Sebastian's screams of rage chased after us, but I shut his loud, thunderous bellows out of my mind and concentrated on getting Charlotte as far away from him as I could. We ran down the hallway, and then I pulled her through a living room and out the other side. When I was sure that Sebastian wouldn't catch up with us for at least a few minutes, I stopped in the middle of the hallway.

Charlotte gasped for breath, and she wasn't the only one. All the bricks flying into my body had hurt, and I had at least one cracked rib, despite the protective silverstone sh.e.l.l of my vest. If not for it, though, my rib might have broken and punctured one of my lungs. Then I would have wheezed to death on the library floor.

Charlotte stood beside me, her trembling body pressed against mine, small sobs escaping her throat, tears streaking down her face like a waterfall of terror. I grabbed her head in my hands and forced her to look at me, trying to snap her out of her fear and panic and get her to focus. After a moment, her empty eyes cleared a bit, and she looked back at me.

"Is there someone here you can trust? A maid, a gardener, somebody, anybody?"

She nodded. "There's . . . a driver," she said in between sobs. "My driver . . . Xavier. I . . . like him."

"Then you go downstairs, find Xavier, tell him to warn the rest of the staff, and get him to take you away from here," I said, letting go of her. "Before Sebastian kills us all. He won't stop now until I'm dead, and I don't want you or anyone else getting hurt."

Charlotte grabbed my hand in a tight, desperate grip, as though she didn't want to leave my side. I gently untangled her fingers from mine and gave her a small push.

"Go," I said. "Go on. Right now. And don't look back no matter what-"

Stone spewed from the wall beside me.

I gave Charlotte another push, this one more forceful. "Go! Run! Now!"

She gave me one final terrified look, her eyes going wide at whatever she saw behind me. Then she turned and ran down the hallway as fast as she could.

Sebastian's laughter floated toward me. "Running won't save her-or you, Gin."

I slowly turned around. Sebastian stood in the middle of the hallway, his hands held down and out by his sides, the amber flecks in his dark eyes glinting as he reached for more of his magic. The granite that comprised the walls slowly began to ripple, as though the entire hallway were made out of water instead of stone. The power Sebastian had-his control over it-took my breath away. He was quite possibly the strongest elemental I'd ever encountered, on par with the Fire elemental who'd murdered my family.

And now he was going to kill me.

I'd never been in an elemental duel before, and I had no desire to engage in one now, not when I knew how much stronger Sebastian was in his magic than I was. But I didn't let Sebastian see my fear and uncertainty. I didn't let him see the wheels of my mind churning and churning as I palmed a second knife and tried to figure out some way to get close enough to ram the blade into his heart.

Sebastian c.o.c.ked his head to the side and let out another low laugh. "Still hoping to kill me with a knife? Pitiful, Gin. Truly pitiful."

Apparently, my poker face wasn't quite as good as I thought. Something to work on-if I lived through this.

I shrugged. "It's what I do. In fact, killing people seems to be what I do best. I didn't have any problems with your father. I don't antic.i.p.ate too many more with you."

"My father was a fool!" Sebastian shouted. "Always playing the part of the good, upstanding citizen. He deserved exactly what he got."

I shook my head. "No, he didn't deserve it. Because he was trying to protect everyone from you. Dollars to doughnuts, he was going to turn you in for killing and hurting all those people. That's why he had Coolidge investigating what happened."

He let out a low, guttural snarl.

"Do you know how crazy you look right now, Sebastian? Better not let Mab see you like this. She might decide to kill you herself. She doesn't like complications, remember? And you are a hot mess if ever I saw one."

He laughed again. "Please." He sneered. "I'll put that Fire elemental b.i.t.c.h in her place soon enough. Just like I'm going to do with you-right now."

Sebastian threw his hands out wide. With one thought, the granite ripped free from the walls and zoomed in my direction.

And all I could do was stand there and let it hit me.

There was no time to move or duck out of the way. Even if I'd managed to crouch down behind a table or some other piece of furniture, it would have only been a temporary respite, since the entire hallway from floor to walls to ceiling was made out of stone. Still, I hunkered down, protecting my head as best I could.

I could have used my own Stone magic to harden my skin, but I decided not to. I'd used my Ice power in front of him a few times, mostly to make cubes for whatever we'd been drinking at the time, but I'd never told Sebastian about my Stone magic. Maybe there was still a chance-however small-that I could surprise him with it and use it to get the upper hand. Besides, I didn't think that he'd kill me right away. No, he wanted to play with me first.

