“How are you going to do that?” Brighten asked. He was beginning to think Erin had lost her mind. He liked the woman. She helped him a lot, both with courage and believing in him. But there simply wasn’t any way out of here.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out, whipper-snapper. I just need to know that when the time is right, you’ll be ready to move. That you’re not going to be paralyzed by fear.”
Brighten rolled back over on his back again and closed his eyes, letting out a groan. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“Oh, hush it,” Kris snapped. “Of course he’ll be ready. He’s just more scared than a whore with a herpes outbreak, unsure of how she’s going to make money for the next two weeks. What’s your plan?”
Lucie and Kris laughed. Brighten kept his eyes closed, doing his best to keep from cracking a smile.
“Just leave that up to me. All I need from you three is to do exactly what I say when I say it. Lucie, you’ll be able to lead us out of this maze?”
Lucie nodded. “Yeah, I think I can. If you can get us out of here, we need to find a way to get this damn necklace off.”
“Okay, but first things first. We have to get out.”
“Agreed,” Lucie told her.
“I’m in,” Kris commented.
Brighten could feel everyone looking at him, waiting on his commitment. “You all are going to get me killed. I’m surprised you haven’t yet.”
“We all are giving you stories to tell your grandkids,” Erin said.
“If he ever finds a girl who will let him knock her up, that is,” Kris chimed in.
Erin chuckled. Brighten just shook his head.
“Yeah, I’m in. What other choice do I got?”
Chapter Four
Linda stood over Riley, the two of them alone.
This wasn’t something Linda ever foresaw happening. In fact, she’d never seen such a corruption of someone’s body. Rendal must have grown truly powerful over the decades—powerful and insane.
This…
“It’s not right,” Linda whispered. “It’s an abomination.”
The woman’s skin was cool to the touch, and Linda understood that a war was being fought inside her.
Linda didn’t want to be pulled back into this, though. She had made her decision a long time ago, and she’d worked hard to ensure no one made her change it.
I didn’t work hard this time, did I? she mused.
No. Linda had sensed this group coming. She’d seen them arrive, and yet she’d sent none of her usual apparitions or weather turmoil to push them away. Linda had let them walk right into her city, and why?
“Because I knew,” she whispered. “I knew they were different.”
As she observed this young woman, Linda understood that something was different about her. Perhaps that had been what she’d felt. When Linda had been younger, she’d been looked at as different too, her magical potential far outpacing anyone else she knew. Ezekiel had found her, and he’d understood that potential.
Ezekiel had helped groom it and then sent her out of Arcadia to teach others about magic. About how to use it for good.
What would he say now? If what these people are saying about Rendal is true, one of your own magical offspring has gone bad. Did you succeed, or did you fail miserably?
A sad smirk fell over Linda’s face because the answer was obvious. If Ezekiel saw this, he’d whack her with his staff. She’d failed.
Bring this woman back, and maybe that will make up for some of your failures.
Or maybe it won’t, but to let her die is unacceptable. You can do good here, so you must do it.
Linda moved her hands so that they hovered over Riley’s chest. She put one hand on top of the other as her eyes turned red, and the old feeling she’d known for so long—the feeling of power and might—flowed into her. The ability to do nearly anything she wanted.
Pale-blue light flowed out of her hands and onto Riley’s chest.
It began as a single tiny circle, then spread outward. It moved up and down her body, slowly covering every inch of Riley. It reached her legs and continued to her feet, wrapping around her back as well. The blue light illuminated her neck and shoulders, and then her head. It made its way up her arms until the person beneath the light could not be seen.
She was wrapped in a cocoon of pale-blue light.
Linda remained like that, holding her hands over Riley’s chest for long, long minutes, the light continuing to flow.
It passed from Linda to Riley.
“You have grown strong, Rendal.” Linda closed her eyes, focusing on the task before her. Trying to cleanse the corruption and set things right inside of Riley.
Sweat popped out on her brow, and her legs started to tremble.
Stronger than me? she wondered. Can I do this?
Linda gritted her teeth.
The blue light flowed faster, some of it not confined to Riley’s body but shooting into the air.
More, she thought. More.
The room had taken on a blue glow, the magic flowing all around Linda now. Her legs weren’t just trembling now but shaking, and she didn’t know how much more she could give.
Another minute rolled by. Her heart thudded in her chest so hard that she was able to hear it in her ears.
“No more!” she cried.
Linda fell to the floor, the blue light from her hands dying instantly.
She could see Riley’s hand from where she lay. It hung slightly off the bed and was still wrapped in blue magic, although it was fading. It dissipated from Riley’s index finger, showing the skin beneath.
It continued disappearing until her entire hand could be seen. It didn’t move.
Did I fail? Was I not strong enough? the old woman wondered.
She felt herself about to go under, blackness creeping around the edges of her vision. It had been too much for her old body to handle. Rendal’s magic had been too strong.
Linda’s eyes fluttered, but just before they closed, she saw Riley’s finger twitch.
“We thought you were both frickin’ dead.” William sat in a chair at the head of Riley’s bed. He’d been there for two hours, having not moved. Alexandra sat at the foot, although Riley thought she envied William’s spot.
