“Jesus Christ.”
“Yes.”
“Jesus freaking Christ.”
“Yes.”
“You want me to escort Mory, and Gabby, to the gateway. Then with my father, hold off an army of elves while a necromancer unravels … life force —”
“Soul magic,” Mory interjected helpfully.
I waved my hand in her direction helplessly. “The treasure keeper said that the gateway is too powerful, even for me. That the former warrior was damaged by it when he …” I heard what I was saying even as I was saying it. But I finished the thought anyway. “When he destroyed the artifact.”
“Yes,” Rochelle said smugly.
“Don’t even try to pretend you knew that part, oracle.”
She grinned at me unrepentantly.
“Jesus. This is insane.”
“Yes.”
I pinned Mory with a look. “Your mother …”
The necromancer shook her head, tossing her purple and red hair across her forehead and cheeks. “Nope. Her magic doesn’t work like mine. And before you ask, neither does Teresa’s. They deal solely in death magic. But I … I can work soul magic. That’s how I tied Rusty to me. You know, he wasn’t just a ghost. And recently, I …” She slid her gaze to Rochelle, hesitating over whatever she was about to divulge. Then, obviously changing her mind, she looked resolutely back at me. “I know I can do it.”
I opened my mouth to protest.
But before I could express more reservations, Mory emphatically declared, “I am the wielder’s necromancer!”
“Plus, it’s Mory I see in the visions,” Rochelle said gently.
I slumped back in my seat. “What do I have to do?”
“Not stop me.” Mory jutted her chin at me. “Even if you think I’m in trouble. You have to let me work.”
“I meant, what magic am I adding to your necklace?”
“Oh.” Mory looked sheepish.
“Not the necklace,” Rochelle said, tugging the sketchbook back toward her awkwardly. Her reach was compromised by her belly. “Knitting needles.”
“Knitting needles? This day is getting better and better.”
Mory ignored my sarcasm. “Rochelle and I have discussed it —”
“Obviously.”
“And we think you just need to tie my magic to the needles. Not, like, add a specific function or anything.”
Rochelle found the sketch she was looking for and turned it toward me. It depicted Mory standing before the gate, which completely dwarfed her tiny figure. She was holding a needle-like object aloft in either hand, as if she might have been conducting music. Or magic, in this case.
A lone figure was floating within the magic, fueling the gateway. I forced myself to look closely this time, but the image was indistinct, not looking like anyone in particular. And Mory was so tiny that I couldn’t guess based on scale. “Okay. All right. Who’s going to be trapped in the gateway?” I gestured toward the figure.
Rochelle shook her head. “It changes.”
“The vision changes?”
“This part. All the parts that take place in the stadium. They change, subtly or extremely, sometimes hour by hour.”
“Because choices will be made in the moment.”
“Yes.”
“So you can’t tell me who, if anyone, survives. Or even whether what we’re going to try to do saves the city.”
“No. I can’t.” The oracle carefully stacked her three sketchbooks, then shifted off the couch awkwardly. “I’m going to gather the others while you work with Mory. It’s time to lay out the plan … and to begin.”
She wandered out of the living room. I looked over at Mory.
The fledgling necromancer smiled at me tightly. “I’m sorry, Jade.”
“Me too, Mory. Me too.”
She pulled a pair of knitting needles out of her bag. “I brought every set I have. I didn’t know which ones you’d want.”
I nodded. But instead of taking the needles from her, I straightened and pulled her up off her knees and into a hug.
“I’m going to be okay,” she said, muffled against my chest.
“I’m going to add more protections to your necklace,” I said fiercely. “I just gave the shadow leech some coins. Freddie will bring them back and I’ll add them to your necklace.”
“Okay.”
“And I won’t leave you, Mory. I promise. No matter what.”
“Okay.”
“I might not be able to stop you from getting hurt, but I won’t —”
“I’m not giving you the chocolate bar, Jade.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. I released the pissy necromancer and took the knitting needles from her.
