Celtic Magic

by Linsey Hall

  Celtic Magic

  Dragon’s Gift The Druid Book 3

  Linsey Hall

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Thank you!

  Excerpt Of Death Valley Magic

  Author’s Note

  Acknowledgments

  Glossary

  About Linsey

  Copyright

  1

  I crouched in a darkened alley, trying not to breathe in the rank scent of black magic. Despite the cold night air, it somehow smelled fetid and warm. Gross.

  I seemed to be doing a lot of this lately—crouching in alleys while waiting to launch an attack.

  “Do you see anything?” Lavender whispered. She knelt at my right, trying to avoid a puddle of mystery liquid. Normally, Lavender was my nemesis—a fellow trainee at the Undercover Protectorate’s Institute of Magic and leader of my Not-A-Fan club.

  Today, she was my partner, along with Angus, another student. As part of our training, we were here in The Vaults, the most dangerous neighborhood in Edinburgh, about to storm a shop that had been overtaken by Kobolds. The miserable little monsters had set up residence in Madame Mystical’s Magical Mementos. Evicting them was our first real-life training exercise.

  “It looks empty.” I squinted toward the two windows on either side of the shop’s door.

  The Vaults were underground, and as a result, the street was dark and narrow. Despite the fact that we were far beneath the famous castle in the center of town, a spell made it look like the night stars were shining above.

  The Vaults were where most dark magic was created and sold. Maybe the Kobolds thought they could get away with shenanigans down here. That the Undercover Protectorate wouldn’t come for them.

  They were wrong. We protected everyone, even those who lived on the darker side of town. I loved the mission, and working for the Undercover Protectorate was my dream. But for that dream to come true, we had to succeed and pass this test.

  “Are you guys ready?” My heart thundered in my ears.

  “Let’s do this,” Lavender said.

  “Cleared for action,” Caro said from the back of the alley. She was already a full member of the Protectorate, and she was acting as our supervisor on this test. “Good luck.”

  “Go!” I said.

  As a group, we raced out of the alley and across the street toward the shop. My gaze darted across the shopfront, which loomed three stories tall, carved right into the stone of underground Edinburgh. A light flashed in a second-story window, outlining the figure of a small man. He raised a hand, clearly about to throw some kind of dangerous magic.

  “Incoming!” I shouted.

  The man in the window hurled a blast of green light at us. I dived right, barely avoiding it as the magic crashed to the ground next to me.

  The air shook as the magic detonated, sending shockwaves through my body.

  “What the heck was that?” Lavender yelled.

  “Bad news!” I sprinted the last few feet to the shop door and yanked it open.

  I led the way inside. The shop was three stories tall on the interior, a round open space with bookshelves stretching all the way to the ceiling. Magical objects of all varieties were stuffed onto the shelves, each emitting their own unique magical signature. Dozens of scents and tastes bombarded me.

  The space in the middle was empty except for a few glass display cases and some chairs. A ring of low bookshelves surrounded it, creating a walkway around the perimeter of the room. Colorful pixies fluttered near the domed ceiling.

  For a moment, I couldn’t see any sign of intruders.

  “What the hell?” Angus muttered.

  “Watch out!” an unfamiliar voice cried.

  My gaze darted toward the back of the shop, searching for the woman who had screamed. I spotted her, sitting stock-still between two towering plants. She was tied to a chair. Next to her, the air shimmered.

  A Kobold appeared. He looked like a garden gnome, but a heck of a lot meaner. The air continued to shimmer around him, and he grew, shooting up to six feet tall.

  “Bloody hell,” Angus muttered.

  The Kobold threw out his hand, and his magic filled the air. It stank of old garbage and gasoline. Green light burst forth, more of that strange magic that had been hurled at us out in the street.

  “Shield!” Lavender cried.

  I called on my magic, throwing out my arms to direct my shield toward the oncoming blast. My magic swelled in my chest, strong and fierce. I grinned. My practice with Lachlan had worked.

  The magic shot toward my hands, ready to be expelled. But pain tore through me, right at my upper arms.

  The magic stopped there.

  No shield appeared.

  Panic flared as the Kobold’s combustive magic neared.

  My shield wasn’t coming.

  I threw myself in front of Lavender and Angus, taking the hit right in the chest. Pain exploded within me as I hurtled back toward the door. I slammed into it as Lavender and Angus scattered, diving for cover behind some of the shorter, free-standing bookshelves.

  The Kobold cackled, the sound making the hair on my arms stand on end.

  Aching, I scrambled to my feet and dived for cover behind a bookshelf.

  What the hell had happened to my magic?

  Last night, when I’d gone to the ancient stone circle and learned that I was The Druid Dragon God, two golden tattoos had appeared on my arms. Had they caused this? The magic had swelled out from my chest, going down my arms like normal. But it’d stopped—right at those tattoos.

  From across the room, a crash sounded. I peered around the edge of the bookshelf. Another Kobold had appeared, this one just as big as the other.

  “Come and get it!” he cackled, his voice sounding like a rusty engine.

