by Jamie Davis
“The lights are out,” Naomi said.
Avery shook her head. “They were on before.”
The four approached the building, taking their time. Clark tried to watch every direction at once, fearing a trick or trap. Nothing happened, though. They reached the building, and all was quiet. Quinn glanced through the office window.
“Anything?” Clark asked.
“No sign of them.”
“I know what I saw,” Avery insisted.
“We believe you,” Naomi said. “But now we have a problem. Where did they go?”
Clark shook his head. It made little sense that they’d bug out if this was their local staging area. “I think we have to assume they’ve pushed up their plans after your scuffle with them on the street. That’s what I’d do if I thought they had discovered me.”
“Okay, but where will they put their plan into effect?” Avery asked.
“It has to be the Crystal Well,” Quinn said. “That’s been Gemma’s and Filippa’s focus since the beginning. Ever since we uncovered their plot, we keep going back there.”
“It’s close,” Naomi said. “Only five minutes from here.”
Clark glanced at Avery as they walked. She definitely favored her back. If they ran into trouble, she’d have to hold back.
“We have to follow them, Clark,” Quinn said. “That’s the only place they could have gone.”
“I don’t disagree, but you and Avery are still in VR. Can you stay in this long?”
“We can ask Taylor once we clear this dead zone,” Quinn said. “I feel fine, and when we get there, I can recharge via the ley lines running beneath the Well.”
Clark grimaced. He hated it when she did that. It made all kinds of noise for those who could sense such things. Still, they’d need Quinn at full strength if it came to a fight. Avery, too.
“Let’s go. My car’s this way. If we hurry, we might catch them before they begin whatever ritual they have planned.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Taylor saw Quinn’s and Avery’s comms come back online and keyed her mic seconds later. “Hey, you guys all right?”
Quinn answered, “We’re good. We ran into trouble but got away clean. The problem is, so did they.”
“Who, Gemma and her demon-kinder?”
“Yes. We think they got spooked when we found their hideout. Clark and Mom are here with us. We all agree they’ve pushed up their schedule. I’m pretty sure they’re on the way to the Crystal Well to open the portal to the netherworld.”
“That’s not good,” Taylor said. “How did you discover that was where they were going?”
“Just guessing,” Quinn replied. “I mean, where else could it be?”
“I bet you’re right. What do you want us to do?”
“You all hold down the fort there. Avery and I are remaining in the VR system for a little longer. At least in here, I can spot them on my map when we get close enough. That’ll give us an advantage.”
Miranda leaned close to the mic. “Be careful. It takes powerful magic to open a gate like that, especially with all the magical wards between the planes. It’ll have side effects if it shuts down prematurely.”
“We’ll watch out. I’ll check in again when we get closer before we go underground and lose the signal.”
Quinn cut the connection, and Taylor leaned back. “At least Quinn and Avery are okay.”
“Yeah,” Miranda said, “but if they really have pushed up the timetable for releasing their spell, there could be powerful repercussions all over the city.”
“You’re right. I’d better go wake up Paddy. He might want to spread the word through his network so the city’s supernatural leaders know to expect trouble.” Taylor stood, holding out her arm for Sylvie to climb up to her shoulder. The dragon was curled up on the table where Quinn would reappear when she returned. “Come on, squirt. I’ll see if we can get a treat for you from the kitchen.”
“Eeeep.”
Miranda laughed. “While you two do that, I’ll look in on Tadpole and the girls. They should’ve all been tucked in their beds hours ago. I’m sure they’re asleep, but it doesn’t hurt to double-check.”
Miranda turned left down the long tunnel leading to the Hunter chambers and Taylor turned right, passing through the hall and storerooms behind O’Malley’s pub. She’d check his office and then the pub. Paddy might still be up. He liked to hang at the bar and watch late-night infomercials. He’d once told Taylor he was convinced his next pot o’ gold would come from making one of his own.
Taylor almost reached the door leading to the pub when she heard the crash of breaking furniture and glass from the other side. Yanking the door open, she spotted shadowy figures racing through the darkened pub. Two of them wrestled with Paddy near the bar.
The shift to werewolf form started at the first sign of a threat. It brought her wolf’s night vision online.
Two women held Paddy down atop the bar while a third pummeled the small man’s face. There were at least a dozen others in the bar, and more coming in from the alley entrance. Taylor didn’t know who to attack first.
Gemma entered and called orders to the invading forces. She pointed right at the storeroom door.
Taylor pulled the door closed and said, “Sylvie, go tell Miranda to hide the girls. Go now!”
The dragon pushed off Taylor’s shoulder and flew back down the long hallway. The tech witch’s talons sprouted from her fingers, and her canines emerged and grew. As she readied for the coming fight, something bothered her. Why were they here? They were supposed to be at the Crystal Well.
She cracked the door enough to see inside the pub and got her answer. Behind Gemma and the leading demon-kinder walked Filippa and Aurora with a group of black-clad Fae enforcers.
That was all the information Taylor needed. Quinn had been wrong about the location of their planned gateway. It wasn’t the Crystal Well. It was all happening here in the Hunter center of power.
