Mother May I (Knight Games Book 4) (7 page)

“I didn’t know,” Hecate imitated sarcastically. “Such a fool you claim to be. As foolish as a fox. I know better, daughter. You are as benevolent as a scorpion, a poisonous pest to be squashed under heel.” The two torches on either side of her stone door flamed to life.

Was she moving for the door? Leaving us? I couldn’t let her go. I had to know the truth. “Did you send a goblin to try to kill me?” I blurted. Polina audibly inhaled. Above me, the sky exploded with thunder and lightning. I ducked my head from fear of being struck down.

“How dare you!” Hecate bellowed. Two gigantic black dogs appeared beside her, their growling heads drooling and snapping at me. The door behind her opened, and she backed toward it.

Polina elbowed me in the side, hard. “No questions, Grateful.”

I couldn’t keep my big, fat mouth shut. It didn’t make any sense to me. If she was such a threat, why was she backing away? If she wanted me dead, why didn’t she kill me now?

“You want me dead, but you can’t kill me yourself,” I said. “There’s some reason you can’t hurt me directly.”

A roar between a growl and a scream parted her lips, and her pupils shattered, her eyes filling with bright red light. “Do not tell me what I can or cannot do, witch.” She pointed at my chest. “
Díno̱ ti̱n ádeiá!
” A red column of fire flew from her hand and hit me between the breasts.

Pain channeled through me, crushing my spine. I screamed and thrashed my arms at my sides as the smell of my burning flesh stung my nostrils. Had she blown a hole right through me? With a sharp withdrawal of her hand, she pulled me toward her, tractor-beam style.

“Polina!” I cried, but what could she do?

When the goddess let me go, I found myself with her, on the wrong side of the door, panting and wet with perspiration, but still breathing. I clutched my throbbing chest and turned my head to stare at Polina through the open door. Her eyes widened, and she covered her mouth with her hands in horror. The stone slammed shut between us.

Quivering with fear, I instinctively reached for Nightshade. Not there. I’d been wearing her, but she must not have passed into this realm.

Hecate peeled her lips back from her teeth, stroking the heads of the hellhounds at her side. “Do you wish to challenge me, Grateful Knight? If you do, survive to reach the center of the labyrinth and prove yourself worthy.” She dissolved into the shadows.

The dogs remained, heads low and ears back. They stalked me as I backed away slowly, both hands raised in front of me. “Good doggie. Easy. I like dogs, really.”

The beasts did not return my feigned affection. They attacked. I crossed my arms in front of my head to protect my face. Claws scraped through my flesh, and teeth sank into my head. I struggled, pounding my fists and kicking away the dogs’ claws. Then, a miracle. An invisible force yanked me backward by the waist.

I crumpled into the fetal position, the world swirling around me in a disorienting array of color and light. Gold dust scattered as I slid into my attic, knocking the crystal ball off its pedestal. It rolled across the floor into Polina’s shaking hands.

Disoriented, I raised my arms, finding them bloody. The flesh was shredded and the bright red drip cruising down my nose was indication that my head wounds were similarly real.

“I’ll get Rick,” Poe said from his perch near the window. He took flight out the pet door before I passed out again.

* * * * *

“You need me,” Rick said.

I opened my eyes to find him sitting on the side of my bed with Nightshade in hand. Behind him, Poe nested in one of my T-shirts on the dresser, his raven eyes fixated on me. Polina waited nearby, her hands folded in front of her hips. Other than her hair coming loose from its bun, she still looked fresh and princess-like.

“You’re lucky to be alive. Those wounds won’t heal on their own.” Polina nodded toward Rick.

“Come, drink.” Rick scored his wrist with Nightshade and brought it to my lips.

I didn’t wait for an invitation. I latched on to his wrist.

“Now that I know you’re not dying,” Polina said, voice shrill, “I am going to kill you! Do you have a brain in your blonde skull? You could have gotten us both killed. What the hell were you thinking, taunting Hecate like that?”

I broke from Rick and sat up to respond, although I cradled his arm in my lap in case I needed more. “I wanted to learn her limitations.”

“She’s a goddess; she has no limitations.” Polina tossed her hands up.

Poe bobbed his head. “I have to agree with Polina on this one. Hecate could strike you down at any time.”

