by Jessica Gunn
Shawn’s hard stare settled on me. “Why give you this vision now? What’s so important that the Powers told you this very second?”
Oh, fuck. “Lady Azar’s plans must have moved up. She must be getting ready to use Riley to break down the walls. Jaffrin might be forced to act.” My stomach dropped. “To kill them all, including Riley.”
And if Shawn and I weren’t there to stop it, Ben would kill us. Possibly literally. We were the only shot Riley had.
I grabbed for Shawn’s hand and squeezed his fingers between mine. “We need to go. Now.” I looked to Areus. “Tell us how to get back. We’ll return to save Alzan and do whatever else you need. But first we have to stop Jaffrin from slaughtering everyone.”
Areus’s face hardened, as if he didn’t want to help us. And I totally understood. He’d waited thousands of years for Shawn and me to get here, to learn our magik and prepare for war. But that war might be over before it’d even started if we didn’t get back right away.
Finally, his expression softened. “The same way you got here.” He reached into his tunic and pulled out a knife from a hidden sheath. He tossed it to Shawn, who caught it deftly. “Blood magik. Think of home.” He smiled. “I will see you when you return.”
“I promise we’ll be back,” I said.
He nodded. “I know. Goodbye for now.”
“Thank you, Areus,” Shawn said before turning to me and slicing open both our palms. Blood pressed together, our fists glowed white, and we disappeared.
Chapter 22
Ben
The fact that Jaffrin hadn’t called for us again worried me. It’d been almost twenty-four hours since we’d left Headquarters with the command to find Krystin and Shawn, and still not a single word from him.
Now I sat once more in the living room with the others, watching the news for any sign that Lady Azar was moving on her plans. But so far, nothing big had made the civilian newscasts. I took it as the only good sign we were likely to get.
The air around me shifted, becoming slightly electrified momentarily, before two figures blinked into existence in the middle of the living room, right next to the coffee table.
I jumped off the couch. “Krystin.”
She turned to me, her hand still clasping Shawn’s, eyes wide. Shawn didn’t look much happier. Dark clouds seemed to swarm around his eyes as he took in the room.
“What the hell?” Sandra exclaimed, springing up from the couch where she’d sat next to me. Her hands reached out for my arm.
I dislodged her grasp, not once taking my eyes off Krystin. Her face was a sheet of white, her jaw clenched. As if she’d seen a ghost or some other monster. And anything that was enough to terrify Krystin was nothing I ever wanted to run into. “It’s okay. They’re my teammates.”
Shawn moved first, nearly sprinting into the kitchen. He looked around and, finding nothing, came back out, knocking into Nate, who’d moved to follow him. “He’s not here,” he called. “We have time, Krystin.”
Nate righted Shawn. “Slow down. What’s going on?”
Shawn looked across the room to Krystin, who’d remained still. “Krystin.”
She blinked, her eyes narrowing on me. Then her expression changed, relief washing over her features. But she didn’t move an inch. “Where’s Jaffrin right now?”
“Hell if we know,” Rachel said from where she sat by the television.
“We haven’t talked to him since he last gave us orders, long after you and Shawn and disappeared,” Nate said.
Krystin’s gaze moved from me to Sandra. Her head tilted. “What’s she doing here?”
“Hydron got involved,” I said, hoping that’d be explanation enough. I didn’t have the strength to rehash everything that’d happened while they’d been gone, not when it appeared they had worse news to deliver. “Why does it matter where Jaffrin is right now?”
“Because that bastard is a fucking traitor,” Krystin snarled, her fiery gaze turning on me. “I knew it from the start. And I told you, Ben.”
I hesitated, biting my tongue before responding. I’d already determined he was an untrustworthy asshole yesterday when he’d defended Hydron’s accusations against Sandra. And I knew Krystin had hated him from the start. But this new level of anger bit into me and I wasn’t even the target. “What’s going on?” I asked again. “You’ve been gone for almost a day, guys. What happened?”
“We went to Alzan,” Shawn answered.
