by K. F. Breene
I truly hadn’t been thinking of myself. The life of that other natural would never be mine. Could never. I’d lived in someone else’s shadow all my life. My mother had been looking out for me, and I was grateful for her protection, but those days were done. I’d never again be someone’s captive. I was ready to stand in the sun and make my own shadow.
Let the guild come. They’d rue the day they’d tried to rule me.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“You ready—” Emery cut off as he stood in the doorway to my room.
I buckled my utility belt around my waist, then pulled at the leather vest covering my long-sleeved shirt. My leather pants hugged my legs in claustrophobic ways, but in addition to looking badass, they’d protect me against spells and other nasty things. If the guild only attacked me with half of the artillery I was imagining, I’d be just fine.
“I’m good.” I rolled my shoulders before flicking my braid to my back.
Emery nodded, his gaze intense, before turning away.
He wore similar leather apparel, and I had no idea where Clyde had gotten it on such short notice, but it couldn’t have been easy. The stuff fit like a glove, and Emery’s size and build weren’t exactly common.
“I have a bunch of herbs and stuff in this belt.” I tapped my belt as I sauntered into his room. “And my power stones. One didn’t want to come along for the ride, though.”
He glanced at my belt. “Open the flaps.”
I did as he said, unbuttoning each compartment and pulling the leather away. His eyes moved from one compartment to the other before he pulled away and nodded. “You have different elements—ingredients—than I do. When we’re there, leave those compartments open. I’ll need them. As I go through the various spells, feel them out as best you can. Learn what the different herbs and stones can do. Also, leave those power stones behind for now. Otherwise I’ll rob them of their strength.”
I frowned, bracing my hands over the stones. I thought about taking them out, but a strange vibration crawled across my palms. “Nope, they stay. They don’t want to go.”
A line formed in his brow and he tilted his head.
I held up a finger. “Remember you told me it wasn’t weird that they have personalities? You said that, so you can’t make fun of me.”
A smile twisted his lips. “I’m not making fun of you. I’m…perplexed. You have a different type of magic than I do, I’m sure of it. Before I met you, I thought all naturals were the same.”
“Still the outcast. Awesome.” I trudged toward the door.
His strong hand wrapped around my wrist and swung me toward him. I hit his chest and lost my breath as his gaze rooted to mine. It sank in deep, all the way down to my core.
“I love that you are different, Penny Bristol. I love that you challenge my way of thinking. You are opening my mind, making me more adaptable. Able to yield. And that will make me stronger. Celebrate your differences. It is remarkable to be unique in a world of the mundane. You are one in a million.”
Something moved, shifting inside of me. Fitting into place.
I encircled his neck with my arms and pulled him toward me. His lips were soft yet firm, insistent yet gentle. His hands splayed against my back, pulling me tightly against his body, before his arms wrapped me up in a strong embrace.
I moaned against his lips, heat boiling my blood and electricity surging within my core. Magic danced and played around us, light and free. I deepened the kiss, an unsettling ache coming over me. A deep longing that I knew only he could fill.
All too soon, he was pulling back, his beautiful eyes on fire, matching the feeling he’d stirred inside of me. “We have to go, Turdswallop.”
I smiled at his attempt to tone down the moment.
“Okay.” I stood on my tiptoes for one last kiss before pulling my hands away from around his neck. I slid them down his torso because…well, I was a warm-blooded female and he had an awesome body. After a deep breath, I turned and headed for the door.
The car had been waiting, just as Clyde had promised, along with the map and a reminder about using caution and not engaging. “He wants you to survive this,” I’d mumbled.
“Yes, but for the benefit of the vampires.”
Before I knew it, Emery and I were on foot on a small, forested hillside, looking out at a sprawling complex of buildings, connected with tree-lined walkways and nestled together with large, geometric patches of grass. Shimmering magic emanated from it, blending into a series of color. My eyes kept trying to get lost, to convince my brain nothing was there. But if I focused hard enough, I could pick out more and more details.
The driver had dropped us off on a small access road, advising us to text when finished. He had been as quiet, hard-faced, and stoic as Clyde. He clearly worked for the vampire and not for the hotel. It was a distinction that was now burned into my brain.
“I thought the buildings would be nicer,” I murmured, looking over the one- and two-story buildings with cracked paint and dirty walls. The architecture was right out of the seventies, pointed and flat, and didn’t appear to have been updated or upgraded since.
“They are less worried about appearances than they are the money in their pockets. Spending money on trivial things like paint and polish is not in their way of thinking.”
“Clearly.” I closed my eyes and tried to feel the spells surrounding the campus. We were too far away.
“Let’s get closer and have a look.” He took my hand and crawled out of the trees.
“It’s probably better if you don’t waste a hand on helping me walk,” I whispered, following him down the hillside.
“It’s not for you. It’s for me. To balance me out.”
I felt the surge of aggression and wildness pump through the energy around us. The effect of soothing it made my brow crinkle. “I think you have anger issues.”
“A few, yes.”
“A relaxing bath would do wonders. Maybe some meditation.”
“Your ability to focus even when talking nonsense is extraordinary.”
