“Calling me a coward? Not very original, I have to say.” Even his voice carried power. It boomed, commanded attention.
I straightened, my chin raising.“I have a lot more insults at the ready if you want me to go on.”
“Feisty.” He chuckled. “I like that. But unfortunately for you, it won’t save your shadow. I’ll take it, as well as your friends’shadows, and then I’ll send you back out into the jungle, and you can yell all the insults at me that you wish.”
“I just want the nettle weed.”I gestured to the thorny plants clustered at my feet.“Let me take it, and I’ll be on my way.”
He took a step forward. “Nettle weed?” he asked. “You mean the briars? You think I’ll just allow you to steal from my garden? You think I’ll just allow you to walk away?”
I tipped my head toward it.“It’s not much of a garden. And yes, that’s exactly what I think.”
The beast threw its head back and laughed. “The answer is no. You and your friends will spend the day in my prison cells while I sleep. When the night comes, your shadow will be mine.”
The beast’s red eyes shifted, and he looked toward the castle. Its tall shadow stretched over the gardens, shielding us from the hot sun.
I wondered what he was staring at.
Then shadows emerged from the walls of the castle. I hadn’t even realized they were there, lurking on the surface, but now they veered toward us, arms outstretched, ready to carry us away.
Chapter Thirteen
BELLAMY
Ipaced back and forth in the stone cell, staring at the thick iron door and wondering how I was going to get out of this mess. Driscoll and Leoni sat with their backs against the wall, both of them slumped over, still unconscious from whatever Spirit Shadow had done to them.
If my brothers were here, Phoenix would be rattling off everything he’d read in his books that could help us. Ryder would be barking off orders. Klaus and Killian would be making jokes—or fighting about whose fault this was. Jorah would be reminding everyone to stay calm. Marcello would be regaling us all with a story about some hero who’d gotten out of a much worse situation, trying to rally the troops. And Solomon, well, Solomon would be focusing on me, holding my hand or singing me a song. He always made sure to check in on me, to make sure I was alright before he worried about anything else.
All their voices echoed in my head, all their wisdom, everything each brother had taught me in the six years I’d been lucky enough to have them in my life before they were cursed.They were still in my life, I reminded myself. Just because they were in a different form didn’t mean they were gone.
I thought of them now, biting my bottom lip. They were somewhere out in that jungle, scattered about, and I worried they wouldn’t be able to protect themselves. But they were safer out there than here with me. Spirit Shadow probably would have slaughtered them on sight just because he could. I hoped they’d found each other. I hoped they knew I was coming for them. As soon as I figured out a way out of here.
Driscoll snorted, then his eyes popped open. He blinked a few times, looking around in horror. His gaze found me, and he elbowed Leoni, who was drooling. She murmured something unintelligible. Driscoll elbowed her again, and she jolted awake.
“What? What’s going on?” she asked with wild eyes.
“From the looks of it, we’re stuck in a prison. Again.”
Leoni’s gaze found me as I signed,“What prison have you been stuck in before?”
She ran a hand over her hair, even more springs of red curls escaping from the tight bun on her head. “It’s a long story. But we were stuck in a prison similar to this one for five years. We have a bit of trauma associated with being imprisoned.”
Guilt gnawed at me, but this was ultimately their fault. They chose to follow me.“We won’t be imprisoned for long if we find a way out of here.”
“What happened?” Driscoll asked. “How did we get here? Where is here? All I remember is this big dark blob coming from the sky in that garden, and then, boom. I wake up in this creepy stone box.” He shuddered.
I swallowed.
“It was Spirit Shadow, wasn’t it?” Leoni asked.
I nodded, and Driscoll groaned. “So we’re done for.” He looked over at Leoni. “Well, we had a good run. It was nice knowing you.”
She rolled her eyes. “What’s his plan?”
I walked over to the wall and arched my neck to look up toward the little window covered in iron bars. It was just big enough we could fit through it, but I had no idea how we’d get those bars out.
“He’s going to take our shadows,”I signed.
“He’s not going to kill us for trespassing?” Leoni asked. “That’s all he wants?”
