by TJ Nichols
Terrance drew a breath, tore off the gloves and hat, and gouged his palm with his nails deeply enough that blood speckled through. Then he placed his hand on the pillar. He and Saka needed to keep the doorway open for the duration of the spell.
Cadmael stepped up to the edge of the void and stuck the staff through. Although it was made of wood, it began to glow. The magic was flowing, but if they failed, there’d be nothing left of Demonside.
If Angus didn’t survive, Terrance didn’t really care if both worlds died.
Chapter 44
ANGUS IS alive.
The worlds tumbled through Saka and made his heart beat fast. He wanted to run through the void and help, but he was where he needed to be. If the doorway shut too soon, the magic would remain in Vinland, and that would be a disaster. His palm was sticky with blood as he placed it on the pillar and locked gazes with Terrance. He hoped that he had the strength to hold his side.
The magic flowed out and tore at the edges of the doorway so it wanted to shrink and close. Saka had to hold it so Angus could finish and get through. The magic rumbled beneath his feet as it was torn out of the ground and directed through the staff.
It had to work or they were all dead.
Bullets came through the void, and several struck Cadmael. He gasped and staggered but kept the staff steady as blood splashed onto the stones and fed the doorway.
They waited. If the magic didn’t come back… if Angus didn’t came back….
Saka rested his forehead on the pillar. Holding the doorway open was like trying to hold back a river with his bare hands.
Chapter 45
ANGUS GRASPED the staff when it poked through the void. The wood burned his bloodied palm and linked him directly to Demonside. As the magic burned through him, the pain seared every nerve until it no longer hurt and magic tumbled from his other hand.
The cuffs heated and overloaded, unable to contain the flow that was forced into him. The scars the mages had made along his arms tore open, and the magic in his blood flowed from them. Silvery magic leaped between his fingers.
The guards started to shoot. Angus grunted as something hit him. Then he put up a shield that shimmered blue. He’d been hit but didn’t feel the sting of the bullet. He was no longer cold or in pain, but that probably wasn’t good news. He was probably dying, and only the magic was keeping him alive.
His fingers crackled, and he flicked the magic across all the humans alive in the woods, taking the magic from them, along with their lives. Their little circles offered no protection from what he controlled. They fell and lay still. Every tree with a body in it burst into red flames as Angus gave those who’d been hanged a proper funeral, the kind they deserved. Let carrion feeders feast on the bodies of the warlocks.
With the magic tearing through, fueling him, Angus knew what the warlocks wanted. There was nothing but magic, and nothing else mattered. But the longer he held it, the more damage it did. It would scour him on the inside until only useless skin would be left. He needed to find the rest of the stolen magic.
The metal between his wrists snapped as he flung out his hand and sent the silvery whip searching for the magic the warlocks had locked up. He doubled over and gasped as the magic left him and its tail disappeared into the distance. He drew in several breaths of the cold air that cut his lungs, and his shoulder burned from the bullet wound. He wished he couldn’t feel the cold that needled his feet or the way his skin burned and bled, torn open by the magic.
If he hadn’t had the mages’ marks, Saka’s mark would have ripped open through his chest to his heart and killed him. But he wasn’t done yet. That was the easy part.
He yanked on the staff, and Cadmael released it. He couldn’t see the priest, but he could feel him. Angus drew the staff through. That was the signal the mages needed to get clear of the doorway. He slammed the wooden staff down on the chain between his ankles and shattered it. Green magic spilled out and leached into the ground. He shouldn’t be able to see it, but he couldn’t deal with that now.
He was breathing and hurting, so he was alive enough to finish. Hot blood poured over his chest from the bullet wound in his shoulder. He should fix that before he lost too much blood, but the ground rumbled and shook as though there were an earthquake. Burning trees fell and sent golden sparks high into the air along with black cinders. The destruction was beautiful. Angus stumbled as the shaking intensified and grew closer, but he kept his balance because of the staff.
It wasn’t an earthquake racing toward him. The magic had been released.
He turned to watch, but the magic wasn’t a silvery ribbon. It was a monstrous creature that glittered and shimmered as it raced toward the void, determined to get home.
There was no way he could channel that and make it safe the way he’d planned. Nor could he outrun it. He hoped the mages were clear of the doorway.
The ground rippled like a bedsheet, and he stepped across the void, refusing to die in Vinland. The magic hit him in the back and carried him the rest of the way through.
Chapter 46
MAGIC RUSHED through the doorway and tore up the stones and ground where the mages had been standing only moments before. The doorway snapped closed with a bang that reverberated through the ground as the flood of magic broke the link between the worlds. Saka drew away from the pillar, and weakness dropped him to his knees. Terrance had slid to sitting long before, his hand still on the pillar.
Terrance lifted his head and dropped his hand. “Where is he?” His voice was rough.
Saka shook his head. He hadn’t seen anyone come through, but that didn’t mean no one had been caught in the body of magic. “I don’t know.”