“And Jaffrin is a Neuian,” Krystin added, her tone exasperated. “He’s not even human.”
My eyes narrowed. “What?”
Sandra reached out for me again with shaky hands. “How’d they just show up in the living room? They came out of nowhere.”
“Teleportation,” I said, not looking at her. “I told you that was an ability we had. They’re on our side; don’t worry.”
“What’s a Neuian?” Nate asked.
“Bad fucking news, that’s what,” Krystin said. This broke her out of her spell. She stalked to the front door and peeked through nearby curtains. “He’s been watching us from the start.”
“Did you say you went to Alzan?” I asked.
Shawn nodded. “Yes. By accident, mostly. We tried to use blood magik to unlock the powers, like how my blood was able to take down the shield surrounding Headquarters six months ago. Instead, it took us straight to the plane of existence currently housing Alzan.”
“And it’s not just a sprawling city anymore,” Krystin said. “It’s a whole civilization that stretches for hundreds of miles.”
My head spun, thoughts whirring, trying to wrap around the idea of other planes of existence. I’d accepted the fact that the Powers lived on their own plane because it was easy to equate that with the stories of God and angels I’d heard in Sunday School growing up. But with demons and the Split and now Alzan… Obviously, Lady Azar was planning to go there. It just hadn’t sunk in until now.
“We unlocked our magik, that’s the important part,” Shawn said, drawing me from my thoughts. “We can use it against Lady Azar and stop her before she leaves for Alzan. But that’s not the biggest problem.”
My stomach dropped. “How is that not the biggest problem? She has Riley and all the magik she needs.” But then I remembered how the Shadow Crest demons had wanted to trade Riley for Krystin and Shawn, and I began to wonder what Lady Azar’s plan actually was.
“Jaffrin’s the problem,” Krystin said through gritted teeth. She turned from the front door and met my stare. “Jaffrin’s a Neuian agent planted some time ago by their council to watch over the Fire Circle. He’s been impersonating a normal person with magik for the last decade or so, guiding Hunters on the path to kill Darkness right up until Shawn and I showed up.”
Nate paced toward Krystin. “Again, I ask for the rest of us: What is a Neuian?”
Krystin looked to Shawn, who nodded. Then she turned back to me. “Before the Split, there was the Entity.”
“I know, Krystin,” I said. “I took that lesson in training.” Before Good and Evil were a thing, there was a creature called the Entity. Every living being was a part of it, sharing their thoughts, magik, consciousnesses—everything. But then Aloysius got greedy and wanted power for himself and a land to lord over. So he broke off from the Entity, creating the Split. The result was he and Darkness versus the Powers, who created the Hunter Circles and witch lines to battle the demons left behind.
Krystin nodded. “Good, then you know that for the most part, everyone thinks the Entity was the beginning of everything. According to what we learned in Alzan, that’s not true. The Neuians were part of that pre-Split world.”
“They were an aggressive civilization,” Shawn said. “They were in the midst of a massive civil war when they created cianzas to be weapons. Their magik was like our Alzanian magik, neutral to the cianzas except under certain circumstances. But when the Split happened, the Neuians disappeared, leaving the cianzas behind.”
Krystin stepped toward me.
“I had a vision. Jaffrin was sent by the Neuian High Council to monitor Cianza Boston because of future ties to Shawn and me, and to Lady Azar. Kinder. All of it. He’s here to make sure we don’t turn Cianza Boston into the weapon it really is, but Shawn and me, our magik is its own kind of weapon. And I think he, along with the Ether Head Circle, was trying to abuse that.”
My mind swelled with all the new information. Too much of it. So I focused in on the one thing I could think coherently about. “Are you saying the Ether Head Circle knew about Jaffrin being this… Neuian thing?”
Shawn shook his head. “I doubt it. Apparently, not many know about the Neuians at all. Areus made it pretty clear that it’s been a secret kept for thousands of years.”
“Probably because it rewrites everything we know about magik, about the entire world,” Krystin said. “The Alzanians more or less forged the creation of the Son and Daughter from cianza magik because they know that what Cianza Alzan is built on could destroy everything.”
