Old Dog, New Tricks by Hailey Edwards Page B

voice thickened. “The counter spell removes it.”
    So I was right about the reverse tearing off skin. Yay?
    With a jerk of my chin, I signaled I could handle it. Please, let me be able to handle this .
    Blood trickled from the neat cut, pooling in my palm until Mac fished a wad of cotton gauze out of his pack and pressed down hard. A flash of panic spiked my pulse. No matter how long he held it, the bleeding wouldn’t stop, which was kind of the point. And yet... gulp .
    “Now what?” I took over for him, applying steady pressure like it mattered. “The control box?”
    “Whether you jump a tether to the mortal realm or ride it to another location in Faerie, all tethers are anchored by a physical object to keep them stationary. Otherwise, they would drift. This location is pinned by the bridge. The control box is an amenity I added so that others could adjust their coordinates and travel more easily, but that is the limit of their power. To sever a tether, you must locate its anchor, and then you must counteract the spell I laid on the object. To do that, you use your magical sight to locate the threshold of the entrance. Once that is done, smear your blood across it and use the Word unique to its location.” Mac gestured before folding his arms across his chest. “Go on. You’re bleeding too much.”
    Huffing, I did as instructed. I stared at the bridge, letting my sight go unfocused. As the shimmering net superimposed itself over the bridge, I focused on the thin weave forming a tunnel and followed the rim of the circular entrance down to the ground, where the magic hit earth and rippled.
    I crept forward, wary of the energies lapping against its mooring. Once on my knees, I pocketed the gauze and let my blood drip in a line from one side to the other, then I smeared my hand over it to even out the drops and create an unbroken threshold. Nothing flickered. Nothing surged. Disappointment had me balling my fist, but when I twisted to glance at Mac over my shoulder, he gave me a pleased nod.
    “Say the Word,” Mac said patiently.
    I scowled at him. “You didn’t give it to me.”
    He jerked his chin toward the tether. “I shouldn’t have to.”
    Great. He was testing me. Again.
    Figuring the answer must be right in front of my face, I studied the net and then the control box, but nothing jumped out at me. All I saw were the coordinates. Mac wouldn’t use those... Would he?
    “Numbers aren’t technically words,” I muttered.
    The snatch of laughter I caught told me I had guessed right. With my hand planted on the blood smear, I spoke the coordinates under my breath. Waiting until my leg muscles quivered, I shoved to my feet, faced Mac and threw out my arms. “I guess this means the Morrigan will have to eat crow.”
    All her scheming, all the people she had hurt, all for nothing.
    My blood wasn’t counteracting his. My counter spell hadn’t kindled.
    Shoulders slumping, I had to find a new bargaining chip if I wanted to get Shaw back.
    His gaze strayed past me. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”
    Wood groaned behind me, and I spun around in time to watch as the supports buckled. Mac and I leapt backward as the bridge collapsed on itself. Old as it was, magic was all that had been holding it together. When I cut the tether, the magic spilled into the ground and the ancient structure toppled.
    “I did it.”
    I severed a tether.
    “You did indeed.” He sounded pleased. “Now, let’s tend your hand so we can get moving.”
    Still reeling from what I had done, I drifted to Mac in a daze of possibility, and he clasped hands with me, pressing his runes against the hairline cut on my right palm. A whiff of burnt skin rose, and I growled viciously through the pain. He inspected the temporarily cauterized wound before humming low in his throat, seeming satisfied.
    “There.” He sounded apologetic. “That ought to hold.”
    I curled my numb hand into a fist. “How many are left?”
    “There is one tether in