Twisting in place, Taylor bolted back toward her workshop. She only had a few seconds before they found her. If she hurried, maybe she’d have enough time to start the recall sequence before anyone caught up to her.
Behind Taylor, Gemma shouted, “After her!”
Taylor ran as fast as her partially shifted form would allow her to, not just for her life, but to save everyone she knew and loved.
Racing into the workroom, she slammed the door and pressed her fingers wide against the stout wooden door. Summoning a surge of her magical energy, Taylor muttered “warp” while she drew in power.
Beneath her hands, the wood fibers roiled and expanded. The stout boards making up the newly replaced door and frame bent. The timbers creaked as they pressed outward and wedged the door closed.
Taylor smiled. It was the best she could do, and it might slow them down a little.
Pounding fists more powerful than a normal human’s beat on the door from the other side. The frustrated shouts told her they’d be awhile getting through.
Taylor sat down behind her triple monitors and started typing, prepping the system to bring Quinn and Avery home as quickly as possible. She usually had this part of the system constantly cycling so she could bring them home in an instant, but when she’d gotten up to go to the pub, she’d let it wind down. Now she needed two minutes for the magic/technology interface to spin up and bring her friends back home.
The timer on the screen started counting down just as the door burst inward in a shower of splinters. Gemma stood outside, one hand splayed out wide as she directed her powerful magic against the door. The remaining planks on either side of the door tumbled to the floor.
Snarling, Taylor let the rest of the shift to werewolf come over her, shredding her clothes in the process. Leaping from behind the monitors, she charged the evil sorceress.
If it had been just the two of them, Taylor might have had a chance.
Two demon-kinder women stepped in Taylor’s way. Though she clawed and bit both of
them, ripping out the throat of one of them, others came in and wrestled her to the ground.
Taylor was mostly lost in her change. She couldn’t speak the words she wanted to say. Instead, she snarled and bit at the four women holding her down.
Gemma stared down at her. “Bind her with silver. Tightly. She will be part of our sacrifice.”
The sorceress turned and bowed to the two princesses standing behind her. “We will capture and bind them all, Your Highnesses. Then you will have all the revenge you need. I promise.”
Filippa glared down at Taylor, a savage grin baring her perfect white teeth. “See that you do, Gemma. These upstarts have been too much trouble. It’s time you made up for all your missteps in stopping them.”
Gemma gave a slight bow. She waited until the two Fae princesses and their entourage started down the long corridor, then followed. She left Taylor thrashing to break free from the quartet of powerful demon-possessed women holding her down.
She let out a long, pained howl when the first of the silver restraints touched her arms. The agony got worse until it nearly blinded her while they wrapped her wrists and ankles in silver cables. Eventually, it was too much. The pain drew a veil of darkness over her and she lost consciousness.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Quinn tried the comm unit again from the basement in Federal Hill that led down to the old silica mines and the Crystal Well.
“Still no response?” Clark asked.
“No. I don’t understand. You can hear me, right?”
The others nodded.
“We’ve had comm issues all night,” Avery suggested. “It’s probably more of the same. It could even have to do with them starting the ritual below.”
Quinn nodded. “We’ll try again after we stop Gemma and the others. Come on.”
She pulled open the secret door and entered the old mine tunnels. As soon as she did, the comm signal dropped to zero. Taylor would have to wait for them to come back up if she wanted to know what they were doing.
Quinn, Avery, Clark, and Naomi walked down through the tunnels carved from the old silica mines that laced this part of the city. The two werebadger caretakers who lived in the home above the entrance had told Quinn and the others that no one had come or entered the mines in quite some time.
As Quinn neared the oldest part, she expected to feel some response from her amulet. The Hunter charm usually warned her when dangerous magic was nearby.
There was nothing, no chill or tingling or anything. She checked her HUD. Nothing there either.
“Something’s wrong.”
“Why do you say that?” Avery asked.
“You’ve got your amulet. Are you getting any warning about what’s up ahead? Anything telling you of evil magic at work?”
The other Huntress shook her head.
“Exactly. Neither am I.”
Clark reached up to touch his amulet. “I’m not either. I’m not as attuned to it as you are, Quinn, but I should feel something from magic as powerful as what they’re planning.”
Naomi said, “Maybe they’re masking the power somehow. They masked the magic and tech in the VR comm system.”
“Maybe,” Quinn replied. It was possible, but she wasn’t convinced. “Come on, the Crystal Well is just around the corner.”
Quinn drew her Bowie. The others armed themselves as well. They picked up speed and raced around the bend, entering the open circular chamber that was the Crystal Well.
Their pounding footsteps echoed off the glass dome overhead as they entered the empty circular chamber.
Quinn stopped and stared, searching the brightly lit room. “Where is everyone? They should be here. They have to be here.”
Naomi placed her hand on Quinn’s shoulder. “It could be that you two showing up when you did earlier caused them to rethink their plan and bug out.”
“She’s right, Quinn,” Avery said. “If they’re not here, where else could they be?”
“This is happening tonight. I can feel it.”
Naomi shook her head. “Quinn, it’s okay to be wrong, especially about this. It’ll give us more time to prepare.”
