“Austin.” I stood and put my hand to his shoulder again. “Send some people left to take out whoever they can and push the intruders into the middle. Our end goal is to get them to barrel toward the grass.”

He nodded and looked to his side, and the wolves and snow leopard led the others in keeping with my orders, which basically left Austin. Fine by me.

“Okay. Time to see if I can break this spell.” I jogged forward, the basajaun walking fast to keep pace, Austin behind us. A little ways in and Niamh skittered across a branch at about face height, nearly forcing a scream out of me. Mr. Tom sailed overhead, hidden by the darkness, directing the rest of the gargoyles to stay in line with me.

My heart rate increased as I wove through the trees, desperately trying to be quiet enough to sneak up on these people.

Something whistled. A paw hit my side, knocking me to the right. A spear shot through where I’d just been, smashing into a tree trunk.

Crap, they knew I was here.

I hit the deck, knees to dirt, catching sight of someone crouched twenty feet away. The person looked up, probably to tell her buddy where to aim the next spear.

My spell hit her center mass, exploding, shooting her and her buddy off their spots. Austin launched forward to the right and the basajaun took off left, both of them roaring, preparing to barrel into the crowd.

“No, no. I need to work at the spell. Damn it!” I hopped up and ran as well, straight ahead, Niamh keeping pace through the trees.

Mr. Tom dove in front of me, scooping someone up. His wings beat at the trees, a very tight fit. A jet of magic zipped right by his head, bright red light splitting the dark sky. Ulric dove, his wings tight to his body, snapping them open at the last second and slashing the mage who’d thrown the spell with the claws on his feet.

Niamh chittered beside me and yanked on my shirt. She hopped to the low branches, right where the dolls would be hunting. I blocked my connection to Mr. Tom, so he wouldn’t keep breathing down my neck, and ran after her. A jet of light followed me, and I quickly erected a 360-degree shield that would soak in the energy of any spells that hit it, saving the power to be unleashed when I needed it. That was, if it worked. I hadn’t tested this technique on anyone.

I plunged between two trees and turned right, nearly tripping on a doll. I grunted and jumped, kicking it a little before staggering to a stop. It lay on the ground, staring up at the dark sky with sightless eyes and a manic grin. I nudged it with a foot while trying to access it with my magic. Unresponsive.

What the hell? The one time I actually needed them to be scary, they’d suddenly become real dolls?

I felt Austin fighting, about as deep in the woods as I was now. Around me, though, there were no enemies covered in a blue glow. Maybe the dolls had already pushed them back.

I continued on, ducking to the right between a couple of trees and following a deer trail deeper in. It wasn’t for another couple of steps that I realized the only sound I could hear was my feet stomping along the path. My connections to Austin and Niamh had been severed, and I hadn’t done it.

I glanced down at my side, suddenly alone. Where had she gone?

Absolute quiet surrounded me, entirely unnatural right now, given two battles were underway in the vicinity. Confusion and fear stole my breath. I glanced back but didn’t see anything. I turned to look. Nothing. I bent, checking the ground. Looked up into the trees. Nothing. If Niamh was chittering, I couldn’t hear it.

“Hello.”

I jolted, glancing up. Where a moment ago I’d been completely alone, suddenly I wasn’t anymore.

A man stood between two trees in front of me wearing a white suit a little too tight in the stomach, with a white shirt underneath. His dark hair was parted on the right and slicked over, and his long mustache curled at the ends.

“Who are you?” I asked, noticing he had a glowing, ethereal quality.

His smile was faint, as though he were waiting for me to realize the punch line of a joke. “I work for Mr. Graves. You have been very elusive up until this point, Jacinta. He hoped I might reconcile that. Lovely to meet you. I do so enjoy your woods. I’ve made quite a home here, of late. You really should close the shades in your windows. I had to turn away a few times to preserve your modesty.”

Twenty-Three

My heart rushed in my ears, but I tried not to let myself feel vulnerable at the thought of this man peeping in my windows. Or angry that he’d somehow blocked me off from Ivy House’s defenses and my crew. He was using a spell, and I needed to find my way around it.

Then I needed to rip him from limb to limb.

“You turn into a deer?” I asked, putting my hands behind my back. I preferred to use them while doing magic, but I couldn’t clue him in.

“No, thankfully. My associate turns into a deer. He’s not much use in a battle, I grant you. He’s probably dead now. If not, he and his band of stupid critters will be soon. They are a mere distraction for the polar bear and…basajaun, correct? You somehow got a basajaun on your side? Did you bed one of his relatives or something? They usually only work with family.”

