by SA Magnusson
My finger began twitching. Could the Paralytic be fading? I knew it didn’t work for long, certainly not as long as some of the spells, and I had seen the operatives overpower it faster than I had hoped they would be able to do.
I needed to figure a way out. With my fingers able to move, I could touch the wrist restraints. I tried to trace a pattern. Two triangles touching at the tip. When it looked like I had that pattern formed, I focused. I needed to find power, ignore the panic I felt, and find a way to gain my own strength.
Doing so required helplessness. I thought about my childhood. The way I had felt when my father had been beating my mother. The screams that had come from the kitchen. She had tried to mute them, biting them back, but he was brutal. She always said she preferred he be brutal with her than with us, and yet, knowing his brutality, she did nothing to get us away from that environment. I remembered sitting in my room, cowering, wishing for nothing more than him to pass out.
Those memories weren’t working. I shifted to another thought. What about more recent? There were plenty of those. The strongest one was how helpless I felt when Brad had been lying on the table in the ER, his aorta sheared, his life slowly bleeding away as he bled out internally. I had felt incredibly helpless then. There had been nothing I could do, nothing that would allow me to find a way to save him. And yet, I had pushed power out, worried I had known it at the time. Perhaps that power had helped him, or maybe it was that I had called in the right specialist at the right time, giving him enough blood and support in order to pull through.
That sense of helplessness didn’t help me now either. My hands were moving, and so were my ankles, but bound as I was, there wasn’t any way for me to get free. I needed magic in order to do so. Cold burned along my wrist. It was the first time I had felt that in a while. It was the sense of magic, and it was powerful. I didn’t know if that meant John Adams was out there attacking Veran and Cynthia, or if there was something else taking place. Either way, I needed to break free. I needed to do it for Barden. He had been lying there, dying because he had come on my behalf.
What had Barden been telling me I needed to do? Overcome my helplessness. And I had. Maybe that was why I couldn’t find it now. I needed power because of the person I was. Not a person who dealt with what happened by cowering, but one who pushed forward—even when I shouldn’t. I forced my way into that source of power.
With a flash—far faster than it usually came—it poured out of me. I slammed it into the pattern that had formed on the wrist restraints, and they exploded. With my arms free, I hurriedly traced a pattern on my ankle restraints, and pushed through that, destroying them the same way.
Lunging to my feet, I staggered. It appeared the Paralytic wasn’t completely gone, but near enough. As I fell forward, I reached for my pouch. Inside, I grabbed as many of the coins as I could. There was no reason to hold back now.
Crawling toward the door, my strength gradually continued to return, but it wasn’t enough—not nearly enough. I pulled the door open. In the distance, I caught sight of Matt and John Adams. They were battling someone beyond them I couldn’t see, and power was surging from them. They stood in the hallway, using spells to block.
I threw my coins. As they rolled toward the two men, I waited until they got near enough, and then I sent a trickle of a trigger through them. One after another they fired.
When the first one went off, Matt spun around. The second one tossed him from his feet. The third one caused John Adams to twist, sending a protective barrier behind himself, blocking the explosion of additional spells.
Matt scrambled to his feet, racing toward me. I reached into the pouch, snatching out more coins. I didn’t care how many I used and was determined to trigger as many as possible. I threw them in Matt’s direction, and as they rolled toward him, they exploded, a series of spells that went off. Somehow, none hit.
Matt almost reached me. “You shouldn’t have been able to get away,” he said.
“Because I’m just a hedge mage?”
I pulled out another fistful. I held them as he approached, waiting. There was one thing I could try, though I didn’t know if it would even work.
“Kate wouldn’t even come for me,” I said.
“She would come. And I told you that when she does, she can bring you back, and then we will hold her.”
“You need her to bring me back in order to hold her?” I said, realizing why they were willing to make the sacrifice. “Why the hospital?”
Matt smiled. “The hospital was John’s thought. He figured she would be compelled to go someplace she cared about, but in that, I suspected he was wrong. I used it as an opportunity to prepare my audition for him. You provided the access. It’s a shame we had to eliminate so many of the Shara in order to get me where I wanted to be, but when this is all over, it will be worth it.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Am I? About what?”
“About her. About me. About everything.”
With that, I jumped toward him. I’d been holding onto my strength, coiling it within me; at the same time, I had been preparing a hint of power, just enough to help me blast forward, using the same type of spell I had used on the wrist restraints and the ankles. I had traced it on the floor, and wanted nothing more than to blast myself forward, throwing myself at him. When I struck him, it surprised him. I slammed coins against his chest. With as much power as I could summon, I triggered them.
Rather than a sequence, and rather than a cascade of a trigger, this came in a torrent. All went off at once, and Matt went flying back from me. He cried out, his eyes going wide, and he was thrown into the far wall, collapsing in a heap. He shook for a moment, blood pouring from his nose, and then he stopped moving.
