by Steve McHugh
I dredged my mind for anything that might prove useful. "I felt something before I punched out a werewolf with one hit. A sort of cold rage."
"Did you use magic?"
"Nope, so it sort of stuck in my mind."
Hades made a sound that was a cross between being interested and concerned. "I'll look into it. There are a few possibilities that could account for why these things happened."
"Such as?"
"When you first contacted me after recovering your memories, you mentioned that your blood magic glyphs are vanishing. It's possible that these events could be due to surges of power. Maybe one of the glyphs locked away the abilities of a parent. It sounds like some form of necromancy."
Much like Kasey, it was fairly common for someone to have the abilities of both parents. Although it's largely dependent on the species involved, it's certainly possible that the cursed blood glyphs that had marked me for so long had blocked my access to abilities I'd never even known I'd had.
"Can you look into it for me?" I asked. "I'd rather not have any more surprises."
"I can have you do some tests, but now might not be the best time to do that. We should wait until this lich has been dealt with."
"I have another favour to ask. I need access to the Silver Room."
To his credit Hades didn't ask if I was sure, or if he could help. He just removed his mobile phone, calling someone to inform them that the room would need to be ready. "Is tonight okay with you?" he asked me once he'd finished talking.
"Thanks," I said.
"Have you told your friend what you plan on doing?"
I shook my head, but I knew that when I did tell him, that Tommy was going to start yelling.
The rest of the day flew by as Tommy, Kasey and I spent time with Hades, Persephone and various members of their staff and entourage. For a while, I even forgot about what was happening back home, the death and horror that would be waiting for us when we returned. I had no illusions about what needed to be done, the ghouls and lich needed to be hunted and exterminated.
I left the four of them to talk and exited the large room, using a door by some bay windows to step out into the darkness beyond. I needed some air, some time to think.
A few minutes later the door opened behind me. "A penny for your thoughts," Persephone said.
"It gets so dark here. There's no street lights for miles. It's quite soothing."
"You sound like Hades."
A smile parted my lips.
"You want to use the Silver Room."
"Hades told you, I assume."
"He's my husband. You don't get to stay married for thousands of years by keeping secrets."
"I wouldn't have thought you could do it by pissing off the mother-in-law either."
Persephone laughed. "My mother is her own worst enemy. She's the one who decided Hades wasn't good enough. She can deal with that loss. Or rather, she doesn't deal with it and still holds a grudge. I heard she had some things to say to you the last time you met."
It was my turn to laugh. "Demeter didn't find it amusing when I didn't do as I was told. Oh, and she hates Hades. That sort of soured any potential friendship."
"She's good at that." Persephone was quiet for a short time, as the cold wind silently swept around us. "So, what were you really thinking about?"
"A lich is running around the south of England. I can't think how it's going to end well."
"And going into that accursed room will help?"
"I know you don't approve of it."
"People have died in there, or been driven mad. I understand why my husband keeps it, it's saved lives, too, but that doesn't mean I like it."
"I've had these glyphs on my chest for as long as I can remember. And no one could ever tell me what they did. But now they're disappearing one at a time. And the power I can access has increased. I can feel it whenever I use magic, but I need to know what I'm capable off. The Silver Room is the only place I can do that safely."
"For everyone else."
"I can't risk hurting anyone."
"Hades says you'll be fine, that you've used it before. His assurances do little to curb my unhappiness at what you're going to do."
"If it's any consolation, I'm not thrilled about it."
Persephone kissed me softly on the cheek. "No, Nate, it's no consolation at all."
"What's the Silver Room?" Kasey asked as she stepped out of the house.
"You really should make noise when you walk around, has anyone ever told you that?" I told her.
"Dad says he's going to make me wear a bell," she said with a smile. "What's the Silver Room?"
"That's sort of complicated," I said.
"My parents say that when they don't want to tell me something. Guess how well it works for them?"
Persephone laughed.
"You're a big help," I said to her, which caused her to laugh more, drawing Hades and Tommy outside to join us.
"Dad, what's the Silver Room?"
Tommy's expression hardened. "Let me guess, Nate will be using it."
"Is someone going to answer my question?" Kasey demanded.
"It's a large room on the lowest floor of this building," Hades said. "It allows people to use their magic to the fullest extent of their abilities to ascertain what they're capable of."
"It forces people to use magic," Tommy said. "They keep using their magic until they can't use it anymore, and they collapse from exhaustion." Tommy left the words or worse hanging between us all. "Is this why you called Hades? To use that damn room?"
"No," I said. "But I need to use it. And you know I do."
Tommy's eyes softened slightly. "Doesn't mean I like it."
"I agree with Tommy, Nate," Persephone said. "This is a danger that you don't need to put yourself in."
"It's dangerous?" Kasey asked.
"It can be," I said. "If you try to push yourself past your limits, or you allow your magic to consume you. But neither of those things will happen to me."
"You can't say that—" Tommy started.
I cut Tommy off before he could finish. "I am not some child who has no control over his magic, Tommy. I know the risks, and they're worth it. I need to know what I can do, how far I can push myself."