  Lavender leapt up from behind her shelf, her magic shimmered around her. She used her telekinesis to pick up a massive chair and fling it at the monster. The plaid chair hurtled through the air, slamming into the wrinkled Kobold.

  A third appeared, close to Angus, who leapt up from behind a shelf and threw a bolt of electricity at him.

  My colleagues—I definitely couldn’t call them friends—had these two under control, but there was still the one standing guard over Madame Mystical.

  I had to get to her. There was no way to tell for sure if all my magic was blocked, but my two other gifts might not come in handy, anyway. My weird premonition and white light magic didn’t have much application against Kobolds.

  So I crept along the floor, keeping myself behind the bookshelves as I neared Madame Mystical and the Kobold. Crashes and screams sounded from the rest of the shop as Lavender and Angus fought the other two.

  I drew a dagger from the ether, gripping the hilt. It was like my version of a comfort blanket. As I crawled past a bowl full of potion bombs, I caught sight of one labeled Laughing Potion.

  I grabbed it, cradling the red glass ball gently.

  “You’re doing a shite job, you know!” Madame Mystical screamed.

  I peeked around a shelf to judge my distance and shot her a glare. Her red leather catsuit matched her hair, and both gleamed in the light. Her heels were so tall they made my feet hurt just to look at them, but I had to admit that she looked like a particular type of badass.

  The Kobold who stood guard over her stared at the fight in the middle of the
shop with a confused expression.

  Was he counting and realizing I wasn’t out there?

  Kobolds weren’t the cleverest.

  Before he could figure it out, I leapt up and threw the potion bomb at him. The glass ball exploded against his chest, sending a bright red liquid splashing over him.

  Immediately, he began to shriek with laughter. The sound pierced my eardrums, sending an ice pick through my brain. Madame Mystical’s eyes squeezed shut and she twitched.

  I raised my blade, trying to focus on the task instead of the pain. I threw the dagger and pierced the Kobold through the chest. He hurtled backward, shrinking down to his original size. He continued to shrivel, disappearing into dust.

  Nailed it.

  I stood, hurrying toward Madame Mystical. Her eyes widened on something behind me. It was all the warning I got. Heart thudding, I spun in a circle, just in time to see a fourth Kobold hurl a blast of green magic at me.

  I lunged aside, but the blast nailed my legs.

  Pain streaked up my body as I slammed to the ground.

  “Blöde Kuh!” the Kobold screamed.

  What the heck did that mean?

  Something told me it was an insult.

  Ahead of me, another bowl of potion bombs sat on a low bookshelf. I dragged myself toward it, my legs currently immobilized by the Kobold’s explosive green magic.

  He thundered toward me, leaping over a chair and dodging a table. I reached for the bowl of potion bombs.

  “Get a blue one!” Madame Mystical screamed.

  I released the green one and grabbed a blue, rolling onto my back and hurling it at the Kobold. He was nearly to me, towering overhead in his unusually large form.

  The glass potion bomb exploded against his chest.

  He shrieked, his bulging eyes going wide in his wrinkled green face. He was not nearly as cute as Yoda.

  In a flash, he froze solid and fell over, then poofed into dust and disappeared.

  To my left, Angus climbed unsteadily to his feet. He’d ended up wrestling his Kobold. Thank fates, he’d won.

  Lavender strolled over, dusting her hands off and eyeing me. “Why are you on the ground?”

  “Uh, the view is better?” Aching, I dragged myself into a sitting position.

  “Could one of you come untie me?” Madame Mystical’s imperious voice echoed through the room.

  “Sorry, Madame Mystical.” Angus trotted over.

  “Madame Mystical was my grandmother.” She twitched an eyebrow, clearly displeased. “I am Melusine.” Angus untied her and she stood, towering over him in her five-inch heels. “Thank you for rescuing me. The Kobolds showed up yesterday, and they were intent on staying.”

  I tried dragging myself upward by using the bookshelf, but my legs just wouldn’t cooperate. Exhausted and aching, I slid back down against the shelf. I thumped my head back against the it.

  Today was really not going my way.

  “Drink one of the green potions from that bowl,” Melusine said.

  “Thanks.” I reached behind me and found the potion on the second try. As I swigged it, Caro entered the shop, her platinum hair gleaming.

  “Well done, you three! A record.” She grinned widely.

  “No thanks to Ana,” Lavender muttered. “Her shield went out.”

  I thumped my head back against the bookshelf again. Of course.

  “She did take out two of the Kobolds.” Melusine’s gaze met mine. “You’re Ana, I assume.”

  “I am.” My legs tingled, and I winced.

  “You should be good to walk now,” Melusine said.

  I dragged myself upright, then took a few unsteady steps.

  Melusine was already stalking around the shop, her red catsuit gleaming under the light as she began to clean up.

  “Do you need any help?” Angus’s voice was hopeful, and I was pretty sure that he wasn’t thinking about cleaning.

  “No, I’ll use magic,” Melusine said. “Thank you again. You can go now.”

  I met Caro’s wry grin and shrugged. That was that.

  As a group, we left the shop, heading out into the dark night. I stuck near Caro, since she actually liked me. The feeling was mutual. The water mage was one of my favorite people at the Protectorate.

