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

Collecting my cane, I pushed myself up from the street and stumbled backwards. I tripped and landed seat-down on a sidewalk. A short distance away, Claudius and Sven were recovering from their own spills, Claudius hopping on one foot to reclaim a lost slipper.

“My apologies,” he called over a shoulder, straightening his blue-tinted shades. “The realm was a lot more temperamental than I remember.”

I went to check on Sven, who was rising stiffly. He nodded that he was all right and opened his pack to check on the Hermes box. I did the same with the spell items in my coat. Miraculously, they were all present and intact.

“The good thing,” Claudius said as he rejoined us with both slippers, “is that the turbulence seems to have gotten things moving again.” He smiled and patted his stomach, then noticed the plaque for the Discovery Society on the townhouse at Sven’s back. “Ah, and I see we’ve made it.”

“Yeah, thanks,” I said thinly.

“Well, if that’s all for now, I should log a couple more hours of phone time before my date with Elsie.” He squinted in sudden bafflement. “Or was Edna tonight and Elsie tomorrow?” He shook his head. “Well, in either case…”

Oblivious to the crowd around us, he signed a portal into being and disappeared through it. I gestured for Sven to follow me, and we hurried from the stunned onlookers and into the alley behind the club.

“I don’t know why we can’t do this inside,” Sven said.

“Because I don’t know what’s going to be waiting for us over there.”

“I can help,” he insisted. “I’m a vessel for Hermes.”

“You are helping.”

“I mean in the club.”

“I know what you mean, but what if something happened to you? I’d be trapped there.” I would also never forgive myself, but I was talking to a teenager. “Stick to the plan, all right? Get me there and then wait. When I’m done, I’ll come to you. Right here,” I emphasized, pointing at our spot behind the dumpster. “Well, here when we get there,” I amended.

He sighed, but I held his gaze until he nodded. “All right,” he agreed.

“I wouldn’t have gotten to this point without you,” I said. “Are you ready?”

A determined look came over his face, and he embraced me. I patted his back before realizing he was transporting us. My stomach dipped, and the scene changed from late afternoon to a smoky dusk.

Sven stepped back, a shadow being back in his shadow element. I peered up. A board covered the second-story window I’d broken through the night before. As I’d hoped, the security bars hadn’t been replaced. A gap remained, large enough to squeeze through. But first, the hunting spell.

I was piggy-backing off Eldred’s bonding potion, betting that it would enable me to use Ludvig’s hair in the actual present to hunt his shadow here. When my cane jerked in my grip, I was relieved to see I’d bet right. The cane steadied and angled downward, telling me I’d been right about something else: the ritual was happening in the basement. I activated a stealth potion and downed it in three quick gulps.

“Good luck,” Sven said.

“If you get into any trouble, go back. There’s a package store on West Seventieth called Morton’s that exists in both our realities. If I don’t see you here, or if for some reason I can’t come out this way, I’ll head to the store. When you think it’s safe, pick me up there.”

He nodded.

I squeezed his good shoulder and, with a force invocation, launched myself onto the window ledge.

36

I touched the end of my cane to the boarded window and whispered a Word. Having taken a couple trips the shadow present now, I knew to compensate for the weaker energy. Nails groaned and popped loose, releasing the board. Before it could pancake into the room, I caught it with another invocation and lowered it gently.

The door I’d blown through in my escape looked as if it had been removed. Fortunately, the window was to one side of the rectangle of light from the corridor and hidden in darkness. By the time I squeezed through the broken security bars, my stealth potion had taken effect, and I landed inside without so much as a thump. I poked my head back out. Sven wasn’t in sight, telling me he’d activated his vagueness rune. I flashed a thumbs-up to tell him so far, so good and replaced the board over the window.

My cane wiggled, still indicating Ludvig was in the basement.

With my back to a wall, I listened into the corridor. I’d never been the ultimate strategist—part of the reason I hadn’t given up trying to recruit the Blue Wolf—but I felt I had a good grasp of the situation.

Eldred wasn’t a magic-user, but he could concoct potions, probably with the help of the powerful artifact he wielded. He would also have zealous devotees. Those were my assumptions. More certain was his influence over the NYPD and that he retained the services of a powerful shapeshifter. So, experienced or not, Eldred was dangerous. Even more so since my invocations weren’t as strong here.

Down the corridor, someone cleared his throat. I stiffened, but no footsteps approached.

Sentry, I thought.

Pulling a second potion from my pocket, I activated it and drank it down. The potion bubbled in my stomach, trying to take effect, but I suppressed it. The many-many potion was for just in case.

I peeked around the corner. A tall man stood twenty feet away, his butt against the wall. Farther down, beyond the staircase, stood a second man. They were armed with walkie-talkies and holstered firearms, but neither item looked police-issue. These were Society devotees. I’d half expected hooded robes and creepy amulets, but the two were dressed as if they’d just come from church, which made them seem creepier somehow.

I waited for the closer man to turn away before slipping out. From there, I crept toward him.

And past him.

Even with the stealth potion, I didn’t release my breath until