“No. I don’t think she can.”

Every eye in the room fixated on me. “She obviously wants me dead. She blasted a ray of energy through my chest.” I pulled the neck of my shirt down to reveal a scabby burn mark. “If it were possible for her to kill me directly, she would have.”

“Do you know that for sure, or are you speculating?” Poe asked.

“It’s an educated guess. When she pulled me into her labyrinth, she said I could challenge her if I reached the center. Why? Why couldn’t I challenge her in the jungle? Behind the door? And then it occurred to me that she must have rules of engagement.”

“Rules,” Polina said, hands on her hips. “You believe the goddess has limitations, and you felt it was your duty to test them out at the possible expense of my life?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you at risk, but she admitted as much to us. She said if a witch collected all five elements it would make her as powerful as Hecate—powerful enough to challenge her for her role.”

Polina nodded. “You’re right; she did. She also said no one who tried has ever succeeded or lived to tell the tale.”

“She invited me to challenge her today because she knew I would lose. In fact, without your spell to draw me back into my body, I’d probably have died in that labyrinth.” I laced my fingers into Rick’s, and he didn’t pull away. His touch was comforting.

“Grateful, do you even remember why we went to see her today?”

I shrugged. “To see if she knew who was behind the Goblin Trinate’s attack.”

She squinted at me. “And did we learn the answer to that question?”

I rolled the conversation through my head. “Um. No.”

Polina held up one finger. “Exactly! However, we did learn one undeniable truth.”

“What?”

“Whether or not she can do it herself, after today, Mother definitely wants you dead.”

“Crap.” My gaze darted from Poe to Rick, but no one disagreed with Polina’s statement.

Polina gathered her bag from the floor near her feet and headed for the door. “If I were you, I’d put my affairs in order.”

Chapter 9

Invitations

I
t must have been around two a.m. when Polina walked out. I didn’t blame her for being angry. When I pissed off Mother, it put her at risk as well. She was my only witch friend, and I deeply regretted that my actions might cause her misery. Did they make an edible bouquet for this occasion?
Sorry for risking your life. Have some chocolate-covered pineapple.

“Would you mind?” Poe said, tapping at the window with his beak. “All of this drama has made me hungry.”

“You could fly out your door in the attic.”

“Or you could get off your
arse
and open the window for me.”

I flipped him off, but Rick complied, sliding the chipped-paint frame on its track just high enough to allow Poe out.

“You shouldn’t give in to him like that,” I said, standing to grab a set of pajamas from my drawer. “You’ll spoil him.”

“You need your rest. If I had not let him out, you would still be fighting about it.”

Rick was right. I’d been up for more than twenty-four hours and was nearing collapse. I hastened into the bathroom to rinse off the bloody remains of my battle with Hecate before bed. “Would you like to stay?” I called through the door.

He cleared his throat before answering. “I am becoming accustomed to my lack of need for sleep. I fear I would keep you up. I’ll show myself out.” I heard my door close behind him as he left.

I didn’t take it personally; I was too exhausted to mind. As soon as I was clean and in my most comfortable pajamas, I crawled into bed and drifted into a dead, dreamless sleep.

For a painfully inadequate amount of time.

With a start, I awoke to find a dark figure standing over me. A familiar dark figure. One I’d like to decapitate for waking me before dawn.

“Gary, what the hell are you doing in my bedroom?” I snapped.

“Julius sent me. I tried to knock, but no one answered.”

“No one answered because it’s the middle of the night.”

“Early morning, actually.” He shifted from foot to foot, glancing toward the window. “It’s an emergency.”

“What kind of emergency would warrant you using my coerced invitation from last winter to enter my locked home?”

“The Goblin Trinate is in Carlton City. They’re tracking you, Grateful. They’ll be here at any moment.”

I sat up in bed. “You are shitting me. Do not shit me about this, Gary. It’s not funny.”

“I’m not shitting you!” he insisted. “Julius is prepared to offer you his safe house, but you’ve got to come with me now. The sun is rising. We’ll barely make it before dawn.”

Gary moved to the window in a flash. “Uh-oh.”

“What?” I scrambled off the bed.

Gary pointed toward the tree line across the road from my house. “There, in the forest.” Pinpoints of silver glinted in the moonlight and platinum hair flashed and floated between the trees. Goblins.

