The Curse (Belador #3)(87)

Kell must have heard something in her voice in spite of her trying not to sound afraid. He turned to her and lifted his free hand to her face, gently touching her cheek. “How’s your eye?”

He had nice touch. She could still see through the swollen lid. “I am fine. And angry my majik fail me.”

Kell gave her a small smile. It warmed her heart as much as his words did when he said, “It didn’t fail you. You caused the truck tire to go flat. That bought us some time.”

She had used a spell that called sharp objects to truck tires. Something finally struck hard enough to cut tire. Making spell work from inside of truck had not been easy. It had taken a while to do. She could have done more and quicker, but that would have meant drawing hard on elements, which would have caught Grendal’s attention.

Once Jurba drove the truck again, he did not drive long enough for her to flatten a second tire.

She could not believe she escaped Romania for this. “My majik should have hurt Svart bad. Not make him crazy.”

Kell’s fingers grazed her cheek again, giving her chills that had nothing to do with the cold basement. He said, “I just wish the bastard hadn’t realized who sent the cement block flying at him.”

“I can heal from bruise, but troll took phone I borrowed from unconscious man.”

“Jurba would have gotten it if he hadn’t been too stupid to search for phones. These Svarts don’t seem to make those kinds of mistakes. I’ve never seen trolls that hard to take down.”

“Me either. Now we must give cousin time to find us. He will not come alone.” She couldn’t tell Kell about the snake people … VIPER, but she did relax a little, surprised at how talking to this boy made her feel better. Of the two boys, she would have thought the joking Kardos would be the one to lift her spirits.

“I’m sorry you got caught with us,” Kell said.

“My fault.” She could not blame the boys when she chose to follow them. With the power she possessed, she could get them out of here if not for fear of Grendal. She could not risk tapping that level of her power unless she had no other option. Even if she could break her chain, could she break all the chains fast enough to save everyone? “I will think of better plan.”

“No!”

She held her breath at Kell’s outburst and shifted her gaze to the Svarts, who had all stopped talking to look at Kell and her. She didn’t breathe until they resumed talking. Without taking her eyes off the Svarts, she said, “Do not shout.”

“I know.”

“Then why did you?”

When Kell said nothing, she shifted her attention to him, but he just shrugged and looked away.

What did that mean?

She understood Kardos, who flirted even to hide fear in this place and had no control over his mouth. But Kell did not act without thought.

A shrill scream sent chills crawling up Lanna’s spine. She jerked her head up to see a Svart grab Jurba, who was howling in terror. The Svart ripped Jurba in half.

Dead-troll stench hit Lanna. She covered her nose, the hideous smell making her eyes tear up.

Jurba’s girlfriend kept screaming as if her heart had been clawed from her chest.

The troll ripped off one of Jurba’s arms and hit the girl troll with it, spraying blood all over her and knocking her out.

So much blood. The memory of that night in Romania rushed in at her.

Lanna started breathing faster. She had to calm down and hold control of her power, but her heart pounded harder until she could hear it in her ears. Noises and smells blurred into a hideous cloud around her.

“Lanna?”

Her body shook with tremors.

“Stop whatever you’re doing,” Kell ordered. “Now.”

Her vision cleared. She jerked her head up and blinked. Kell was staring at her.

What had she just done?

Kardos leaned forward, shock on his face. “Did you do that?”

She looked around. Hundreds of chairs that had been neatly stacked to the side were now toppled in piles. Loose debris from the cracked ceiling had scattered across the floor. Two support beams were bent.

She might have killed all of them. “I am sorry.”

Man she borrowed phone from who had been unconscious in the truck now stared at her, but the trolls looked around, confused, then zeroed in on the captives.

All except the Svart who had torn Jurba apart. That troll squatted over Jurba’s body with his back turned to everyone like a dog attacking his first meal in days.

Then the troll called Lieutenant stared straight at her. His look said she had just moved to the top of his menu.

Cloaking herself right now, even if it worked again, would be of no use with her still chained to the pole. And she would not leave Kellman, Kardos or the others to these trolls.

Kardos whispered in a jittery voice, “Just what are you, babe?”

She admitted, “I do not know some days.”

Her cousin must show up soon or she would be forced to try something. And once she was out of here, she would not let Quinn out of her sight until they talked about how to fix her powers.

The Lieutenant barked something at his men, then started toward Lanna.

Time had just run out.

Kellman leaned forward to talk across Lanna to Kardos. “Got any spells that work inside?”

Lanna said, “Do not anger them more. They will hurt you.”