Binding the Shadows (Arcadia Bell) (5 page)

“It’s not funny,” I said. “Get him a movie gift card. His feelings are going to be crushed if you don’t do something.”

She dropped Jupe’s present inside the pocket of her gold and black coat. “Technically, my dad is Jewish, you know. I am under no obligation to participate in this holiday.”

“I thought Judaism was passed down through the mother.”

“Well, my mother is a Taoist, so I’m covered either way.”

“You said your mother always puts up a Christmas tree in Hong Kong!”

She sighed heavily. “Can’t you just put my name on a gift you’ve already bought? I’ll pay you back.”

“Maybe if you tell me more about this ‘surprise.’ ”

“No can do. I’m the official secret-keeper. Jupiter trusts me.”

I muttered to myself, but was reminded about a certain secret of my own that I needed to spill. I had no idea how she was going to react; even if Lon thought she’d accept my real history, I wasn’t completely convinced. I’d been lying to her for years. Had plenty of chances to come clean, but never did. I was worried that she’d hate me for keeping the lie alive so long, but I was terrified that she’d be so disgusted by the truth that she’d want nothing more to do with me.

But I couldn’t risk Dare telling her first. And, you know, since I’d conjured that vision of my mother on the beach—if it really was a just a figment of my Heka-soaked brain—maybe my subconscious was trying to tell me to stop running.

To move on.

“Hey, I need to talk to you about something,” I said, a little nervous.

“Oh?”

“Maybe after closing, we can go grab some food at Black Cherry . . .” I began, but my words trailed away when I noticed the Santa’s Village rejects had stopped at the end of the bar. The big-eared elf boy had a pale green halo and was anxiously looking around while his reindeer friend—who sported a military buzz cut under fuzzy antler head boppers—hoisted his backpack onto a barstool and unzipped it. Looked like he had a big metal can inside.

“What the hell is that smell?” Kar Yee said. “Is something burning?”

Shit
. My new protective wards around the door. The sigils were glowing like embers. Not exactly a blaring warning. Guess that’s what I got for experimenting with unknown magick.

My focus flew to the costumed kids. Reindeer Boy stuck a small metal bar at the edge of the can. He was prying a lid off.

A paint can? Panic raced down my spine.

“Hey!” I shouted, striding toward him. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Hurry!” the elf said as he unzipped his coat and pulled up a pair of bulky black goggles hanging around his neck.

The silver can floated up from the open backpack into the air. Telekinesis. I saw it all the time in the bar, but most Earthbounds who possessed this knack were only able to lift the toothpick umbrellas out of their Mai Tais—not heavy cans of paint.

Reindeer Boy made a motion with his hand and the can tilted in midair. A thick wave of red paint sloshed across the floor in front of the barstools. Kar Yee shouted incoherently as it sprayed across the bottom of her pants.

I acted on instinct. My hand reached for the winged caduceus I kept behind the bar—a full-size one, several feet long—but Reindeer flicked a hand in my direction and the carved staff flew out of my reach, sailing across the bar before crash-landing against an empty high-top table.

I’d never seen that kind of telekinetic range. Never!

“Now, idiot!” Reindeer Boy shouted to his gangly blond companion as he snapped on his own pair of goggles.

The elf-painted Earthbound shut his eyes. A disconcerting
pop!
crackled through the room. The TV went black, along with the nets of white lights and the Easter Island lamps at the booths.

He’d shorted out the electricity. All of it. The bar was pitch black, except for the soft unearthly glow of green and blue halos, and a patch of dull street light that filtered in through the stained glass window by the door.

Panicked shouts rang around the black room.

“Everyone stay where you are and you won’t get hurt,” a voice said. Reindeer Boy. His halo gave him away. Three red dots switched on around his googles—around his friend’s, too. Night vision goggles.

“You. Bartender.” Something slid across the bar top. I thought it was his backpack, but I wasn’t sure. “Open up the register and put everything inside that.”

A fierce rage caught fire inside my chest.

“They covered up the binding traps with the paint!” Kar Yee shouted.

