Bright Blaze of Magic (Black Blade, #3)(28)

“Trust me. This is our only option. Now let’s go.”

Still holding on to my stolen sword, I raced over to the bridge, using my free hand to shove up my black suit jacket and dig into one of the hidden slots on my belt. I didn’t have time to sprint out to the stone marked with three Xs in the center of the bridge where you were supposed to leave your tribute, but I was hoping that the lochness wouldn’t be too picky about where I put the coins, as long as it got paid. So I grabbed all the quarters I had in my belt and slapped them down on the stone column at this end of the bridge. Then I sprinted back toward my friends.

“This way! Follow me! Hurry!”

A wide swath of grass ran alongside the bridge before gently sloping down and running all the way to the water’s edge. It would have been a pretty picnic spot, but none of the locals ever stayed close to this part of the river for long, knowing that it was the lochness’s territory. Several black-and-white monster warning signs were also planted in the grass to keep the tourist rubes away. DON’T FEED THE LOCHNESS.

But I sprinted past the warning signs and scrambled down the bank anyway, hoping that I hadn’t just made it that much easier for the creature to snatch us up with its long, black tentacles. All the while, I kept listening, hoping to hear the scrape-scrape-scrape of coins sliding off the stone column above as the lochness accepted my tribute.

But try as I might, I couldn’t hear anything over the rapid thump of my heart, the slap of my sneakers on the grass, and my friends’ harsh, ragged breathing. I’d just have to risk it.

We reached the bottom of the riverbank and stopped. A wide stone ledge ran along the edge of the grass, almost like a boardwalk, separating it from the water. The moon and stars were shining brightly tonight, making the rippling surface of the river gleam like a sheet of polished silver. The air was even more humid down here than it had been up on the street, and the entire area smelled wet and fishy. I stared out at the water, using my sight magic, but I didn’t see anything lurking in the dark depths.

“Now what are you going to do?” a snide voice called out. “Go for a swim?”

The four of us whirled around.

Blake and his guards stood at the top of the riverbank, swords clutched in their hands. I raised my own stolen sword, ready to defend myself and my friends. But instead of charging down the slope after us, Blake snorted and actually sheathed his weapon.

“You are without a doubt the four stupidest people ever.” He stabbed his finger at the closest warning sign. “Don’t you know that this is a lochness bridge?”

I didn’t say anything, and neither did any of the others.

He laughed and shook his head. “I don’t even have to come down there to kill you. The lochness will do it for me. All I have to do is wait.”

All around him, the guards snickered and sheathed their own swords. Across the bridge, Draconi guards got out of the SUV, spreading out until they had lined the opposite side of the river. All of them sneered down at us as well, just like Blake was doing.

I tensed, but I still didn’t move or say anything, and neither did my friends.

Blake and the guards all focused on the river, expecting the lochness—or at least its long, black tentacles—to shoot up out of the water, grab us, and drag us down, down, down to the bottom of the river, never to be seen or heard from again.

But nothing happened. No tentacles, no sprays of water, nothing.

A minute passed, then two, then three.

And still, nothing happened.

I took deep breaths, trying to calm my racing heart and frayed nerves, listening for the faintest splash that would tell me the lochness was about to strike, but I didn’t hear anything. No splashes, no slaps of water, nothing.

Beside me, Devon, Felix, and Deah all kept glancing at the river, with Devon and Deah clutching their swords tightly, ready to lash out with the weapons if the monster did attack us.

And still, nothing happened.

The Draconi guards started muttering and shifting on their feet, wondering what was taking so long. Blake scowled. Apparently, the lochness wasn’t killing us fast enough for his liking.

“Fine,” he muttered. “I’ll just come down there and finish you off myself.”

Blake unsheathed his sword, twirled it around in his hand, and left the street behind. I wondered if he might go over to the bridge to leave some money for the lochness like I had, but he ignored the stone column where I’d left my quarters. I sucked in a breath, my heart lifting with sudden hope.

He hadn’t paid the toll.

Sure enough, Blake had only taken a single step down onto the grassy riverbank when the clink-clink-clink of coins sounded, as the lochness finally accepted my tribute.

“Duck!” I yelled at my friends.

The four of us had barely crouched down on the stone ledge before a long, black tentacle shot up out of the river, spraying water everywhere. The tentacle undulated back and forth over our heads, like a copper crusher about to strike.

And then it did.

The tentacle zipped forward, heading straight for the cluster of men still up on the street. Blake’s eyes widened and he managed to avoid the tentacle, but the guard standing next to him wasn’t so lucky. The tentacle wrapped around the man and hoisted him high in the air before snapping him back and forth, and back and forth, almost as if the lochness was waving a flag, declaring that this was its territory and no one else’s. Then the tentacle tossed the guard aside, as easily as I could throw one of the stars hooked to my belt. The guard slammed into the side of the stone bridge, then plummeted down into the river below.