by Jessica Gunn
I scrubbed the sides of my face, wiping off the sweat. “That was fucked up.”
Shawn stood, examining his hands. “What happened? Why the hell did—?”
“Alzan magik,” I interrupted. “We finally unlocked the magik.”
He stared at me blankly for a moment before looking down at his chest, pressing his hands against his shirt. “The elin.”
“An illusion, a hallucination,” Areus said. “What you saw were all the things keeping your magik locked.”
“A demon’s poison?” Shawn asked, his brow furrowing.
“Elin blocks magik or forces you to overcome it,” I said.
“I know what elin does.” He shook his head. “If that was the secret, we should have done it a long time ago.”
“We’re both afraid of our magik, Shawn. That’s what the elin signified. We’ve both been afraid for so long now of what our magik could do. Yours was half-demonic. Mine almost brought Boston to the ground thanks to the cianza.”
“And Giyano? Your evil twin? What was that all about?”
I lifted my gaze to his. “The things keeping you and me apart.” Giyano had tried swaying me to demonic magik to neutralize my own. But in doing so, he’d opened the door for Kinder. And Shawn had always hated the demonic half of himself.
Areus clapped again, drawing my attention back to the conversation at hand. “Your magik is now ala-ether, a pure, ancient form of good magik.” To me, he said, “You will also find your witch magik has been returned to you, I assume. Since it was locked away when your magik became elemental-based, correct?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Minus seeing auras.”
“An inherent witch ability,” Shawn said.
But if my elemental magik was gone… I turned to one of the chairs away from both Areus and Shawn and swiped a hand at the air. The chair slid along the floor, knocking into a bookshelf.
“My telekinesis,” I said, grinning. “Awesome.”
Shawn’s eyes narrowed, but then he lifted a hand. And where I thought he’d attempted to produce an Ember witch ether flame, the couch next to him lifted up into the air instead. Shawn cried out in surprise, dropping his hand. But instead of the chair falling to the ground, a bookcase toppled over, books flying everywhere.
“Pockets!” I shouted, closing the distance between us. He looked over at me, surprise still written all over his face. “Hands in your pockets—now!”
He complied, but as soon as he did so that Ember ether flame he’d been looking for burned right through his shorts. Only the flame was white like it’d been in the hallucination, and more like a wave of power than a true flame.
Shawn jumped and closed his eyes, humming to himself. “Calm down. Calm down.”
“Do everything you had me do with the fire-elemental magik,” I said as I stood in front of him. “I had issues controlling this power at first too. Breathe. It’s just magik.”
“It feels like it’s crawling around inside of me.”
Areus walked over to us, a careful look on his face. “It’s new magik to you. Pure, good magik. Your body isn’t used to it.”
Shawn breathed heavily, his chest heaving. “It’s like when I healed you, but on a larger scale.”
“I’d offer you some demonic magik of my own, but I think we’re past that.”
Shawn chuckled, but I didn’t think he actually found any of this funny. “I can’t. It feels like the power’s going to burst out of my hands.”
“Then aim it at a wall,” Areus said. “You’ve destroyed enough of my books.”
Shawn laughed at that and so did Areus. I stood, my gaze jumping between them both. “Are you both mad?”
Finally, Shawn’s breathing evened out and he backed away from me, hands still in his pockets. “I think I’m okay now.” He looked down to his hands, one showing through the hole now in his shorts. “Shit.”
“New magik is fun, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Is this what you went through in Ether Circle Prison?”
I nodded. “Yep. Burned everything—my clothes, my bed, my guard.”
His eyes snapped to mine. “What?”
I shrugged. “He was an asshole. The Ether Circle had it coming.”
Areus cleared his throat loudly. “Well, now that you’ve gotten your prophesied magik, we can move on to how we’re going to stop Lady Azar from reaching the city.”
Shawn’s eyes narrowed on Areus. “Are you serious? We got here less than twelve hours ago. New place, a new plane of existence. And now we’ve just unlocked magik the both of us have been searching for for years, and you want to jump into a battle plan?”
Areus looked at him for a moment. “Yes.”
I rolled my eyes and headed for the bookcase that Shawn had toppled over. “You’re crazy,” I said as I repositioned the bookcase using my telekinesis. It felt good to have it back, like seeing an old friend after years apart.
“You don’t have to do that,” Areus said. “I can have someone put it back together.”
“No worries.” Besides, it’d give me something to do while I processed everything that’d just happened.
Alzanian magik. The goodness of it flowing through my veins felt like a much-needed detox from all the demonic magik Giyano had been putting in me for years. Maybe that’s why I’d been sweating so much.
