Enchantment (116 page)

Tears
rolled
down
her
cheek.
Once
again,
she
had
ref
u
sed
to
listen
to
her
intuition.
St
r
y
k
er had
told
her
to
alw
a
y
s
listen
to
her
intuition.
Kerrigan…he’d
alw
a
y
s
insisted
her
instincts
would protect
her,
if
s
he
listened to
the
m
.

D
rawing
a
shaky
breath,
s
he
tried
to
sit
up
next
to
Padd
y
.
Panic
swelled,
frothing,
as
her
m
uscles
refused
to
m
ove,
her
li
m
bs
dead,
nu
m
b.
She
was
para
l
y
z
e
d
.

Paddy
picked
up
her
hand.
“
It
’
s
going
to
be
ok
a
y
,
M
eeka.
Kerrigan
will
find
us.
I
know
he will.”

“I
can
barely
m
ove,
Padd
y
.
M
y
li
m
bs
w
on’t
respond,
and
my
powers
are
not
working.” Meeka
sobbed.
Closing
her
e
y
es,
she
wallowed
in
the
faint
co
m
fo
r
t
she
got
from
her
friend’s touch.

“Meeka,
what
do
y
o
u
re
m
e
m
b
er
?
”

“Pad
d
y
,
there
w
a
s
a
horrible
little
creature.
He
laughed
at
m
e,
and
then
ever
y
t
h
ing
went black.
What
did
they
do
to
m
e
?
”

Wet
tears
streaked
her
cheeks,
and
Paddy
wiped
them
aw
a
y
.
“
The
y
’
v
e
drugged
us
with
s
omething, and
it
m
ust
have
affected
y
o
ur p
o
wers.”

Male
voices
interrupted
their
conversation.
Meeka
felt
Paddy
s
hiver.

“So
m
ebo
d
y
’
s co
m
ing. I
think
y
o
u
s
hould
pretend
to
be
unconscious,”
Pad
d
y
instructed. Meeka
agreed.
She
was
b
a
sical
l
y
unconscious,
a
n
y
w
a
y
.
She
closed
her
e
y
e
s. Shuffling
steps
punctuated
with
a
click,
click,
click
approached.

Paddy
gasped.
“
Thalius!” “So
y
o
u’
r
e
awake,”
he
j
eered.

Padd
y
’s bo
d
y
tensed,
and
her
short
nails dug
into Meeka’s
flesh.

Forcing
herself
to
ignore
the
pain,
s
he
listened
to
Padd
y
’s
angry
voice.
“You
evil
beast!
H
ow
dare
y
o
u
do
this!”

Oily
and
thick,
the
laughter
spewing
forth
was
noxious,
spiteful.
“H
o
w
pathet
i
c
y
ou
are.
M
uch
like
the
rest
of
these
pathetic
beasts
surrounding
m
e.
Madget,
the
other
Cou
n
selors
have no
idea
of
the
gift
handed
us.
Perhaps
‘tis
best.
I
have
no
intentions of
sharing!”

Cracking
her
e
y
es
open,
Meeka
stifled
a
shudder
at
the
disfigured
bag
of
bones
staring
at her.
“
D
o
y
o
u
know
w
hat she
will
eventua
ll
y
do
for
m
e? You
have
no
idea.
She
holds
m
ore
p
o
wer than
a
n
y
Enchanter,
and
it
will
be
m
ine. Mine
to
wield,
to
m
old, to
cla
i
m
in
all
m
anner
.
”

“I
hope
y
ou
rot in hell,
Thalius. Kerrigan alw
a
y
s
knew
y
ou
were evil. He’ll co
m
e
for
us, and with
hi
m
,
all
the
fires
of
H
ell.”
Fu
r
y
tightened
Padd
y
’s
voice
until
she
squeaked,
her
fra
m
e vibrating
beneath
Meeka’s
prone
bo
d
y
.

Thalius
h
o
wled
with
a
deep,
evil
laugh.
“He
can’t
touch
m
e.
It’s
the
best
part
of
all.
The other
Counselors
won’t
let
hi
m
. While I’m
pla
y
i
n
g house
u
p
stairs with
the
old
cronies,
I
have
my friend
here
to
watch
the
two
of
y
o
u.
Jager,
why
don’t
y
o
u
introduce
y
o
u
rself
to
our
guests?
Be
s
ure
to
pl
a
y
nice
while
I
go
deflect
a
n
y
attention from
us.”

The
thing
na
m
ed
Jager
also
dropped
the
hood
of
his
cloak.
Paddy
shrieked.
He
was
even
m
ore
hideous
than
Thalius.

Jager
snickered.
“Oh,
I’m
going
to
have
fun
pl
a
y
i
ng
ho
u
se
down
here.”
His
e
y
es
slid
down the
length
of
Meeka’s
l
i
m
p
bo
d
y
.

Thalius
was
silent
for
a
m
ome
n
t
“Jager,
co
m
e.
I
believe
my
presence
will
be
needed
in
the Cou
n
selors’
cha
m
bers
rather
soon.
We’re
about
to
have
a
ve
r
y
angry
visitor.
D
on’t
w
or
r
y
, Padd
y
,
we’ll
be
right
back
to
m
ake
sure
Meeka
gets
the
m
edi
c
ine
she
needs
to
control
her
nasty te
m
per
.
” He
turned and hobbled out of
the room with Jager following, but not
before he
waggled his
tongue
in
their
direction.