The stone battered me from all sides, spinning me first one way, then the other, as I tried to avoid the projectiles. Wave after wave of rocks splintered from the walls and zoomed in my direction, one after another, faster and faster, as though I were standing in the middle of a tornado that was picking up speed.

And through the whole thing, I could hear Sebastian laughing with delight at my suffering, at the beating my body was taking, at how the stones pummeled me again and again simply because he wanted them to. And I realized that Sebastian wasn't going to give me a chance to get close to him. He wasn't going to make that mistake, and he wasn't going to stop this time until I was dead.

So I retreated.

At least, I tried to. The whirling dervish of rocks made it difficult to tell which way was which. Or maybe that was just all the blows to the head that I was taking. All I really did was spin around and around in a circle, going nowhere fast.

Finally, Sebastian got tired of battering me with the stone. I felt another surge of his magic, and this time, pieces of varying sizes erupted from the walls, and I started ducking and darting through them, almost like I was playing a game of dodgeball. In a way, I was, and if I got hit again, especially in the head, then I was dead.

Still, the bigger pieces of stone gave me a slightly clearer field of vision, and inch by inch, foot by foot, I retreated down the hallway toward a set of stairs that led down to the second floor. But even if I managed to reach them, it wouldn't do me any good. They were made of marble, and Sebastian could easily use his magic to make them crack right out from under me, have me fall in between them, then bring the two halves together to crush me to death. I couldn't help the shudder that rippled through my body at the thought.

And even if by some miracle I did manage to get down the stairs, I still had another level to go before I could get out of the mansion-a mansion made entirely of stone. Sebastian was in his element here, and the entire building was a death trap for me. But I couldn't figure out another way to get out. So I'd just have to try to be quicker than he was, even though I could feel his magic pulsing through the walls, pulsing through this level of the mansion- Crack!

A vivid streak of lightning shot down from the sky, and the window at the end of the hallway gleamed from the white electrical charge, shining like a diamond, even as the rain batted at it from the outside and drowned out the brightness. The storm had finally arrived, and it was a doozy, judging from the roars of thunder that boomed and banged and the lightning that I could see flickering outside through the window- My head snapped back in that direction, even as I ducked another rock coming my way.

A window.

I needed a quick way out of the mansion, and here was the opening I needed-literally. Sure, I was three stories up, but I could use my own Stone magic to soften the landing. It was the only chance I had.

Now all I had to do was get to the gla.s.s.

I stood in the center of a place where two hallways met. One corridor continued toward the stairs, while the window lay at the opposite end of the other hallway, about fifty feet away from my position. I started calculating distances and angles.

Sebastian let the rocks die down long enough to sneer at me again. "Getting tired yet, Gin? Because I can do this all night long."

I ignored his self-congratulatory rant and sprinted toward the window.

Sebastian's mocking laughter once again chased after me. "Oh, Gin. You won't get away that easily. That hallway is nothing but a dead end. You're trapped. Do you hear me? Trapped!"

But apparently, he wasn't quite as confident as he claimed to be, because he sent out another burst of magic, one that rolled through the floor. It began to ripple the same way the walls had. I risked a glance behind me to see the granite rising higher and higher, like an ocean wave about to crash down on top of my head and drown me. Really, that's what it was. Sebastian would drop the granite on top of my skull, cracking it open like an egg, and that would be the end of me.

So I sucked down another breath and forced my legs to move even faster and my arms to pump even harder. Behind me, I could hear the granite muttering with dark delight as it chased me down. The floor shifted under my feet, trying to throw me off balance, but I darted forward, put my hands up over my face, and reached for my Stone magic.

With one final surge, I threw myself out the window.

33.

I flew through the gla.s.s. My final lurch toward the window pushed me out into the air, several feet away from the side of the mansion, but the night was so dark, gloomy, and rainy that I couldn't tell which way was up, and then I was falling down, down, down. I used my Stone magic to harden my skin, head, hair, and eyes, along with the rest of my body- Thud.

I hit the ground a second later.