I stared at him, waiting for him to get back up, but when he didn’t, I breathed out, finally relaxed. Still, it wasn’t over. I might have stopped Matt, but there was one more person we had to deal with. John Adams was out in the hallway.
John was backing up along the hall. Somehow, he had a way of avoiding triggering the spells Matt told me were within the walls. Was there anything I could do to help? He had his back to me, but he’d already shown me that even then, he was skilled enough to block most of these spells.
I couldn’t see who was attacking from the other side, though I could feel the nature of their power, the ongoing pressure that flowed from whoever John was facing. I pulled out another fistful of coins. One big burst. That was what had worked on Matt, and it would have to work on John. I didn’t know if I had enough strength to trigger it.
Trigger. That was the key. I looked along the hallway. Power continued to build, burning along my arms from the bracelet, but it was more than just that. I felt that power within me. It was not just the gift that Kate had given me, it was me and my connection to power.
Could I trigger all of the spells along the hallway? Not only would I disrupt what John was doing, but I could throw the coins I held, tossing them along the hallway, and then if it worked, could trigger everything at one time.
Where was the coin I’d charged with a trigger spell? I searched through the pouch but couldn’t find it.
It was in my pocket. I hadn’t placed it with the others. It was the only one I had left from those I had made. The other was with Barden, though I wondered if there was any way for him to use it. Maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference. Holding onto the quarter, the trigger spell I had made, I threw the fistful of coins along the hallway. As they rolled, I waited for them to get close to John Adams.
He glanced down, hazarding a look back at me, and he smiled. When he did, I pushed.
It went not only through my own power; I triggered the coin and tossed that along the hall. As it went, all of the spells in the hall started firing. John shot me a look before quickly throwing up power, but the number of spells suddenly triggered was more than he could account for. Then the coins fired, exploding in a steady staccato of noise, like the grand finale of a fireworks show go
ing off.
When it was done, I sat back. My strength had returned, but magically, I was spent.
A faint haze hung in the air. When it cleared, I feared John Adams would come for me, but he lay motionless.
Two figures started down the hallway, and with a sigh of relief, I realized it was Veran and Cynthia.
20
I got to my feet. Cynthia headed toward John Adams, and Veran made his way toward me. I was unsteady, and the longer I was here, the more unsteady I felt. I let out a shaky breath and wondered if I would collapse again.
“Is it over?” I asked.
Veran approached, and he looked at me, concern etched in his eyes. “For now.”
“What happened out there?”
“More attackers came.”
“You got rid of them?”
Veran shook his head. “Barden did.”
“Barden?” My breath caught, and I was barely able to get the word out. He had been gone, hadn’t he? I had seen him, the blood pooling out of his head, the improbability of him surviving.
“He used a trigger,” Veran said. “In doing so, he set off the rest of the spells.”
“What happened to him?”
Veran shook his head.
“No,” I whispered.
I started forward, but Veran was there, seizing my arm. “Let Cynthia finish this,” he said.
“What is she going to do?”
“Hold him,” he said.
Cold bloomed along both arms, and as it did, she wrapped something around John Adams so he stopped moving. When it was done, I looked over to her. “Is he held?”
“He is. I placed enough of a spell around him that he will be confined until I can bring him before the Council.”
“Are you sure?”
“If it can hold one of the fae, then it can hold a mage, however powerful.”
I made my way to John Adams, crouching down in front of him. “I stopped you,” I said, leaning close to him. “A hedge mage.”
He flicked his gaze toward me, a hint of a smile on his face. “You haven’t stopped anything. This isn’t over.”
I looked up at Cynthia, and hoped she was able to keep him captured, but if she wasn’t, I thought I would have to prepare and be ready for whatever else they might spring on me the next time. I wasn’t about to be caught by John Adams or his people again. Now I knew how to trigger spells, and I had a better understanding of how to use that power, I was determined to ensure my safety.
Veran pulled me back. “Let Cynthia take care of this.”
“Matt is in there,” I said, motioning to the other room. “They were trying to call Kate. They were going to kill me.”
“They thought she would come to revive you.”
I nodded.
“It’s possible she would, but it’s equally possible she wouldn’t know. She’s on the other side of the Veil, and it’s hard for me to know what she can determine on that side.”
“How long will she be gone?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Time is different there. Much like many things are different there. For all we know, she has experienced nothing more than a month—but to us, a year.”
I had to be content with the fact they hadn’t succeeded, but if they had thought to draw out Kate by using me, would someone else? And if they did, what would prevent them from succeeding? I didn’t know whether or not I would be able to withstand ongoing attacks. Eventually, I feared they would overpower me.
Veran guided me back into the other room, and he swept his gaze around. “You said the other one was here?”
I turned toward the wall where I’d thrown Matt with a collection of triggered spells, but he was gone. “He’s not here.”
“He can’t have gone far. Didn’t you say he was a hedge mage?”
“A hedge mage who has transport spells.”
