Dark Heart of Magic
Page 68
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She looked at me, her eyes hazy and unfocused, but she managed to croak out a single word. “Run. . . .”
She moaned, and her head lolled to the side.
“Deah! Deah!”
I shook her, but she was out cold. More worry filled me. I didn’t have any strength magic, and she was too heavy for me to carry back to the picnic area. I’d have to call Devon and tell him what was happening. I reached for the phone in my pocket—
A branch cracked behind me.
“I did it to her,” a familiar voice called out.
I froze, then got to my feet and slowly turned around.
Katia Volkov stood behind me, her arms crossed over her chest. A bit of sunlight streaming down through the trees highlighted the wolf stamped into the cuff on her wrist. Seleste’s voice whispered in my mind.
We have to warn the girls about the wolf.... The wolf wants to devour them both, gobble them up until there’s nothing left but bones and blades. . . . No blood, just bones and blades . . . bones and blades . . . bones and blades....
I’d been so focused on bones and blades that I’d forgotten about the first part of Seleste’s warning. Suddenly, I knew that the wolf was Katia, although I had no idea why she would want to hurt Deah or me.
Katia strolled toward me, and my hand tightened around the hilt of my sword. She wasn’t going to take me by surprise like she had Deah.
But Katia walked right on past as if she didn’t care about me at all, instead leaning down to pick up the gold winner’s cup I’d dropped. Katia held up the cup in a fading patch of sunlight, admiring her reflection in it. Somehow, the glint of the gold made her green eyes seem even bigger and brighter than ever before.
I frowned. Wait a second. Why were her eyes green? They were hazel . . . weren’t they?
I thought back to all the times I’d seen Katia over the past few days. Her eyes had been hazel the very first time I’d met her in the Midway. I was sure of that. And they’d been hazel some of the other times I’d seen her around the tournament too. But they’d also been green at times, just like they were right now. Why would her eyes change color so often?
But even weirder than that, there was something so . . . familiar about the bright, emerald-green glaze to her eyes. I’d seen that exact same color somewhere before, sometime recently, and I knew it was desperately important for me to remember, just as I knew how important it was to keep myself between Katia and Deah.
Katia admired the gold cup a moment longer, then set it down on the forest floor and faced me again.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “Why did you hurt Deah?”
She shrugged. “Because I wanted to. I’ve been wanting to blindside her for days now. I tried to knock her out in the first round of the tournament when I cut the rope ladder, but she got on the platform before the ropes came loose. I was so disappointed. But when I saw her run into the woods, I knew it was too good an opportunity to pass up—that I could finally finish things with her.”
I sucked in a breath at her casual confession. I’d been right when I thought that someone had been trying to knock people out of the tournament by cutting the ropes. But I’d blamed Vance, when Katia had been targeting Deah the whole time. I’d just been collateral damage that day—and I might be again tonight, if I didn’t figure out a way to stop her.
Katia glared at Deah’s still form, then looked at me again. “Did you know that she’s the other girl Felix has been seeing?”
“How did you find that out?” I asked, trying to keep her talking, even as I slid my hand into my shorts pocket again, reaching for my phone.
She snorted. “I saw them making out behind the Draconi tent before one of the matches. They were so busy sucking face they didn’t even notice me.”
I’d always thought all that sneaking around was going to end badly, and it looked like I’d been proven right, just not in the way I’d expected.
Katia shook her head, making her dark red hair swish around her shoulders. “I can’t imagine what Felix sees in her. Not that it matters. If he can’t see how special I am, then he doesn’t deserve me.”
“Okay,” I said, trying to speed-dial Devon. Kind of hard when I couldn’t see the screen. “I know you’re upset that you and Felix aren’t together, but that’s no reason to take it out on Deah.”
Katia laughed. “You think I’m doing all this for a boy? Please. I thought you were smarter than that, Lila. I do things for me—nobody else.”
I tapped my phone screen, hoping I was calling someone who would pick up, hear our conversation, and realize that something was wrong. “Okay. So what exactly are you doing then?”
She shrugged. “Deah beat me in the tournament. But it’s the last time she’ll ever beat me at anything.”
“Why do you say that?”
She looked at me like I’d just asked the stupidest question ever. “Because I’m going to take her magic and make it my own the way I should have all along. I took Vance’s power, thinking that would be enough to beat her, but obviously, I was wrong and he wasn’t nearly as strong as he bragged he was.”
I froze, my blood turning to ice in my veins. “You killed Vance? You took his magic?”
Too late, I remembered running into Katia the night Vance was murdered. I hadn’t thought anything of her being in the woods at the time, just thinking she’d been hiding out there from Felix the same way I had been from Devon.
“Of course I took his magic,” Katia said, her voice cold and hard. “Why else would I ask him out here last night? It certainly wasn’t to make out with him like he wanted. He thought he was going to get lucky. Heh. You should have seen the look on his face when I zip-tied his hands and slapped that duct tape on his mouth and he finally realized what I was up to. It was priceless.”
She laughed, but the sound made goose bumps crawl across my skin because it was the same sound I’d heard when I’d looked into Vance’s dead eyes last night. And it was the same evil laugh that had echoed in my mind when I’d found that dead tree troll beside the dumpster.
“The tree troll. . . .” I said. “You killed Vance for his magic, but what about the tree troll in the Midway? Why did you murder it?”
“Yeah, that was one of mine too. I also whacked one of them up at the Draconi estate a couple of nights ago. I wanted to get more than one, but Blake and Victor had already killed all the others they’d trapped.”
