Levi gave her an amused smile. “Whatever you say.”
One hand was pressed to his shoulder to stanch the wound. There was something wrong with his blood, Cathrynne realized. Something very, very wrong. It looked silver in the moonlight.
“What are you?” she asked.
Levi Bottas looked down, a lock of dark hair falling across his face.
“Answer her,” Gavriel snapped.
He made a guttural sound of pain. The lamps along the pathway flickered.
“What in Minerva’s name . . .” Lara said slowly.
Levi lifted his head. His eyes glowed an unearthly blue, as if they held pure ley. He gained his feet in one graceful motion. Cathrynne unleashed a blast of projective magic an instant before Lara did the same. Their combined spell struck Levi with enough force to level a building, but he merely staggered back a step. Then he began to grow. Taller, wider, muscles bulging in thick cords along his arms and neck.
“What’s happening?” Kal squeaked, scrambling back.
When his massive shoulders caught in the branches of an oak tree, forcing him to duck his head, Gavriel voiced what they were all thinking. “Run!”
Cathrynne’s cracked ribs protested, but she gritted her teeth and took off. Lara and Kal ran ahead, but Gavriel slowed his pace to stay at her side. They ran between a pair of buildings as the giant who called himself Levi Bottas stomped through the grounds, bellowing Kal’s name. Cathrynne hoped it was an illusion until she glanced back and saw one hand swipe at a roof, sending slate tiles cascading down.
They ran until they reached a stone fountain filled with wet leaves. Everyone crouched behind it, fighting to catch their breath.
“What by the three gods is he?” Gavriel panted, looking grim.
Kal hunched her shoulders as everyone looked at her. “I have no idea! I thought he was human.”
“How long have you known him?” Cathrynne asked.
“Not long. A few weeks.” She glanced sidelong at Lara. “He promised to help me get out of Arjevica.”
Lara snorted. “You should have come to me. I could have protected you?—”
“Yeah, everyone keeps saying that,” Kal snapped. “But I don’t want your protection. I just want to be left alone!”
Lara opened her mouth to argue but Cathrynne cut in. “So you shot him?”
Kal looked on the edge of tears. “I didn’t want to, but I found out he was lying. Just using me to get the stones.” She swallowed. “I only shot him once. I’m not even sure where I hit him. I wasn’t aiming to kill. Then I saw his blood. It’s silver. What does it mean?”
“I’ve never seen that before,” Cathrynne said quietly. “Have any of you?”
The others shook their heads.
“We need to get out of here,” Lara said. “I’ll force us to the chapter house.”
Kal’s face hardened. “No.”
“Be reasonable,” Lara hissed. “We’re trying to help you!”
Her gaze unfocused. Cathrynne sensed the stones in her bracelet lighting up. Some projective, others receptive. The hair on her arms rose as Lara expertly braided the flows together. Liminal spaces opened where they made contact with each other, like tiny wormholes. A box began to form, and now she could see that the outlines of it were made of violet liminal ley.
Lara was forcing them all, whether Kal liked it or not.
Except that when she tried to extend the box to include the young woman from Pota Pras, the whole construction popped like a soap bubble. Lara looked astonished.
“That’s never happened before,” she muttered. “What’s going on?”
Cathrynne noticed that Kal had one hand jammed in her coat pocket. She’d assumed it was the gun, but now she realized that Kal must be clutching a lump of kaldurite. Which meant she couldn’t be forced—not against her will.