“What about Lady Azar or Aloysius?” Rachel asked. “If the Powers know, Aloysius must.”
“Why hasn’t he done anything, then?” Nate asked. “His daughter is about to overrun Cianza Alzan.”
Krystin and Shawn shared a long look again. Krystin said, “He must not think she can do it.”
Oh, fantastic. “Then he’s probably also not expecting her to overthrow Ammon for the throne, either.” I rubbed the back of my neck. It was beginning to feel as though the world was about to fall apart.
Krystin’s gaze narrowed. “Excuse me?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. “But we think she’s going to take out Ammon, maybe even before she goes to Alzan. Then she’ll have all of Darkness behind her.”
“Think about it,” Nate said. “She’s got Shadow Crest to protect her, Landshaft in her back pocket for all manner of resources. And now she’s got Riley, the key to Alzan.”
Except she was willing to trade him away for Krystin and Shawn.
Sandra touched my arm again and quietly asked, “Will you please explain to me what’s going on?”
I blinked and glanced over at her. It wasn’t that I’d forgotten she was there. I hadn’t. But the amount of shit that had just landed on our plates had begun outweighing my need to keep Sandra informed. “Essentially, the major power players in the war between Good and Evil are about to go head-to-head for total domination. There will be a power vacuum after round one and it looks like the demon woman who has our son is going to snatch it up.”
“If we don’t kill her first,” Krystin cut in, her tone deadly. “We need to get to her first. Take her out of the equation and rescue Riley. Then we deal with Jaffrin.”
Sandra glanced at Krystin. “You know where she is?”
Krystin shrugged, but it wasn’t without emotion. “There’s only one way to find out. We go to Shadow Crest’s lair in Vermont. Start there. If they’ve moved on, we’ll have homework to do. If not, we fight.”
“That’s a tall order, Krystin,” I said, looking around at my team. We’d only recently finished healing from the last big fight. And with Sandra here, I didn’t want to leave her alone for long. Not while Hydron and Jaffrin were still in reach of her. But it wasn’t like I could take her with us either. She’d be a sitting duck in that fight.
Krystin leveled me with a look. “We either act now and try to take out Lady Azar before she marches on Alzan, saving Riley in the process. Or we risk Jaffrin reporting to the Neuians and being caught in whatever awful crossfire will occur. I don’t know who they consider the enemy, Ben.”
“I don’t know that they’ll care,” Shawn said. “Areus, our mentor in Alzan, made it clear they think of everyone resulting from the Split as vermin. The low of the low.”
“All we know for sure is that Jaffrin got that stone from a Neuian who was in Alzan the day of its first fall,” Krystin said. “Areus told us the city panicked and used the stones sent by the Powers to call forth a first set of Son and Daughter. It’s a long story, but basically she moved the city and he never got his magik. The stone held it for thousands of years, and it must have been passed down from the Neuian who was there to Jaffrin by the council. He was waiting for Shawn to show up, to get his magik.”
“Only he must have chickened out at some point and hid it away,” Shawn said. “He never intended to give it to me.”
I walked backward until the back of my knees hit the couch, then I sank down into it. This was a lot to process. Too much. Jaffrin not only a traitor, but this Neuian thing. Alzan under attack. Lady Azar wanting to take out her own twin brother for a throne neither would inherit any time this century. I slid my hands over my eyes to block out all of reality like a child. “I don’t know what to say, Krystin.”
She knelt down in front of me, peering through the hands I had over my face. “Say you’ll let us move. If we go to Shadow Crest’s lair now, if we take out Lady Azar before she goes to Alzan, we have a chance to not only save the city and stop any attack by the Neuians, but we can also save Riley. And that at least I know you’re willing to do anything to make happen.”
I dropped my hands and met her blue-eyed gaze. She looked fierce in the face of this insanity. Her hard eyes exuded a strength I’d long lost, some determination that seemed to claw into me and take root. And when she lifted an eyebrow, looking for an answer from me, I swallowed down the fear and doubts lingering in my mind. “You’re right.”