The protective sh.e.l.l of my magic kept me from breaking my neck, but the brutal impact still stunned me, and it took me the better part of a minute to realize that I was still alive. I'd managed to throw myself far enough away from the mansion to land in one of the flowerbeds that lined the outside of the building. I'd landed right on top of one of Cesar's prize rosebushes, completely crushing the delicate hedge of flowers. It took me a moment to untangle myself from the thorns that had stabbed into my clothes, roll off the greenery, and stagger to my feet. I took a step, and my left leg started to buckle, but I managed to straighten it and keep on going, even though I was hobbling in the worst sort of way.

A sharp mutter penetrated my daze. On instinct, I threw myself forward as far as I could- Crack!

Part of a granite balcony on the second floor broke away from the side of the mansion and landed in the spot where I'd been standing. It would have squashed me like a grape if I hadn't managed to get out of the way. My head snapped up. Three stories above, Sebastian leaned out of the broken window I'd jumped through.

He glared at me, clearly p.i.s.sed that I'd escaped his death trap upstairs. He gave a short, sharp, angry wave of his hand. Another balcony, also on the second floor, broke away from the side of the structure and plunged in my direction, but I managed to roll out of range of the falling stone.

I had to get away from the mansion, or Sebastian would keep using his magic to tear it apart piece by piece, even though there could still be other people inside. I hoped that Charlotte had warned the staff and that she'd found Xavier and gotten him to take her away from here, but I had no way of knowing.

I scrambled to my feet and started to run again.

I staggered away from the mansion about twenty feet before I realized that I had nowhere to go. My eyes swept over the rain-drenched landscape, but all I saw was stone, stone, and more stone. All of the outbuildings were made of either marble or granite, along with the pool, the tennis courts, and the ruined remains of the mausoleum. Even if I could manage to get to the wall that ringed the estate, it too was made of stone, and Sebastian could easily use his magic to throw me off it or collapse the wall on top of me the same way he had done with the mausoleum. I whirled around and around, looking for a way out, but I didn't see one.

I just didn't see one- Another flash of lightning zigzagged through the stormy sky, closer this time, but the light didn't completely disappear when it did. I squinted through the rain and realized that a soft golden glow was coming from farther out on the grounds. The greenhouse. The lights inside were burning steadily the way they always did.

I started to turn away from the structure, since there was nothing there that would help me, but then I whipped around and faced it.

The greenhouse.

It was the only building on the estate that was made out of gla.s.s, not stone.

Oh, Sebastian would still have his magic, but he wouldn't have as much material to use against me inside the greenhouse as he would if I made a break for the wall. So I lurched in that direction. Even as I moved farther and farther away from the mansion, I could hear the stone start muttering again as Sebastian raced through the corridors.

He was coming after me.

I picked up my pace and made myself move faster, even though the wind howled and rain batted at me from all sides, just like the stone inside the mansion had. It took me longer than I would have liked to reach the greenhouse, but I made it there. The door was locked, but I smashed my elbow through a gla.s.s pane on the door and unlocked it. I didn't want to waste any of my magic, not even my pitiful Ice power to make a couple of lock picks. Besides, Sebastian knew that I was here, and there was no use hiding where I'd gone or where I planned to make my last stand against him.

I slid into the greenhouse and shut the door behind me. The lights were turned down for the night, casting the interior in a golden gloom. The scent of Cesar's roses filled the air, almost knocking me down with their sweet, overpowering perfume. I scanned the interior, searching for a good place to hide. I'd only have one shot at Sebastian, and I had to make it count. I might have nicked his shoulder with my knife, but I was still far more beat-up than he was, and he could always strangle me to death with his bare hands. He might not be a giant, but he was strong enough to do that or simply bash my head against one of the planters or tables until my skull cracked open and I bled out.

I moved deeper into the greenhouse, sweat sliding down my skin at the stifling humidity, until it felt like I was still standing in the rain raging outside. Finally, I found a place that I thought would work, behind a cl.u.s.ter of palmetto trees at the end of one of the center aisles in the middle of the greenhouse. If Sebastian came down this aisle, he'd have to move there, to that particular spot, to get around the trees, and I could rise up from the shadows over here and drive my knife into his back.

That was my hope, anyway, and the last chance I had.

So I hunkered down behind the trees, tightened my grip on my knife, and waited for my enemy to come find me.

34.

It took Sebastian longer than I thought it would to reach the greenhouse. Perhaps he'd gone to the front gate first, thinking that I was running away, when I was really waiting on him so we could finish this, one way or the other.

