My blade kicked against my palm, shimmering with a green glow.
“Green is for fear,” he said.
The fact I had a natural aversion to pure fire conjured through chemical reactions hadn’t escaped him. My fire fear wasn’t very dignifying for a mist rider or a lunar witch for that matter, both of which could manipulate earth and elemental energy to create sparks and fireballs and electricity waves. It was none of those things, it was actual flames that lingered and could slowly burn your flesh down to bone that tapped into primal fear.
The flame in Winter’s hand extinguished.
“Fear will serve you as well as anger,” he said, “and the effects will last longer. Love, sadness, and the instinct to protect will also persist. Love is white, sadness blue. Yellow is for the instinct to protect and is perhaps the most persevering. At times the emotion won’t come from but you will feel an abundance around you. When you sense the emotions of others, you can pluck them out of the air.”
I rubbed my completely healed knee. “The way you pluck elemental magic? Is that a Shadow thing? Transforming energy found in nature into electric, kinetic and magnetic fields?”
“In part, yes.”
“How did you learn that?”
He rubbed the handle of his sword. “It is forbidden for Shadows to speak about any part of their becoming.”
Even Shadows have cheat codes, ones they’ll never share.
“We’re taking Chaos at his word about the Vault, aren’t we?”
He wiped down his blade with an oiled cloth. “We are.”
“Why?”
He finished with the cloth and tossed it aside. “Control your sword,” he said, ignoring my question.
My sword assumed a faint purple glow. Huh, that makes sense. The good magistrate was a reliable source for anger.
“Nice try,” I said, “but I want an answer. Why does Chaos know where Emmet is? How can an outlaw become privy to information when we failed? You’re the one with access to the Immortal network, not him.”
“Chaos has a personal network that is more reliable than ours.”
That was a lot to take in. “How’s that possible?”
He hesitated. Shadows never hesitated. I gathered he was battling against a strong instinct not to tell me.
He locked his eyes on mine. “The first Immortal to become Eternal was Horror,” he said. “Horror went through the stages of Magistrate, Shadow and Divine within the span of a single millennium instead of the thousands of years it usually requires.
“Only 800 years into his tenure as Eternal, he became unpredictable and obsessed with power. He imagined conspiracies everywhere. He pushed his magic too far, sharpening it, expanding it, refining it to catastrophic levels.”
He stopped to reconsider his decision to tell me.
“What, Winter? What did Horror do?”
He shut his eyes and shook his head before continuing. “He played with the principles of time, attempting to alter its flow. He disrupted the balance of power among Divines and Eternals by gathering an army of supernatural creatures and giving them dark magic. It took many years to realize he was behind all of it. The First Council of Eternal Beings under the Preceptor of Gods finally stripped him of his privileges and confined him to his chambers where he could not access the power and magic of the natural world. They spared him from the exile vortex because of his status as an original Eternal.”
“And he just stays in his room?” I said, not buying it.
“It’s not a room in a traditional sense and The Eternals have to expend an enormous amount of their power just to keep him contained.”
“Sounds like ancient history. What’s this have to do with now?”
“For centuries, Chaos was Horror’s pupil and protégé. He learned to channel much of Horror’s power. At the time, Chaos was feared even among Divines. Horror had plans to groom him to become his right hand and chief Warlord of his fast-growing army. But then Chaos somehow enraged Horror. No one knew what happened, but Chaos had to flee the Eternal realm to avoid Horror’s wrath, always knowing Horror would one day find him.
“But then Chaos’s luck changed. Horror was imprisoned. Chaos had survived a sure death sentence and was then able to fill the void Horror left behind and regain a fraction of the powers he had lost. The degrading scenario Chaos endured has left him frenetic and uncontrollable. Every joke he makes is a bitter joke. Part of Horror’s magic, and what made him so lethal, was that his supernatural vision could see through time and space.”
“The third-eye vision?”
“Exactly,” Winter said. “Revelations through veils of mist. That’s what Horror had called them. Chaos had just started to learn that skill when he had to flee for his life.”