One by one, I put books back on the shelves as Areus and Shawn continued arguing.
“You can’t expect us to bounce back so quickly,” Shawn said. “We’ve been through a lot recently. New magik, powerful magik, will take time to learn and control.”
Areus scoffed. “You were born to control this. It will come as naturally to you as breathing.”
Shawn leveled him with a glare. “Somehow I doubt that.”
My fingers wrapped around the binding of a large tome, leather-bound with gilded gold pages. I turned it over and read the front cover: Journal of Dariah.
“Don’t touch that,” Areus called, hurrying over to my side. “That’s a special text.”
“It was her journal,” I said, looking up at him. “When she got the power, did she write about it? Maybe that will help us.”
He reached out to grab the tome from me. “I don’t know. I’ve never read her personal thoughts.”
I lifted my hands. “Fine. Take it.”
Areus did, backing up with it pressed against his chest.
I bent down to retrieve another book, but before I’d even gotten my whole hand around the binding, a blinding pain shot through my head, a bright light burning my eyes.
Suddenly, I was hurrying through a cobblestone corridor filled with red and black stones beneath a glass ceiling. The sky shone above, the stars and the moon lighting the path beneath my feet. I walked quickly to a door at the other end of the hallway, a too-long robe catching beneath my sandals. The hand the pushed open the door wasn’t mine—it was double my size, the skin was black, and there was something distinctly male about it.
The door opened to a massive chamber filled with golden chandeliers and gilded archways rising up to a ceiling painted over in breathtaking murals. But I only spared everything in the room a glance before focusing on the council that sat at the other end. Seventeen people, all sitting on a raised platform made from black marble at the end of the hall.
My heart leapt up into my throat as I fell to my knees before them. “I am here, as you summoned.” My voice was deep and commanding, so unlike my own.
“Glad to have you here, Jaffrin of House Highborn.”
“I am happy to serve.”
“Rise,” said the figure in the center. “This day we have a special mission for you.”
I stood on shaky knees and pressed equally-shaking fingers behind my back. “Thank you, High Council. What shall I do for you?”
The man at the center stood, his eyes shining bright, cobalt blue. He had blue designs tattooed around his eyes, stretching down across his tanned skin to his neck. “You will lead our people, the Neuians, to balance. Go
to the origin plane and insert yourself in the Hunter Circles. Await further instruction. War is coming. Be prepared.”
The vision snapped away from me as quickly as it’d come. I still clutched the tome I’d been in the process of picking up and flipped it over. The title read: A History of Neuia.
The tome slipped from my fingers to the floor, the impact echoing in the sudden quiet that’d enveloped the room.
“Daughter?” Areus asked.
Shawn pushed past him to stand front of me. “Krystin? What is it?”
“A vision,” I said, my voice wavering. I ran my hands through my hair, backing away from Shawn and Areus, deeper into the book stacks. “No. Oh, god. That bastard! I knew it. I fucking knew it.”
Shawn followed me, Areus right behind him. “Krystin, tell us what you saw.”
I froze, my chest heaving with heavy breaths. The cold sweat returned as every single damn puzzle piece, every memory, every excuse Jaffrin had ever given me, and every last awful, gut-churning feeling I’d had about him fell into place.
“We have to get home, Shawn,” I said, staring at him. “We can’t wait. We unlocked the power and it’ll have to be enough.”
His gaze watched my face. “Why? What did you see?”
I swallowed hard, extrapolating how far this conspiracy might reach. “I saw Jaffrin.”
“So?” Shawn asked. “Doing what?”
“Accepting a mission from the Neuian High Council to infiltrate the Hunter Circles and prepare for war.”
Shawn’s eyes widened and we both looked to Areus. “Explain. You’re the only one caught up to speed.”
Areus’s own face had paled. “I’d worried about this Neuian influence. The Fire Circle has always been at the center of this war, especially with Lady Azar’s involvement. The Neuians created cianzas, Son and Daughter. And I don’t think they’re happy about their weapons being utilized by Darkness.”
Shawn turned back to me. “But he’s always been for us protecting Cianza Boston. About learning our Alzan heritage and magik.”
“Except when he couldn’t control what we knew and where we’d gone,” I said. “Every damn moment of my life since I became a Hunter has been micromanaged by him.”
“To keep an eye on you,” Areus said. “Your magik undermines cianzas and their weapons. But I think they were more worried about you tipping the balance than anything else.”
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 whirrin
g, 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.”