A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones, #1)(48)

“Yes, can you distract it? I’m almost done.” She was pushing through every drawer of the desk, rummaging for the locket. The owl-thing hooted again and stretched its clawed feet. Unblinking eyes bore into me, following my every move.

“Distract it? Mari!” I hissed.

“It’s just a strix. If it was going to eat us, it would have already.”

I released some of the tension in my locked-up knees and clenched jaw. “Oh. So they don’t eat humans?”

Her voice was an echo, the result of her head being deep underneath the cavity of the wood. “No, no. They absolutely do. But he hasn’t yet, so…”

I sucked in a shaking breath.

This woman was out of her mind.

“Good owl creature. What lovely fangs you have.” Was this distracting? I tried to speak affectionately, as I would have with Bells and Hooves back home. It came out harried and unhinged.

The creature only inched closer. Its eyes had gone predatory, the three spindly fingers of its ghoulish claws reaching outward. My breath was coming in uneven bursts.

“Mari, come on. Now.”

“Almost… done…” she grunted, her voice muffled.

The strix, still staring daggers into my soul, spread its wingspan wide, the feathers inky black and sleek as if they had been dipped in oil. I jumped backward at the sight.

“Ah! Found it.”

At Mari’s exclamation, the owl-like being flashed its teeth once more and charged at me.

Heart thumping in my ears, I ran for the secret entrance, burying myself against the wall and faintly making out Mari’s low hum behind me. The rush of wind at my back had me spinning around, and I watched as the strix shot up into the air with a strangled hoot, suspended there and thrashing.

Bleeding Stones.

I slumped with relief, supporting my body’s weight against the hidden door, and sucking in the musty air of the study.

“Are you doing that?” I motioned toward the strix, fighting to get back down from its hovering spot midair.

“Yes!” Mari cried, running over to me. A thin leather rope held a purple gem around her neck. “Holy Stones! I can feel her power, I can’t believe it.”

“That is so great. I’m thrilled for you. But,” I looked up at the hovering beast, angling down to swipe at us but unable to move. “What do we do about that? We can’t leave him up there.”

“Sure we can.”

I shot her a glare. “No, we can’t”

I couldn’t do that to Kane or the creature, no matter how much it had wanted to eat my eyeballs and feast on my flesh. At least, that was what I felt like it had been trying to communicate to me. “Bring him down, and we’ll run out before he can get us.”

Mari frowned but held the amulet tightly against her chest with determination. She focused on the swatting, squawking owl and began a haunting chant under her breath.

Seeing magic done was always awe-inspiring, even when I was shaking so hard my jaw hurt. The static wind, the slight hum in the air—our town dressmaker’s little spell to get a bottle of dye from a high shelf. A brief enchantment by a barkeep on a drunken patron to help him leave without trouble.

It had never looked as raw or visceral as what Mari was doing.

She continued her chant, but the creature didn’t budge.

Mari and I exchanged a look of concern. The strix looked concerned as well, cocking his feathered head.

The thump of footsteps echoed through the wooden door—the one that led to Kane’s bedroom. All three of us whirled at the sound, and the filtered noises of men next door seeping inside.

Then, I heard his unmistakable voice, muffled through the door. “And Eryx seems pleased with our offer. We may have an ally yet. And just in the nick of time.”

“That’s a stretch.” Griffin’s voice.

“Oh, for Stone’s sake, Mari! Try again!” I hissed. I didn’t know what it said about me, but I was significantly more terrified of running into Kane than I was of death by strix.

“Always so upbeat, Commander. Can’t we have one meager success?”

Griffin scoffed through the wall. “Fine. But what about Amelia?”

Kane’s casual laugh carried through the door into my bones.

My face heated.

I did not want to hear more of their conversation. Mari’s face scrunched up as she continued to chant the spell, grasping at the amulet around her neck.

“Griff, do you honestly think, with all that is at stake right now, that—

The strix hooted loudly, flapping its staggering plumes against the magical strain.

Oh, Stones. My heart was in my throat. I was choking on it—

We had to leave right now.

“What is that?” The thumps of guard’s boots were a steady rhythm from the King’s room heading toward us.

“Mari!” I hissed.

Suddenly Mari’s hold on the strix released and the creature fell halfway from the lofted ceiling to the ground, catching itself mere inches from the floor with outspread wings, and murder in its eyes. Mari and I slipped through the enclave right before the guards pushed in or the owl-like creature could have us for dinner.

We heaved twin sighs of relief in the hallway and walked as fast as looked natural in the other direction. When we rounded the corner, I was practically vibrating with anger.