Waiting for Magic (35 page)

“Get going. Out to the foyer, both of you,” Kee hissed.

Pendragon limped through the door, Green backing up before him.

Maggie helped Devin, who was walking most painfully, hunched over. Suddenly, he looked up at Pendragon, limping down the hall. He straightened, with difficulty.

“Before we go, we might want to pick up the Talisman,” he growled.

Pendragon and Green stopped in midstride.

“We still have no idea what it is. And we don’t have time to break into the basement,” Kee protested, her anxiety expressing itself in exasperation.

“Oh, we know what it is all right. And it isn’t in the basement.”

Maggie looked up at Devin. Kee blinked.

Devin gave a grimace meant as a grin. “Pendragon doesn’t always limp.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Devin watched both Kee and Maggie blink as they slowly realized what he was saying. Satisfaction boiled up through his pain. They turned to Pendragon.

“Give Maggie the cane,” Kee snapped. Devin would be proud of her if he wasn’t so freakin’ afraid for her. They had the Talisman. This whole night wouldn’t be in vain if they could avoid Morgan and get out alive.

Pendragon sighed. Green looked alarmed. “No matter, my friend,” Pendragon soothed. He held out the silver cane to Maggie. Devin saw her breath quicken as she took it. She must feel the power in the thing. He couldn’t figure out why Pendragon was so calm about losing the Talisman. That did not bode well.

“The Talisman
was
a Wand,” Kee said in a wondering tone.

“And it was there in front of us all the time,” Devin muttered. “We should have known he’d never trust it out of his sight.” He looked over at Kee, dear, sweet Kee who had risked everything to come for him. What better sister or friend could he ask for? That thought gave him almost as much pain as the fact that she and Maggie knew what Pendragon had done to him, and that Devin had…. He couldn’t think about that.

“Let’s get out of here,” Kee said. “Devin, can you make it?”

“I’m good.” He wasn’t, of course. His mind was almost clear of the drug, but the pain was distracting. And there was lots of pain. His whole lower body hurt from Pendragon’s penetration, as bad or worse than his back and buttocks. He limped forward behind Kee and Maggie, holding himself together with his arms across his belly. His emotions careened through his body. He’d ejaculated while he was being raped, or near enough. And Pendragon had made him cry. Not with the whip. He’d held out through that. He’d leaked tears like a baby when Pendragon was raping him.

But he had to put that away. They still weren’t free. He took a breath and let it out Could they just walk out the front door? Pendragon must not think so. That’s why he was so unflappable. They had to get by the Clan in the library. Was he strong enough to call the water if they needed it? He realized his thoughts were confused, chaotic.

He tried to shut out the pain.
Just focus on the water.
They passed a luxurious bathroom. He could feel the water in the pipes. He’d just test himself. He reached out with his mind, concentrating for all he was worth. A tingle—a tiny frisson of sensation fluttered at the edge of his awareness and disappeared. Not good enough. They moved into the foyer.

The sound behind them was like a gunshot. Everyone but Devin turned around.

“What was that?” Kee hissed.

The look of surprise on Pendragon’s face as he realized he hadn’t actually been shot was almost comical.

Devin suppressed a grim smile. A pipe had burst. He could feel water cascading out of the wall. It wasn’t much. But it was something. How long until he could call something more than just water out of a pipe?

The door to the library filled with tense bodies.
Damn.
His stupid effort to call water had alerted the Clan. A big, blond guy with hard, pale eyes; a young, nerdy looking man with a childish complexion; and a very beautiful woman with cotton candy pink hair spilled into the foyer. In the background a tall, thin man who reminded him of Boris Karloff loomed.

“Stay back,” Kee hissed, gun held out straight, gripped in both hands. She looked just like the brave heroine on the TV cop dramas. “We’re just leaving.”

Maggie clutched the Wand. Devin braced his feet. He’d be no good if things ended in a physical fight. The group in the doorway parted and a woman with steel-gray hair and golden eyes walked slowly into the foyer. Morgan. He’d heard the descriptions. You could really miss the eyes. A shudder of fear washed through him. “I doubt that,” she said calmly. “Talbot?”

The nerdy guy with long hair and smooth skin held out a hand. Kee’s gun flipped up to the ceiling and just hovered there. Kee gasped and skittered back next to Devin.

“Levitation,” the young guy grinned, shrugging. The gun slowly descended to his hand. The woman with the pink hair tittered.

Pendragon spun and snatched the Wand from Maggie. They were outnumbered here, and the Clan had powers. It didn’t look good.

Kee looked over at Maggie. “Backup plan.”

Maggie nodded and took a deep breath. Her attention turned inward as she drew her power. Devin looked to the new crowd and saw the expression of Calm that Maggie’s power produced come into their eyes. The girl with pink hair was the first to succumb. She just slid down the doorframe, eyes closing. Green was out like a light and slumped to the tile. The others were blinking, sleepy. Except for Morgan. Her eyes went hard. But even if she didn’t succumb, she was an old woman. She couldn’t overpower three young Tremaines.

“Let’s go,” Kee said, taking Devin’s arm. He turned toward the big iron-strapped front door. So he saw Pendragon muttering under his breath. A kind of glowing, translucent orb popped up around him. His eyes were murderous. He didn’t look calm at all. He raised the Wand, not as a magic instrument, but just as a weapon. Devin lunged for him, but bounced off whatever protective field he’d set up. That didn’t stop the Wand from getting out. It clipped Maggie on the side of her head. She dropped like a stone.

“Maggie,” Kee cried, throwing herself down and taking Maggie in her arms.

Devin stood over them helplessly as Maggie’s calm dissipated like a receding wave. The guy with the dead eyes blinked and looked around suspiciously. Boris Karloff appeared deeply offended. The girl groaned and seemed embarrassed that she was sitting on the floor. The old woman had gone dead still, her gold eyes glittering. Only Green had not recovered.