Bold. And stupid. I didn’t need the damn binding traps anymore. Without electricity, they were no good to me anyway. I could just summon up the Moonchild power. But then I thought of my mom’s appearance at Merrimoth’s beach house . . . and hesitated. Only for a moment, but it must’ve been too long for Kar Yee, who didn’t know about my extracurricular talents. In her mind, my caduceus staff was across the room, and the binding triangles were compromised with paint.

A horrible, throat-closing fear hit my body, vibrating me like a struck gong. I heard myself whimper. Heard screams of the bar patrons bouncing off the carved tiki masks and kitschy tropical decor. But it wasn’t until I’d ducked behind the bar, retracting as if I were a frightened turtle, that I remembered the intensely piquant feeling of Kar Yee’s knack.

Kar Yee had the ability to cause everyone within a few yards to quake in their shoes: her knack was known simply as fear. Problem was, she had no control over it. All or nothing. She couldn’t direct it to a specific person.

I knew this. Knew exactly what was happening to me.

But I still couldn’t move.

Gods above, I’d never been so frightened. Terror clouded my thoughts and hijacked my body. My heart stuttered inside my chest and goose bumps spread over my arms. My gaze jumped around the darkened bar, searching.

A metallic rattling drew my attention to the low counter lining the back wall of the bar. The register shook like an airplane taking off from a runway. It rose into the air. The attached monitor slipped, then crashed onto the floor near my feet, cords dangling. I lurched sideways as the black, boxy metal till sailed through the air.

That piece of shit Reindeer.

I couldn’t see him, but I heard a crash and his pained grunt.

“Come on, come on!” The elfy one said, his voice squeaking with fear.

More grunting. Rubber-soled sneakers slapped against the floorboards, as coins jingled inside the till like sleigh bells. They were robbing us, and I was cowering behind the bar like a small child.

“Stop!” Kar Yee commanded, forceful as an army sergeant. On the heels of that shout came a sharp sound. The floor shook with the thump of flesh, crack of bone—too similar to the sound of Merrimoth being impaled. Kar Yee screamed and a wrenching, pained sound that stabbed through my heart. The fog of fear lifted immediately.

I leapt to my feet and zoomed around the bar. When I turned the corner, my feet slid in thick paint. I flew sideways, grabbing the corner of the bar top just in time to stop myself from landing on my ass.

The thieves were silhouetted inside the open door, red lights from their goggles making them look like dark aliens. “You’re both fucking dead!” I shouted in their direction.

I reached out for the Moonchild magick. Saw the Tambuku door slam shut as my already-dim surroundings blackened to nothingness. The pinpoint of blue light glowed. With my mind, I began shaping it into a standard binding triangle bordered with sigils, but instead of the numbing silence that usually accompanied the moon magick, I heard . . . voices? Whispering voices. The blue light began fading. I blocked out the whispers and concentrating on the binding—

Until something slithered down my left leg of my jeans.

The moon magick snapped away like a broken rubber band.

Alarmed and shocked, I reached for my pant leg. Nothing. The sensation disappeared. The whispers were gone. A strange dizziness stole over me. I didn’t get dizzy from using the Moonchild power. That only happened when I kindled Heka with electricity. What the hell was going on with me?

My mind jumped to my mother’s image. Christ, at least I hadn’t seen her again.

A horrific sob rent the air. My heart twisted. I’d never heard that sound, not in all the years I’d known Kar Yee.

I scrambled toward the sound, slipping in slick paint.

My foot kicked something. I dropped to my knees and crawled on all fours on the paint-coated floor. A noxious scent of latex filled my nostrils. “Kar Yee!” I reached out a sticky hand and touched her—where, exactly, I couldn’t tell. It was too dark. But I felt the puffy gold lamé of her jacket.

She whimpered and said something in Cantonese. Her voice was small and fragile.

“Where are you hurt?”

“I slipped. I’m broken up here.”

Broken. I slid a hand up her coat, searching. She lay on her back—I could tell that much from the feel of the coat’s zipper and the direction of her voice. My fingers touched warm skin. Her neck? She cried out. I snatched my hand away.