“That’s super gross, and you’re not forgiven for it.”

“You know, that deer shifter usually isn’t noticed when spying within a wood. It was the glow, wasn’t it? I told Mr. Graves that the glow was sure to give us away. I am sure soon he will remedy that issue. He is exacting, as you can probably guess.”

“A glowing deer is a little odd, yes,” I said, looking this guy over.

Speaking of glow, his was minimal, nothing more than a pleasing effulgence of his skin and clothing. That was probably why he was wearing white, to disguise its presence. If he were wearing black, the glow would’ve stood out like a beacon. As it was, the glow wasn’t nearly as bright as the deer’s. Either it was a more powerful and efficient spell, or it was barely holding everything together.

I’d learn soon enough.

“Oooh.” It struck me that I’d felt this way before—blocked off from my friends, from Ivy House—in the cave prison Elliot Graves’s other lackeys had taken me to. “You’re exploiting another of Ivy House’s vulnerabilities, just like your buddies did a couple of months ago. Damn it. Elliot Graves is good.”

The guy lifted his nose a little, snootily, and spoke, but I wasn’t listening. What sort of spell could cut me off without creating a visual sign? There was no glow around me or the area, no veil draping down through the trees, like the one those mages had used to protect the cave. It was almost like he held one of those electrical things that cut off cell phone transmissions, only this was for Ivy House’s magic.

“Hmm. I sure wish I knew more stuff,” I said, walking toward him slowly, noticing his hands hung at his sides and a little red pocket square was nestled in his jacket pocket.

“That’ll be fine. Just stay right there.” He gave me a stop motion, his elbow pulled in tight to his side and his hand not venturing too far away from his chest. Even so, I could see the spell that engulfed him leave his chest like a sheet and stretch around his hand. How peculiar.

“Right, okay. Well?” I shrugged. “What’s next?”

It dawned on me that I was at a disadvantage in my skin. My gargoyle form could withstand a magical attack much better than this human form. I needed to change. Hell, I needed to start fighting in my stronger form, full stop.

“You know what?” I said, grabbing the bottoms of my shirt and sweatshirt. “I’ll trade you. My body for my freedom.”

I gave him a sultry smile and pulled my shirt and sweatshirt over my head.

“No, that really won’t be necessary.”

“Why not?” I unclasped my bra and unhooked my pants, not the most glamorous of faux seductions, but probably the fastest.

His voice rose and his hands popped out of the glow. I still couldn’t feel it, though. That stupid bubble!

“Stop now, or I will be forced to subdue you.”

I rammed a spell into his body, the zip of it coming together right before it hit him. He shrieked, startled, flinging up his hands to cover his face. The spell hit his ribs as I slipped out of my pants. I changed form, feeling my spell scrabble around the slick potion covering him. It wasn’t latching on. There went the puncture theory.

His eyes widened as he looked at my body. This form really stopped people up short. Catching him off guard could only help me, so I flapped my wings a couple times to get the rainbow effect going, light tracing through the dark patch of air, while I mentally regrouped.

He had a potion around him, and a bubble around us both. How was he doing that bubble?

It had been draped across one side of the cave, noticeably glittery. But maybe that had been because of the painful layer built into it.

I chanced a glance around us, ending at his feet. He’d barely moved since I’d shown up. He hadn’t wanted me to walk toward him.

Mind racing, I remembered the spell at the bottom entrance to the cave where I’d been held captive, see-through one way, not the other. There were all types of draping spells. One could easily be around me right now, hanging from these trees, and I wouldn’t be able see it because of the darkness.

Elliot clearly knew I liked to veil the place in darkness. How freaking annoying. He did his homework.

I ripped the darkness away, the last rays of the sun painting the sky a burnished orange. The light trickled in around us as the guy shot a jet of magic at me, blistering in its intensity. I threw up my hands, expecting the worst, but it was too late.

Surprisingly, it hit the defensive shield I’d erected before wandering in here, fizzing and searing as it spread across the surface and lost its power.

I’d forgotten about that little ditty. Good Lord had I been smart in erecting it.

Shimmering sheets of magic stretched across the canopy of trees and draped between branches, only noticeable because of the way the light shone across them when I moved my head just so.

“How incredibly tricky,” I muttered.

He shot another blast of magic, walking toward me now, his curled mustache wiggling as he did so, his brow furrowed in anger.