Veran clenched his jaw. He released me, and I made my way through the hallway, past Cynthia who gave me a quick glance with a curt nod, and then through the main entrance where the fallen operatives remained. Power looped around them, as well, likely coming from Cynthia and whatever spell she had that held them.
Back outside, I dreaded what I would find. I needed to face it, though. If Barden was gone, I needed to see him. I owed him that, like I owed it to his people to bring him to them so they would know what had happened.
“You made it out, Dr. Stone.”
I jerked around, and found Barden leaning on the building. Dried blood was caked to the side of his head, but whatever injury he’d sustained had healed. His eyes had something of a glazed expression to them, and yet, he stood. “You’re alive.”
“I’ve told you before, it will take far more to be the end of me.”
“But I saw you. Veran said—"
“Veran Michaels is a skilled Mage Council mage, but that is all he is. He does not understand the Dark Council, and,” he said, holding out the quarter I’d given him, “he didn’t know this would be the key.” Bardin swept his gaze around the space outside of the warehouse. “Because of you, Dr. Stone, I still live. Had you not given me this trigger, it wouldn’t have been enough.
There were several other fallen forms, all operatives, many lying in strange angles, most with a sense of power around them. Cynthia must have placed that power to hold them. I wondered how many still lived. Maybe it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that we had stopped them.
“We will want to collect their spells,” I said.
Barden patted his pocket. “I’ve already done that.” He glanced toward the door, shaking his head. “I didn’t have much strength left, so I wasn’t going to be any help in a fight, but I thought if it came down to survival, I would collect all of the spells they brought with them. I had not expected I would need it.”
“Matt was working with John Adams,” I said.
Barden’s eyes narrowed. “That is unfortunate.”
“John is in there. Cynthia is holding him.”
“I imagine she thinks the Mage Council will be responsible for him.”
“You don’t think so?”
“I don’t know if the organization will allow the Mage Council to hold him. If they aren’t divided, it might be that they will force them to hand him over to the organization for its own brand of punishment.”
“What would you want to do with him?”
“I suspect there is a lot we could learn from him. He is powerful, and some of the spells he knows are complex. But he also poses a danger.”
“Kate.”
Barden nodded. “I don’t know that we can have either the Mage Council or the organization know anything more about her.”
“What is she?”
“Something impossible,” Barden said. He pushed off the wall and leaned on me. “Now, Dr. Stone, I don’t suppose you would be willing to escort me to the car?”
“It would be my pleasure.”
“Is that right? Then it would be mine, too.”
I guided Barden to his car, and he leaned on me the whole time. I started to walk him around to the driver side, but he shook his head.
“I think you will need to drive.”
“Where?”
“In your case, I suspect you would like to go home.”
“I want to sleep.”
“And you should.”
“What about John Adams?”
Barden turned his gaze back to the warehouse. As he did, I felt a surge of power, a spell building, though I couldn’t tell why that would be. A smile tugged at Barden’s lips. “Perhaps he won’t cause the trouble I thought he would.”
“Why is that?”
“Let’s just say I suspect Veran and Cynthia have just made sure he won’t remember anything that comes to Dr. Michaels.”
I turned, looking toward the warehouse. “They can do that?”
“It’s a painful spell, as my people know, but they can do that.”
“What about Matt?”
“We will find him, Dr. Stone.”
There came another surge of power, and I waited, thinking Veran and Cynthia would emerge, but there was no sign. After waiting for a few moments, I realized why there had been that sense of them. They had transported. I could wait all day, but they wouldn’t reappear, and I had to wonder where they were taking John Adams. Maybe it wasn’t the Mage Council, not if they were willing to use a spell to erase his memories. I knew Veran and Cynthia cared for Kate, but I hadn’t expected they would be so ruthless. Then again, they had protected her—believing she was a dark mage—for the better part of her life.
Climbing into the car, I navigated quickly to the condo. We weren’t as far as I thought, barely more than a 20-minute drive, and neither Barden nor I spoke during the drive. When I pulled up, I looked over to him. “You need to rest.”
“Probably.”
“Why don’t you come inside, and we can call somebody to come and get you?”
Barden smiled. “That is probably for the best.”
I helped him out of the car, and we made our way up the stairs and into the condo, where he sank onto the couch. Within moments, his eyes were closed, and he was breathing deeply. I looked around the condo. It was nice to be back, and yet, I had missed out on my days off.
After feeding and providing water for Lucy, I was getting ready to have a glass of wine when a knock came on the door.
I immediately tensed, fearing it might be Matt, but Matt wouldn’t knock. He had a way of overpowering the protections on the condo. I would need to make certain Barden and his people placed additional protections. And, now I understood the nature of my magic, it was possible I could add additional protections.
Approaching the door, I reached for the coin spells, but realized I had none left. Hurrying over to Barden, I shuffled through his pocket, grabbing some coins, and headed to the door. If it was Matt, I was going to be ready for him.