I locked eyes with Joel from across the garden as Corman held up the tiny box. It glowed a faint amber in his palm and I saw the fear bloom in Joel’s eyes as the glow faded. “Joel, Joel, Joel,” Corman said, shaking his head in exaggerated disappointment. “Did you really think you could just take it from me? I know you want more power, that you’d do nearly anything to get power. But your ignorance is frankly astonishing sometimes. You know, that could get you killed someday.”

Joel still had his eyes locked on mine as Corman taunted him. Like me, he was frozen in place, though I could see from his eyes that he was straining to break free of Corman’s spell. I knew I had no chance of doing so, but maybe Joel could. If anyone here could, it was Joel.

“This is linked to me now,” Corman said as he walked over to Joel and ran a hand down the side of his face, almost gently this time. “Don’t you realize that? This won’t do anything for your powers anymore, little boy. It will only work for me.”

Joel broke eye contact with me as he looked at Corman. It had been years since we’d been together, but we’d had nearly a decade before then. And I could see the regret, fear, and anger, obvious with nothing other than slight eye movements.

I could feel Gretel beside me and I knew she was also straining against the force keeping us in place. Meanwhile, Corman’s men were still where Joel had left them, which I found a little strange. But then Corman waved a hand in their direction and their frozen bodies thawed. They both turned toward Corman, who waved a hand again, releasing Joel, who fell to the ground.

“Listen,” he said to Corman as he got shakily to his feet. “Do what you want with me. If you’re going to punish me, punish me. But Dar and Gretel are innocent. Please let them go.”

Corman turned to us and I felt something warm moving over my entire body, like he was scanning me. He laughed. “She has no magic,” he said. “Are you really going to tell me you care that much about someone without magic? Someone who is only in this because of your actions? It seems like you only wanted her as a shield.”

Joel’s eyes met mine again for a second, then dropped. “I mean it,” he said. “Kill me, do whatever you want. But not Dar.”

Was this part of a plan? Joel certainly didn’t look like he had some kind of secret plan here. Instead, he looked pretty defeated as his pleas for my safety tumbled out. Still only able to move my eyes, I looked around as though a plan was going to jump out of the bushes and announce itself to me. But there was nothing there except for my gardening trowel, a few harmless herbs, and Horace, who was enjoying the show from beside the bushes.

“She must have something if you’re willing to do this,” Corman said. “I know you, Joel. Your ruthlessness, your ability to do the job and do it well, that’s why you came so highly recommended. So what is it about her that’s so great?”

“Dar has nothing,” Joel said, his eyes back on mine. “She’s not magical, and she’s not strong. She’s useless to you.”

Despite everything happening right now, the familiar rage flickered to life in me again. Even now? But Joel’s eyes weren’t dismissive or even apologetic. Instead, he looked desperate.

Corman looked at me again and that ray of intense concentration ran down my body once more. If I could have shuddered, I would have. But then the grip on my body loosened and I could move again.

I turned to Gretel, who was still frozen, her eyes darting back and forth as she tried to break the hold Corman had on her body. Ignoring her, Corman turned to me.

“Stay,” he ordered. “I won’t hurt your little bird, Joel. But I want her to see what happens to those who cross me.”

Corman beckoned me over to stand next to Joel. The box was visible in his pocket, just inside of his suit jacket. My eyes were drawn to it as I moved into position next to Joel.

“I’m sorry, Dar,” Joel whispered to me. “I’ll get us out of this, I swear.”

But he didn’t look too confident about this as Corman looked at us. Then Joel’s body arched back, and he grunted like all the air had been pushed out of his lungs. As though he was caught on a fishing line, his body jerked and moved toward Corman, who grabbed a fistful of Joel’s hair and pushed him to his knees.

“Joel,” he said, his voice still alarmingly gentle as he yanked Joel’s hair, forcing him to look up. “None of this had to happen like this. If you’d just brought me the box… you know, I could have even told you how to get one of your own. I’m willing to share. But I won’t be stolen from and I won’t be made a fool of.”

I couldn’t see the box anymore, but I knew it hadn’t moved. I inched backward, away from where Corman was still holding Joel in a painful grip. There had to be something, anything, that I could use to break the box. Who knew if it would actually stop Corman, but it would finish what Joel had been trying to do? If it was broken, Corman couldn’t use the extra power from it, right? Then maybe Joel and Gretel together could take him.

It was a desperate plan, but that was all I had now. Of course, I didn’t have any softballs out here. I’d cleaned them up the other night after practicing and they were all in their box just inside the back door. My tools were too far away to reach and anything short of a shovel would probably be too light to do more than piss Corman off and get us all killed. I looked despairingly over at Horace, who was grinning at me from the bushes. That little shit was going to be the last thing I saw, wasn’t he?

