“Absolutely,” Emily replied with a grin.
She pushed Jacob to the side as Emmett took her place in keeping him still with a knife against his throat. She then used her blade to carve a Chinese symbol into the palm of her hand, whispering a spell in Mandarin.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice hoarse.
“Oh, you’ll love this part.” Emmett snickered.
“Crap,” Garrett muttered.
“Crap, what?” I asked, shooting him a glance over my shoulder.
“Death by a Thousand Cuts,” he said, his eyes bugging. “She’s casting Death by a Thousand Cuts.”
It didn’t take long for me to remember the curse. I’d read about it during International Magical Cultures classes. It was a horrid thing to put someone through. I moved to stop Emily, but Emmett threateningly cleared his throat, reminding me that he still had Jacob.
Emily finished the incantation and slapped the carved palm against her chest. A red pulse shot out of her, before vanishing into thin air. Silence settled for about a second, until Mrs. Smith’s muffled scream made my blood curdle.
One by one, deep cuts were showing on her legs, the blood seeping through the beige fabric of her pants. This was a literal disaster unfolding, as the ancient Chinese curse was extremely literal. The victim suffered a thousand cuts, bleeding out in the end. Time was running out for Mrs. Smith, and I felt excruciatingly helpless.
Thirty-Eight
Harley
Every thirty seconds brought with them a new cut, the curse working its way up to Mrs. Smith’s knees. She struggled against her restraints, her screams muffled by the gag. I had to do something. I couldn’t let this go on.
“What do you want?!” I shouted at the Ryders.
“Take off your Esprit and toss it to the side,” Emily commanded.
That wasn’t a good idea. I’d grown accustomed to using my powers with it. It had become a part of me, and without it, I didn’t have the same strength and precision.
“Do it now, or I’ll have the hubby join in on the fun!” Emily added, gritting her teeth.
The last thing I wanted was for the same to happen to Mr. Smith. He was already crying out against his gag, tearing up as he watched his wife suffer. I took my Esprit off and tossed it on the floor. My brain was working fast, looking for ways out of this mess.
“What do you want?” I asked again.
“Why, for you to suffer, of course!” Emily answered. “We’ve been at this for a long time, pumpkin. It’s good to see it all finally come to fruition!”
“A new age is coming, Harley Merlin,” Emmett hissed. “Katie will ascend as a Child of Chaos. She’ll lead us into the future if we help her, and here we are, doing just that!”
“Again with that bucket of crazy,” I snapped. “You’ve been impersonating social workers and coven representatives, recruiting young blood—and when that didn’t work as well as you’d hoped, you started kidnapping them and killing their parents. Some of the kids, like Marjorie Phillips, ran off before you could get your claws on them, huh?”
Emily and Emmett didn’t say anything, but they both looked annoyed. I figured it was my chance to rile them up some more. Wade was still in the house, looking for a smart entry angle. I just had to play my cards right and take these two monsters down. The Ryders were worse than any of the creatures held in the Bestiary. At least those were mindless creatures of pure, toxic Chaos. Most couldn’t control what they were. Emily and Emmett, on the other hand, were perfectly aware of what they were doing. To me, that was unforgivable.
“Let me guess. Your boss, Katherine Shipton, has had you do her dirty work for quite some time, right? You, Finch, and who knows what other suckers she got to,” I continued. “But, you see, you underestimated the San Diego Coven, and, most importantly, you underestimated me. We caught some of your kids. They’ll rat you all out sooner or later. The coven knows we’re here. They know you’re here, too,” I said, pointing at my earpiece.
Emily sneered. “I told you. Anyone sets foot in here, and you’re all blown to bits.”
“You won’t be able to hold them off forever. You know that, right? By the way, where’s Katherine? Why isn’t she here, huh?” I asked, then chuckled. “You’re cannon fodder, you dweebs. Whatever she wants to get out of this whole thing, she failed. And you’re the ones taking the fall for it.”
“And that is where you’re wrong. Katie has new recruits now. She’s spreading the word and setting the stage, Harley. We all have our part to play,” Emily retorted.
“Besides, we already have what we came for,” Emmett said, nodding at Jacob, then at the Smiths. “We’ve got this little tyke here, and your beloved foster parents—again, Katie’s idea, by the way. The downside is that we couldn’t get to Jakey ourselves, once he joined the Smiths.”
“Why not? You’re Shapeshifters. You could be anyone you want,” I fired back.