“Broken where?” I asked. “Your shoulders? Arms? Ribs?”

“My collarbones,” she said between sobs. “Can’t move!”

“Don’t try. Be still. Stay calm.” The last instruction was for myself as much as her.

“Cady!”

I glanced up. Electronic white light floated in the air. Bob jogged toward us, using his cell phone like a flashlight.

“She says her collarbones are broken,” I told Bob as he wobbled on his feet and began slipping. “Careful!” I wrapped a steadying hand around his shin, leaving a wet splotch of paint on his pants. He righted himself and knelt down with me, shining his phone over Kar Yee. Her eyes were shut tight. Kohl-tinged tears tracked down her cheeks. Her teeth were gritted. Red paint soaked her clothes, skin, and her razor-straight black hair.

“I’m here, Kar Yee,” Bob said.

“Help me,” she pleaded.

He leaned closer, gingerly pulling open one side of her coat. His slicked-back dark hair gleamed in the light of the cell phone. “I can’t heal bone until I know where the break is. We need an x ray first.”

“Someone call 911—now!” I shouted behind me. “Tell them we’ve been robbed and someone’s injured.” When a couple of voices replied in consent, I turned to Bob. “Sacred Heart’s a few minutes away.”

“A lot of Earthbounds on staff there,” he agreed. “Maybe someone knew my dad. I’ll ride with her in the ambulance.”

She sobbed again.

“It’s going to be fine,” Bob assured her in a calm voice. “You aren’t bleeding?”

She said no, but who could tell with all the damned red paint everywhere? Assholes. They ruined my binding traps, stole from us, and hurt Kar Yee.

Then it hit me: this was part of the crime spree Dare had been talking about last night.

Like Merrimoth’s out-of-control temperature knack, the telekinesis and electricity-zapping I’d just witnessed were not normal, but the boys hadn’t been transmutated. No horns. No fiery halos. Just teenage Earthbounds with enhanced preternatural powers. How the hell was this happening?

A distant crash sounded from somewhere beyond the door.

“Stay here with her,” I told Bob. “I’m going after those jackasses.” I pushed myself up, careful not to jostle her.

“Get them,” Kar Yee bit out.

I shuffled past the bar, asking if everyone was okay, recognizing a few voices that called back in response. The light was better here, near the window. Stupid ineffectual wards. All they’d done was scorch the doorframe. I threw open the door and took the steps two at time, a black rage pulsing in my veins. When I got to the top step, my gaze fell to the cement. Silver and copper coins fanned out over the sidewalk like ocean spray over rocks. A few scattered green bills fluttered in the wind, dancing when a car on Diablo Avenue zipped past. The empty till sat broken and dented against the brick wall of our building.

I ran down the sidewalk, scanning both sides of the street, then abruptly turned around and looked behind me. A few Earthbounds ambled out of a late-night diner. A homeless man huddled under a dirty blanket on a bench. But nowhere did I spy a thieving Reindeer or his elfin cohort.

They’d gotten away.

A devastating feeling of loss and disappointment washed over me as angry tears welled in my eyes. Defeated by two scraggly punks, all because I’d used the wrong magical wards and gotten lazy. I should’ve pounced on those kids the second they walked in the bar. After all the shit I’d been through, you think I’d know better than to let my guard down.

I’d failed Tambuku. Failed Kar Yee.

Failed myself.

But while Bob rode with Kar Yee to the emergency room, I pushed away these nagging feelings of incompetence, donned my Responsible Business-Owner cap, and stayed behind to handle everything.

Dealing with police always made me twitchy. Living under an alias did that to a girl. The two officers who responded to the robbery were both savages—humans who didn’t believe in anything supernatural—so I couldn’t exactly tell them that the hoodlums who robbed us were Earthbounds with crazy, amped-up knacks. I did my best to gloss over the paranormal details. They couldn’t understand how the fuse box had been blown—and I do mean blown, as the thing was smoking and the connected wires melted—but a forensic examiner dusted it for fingerprints anyway and bagged up the dented till.