I could be a good foot soldier too.
9
I wasn’t entirely sure how much longer we all waited for the rest of the Talbot clan to arrive in full force, but it was longer than I liked. Then and only then, everyone finally gathered in Gran’s front living room. Everyone, including Freddie — though I had to ask freaking permission in order to let the shadow leech through Gran’s wards. Not everyone could actually sense Freddie’s presence, obviously. But of those who could, everyone except Mory and me seemed to find the shadow leech currently perched on the mantel disconcerting.
Hazy memories or not, I still remembered Freddie trying to get between Reggie and me. At a point when letting me be taken, or even killed, would have been in the leech’s best interests. Without me to rein it in, Freddie would have had the freedom to consume any magic it wanted. So yeah, I had fought my way past my grandmother and father, went outside the property wards, and brought Freddie back in with me. And the holier-than-freaking-thou Adepts gathered in the living room could give me as many disgruntled looks about it as they pleased.
They should have realized how freaking lucky they were that I hadn’t sprinted off in the direction of the stadium once I set foot on the sidewalk, frankly. But I remembered the sketches in the first notebook. The young girl abandoned in a post-apocalyptic city with only a demon to protect her. So yeah, I just snagged the shadow leech and went back inside. As ordered.
Rochelle was perched on one of the love seats, with her right hand resting on the three full sketchbooks piled on the coffee table. A sketchbook and a set of charcoals sat to her left, both brand new. Beau stood silently behind his wife. The shifter’s arms were crossed, but his expression was deceptively placid.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one getting frustrated about not moving forward.
The petite, pregnant oracle looked at each of us in turn, beginning with my father standing in the open doorway. The white of her magic was simmering in her eyes. Yazi nodded, acknowledging Rochelle’s regard. Then he grinned at me as if he found the situation amusing.
And maybe it was. All of us, bristling with magic and weapons, waiting for the tiny oracle to release us to our tasks.
Problem was, I still wasn’t completely certain what I was supposed to be doing, except trying to not trigger anything that would annihilate the city. Life was way, way easier when I just blundered around making mistakes that were patchable.
But the visions contained in Rochelle’s sketchbooks weren’t mere stumbles.
Rochelle let her gaze rest on my mother next. Having come directly from her bed against Qiuniu’s express orders to rest, Scarlett was curled up in the love seat across from the oracle. Her strawberry magic was so muted that I had to seek it out specifically in order to distinguish it from all the other flavors stuffed into the living room. She still looked far too pale, but I wasn’t hypocritical enough to demand that she stay out of the coming battle.
Gran, seated beside her daughter, looked stern and focused, but thankfully healthy.
The Talbots — all seven of them — were arrayed around the front windows, quietly clustered together. Except for Gabby, who wore white jeans and a white hoodie, each of them was dressed in various shades of black, dark navy, and charcoal. Peggy had practically flun
g herself at me when she’d arrived, and Gabby had actually smiled upon seeing me. The sorcerers — Angelica, Stephan, Liam, and Tony — felt swollen with power, making it an easy guess that they were currently carrying every magical artifact they possessed. And that was even after Tony had installed a bunch of magical gear in the map room the moment he’d stepped into the house. Bitsy stood with her brothers, just as tall and even fiercer looking.
The vampires and the necromancers stood on the opposite side of the room, making a highly unlikely grouping. Jasmine was closest to the fireplace with Benjamin. Mory was in the middle, next to her mother, Danica, and Teresa Garrick. Even distracted, I could sense the disdain and animosity that practically seethed between the golden-haired vampire and Benjamin’s mother. Perhaps it was just the typical, seemingly inherent, dislike that those types of Adept bore for each other. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something extra going on between the two of them. Maybe with Benjamin, and even Mory, caught in the middle.
Burgundy and Olive were hovering behind the loveseat where Scarlett and Gran sat, nodding as the oracle looked to them. And then Rochelle looked at me last, standing on the opposite side of the fireplace. Oddly, she reached out for me. I stepped forward. Kneeling, I took her hand, magic shifting between us.