Worth and Eric sat on the floor near the doorway, and the strange old woman was lying on a separate bed that William had pulled in.
“Came in here wondering what the hell was going on. It’d been hours and hours. Both of you were just laying there, the old witch on the floor and you on the bed.”
“’Old witch,’” Linda murmured. “I may end up having to kill you, boy.”
“Yeah, not right now. You can hardly open your eyes.” William glanced at Riley again. “Anyways, Worth over there started screaming and crying like a woman—”
“Not true,” Worth interjected calmly.
“And Alexandra didn’t know which way was up, but I, of course, handled everything perfectly. Came to you, checked, saw you were still breathing, and then you opened your eyes—praise the Father.”
Alexandra rolled her own eyes. “About ten percent of that is true. He was the first person to see you awake.”
Riley really didn’t care about any of this.
At all.
She tried sitting up, but her head immediately swam with pain.
“No, no.” William placed a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down. “You’re going to rest for a bit.”
“Where’s Mason? Is he safe?” Riley asked.
“Father and Mother bless us, you have a one-track mind. Yes, he’s safe. He’s back in New Perth.”
“And Rendal? Where’s he?”
“We don’t know,” William answered. “He may still be in Sidnie.”
“Or New Perth,” Worth chimed in.
Riley laid down back on the pillow, closing her eyes. “What the hell happened?”
“I ain’t sure. You fought Rendal and you saved Mason, but once
again, you failed to kill Rendal.” William grinned. “I’m wonderin’ if you’re as good of a mage as everyone says, or if maybe you’re just foolin’ everyone.”
“She knows what happened,” Alexandra said, nodding to the other bed. “Linda.”
William turned to look at the woman on the other side of the room. “Yeah, I imagine she does, and I think it’s time she starts tellin’ us just what the hell is going on. What did Rendal do? How did you stop it?”
“Not even a thank you,” the old woman replied. “I should have sent you all packing the moment you showed up on the beach.”
“You wish you could. I’m too strong for ya.”
“You’re not strong enough to clean the crud from my shoe.”
“Okay, okay.” Riley didn’t want to hear them sparring anymore. “Please, William. Ma’am, even if he can’t tell you he’s grateful, I can. Whatever you did, I truly appreciate it. You pulled me from a dark place. I can’t even describe where I was or what it felt like. I am thankful. But we need to know what happened.”
The old woman sighed. “We call what we can do magic because that’s what it looks like. Fire and water and making the ground shake. Magic. In reality, it’s the nanocytes in our blood. Do you all know what those are?”
“We do,” Riley answered.
“I came here to explain those things, the nanocytes and energy. How humans can use this thing we call magic, and what we can do with it.”
“You brought that here?” Riley was confused. “Perhaps I should have started there. I don’t even know who you are. I just got caught up in what happened. Who are you?”
“No one, anymore,” the old woman explained. “I used to be… I used to be a disciple of sorts, I guess.”
“What do you mean?”
“A long time ago, I was a student of a man named Ezekiel. Maybe not that long ago. I was older than you are now but younger than I am now—”
“I’m sorry,” Riley interrupted, “but how old are you?”
“Ninety-two.”
The room grew quiet.
“Yes, I doubt you’ve met anyone my age before. Before the World’s Worst Day Ever, many people used to live this long. It’s a much tougher world we live in now. You’ve heard that term, ‘World’s Worst Day Ever,’ right?”
“Of course,” Riley answered. “Everyone has.”
The old woman grinned. “I’m the one who brought it here.”
“Oh, listen to the old biddy brag.” William winked at Riley.
“The moment I get my strength back, I’m going to do some very awful things to you, boy.”
“I’m forty-two years old. Hardly a boy.”
“You’re a boy to me, boy,” the old woman said with a sly grin.
“Okay, enough,” Riley demanded. “Please continue, Linda.”
“I have to keep from getting into it with him. Ezekiel helped me understand magic, and he gave me the tools I needed to both use it and teach it. He traveled a lot of the world—another part of the world—teaching people. He also trained people like me to go forth and do the same. It was my job to come to this place and make sure people knew how to use magic.”
“And Rendal? He was you completing your job?” William spat. “Because if I’m bein’ honest, ya failed.”
“He was my student, yes,” Linda answered. “But I never taught him to do this. He was… He was the reason I left society.”
“What do you mean?” Riley asked.
“Ezekiel put so much trust in me—in all of his students—and then I came across Rendal.”
Linda sighed, and Riley could tell she felt deep regret. Pain for what must have happened.
“He was an amazing student. He took to magic like a fish to water. He listened to everything I said, and he parroted it back. ‘Magic is to be used to help people.’ ‘Magic can make the world better.’ He went to New Perth to spread the ideas...”
“Yeah,” William growled. “A lot of good that did.”
The old woman turned her head, anger on her face. “I didn’t tell him to do what he did. He wasn’t supposed to force it on people. And if they didn’t want it? That was their choice. He should have gone elsewhere and continued spreading the ideas, but he didn’t.”
