Taken (34 page)

“I’ll give you my word. If you let Diego leave with Abby, the boys and Josh … I’ll do anything you want. I won’t fight you.”

“Diego can take Abby and the trips, but your powerless little mage stays here. His name is still on my book. He’s the only one that can remove it.”

“No deal.”
 

“You’re hardly in a position to argue.”
 

Every nerve in Channie’s body erupted in agony. She bit through her tongue in a vain effort to keep from screaming and fell to the floor. The stench of burnt onions filled her nose as flames of magic licked her skin — burning her without consuming her flesh. The pain ended as suddenly as it began.

Momma rubbed her forehead and said, “I don’t enjoy hurting you.”

“You could have fooled me.” Channie spoke without thinking, but Momma didn’t react to her impertinence.

 
“I don’t need your cooperation. I can take whatever I want from you, including your beating heart.”

A thin bolt of magic shot out from across the room and hit Momma in the chest. She dropped the knife and stumbled backwards. At first, Channie thought it came from Abby; but when the first surge was followed by two more tiny pulses, Channie realized it was the trips.
 

Momma raised her shield then cocked her head to the side and smiled, but it was an evil smile, full of malice. “What precocious little monkeys. Someone needs to teach them some manners.”

The bougainvillea plant came to life, writhing like a snake, tightening its deadly grip around Abby and the boys.

Diego snapped out of his shock-induced daze and tore at the vines with his bare hands.
 

Channie snatched the knife Momma had dropped and ran across the room. She hacked at the base of the plant, but it continued to squeeze the life out of its victims. Abby and the boys clawed at the vines around their throats; no longer able to speak, much less scream. Savvy’s lips were the first to turn blue.
 

Channie ignored the thorns and slipped her fingers between the vine and Savvy’s throat. She sliced her middle finger to the bone when she cut through the garroting vine, but it was Savvy’s whimpering gasp that brought tears to her eyes. She sliced her palm when she cut Zeal free but she barely felt it.
 

Diego grabbed the knife from Channie’s hands with bloodied fingers and sawed at the vines around Abby’s throat as he whispered to her in Spanish.
 

CoCo’s pale, swollen tongue protruded between his lips. His entire face was tinged blue. Channie dug at the vine with her bare fingers. It wasn’t growing any tighter, but it was still wrapped around his throat three times. “Diego!”
 

He refused to look up.

Channie kicked the side of his leg and yelled at him again. “Help me! Courage is dying!”

Diego froze as his eyes darted between Abby and Coco.
 

One sideways glance was all it took for Channie to realize that Abby was dying too. She couldn’t speak but she mouthed the words, “Save my babies,” then closed her eyes.

Channie whirled around and screamed at Momma. “Stop it! I’m the one you need to sacrifice. Not them.”

Momma blinked and said. “I released the spell two minutes ago.”

Channie grabbed the knife from Diego’s limp hand and went back to work on the vines strangling Courage. “Hang on Abby. I’m working as fast as I can.”

It wasn’t fast enough.
 

Channie thought of the way Josh had incinerated the giant oak tree the night he became a mage. “Momma! Use magic to burn the plant!”

“It’ll burn Abby and the boys, too; where ever it’s touching them.”
 

“Abby and Coco will die if you don’t!”

Zeal and Savvy both screamed when the vines encircling their arms and legs disappeared in a blinding flash of light. Pain seared Channie’s hands and left bands of blisters across her fingers, but all that remained of the bougainvillea was a cloud of ash.
 

Coco’s head lolled forward onto his chest. Channie stretched him out on the floor and felt his neck for a pulse.
 

He drew a ragged breath that sounded like tearing metal.
 

She tilted his chin up, straightening his neck to open his airway. He still wheezed, but the blue pallor faded with every breath. His heartbeat was weak, but steady and growing stronger.

Channie brushed the curls off his forehead then kissed his brow. He looked so small and vulnerable — until his eyelids fluttered open. He curled his lip back, revealing two rows of baby teeth, but there was nothing babyish about his expression as he struggled to sit up. Magic swirled around him, but he was obviously too weak to use it.

