Tangled Webs

to close the gap in the wall, chewing on the Ebon-gray power shielding the hole, in an effort to cut off the possibility of escape.
    Lucivar reached into the pouch hanging from his belt, pulled out a ball of clay, and tossed it to Rainier.
    “Jaenelle made a slide. You need to rub blood on the clay to trigger the spell.” Lucivar’s eyes raked over Rainier. “That won’t be a problem.”
    “No need to get pissy about it,” Surreal muttered.
    His eyes sliced over to her. “I’ll deal with you later.”
    «Surreal, don’t push him,» Rainier whispered. He hobbled over to the hole in the wall and blooded the clay. When he set it on the bottom of the hole, the slide appeared, looking like a clay-colored cloud.
    “Rainier, you take one of the girls and go,” Lucivar said. “You two boys go next. Surreal, you’ll help them get on the slide. Then you’ll go with the other girl.”
    “I should—” Rainier began.
    “Most wounded, first out,” Lucivar said.
    No arguing with that voice.
    Rainier, the fool, argued anyway. “Surreal has been poisoned.”
    Oh, shit. If Lucivar was pissed off before, now he was really pissed off.
    Lucivar stared at Rainier. “Go,” he said too softly.
    Surreal dropped the poker, dragged Dayle out of the corner, and brought her over to the hole.
    Rainier was cursing softly and viciously as he got into position on the slide. She settled Dayle on his right side. As he put his arm around the girl, Surreal looked at the end of the slide and saw Jaenelle and Daemon waiting.
    The poison blurred her vision, and she was glad. She really didn’t want a clear look at Sadi’s face right now.
    She gave Rainier and Dayle a push, then watched them slide on air until they passed over the wrought-iron fence and all the tangled spells that had held them captive in this house.
    By the time she got the boys on the slide and started them down, the hole Lucivar had made in the wall was half the size. The spells around the house were closing the hole, and there was no doubt in her mind that anyone left in the house when that hole closed completely wouldn’t be coming out. Ever.
    “Lucivar…”
    His head was turned, as if he was listening to something behind him. But there was nothing but blank wall behind him.
    “Take the girl,” he said. “Go.”
    “The hole is closing up. The three of us need to go now. ”
    He looked at her and snarled.
    She couldn’t reach him. He would never listen. Not to her.
    He’ll listen to Jaenelle.
    She grabbed Sage and hustled to the hole, ignoring the way her feet couldn’t seem to find the floor. Since Lucivar wasn’t going to leave until she was gone, she needed to get herself and the girl out fast.
    The poison made the ride down a little too exciting, and she felt giddy when Daemon helped her off the slide and set her on firm, unspelled ground.
    “What—?” Jaenelle said, her voice sharp.
    Then Daemon roared, “No!”
    She saw Lucivar framed by the rapidly shrinking hole as he turned back toward something in the house.
    A moment later, the hole closed and the exit was sealed shut.

TWENTY-FIVE
     
     
    H e had time, Surreal thought as she stared at the solid wall.
    He could have gotten out. Why in the name of Hell had Lucivar turned back?
    Thunder rolled over the house and shook the ground. She wasn’t sure if that was Daemon’s temper being given voice or Jaenelle’s.
    But it was Daemon who bared his teeth in a snarl and wrapped one hand around a wrought-iron spike. She thought he was going to rip away a piece of fence. He was furious enough that he might not even need Craft to do it.
    Instead, a section of fence suddenly fell to the ground, nothing more than a pile of metal shavings. That was a quieter—and more frightening—indication of the power and fury that had just blasted out of the man.
    Then Daemon was running toward the house’s front door.
    Jaenelle leaped to follow him, hit a Black shield, and bounced back. “Daemon! Daemon! ”
    He didn’t stop, didn’t even check his stride—but the shield came down, and Jaenelle ran to catch up to him.
    “Go,” Rainier said. “Help her stop him. I’ll shield the children.”
    She ran. The poison seemed to slow her down a little more with every step, but she ran.
    He’d reached the covered entranceway. Once he opened that door…
    “Daemon!” Jaenelle shouted.
    He spun to face her, his face filled with barely controlled fury.
    “I am not leaving my brother in that house!”
    “Of