And nothing happened.
The oracle sighed heavily. “All right.” She nodded, releasing my hand. “What will be will be, now,” she murmured. She glanced at me again, then over at my father. “We’ve been working on a plan for over a week, since we knew Jade was in the nexus. Since the visions … shifted, became more specific. There were pieces we didn’t have until she returned to us.”
“Artifacts for the fledglings,” my father said, indicating he’d been following along closely.
A slightly discontented murmur ran through the gathered so-called fledglings, and I almost laughed. To my father, a three-hundred-and-fifty-year-old guardian, everyone in the room was a fledgling. Well, not Gran, of course. She might have been almost three centuries younger, but no one in the room doubted she could kick all of our asses without lifting a finger.
Angelica cleared her throat, nervous but doing a fantastic job of hiding it. Her bangles and bracelets clinked quietly together as she stepped around the witches and the love seat, smoothing a detailed map open on the coffee table beside Rochelle’s sketchbooks. “After Liam, Mory, and Tony started mapping the stadium, we were able to assess where the elves’ defenses were thinnest, and where a small group might be able to infiltrate without being detected right away.”
“As the map was pieced together, I started to get the visions of the items I’ve asked Jade to create,” Rochelle said.
“Wait a second.” I was still taking in what Angelica had said. “What do you mean by ‘small group’ and ‘infiltrate’?”
“The oracle keeps talking around that point because you’re not going to like it, dowser,” Jasmine said.
“Yeah, that’s been clear for a while now,” I said snippily.
Angelica completely ignored me, continuing to lay out the plan for my father’s benefit. And for Gran, presumably, since as far as I was aware, she’d been unconscious through all the formulating. “The sorcerers and witches will erect and hold a perimeter around the stadium.”
“You’ve placed the fifth anchor?” my father asked.
Stephan nodded. “About thirty minutes ago. The elves haven’t discovered our preliminary working yet, but they will need to be distracted so we can cast without worrying about being discovered in the act.”
Every eye in the room settled on me.
“That’s what I’m good for? Distracting the elves?”
A murmur of laughter ran through the misfits gathered around me.
Gran sniffed. “Well, you’re certainly dressed for it.”
The second round of laughter was far less suppressed than the first. And yeah, you’d have thought I was wearing a G-string and pasties by my grandmother’s tone.
“Please continue,” Scarlett said, frostily eyeing her mother.
“After the distraction is … implemented, Angelica, Stephan, Liam, and Tony, with Burgundy, will cast the perimeter,” Rochelle said. “We don’t have a fifth sorcerer, but Burgundy’s magic is receptive.”
“I’m a good conduit,” the young witch added proudly. Then she glanced over at me. “We’ve done lots of tests.”
When exactly had I been shoved into the position where everyone felt they had to justify every little thing they did? When had I become the substitute teacher for the class of misfits?
“Tony will return here,” Angelica continued before I could get even pissier. “He will manage the map room in case the elves break ranks, or get by us and attack the city. We’ll be communicating via text message, or through Peggy if the tech is compromised.”
“We’ve been practicing,” Peggy said, completely cheery as her mother laid out plans to thwart an invasion from another dimension. “Gabby will be with Mory, amplifying her. But also, as long as I can hear through the elves’ wards, she should be able to communicate with me. Though we haven’t been able to test that yet. For obvious reasons.”
“From inside the stadium,” I said bitingly. “Surrounded by an army of elves.”
“Maybe we should pick up the pace,” Jasmine said blithely. “Not all of us have that great an attention span.”
I gave her a dark look — but then realized she was probably talking about herself. At her side, Benjamin was recording every word spoken in his notebook, and most likely cataloging every weapon and outfit in the room as well.
“I agree,” my father said. “As much protection as the sorcerers, witches, and necromancers can hold around the stadium is paramount. And above all else, the witches’ city boundary needs to hold whatever version of the future is about to unfold.”