A dozen times, I thought about leaving the building and trying to sneak up on Sebastian somewhere out on the grounds. I wanted to do something, anything, rather than crouch in the dark playing some deadly version of hide-and-seek. But then I thought about how Fletcher had lain in wait for Finn and me at the rock quarry and how he'd managed to mock-kill us both as a result. So this time, I finally decided to follow the old man's example and his advice.

Ten minutes after I entered the greenhouse, the door banged open, causing the rest of the gla.s.s panes in it to shatter. Lightning crackled outside again, perfectly illuminating Sebastian standing in the doorway.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," he sang mockingly.

I didn't bother answering him.

"Oh, come on, now, Gin," he said. "I know that you're in here. I saw your boot prints in the mud outside. Besides, the stones told me you'd come in this direction. Stone is everywhere, you know, even in the earth under our feet. There's nowhere on this estate that you can go where I won't find you. Although I think it's rather fitting that you've retreated in here. Just like my father did so many nights when he didn't want to face the real world. And now here you are, doing the same exact thing, not wanting to face your own death."

He stopped talking, waiting for me to be stupid enough to respond or make some noise that would give away my location. Please. I was through talking. I just wanted to kill him now.

Finally, finally kill him.

Sebastian closed the door behind him and threw the lock, even though the gla.s.s had disintegrated, leaving nothing behind but an empty metal frame. Then he leaned over and hit a switch, causing all of the overhead lights to flicker to life. I cursed to myself and slid back as deep into the shadows as I could get and still be in position to implement my plan to ambush him. I should have remembered to disable the lights, but it was too late now.

His dark gaze flicked over the s.p.a.ce. I peered around the edge of one of the tree trunks at him, careful not to give away my location by moving any more than necessary.

Sebastian shook his head, as though he was disappointed that I wasn't going to make things easy for him, then wandered over to the far side where the roses were-the deep, dark blue ones that he had brought me at the Pork Pit. The ones that I'd carefully pressed between the pages of a book of fairy tales like the stupid fool that I was.

Sebastian plucked one of the roses, then slowly twirled it around in his hand, studying the dark petals from all angles.

"Soft and silky," he purred. "Just like your skin. You know, it's a shame that we couldn't come to some sort of arrangement, Gin. Given how easily you dispatched my father, I was going to offer you the chance to keep working for me as my own personal a.s.sa.s.sin."

He paused.

"Well, perhaps it wouldn't have been that much of a choice. People will do almost anything for you when they're hooked on drugs. That bit that I dropped in your champagne was just a taste of things to come for you. But of course, you had to go and ruin things, the way other people always do."

So that had been his plan for me. Shoot me up with drugs until I was completely dependent on them-and him. Just when I thought that he couldn't be any crueler, Sebastian surprised me. But all that mattered now was finishing things-and him-before he hurt anyone else.

Here. Now. Tonight.

Sebastian started tearing the petals off the rose, casually scattering them in his wake, as though he were a flower girl strolling down the aisle at a wedding. He was three aisles over from me but headed toward the center of the greenhouse where I was hiding. So I just waited for him to get close enough for me to strike.

"But I suppose that sort of arrangement would never really have worked," he called out in a light, airy voice, as though we were talking about something of no importance, instead of the complete loss of my own self. "I mean, look how easily I managed to turn you against that old man and his son. I couldn't allow someone to turn you against me so easily. I couldn't take that risk. Not with you, Gin. Although I am curious to know how you became an a.s.sa.s.sin and why."

He paused again, as if he actually expected me to answer him. "I have my own theories, you know. In fact, I've had a lot of fun these past few weeks coming up with one story after another. I'm guessing, of course, that something rather tragic happened to you when you were younger, especially given the fact that you don't seem to have any real family left. Was that it? Your family was murdered, and you became an a.s.sa.s.sin in hopes of someday getting your revenge and righting the great wrong and terrible injustice that was done to you? Hmm?"

He was closer to the truth than he knew. Those were some of the very reasons I'd become an a.s.sa.s.sin, although I still wasn't sure who the Fire elemental was who'd murdered my family. But if I ever found out, then that b.i.t.c.h was getting dead.

Provided, of course, that I lived through the next five minutes.

"I've had to speculate, you see, because despite all the times that we were together, you never really talked about yourself," Sebastian said. "Every time I tried to ask you a personal question, you would turn the conversation in another direction. You were quite good at that. In fact, you've been better at keeping your secrets than I expected."