feeding you to them. Especially given how ticked off they are right now.”
“You’re sure it wasn’t a Sarim medallion sword you faced?”
“I know the difference. Like Nick said, go and check if you doubt me.”
“Fine! Let’s go! This I can prove.” He held his fingers up and snapped them the way someone would irately summon a waiter. An action that would most likely end with water being “accidentally” dumped on their head.
The moment Shadow did that, a whirlwind whipped through Caleb’s elegant home.
Nick instinctively reached for Kody.
Simi grinned. “Can the Simi eats the Fringe-Hunters if they comes near us, Akri-Shadow?”
“Only if they attack you, Sim. And if they do, please, have at it.”
When the winds cleared and Nick could see again, they were in a strange surreal place. Neither light nor dark, it was a shadowy realm that reminded him of Azmodea where the hellchaser, Thorn, made his home, except everything here was an eerie gray. There was no color whatsoever. “Where are we?”
“The Nithing. It’s the shadowland between realms. Like perpetual dusk.”
“It’s creepy.”
Shadow didn’t say anything in response to that as he led them to a peculiar looking forest of gray twisted trees. Trees that had almost human-like features.
“You hid the swords in the forest of Woe?” Caleb gaped.
“Last place anyone would look.”
“Yeah, you’re right about that.”
Nick wasn’t sure what that or Caleb’s irritable tone meant. “Why?”
Kody snorted. “It drains their power and that of any and everything that comes here. Actually, it’s a great place since that would keep them about as hidden as being destroyed.”
Shadow touched his nose in approval as he nodded. “Exactly. Out of the hands of all evil beasts.”
“Except for you?”
He glared at Caleb. “You went there, Mal? Really?” Without another word, he headed for a tree.
Curious, Nick watched as Shadow drew a sigil over the bark and spoke an incantation. The tree bark split apart and opened. Holding his breath, he waited to see these magical swords they were all so hot and bothered about.
But the moment it showed the inside of the trunk, they realized Caleb was right. It was empty inside. There wasn’t a single sword to be found.
Shadow and Caleb cursed in unison.
“Told you!”
Shadow shook his head in denial and cursed. “I don’t believe this. You see where I kept them! No one else knew about this. No one else could get here to claim them, at all!”
Those words went through Nick as an awful bad feeling made his flesh crawl. “Here’s a weird question.” They turned to stare at him. “This would count as me learning their location, right? I mean, I don’t really know, but I do. And if I’ve seen what I’ve seen and someone else saw what I just saw and then asked someone else who might know, then they could use my memory to find them, couldn’t they?”
“What did he say?” Shadow scowled at him.
“Nick logic.” Kody sighed before she explained it more clearly. “I think he’s saying that Ambrose might have stolen them in the future.”
“Close. I’m thinking Cyprian did.” Nick gestured at the tree. “I just saw the location. Right? So Ambrose would know the location as a memory. Which means Cyprian would have learned it when he got my memories after he killed me. He could have taken that to Grim or someone else and they might have figured it out if they mind-melded with him. At least that’s a possibility. So in the future, he could steal the swords and then come back here with them and attack Caleb. Or come back in time and then steal them, then attack Caleb. Either way, he Bogarted the swords from my memories. Possible, right?”
Shadow cursed again—apparently he had trouble with that. “Well … we just screwed up, didn’t we? Why didn’t someone tell me we had a time-traveling Malachai we had to guard against? That’s new. What, boy? You get frisky in the future with a zeitjäger?”
“Uh, no. You seen what they look like? I don’t ever want to get so drunk that I tap that. I would sooner die with my wizard powers intact, thank you very much. I will never touch a nip of alcohol or anything else. Ever!”
“Excuse me?” Nashira loudly cleared her throat. “They are quite nice, thank you very much! Much better looking than a Malachai!”
Caleb cleared his throat to keep them on topic. “And we still don’t know for a fact that it was Cyprian who got his hands on the swords, folks,” he reminded them. “Focus, escapees from ADD Academy.”
Shadow jerked his chin at Nick. “His theory’s the most sound. Bad as I hate to admit it. It explains how they could have found them.”
“Which means those swords could now be in the hands of Noir and Azura. And if they are …”