The Glass Magician (The Paper Magician Trilogy #2)(55)

The blood may as well have been acid given the way her skin burned around the glass.

She tried to move, tried to push herself up, but the angry shards dug deeper into her skin, searing like hot coals. She wheezed and let herself go limp on the floor, cutting the side of her face on yet more broken gems of glass.

Grath brushed off his hands and grinned. “You see, Ceony,” he said, pacing the room back toward Delilah and Aviosky, “it is about the words, and it is about the material.” He patted Delilah on the cheek; she had gone still in her binds. “I kept thinking of Lira, my dear Lira, and how to cure this obnoxious hex you placed on her. I knew I had to reverse it. And I thought, Reverse. Yes, that makes sense, doesn’t it? Reverse the spell.

“Binding is a spell, too, you know,” he continued, tapping one hand against the other behind his back. “But all spells have counters, a ‘Cease’ command or the like. So why shouldn’t the Binding spell have one, too?”

Ceony held her breath and tried to move, groaning against the sensation of the glass shards shifting in her skin. Her hand slipped in blood, and she collapsed back onto the floorboards.

Grath smirked and paced, this time closer to her. “So I studied, I tested, I practiced like a good apprentice. But I was still missing something. I had to step outside the frame, so to speak, and really analyze what I wanted to achieve. And last night I figured it out while I was staring into the very mirror you left me at that restaurant. Do you want to know what I learned?”

Ceony’s fingers slid across the floor, catching on a bloodied pyramid of glass.

“Me!” Grath announced, lifting his hands in a grand gesture. “The missing piece is me. Clever, isn’t it?”

“Deli . . . lah,” Ceony groaned, trying to slide across the floorboards. She felt hot liquid bubble up from her back and winced.

“Don’t you see?” Grath asked, strolling back toward Delilah and Mg. Aviosky. “I am the key! I must rebond to myself.”

Ceony blinked, his words taking a moment to register. “P-Please . . .”

Grath talked over her. “Let me show you, explain it real slow. First, you must have the raw original, as I like to call it.”

He pulled a small satchel off his belt and dumped its contents onto the table. Fine, tan sand poured over the surface. Blower’s sand, used for forming glass. The raw original . . . The natural elements castable materials were made of?

“Second,” he continued, “is to reverse the process, the words. Do you remember what the words are?”

Hair fell into Ceony’s eyes.

“Come now,” Grath said, sliding a glass dagger from his belt. He held it to Delilah’s collar, and she whimpered beneath her gag as he lightly drew the blade across her skin. “Tell me the words.”

Ceony began to tremble, a motion that felt entirely involuntary.

“M-Material . . . made by man,” Ceony whispered, “I summon you. L-Link t-to me . . .”

“Yes, that’s it,” Grath interrupted, cutting her short. He stuck his right hand into the sand and said, “This is the tricky part. Material made by earth, your handler summons you. Unlink to me as I link through you, unto this very day.”

Warm blood streaked over the side of Ceony’s neck. She could feel her pulse radiating in every single cut and gouge, could hear it drumming Delilah’s name in her ears.

“Next, bond to myself,” Grath continued. He pressed the same hand into his chest and said, “Material made by man, I summon you. Link to me as I link to you, unto this very day.”

He pulled his hand back and crouched, ensuring Ceony could meet his gaze.

“And then,” he said, low and slow, “you bond to the new material. I promised I’d show you, didn’t I?”

He stood and shoved Delilah’s chair against the wall, then wrapped his fingers around her neck.

“No!” Ceony cried, pushing against the floor. Her knees slid in blood, and electric pain soared up her legs and into her shoulder blades, stealing her breath away.

“Are you watching?” Grath asked, his eyes locked on to Delilah. “Material made by man, your creator summons you.

“Do you know how an Excisioner bonds, Ceony?”

“Grath, no!” Ceony cried, pushing herself up. Her arms turned to fire. New rivers of blood burst from the skin on her back, ringing around her ribs and torso.

“Link to me as I link to you through my years, until the day I die—”

Ceony grabbed the antique mirror and pulled herself to her feet.

“And become earth,” Grath finished.

A choking sound emanated from Delilah’s throat. Her eyes widened, and blood began to pour from her nostrils. She stared at Grath, fright emanating from her gaze, until her eyes rolled back into her head.

Grath released her, and she went limp in the chair.

“No!” Ceony screamed, running for her. “Delilah, no! No!”

Grath swung his arm out, colliding with Ceony’s chest. She fell backward, shoving the shards of glass in her back even deeper into her skin. She cried out and sputtered, tasting iron on her lips. Shadows bordered her vision.

“Oh, I’m not done yet,” Grath said, flexing and unflexing his hand. He smiled and turned to Mg. Aviosky.

Ceony’s body pulsed with pain. She struggled to stand as Grath neared Mg. Aviosky, but her limbs went limp. Too much. Never had she been so torn and tattered; never had she hurt like this, inside and out.