“Because of baths. Trust me, you’ll see.” I let his surprised snort fan a smile on my face as I checked in with my surroundings.
I loved being in the trees and feeling the roots sink deeply into the earth. Feeling the air caress my skin before shaking the branches around me. Birds lent us their shrieks of warning and chatter, which sounded like soft chirps and happy songs.
Peace. That was what being immersed in all this nature made me feel.
Emery staggered to a stop as the playful magic curled around us. He spared me a glance before continuing on, the change in our magical environment clearly throwing him for a loop.
“I cannot control it, so don’t bitch.” I felt a strange pulsing from somewhere in front of us, high above and pressing down. The pressure was light right now, but it was getting stronger the closer we got.
“‘Bitch’ counts as swearing, I’m pretty sure. I’m going to tell your mother.”
“I dare you.”
“Yeah, I was bluffing.”
He slowed as we neared the bottom of the hillside. The trees thinned until they cleared out altogether, the last yards barren until the shielding spell touched ground.
Now I could see the weave, tight and organized—it was solid and well put together, a real thing standing in our way.
“There are a few spells mixed in there,” Emery said, squinting as he looked. “The ward is a classic blood offering, like your father’s. Another spell to make the place invisible, and the third…”
I closed my eyes, letting the vibrations and intents push at me. Secrecy, mystery, and a warning. A sharp feeling, like an iron gate coming down at our necks, stabbed into my middle.
“An attack of some sort.” I shook my head, frustrated. The feelings I was getting were all connected somehow, but I couldn’t see the bridge. “Obviously the secrecy is the ward. Maybe the feeling of mystery. They are similar. Then the warning. The iron gate. Like it’s spri
ng-loaded, ready to pounce.”
“Stupid.” Emery made an exasperated sound. “Of course. If you don’t pass the ward, you suffer the price.”
“Death, or…”
“Doubtful. Pain, I would imagine. Unconsciousness, probably. Imagine a hiker wandered down here. You wouldn’t want to kill them or the human cops would be all over it. You’d want to remove them without anyone being the wiser.”
As I studied the weave, I felt magic rise all around us, not from our pouches, but from the ground, the trees, and the breeze rustling our hair. Emery’s fingers waggled, and I watched what he made. Felt it.
A key.
“Are you countering the ward?”
“Yes, but just enough to offer up our blood. Put your hand up under my vest and touch my skin. I need my other hand, but I don’t want to lose skin contact. I’m not sure if I can hold my focus without your touch.”
I did as he said, quickly, forcing my hand between the tight leather and onto his smooth skin. He walked forward, his other hand now weaving in a different way. Creating a shadow to drape over us.
I tried to follow both of his castings, but the work was too advanced for me. He was going too fast. So instead, I let my awareness spread out around us, feeling the various throbs of energy and trying to pair them with the spells. One persisted, not at all dispersed by his work. It was the one I’d noticed earlier, high overhead. It bore down on us, benign but insistent. Magical pressure that didn’t seem to take a shape or cause a reaction from me.
“Give me your hand.”
I pushed my free hand in front of Emery, looking out to the side where the collection of spells curved around, following the detour of the compound. He sliced my finger, quick and shallow, but the pressure from above continued to pulse.
“Something is…” I squinted up at the sky. I found a brief shimmer, but when I tried to focus on it, nothing but clear skies stretched overhead.
“Ready?” Emery’s eyebrows pinched together before he followed my gaze. “What’s up?”
“I don’t know. I feel something, but I don’t see anything. I’m not sure if it’s magic or not. It has no intent, but…it watches, I think.”
“It watches…” He glanced from one side to the other, a contemplative expression on his face. He shook his head and looked upward again. “Should we keep going?”
Another kind of pressure settled over me, and I realized that I had been blindly following Emery’s lead. I was acting like a passenger and not a participant.
And that might get us killed.
Everything changed with that shift in perception. The spell in front of us mixed together and simmered like soup. The strange pressing sensation from above.
I dug out a power stone, then another, allowing my temperamental third eye to lead. Immediately my stomach curdled, and I realized danger was coming. Not right away, but my third eye was saying, Go, and my gut was saying, Run away right now, you stupid idiot. That always meant trouble.
One day I would take heed.
“Speed is key,” I said, the words drifting from my mouth unbidden. “Things are going to get a little hairy later on.”
I crouched, and he bent down beside me, watching my hands as I pressed them to the ground. Closing my eyes, I let my other senses soak in the world around us. Something was pressed deeply into the ground. Natural, but not alive. Not in the traditional sense. It pulsed with power, connecting with the sky in an elaborate construct I didn’t understand.
“Watching, yes,” I said, opening my eyes and looking at Emery. “It’s watching. It’s intelligent but has no brain.” I crinkled my nose, frustrated with myself. “This isn’t making sense. But it’s not an immediate danger.”
“I’m not getting a premonition.”
He stared at me, inquiring. I stared back, debating.
A surge of excitement licked my middle and brought a grin to my face.
His lips twisted up at the corners. “Here comes the girl that runs over dead people.”