And then I realized what I needed to do.

Joel was thrashing now as Corman’s magic wrapped strands of sickly light around his torso. Corman’s focus was on conjuring and I didn’t dare look behind me to find his men. Instead, I moved as fast as I’d ever moved in my life, darting over to Horace and grabbing the terrible little figure before anybody could get to me. I wound up like I was throwing home to get Sailors’ Inn’s top player out, put as much force behind it as I could, and chucked Gretel’s nightmare child right at Corman’s chest.

And it was a direct hit right above where I’d seen the box go.

Corman looked up at me with fire in his eyes, but his attention was pulled to his chest pocket, where that small light was glowing again, muffled by the suit jacket. He pulled the jacket off and small pieces of the box fell out, showering the ground with dust and wood shards. Joel was still on the floor, but the lights around him slowly faded and Gretel’s body immediately fell to the ground. She was up in seconds, running over to me. The two men stayed where they were and I barely had the attention to wonder why that was before Corman stood up.

“I’ll kill you,” he snarled. “I don’t even need the extra power to kill an insect like you.”

He moved faster than my eye could process and I knew that the glow of energy around his hands was about to go into my body and there was nothing I could do about it. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the killing blow.

But there was nothing.

After a second, I opened them again. Corman’s hands were still up in the air, but the light surrounding them was dimming now. Horror filled his expression as he tried again to send that energy bolt toward me.

“What’s wrong, Corman?” Joel asked from where he was getting to his feet. “Having some trouble?”

Corman motioned to the two burly men to come over, but they both stayed where they were. “What did you do to us?” one of them demanded.

“I never agreed to hurt anyone,” the second said, looking around at the scene as though seeing it for the first time.

Corman looked from them to Joel, then to me. “You’re nothing!” he spat at me, eyes wild. “I have magic running through my veins while you’re a simple, ordinary little creature.”

“And yet, she just beat you, didn’t she?” Joel said. “Was your magic a bit too entangled with the magic in the box? Seems like poor planning.”

Joel turned to grin at me and I’m sure I smiled ridiculously back. But then the gleam in Joel’s eye turned to shock as Corman reached around and sliced Joel’s throat with a small blade I hadn’t seen before. Joel reached up numbly to stop the blood that was flowing out of his neck and Corman raced out of the garden, disappearing into the house as Gretel and I ran toward Joel.

I got there first as Joel slid to the ground, catching him before he could land. There was blood all over his hands and dripping down his shirt. If I’d thought he was bloody last night, it was nothing compared to this. It was getting all over me as I held him, but I barely noticed. Not when he was looking up at me in shock and fear, wheezing through the blood.

“I’m right here,” Gretel said as she reached us.

The two big men were gone, probably off to find Corman. It was just us out here, alone in the garden as Joel bled out. Gretel closed her eyes and held her hands over Joel’s throat. The glow came in and I allowed myself to feel a touch of relief, but then it flickered.

“Hang on,” she murmured, eyes tightly shut as she focused. “I need to… I just…”

A line of bright red blood dripped out of Joel’s mouth as he tried to say something, but nothing came out. “Shh,” I said, holding him tightly as I tried not to show my fear. “It’s okay, it’s okay. He’s gone, you did it. You kept him from getting the box.”

Gretel gasped and the flickering glow from her hands was suddenly twice the size and twice as bright. I was still holding Joel as she laid her hands over where Corman had slit his throat. Joel let his hands drop and I could see an ugly gash through the thick layer of blood. But the magic was slowly knitting the wound back together as Gretel strained to keep it going.

I reached for Joel’s hand and squeezed it tightly as Gretel worked. His eyes rolled back, but he was breathing still as the last of the wound was repaired.

With one last push of glowing light, Gretel let go. The magic flickered out, and she fell back, breathing heavily in the yellow glow of our floodlights. I looked over at her and she seemed exhausted, but alright. And most importantly, alive.

We both looked at Joel, who was apparently unconscious. But he was breathing and while there was a terrifying amount of blood all over me, him, and the stone patio beneath us, none was coming out of his neck anymore.

“I’m going to make sure Corman’s really gone,” Gretel said. “You stay here with Joel.”

She leaned in to kiss me, the taste of her like coming home for good. I was so tempted to grab her hand and make her stay, but I knew she was coming back. As she walked into the house, I looked down at Joel again. His breathing was getting steadier and as I put my fingers to his neck, there was a thin pulse.

As I waited for Gretel, I glanced over at the spot where poor Horace lay in pieces. At least five chunks of painted terra cotta were scattered over the concrete. Nearby, half of his face was angled toward me, a scratched eye still whole despite the carnage. I gave him a smile and a nod of thanks.

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Continue to Chapter 16