Mages were already tending the injured, and Saka forced himself up to help. Maybe Angus was there, but what would he do if he wasn’t? He needed a plan. No one could leave until the doorway was reset and the void reopened by Lizzie and Wek, neither of which had ever wanted a demon or a human.
He walked over and hauled Terrance up, and Terrance put his arms around him. “He has to be here.”
If not, Angus was alone in Vinland. There was no way to get to him, not quickly or easily. By the time Saka did, it might be too late. Angus would have to open the void and summon him. Saka’s stomach twisted itself into knots.
“He might be here.” But Saka had seen the amount of magic that returned. If Angus had channeled that, there’d be nothing left of him. Clouds gathered in the sky, roiling overhead and promising rain. He kissed Terrance’s cheek. He wanted to say it would be all right, but he couldn’t tell that lie, even to himself.
A shout went up as the first drops of rain fell. But the demons weren’t shouting about the rain, which rapidly became heavier and soaked through his shirt to his skin. They were carrying something—someone—toward the mages.
Still holding Terrance’s hand, Saka went to meet them.
“It’s Angus. His yellow pants,” Terrance said.
As they got closer, Saka saw metal around his ankles and the blood on his skin, more red than white. Saka gasped, and his heart collapsed. Was he dead? He wasn’t moving.
“He’s alive,” the feathered demon holding him said.
The rain became a downpour that drenched them all and washed Angus’s blood off his skin to reveal the open wounds.
Saka pulled Angus close and took him from the demon. He didn’t wake, and his body was cold and limp. “Where was he?”
“In the town, by your door,” she said.
The magic had brought him home.
Terrance lifted one of Angus’s blue hands. “He’s cold. He was outside with no coat. They wouldn’t let him. He needs warmth.”
Saka carried Angus to one of the nearby shelters. They’d been rapidly built so mages could live close to the doorway to keep it sealed until Terrance opened it. The shelter had walls on three sides and two beds that were barely off the ground and barely beds. Water streamed along the floor. As soon as the doorway was remade, Angus would hav
e to go back to heal. Saka wouldn’t keep him here, no matter how much he wanted to.
He lit a fire while Terrance stripped off the wet clothes and bundled Angus up in sheets to dry and warm him. Terrance added the winter coat he’d been wearing. “I can’t heal him.”
“I will,” Saka said. Terrance could close the wounds, but he didn’t know what damage the magic had done to Angus. The cuffs had burned the skin around his wrists and ankles and left it blistered.
But Angus was alive. Someone brought the staff and propped it against the frame. It had been made of wood, but now it gleamed black.
What had Angus become?
Chapter 47
THE WALLS were pink, and a beeping that wouldn’t stop had woken Angus. Carefully he sat up, and his muscles protested like he hadn’t moved and stretched in too long.
He needed to shut the beeping up, so he reached out a hand. Red magic lanced through the machine, and it went quiet. Angus closed his eyes so he could think. He must be in Demonside, since he could see magic… but where? And why was there a machine?
He cracked his eyes open again. He wasn’t cuffed to the bed, so maybe he wasn’t a prisoner. Then he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the mattress. It was a human bed, and he was tethered to a very human-style drip.
Where the fuck was he?
His heart gave a panicked dance at the idea of being captured by the Vinnish again, but their hospitals weren’t pink, or they hadn’t been last time he’d been in one, which was over ten years earlier.
There were scars around his ankles and wrists that he’d never seen before, but his hands looked the same. He turned them over. One palm was marred by a wide flat scar. He fisted his hand expecting resistance, but it was fine, just marked. He flexed his feet and then stood up. One worked fine and the other… well, it was no worse than it had been, so he stood.
He was naked. Wherever he was, he couldn’t run around without clothes. There were none in the room, so the sheet would have to do. He wrapped it around himself and then realized he needed to get the drip out of his arm before he went anywhere.
Somewhere nearby another alarm was going off, and footsteps pounded outside his door, drawing closer. The door to the room burst open, and people in an array of colors flooded in and then stopped and stared.
The machine sizzled in the corner and gave a pop. Angus glanced at it and then at the people. Oh. He was the reason for the alarm. “It woke me up.”
No one moved.
“Can you unhook me?”
“I think you should lie down so we can check you over.” A woman he assumed was the doctor walked slowly over, as though she expected him to do something awful.
“I feel fine.” Did he not look fine? He had new scars, and the mages’ marks were still etched on his skin. He probably looked a little worse for wear. He glanced at the hospital staff, at their bronze skin and dark hair. “I’m in Uxmal?”
“Yes,” the doctor said. “What else do you remember? Your name? Age?”
“Angus Donohue.” She shone a light into his eyes, and he pulled away. “Nineteen… maybe twenty. It depends on the date.”
“You can see the light?”
“Of course I can. I can see you.” He could still see magic. That wasn’t right, but he didn’t want to tell her that.
The doctor didn’t look convinced. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Stepping through the void.” He hadn’t expected to wake up. He clearly wasn’t dead, and nothing really hurt. How long had he been there?
“Lie down, and I’ll arrange some tests.”