Emmett scoffed. “He’s a Sensate, you idiot! Besides, you kept popping up like a persistent zit by the time Katie gave us the green light to go after him.”
I glanced back at Mrs. Smith, the pain suddenly unbearable. It burned through me, almost melting my skin off. Her agonized expression sent chills down my spine as the cuts grew increasingly worse. We had to stop this. Now.
“Why not just compel him? Why all the elaborate theatrics?” Garrett asked, pretending to play along.
Emmett groaned. “It turns out Jakey here is immune to every mind control spell possible. It’s in his genes. Chaos designed him to be the perfect tool. We needed him to get emotionally attached to someone so he could lower his guard.”
“Then along came Harley Merlin, with her ethics and feels and all that garbage. And it worked,” Emily said, grinning.
“What does Katherine plan to do with him?” I asked, my blood boiling.
Emmett nudged Jacob. “Show her, Jakey. Show her why you’re so precious.”
Jacob sighed, then slowly put his hand out to the side, his eyes fixed on mine.
“Careful, though!” Emily warned him. “Don’t do anything stupid!”
Jacob began to tremble. The air moaned and rippled by his hand, before a bright blue gash tore through the very fabric of our reality. I was breathless.
“You’re a Portal Opener, too,” I gasped.
How the heck did he have so many rare abilities? What was so special about him?
I wasn’t going to get answers to those questions anytime soon. Saving him and Mrs. Smith was a priority, and I had to figure out a way to get to them before it was too late.
“This boy is truly precious!” Emily exclaimed, while Jacob closed the wormhole, his hands shaking. “The moment he started talking to magical rogues, we had a line on him. Took us a while to find him, though. The little scab sure knows how to hide!”
“And all these machinations so you could grab him and hurt me,” I concluded, then looked at Jacob, the obvious idea hitting me. “How well can you control your wormholes?” I asked him.
Jacob’s brow furrowed. “I’m still getting the hang of the destinations, but there are a few places I’ve been to, repeatedly.” Somewhere in the back of his head, I hoped the same idea was shaping up.
Though the Ryder twins weren’t going to make it that easy.
“You’re not going anywhere anymore unless we tell you to,” Emily retorted, narrowing her eyes at me. “Katie wants you to feel loss and guilt, helplessness and despair. We’re here to make sure that happens.”
“Katie underestimates me,” I spat, my fists balled at my sides. “Besides, she’s nineteen years too late to this party,” I added, pointing a thumb at myself. “Jake, remember that brief talk we had last Sunday, about control and determination?” I asked. Jacob nodded quickly. “I need you to apply what I said to everything you do. It’s universally true.”
“What is this? Pep talk crap hour?” Emily snorted.
Just then, Wade emerged from the wall between the bathroom and the den. The Ryders had warded the outer walls, but they hadn’t thought to do the same to the interior. Then again, they didn’t know exactly what Wade was capable of, where magic spells were concerned. In this case, I, too, was astonished.
Emily and Emmett didn’t see or hear him come in behind them. I nodded at Jacob. He was quick to understand what he had to do, and he discreetly wiggled his fingers and opened up another wormhole—this time behind the Ryders and Wade. They didn’t even know what was coming.
“The Death by a Thousand Cuts curse starts with a hex bag,” Garrett hissed behind me. “Take these bastards away, and we’ll handle things here. Mrs. Smith has a few minutes before the cuts get closer to deadly.”
“Please hurry!” I gasped, trying so hard not to tear up from the Smiths’ emotions, and Mrs. Smith’s increasingly desperate screams.
The Ryders seemed confused. “What? No one’s going anywhere—” Emmett said, but got cut off when Wade slipped an arm around his neck and jerked him backward.
I dashed forward and tackled Emily. We fell through the wormhole. I heard Jacob cry out. I landed on top of Emily, on a patch of grass. She punched me in the ribs and pushed me aside.
I quickly glanced around and recognized our new location. Waterfront Park.
Then a punch rammed into the back of my head, and everything went white.
Thirty-Nine
Tatyana
“Find the hex bags!” Garrett shouted, anxiously looking around the living room.
The curse was still cutting away at Mrs. Smith, moving past her knees now. Her pants were drenched in blood. Dylan, Santana, and I turned the entire room upside down, tossing pillows away from the sofas, checking every nook and cranny in search of two small leather pouches.
Garrett whispered a spell in Mrs. Smith’s ear, making her pass out. He gave Mr. Smith an apologetic smile as he untied him. “Sorry, sir, I had to do something to ease her pain until we break the curse,” he told him.