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

My own blood roared in my head as I stepped toward him. He followed the tip of my cane down to his stomach, his expression going from confused to concerned. I tapped into what remained of the hunting spell on the bonding potion.

“Attivare,” I whispered.

The cane wiggled.

35

“What’s going on?” Ludvig asked.

“Yeah, and feel free to clue me in too,” Hoffman snarled, limping in behind me. “I’m only lead here.”

My cane wiggled again. “The potion’s inside him,” I said.

Ludvig looked between my cane and my face. “P-Potion?”

“Did you have a drink at the Discovery Society after last night’s meeting?” I asked him.

“No, I left.”

“What about once you were home?”

“Just the usual. A couple glasses of water, warm milk before bed. Oh, and a bit of Discovery Select. A bottle arrived at my apartment yesterday, a gift from the club. After seeing the scene at the park with the police this morning, I—I needed something to calm myself. I took two shots. Maybe three.” He licked his lips nervously. “Why? What’s going on?”

“I need you to drink this,” I said, pulling a vial from a coat pocket. I spoke an incantation, causing the clear liquid inside to bubble as I handed it to him. “It’s a potion to negate the one inside you.”

“O-okay,” he stammered, shooting it in one tilt.

I waited, but my cane continued to wiggle. Having already taken effect, the bonding potion was glued fast to his system.

“Give us a minute,” I said, swearing silently.

I turned to Hoffman, and we walked back toward Vega, who’d remained in the doorway.

“Eldred has Ludvig’s shadow version,” I said in a lowered voice. “He’s the final victim. Eldred is going to drain him for his offering, if he hasn’t already started. When that happens, this Ludvig will die from blood loss. Not only that, but Eldred will release a major Greek god from an underworld prison.”

Hoffman’s face lumped up as he tried to make sense of what I was saying, but Vega understood the urgency,

“What do you need to do?” she asked.

“I need to go there,” I said. “Fast.”

Concern lines creased her brow, but she knew it was my job. “Do you have everything you need?”

I patted my coat pockets and then the holstered shotgun I’d been carrying all day—security in case the killer yanked me back to the shadow present again. It hadn’t happened, but the upshot was I was prepared now. I had a good idea where he’d be performing the ritual, too, but I needed to be sure.

“Just about,” I said. “I’m going to cast a hunting spell on Ludvig’s hair. While I’m doing that, can you call Claudius?”

“And tell him what?” she asked.

“That I’m going to need a ride.”

I’d just finished the hunting spell when Claudius emerged through a portal outside the interview room with Sven in tow. His curtains of hair were in disarray, but it appeared to have been one of Claudius’s more benign transits, with nothing clinging to or chasing him. He closed the portal and pressed his fingers into his stomach.

“Darn it, I can already feel things slowing down.”

I stepped over to Sven, who was glancing around the corridor. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thanks,” he said, hiking up his pack and massaging his healed shoulder. “It’s just a little tender.”

When he spotted Vega, he jerked back a step.

“It’s all right,” I said. “She’s cool here. Sven, this is my wife, Detective Vega. And this is Sven Roe—until he tells us otherwise.”

Sven looked between us in surprise before gathering himself and coming forward. Vega greeted him with a handshake, glancing over at me in a way that said, I trust you’ll explain his reaction later.

I nodded quickly.

“All right,” I said. “Claudius is going to take me and Sven to the Discovery Society. From there, Sven will transport me to the shadow realm. After I stop the ritual and recover the object, he’ll bring me back.”

“That easy, huh?” Vega said. “Can’t you take anyone else?”

I stepped over to her. “I’d bring backup if I could, believe me, but the tablet only endowed Sven and me with the ability to cross.”

“Do you think Eldred’s expecting you?”

“I know he’s expecting me,” I replied honestly, taking another inventory of my coat by feel. “But I’ve been at this game longer than he has.” Finishing my pat-down, I kissed her firmly. “He’s not going to win.”

She fixed my eyes with hers. “Be careful.”

I held the sides of her stomach, then turned to Claudius. “You ready?”

He was grimacing as if trying to force-start his peristaltic motion, but he straightened quickly and waved Sven and me over.

“I have a route in mind,” he said. “Best if we link arms, I think.”

“The less complicated, the better,” I stressed.

“Yes, yes.”

I took the middle position, his bony elbow hooked in my right arm and Sven’s elbow in my left. As Claudius signed into the air, I took a final look around. Hoffman was leaning against a wall, his face set in a frown, but he shifted his crossed arms enough to give me a thumbs-up. Beside him, Vega watched intently. She nodded that she believed in me. I winked and nodded back.

Finally, I caught Ludvig through the one-way mirror. Maybe it was an effect of the fluorescent lights, but his skin looked as if it was starting to blanch. Was his shadow being blood-drained at that moment?

“Here we go!” Claudius called. “Hold on!”

The portal that sucked us inside sounded like a 747 turbine and lifted me from my feet. I hugged Claudius’s and Sven’s arms against my sides as chaotic forces assailed us, trying to wrench us apart. I lost my hold on one, then the other, my body flipping around like a mailbox caught in a tornado.

In the next moment, horns were blaring, and I was spinning on my back. Tires squealed a few feet to my right. To my left, a cabbie was leaning out his window, shouting at me to move.