Shadow Duel (Prof Croft Book 9) by Brad Magnarella (ereader with android .txt) 📕

coupled with the neutralizing potion would negate anything they tried to cast. During their circling and taunting, I’d realized something. While my powers had grown considerably in the last ten years, theirs had stagnated, like the swamp they lived in.

I wasn’t afraid of them.

“What is that?” Grizela demanded in a piercing voice more befitting a hag.

I looked at the orb in my hand. “It’s called an emo ball. It was a gift from my mother.”

The purest expression of love, an emo ball was foreign to vile creatures like the hag sisters—and painful. It hadn’t even emitted a force. The wreckage was the result of the sisters trying to flee its intense benevolence. Still, I should never have used it in anger. It felt like a desecration of my mother’s memory.

“Well, get it away from us!” Minna cried, shaking stained-glass shards from her hair.

Elspeth snarled in agreement as she crawled from under a toppled china cabinet.

I started to pocket the ball before realizing it offered a negotiating advantage. “I’ll mute it completely in exchange for the info I came for.”

The sisters scowled and attempted a few warding spells, but my protection broke the foul energies apart. Before long, the sisters were stooped and panting. Grizela, the oldest, waved a bone-thin arm.

“Fine,” she spat.

I waited for her sisters to consent before drawing the power all the way down. “I’m looking for someone,” I said, placing the ball carefully back into a coat pocket. “The person who purchased red tanzanite from here recently.”

“Well, that’s easy,” Grizela said.

“His name was…” Elspeth took up.

“…no one,” Minna finished.

Still fatigued, the hags could only celebrate my disappointment with rotten-toothed grins. I studied the eyes buried deep inside their shriveled sockets for any signs of deception.

“Are you sure? Who else sells red tanzanite?”

“We’re the lone dealer in the Northeast,” Minna, the youngest, boasted before Grizela could shush her.

I considered that information. Given the gem’s storage requirements, it seemed unlikely Sven would have gotten it from hundreds of miles away. But if he could translocate locally, even into protected spaces, there was another explanation.

“Is any missing?” I asked.

Minna started to answer, but Grizela quieted her this time. “That wasn’t the barter,” she said. “If you want more, it’s going to require more from you.”

“How about I won’t leave your business a one-star review?” I snapped.

“You’ll leave us a five-star review,” Grizela said, “and the praise will be lavish.”

“Four stars,” I countered. “And the praise will be modest.”

The sisters fussed and scowled before nodding that the terms were acceptable.

“I just finished checking our precious stores when you arrived,” Grizela said. “And everything was all there. You lose again.”

“You haven’t distributed to any other sellers recently?” I asked, needing to cover all bases.

“No.” Grizela said. “And that one was free, but oh so worth it for the look on your stupid face.”

Sensing they’d clawed back the upper hand, the sisters broke into a gleeful bout of giggling that shook their ragged robes. I sighed. If there was a silver lining, it was that I’d gotten the info I’d come for with very little skin off my back. Though I wasn’t relishing having to write them a review.

“Well, thanks,” I said, turning.

“We also offer readings,” Grizela called.

I was prepared to ignore her, but I paused. Swamp hags possessed powers of seeing, made more potent by their sisterhood. Though they most often used that information to torment, it could also be useful. Especially in a case like mine, where I had no leads on a conjurer who could enter my home at will.

“Oh, yeah?” I said casually. “What kind of reading?”

Shadows gathered over Grizela’s face, and her voice turned ominous. “A reading to tell you what you face…”

“…what you fear…” Elspeth took up.

“…what is coming…” Minna said.

“…and how to protect the ones you love,” Grizela finished.

They might have been weaker than I’d remembered, but that was a hell of a sales pitch. Worse, they could sense my interest.

“Your price?” I asked.

“A year of your youth,” Grizela said.

“Oh, that’s all? What a bargain,” I said dryly.

Though every instinct of self-preservation in me recoiled, I wanted to test how low they were willing to go. The sisters held firm to one year. I then checked for loopholes. Though not as cunning as pure fae, hags were still plenty cunning.

“Not a year for each of you,” I said. “One year total, correct?”

“Of course,” Grizela replied, but I could sense her disappointment.

“And you mean the vitality of one year, not all of the memories and acquired experiences that go with it.”

“Yes,” Grizela agreed irritably, “the vitality of a single year.”

How much was my family’s safety worth? I consulted my magic. It shifted around aimlessly for several moments before seeming to issue a subtle nod. But was I just reading into it what I wanted?

“All right,” I agreed.

Grizela broke into a crooked smile as the bargain took hold. “This way, then.”

She and her sisters shuffled toward the door they’d entered through. They waved their hands en route, sending out smoky green tendrils that circled the shop. Bree-yark barked in surprise as the mess began to straighten up, everything returning to its place and in apparently collectible condition once more.

“Want me to come too?” he whispered. “I brought my iron blade.”

“I’ll be fine.” I fished into a pocket for some change and nodded at the vintage vending machine. “Why don’t you get that Diet Coke for Doug?”

“You sure about this reading, Everson?”

“No,” I admitted. “But I need info, and the sooner, the better.”

His eyes remained on mine, the skin around them lined with worry. The flash of anger I’d felt toward him earlier was now a stone of guilt. I squeezed his shoulder. “I really appreciate your concern, Bree-yark, but I can handle this.”

“All right, buddy. Just remember who you’re dealing with.”

I followed his distrustful gaze back toward the hags. Grizela, who was holding the door open, beckoned me with a wicked finger.

“How can I not?”

A short time later, I was perched on a wobbly stool, a