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

“Back!” he snapped, kicking a chirping ball of fur that had rolled out after him. “Back inside!”

He signed the portal closed before more of the critters could spill out. After shaking hairs from the hem of his robe, he angled his blue-tinted shades around the room. I expected some explanation for the fur balls, but when he spotted me, he only muttered something about pet dander and sneezed.

“Thanks for coming,” I said.

“It’s always a pleasure.” He wiped his nose. “And your young charge?”

“Over there.” I gestured to the bed. Sven was sitting up now, eating a hamburger I’d ordered from room service.

Claudius tucked his curtains of black hair behind his ears in order to see better. “Ah, yes, yes.”

I made their introductions, then watched carefully to see whether Claudius remembered what I’d told him over the phone. But he got right to work, inspecting the salt-packed box I’d pulled from Sven’s pack and placed beside him on the bed. In his heyday, Claudius had been an expert in complex bindings.

Light flashed, and now Gretchen was standing in front of me.

“Where is he?” she said without preamble.

“There.” I gestured to the bed again. “Can you check his soul while Claudius finishes inspecting the bindings?”

She looked around and lowered her voice. “I meant Bree-yark.”

“I said he might be here later.”

Which wasn’t true. When I’d left the park with Hoffman earlier, Bree-yark had taken Tabitha back to my apartment, where he planned to spend the rest of the day. I hadn’t felt right dangling him out there as Gretchen bait, but she’d acted indifferent when I called and asked for her help. Now, not only was she here, but she’d changed outfits since the park, opting for a pink cloche hat this time.

“His soul’s fine,” she said.

“Are you sure? You barely glanced at him.”

“Well,” Claudius said, straightening from his stoop, “this is certainly one for the books.” He shuffled over. “Oh, hello, Gretchen! What a delight!” He gave her hand a long kiss, causing Gretchen to straighten proudly.

“At least he knows how to greet a woman,” she said to me.

I looked between them, the two most powerful members the Order could spare. “What did you find, Claudius?” I asked impatiently.

He released her hand at last and rubbed his chin. “The box has him bound fairly tightly. I could attempt to undo it, but here’s the dilemma. If I fail, it could do irreparable harm. And if I succeed, he won’t be able to access the magic to return.”

“He’d be stuck here?”

“I’m afraid so. The thing with the two realms is this: If you exist in one but not the other, you travel back and forth as you are. Provided you have the ability.” He gestured to Sven and me as examples. “However, if you exist in both, you shift from one form to the other. Do you follow me?”

“I hadn’t realize that,” I said. “But what does it have to do with the binding?”

Claudius started to answer, then stopped and screwed up his face. “Hmm, it seems I lost my train of thought, but the fact of the matter remains. If I did manage to free him, he wouldn’t be able to return home.”

I looked over at Sven, who was still eating. He may have preferred this version of the city, but he’d spoken of a mother in the shadow one.

“Let’s hold off then.” I turned to Gretchen. “And you’re sure his soul’s all right?”

“Yes, Gretchen, what do you think?” Claudius asked solicitously.

Without Bree-yark here to impress, I could tell she’d been readying a flippant answer, but flattered by Claudius’s attention, she gave Sven a second look. “Sure. If the box doesn’t keep wrapping him like fishing line. Much more, and he’ll be soul-strangled, and soul deaths are agonizing.”

I patted my hand toward the floor for her to keep it down, but that’s what I’d been afraid of. “Is it trying to hurt him?” I whispered.

“I don’t think so,” Claudius interjected. “It just appears to be clinging to him desperately.”

A knock sounded, and an officer escorted Mae Johnson inside. As usual, she’d brought Buster in his pet carrier.

“What’s she doing here?” Gretchen snapped, not bothering to lower her voice.

I stepped forward to receive Mae, showing her into the room as the officer backed out again. I introduced her to everyone, including Gretchen, even though their meeting the morning before had nearly come to blows. Mae appeared to have moved past it, though, and she smiled graciously. Claudius, overcome by the presence of another woman, went through the same prostrations he had with Gretchen.

“All righty, then,” I said, separating his lips from Mae’s hand before Gretchen could voice her growing outrage. I steered Mae toward the bed. “I asked her here to take a look at the binding.”

“Why?” Gretchen said. “She’s just a big—”

“Nether-whisperer,” I cut in. “And the citywide wards picked up nether qualities in the box. If we can’t release the bonds, maybe she can coax them into loosening their hold. It’s worth a shot.”

“I’m always happy to help, hon,” Mae said.

She exclaimed over Sven’s handsomeness when I introduced them. The shadows of his face deepened, which I realized was a blush. After some more pleasantries, she set down her carrier and took the box onto her lap.

“Sven and I were talking about the Titanomachy earlier,” I said, waving Claudius and Gretchen over. I wanted everyone to hear what I’d been piecing together. “That was the mythological battle between the Titans and the gods of Olympus. When Zeus’s side won, he cast his father, Cronus, and his allies into Tartarus. It’s like a Hades below Hades. In many versions of the myths, that’s where Cronus’s story ends. But like the Hermes cult, there were Cronus cults too. And what was Cronus?”

Claudius pursed his lips in thought while Gretchen rolled her eyes.

“A god of time,” Sven said, wiping his mouth with a cloth napkin. “He later became synonymous with Father Time, which is why