She smirked. “Often. More than you’d like to admit.”
Sandra snorted next to me. Everything about this situation was weird.
“We’ll go,” I said. “But not alone. Let me try to convince some more teams to join us. At the very least, Dacher needs to know.”
Krystin’s eyes narrowed. “Why him?”
“He’s second-in-command. And if we’re seriously talking about kicking Jaffrin out of power too, then Dacher needs to know what’s going on.”
“Do you trust him?” Shawn asked.
I nodded. “With my life.”
“Ask Avery,” Krystin said. “To join us, I mean. If you can convince him to turn against Jaffrin, having Dacher hear about it all from Avery will solidify our claims.”
“That’s a good idea.” Although I wasn’t sure I could turn Avery against Jaffrin. “I’ll talk to Cassie first, though. We graduated our training period together. She’ll join us. Then I’ll go to Avery.”
Krystin stood. “Good. I’ll come with you.”
“Absolutely not,” I said as I rose to meet her. “You and Shawn look like hell. We’ll leave in the early morning. Go rest for a few hours. And if it’s okay, Krystin, I want to take Sandra to your mother for protection.”
Krystin swallowed hard. Her relationship with her mother had been rocky at best for years. But Desiree had helped us locate Krystin before and she’d bound Riley’s powers nine months ago. She was on our side, whether Krystin liked her or not. “Okay,” she said finally.
“I’ll take her,” Rachel said. “I know where she lives and I can introduce them.”
Sandra grabbed on to my arm again. “Ben, you need to take me with you. I don’t want to run anymore.”
“I know,” I said before pulling her into a hug. She accepted it, which I wasn’t expecting. “This isn’t something you can help with, though. Every demon has magik, and these demons are stronger than most. I’m not willing to risk you and Riley for this.”
Sandra pulled away, but instead of the hate I’d expected, the same hate she’d given me at the hospital six months ago when Riley had been kidnapped again, I saw resignation. “Be safe, Ben. Keep your head in the game.”
I doubt she meant it to, but her words stung. She knew too well what happened when I didn’t keep my head in the game. “I will. No fumbling.”
She smiled sadly. “Go get our son back.”
“I will.”
Rachel gave me a look before walking over to Sandra. “This is going to feel weird, but I promise we’re safe.” Before Sandra co
uld ask what she meant, Rachel teleported the both of them out of the living room and to Desiree’s house.
I looked to the rest of my team and released a long-held breath. “Rest. I’ll go recruit Cassie and Avery and their teams. I’ll be back soon.”
And then I, too, was gone.
I fell onto my bed with heavy thoughts and kicked off my shoes, letting them land where they might against the wall. Convincing Avery to join the fight had gone a lot easier than I’d expected. He’d followed Jaffrin with blind loyalty ever since I’d met him. But as soon as I’d explained Krystin and Shawn’s adventure in Alzan coupled with the stone Jaffrin had had, even Avery had seen all the connections and bad calls he’d made in the name of the Neuians. With Avery’s support and Cassie’s team alongside us, we might actually stand a chance in the upcoming fight. Especially with Krystin and Shawn’s new magik.
A knock sounded on my door. “Can I come in?”
Krystin. Her voice was quiet, but it was also now the middle of the night.
“Sure,” I said, standing from the bed to kick my shoes out of the way.
She pushed open the door and poked her head in. “I wanted to check in, that’s all. I heard you teleport back.”
I chuckled once. “I didn’t realize I was a loud teleporter.”
She smirked. “You kicking your shoes against our shared wall didn’t help your stealth situation.”
I laughed and waved her inside. She shut the door behind her but didn’t move far from it. “What’s up?”
Krystin tucked her hands into her pockets and bit her lip. “Like I said, I wanted to check in. How’d Avery take it?”
“He’s going to talk to Dacher now and he agreed to help us with Lady Azar first thing tomorrow. Cassie was on board right away. Avery apparently has been thinking Jaffrin’s an ass for a while now. Something with how he handled you being in Ether Circle Prison.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “How sweet of Avery.”