No one spoke for a time, leaving only tension to fill the void. "When are you going to do it?" Tommy asked with a sigh.
"Whenever Nate is ready," Hades said.
"Let's get on with it then," I said. "The sooner we start, the sooner it'll be over."
Tommy, Kasey and Persephone all went upstairs, although none of them were happy about it. Either because they were annoyed that I was risking my health and sanity, or, in Kasey's case, because they were really interested in what all the fuss was about.
Hades and I used an elevator near the rear of the property to go down the six floors to the very lowest level. We stayed silent the whole time, but I knew that Hades would rather I wasn't doing it. Hell, I'd rather not be doing it myself, but I needed some answers. And sometimes you only get the answers you seek if you risk everything.
The lowest floor consisted of three rooms, all down one long corridor. We walked past the first two. The first was a monitoring station for whoever was using the room and the second, adjacent to it, was the massive medical suite that took care of any resulting emergencies. I couldn't spot anyone through the glass window.
"Nervous?" Hades asked.
"A little bit, yeah."
"Relax; don't try to stop the magic from coming. When you wake up, you'll be in one of the rooms upstairs."
"Thanks for this, Hades."
We reached the entrance to the room, and I took a deep breath as Hades inputted a PIN code and then palm print onto an electronic lock next to the door.
A yellow light flashed above the door as it slowly swung open into the darkness beyond. I took a step forward, and Hades stopped me. "If this goes too far, if I think you can't come back on your own, I'm shutting it down."
I nodded.
; "I'm serious, Nate."
I knew what he meant. If I couldn't control it, if it gained control over me, Hades would shut me down. Permanently.
I removed my t-shirt and passed it to Hades, then kicked off my shoes and removed my socks before I stepped inside the dark room, waiting as Hades made his way back to the control room. After a short time, a single light came on above my head, bathing everything in a low level glow. Not that there was anything to bathe.
The room lived up to its name. It was a four hundred square foot box with polished silver walls, floor and ceiling. Orange and red runes were etched around the top and bottom of each wall, which ensured no damage could be done to the room itself. The door closed and locked. There was no magic on earth that could be used to force one's way out the Silver Room once the door was locked. And everyone who had ever used it had almost certainly tried. I knew I had.
I glanced up at the huge painted rune on the ceiling, a mirror image of the one on the floor. Runes are a difficult thing to learn—each rune does something different. The amount and type of magic, the size and placement of the rune, and a hundred other factors in place during its creation will cause it to have different effects. I don't know what type of magic was used to create the two runes, but the amount of power must have been immense.
I sat cross-legged in the centre of the room, and carried out some breathing exercises that let me calm myself. I didn't want to be worked up when the room went active.
"All okay in there, Nate?" asked Hades, his voice coming through the speakers hidden around the room.
"I'm good, thanks," I said. I knew Hades was watching me, alongside the microphones and speakers. The room was fitted with a CCTV system. The cameras were tiny dots in the ceiling. I smiled and waved at where I knew they were concealed.
"Let me know when you're ready."
I took one last deep breath. "Go."
The effect was immediate. Bright white and orange glyphs burned across my skin, as my magic was ignited. The effect was similar to trying to push every last drop of water from a dam through a pin hole. It was agony to my muscles as magic flowed freely without pause, without restraint. It was more magic than I'd ever used at once, more than I was capable of before the glyphs had started to vanish. It roared out of my body, smashing into the walls and ceiling of the room, trying to find an exit.
If I'd done it outside, without the runes, the silver or the support, people would have died. There was no question in my mind. The magic was raw and unfocused. It just wanted to be used, and anyone caught in that maelstrom would be torn to pieces.
As the pain became too much, and my screams turned into something animal, something guttural and raw, I began to feel it stirring. The pain subsided the more it tried to take control until I could hear its voice inside my head. "Nathan, it's been a while."
The voice was from pure magic, the magic that tried to take control of a sorcerer's mind and body if they use too much of it. The voice belonged to the Nightmare inside me.
I glanced up at the polished, silver walls. A darkness was spreading out from my eyes, covering my forehead and making its way down to my jawline. "Are you ignoring me, Nathan?"
I forced a smile.
"It's good that you finally sorted me out. You're getting stronger; those glyphs that stopped me from joining with you are finally vanishing."
"You won't take me," I said, as the magic continued to erupt all around me.
The monster sighed. "You still don’t understand what I am, do you? You still think I'm some sort of monster; even after all we've done together. Well, Nathan, we've got some time. Let's talk."
Chapter 25
Montana Territory, America. 1878
Getting out of the town of Kilnhurst had been relatively easy. I'd left my would-be assassin in the bedroom, naked and cursing my name as I jumped out of the window. A little air magic to slow my descent and I landed without a fuss. A moment later, I'd released Valour from the hitching post and was riding her out of town at a steady pace.
It took me a few hours to get to the fort that I'd told Sky to take Sam to. It was a small structure compared to forts in other parts of the country, but placed on top a hill, giving it an excellent view of the land.
