by Nika Gray
It had taken me everything I had to get out of that place, and now I was headed right back to where I started from. This time, however, they had no idea how much power I had.
“After you,” Gregory said and motioned for me to go first. I took a deep breath and stepped through the portal.
The next two hours were a blur. Gregory and his two magic council goons placed a number of spells on me to make sure that I could not leave my bed. I stayed still and let them do their worst. I did not want to give them any clue of the power I had within me.
Gregory checked the spells twice and when he saw they were set, he finally gave his little team the go ahead to leave. Finally, I thought.
“This isn't necessary,” I said. They’d kept my mouth free of spells. I wondered why they wanted me talking.
“Last time you were here, you killed one of our own. We know how powerful you are,” Gregory said.
“Are you planning to keep me prisoner here indefinitely?” I asked.
“As I said when we took you into custody, this is only for questioning. We will decide if we will move forward with formal charges of aggressive spell-making against another magical member. Deputy Trahern will be the judge of that,” Gregory said.
With that, he left, his goons following him out the door. I strained against the hexes and binding spells to see how strong they were.
If I was them, I’d be checking in on me on a schedule. I needed to know what the schedule would be. I stayed put, all the spells in place and buzzing around me. I shifted my butt.
How long should I wait for was the question now?
20
Sadie
I had been laying in the bed for what seemed like hours. Someone checked up on me every hour during the regular day working session. When it came to be deep night, I noticed that whoever was checking on me through the small slot in the door was extending the time between checks up to every two hours.
News about mages and a spell gone wrong became an unexpected consequence of my patience. Even though I didn’t want any spell going wrong on Cole, Declan and Fergus, I wanted them here.
Could I have really gotten so lucky?
I waited another hour to make sure that the overnight schedule hadn’t changed on me. When no one showed up in the first hour, I knew my time had come. I closed my eyes and focused my growing Fae fire.
My red tendrils took no time at all to appear and zap and zing the many spells and hexes Gregory and his goons had cast around me.
They took close to two hours to weave the spells that kept me on the bed. My magic annihilated them within seconds.
I sat up slowly, taking my time as I had been in the prone position for a good seven hours, at least without food or drink. The magic council was not known for its kindness, I thought. They left me like that for hours, not offering even water.
I needed to pee. I stood up and blood rushed into my head, making me swoon. I waited for my body to stabilize and when it did, I made my way to the door.
I grasped the handle in my right hand and the Fae fire tendrils snaked around the knob. It glowed bright red and the mechanism clicked open.
I stepped outside of my little prison into a narrow hallway. The hall looked like an ER in a regional hospital. Just around the corner to the right of me, a nurse's station peeked out.
I would go in the opposite direction. I doubted that the magic council would keep the boys on the same floor as me, but I wanted to check the rooms anyway. Walking as quietly as I could, I peeked into the small observation windows on each of the doors. All the rooms were empty, like I expected them to be.
When I checked all the doors I safely could, I double backed to the exit stairway. My heart pounded as I grasped the knob. What if there was an alarm?
I’d have to take that chance. I pushed it open and when I was in the stairwell, I finally took a breath, not realizing I had been holding my breath until that very moment.
The staircase had stairs going up and down. I was not on the topmost floor and decided to go to the top and work my way down the building. It took me several minutes to make it up the three flights of stairs. Even though the spells were gone, I was having some residual exhaustion from my experience downstairs.
When I arrived at the exit door, I put my ear against it, listening for any sounds on the other side. After a few moments of silence, I opened the door and stepped inside a similar hallway that I’d found downstairs. A line of doors was to the left side of me and a solid wall was to my right. All the doors had the same small observation window the doors downstairs had. At least that would make my job easier.
It didn’t take me long to find one of my boys. The third door I checked, I found Cole Trahern sitting on the bed, his head in his hands. I zapped the knob to open the lock and slipped inside, closing the door behind me.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice sounding fuzzy and uneven.
I looked down at the powerful man I knew and cared for, trepidation filling me. I still wasn’t sure how I would lift the spell his mother had unleashed on him. What if my magic hurt him? I sure as hell didn’t know what I was doing. I lifted my shaking hands to his head. Everyone had told me that there was no way the spell could be broken, but nobody had the power that I had.
I stepped closer to him.
“Cole, I'm here to heal you. Could you please sit still while I find the spell your mother placed on you?” I asked.
“Spells? Why are you talking about spells? There's no such thing as spells,” he said. This was what the nurses were talking about last night. The extraction spell had extracted more than the Fae magic she must have caught him with.
“Do you know you are a mage?” I asked.
Cole’s blue eyes met her. “Are you a nutter? There’s no such thing as mages.”
