Last Wish (Highland Magic #4)

I had no way of knowing what sort of Gift this was. I could have paused, turned, and examined the demon but that was hardly likely to happen. Instead, I did what I could to speed away from the encroaching darkness.

My toe hit a rock that was jutting up out of the ground and I stumbled forward, forcing my body into a roll at the last moment. The demon screeched again and this time the call was taken up by the thousands at my back. I leapt to my feet, momentum propelling me forward. I clenched my fists to stop the trembling and glanced to my right. There were a couple of demons on the others’ tails. I swallowed, my mouth dry. Another flying demon swooped down towards them, gaining on them.

‘Adair!’ I yelled, knowing the windless atmosphere would make my voice carry far across the grim moors.

The demon flipped its head and stared in my direction. The delay gave Byron, Fergus and May a chance. Byron lunged upwards, snatched the Foinse out of the air and bundled it inside his jacket. I smiled grimly. Before long, the darkness would swallow them up. Or so I hoped.

I yelled again. The thunder of thousands of feet slamming into the ground behind me would strike fear into anyone’s heart. As long as they focused on me – the Adair – then I was happy. I took a deep breath, calling up my last traces of the Electrosurge Gift. There were raucous shouts behind me and I knew that the Fomori were preparing to throw every last scrap of magic they had at me. The element of surprise was well and truly over. My skin tingled. Work, I prayed. Please work.

The air ahead of me spat and crackled. Preparing for the pain, I tensed myself. Then I squeezed my eyes shut, drew out the last magic, and felt the power slam through me as if I’d been punched in the head by a giant. So that’s what it feels like to be struck by lightning, I thought, as I spun in slow motion towards the ground. Shocking.





Chapter Seventeen


It was all about the illusion of control. When Aifric had me under lock and key, he’d grown over-confident because he thought he was in charge. This was effectively the same scenario: now the Fomori demons had the terrifying, monstrous Integrity Adair as a prisoner, especially after she’d electrocuted herself, they’d feel empowered. They’d hopefully be curious enough about me to delay their Highland invasion even if only for a day or two. Of course, there was the very real concern that they’d simply cut my throat and be done with me, but I’d removed the threat I presented by knocking myself out. The Fomori were supposed to be evil but how many people would execute an unarmed, unconscious young woman? Especially one they’d want to interrogate first? It had been a gamble but it was a gamble worth taking when you considered the alternatives. Still, when I woke up in even more pain than I had experienced at Aifric’s hands, I was relieved that I’d woken up at all. I hoped that the others had escaped.

I’d wanted to find myself on Arthur’s Seat, the same hill next to the old city of Edinburgh where Byron had been taken. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there – in fact, I couldn’t tell where I was other than that I was inside. Being blindfolded, trussed up and gagged had something to do with that. The Fomori weren’t taking any chances.

I still had two of my five senses left. I couldn’t hear anything but I could smell urine and vomit. Deciding that this situation simply wouldn’t do, I shuffled on my back like an upturned turtle. It took some time but I made my way around the room, estimating it was about the size of a small bathroom. Or a prison cell. There was a metal bucket in one corner, which was where the godawful stench was coming from. I got as close as I could manage, retching once or twice. Given the danger of vomiting when I had a gag in my mouth, I needed to acclimatise pretty quickly.

I assumed that the Fomori demons didn’t have an Ikea they could pop down to when they needed some cheap, disposable hardware. That meant the bucket had either been forged in a blacksmith’s or it harked back to the pre-Fissure era. Either way, I hoped to find a sharp edge on it. Then all I needed was a little bit of friction.

Holding my breath, I figured that sight would help me more than anything else so I flipped onto my stomach and lowered the side of my head towards the bucket’s rim. It took considerable effort – and numerous attempts ? but I eventually pushed the blindfold upwards so that I could see. Only one eye was free and I probably looked like a jaunty pirate, but I felt buoyed by my success.

Sitting up, and scooting as far away from the offending bucket as possible, I took in my surroundings. It was indeed a small room but there were no bars so it wasn’t a jail cell. There was a solid-looking oak door with a spyhole in the centre; thankfully, it was closed. No matter how hard I listened, I couldn’t make out anyone on the other side but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone there.

My head hurt and I felt weak and trembly. There were some grazes on my arms that hadn’t been there before but other than that I seemed to be injury free. That boded very well for the future; as long as the Fomori weren’t in a hurry to maim, torture or kill me, hope remained. I grinned. Hope always remained.

There were a number of ways that I could free myself from the rest of the restraints but the easiest and the quickest would be to use Apportation and simply magic away the ropes and bonds. I could even call any nearby rats and encourage them to gnaw through the bindings. But I wasn’t Cinderella any more than Tipsania was, and I had serious doubts that I could make wild animals do my bidding. Besides, rats? Bleurgh. No, it made sense to conserve what magic I had. Alongside Kirsty Kincaid’s Truth Gift, I now had Healing from Aifric and the ability to grow things from Morna. As I’d stolen those Gifts in their entirety, they were going to stay with me. The other magic I’d stolen from the Sidhe at the Cruaich was little more than a trickle now, even Illusion. I needed to be sparing.

With that in mind, I glanced at the bucket. There was a steel handle on one side of the rim which was attached by a nail. It wasn’t very sturdy. It would take some doing – and no doubt more retching – but I reckoned I could use the sharp edge of the nail to saw my way through my bonds. Once my hands were free, I could unfasten everything else. It would take a lot of time but it wasn’t as if I was going anywhere and it would give me ample opportunity to consider my next move.