In the same moment, the owl came to perch on the tree overhead. He announced himself with a mournful whoo, but there was only joy inside me at the sight of him. I looked away from Nolan and Daria and right at the bird.
“Your timing is impeccable. ”
“Who,” said the owl.
“Are you quite mad?” Daria asked, shifting her gaze from me to the bird. Pretty rich coming from her.
I grabbed Nolan’s wrist before Daria had time to react and pulled him behind me, offering what meager protection I could. I would fall dead before she touched him again.
“I’d have to be mad to agree to help you. ”
“We had a deal,” she protested.
“I don’t bargain with rogues. ” I raised the sword to stop her advance. My hands were shaking badly and the blade trembled. She laughed again, but this time it was cold and loaded with an unspoken threat.
“You think you can stand against me? You, a boy, and…” she raised her eyes to the tree branches, “…a bird?”
“Who,” said the owl.
“It’s time for you to die, you insufferable little nuisance. ” Her veneer of politeness was melting away. Now the true monster beneath the surface began to show itself. Her fangs flashed and her eyes became pools of blackness.
The bird took flight again, circling over the house and flapping its wings with flourish before perching on a lower branch than before. Daria attempted to dive for me, and I held the shaky sword in preparation, but the attack never came.
She was frozen in place.
Panic contorted her face as she fought against her own immobilized limbs, trying desperately to move in any direction. She snarled at the futility of her actions, lathering herself into a frenzy.
“Nifty little trick, isn’t it?”
“What have you done to me?” she shrieked.
“She hasn’t done anything. ” A voice preceded its owner from the corner of the house. Sig followed his words and came to stand next to the rigid figure of his former right hand. “It was the bird. ”
Daria’s gaze darted to the owl, then back to Sig.
In a spectacular display of shimmering blue light, a show I was no stranger to, the bird dropped from the tree and landed as a man next to Sig. His olive skin glowed softly in the night, glittering with the lingering traces of the magic. He looked at me, a tight smile on his face.
“This, I believe they say, makes us even?” His strange accent made the sentence seem exotic.
I nodded, my head wobbling loosely like a rag doll’s.
“I hope your kind will have no further need of my services,” he said to Sig. “I helped you only as a favor to the girl’s grandmother. We are done now. ”
“For now,” Sig agreed.
The witch narrowed his eyes at Sig’s turn of phrase.
“You may release her. ”
The witch looked at the black depths of Daria’s pupils. She gnashed her teeth at him. Unmoved, he straightened the lapels of his suit with casual defiance, as though vampires threatened him regularly.
I wouldn?
?t worry too much about vampires either, if I could turn into a bird at a moment’s notice and fly away.
“I have told you what this one…” he indicated Daria, “…has confessed. Now you wish her to be free from her bonds?”
“We deal with traitors our own way. ” This came from an altogether surprising speaker. Juan Carlos came around the same corner of the house Sig had. With him was Brigit, who looked uncharacteristically grim. “She is our concern now. ”