Free The Wood Queen by Karen Mahoney

mastermind?”
    “Hardly. Although the Magus did tell me that you’d try to talk me into letting you leave.”
    “The Magus ? Who the hell are you talking about?”
    He closed his eyes briefly, dramatically, as though something had genuinely caused him pain. “Please don’t invoke the name of the demon realm. Even behind the mansion’s wards, who knows what could be listening …”
    “Are you for real?”
    “What do you mean?” His tone had shifted from pained to defensive. “Miss Underwood you, of all people, should know the rules.”
    Donna felt like she was trapped in one of those nightmares—the ones where you know you’re dreaming but you still can’t wake yourself up no matter how hard you try.
    “I already told you once: please call me Donna. And then please explain what you mean by ‘the Magus.’”
    “Miss—” Robert stopped and smiled. He really did have a nice smile, and the laughter lines around his eyes made it clear he did it a lot more than his moody exterior currently let on. “Donna, you must know who I’m talking about.”
    She had a Very Bad Feeling, but the stubborn part of her didn’t want to have it officially confirmed. “You mean Quentin, right? Our Archmaster.”
    “If I’d meant the Archmaster, that’s what I would have said.” The young alchemist gave her a look that clearly communicated his fears for her sanity. “I’m talking about Simon Gaunt—the guy who looks like a ferret.”
    Any other time, Donna would have enjoyed Robert’s description of the man she’d grown to hate—but now was not that time. Her suspicions were correct: ever since she and Xan had found Simon’s lab, hidden behind an old clock in the Blue Room, she’d been pretty certain that the Order’s so-called “secretary” was in fact more than that. A lot more. The term “magus” had first snuck into her mind while they’d been stealing the elixir and trying to avoid capture, and she’d been finding it nearly impossible to shake those misgivings.
    Perhaps it was the screaming bronze statue in Simon’s lab that had been the final straw, for who else but a magus could animate lifeless matter with the consciousness of a spirit? She didn’t really know what had been going on with that creepy statue, but it hadn’t just raised the alarm; she’d heard it talking to Simon while she and Xan were hiding. It had been alive … in some way. Or, at the very least, there was something alive inside it.
    She shuddered, and Robert reached out as though to steady her. Donna realized that she had stood up without being fully aware of it. Her hands were clenched and her breath was coming out in short bursts. It was as though everything she thought she knew about her life was slowly unravelling. She wanted so badly to go back to simpler times—even if that meant returning to the misery of Ironbridge High and Melanie Swan’s vindictive attentions.
    “Donna, please sit down.” Robert held her elbow and guided her back to the seat with surprising gentleness. “Come on, you’re not looking well.”
    Donna allowed him to press her onto the dull brown couch. If Simon truly was a magus, did that mean he was the only one? Were there more? How had he kept something as huge as that hidden from her all these years? She’d heard talk of there being an actual magus in London, and possibly one in Prague, but the identities of those men (because they were always men) were kept a closely guarded secret.
    She closed her eyes for a moment, trying desperately to calm herself, not caring that Robert was probably freaking out. Her head was pounding and the pain in her arms, beneath the tattoos, felt like it could crush the breath from her lungs. Her chest ached and a strange sensation began to fill her, reminding her of what had happened out on the grounds after meeting Ivy. Something was wrong, something new and scary—and it only seemed to be getting worse.
    And then other thoughts pushed aside the worry about her