“Wait, so Chaos can see through time?”
“To some degree,” Winter said, clearly unsure. “But he must be careful not to use too much of Horror’s unique abilities or there is the risk that he may obliterate his own essence. They are unstable energies, even when Horror himself used them and, worst of all, Horror can sense when his tricks are being co-opted. You could say that the fear of Horror still haunts every move Chaos makes. It’s the only reason he shows any restraint whatsoever.”
“Well, aren’t we lucky?”
“In what sense?” he said, seriously.
“Never mind, I get sarcastic when I’m terrified.”
“It’s not appropriate.”
“I realize that now.”
“Good,” he said. “To circle back to your question, it is my guess Chaos used that power to locate your wolf.”
“The third-eye time vision thing?”
“Are you paying attention? Yes. And you are the only reason he would take such an immense risk.”
Finally, a man who’d risk everything for me. Sheesh.
“Aren’t I just the belle of the ball?”
“Sarcasm again?” he said, losing patience. “Humor is a form of weakness, an infantile psychological ruse used to escape existence.”
“Sounds like good magic to me,” I quipped, knowing I shouldn’t have.
“You try my patience,” he said. “Listen to me, daft girl, Horror’s element is fire. He has controlled it since the beginning of Immortal time.”
Fire again. I literally shivered. “And Chaos?”
He sighed. “Don’t know. What I do know is that, for now, he wants nothing more than to be on your good side. Make no mistake, Luna. He will not hesitate to turn against you when he alters his objectives.”
Of that I had no doubt. “Is Chaos more powerful than you?”
Winter slid his sword into its sheath.
“I mean you’re both Immortals and Shadows,” I went on, “but he’s also Horror’s one-time protégé apparently.”
He fixed me in the coldest stare I’d ever felt. “What are you asking?”
My heart pounded in my chest. Adrenaline surged. “Would you really be able to protect me if Chaos comes for my head?”
His eyes dropped, his shoulders relaxed. “He would never do that when I was there. I think you know that. That is why you must train, Luna. It is the only way I can protect you when that final battle comes.”
Everything inside me felt raw.
His phone buzzed. He walked out to the balcony to answer.
The magic in my blood yearned to call on the moon and the west winds to rush in and create a cyclone of energy, for what end I did not know.
A cold breeze drifted over my shoulders and neck as the glass door to the balcony slid open and Winter stepped back inside.
“It is done,” he said. “Petition denied.”
I shook off the cold. “Good. Now let’s go to Alaska.”
“It’s not going to be that easy,” he said. He sat next to me and took my hand. “We can’t get to the vault via any basic transportation methods. They can locate us at any airport now. They control everything. And we have to get there faster than basic technology can travel.”
“Wh
at’s happening, what are you trying to say?”
“Luna, we need to get there before the Seventh Council sets up additional safeguards caused by the petition. We must use the ley lines. We must travel via kinetic forces.”
“What now? That’s not even a thing,” I said, panic setting in. “The Lunar Order has specifically forbidden it. Witches have died that way, I mean right on the spot, like zap and you’re toast. Dead. No way. Think of something else.”
Ley lines carried enormous amounts of raw, unrefined energy that shredded anyone who knew how to step on them. A little bit of knowledge is a bad thing.
“May I remind you that you can’t die?” Winter said. “You have nothing to worry about. I’m nearly invincible near ley line intersections. Shadows have absolute control of ley energy and can manipulate it in a myriad of ways.”
“Now you see, all I heard there was when you said nearly invincible, that’s not as reassuring as you think.”
He sensed my hesitation. “Luna, you don’t have to go. I’m willing to save the wolf on my own.”
Yeah, that wasn't happening and he knew it. Ley lines weren’t the only thing he could manipulate.
“Nah,” I said, defiantly. “Whatever a Shadow can do a mist rider can surely do better.”
Winter grinned. “Now that was funny.”
