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She had to get out of here

"Sterling, if you don’t want to believe Mathias is back, believe that someone has killed Thomas MacKinnett Look at your mirror"

The old wizard peered at it, then frowned "His symbol It’s black"

"I’ve seen his body with my own eyes All of the bodies You can add Bram, Ice, and me to the list of the dead unless you send help here now"

"H-help? I’ickind hasn’t needed anyone to enforce the rules really since--"

"Mathias, right?"

The old wizard sighed "Are you certain this isn’t ritted her teeth "Locate Lucan and Caden Ask theht now You are our only hope Please"

"You younger ones are so easily excitable and so certain you’ve seen a ghost" Another sigh "All right, then I will findthe lid on the mirror, she tucked it into her pack and sat it beside Bram With wand in hand, she crept up the stairs and listened Sto, shouts, soainst her, and she ht be captured But she had surprise on her side and she was not going to leave Ice to his doo her palht It didn’t budge Damn and blast! Sheit wiggling free of the ice and falling to the floor below The stone trembled in the wall, shuddered, then fell still

The only reason her spell would fail: Ice had sealed it off, put histhe little tunnel again impossible He’d made certain she couldn’t leave the relative safety of her hiding place to help hi, stupid, noble, idiotic, incredibleto protect her at the cost of his own life Didn’t he understand that she would and could have fought by his side? Yes And despite hating her brother, he cared enough for her to ensure her safety, even at the expense of his own

Somehow, she had to rescue him She had to escape this tunnel and save hied the walls Repeatedly More sta across the floor A door slammed

"NO!"

Sabelle’s blood froze Ice! She’d know his voice anywhere; it was i a prayer that her brother and the diary would be safe and remain undetected here until either she returned or Lucan and Caden arrived, Sabelle teleported to the back of the house and crept toward the kitchen door

"Bloody fucking wankers" Ice again Thank God he was alive

She peered through the glass in the door, barely peeking above the edge What she saw jumped her heart into her throat Blood ran in vivid criht between his eyes, soaking the thirsty sweater across his torso He held his wand high and backed out of the room

"Kill me, then I won’t tell you where the diary is"

The half-dozen wizards with their backs to Sabelle laughed

One sauntered forward, his swagger infuriating her "I’e your e and sneer "He can try"

The wizards nearest the door charged toward Ice Sabelle’s heart ju the other wizards to act Was he utterlywizards stopped Ceased completely and simply fell down Sabelle had never been one for bloodshed, but she sincerely hoped they were dead

Nor would she allow the re three to reach him, she vowed as she eased the door open behind them, determined to keep surprise on her side

Ice’s eyes flashed when he spotted her The swagger slipped, and terror overtook his face "No!"

Fro roolee "Thought you could kill another hundred of us again, did you? You only got eighty"

"Because the other twenty ran like cowards"

Zain roared, "Your bloodshed stops now!"

Sabelle cast a spell at the three heading for Ice, hoping he would take out Zain, and they would be free Instead, he pointed his wand at her with fear and apology in his eyes And love

Then she felt her entire body being propelled out the open door again as if so her as if she weighed nothing She landed er and fortitude juiced her as she shot to her feet and teleported into the kitchen The stillness of the room--of the house--assaulted her She was too late Instead of using his ic to kill the last few Anarki and free hi her out of the way Those few moments of distraction had allowed Zain to capture hi panic, she searched the house, every crevice, hoping against the odds In addition to the servants and MacKinnett’s body, she found dead Anarki everywhere Ice had wreaked havoc But she couldn’t count, didn’t cheer She prowled fro they’d si silence and eerie stillness later, she knew the Anarki had taken Ice To ale to fall to her knees and cry out her grief nearly overcaickind needed her Bram, the Doomsday Diary, Ice … none of them could be healed, hidden, or rescued without her now

So she sniffed back her tears and made her way to the cellar She had to collect her pack, her brother and the diary, get into the car, find Duke and the others She’d hoped that Lucan and Caden ht arrive in ti had likely not contacted theency of her request She shook her head, holding in the towering urge to rail and screa to have to save Ice alone

As she brought her brother and the pack upstairs, she heard the front door crash open The back door followed, and she was suddenly surrounded by Lucan, Caden, Duke, and Tynan

"Where--" Duke looked around the room His eyes widened and his mouth snapped shut "Ice did this?"

Hooded and robed Anarki bodies lay strewn all over the foyer At least fifty of them, some pinned permanently into the wall, with the collection of swords that used to decorate the room The undead dripped black blood in oily rivers down their warped faces Another stack of Anarki had been piled shoulder-high when Ice ripped off the handrail froht iron staircase, then shoved them on the up-thrust rails The black blood of the undeada murky pool that slowly spread across the floor as the bodies continued to drain The rest of the undead had met untimely ends at the business end of an ax The wizards looked stricken where they fell