Leonora Trahern’s spell went too far. It had made him forget everything about magic. Excellent.
“Are you going to be okay if I put my hands on your head?” I asked.
He nodded. “Can you take away the headache that I have? My head is pounding,” he said.
I nodded and put my hands gently on his head. I closed my eyes and focused my Fae fire into him. Find his magic, I thought.
The red glow of my Fae fire enveloped his head and then gently moved down the rest of his body. When the Fae fire fully bathed Cole, it flashed a brilliant red and then disappeared entirely.
Cole gripped me by the waist and pulled me in close.
“Sadie, where are we?” he whispered into my belly.
“At your mother’s secret lab. We must find Fergus and Declan. They have to be here somewhere. The spell she put on you went a lot further than she expected it too.”
“Damage control,” he said and stood up.
I kissed him on the lips. “I’m so glad you’re back. Will you try your Fae fire?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a grin. He waved his hand in front of my face, blue tendrils snaking around his fingers. “It’s back!”
“If they come for us, use it. Let’s find the others,” I said and opened the door.
“My mom really put the extraction spell on me?” he mumbled behind me.
“I’m sorry,” I said. I couldn’t imagine the pain of knowing that.
I touched his arm gently and he gave me a weak smile.
“We have each other now,” I said, and he nodded. I checked in the next observation window.
“I found him!” I said. They had kept the boys close to either, which made this much easier. Declan sat in the same position that Cole has been in. He had his head in hands as well.
He must be suffering from a headache, I thought. I used my magic to open his door and walked inside, Cole standing in the doorway as lookout. He looked up at me, confused.
“You don't look like my last nurse?” he asked me.
“I'm here to help you. Are you okay if I put my hands on your head?”
“Why?” he asked.
“I need to t
ake a spell off of you,” I said and stepped in front of him.
I placed my hands on Declan's head. Find his magic, I thought, and sent the Fae fire into him. The red glow surrounded his body like it had Cole’s. I hadn't really known how the extraction spell worked but assumed it had hidden the magic somewhere inside their brains. A place they couldn’t access. The Fae fire flashed bright red again and Declan jumped away from me.
“Sadie. I saw Fergus get zapped,” Declan said and jumped up. “Where are we?”
“At the magic council’s secret lab,” Cole said from the doorway.
“Fergus is the last one. He must be here somewhere,” I said. “I think we’re running out of time.”
I pulled Declan to his feet. “Can you walk?”
He nodded. Both he and Cole looked dazed but were steady enough on their feet. Declan was already taking in his surroundings and checking to see if he could transform into his wolf. He kept changing his arm into a paw and then back into a human arm.
“Are you doing okay?” I asked.
“I was in there and I knew that I had magic, but I couldn’t find it,” he explained. “I'm making sure it’s still there.”
“Can you bring up your Fae fire?” I asked. His arm switched back to human and green tendrils ran along the length of his forearm.
“It’s still in there,” Declan said.
“He’s here,” I said. Fergus was right next to where Declan had been held. I opened the door the same as I’d done the others. I didn’t know how I knew this, but we were out of time.
I was sure of it.
Fergus had his back to the door. He was sitting on a narrow bed, hunched over. I didn’t even bother with announcing myself.
I ran up to him and placed my hands on his head. My red glow engulfed him. Fergus turned to me as his arms turned into molten gold. He pulled me into him and kissed me hard and long.
“Hi,” I said when his lips left mine. “We have to get out of here.”
Fergus squeezed me so hard against him my ribs hurt. Cole and Declan came up behind me and squeezed me too. I was in the middle of my three men, our Fae fires intermixed as we drew comfort from each other.
“We have to go,” I said.
“Do you know how to get out of here?” Declan asked.
“I can open up portals now,” I said. Cold air moved against my back.
We had run out of time.
I turned to see Gregory Mathonwy with his arm around Fergus’ neck. He was mouthing a spell I didn’t recognize, and when he was done, a purplish flame licked at his fingers. He held the spell in his hand as he yanked Fergus away by his neck.
“I have no idea how you got out of the spells we put on you, but if you don't get back into the room, I will kill Fergus.”
“He's your son,” I said.
Fergus's eyes were wide, his skin turning to golden molten lava. He tried to pull away from Gregory and his magic sputtered. Gregory was his father, and Fergus would not be able to do what needed to be done.
Gregory was losing control of the situation. His face twisted in rage when he saw the molten gold coming from his Fae fire. Gregory hated his son; I could see that. I needed him to get away from Fergus and now. I met Fergus’ eyes.
Can I, I thought.
He moved his head.