Clark walked to the center of the room and looked up at the gold chain dangling from the ceiling. “Quinn’s right. If I’ve learned nothing else since we got together, it’s to trust her instincts.”
Quinn shot him a look of gratitude. He nodded in reply.
“Okay,” Avery said. “If it’s not happening here, where is it?”
Quinn stared at the ceiling. The glittering cut glass lining the dome above her shot refracted rainbows from the electric bulbs strung along the walls. There was something about this place that could help them. Something someone had said when she first came here.
“Upwood, the original caretaker of this room, told me this place could be used to pinpoint weak spots where demon incursions could happen around the world.”
“I don’t suppose he told you how?” Clark asked.
“No, but I wonder…” Quinn’s voice trailed off. She stared at the long gold chain just above her head. She could feel the inherent power behind the walls. It lay dormant, waiting to awaken.
“The people who built this place were ancient. They worshiped old gods and nature. Their magic would have been old too.”
Naomi stepped up beside Quinn and nodded. “Of course, wild magic.”
Quinn lifted her blade and placed the razor-sharp edge on the palm of her other hand, then drew it through her clenched fingers, hissing at the fiery pain from the shallow cut she’d just made.
“I don’t know if this will work or what it will do, but be ready for anything.”
Reaching up, Quinn wrapped her bleeding palm around the gold chain, gripping it tightly, then closed her eyes and opened her HUD. The gold wild magic icon glowed brighter than ever before at the top. Depressing the icon, Quinn gasped as a flare of energy coursed through her.
In an instant, her consciousness filled the entire room, her mind and awareness connected with the glittering dome. Each twinkling facet represented a distinct place of magical power across the world. She could sense and feel the power coursing through each of them.
The sensation overpowered her. Her mind was filled with so much input, it threatened to burn her out in a flash of magical feedback.
Focus, Huntress. Use what you have learned to let the power pass through you. Give in and let it use you as it will, not as you would will it.
The old woman’s voice rang through her head, relaxing her. This was wild magic. By its very nature, it couldn’t be controlled.
Quinn did the impossible. As every muscle in her body tried to tense and spasm, she relaxed. She gave in fully as the surge of magic coursed through her.
She’d feared it would snuff out her life. Instead, the life of the world filled her. In a single instant, she saw all the wild magic nexus points in the world.
She sensed the power of the deep blue lake in the mountains of western Maryland. She soared over the peak of the mountain beside the lake. She dove deep beneath the bay and circled the dragon’s den.
In that split second, Quinn visited thousands of wild magic loci around the world. Also in that split second, Quinn knew exactly where Gemma had gone. The nexus of wild magic beneath the Hunter clan chambers had gone dark. That could only mean one thing.
“Oh, my goddess.”
“Quinn,” Avery asked. “What is it?”
“It’s not here. It was never here.”
“Where is it, then?” Clark asked.
“Home.” Quinn’s eyes opened. She looked at her companions. “It’s our home.”
Realization bloomed in three pairs of eyes at once.
Quinn released the gold chain and ran for the chamber’s exit. “We have to hurry. There might still be time.” Her heart sank, realizing what Gemma might do to Taylor and the girls. Without Quinn there to protect them, Gemma would take every ounce of her revenge out on them.
The thought spurred her to r
un faster. The others strained to keep up. As she neared the surface, Quinn started keying her comm unit, trying to reach Taylor, praying she was wrong.
There was no answer.
Quinn stopped as she skidded out of the tunnel into the old basement. “Clark, we’ll need help.”
“Who?”
“Everyone. Anyone.”
“They’ll be watching the entrance to the pub,” Clark said. “We’ll have to fight our way in. You and Avery can go back directly and bypass any wards. Naomi and I can’t.”
“Call Ariel,” Quinn said. “She mentioned an old water entrance used to smuggle people and items into the Hunter stronghold. She can take you there.”
Clark nodded. “How are you going to get back if Taylor isn’t answering?”
Quinn didn’t answer, then she felt the familiar tug at the back of her mind. Taylor was calling them back via the VR.
“Oh, dear,” Avery said. “I feel strange.”
“Go with it. It’s the recall sequence. Taylor is bringing us back, even if she can’t answer us.”
Quinn laughed and held her Bowie in front of her, ready to fight as soon as she woke up in the workshop. “Mom, Clark, see you back home. Don’t be late and miss all the fun.”
Before either could answer, she closed her eyes, and the familiar welcome darkness washed over her.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Miranda had almost made it to the tunnels connecting the upper passage to the Hunter chambers when Sylvie caught up to her.
“Eeeep, eeeep, eeeeeeeeeeep!”
The dragon’s keening cry would’ve sent chills down Miranda’s spine if she’d had one.
“Slow down, Sylvie. What are you trying to say?” Reaching out with her ghost consciousness, Miranda tried to build a mind to mind connection. She wasn’t sure it would work, then a flood of images surged into her mind all at once.
Black figures beating Paddy on the bar. Angry women charging Taylor. None of it made any sense, then the blur over one face cleared enough for Miranda to make it out.