by A C Spahn
At the front door, we had to wait almost ten minutes before one of the officers left for a smoke break. Now I moved fast, slipping through the door with Desmond in tow before it could close behind us. The officer heading out had his back turned, and when no outcry sounded in the apartment, I guessed the others hadn’t seen our sudden movement, either.
We waited for the officer to disappear down the hall. Then I stumbled toward the stairs, leaning against the wall, still secluded under the quilt with Desmond. Once in the stairwell, I sagged against him, letting the quilt slide off of me. “Ugh,” I groaned.
His lips warmed my ear as he whispered, “Did you just get us out by hiding under the covers?” When I didn’t respond, he pulled back, frowning. “I thought that would get a laugh. Are you all right?”
“Tired,” I mumbled. “Too much magic.”
“What did you do?”
I tugged the comforter off of him and let it pile on the floor. Whenever my eyes fell on it, they registered nothing of importance. I could see that the comforter was there, but to my eyes it seemed as irrelevant as a bare wall. Only my own knowledge of the enchantment let me hang onto the idea that something unusual was on the ground in front of me.
Desmond stared at the quilt, mouth open. “Huh.”
“You shouldn’t even be able to notice it,” I said. “The materials weren’t right. It’s leaking magic like a faucet.”
“I didn’t know you could do that. Didn’t you say it takes time to train magic to do things like this?”
“If you do it right. If you want it to last more than twenty minutes. I was afraid it would wear off while we were still in the room.”
Desmond kicked the quilt to one corner of the stairwell, where it wouldn’t trip any unsuspecting residents. “They’re probably watching the entrances, but we might be able to sneak out if we wait until a group walks by the door. Unless you’d like to pull another stunt?”
I shook my head. “You should go home, Desmond.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“I’m serious.” I met his eyes, the dark irises rich and deep. “You’re in enough trouble already. Let me handle this.”
“I told you before, Adrienne. Letting Axel take you from that cell was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made, and I thank God nothing bad happened because of it. I’m not making another one like that.”
My gaze dropped. “That last enchantment took it out of me, Desmond. Even if we find the enchantress, and even if we can take her by surprise ... I’m not sure I can defeat her.”
Desmond cupped my hand between his, looked at me seriously, and asked, “What if I buy you coffee?”
A laugh bubbled out of me, surprising me with a little jolt of energy.
Desmond grinned. “I’m serious. The big size. With extra cream. And a triple shot of espresso.”
“A triple shot? You want me to fight, not launch into orbit.” I managed a smile. “Thanks, Desmond.”
“You’re still an ignoramus.”
“You’re still a troglodyte.” I wanted to bury my fingers in his hair, draw him down toward me, but it was taking all my energy to stay upright. I staggered one step toward the stairs.
Desmond scooped me into his arms and carried me the rest of the way.
Chapter 24
WE SNUCK OUT of the building under the cover of a large crowd of tourists taking a walking sightseeing trip. By then I was on my feet, if unsteady, and I tapped my ring of camouflage to make myself a little less noticeable in case more cops were watching the exit. It wasn’t as strong an enchantment as the one I’d put on the blanket, but every little bit helped. No one stopped us, and we stayed with the tour group long enough to round a few corners. Then we drifted to the back of the crowd and eventually let them leave us behind altogether.
Desmond helped me sit down on someone’s front stoop. “I’ll get your car and pick you up.”
“That might be how they found us. They could be watching it.”
“I’ll keep an eye out. I think it’s more likely the Union saw that I took Maribel’s key and called the SFPD to report us breaking into her apartment. This is my fault. I didn’t think the Union would involve the normals.” He fidgeted with his pockets, his chagrin evident.
I took his hand. “We got away. That’s what matters.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
He gave my hand a squeeze. “Do you need anything? Headache pills, bandages ...”
“I overused magic, Desmond. I didn’t concuss myself. I’ll be fine.”
“You’re sure?”
“There’s nothing that can help.”
His lips twitched. “I’m still buying you coffee.”
“I won’t say no to that.”
He left me on the porch and doubled back to fetch my car. Fifteen minutes later he returned, two steaming cups filling the car with rich deliciousness. I buckled myself into the passenger seat and grabbed the offered takeout cup. He’d gotten the large size, with extra cream and a shot of caramel, exactly the way I liked it. Some of my strength returned as I sipped the coffee, its warmth easing away my fatigue. I wouldn’t be in top shape, but hopefully I could keep us alive.
We headed north on 101, following the amethyst necklace’s guidance. I draped the silver chain around the rearview mirror, letting the pendant swing freely. It pointed ever northward, guiding us into the parkland on the fringes of San Francisco.
Fog rolled off the ocean as we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, lit a smoky red by the setting sun. Twilight shadows darkened the water, dancing with the churning waves. Chill air permeated the car and made me shiver. I turned on the heat and huddled in the seat, staring out the window at the receding city lights.