“Hey, little man, take it easy.”

“Where’s Momma?”

Channie looked over her shoulder.
 

Abby lay on the floor, her eyes open and staring at the ceiling … but unseeing.
 

Diego leaned over her with his hands between her breasts, elbows locked. He pushed on her chest as Momma cast multiple healing spells.
 

Channie ignored the grief tearing at her own heart, tucked the blade of the knife into her back pocket then carried Coco into the adjoining guest room. She settled him on the bed and turned the TV to the cartoon channel, “Stay here. I’m going to get your brothers.”

No one in the other room had moved. Momma and Diego were still focused on Abby’s limp body. Josh was still passed out in the corner.
 

Channie scooped Savvy and Zeal into her arms and carried them into the guest room. They snuggled against Coco on the bed and stared at the TV.
 

Channie turned up the volume and said, “You boys stay put. Don’t leave this room, no matter what. Got it?”

Zeal and Savvy popped their thumbs in their mouths and nodded, but Coco frowned and said, “Why? What’re you gonna do?”

Channie considered lying, or just ignoring his question, but something about the set of his mouth told her that nothing but the truth would insure his cooperation. “I’m going to try to save your daddy and Josh. I need you to stay here and protect your brothers. Can you do that for me?”

Coco nodded and said, “Be careful. Granny’s done lost her mind.”

“I know.”

Momma was still working on Abby. Channie pulled the knife from her back pocket and held it in both hands as she crept behind Momma, ready to plunge it into her heart the instant she either healed Abby or gave up trying.

Time stood still as Abby’s fingers curled into claws, then relaxed and opened like the petals of a flower. Her skin grew even paler. The cartoon music from the TV in the adjoining room provided a surreal soundtrack as Abby’s eyes dimmed.
 

Channie was all too familiar with the indignity of death. She recognized the final humiliation and lifted the knife above her head as a puddle of urine formed beneath Abby’s thighs.
 

She’s gone
. Channie hesitated for less than a second as grief exploded out of her chest, but it was too long.

Momma whirled around and blasted Channie across the room before she could strike. The knife fell out of her hands.

Momma pointed at Channie and screamed. “This is all your fault!”

Rage supplanted grief. Channie pointed to the Book of the Dead on the floor. “None of this would have happened if you weren’t so obsessed with that damn book!”

Momma jerked her head towards the book. Her face shifted from fury to ecstasy as she gazed at it. She brought her fingers to her lips, then lowered them to her heart and
smiled
. “It’s glowing!”

“Abby’s dead and all you care about is that evil book!”

Diego pushed even harder on Abby’s chest. Her ribs popped and cracked under the pressure. But it was far too late. Her heart would never beat again.

Momma crossed the room to the book, but sucked air through her teeth, hissing like a snake, as soon as she touched it. She blew on her fingers, as if that would quench the pain.
 

So, the book isn’t going to cooperate. Good.
Channie didn’t even try to hide her smile.

Momma marched back to Channie, grabbed her by the hair and dragged her across the room. She shoved her onto her knees in front of the book and said, “Open it.”

“No.”

Momma slapped her then hit her with the same burning spell she’d used earlier. “Open it, or I’ll kill you right now.”

Channie panted as she wiped the beads of sweat from her brow. “Go ahead.”

Momma turned towards Josh. He was still unconscious but his body arched off the floor as Momma blasted him with pure energy.

“No! Stop.” Channie would do anything to protect Josh, but that book was her only bargaining chip. “I’ll do it. I’ll open the book … if you swear a death-pledge to never harm Josh again.”

Momma narrowed her eyes and continued to blast Josh. “Open the book, Chastity.”

Channie gritted her teeth. If she showed even a hint of weakness, Momma would call her bluff. “If you kill Josh, I won’t help you. You’ll never know what secrets lay inside that book.”

Momma blasted an extra burst of power into Josh’s twitching body then released him and tore at her hair, ripping fistfuls of grey fluff from her scalp as she screamed obscenities. When she finally calmed down, she stared at Channie for a few moments, obviously measuring her resolve.