CHAPTER 18
____________________________________
The Civic snaked its way through the steep, mountainous terrain. That badass car had unmatched fortitude or maybe Winter had put a spell on it. Every time I thought it would give out, it just kept going. I wondered if there was a realm of magical old Civics I had never heard about. Probably.
The ley line intersection ran through the Anza-Borrego desert park area eighty miles to the northeast. By the time we got there, it was after midnight.
The desert night sky—free of clouds and artificial light—was dotted with endless stars. Some asterisms, like the Big Dipper and Orion’s Belt, I knew very well and had used their gravitational forces on occasion. Others I was seeing for the first time.
Now on foot, Winter led me down Sandstone Canyon, a slot canyon so narrow it could barely fit two people. Naked, rocky cliffs towered above us.
Winter cast a beam of light ahead of us. I followed the light, trying to avoid paranoid thoughts about being ambushed in such a tight space.
The canyon widened up as it bent around to the right. My ears buzzed like they were being swarmed by bees. Pressure mounted inside my throat and nose. I sneezed. I felt a hot liquid dripping onto my upper lip.
“You’ve got a nosebleed,” Winter said, without so much as a glance. “It’s the energy overload entering your bloodstream.”
Each step increased the pressure. A piercing headache split my skull. My hands and feet tingled, shooting nerve pain into my limbs.
“Dominate the energy now,” Winter advised me, “before we reach the ley line. It will be too hard to gain control then.”
“I can’t,” I said, struggling to keep my teeth from chattering.
“You can, Luna. You took control of the Moon in its metamorphic phase as energy spilled down in torrents. You can handle the damn ley lines.”
I closed my eyes and surrendered to the invading current of energy, letting it spill into my core of magic, bumping against my elemental energy. The two forces began to blend. I drew in a deep breath and directed my magic to attack, anchoring the ley line energy with my strongest witchcraft.
The collision resonated in every fiber of my body. It knocked me back.
The nosebleed stopped. The buzzing faded. The pressure abated.
“I told you,” Winter said, taking my hand.
The ground rumbled under our feet. The underlying current sparked and hummed—shimmering energy floated two feet above ground in a whirlpool of blue and green light. Intermittently, a visible vibration wobbled across the sides of the canyon. I squeezed Winter’s hand, overwhelmed.
The ley line intersection lay a few feet ahead. I’d never been that close before. The excessive energy saturation burned like a knife in my gut even with my magic keeping it contained.
“What would this current do to a basic?” I asked barely audible.
“Nothing,” Winter said. “Measly creatures can’t register such high energy levels. The same way bats can hear ultrasonic frequencies, but basics can’t.”
“Cool. Guess that makes me batgirl.”
I unbuttoned my jacket and gripped the hilt of my sword. Thin, ash-colored steam poured out of the blade.
“It’s the magic saturation,” Winter said.
I stared at the flickering wave of magic ahead, when Winter suddenly put his arms around me from behind, pulling me close. He gently helped me slide my sword back into its sheath, then interlaced his fingers with mine.
A sizzling energy vibrated in my stomach.
“We have to take the ley line to the north,” he said. “There’s only one way to climb on it. We must jump together, at precisely the same time, as if we were of one body. Otherwise, we might end up in different lanes and lose sight of each other. I fear you won’t get to the Brooks Range on your own, so it is best to make sure we stay connected.”
His warm breath tickled my ear, his strong hands gently enveloping mine. I leaned back, melding into his body, my back against his muscled chest. He pulled me even tighter until there was no molecule of air between us.
My heart skipped beats, lunging in my chest. I didn’t know if it was the magic overload or the anxiety of the looming ley ride or the simple comfort of his warm body against mine.
“Ready?” he said. “We go on a count of three.”
I nodded, my nerves fraying.
One… Two… Three!
We jumped. It was like crashing into a wall of steel. Everything hurt at once and I lost balance. Winter held me steady as the dark landscape flashed by at incredible speed. My stomach pushed into my throat, my vision blurred, and I was convinced my legs were gone, but I stayed conscious.