“I’m fine.” He picked at the bandage that covered where the drip pierced his skin. If she wouldn’t take it out, he would.
The door opened again.
“You’re awake! I left to get lunch, and then the alarm sounded.” Terrance pushed through the cluster of doctors and squeezed him so hard his ribs almost popped, but he didn’t want him to stop.
“I was a little tired… needed a nap.” He leaned into Terrance. If he was there, it couldn’t be all bad. He allowed his heart to settle, and he relaxed into Terrance’s crushing embrace.
“You’ve been here for two days and another in Demonside before the doorway opened. You were so cold I didn’t think you’d ever wake.” Terrance held him close, as though he were never going to let go again.
“Hypothermia. It was the blood loss that we were worried about,” the doctor said.
It was only when Terrance drew back that the delight on his face flickered to something else for just a moment.
It was starting to worry him now. They were all treating him like there was something wrong. “Have I grown horns like Saka or something?”
He ran his fingers over his hair and then his face, but it all felt like his. His cheek was tender, and the inside of his mouth sore. There was a pucker on his shoulder from the bullet and the marks from the cuffs. He catalogued the new scars but couldn’t find anything that should make them all so cautious. He had all his limbs, even all his toes.
Terrance grabbed his free hand—the other was still holding up the sheet. “No, it’s your eyes,” Terrance said. “They aren’t blue anymore.”
“Oh….” He shrugged. The blue would return now that he was on Humanside.
The doctor was still watching him. “I really think you should rest. You lost a lot of blood, and we couldn’t give you any.”
“Why?” The room was starting to feel a little warm and his head a little weightless. He probably should sit, but he didn’t want to prove her right.
“Because we don’t have that type. It doesn’t exist on this side of the void.”
Terrance squeezed Angus’s fingers. “It’s a demon blood type.”
“What does that mean?” Was he going to die? Was he part demon? Was he going to be fine and his eyes would recover in the future? Even as his mind filled with questions he should care about, he actually couldn’t find the energy to care. He was alive.
“We don’t know,” the doctor said. “No human that we know of has ever had demon blood.”
Angus nodded, and the room bounced. “Well, I feel fine, so I’m going to find some clothes and….” He glanced at Terrance, hoping that there were some clothes and that he could get out of there, but maybe he should lie down. Terrance tightened his hold as though he realized that standing was more taxing for him than it should be.
“You need to see Saka. I don’t think he’s slept,” Terrance finished for him but looked at the doctor.
She pressed her lips together and didn’t look thrilled by the idea, but finally she nodded. “You need to be careful. Don’t push yourself.”
Angus lifted an eyebrow. He had no plans to unleash another clean sweep. It had worked, hadn’t it? No one had said anything. Had it been for nothing? He pulled off the bandage, but the doctor removed the drip before he could pull it out. She shooed everyone out of the room and closed the door.
Then it was just Terrance and him, and he sat heavily, unable to resist gravity any longer. He stayed upright but grabbed Terrance’s hand for security. “It worked? Is everything fixed? Tell me it wasn’t all for nothing.”
Terrance stood between Angus’s knees. “The magic is returned. Already the ice caps are retreating. It might take a couple of years for them to fully regress.” He glanced down. “The World Council of Demonology wants to speak to you. Vinland is under martial law until elections can be held.”
“What happened to the president?”
“He’s been imprisoned. There’s not much news coming out. Peacekeeping forces have moved in. It could take years for us to have a home again.”
But it was home. “And the college? The warlocks?”
“Those that were close by were killed. They’re searching for the other head warlocks to arrest. You’re a hero and a villain. All magic users in New London died.” Terrance struggled to meet his gaze. “And in a few other cities too. There have been guards at the door, demon and human
, in case someone wants to retaliate.”
Angus sighed. He’d known there would be deaths, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the numbers. He should find out, but he wasn’t ready. Would they ban him from using magic? Had he been worse than the warlocks he’d been fighting?
He cupped Terrance’s chin so Terrance was forced to look at him. “Why won’t you look me in the eye? Am I that awful?”
Terrance helped him off the bed and to the window. The bed sheet fell away, and Angus didn’t bother to pick it up. At first glance his reflection in the glass looked much the same as he remembered. It was only when he looked closer and put his nose almost on the glass that he saw what it was that was freaking people out. It wasn’t that his eyes weren’t blue; it was that they were entirely black, like a demon’s.
Terrance put his arms around Angus’s waist. “I’ll get used to it.” He kissed the back of Angus’s neck. “I guess when you told those assholes you were a mage, you meant it.”
Angus smiled.
“That was broadcast by the way. It all was.”
“Even the fire?”
“Yeah. And if I’d watched the footage before seeing you, I would never have expected to see you again.”
“Did you see the magic?” Maybe it wasn’t just him.
“No. But I saw your skin tear open.” He touched the ridges of the scars. “I saw the trees burst into flames and the ground shake. You didn’t step through the void so much as get swept into it. You were thrown all the way into the village. When they carried you to the doorway, to the mages, we thought that was it. You looked dead. You were cold to touch, and your pulse was barely there.”