Pendragon cleared his throat and tried to regain some of his dignity. “My gift to you, Morgan. Three Tremaines.”

Devin’s his stomach sank. He glanced to Kee and saw the flash of fear in her eyes. Their backup plan was gone. Maggie was groaning. That might be a good sign for her health. But she was not going to be focusing her power anytime soon. That left what? Devin? His heart began to race. He wasn’t up to this. But he tried looking within to feel water. God, if he succeeded in bringing it, he’d probably just drown them all.

He was aware that Kee was straightening, even though she was sitting with Maggie’s head in her lap. Her steady gaze met the old woman’s stare. Devin was so proud of her in that moment. “Morgan. I can’t say it’s nice to see you.”

The old woman looked as ancient and wise as the snake in the Garden of Eden and just as evil. “And you are?” She raised her brows, a command to at least Kee and Devin to introduce themselves. Neither spoke, as if to say their names would give her even more power over them.

“Keelan,” Pendragon supplied helpfully, gesturing to Kee, who was now helping Maggie up. “Devin, and one by marriage, Maggie.”

Devin felt those old yellow eyes examine him. They took in his bare feet, the robe, his hunched posture. She sniffed the air. “Hmmm. Blood?”

Pendragon gave a hooded smile. “He likes his sex a little rough.”

“You bastard,” Kee exploded, lunging forward. Devin tried to grab her. But he was too late. The newcomers freaked out, and the kid who could levitate walked forward and just raised her in the air. The Boris Karloff guy pushed through the door and held up his hand. Kee clutched her belly, screaming. She rolled over and over in midair, gasping for breath.

“Leave her alone!” Devin shouted, snatching at her. He got her hand, but he couldn’t pull her down. And then the pain hit him. He curled around himself and hit the ground, gasping, dimly aware that Maggie was down and screaming too.

“Enough, Hardwick, Talbot,” he heard Morgan command.

The pain ebbed away, leaving him as weak as cooked spaghetti. Kee hit the tile next to him with a sickening thud.

He heard Morgan chuckling. “Three Tremaines. What do you say, Jason? Perhaps you’d like a go at the boy? There’s nothing to say we have to kill them right away. And it looks like Pendragon has broken him in for you.”

Devin tried not to listen. He had to think about Kee. She seemed unconscious. Fear circled in his belly.

The hard guy with dead eyes said, “Sure,” in the flattest voice Devin had ever heard.

Kee’s eyelids fluttered and Devin could breathe again. He glanced toward Maggie. She lay gasping on the floor but she was conscious. He took Kee’s hand. His thumb at her wrist felt a fluttering pulse.

“Maybe I’d like a go at him too,” the pink-haired girl cooed. “We can go together, Jas.”

“Hardwick, you and Talbot can take turns with the women,” Morgan offered. Her chuckle was the most frightening thing Devin had heard. He looked up, saw her expression of old evil as she stood over them, and knew that she’d have no compunction about hurting them until they all wished they could die. And there was nothing he could do about it. He was powerless to protect Kee. He’d never hated anyone, not even Pendragon, as much as he hated Morgan at that moment.

Hardwick must have seen his look, for another wave of incredible pain swept over him. It was as if every nerve was screaming. The pain faded, leaving him even weaker. This time, he kept his eyes on the tile. He had to save his energy. He might not be much, but it looked like he was all they had at the moment. And he had to do more than flood a bathroom.

“Nice little lesson,” Morgan complemented Hardwick. “It seems to have gotten through.”

“Time for all this later,” Pendragon barked somewhere above him. “I take it my little gesture of sincerity is acceptable. So let’s conclude our business, Morgan.”

Devin saw Pendragon’s feet as he strode toward the library door. The members of the Clan parted to let him pass. Morgan turned in after him, never taking her eyes from the Wand he held. “Bring them in,” she ordered.

Hardwick picked Kee up and slung her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing. Talbot just lifted Maggie up with levitation from where she lay in a heap on the floor. She coasted through the door behind him. Green had recovered his senses and staggered to his feet.

The one Morgan called Jason stood over Devin. He reached down and pulled the sash of Devin’s robe, then poked the robe back with his toe. Devin wanted to grab that foot and jerk the bastard off his feet. But now was not the time. Not with Kee and Maggie at the Clan’s mercy.

“You’ll do,” Jason said. The kick to Devin’s belly was swift and unexpected. Devin doubled over, trying not to barf all over the tile floor.

“Get up,” Jason said, his voice still flat.

Devin crawled to his hands and knees and staggered to his feet, pulling the silk robe around his body again. Jason’s shove on his back was excruciating. He stumbled into the library on wobbly legs. Shit. He was never going to be able to pull the water in this condition. And if he couldn’t, he didn’t see any way they were going to come out of this alive. He swallowed, trying to push down the fear that clutched at his organs.
You’ve got a little time. They aren’t going to kill any of us yet,
he told himself
.
Jason shoved him over to where Hardwick had dumped Kee on a couch. Maggie was huddled there with her, looking dazed.

“On the floor,” Jason said. Devin sank down at Kee’s feet. He tried to give her a reassuring look. When her expression changed to one of alarm, he realized he might not look as strong and in control as he wanted. He touched her thigh, and tried to draw strength from her presence. He had to protect her. He was the reason she was in this horrible situation. He worked on hearing the water in the walls of the house. There it was. Pipes running under their feet, in the walls in the back of the house, above them. He pushed himself, stretching, straining, as he had on the beach this morning.
Come to me.
Somewhere he felt another pipe burst, and another. But a few burst pipes wasn’t enough water to free them. He needed
big
water.