Little by little I regained feeling in my limbs. Apparently, I still had all four of them. The magic swirled around as in an eye of a hurricane. Winter’s light beam reflected off everything at once like a strobe light.
My hands were beyond clammy, they were wet. Cold sweat oozed down my neck onto my back. Time distorted. I drifted into a trancelike state.
Winter nudged me. I startled. I wasn't sure if what was happening was real or just a very bizarre dream.
“We’re switching lanes,” he yelled, but I heard it like a whisper.
“What do you mean?”
“This ley line stops in Alberta. We have to go farther.”
My daze deepened. He snatched me up into his arms and cradled me as if I were a child, pressing my face to his chest, and he leapt.
Another collision against a hard wall of energy squeezed my insides, draining me of feeling. I glanced at Winter. He was in perfect control of his faculties, his eyes focused somewhere far ahead, unblinking. It would take centuries, if ever, to get to that level of discipline.
We were violently stopped, then launched. Nothing hurt anymore. We landed softly on a cool cloud.
Winter’s light extinguished, leaving us in the dark.
“What’s this?” I said.
“End of the road.”
I felt the ground underneath my butt. We were not in the sky; we had landed on snow. Deep, crisp snow that turned to ice on my palms.
Winter’s light flashed back into life. He was standing, scanning the area with his beam. “For a first-time rider, you did fine,” he said. “I’ve seen Immortals empty their stomachs all over themselves.”
I rubbed my arms, trembling. “It’s so cold.”
He knelt by my side. “It’s Alaska and it’s even colder around the Sacred Vault, but this is unusually low, colder than I’ve ever felt.”
“I’m freaking freezing,” I said through chattering teeth.
He took a wool blanket out of his backpack and wrappe
d me with it, then scraped ice off my hands before sliding a pair of gloves on them.
“I can withstand temperatures well below zero, but this is too cold even for me,” he said, taking my boots off to rub my feet. “It could be me. The magic is heavy here and I’m carrying all that ley line energy. The combination of the two forces might be reacting to my etheric essence.”
I thought about what he had just said. “My god, it’s not just a name, is it? You are Winter.”
He grinned while replacing my boots. “I am not a season of the year. I don’t know Santa Claus, nor is Mother Nature my actual mother, but when it comes to icy climates, I’m your man.”
I couldn’t feel my toes or my fingers. “I do better in San Diego.”
Winter hugged me to his chest and murmured something I didn’t understand. Then he blew out a misty vapor that wrapped me up, warming me all the way to my bones like someone had lit a bonfire in my heart.
“Cool spell,” I said. I laughed like an idiot. “Get it? See what I did?”
He nodded, not really amused, but less dismissive than usual.
“More of a warm spell,” he said, distracted. “Going to the Vault tonight is out of the question. The spell breaks fast if you don’t stay in place. You’ll freeze to death out there, again and again. We’ll have to find shelter nearby, wait out the night when the ley energy dissipates.”
“Wait, we’ll approach the vault in broad daylight?”
“We are in Arctic Alaska. The morning will bring more darkness, then a little twilight by mid-morning. It makes no difference. It’s not eyes who guard the vault’s perimeter. It’s a labyrinth of wards and shielding magic. Whether night or day, winter or summer, they would feel us coming.”
“I’m not even going to ask, because you better have a plan to get in and another to get out with one of their prisoners, or I’ll kill you.”
My threats amused him far more than my jokes. “Let’s hope my reinforced shield holds out,” he said. “We know we can’t rely on yours.”
Yeah, because you mention it every five minutes!
I began feeling cold again. The vapor spell was weakening. He repeated the spell ritual and pulled me to my feet.
The fresh snow was knee deep. I struggled to walk uphill in the darkness of the polar night. Even the sky looked bleak, the stars and the moon had been chased away by large, fat clouds.
Winter (Mist Riders Book 2) Page 13