Hunter Circles Series Complete Boxset: An Urban Fantasy Adventure

by Jessica Gunn

  “Maybe we should have teleported straight into Dacher’s office,” Nate said, cringing as we danced around more Hunters hurrying past us up to the second floor or down into the training rooms in the basement. Recruitment had gone up, too, although vetting those new Hunters—and the current ones—was going even slower than making sure no one on the new Command had ties to Darkness or the Neuians.

  I glanced at Ben, then to Rachel. No wonder he was so scared. But what he kept forgetting was that both he and his cousin had been Hunters for years now, and that even if Karen was telling the truth, they’d both been Neuian this entire time. They just hadn’t known, which meant they were fine. Right?

  I swallowed hard as Shawn nodded to Lissandra, the front desk admin, and led the way up the stairs to Dacher’s office.

  The truth was: We didn’t know what being Neuian meant. The magik Karen had given Ben and Rachel wasn’t magik they’d had before. Maybe it unlocked something within them the way ala-ether affected me and Shawn. And if that were the case, I had to wonder how much control they’d have over it… if any.

  “Stop thinking about it,” Ben said as we climbed the stairs to the second floor.

  “I’m not.”

  “Much. Please stop. It’s making me more anxious than I was to begin with.”

  I gave him a sidelong glance, focusing on the wrinkles of concern webbing around his eyes. He didn’t have the Neuian tattoos yet at least. “I said you’re going to be fine. I’m not going to let her do something to you or turn you into anything.”

  We crested the top of the stairs. The others continued down the hallway as Ben pulled me aside. Shawn turned back, but Ben waved him on ahead. “Just a second.”

  Shawn nodded and pulled a concerned Rachel along with Nate down the hall and into Dacher’s office.

  “I promise you, Ben—”

  He lifted his hands and held my shoulders, staring me straight in the eyes. “We don’t know what the Neuians are capable of, or what it even means to be one of them. I don’t care what happens to me so much as what happens to Rachel… and Riley. I need you to promise me that—”

  I shrugged off his grip. “Don’t talk like that. She literally was all, ‘Hey, you’re like me,’ and that’s it, Ben.”

  “Her magik changed us,” he said.

  I scowled. “Barely. So you’ve got Neuian ether magik now? So what? I’ve had demonic magik inside me and now Alzan’s power. It’s never changed who I am. This won’t change you.”

  “But Kinder’s magik manipulated you,” he said, his stare unforgiving. A chill coursed through me with the realization Ben wasn’t screwing around. “It changed how you thought, how you acted. What if that happens to me? Who will be there for Riley?”

  My breath slowed. “Ben, if you’re a Neuian, then—”

  “Don’t,” he said, shaking his head.

  “It’s just that—”

  “I said don’t.”

  I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from talking. At least he’d arrived at this conclusion too: Riley not only had the Power, but he had the same blood as the people who built cianzas. And I was starting to wonder if Lady Azar had known that all along. That she had banked on turning Riley into a demon, to claim him from the Neuians.

  “It makes Riley the safest out of all of us,” I said. “Neither side will kill him, Ben. Neither can afford it.”

  “Glad my son’s life has a price,” he hissed.

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

  He blinked slowly, then closed his eyes and exhaled a long breath. “I’m sorry. I know I’m freaking out, it’s just that… After everything, you know?”

  I glanced around to make sure the people coming and going weren’t paying us too much attention. The team had all gone into Dacher’s office by now, so I leaned in and wrapped my arms around Ben’s shoulders, pulling him close.

  “I know,” I whispered into his neck. “I know. I’ve been there, being told you’re a part of something you want nothing to do with. Your magik being changed without your consent. You’re not alone in this, and I will not let her take you to become one of them.”

  “I don’t know that it’s up for debate.”

  I squeezed him harder. “You’re mine now. The Neuians won’t get you.”

  “Guys!” Shawn called down the hall.

  I jumped away from Ben as others turned to look at us. “One second!” I called back to him.

  Ben’s arms dropped, his hand landing in mine for the briefest of moments. “Thank you, Krystin.”