“Yup. Let’s go. In and out before that spying thing makes its decision about whether we’re friends or foes.”
Chapter Thirty
My phone vibrated in one of my belt compartments. I fished it out as we jogged past the perimeter magic and into the compound, prepared to ignore anyone in the world except for my mother, and only then if it was a text.
The spongy grass, wet from morning sprinklers, left moisture on the sides of my boots. The first building loomed large in front of us, and we crouched near the corner of a hedge. Emery’s fingers waved, and a spell emerged. I got a who’s there? vibe from it. He was going to let magic be our eyes. Clever.
I flipped the phone open and read the text.
Plant seeds for future harvest.
I touched Emery’s back as he pushed the spell into existence, then stuck the phone in front of him. He looked back, his gaze inquiring. I shrugged. I didn’t know what it meant, either.
How? I texted back. And don’t call. Need silenct. I didn’t correct my typo. That would drive her nuts. Talk about planting seeds.
Emery sat at the corner, watching ahead, intent. Silence descended around us, no birdsong drifting through the still and stagnant air. I tuned in as I waited for my mother’s response, and Emery waited for his results.
As we crouched in silence, it struck me that this place felt…dead. A world devoid. No electricity surged outside of our sphere, and the usual sweet, sour, or heavy sensations were absent from the air. The life in this place was pushed off to the sides, contained and stifled.
They’d largely cut nature out of their compound. They’d cut themselves off from the source of all life, and they’d done it on purpose.
“They are rotting,” I murmured, pulling at Emery. “They are rotting from within. They are skeletons propped up, waiting for the tide to wash them away.”
He studied my face. “How do we wash them away?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’m new at this.”
His hand came up so quickly that I flinched. When I stilled, he rested it on my chin and stroked the bottom of my lip, back and forth. “Steadfast,” he said.
It felt like an odd sentiment right then, because I was just relaying what I knew, not giving up. “Okay.”
He nodded, like he’d imparted wisdom, and turned back.
Another text came in. Long game.
“What in hell’s lemonade are you talking about, Mother?” I muttered at the phone, shoving it in front of Emery’s face. “That doesn’t tell me about the seeds, you blasted woman.”
He studied it for a second, turned that imploring gaze at me, and startled when I stood and shoved the phone into its compartment. Urgency had overcome me. The third eye said, Move, and the logical part of me said, Run away quickly. Yes, they were pointing me in different directions, but the idea was the same. No good would come of sitting here.
Emery’s head jerked around and he burst up from his crouch. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back behind the suffering hedges, green with brown patches, and around another corner. He released me and then started jogging in front of me. I kept up easily, right at his side but a little behind. He seemed to know where he was going.
A moment later, he sped up, and so did I. Faster still. He’d been intentionally taking a slower speed because I ran like a girl.
If only he would, too, we could speed up and finally get somewhere.
He rounded another corner and then paused. Something moved out of the corner of my eye. I reached for him, but he was already flattening against the wall, snatching at my leather. I crashed against the stucco, my own momentum and his anxious intervention making my speed too fast to stop. My face bounced off and my body followed.
His hand curled around my mouth, muffling the oomph. He ducked down as I fell, not helping me stay on my feet, but quieting me until I hit the ground. He held a finger to his lips.
He’d finally had a premonition. How lucky for me, who hadn’t needed it, and would n
ow have a bruise where the wall had sucker-punched me.
I climbed to my feet, and he rose with me, his hand hovering near my mouth. I slapped it away.
Footsteps stilled me. Emery gracefully plastered himself against the wall, between me and whoever was coming our way. His fingers worked quickly, creating the shadow spell. He stilled for long enough that the spell disintegrated. His head came around and he stared at me, his mouth closed but his eyes trying to impart a message.
I shook my head. Not computing.
He glanced down at his fingers. Then back to me. His eyes flicked down and to his left. Footsteps pressed against the concrete. The sole of a boot scuffed against a rock. They were close.
I couldn’t help closing my eyes, feeling the deadened life around us crying for help. Feeling the fresh and vibrant items in my compartments. The opal stone that begged to be held.
Acting without thinking, I dug it out quickly and pulled on the other ingredients, willing them to cover us and hide us from view. But we needed more than shadows. We needed a walking cloak, a soundless bubble that would merge seamlessly with the walls and cling to whatever natural things were willing to help us.
The opal warmed in my hand. The magic flew around Emery and me, outlining our sphere of energy, protecting it. It felt like the stone was holding my hand as I worked with it, not doing my bidding so much as rushing to my aid. A tear leaked out of my eye, the emotion part of the recipe, and the spell drifted into the world.
I blinked my eyes open, my lashes wet, and looked around wildly.
Wrinkles lined Emery’s forehead as he glanced at the bubble I’d made, a slight shimmer the only visible indication it was there. He didn’t have time to spare me a what kind of a weird magical worker cries when making spells glance, because at that moment, two forms wearing purple robes sauntered along the cracked concrete, their backs straight, their shoulders squared, and their chins held a fraction too high. They thought the world of themselves, walking around in this stripped and deadened compound.