“Fuck.”

Just then, a flurry of black appeared and pounded the glass. Gary disappeared from my side at super speed. I moved into the space he vacated and propped open the window. “It’s okay, Gary. It’s just my familiar being an asshole, as usual.” Poe swooped into the room and landed on my dresser.

A hiss came from above my head. Gary was hanging by his fingernails from the ceiling but dropped to my side when he saw it was Poe.

“You startle easily for an undead,” I said cynically.

He smoothed his button-down shirt. “Well, er, yes. I suppose I do.”

“I’ll pretend not to notice your ex-boyfriend is in your bedroom and get down to business,” Poe interrupted. “The Goblin Trinate have surrounded our home.”

I dug my hands into my hair. “This sucks, but there’s no need to panic. We’re safe here. My protective spells are in place. They can’t get in. I’ll call our supernatural detective extraordinaire, Silas, and have them arrested.”

I grabbed my phone off the nightstand. If anyone could figure out how to shake these guys, it was Silas.

“Do your spells cover goblins?” Gary asked. “Julius warned me they might be resistant to your magic. Something about their blood.”

Poe swiveled his head on his neck as only birds can do and searched the darkness outside the window. Streaks of platinum crossed the road and flashed up my driveway. “We’re about to find out.”

Each of us held our breath as the rattle of the front doorknob reached us. There was a sharp crack and a familiar squeal of hinges. “Holy crow,” I whispered. “They’re in.”

I grabbed Nightshade from the place I kept her under my pillow and strapped her to my back before I shoved my cell phone into my back pocket. Motioning with my hand for Poe and Gary to follow, I slipped into the hall and up the stairs to the attic. Once everyone was inside my most magical space, I locked it behind me. I conjured a large wardrobe to block the entrance. “It will only last until sunrise,” I said.

“That makes two of us.” Gary fidgeted near the window.

Poe flapped his wings and landed on the windowsill near his pet door. “What now? That won’t hold them for long, and there’s no way out unless you plan to sprout wings.”

I raised one incredulous eyebrow in Gary’s direction. “Aren’t you supposed to be rescuing me? If you don’t know how to stop the goblins, why did Julius send you? If he was worried about me and wanted me to come to his safe house, he should have come himself.”

Gary tilted his head and looked at me like I was stupid. “He can’t get into your house, Grateful. If you needed rescuing, he’d be helpless.”

“So… now she needs to rescue you, as well as herself,” Poe snapped. “Make sure to thank Julius for that.”

Gary flipped him the finger.

“This isn’t helping, you two.” I crossed the attic to the
The Book of Light
and
Copse Magicum
, Forest Magic, my two magical grimoires. Truth was, I didn’t have a clue what to do next. I could climb out the window, but then what? “Wings,” I said, frantically flipping pages. “You’re a genius, Poe. We need to fly out of here.”

“You’ve flown before,” Poe said. “I’ve seen you hover.”

“I can hover, but I don’t have enough control. Not good enough to call it flying.”

“They have arrows,” Gary reminded. Hovering was not going to cut it. I needed to fly or I’d be target practice.

I lifted Tabetha’s magic wand from next to
Copse Magicum
. I’d resisted trying to use it in the past; it held bad memories for me. However, an idea was working its way to the front of my brain. It was a long shot, but maybe my only shot.

“When I hover, I have to concentrate on pushing the air away from myself to propel from the ground. What if I sat on a magical object and concentrated on lifting that object using the air around me?”

Poe rolled his eyes. “Like a broom? How cliché.”

“Not a broom. A branch.” I held up the crooked wand that used to be Tabetha’s and concentrated. It extended to the length of my body, sprouting a few leafy segments as it grew. With a little effort, I levitated the branch and sent it soaring around the attic. When it returned to me, I climbed on, sidesaddle, and floated across the wood floor to the window.

“I don’t get it,” Gary said. “How is levitating a branch easier than levitating yourself?”

“The power comes from me,” I said evenly, trying to hold steady. “This gives me a consistent place to direct my concentrated effort.”

Gary frowned. “That makes no physical or mechanical sense.”

I shrugged. “Maybe not, but it’s the best I’ve got. Gary, you jump down and distract them. Poe, stay close and help me focus my magic.”