She moaned, and her head lolled to the side.
“Deah! Deah!”
I shook her, but she was out cold. More worry filled me. I didn’t have any strength magic, and she was too heavy for me to carry back to the picnic area. I’d have to call Devon and tell him what was happening. I reached for the phone in my pocket—
A branch cracked behind me.
“I did it to her,” a familiar voice called out.
I froze, then got to my feet and slowly turned around.
Katia Volkov stood behind me, her arms crossed over her chest. A bit of sunlight streaming down through the trees highlighted the wolf stamped into the cuff on her wrist. Seleste’s voice whispered in my mind.
We have to warn the girls about the wolf.... The wolf wants to devour them both, gobble them up until there’s nothing left but bones and blades. . . . No blood, just bones and blades . . . bones and blades . . . bones and blades....
I’d been so focused on bones and blades that I’d forgotten about the first part of Seleste’s warning. Suddenly, I knew that the wolf was Katia, although I had no idea why she would want to hurt Deah or me.
Katia strolled toward me, and my hand tightened around the hilt of my sword. She wasn’t going to take me by surprise like she had Deah.
But Katia walked right on past as if she didn’t care about me at all, instead leaning down to pick up the gold winner’s cup I’d dropped. Katia held up the cup in a fading patch of sunlight, admiring her reflection in it. Somehow, the glint of the gold made her green eyes seem even bigger and brighter than ever before.
I frowned. Wait a second. Why were her eyes green? They were hazel . . . weren’t they?
I thought back to all the times I’d seen Katia over the past few days. Her eyes had been hazel the very first time I’d met her in the Midway. I was sure of that. And they’d been hazel some of the other times I’d seen her around the tournament too. But they’d also been green at times, just like they were right now. Why would her eyes change color so often?
But even weirder than that, there was something so . . . familiar about the bright, emerald-green glaze to her eyes. I’d seen that exact same color somewhere before, sometime recently, and I knew it was desperately important for me to remember, just as I knew how important it was to keep myself between Katia and Deah.
Katia admired the gold cup a moment longer, then set it down on the forest floor and faced me again.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “Why did you hurt Deah?”
She shrugged. “Because I wanted to. I’ve been wanting to blindside her for days now. I tried to knock her out in the first round of the tournament when I cut the rope ladder, but she got on the platform before the ropes came loose. I was so disappointed. But when I saw her run into the woods, I knew it was too good an opportunity to pass up—that I could finally finish things with her.”
I sucked in a breath at her casual confession. I’d been right when I thought that someone had been trying to knock people out of the tournament by cutting the ropes. But I’d blamed Vance, when Katia had been targeting Deah the whole time. I’d just been collateral damage that day—and I might be again tonight, if I didn’t figure out a way to stop her.
Katia glared at Deah’s still form, then looked at me again. “Did you know that she’s the other girl Felix has been seeing?”
“How did you find that out?” I asked, trying to keep her talking, even as I slid my hand into my shorts pocket again, reaching for my phone.
She snorted. “I saw them making out behind the Draconi tent before one of the matches. They were so busy sucking face they didn’t even notice me.”
I’d always thought all that sneaking around was going to end badly, and it looked like I’d been proven right, just not in the way I’d expected.
Katia shook her head, making her dark red hair swish around her shoulders. “I can’t imagine what Felix sees in her. Not that it matters. If he can’t see how special I am, then he doesn’t deserve me.”
“Okay,” I said, trying to speed-dial Devon. Kind of hard when I couldn’t see the screen. “I know you’re upset that you and Felix aren’t together, but that’s no reason to take it out on Deah.”
Katia laughed. “You think I’m doing all this for a boy? Please. I thought you were smarter than that, Lila. I do things for me—nobody else.”
I tapped my phone screen, hoping I was calling someone who would pick up, hear our conversation, and realize that something was wrong. “Okay. So what exactly are you doing then?”
She shrugged. “Deah beat me in the tournament. But it’s the last time she’ll ever beat me at anything.”
“Why do you say that?”
She looked at me like I’d just asked the stupidest question ever. “Because I’m going to take her magic and make it my own the way I should have all along. I took Vance’s power, thinking that would be enough to beat her, but obviously, I was wrong and he wasn’t nearly as strong as he bragged he was.”
I froze, my blood turning to ice in my veins. “You killed Vance? You took his magic?”
Too late, I remembered running into Katia the night Vance was murdered. I hadn’t thought anything of her being in the woods at the time, just thinking she’d been hiding out there from Felix the same way I had been from Devon.
“Of course I took his magic,” Katia said, her voice cold and hard. “Why else would I ask him out here last night? It certainly wasn’t to make out with him like he wanted. He thought he was going to get lucky. Heh. You should have seen the look on his face when I zip-tied his hands and slapped that duct tape on his mouth and he finally realized what I was up to. It was priceless.”
She laughed, but the sound made goose bumps crawl across my skin because it was the same sound I’d heard when I’d looked into Vance’s dead eyes last night. And it was the same evil laugh that had echoed in my mind when I’d found that dead tree troll beside the dumpster.
“The tree troll. . . .” I said. “You killed Vance for his magic, but what about the tree troll in the Midway? Why did you murder it?”
“Yeah, that was one of mine too. I also whacked one of them up at the Draconi estate a couple of nights ago. I wanted to get more than one, but Blake and Victor had already killed all the others they’d trapped.”