  “We really did it in record time?” I asked as we walked down the darkened street. It was a narrow cobblestone affair that wound down through the town, past dark little shops and crowded bars. Gas lamps flickered at doorways, and various faces peered out at us, suspicious.

  “You did,” Caro said. “Jude will be pleased.”

  “Good.” Top of my list was making Jude happy. As the leader of the PITs—the Paranormal Investigative Team—and hopefully my future boss, I wanted her to think I was good at this.

  But with my magic on the fritz…

  I shoved the thought away. I’d have to address it, and soon, but right now, I just wanted to get out of The Vaults. It was a creepy place, like the darker side of a fairy tale, and being underground just felt weird.

  Caro led us out of The Vaults and through the magical bookshop that acted as the secret entrance. A special golden stone was the ticket through the bookshop and into The Vaults, but it didn’t make the ornery bookshop actually like you.

  “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” a crotchety old voice said. It sounded like it belonged to a 102-year-old woman with a serious case of attitude, but it was actually the house itself speaking.

  “Love you, too!” Caro shouted. “Always a delight to visit.”

  “Stuff it up your nose!” The house harrumphed.

  I grinned as I stepped out onto the main street in the Grassmarket, the supernatural district of Edinburgh. Immediately, the air tasted fresher, and the morning sky was a welcome change from the fake one in The Vaults.

  It didn’t take us long to make our way down the street and through the special portal that would take us back to the Highlands, where the Protectorate castle sat on a lonely piece of land overlooking the sea. Once I stepped through the glowing portal, the ether sucked me in and spit me out in the Enchanted Forest. From there, the fairy lights led us between the twisted old trees, down a path toward the castle.

  When we appeared on the main lawn, the enormous stone structure beckoned. Towers reached toward the sky, and the windows glittered in the early morning sunlight.

  “I love it here,” Caro said. “It’s been five years, and I’m still not used to it.”

  It’d only been a couple months for me, and I couldn’t help but agree. I’d never get used to this place. In the distance, the Cats of Catastrophe chased the Pugs of Destruction across the lawn. Princess Snowflake III led the charge, her long white fur blowing in the wind. Muffin kept pace, but as usual, Bojangles was chasing his tail. The orange cat was the epitome of a sweet moron, but I loved him. And damn, could he fight.

  The Pugs of Destruction glowed blue, the little ghosts leading the cats on a lightning-fast chase. Mayhem, the pug with wings, kept flying back to bark at Snowflake, then turning around and darting away.

  “I don’t think the cats will ever catch them,” Caro said.

  “Not sure what they’d do with them if they did,” I said. “They’re ghosts.”

  Though Muffin, the Cat Sìth, was so magical he might be able to manage something, he had too good a heart to hurt the pugs.

  “Hey!” Bree’s voice sounded from across the lawn.

  I turned, spotting her coming out of the stable where we stored the buggy, our monster truck and my pride and joy. She had a black grease stain on her cheek and a big smile on her face.

  “Hey.” I grinned as she joined us. “How’s it going?”

  “Good. Just had a bit of time so I thought I’d give the buggy a tune-up. How are you?”

  She asked the question just as my gaze was drawn toward the stone circle that sat near the sea. The enormous stones jutted toward the morning sky, and magic glowed around them.

  The circle had always called to
me before—and repelled me at the same time, which was weird—but it had never glowed like that.

  “Ana?” Bree poked my arm.

  “Oh, sorry!” I turned to her. “Distracted.”

  “Yeah. I can tell. By what?”

  Caro had gone off to join Lavender and Angus, so it was just me and my sister. I rubbed my arm where the new tattoo had sunk into my skin and eyed the stone circle again.

  “Ana? You’re making me nervous. What’s up?”

  “Something’s wrong. Last night, I stepped into the stone circle.” I hadn’t seen Bree since then. “A super powerful godly voice told me that I’m The Druid.”

  Her eyes widened with excitement. “You’re the Celtic Dragon God?”

  “Looks like it.” It should be pretty cool. I didn’t know much about the Celts, though I’d managed to do a quick search in the library. Hadn’t pulled up much since the records were sparse, but I’d learned a bit. “But I also got two new tattoos.”

  “What!?”

  “Not at a tattoo parlor or anything.” I liked to switch up my style choices too much to get tattoos that were permanent. I showed her the tattoos. “I got them while I was in the circle. Glowing, golden Celtic knots. They wrap around my upper arms.”

  “That sounds badass.”

  “They look cool, yeah. But I just tried to use my magic for the first time, and they stopped it. Like, the magic couldn’t flow from my chest and out of my hands.”

  Bree glanced up. “Oh crap.”

  “Exactly. Something is really wrong, and I have no idea what.”

  She squeezed my arm. “We’ll figure it out.”

  We’d finally arrived at the courtyard that led up to the castle, so I zipped my lips, not wanting to talk about my now-faltering magic since Jude might be nearby. I’d just gotten a bit of control, thanks to Lachlan’s help. The fact that it was on the fritz was no good.