We drove in silence, until the amethyst pendant began tilting to the right. At my nod, Desmond left the freeway and drove into the woodlands. I’d hoped the enchantress might have hidden in the scrubby, hilly terrain closer to the bridgehead, but she’d gone further north, into the thick of the forest. Roads wound their way through Mount Tamalpais State Park, making loops and backtracks that could addle a GPS, much less a magical pendant that only pointed one direction.
When the amethyst suddenly turned away from the road and pointed off into the trees, I made Desmond pull over onto a flat gravel area. A dented bumper protruded from the bushes on the far side of the turnoff, the rest of the vehicle hidden in the shrubs. Desmond nodded to it. “That’s Maribel’s car. I recognize the plate. How will we know if the enchantress has her nearby, or drove her somewhere else?”
I opened the door and stepped out. My feet crunched on sticks and pine needles. Crickets sang the sun to sleep as dusk rolled over the woods. Long shadows stretched across clear patches of ground, while thickets between groves of trees had already turned to puddles of night. Magic hung in the branches, alit on twigs and pooled in the brush, thrumming faintly on my arms.
Closing my eyes, I felt the magic, let it feel me in return. Some of it tried to channel through me, but I pushed it aside, seeking further, reaching as I had reached in Maribel’s apartment. A headache began immediately, but I clenched my teeth and pressed on. If my nemesis had made her lair nearby, there would be some sign. A patch of no magic, or ...
kadumKadumKADUMKADUM
... or a patch of way too much.
I poked my head back into the car. “She’s here. I can feel a locus of magic nearby. A lot of power is swirling around her, trying to channel through her.”
Desmond hopped out of the car and headed for the trunk. “Is it going to do the same to you?”
“Yes.”
He paused with his hand on his sword gear. “Are you going to be able to handle that?”
“I don’t know.”
He drew his sword out and slammed the trunk. “You keep telling me to go home, but maybe you should stay in the car while I ...”
“No. We already know she can do shifting enchantments, and if she turns into an animal you’ll need help. Not
to mention she might have a gun, or some other mundane way of attacking you. You need me. You need my magic.”
Sighing, he nodded. “Don’t push yourself too hard.”
“We’re about to battle the arcane forces of evil, Desmond. There’s no such thing as too hard.”
He flashed an embarrassed smile and buckled his scabbard to his belt. I donned my magical arsenal, tucking my backup pieces into my pockets. I unhooked the amethyst necklace from the rearview mirror and buried it back in my purse, which I left beneath the seat so it wouldn’t slow me down. Then I took Desmond’s hand, and together we stepped off the road into jagged shadows.
Redwoods towered above us, blocking the stars. The true grandfather trees were over in the protected Muir Woods National Monument, but the rest of the park had its share of impressive growth. I wished I could use a glowstone like I’d created at the ranch, but any light would give away our approach.
Desmond moved smoothly, barely making a sound. In contrast my feet seemed to find every dry twig and crunchy leaf in the dirt. It seemed unfair that he could be almost twice my size, but move like a cat while I felt like a moose. I fell in behind him, putting my feet where he had to quiet my steps.
Wind shivered in the trees, and magic carried with it, kissing my skin. Gooseflesh crawled up my bare arms. I’m here, the magic seemed to whisper. Here if you want me. Here if you don’t. One way or another, I’ll find my way through you.
kadum. kadum. Kadum.
Kadum. Kadum. KADUM.
KADUM. KADUM. KADUM!
I pulled Desmond to a stop. “She’s nearby,” I whispered. “The magic is getting stronger.”
“She hasn’t used it yet,” he murmured. “That means Kendall and Maribel are probably all right.”
I nodded. It also meant the enchantress would have plenty of magic to throw at us when we fought.
We slowed our pace then, moving step by step like we had when escaping Maribel’s apartment. My heart hammered in my chest, beating in time with the magic in the air. The drumming sped up and grew harder with each step, until the air seemed to sizzle with unchanneled power. My head, already aching from overexertion, began to throb. I concentrated on following Desmond’s footsteps, murmuring quiet directions as I felt our way toward the magic.
The trees broke suddenly, marching away on either side to form a perimeter around a small bowl-like clearing. Desmond froze, then straightened with a relieved cry. “Kendall!” He took one step down into the clearing.
White lightning snapped through the still air. It didn’t strike Desmond, but it dug into the dirt just below his feet. The loose earth gave way, sending him skidding on his side. His head smacked against a rock protruding from the dirt, and he tumbled down to land in a motionless heap at the bottom of the bowl.
I crouched. Maybe I hadn’t been seen. Maybe I could still pull off an ambush, and avoid having to channel more magic through my battered brain. Maybe—
“Adrienne? I know you’re there. Come out where I can see you!”
That voice ...