I lifted my arm and Fae fire exploded out of my fingers. Fergus threw himself away from his father as my Fae fire hit him square on the head.
Gregory flew out of the room through the open doorway and crashed into the far wall. He slid down and lay there unmoving. He reminded me of a broken doll.
I bit my lip as my heart dropped. I had just killed Fergus's dad. Of that I was sure.
“Oh my God, what have I done,” I cried.
Fergus, his eyes hooded and unreadable, went over to his father's unmoving body and checked his neck. He didn't find a pulse.
“Is he dead?” My voice came out hysterical.
“I think he is,” Fergus said.
“We have to get rid of the body,” Cole said. “If they find his body than they're going to know it's us.”
“I killed someone. I didn't mean to do that, I was just trying to get him away from you, Fergus,” I said, tears streaming down my face.
“I know you didn't mean to kill him,” Fergus said. “But I think he was prepared to kill me, so thank you for that.”
Rage and pain and sadness swirled in my stomach as I saw the anguish in Fergus' eyes. It was one thing to believe that your father didn't love you, it was another thing to actually know it.
“I'm so sorry,” Declan said to Fergus.
Fergus shrugged her shoulders.
“How are we going to get rid of his body, so they don't come looking for us?” Declan asked. This lab was a place of pain. Pain for me and countless others I was sure of.
“We can check to see if there's anybody in this building, and if there isn’t, I'll blow it up,” I said.
“Can you do that?” Cole asked.
“My magic is fully back. I know who and what I am, and I think I can absolutely destroy this place,” I said. “I bet I could scan this place for living beings too.”
I closed my eyes and imagined the floor we were on. It’s layout and plan. I couldn’t feel any living creatures here besides us. The floor below was the same. I let my mind wander onto the next floor down. As I breathed in and out, I scanned the rest of the building. I didn’t feel anyone in it.
“I’m not feeling anyone but us. At the same time, that doesn’t entirely make sense. Shouldn’t there be guards here?” I asked.
Cole checked the time on his wristwatch and said, “It is four in the morning,” he said.
“What if we pull the fire alarm, just in case? Make sure whoever is in the building is out,” Declan said.
“Here’s one,” Cole said, standing next to the fire alarm pull.
I imagined a parking lot next to this building and, using my Fae fire, I opened a doorway into an empty parking lot.
“Now,” I said.
Cole pulled the alarm. The fire lights glowed red as a blaring sound traveled through the building.
“If anyone is in here, they are definitely going to leave. This is going to pop my eardrums,” I yelled through the sound. “Ready?”
I waved the guys over and they all stepped through the portal into the parking lot. I followed them out into the night air.
“Are you guys ready,” I asked.
They all nodded. No one had come out of the building and the fire alarm was still blaring.
I lifted both of my arms and focused all my hatred and pain at that building. I wanted it to go up in flames. Flashes of the lab where they had held me flowed into my brain. That place had held so much pain.
A massive streak of Fae fire left my arm and exploded against the five-story building. Massive licks of brilliant red tendrils ran up the walls.
We watched for one minute.
Two minutes.
Then a shock wave raced towards us as the place exploded. I opened another portal and pushed everyone through it.
We all fell onto my small bed.
“Holy shit, did you see that?” Declan asked.
“We blew it up,” I said. I felt my true power but hadn’t really known what I could do. Now, I did.
“My father is dead,” Fergus said, kneading his fingers. I touched him on the shoulder and kissed his neck.
“You have us now.”
“I know. He was going to kill me,” Fergus said.
“My mother lobotomized all of us. I know the confusion,” Cole said and to my shock hugged him.
Love swelled in my chest. With these guys, we could accomplish anything.
“What are we gonna do next?” Declan asked.
“We need to find our fourth person,” I said.
All eyes were on me.
“A fourth guy?” Cole asked.
“We are part of a prophecy. A Fae from another realm and the four princes of the Faerie ki
ngdoms will unite to break the spell keeping the veil closed. The Fae are prisoners in their own realm, their magic being sucked out by the magic council. We are that group. We are missing one,” I said.
“Wow,” Declan said. Cole and Fergus stared back at me.
“Princes of the Faerie realm,” Cole asked.
“Yes,” I said.
I hope you enjoyed reading Defense Magic!
If you want to continue loving on Sadie and her men, check out the conclusion…soon.
Copyright © 2020 by Nika Gray
All rights reserved.
Defense Magic: Protectors Academy - Book 2
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About Nika Gray
Nika Gray is living her happily-ever-after with her family in sunny California. She loves stories that are both supernatural and have a big swoon factor to them. Her heroines are strong, strong-willed and sassy and are fully appreciated by their mates.
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