  “Anytime.”

  Dacher sat behind his desk, exhaustion pulling on his already-worn features. He’d been second-in-command for a reason. His Hunting days were long past, and in his middle age, he’d found himself stout and seemingly unfit for a demon fight.

  “This certainly changes things,” he said, looking up at the five of us with tired eyes.

  Ben’s body tensed next to mine. “Sir?”

  Dacher’s gaze cut to Ben and he waved him off. “Not for you or Rachel. You’ve been my Hunters for three, almost four years now. I’m speaking about the war in general. With Alzan becoming a target now that Lady Azar has Riley, the last thing we need are these Neuians coming into the picture. We don’t know whose side they’re on.”

  “I’m willing to bet it’s their own,” I said. “They built the cianzas. I don’t know if they’ll necessarily step in to help or stop Lady Azar when she marches on Cianza Alzan, but I feel like they’re going to be there either way.”

  “And we don’t know what they’re capable of,” Dacher said. “I assume that’s why you came to me so fast.” We all nodded. His gaze fell. “Until Krystin and Shawn returned from Alzan, I’m afraid that, unless the Ether Head Circle hid it from us, the Fire Circle didn’t know about the Neuians.”

  “And what are the chances they hid it?” Rachel beat me to the question, her tone more commanding than I’d ever heard. It was clear this Neuian business and the strain of Riley’s capture had worn down her usual contentment to let Ben take the lead.

  It made me weirdly proud of her.

  Dacher leaned back in his chair, his gaze falling on Ben. “Normally I wouldn’t speak like this to anyone but my Command.”

  “There is no Command,” I said.

  Dacher nodded. “Exactly. Honestly—and I’m only telling you this because your team has been directly involved with everything from the start—I’m beginning to think that the Ether Head Circle knew all of it. Including that Jaffrin was a Neuian planted to work within the Fire Circle to watch for Krystin and Shawn, and for Riley. I wonder if that’s the reason they didn’t step in as much or divulge useful information—because they were worried what Jaffrin might have been passing on to the Neuians.”

  My teeth ground together as I processed his words, each another heavy brick laid fully on the never-trusting-the-Ether-Circle-ever-again side of the scale. “But they could have saved all of us so much trouble by doing so.”

  Dacher lifted his hands. “Believe me, I’m on your side. I wasn’t happy with their decision to not step in against Kinder at the Hydron mission, nor with their imprisonment of you, Krystin. These are tense times and with the final conflict approaching, I fear it will get worse.”

  “But we can’t hide our heads in the sand and protect ourselves instead of working with our allies to protect us all,” I snapped. “No one survives that way.”

  “We know,” Ben said, interrupting. “No one knows how to fix it, though, since the Ether Circle likes to keep to their compound.”

  “Then we burst right in,” I said. “The same way you all did to rescue me. We show them that with their help, this final conflict can be over before it actually begins. They probably have magik solid enough to reinforce the walls around Alzan so much that not even a super-powered Riley can break through.”

  Ben’s body froze again, but not from shock. His face turned blotchy red.

  Dacher stood, his voice calm. “Maybe it’s bes
t to seek assistance elsewhere. Perhaps if you go to Alzan and ask their High Council or maybe even interrogate Jaffrin yourselves, they’ll have the answers we need. That you need.”

  “And what do we do about the fact that Karen claimed we’re Neuians?” Rachel asked. “What are we supposed to do about our magik changing?”

  “I can monitor it now that it’s ether-based,” Nate offered mutely. “For what good that will do.”

  Dacher nodded at him. “Yes, monitor the change. But I’m afraid that unless the Alzanian High Council can offer more information about the Neuians as a whole, there isn’t much I can do for you and Ben. And believe me, that pains me more than I can express.”

  So basically: we were screwed unless Areus and the others knew the answer. I was starting to really hate that.

  “Go,” Dacher said, gesturing toward the door. “Check in at the Infirmary to make sure you’re physically okay, then go home and rest. Let me know before you leave for Alzan.”

