The Detective Inspectors (The Doorknob Society Saga Book 4) Read Free Page B

dove through. The water rushed in along with me as I made my escape through the opening.
    The strong current tried to devour me and I held my breath as I fought my way to the surface. I grasped for much needed air as I cleared the water before settling into an easy tread. I spied the beachfront and it didn’t take me long to recognize the familiar setting. It was a beach I frequented in Cape May.
     I yanked off my hoodie and let it float away as I turned my knob opening another portal and swam through it. I’d been chased often enough to know that one jump wasn’t going to get her off my tail. Plus, I figured it couldn’t hurt to see if Mom was still a good swimmer.
    My next stop was a beach in Italy that Dad and I had stayed at a few years back when he was touring. I kicked my boots off and continued leaving my breadcrumb trail to see how far Mom would go.
    As I ducked under a wave the faint outline of a crimson portal shimmered in the water and I swam though my own before it coalesced. I pushed ahead through two more beaches and into a river before I came up for air. Being the daughter of a magician had its benefits. I could hold my breath for close to five minutes. That was after years of practice. I doubted Mom kept up on her swimming, being too busy with her nefarious activities, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
    I pulled myself out of the river and hurried away. My hands shivered, the waters I had swam through not exactly tropical island seas, but it had helped increase my chances of losing her.
    I could hardly feel the knob in my hands, my fingers were so numb, but I activated it one more time opening a portal home. A doorway sprang to life glowing bright blue and I pushed my Doorknob into it and turned the knob.
    “Very clever.”
     I half turned when I felt the bolt of energy hit my chest. It catapulted me through the portal and I crashed to the floor in the hallway of my house. I shook my head to clear my vision and turned to see Mom on the other side glaring at me. She hurried forward ready to enter the portal... ready to attack me in my own home.
     My Doorknob was lying on the floor just out of reach. My arms were numb from the cold and the stinging pain in my chest and side weren’t helping much either.
     “Let’s end this now,” she said more determined than ever.
     She was close to the portal entrance. In a moment she would step through and I was damned if I was going to let her get me like she did Dad. Pain or no pain, I stretched my arm out, my nails scrapping the floor as I struggled to inch closer to my knob.
    A bolt of crimson energy shot over my head and slammed into the portal, the blue outline replaced by a deep red. Footsteps rushed up from behind me and I was never so glad to see Gran come to a stop beside me. She shot me a quick are-you-alright-look and I nodded that I was okay. She walked over to the frozen portal and stood mere inches from my mother... her daughter.
    “What happened to you, Talia?” Gran’s voice was filled with sadness, disappointment, and a hint of anger.
    “I grew up,” she sneered.
    “This isn’t how I raised you and your brother.”
    “Don’t you bring up Thomas to me.” Her lips turned down at the corners at the mention of my uncle. “ Mother .”
    “Why, because he wouldn’t approve of what you’re doing?”
    “My brother and our whole cursed family can go to hell!’ she yelled.
    “This isn’t you, how could you attack Chloe?”
    “I gave her a choice, she chose wrong.”
    “And Elijah, did you give him a choice as well?”
    “He betrayed me!”
    “Never, Elijah loved you. Even at the end he couldn’t bring himself to hate you.”
    “You’re a fool just like him, Mother, and you’ll end up like him... dead. I’m not protecting any of you anymore; if you stand in the way of the First Kind you’ll be destroyed.”
    “Talia.” Gran’s voice wavered and her shoulders slumped.
    “Don’t Talia me, Mother.”
    “Don’t you take that