CHAPTER 228

There was another cry of pain, but Elizabeth put it out of her mind. There was nothing that could be done for Amir in his current state, but now that he had a mouth, his regeneration was quite unnerving. It was why they were using a property that had been abandoned long ago. While they could afford to stay somewhere nicer, the screams would be hard to explain.

Amir shrieked, causing the lights above them to turn on spontaneously and then flicker.

"Shit." Elizabeth walked over to the nearest lamp to unscrew the bulb, but it continued to glow in her hand.

"At least we know he's still as powerful as ever," muttered Sarah. "Would hate to go through all of this and--"

Elizabeth summoned a spectral hand and slapped her daughter with it.

"He may not have ears yet, but he has ways of hearing us," she warned. "Unless you want him to make a pig wear that necklace, I suggest you shut the fuck up."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Fine," she muttered, setting down her book. "I just hate what we've been reduced to. We were once the most powerful men and women in the world, and now we're... this." She gestured at herself in disgust. "And let me tell you something else. I've been--"

Someone knocked on the door, cutting Sarah off mid-sentence.

Elizabeth scowled, then walked toward the front door. There was absolutely no good reason for anyone to be on the property in the middle of a rainy night, so she summoned shadowy tendrils around her body as she walked. Once at the door, she started weaving a spell that would allow her to see through it when the knock came again.

"You can forget about using your magic," a voice warned her through the thick wood. "At best, you will need a new door. It has been a long journey and I am tired."

Cautious, Elizabeth opened the door, wondering if someone else from the society had survived. As far as she knew, it was just her, Amir, and Sarah, but stranger things had happened.

The dark figure on the porch was pale with a cruel, bloodless smile on his lips. He took off the hat he wore and placed it over his stomach as if getting ready to enter church.

"The hour is late," he informed her. "I have words I would discuss with your master."

Elizabeth frowned, then opened her mouth to ask who he was, but no sound emerged. She clawed at her throat, gasping for air.

"I don't speak with underlings," he declared. "Unless you were going to invite me in?"

She gasped and nodded, beckoning the man inside.

"Thank you." He stepped across the boundary and handed Elizabeth his hat. "Show me where he is."

Stunned, she obeyed without a second thought. The stranger followed her through the house, pausing long enough to hold his hand out at Sarah.

"You can sit there and be quiet," he commanded.

Sarah obeyed, panic filling her eyes.

Elizabeth led him further into the home, and then down into the basement. In a dimly lit room, what was left of Amir had been strapped to an old, wooden chair. Large parts of his body were simply missing, though his hands and feet were connected to his torso by thick tendrils of darkness. His head had only formed up to his upper lip, and Elizabeth winced as he cried out in pain.

A patch of darkness stained the air over Amir, and bits of ash drifted down across his body. If she stayed and watched, she might see one or two of them ignite and stick to his body.

It had been months since Amir had been pulled into the mirror world and destroyed. Immune to harm, his magic had been forcing his body through gaps in time and space to return here to Earth. Not only was the process long, but it was apparently very painful as he was reassembled on a molecular level. From where she stood, she could see veins and arteries, as well as some of his internal organs. She imagined the pain came from having severed nerves exposed to the air, but it was a guess at best.

"Now, now, this simply won't do." The stranger pulled a small black doctor's bag from nowhere and opened it. "By my estimates, it will be a better part of a decade before he comes all the way back."

"A decade?" Elizabeth looked at Amir. "By the looks of it, maybe a couple of years?"

"The process starts fast, ends very slow." He pulled a pair of syringes from his bag and jammed one into Amir's neck. A blue fluid disappeared, and Amir relaxed.

"You stopped the pain?" Elizabeth moved closer to see what the man was doing.

"No. I paralyzed his vocal chords. He still suffers, but now I don't." He grinned and used the other syringe to draw blood. "I believe I can speed up the process, maybe have him back together in a few years. But it will take time and resources."

"Who are you?" she asked. When the man looked at her, she felt her whole body tense up as he appraised her.

"You can think of me as a collector of sorts." He reached into his bag and pulled something out. "I'm here regarding this."

He tossed something to her and she caught it. It was a figurine holding a staff, but its features had been charred away.

"I don't understand." She looked at the man as he rose from a crouch.

"And I don't expect you to." He held out his hand and the figurine shot toward his outstretched palm. "You see, this piece in particular was very precious to me. It took me a lot of years to get it exactly where I wanted it, and now?" He squeezed the figurine into ash. "And now it's useless."

"What do you want from us?" Elizabeth didn't know why, but she was suddenly afraid.

The man grinned, then took the syringe and squirted Amir's blood on his tongue. He licked his lips and made a sour face.

"I want your master back in one piece. We have much to discuss, after all. Until then, I suppose we shall have to find other things to talk about." He walked closer to Elizabeth, his eyes shining with malice.

"Tell me everything you know about Mike Radley," he whispered, his voice like broken glass. He placed his long fingers around her neck and squeezed hard enough that she knew it would bruise. "And leave nothing out. After all, we've got plenty of time."