Channie fought the urge to glance at Josh and lifted her chin as she glared at Momma.

Momma sighed then said, “All right. But I expect a death-pledge from you in return.”

Channie nodded. Then closed her eyes for a moment as she tried to remember what Aunt Wisdom said when she bound Hunter with a death-pledge. The exact words weren’t important, but it was crucial that she didn’t leave anything open to interpretation.
 

Momma’s hands felt like chunks of ice as she placed one over Channie’s heart and gripped her wrist with the other.
 

Channie completed the binding grip before Momma could change her mind and said, “Do you, Prudence Belks, solemnly swear to never harm Joshua Abrim, also known as Valor Veyjivik, by direct or indirect means, upon pain of death?”

Hatred radiated off Momma. She trembled with obvious rage, but she didn’t try to reword the pledge or escape the binding grip. She dug her nails into Channie’s wrist then said, “So long as you, Chastity Belks, also swear upon pain of death to do everything I command from this moment forward, I do so swear or my life is forfeit.”

Channie bit her lip to keep from smiling as Momma’s magic flowed over their clasped wrists and up their arms. She was no longer Chastity Belks. Any promise sworn under that name could not bind her. “I—”

“Wait!” Momma’s magic stopped its forward progress and pulsed, waiting for the final word to seal the spell. Momma smiled and shook her head then began again. “Do you, Channie
Abrim
, also known as Chastity Belks and Enchantment Kerns, swear upon pain of death to do everything I command from this moment forward?”

Channie’s head bowed under the weight of her disappointment. She was prepared to make any sacrifice to save Josh, but the moment of false hope was worse than no hope at all. She closed her eyes and said, “I do.”
 

Momma’s magic plunged into Channie’s heart-of-hearts with a searing pain that dropped her to her knees. Binding spells weren’t supposed to be painful … unless broken. Momma’d hurt her on purpose.

She glared at Channie and said, “Now open the book.”

Channie’s gaze swept over Abby’s lifeless body and Diego’s crumpled form then settled on Josh’s beautiful face. “I will. But please … let Diego take Josh and the boys away first. The book is dangerous.”

“Obey me or die.”

Channie’s breath exploded out of her lungs as magic squeezed her chest, crushing her heart. She clutched her throat with one hand and reached for the book with the other. As soon as her fingers brushed its blood-stained cover, the binding power of her promise released its death-hold.
 

Her hands trembled as flames danced across the open page.
 

Momma tore the book from Channie’s grasp, but she dropped it with a yelp of pain. “Why can you touch it when I can’t? What have you done to my book?”

“Do you honestly believe the book’s going to let you handle it after you tried to kill its rightful owner?”

Momma shoved Channie out of the way and leaned over the book squinting at the shimmering words. She howled like a wild animal then grabbed Channie’s neck and forced her face over the book. “What’s it say?”

The words were small and ornate, difficult to read but far from illegible. “You can’t read it?”

Momma shook Channie until her vision blurred. “If I could read it, I wouldn’t be askin’ you to do it for me, now would I.” Momma’s gaze shifted to Josh’s supine body. “Your traitorous husband’s tampered with this book.”

Had Momma already forgotten her death pledge? If Josh weren’t already so weak, it might be worth it to let Momma curse him. The death pledge would
probably
kill her before she killed Josh, but “probably” wasn’t good enough.
 
Channie swallowed and touched Momma’s elbow to redirect her attention. “We should take a picture before the message fades.”

Momma pressed her fingers against her temples and said, “I ain’t got no camera.”

“Use your phone. It has a built in camera.”

Momma dug her iPhone out of her purse and shoved it into Channie’s hands. “I don’t know how.”

By the time Channie found the right app, the message had already started to fade. She snapped the photo, saved it, then glanced at Momma to be sure she was still preoccupied with the Book of the Dead, and emailed it to Josh.

Channie handed Momma her phone with the photo loaded on the screen.

Momma scowled at it then handed the phone back to Channie and pulled a pencil and small notepad out of her purse. “Read it out loud, nice and slow.”

Channie couldn’t refuse without risking death. She waited for Momma to nod after each line before reciting the next.