I looked at him, aghast. “To stop any backlash? If the gateway … explodes?” I didn’t need to add the bit about that backlash killing us all. About it leveling the city.
He nodded grimly. “Based on the rate the magic is being consumed from the sword in the map room, I estimate we have a maximum of twelve hours.”
“Eight,” my grandmother interjected. “If the gateway isn’t neutralized in the next eight hours, the youngest among us will be evacuated.”
I opened my mouth to protest — to insist on evacuating right away.
But my grandmother continued before I could speak, pinning Rochelle with an intense gaze. “And the oracle will be evacuated as soon as Jade and Yazi enter the stadium.”
“But not having me in the city might trigger the future we’re trying to prevent,” Rochelle said shakily.
“I will not discuss it further, Rochelle. At some point, you will need to trust us to do everything we can.”
“Plus, there are always cellphones,” Jasmine said.
Silence fell in the room. I would never have believed that so many people gathered in such a small space could be so quiet.
Beau laid a gentle hand on Rochelle’s shoulder. The oracle’s face crumpled, and she sobbed. Just once, but the sound twisted through me.
“I just kept hoping … that as we planned, as we implemented the plan, I would see more,” the oracle whispered.
“You will, oracle,” Gran said softly. “You will simply see it from a safe distance. And if the worst happens, you will retreat and regroup. With plenty of time to alter the fate you see for your unborn child.”
Tears streamed down Rochelle’s cheeks. She swallowed harshly, then nodded.
All the tension that had been ratcheting up since we’d gathered eased. Though it didn’t completely disperse. It was obvious that I hadn’t been the only one who’d been on edge about hauling a pregnant oracle into battle.
Mory shoved a package of tissue into Rochelle’s hands.
Angelica cleared her throat. “To be brief, then.” The dark-haired sorcerer cast a look at us all that suggested she wouldn’t stand for any more interruptions. “Onc
e we have the perimeter in place, Liam will hold it. I, along with Stephan, will help the witches break through the elves’ wards. We doubt that we’ll be able to disable them completely, but can hope to at least provide an egress, if needed.”
Angelica and Gran exchanged nods.
“The necromancers will provide cover,” Danica said. Then, with a sad but proud glance at her daughter, she added, “Teresa and I will.”
“Benjamin, Bitsy, and I will rescue the warriors,” Jasmine said. “Guided by Mory’s maps.” The vampire pinned her gaze on me, anticipating my rebuttal.
And naturally, I was going to give her one. “Benjamin, Bitsy, and you?” I echoed. “Why not me?”
“We’ve had this discussion,” Rochelle said.
“We really haven’t. Not to a level that’s convinced me of anything.” I pointed a vicious finger at Bitsy. “Can you even achieve half-form?”
“Nope,” she sneered at me. “But I can run real fast.”
“So can elves. This is insane. I can cut through magic —”
“There are three closed doors,” Rochelle said, reaching for her sketchbooks.
“I don’t want to see the damn sketches! I’ve been in there! By now, if they have the full gateway open, there’ll be hundreds of elves in that freaking stadium!”
“And who can stand against them, my Jade?” my mother asked softly.
“Me!” I cried. “And … Dad! We’ll go in. We’ll free Warner, and Kandy, and Kett, and Haoxin. Then we’ll regroup. Against all of us, the elves will be … will be …”
Everyone was staring at me. But not like I was ranting. More as if … as if they pitied me.
“And then what?” Gran asked. “Then you’ll tear down the gate? Or your father will?”
I brushed hot, angry tears from my cheeks, managing to contain a triumphant scream of Yes! Yes, I would tear the freaking gate down. It was mine, after all. I’d built it. It was my responsibility. To rescue the others. To close the gateway.
“Wait,” Burgundy said hesitantly. “Isn’t that exactly what Jade isn’t supposed to do?”
Nervous laughter ran through the room.
Gemstones, Elves, and Other Insidious Magic (Dowser 9) Page 19