  Ben nodded, his cheeks and ears still bright red. “Yes, sir.” We turned to leave, but on the way out, Ben caught my arm again and said, “Don’t talk about Riley like that again. He’s not a tool.”

  “I know that,” I said, searching his eyes. “Stop giving up hope we’ll get him back.”

  “I’m not,” he said curtly. Then he marched on ahead of me, following the team back to the staircase to head up to the Infirmary.

  I ran a hand through my hair as I stood, watching him go.

  “Keep an eye on him.”

  I turned to find Dacher behind me, concern wrinkling his eyes.

  “I will,” I replied.

  He nodded. “Good. Some days I think Ben’s fine, that he’ll get through this.”

  “And the other days?”

  “I worry he’ll break under the weight of his perceived failures.”

  My jaw set hard. “I won’t let that happen.”

  Chapter 4

  Ben

  My thoughts didn’t settle, even after speaking with Dacher. Neither Rachel nor I had any reason to believe this Karen woman was right about anyone other than herself being a Neuian. She’d had the same magik, the same tattoos Jaffrin had, but neither of us did.

  But something deep in my gut had settled, a sense of rightness that sprouted as Karen had worked her magik into my mind, turning my lightning from its normal white-yellow to blue. To Neuian ether.

  I didn’t know how, and I wasn’t sure there was a way to prove it until, or if, I or Rachel suddenly developed those magikal face tattoos, but Karen was right.

  Which made me more worried for Riley than ever. Having the Power had made my son a target before he’d even been born. And if the Power made his magik neutral against cianzas, if it was somehow tied to them the same way Krystin’s Alzanian magik was derived from cianzas, that meant the Neuians had more claim to him than anyone else.

  I was starting to think I was right about that—that maybe the Power was something Neuians had had or had created, and maybe that was the real reason those with the Power had been hunted down and killed in early civilization. Not because the Power was an abomination but because the Neuians and their lost civilization were.

  Which meant the Ether Head Circle did know and neglected to tell us, because there was no way that a history like that had been simply forgotten over time in the oldest Circle known to them all.

  So only two questions remained: Had Lady Azar known this when she’d kidnapped Riley, or was he simply a means to a more direct end; and had Rachel’s parents known more about our powers awakening four years ago than they’d ever let on?

  Those were the thoughts that rattled my head as the team returned to our house in South Boston. I kept quiet as Krystin and Shawn talked about going to Alzan.

  “I’m not sure we can take the whole team,” Shawn said as he sat on the arm of our couch. “Aside from the magik it’d take to get there, I’m not sure the High Council would be happy about it.”

  Krystin nodded. “You’re right.”

  “Why wouldn’t they be? We’re on their side,” Rachel said.

  Krystin cringed. “I don’t think they’re happy about Alzan being rediscovered in the first place. It was bound to happen, but I think they wanted more time.”

  “Areus seemed to think it’d taken more than enough time,” Shawn said.

  “Maybe. But he’s been around for years,” Krystin said. “That’s another reason I want to go as soon as we can. If what Karen said is true, Areus might not only be able to confirm she knew the first Daughter, but also be able to tell if you’re actually Neuian.”

  “We are,” Rachel said.

  I looked to her. Did she feel that same sureness I did? I’d never felt anything like it before. ‘Soul-deep’ wasn’t even close to the right word to describe this feeling.

  Krystin turned on Rachel with her hands on her hips. “You don’t know that. You said neither of your siblings or your parents have magik. Sure, magik can skip a generation, but in the case of a heritage like that, I’m not sure.”

  Nate nodded. “It’s one thing to be a random magik user and another to be in a blood line, like witches and ether-shapers. My parents were both ether-shapers and if I have kids, they will be too. Magik has a way of working out like that.”

  “Michael didn’t have magik and he’s older than me,” Rachel said. “He’d have come into it by now, naturally or through that boating accident that gave Ben and me ours.”

  “Amanda was only seventeen when that happened,” I mumbled, watching Rachel carefully. “What if she’s developed them since then?”