Armed soldiers patrolled the walkways above what I was sure would be thick sturdy walls, scanning the surrounding land as the last visages of sunlight died away over the mountains to the west.
One of the guards noticed my arrival as I neared the huge wooden gates, and aimed his rifle in my direction. "Stop," he shouted.
I did as I was told.
"Who are you?" he asked. His gun wavered slightly. Probably new at the job.
"My name is Nathan Garrett," I told him. "I sent some people up here earlier, a woman and a boy. Have you seen them?"
The guard left my sight, and for a brief moment I thought I was just being left outside to wait. I was just about to find another way inside the fort, when the gates swung open and a man walked toward me. He wore the uniform of an army officer, his revolver still holstered at his hip. But he hardly needed the weapon considering he was flanked by five soldiers, all of whom were holding their rifles in a very nonchalant way, instantly proving how concerned they were.
"And you are?" the officer demanded of me.
"As I told your man, my name is Nathan Garrett."
"You sent some people here, a young boy and an Indian woman?" He managed to place a lot of context into that one word. Apparently he was not a fan of the natives.
"They made it here, then," I said.
"Never said that," the officer said with a smug smile.
"Yes, you did. I never mentioned that she was Indian, only that she was a woman."
The smile vanished as if wiped away by the increasing wind that picked up around us. "And who are you to be sending people to my fort?"
I ignored his question "Where are they?"
"I detained them both pending further inquiries."
"You did what?"
"I can't have some Indian spy walking unsupervised around my fort. And when we tried to disarm her, she broke the arm of Lieutenant Burns."
"I don't give a damn what she did or didn't do, get her out of whatever shithole you put her in. Now."
"I am the Captain in charge of this fort, and you—"
I reached into my saddle bag and pulled out a piece of paper. "And here is a piece of paper signed by your president that grants me the rank and status of a Major of the American Army. I outrank you, Captain, now get out of my damn way and get me those prisoners."
I ignored the Captain's gobsmacked face, and rode Valour into the fort itself.
I counted a dozen buildings inside the fort—barracks, a mess room, the quartermaster's storehouse, even a small medical centre, were all easily identifiable. But they all paled in significance, when compared to the large two-story building at the rear of the fort. It was clearly the officers' quarters.
I dismounted Valour and passed her reins to a young boy who came running up to me. "Take her to the stables."
He took Valour away, just as the Captain made his presence known again. "Sir, I'm sorry about what happened back there." He spoke with the displeasure of a man who'd thought of himself as the top rung on a very short ladder, and who'd just discovered that the ladder was only half made.
I folded the letter up and put it in my pocket, taking my time to let the silence linger between us. "Just so we understand each other, Captain. I'd like the woman and the boy released, and then I'd like to have a chat with you and your officers."
The following few minutes were a hive of activity as people ran around following the orders barked out by the Captain. I let myself into the officers' quarters, and tried not to scare a young woman who had been cleaning the dining area.
She quickly made her excuses and rushed away, leaving me alone to grab an apple from a fruit bowl and take a bite.
It took under three minutes for Sky and Sam to be presented. I knew because I'd watched the
time pass on a large black grandfather clock beside me.
"That man is an idiot," Sky said, as an army sergeant placed her knives on the table in front of her.
"Yes, ma'am," the sergeant said firmly.
"Was I talking to you?" Sky snapped, snatching up a dagger and placing it in her boot, as Sam pounced on the bowl of fruit like a lion.
"No, ma'am," he almost whispered.
"Be nice, Sky," I said. "What's your name, Sergeant?"
"Sergeant Roberts," he said and saluted.
"Roberts," I stood and offered him my hand, which he took in a firm, confident handshake. "Nice to meet you. Sky's right though, your captain is an ass."
"Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Of course," I said.
"He's got a blind spot when it comes to Indians. He hates 'em. They killed some friends of his at Little Big Horn a few years back. Never forgave 'em for that. And he wasn't right pleased about 'em before then. It sort of pushed him over the edge."
"Does he know anything about what happened at the Warren Ranch due east of here?"
"I wouldn't like to say, but we've been ordered not to patrol east for a day or two. No reason why. None that I've heard, anyway. Captain Waltham isn't exactly forthcoming with anyone but Lieutenant Burns when it comes to giving orders."
"Those two close?" Sky asked. The weapons on the table had disappeared back to wherever they were stored on her person.
"Thick as thieves as my mother would say. I think Burns is the only one the Captain trusts. Which is a shame as Burns is a first-class shit."
"I got that impression before I broke his arm," Sky said.
"I heard about that," I said. "You wouldn't give up your weapons."
"Wouldn't let the shit grope me is more accurate."
"If that's all, sir," an uncomfortable Roberts said and saluted before leaving the room.
Sky waited until she was certain we had no unwanted ears before talking. "How'd you manage to get the Captain to let us go?"
I pulled out the paper and passed it to her, watching with interest as she read it.
"Is this real?"
"Probably," I said, taking it back. "It certainly comes in handy when dealing with people like Captain Waltham."