“You know what he did?” Riley was amazed. If she’d known and not stopped him…
“I kept up with him for a while. I knew he quit trying to do what we planned, but when I went to him decades ago, he told me I was wrong. That everything I thought and had been taught was wrong.”
“And what, you just gave up?” William asked.
“Rendal was like a son to me, you twit. Do you have a son?”
William shook his head.
“Then you don't know what it’s like to watch them wreck their lives. And maybe Ezekiel was wrong. Maybe I wasn’t the person for the fucking job. Either way, I came here, and here is where I’ve stayed.”
Riley heard the anger in her voice, at Rendal or herself or both.
“How did you manage to keep people from coming here? From rebuilding?”
“Oh, that was easy. When they show up, I scare them off. Ghosts and demons and storms. They run back to wherever they came from and say this place is haunted or some such nonsense.”
“Well, while you were sitting here playing pattycake with yourself, Rendal was building up a fucking army.” William’s anger was clearly directed at her. “Now, what did he do to Riley?”
“He used a spell that a healer would use, one that attacks illness in the body. However, he manipulated the spell. It not only attacked illness, but once illness was eliminated, it continued attacking her body and her cells as if they were the enemy. Sooner or later, she would have died.”
“That’s possible?” Alexandra asked. “You can use magic on such a small scale?”
“Only the most adept practitioners can do such a thing, and the majority of the most adept practitioners would never dream of it. One, because those who are adept understand that magic is to be used for good. Two, because it’s a severe risk on the practitioner’s part. When casting that spell, there’s a real risk their own body could turn on them. Their own cells may misread the spell due to the fact they’re not thinking entities. The spell could hit both the caster and the victim.”
“But Rendal did it all the same.” William looked like he could breathe fire.
“You were able to reverse it?” Riley asked, ignoring him.
“I guess I was,” Linda whispered. “I didn’t think I was strong enough anymore.”
“Yeah, ya look as soft as baby shit.” William’s face relaxed, and he grinned. “It’s gone, though. That spell. She’s well and safe?”
“Yes, I believe so.”
“Then we have to get going,” Riley told them.
“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Linda responded. “Your immune system is very weak right now. I’m surprised you’re not dead. You need rest and food.”
“Yeah, speaking of food,” William said. “You got any? Our rations are almost gone.”
“There’s food, although I think your large ass might eat it all and I’ll be left with nothing.”
Riley really did like the old woman. She gave it to William as hard as he gave it to her.
“Maybe you’ll starve to death, then,” William shot back.
“There isn’t time,” Riley said. “Rendal might already be heading to New Perth. He might already be there.”
“Can you see, Linda?” Alexandra asked. “Can you venture out that far and see where he is?”
“Maybe I could, and maybe I couldn’t. I don’t know anymore. I only know that I won’t try.”
“Why the hell not?” William growled.
“Because this was more than I wanted to do. I’m done with the outside world. You all can leave when she’s healed, but this isn’t my battle. I failed Rendal when I didn’t teach him well enough. I failed this entire place. I have no desire to participate anymore.”
“Sounds like something a f
ailure would say.” William looked like he might spit on the floor, but he managed to hold it in. “I don’t have time for failures. We’ll rest first, Riley, and then we’ll leave.”
“Hold on,” Worth said, finally speaking up. “Riley need her. Riley need learn. Worth and Alexandra not enough. Linda can help.”
William turned his head to Worth, his eyes glowering at the bald mage. “Her? The washed-up old witch who couldn’t keep Rendal on the right path? That’s who you want guiding Riley?”
“She the best.” Worth nodded at the old woman. “She better than Worth. Better than Alexandra. She teach. Riley learn. Riley kill Rendal.”
Riley listened to them speak but started shaking her head at the end. “No. There isn’t time. I’m not going to sit here and try to learn more magic while Rendal lays waste to New Perth. We have to go. With New Perth’s army, we can stop him.”
Worth only shook his head.
“My Savior,” Alexandra whispered. “The Chosen will follow you wherever you wish to go, but this woman here? I must believe she was brought into our lives for a reason. You were meant to meet her. This mage…if he’s that strong, then this woman can teach you to defeat him. There is time because you’re the Chosen One, Riley. Stay and learn.”
“You all need to clean your ears out and listen. All this discussion around staying and learning from me is nonsense. I’m not teaching anyone anything ever again. Not Rendal, not Riley, not anyone else who stumbles upon my city. She can rest up, then she can leave.” The old woman’s eyes were closed as she spoke. She lay on her back, her face calm again. She was simply stating facts.
Riley heard the old woman, but she had a tough time believing her. It may have been what the old woman wanted in the past, but then why had she healed Riley? Why had she let them all in?
She looked at William. “What do you think?”
The big man leaned back in his chair and sighed. “You need to rest—that much is true. We also need to get back to New Perth...” His voice trailed off, but Riley could hear what he didn’t want to say. He didn’t want to give Linda any credit.
Yet, he finally spoke again.
“Something isn’t right yet,” he said. “It’s not that I doubt you, and it’s clear you’re getting more powerful. I mean, hell, you freed Mason, but you still didn’t kill that murdering bastard.”
Magic Unchained (Hand Of Justice Book 4) Page 4