  “She’d have called you.”

  “Would she have?” I shook my head. I’d talked to Rachel’s parents on occasion but never Michael and rarely my sister. She was in college now and I doubt she’d tell her big brother if something suddenly changed about her body like that. If anything, I’d expect her to talk to Rachel. And it seemed like she hadn’t at all.

  Maybe I shouldn’t have been so purposely detached from them for all this time. I was trying to keep them out of this Hunter Circles business. Maybe I’d been wrong to do that.

  “I think so, Ben,” Rachel said, looking up at me. “This is insane.”

  “I know.” I rubbed the back of my neck as silence took over the room. Everyone, even Krystin, looked to me, seemingly for some kind of order or direction. I had no idea where to even start—with one exception. “I want to go home.”

  Krystin’s eyebrow lifted. “Ben?”

  “First,” I clarified, before anyone got the wrong idea. I didn’t mean ‘go home’ as a retreat, though I was sure it sounded like one. “Rachel and I will go back home. I want to see if your parents know anything about this, and if Amanda or Michael has developed magik without us knowing.”

  “You don’t even know if either of them will be there,” Rachel said, her tone questioning, though her eyes had brightened. “Not that I don’t want to go. I just—we haven’t been there in years, Ben. Michael will be furious.”

  “Have you talked to him at all?”

  She shook her head and pushed back some of the blonde hair that’d fallen into her face. “Not really. I did at first because he’s even more overprotective than you are. But maybe not for the last year. Same with my parents, minus emails here and there. I didn’t want to get them caught up in this.”

  I knew the feeling. That was why I’d initially kept Rachel at arm’s length from the Circles even though she had magik. But Rachel had always been my anchor, even as kids. When I had told her about the Hunter Circles and what’d really happened to Riley, she’d refused to let me go on my own.

  “Your parents should be home,” I said. “Amanda too. It’s before school starts again up here.”

  Rachel bit the side of her lip. “Then let’s go.”

  “Where’s home for you?” Krystin asked. For the first time, I realized I’d never actually told her much about my life before the Hunter Circles. Nothing that hadn’t included Sandra and Rile
y anyway.

  “Western Massachusetts. That’s where Rachel’s parents live.” I glanced over at my cousin. “We could be there really fast. Teleportante with the car over to the park. No one would see us.”

  She arched a brow. “Except we can’t teleportante from the middle of the street, Ben.”

  True. My car had been parked in front of the team’s house for weeks. I’d probably lose my parking spot doing this, but the walk from the park or anywhere easy enough for us to teleportante into and out of without notice was too far away. Plus, it’d look a lot less weird if we pulled up to her parents’ house in a car than if we walked up.

  “Drive it into the parking garage under Fire Circle Headquarters,” Shawn said. “Flash them your knife. They won’t ask any questions. Then you don’t have to worry about anyone seeing you teleportante outside of our house.”

  “Okay. That’s the plan, then. Rachel and I will leave in the morning for home. When we come back, we can go to Alzan.”

  “Dacher thinks we’re going now,” Krystin said, her gaze meeting mine. “What do you want me to tell him if he calls?”

  “The truth,” I said. “There’s no point in lying. It makes sense that we’d want to check in on our family after what happened.”

  Krystin’s jaw set hard. Was it the plan she didn’t like, or us leaving on our own while everything was going to hell?

  “We’ll be fine, Krystin,” I added, but she only nodded.

  “We’ve got some stuff to work on, anyway,” Nate said. “We’ll be fine here.”

  “Good. Then let’s all get some rest and regroup in the afternoon.”

  My team members headed their own ways for the night, me retreating almost immediately upstairs to my bedroom.

  Krystin didn’t follow.

  Even though I hadn’t been home in years, I still knew the way there as if it hadn’t been a single day. Every turn through town, every street sign. Not much had changed here in three years.

  Wish I could say the same for me.

  The decades-old raised ranch sat back from the road, connected to it by a long driveway. I parked at the end of it and stared up at the house. It was stupid to not have come back. Why hadn’t I?