Coen spun as the cage groaned to a stop, his intense eyes glittering down at me. “I’m never dramatic and stuff,” he said, grabbing the front of my shirt and hauling me out of the cage.
We ended up in a hallway, with several, numbered doors spaced out right to the end. They were like the dorm rooms back at the academy. Coen took the lead, dropping my shirt to grab my hand instead, and we stopped in front of Number 113. He dropped my hand, and I knew that he was moments away from kicking the door down like a crazy, deranged sol, so I quickly raised my fist and knocked. They all turned to stare at me, looking like I’d just stolen their favourite toy and ripped its head off.
“What?” I asked defensively. “Just trying to be polite.”
“We’re here to kill her,” Siret reminded me, his voice a frustrated groan.
“Don’t see why we can’t kill her politely,” I muttered back. “And … I mean … don’t really see why we have to kill her at all.”
The door swung open then, and Elowin’s shocked eyes took us in for a moment, before she tried to slam the door back in our faces. Coen pounced forward, knocking the door fully open and, as a result, knocking Elowin to the ground as well. I hurried in after Coen, the others at my back. I wasn’t so excited about the kick-ass mission anymore. I didn’t really want to murder anybody, even if they had locked me in a magical dungeon with the intention of eventually getting rid of me.
“Guys—” I started, a little hesitantly, scrambling to Elowin’s side and trying to help her up.
I never got to finish my request, however, because Elowin seized me, dragging me upright as she stood, and a flash of silver was the only warning I got before there was a dagger at my throat. The five Abcurses froze, staring at the knife. I could have sworn that they even stopped breathing.
Elowin laughed. “That’s right. Good boys. You don’t want me to kill your little toy now, do you?”
Yael started forward immediately. I guessed it was only okay when he called me a toy, and not anyone else. I tried to suck in as little air as possible, not wanting to push my throat out against the blade, but it didn’t seem to be working. Either that, or Elowin was beginning to apply pressure. I winced, feeling the break in my skin, and Yael paused, his chest heaving with the heavy motion of his breathing.
“Nobody fucking move,” Aros instructed quietly, as if even the sudden sound of his voice would convince Elowin to cut me deeper.
“Yes, nobody move,” Elowin parroted, skipping over the swear word like a complete, knife-wielding snob.
I could feel the dribble of blood that was creeping down my neck, catching on the material of my shirt. Yet another shirt ruined, not that it was important right now. I wondered if Elowin would actually kill me. It didn’t seem likely, but the tighter she pressed the knife to my skin, the more the likeliness grew, and the higher the panic clawed up through me.
Until Yael spoke.
“Elowin.” It was just the one word, delivered so precisely, so calmly, but it dropped right over my head and knocked me out a little bit.
Suddenly, everything was okay. The panic evaporated, the world slowed down around me, and the pain of the blade against my neck eased.
“Release the dweller,” Yael suggested, his tone almost conversational.
I blinked, trying to figure out why the pleasant suggestion sounded off. I was suddenly sure that Yael and Elowin were close friends, and that we had all come over for a friendly visit. The insistent thought was pushing into my mind, warring with the fact that she was holding a knife to my throat. That didn’t seem like a thing you did on casual visits with your friends. Elowin seemed to come to the same conclusion, because the knife drew further away.
“I’m … I’m so sorry,” she muttered, releasing me.
I stumbled forward a step, and all hell broke loose. Rome grabbed me, lifting me into the air and tossing me to the side. I yelped, sure that I was about to land flat on my face, but hands plucked me from the air easily, catching me against a hard chest. I looked up at Aros, completely disoriented, because it seemed that we were suddenly on the other side of the room, and I couldn’t figure out how we had gotten there so quickly. I wiggled and twisted, trying to see the others, and Aros set me on my feet again, though his hands came down on my shoulders, anchoring me back against him so that I couldn’t actually go anywhere. I fought off the lingering dizziness in my brain, focusing on the other four Abcurses as they surrounded Elowin in an angry circle.