Numb with shock, I straightened up and stepped out of the trees to where the moon cast a crown of light around the clearing.
A ratty-looking bookcase sat at the bottom of the dip, crammed with various enchanting materials that could have come from my own workshop. Maribel lay near the shelves, unmoving. A few feet from her lay Kendall, curled in a fetal position. Closer to me was Desmond, equally still.
My enemy stood between them and me, chin-length blonde hair flapping in the wind, unable to hide her face.
“Sam?”
The teenager’s face was grim. “It’s everywhere, Adrienne. You said magic is beautiful. But it’s trying to kill me. I can’t stay ahead of it.”
“Sam ... you enchanted those people? The insane shifters at the barn ... you did that to them?”
“I didn’t mean to!” Her face was stricken. She held her hands out to either side—hands bedecked with rings and bracelets, I noted. “Those three guys—the wolves—they said they wanted to take some of the magic for me. I had made a bear shifter already, so I thought I could do it. But they showed up with knives, and they said if I didn’t enchant them, they ... they would ...” Tears sprang to her eyes. She ground her teeth. “I was so scared, I did the magic wrong. And then I had to keep them somewhere, because everyone talks about how the Voids will hunt you down and kill you if you do magic. You have to understand, Adrienne. My dad won’t notice if the Voids take me away. I’ve got nobody who cares about me. Nobody but me.”
“It wasn’t just the wolf-men,” I said. “What about the woman you blinded, the one in the water tub?”
“She found me hiding in an abandoned house. She was a druggie, jacked up on something. She said she wanted to breathe underwater, and I just wanted her to go away ... I haven’t hurt anybody on purpose!”
“The man with the fire breath? You put dozens of enchantments on him!”
“The first one didn’t work! He went crazy, started trying to hurt me. I thought maybe if I found the right magic, put the right enchantment on him, I could fix him. I kept trying to fix them all. I tried so hard, but I couldn’t do it. And I couldn’t ask for help, because the Voids would find me. Then the fire-breathing one got away, and ...”
“You have an excuse for everything. What about Kendall?” I demanded, pointing to my prostrate friend, “What about Desmond? What about Maribel? What about the Void Hunter you killed in the stable?”
“He attacked me!” she shouted. She swept her hand across the unconscious bodies. “And they came to me. That one’s wearing one of my bracelets. She stole it. I thought the Voids might be able to use my stuff to find me, like the cops do, so I made sure nobody could steal from me. I was just trying to keep myself safe.”
“You set a magical trap, Sam. You’re using it all wrong.”
“I didn’t mean for it to go this way! But what else was I supposed to do?” Her voice rose to a shriek. The wind picked up, and with it the magic. I could feel it drumming around us, filling the space between me and Sam with palpable force. “It won’t stop,” Sam went on, a tear running down her cheek. “It never stops. What is it for, if I can’t use it against my enemies? Against the people always trying to hurt me?”
“I’m not your enemy, Sam. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You didn’t help me! You said you’d help, but you just told me the same thing everyone else did. ‘Leave magic alone. You don’t want that power.’” A cold sneer wiped away the innocent fear on her face. “Well, guess what? I’ve got it, wanted or not.” She raised her hand to point at me.
I threw myself aside as a sizzle of lightning flashed through where I’d stood. Dirt caked my arms and jeans, and leaves stuck in my hair as I rolled back to my feet. Another blast of lightning shot toward me. I jerked my arm up and tapped my shield ring. Electric fire sprayed across the invisible wall, sparking out in the air.
“Sam, don’t make me fight you!” I shouted.
Another bolt answered me. My shield wavered. Either I fled now, or I attacked before my defenses collapsed. My eyes fell on the unconscious bodies of my friends. Fleeing wasn’t an option.
Drawing on my own ring of lightning, I waited for Sam’s next attack. As the lightning crackled across my shield, I spun to one side and sent a bolt of my own arcing through the clearing.
Sam shrieked, caught off guard. For a moment I thought the bolt would hit, but she surprised me yet again. Two inches from her chest it stopped, crashing against a shield not unlike my own. Sam’s hand went to a beaded necklace at her throat. So, she’d mastered shield enchantments, too. Fury twisted her face, and she sent blast after electrical blast my way. Blocking and dodging, I struggled to close the distance between us, to come within striking range.
Magic built around us, a growing pressure swirling into a storm. KADUMKADUMKADUM it banged on my senses, a cacophony with us at its center. Between attacks, I caught glimpses of Sam’s face. She felt the pressure, too, felt it
digging into her, trying to burst free.
Halfway across the clearing, my shield ring ran out of magic. The shimmering wall of air flickered and died. Sam’s next blast nearly took my head off. I rolled forward, coming up in a crouch, then immediately had to throw myself to one side to dodge her next attack. My hand scrambled at my pocket for another defensive enchantment. My sensory ring slipped onto my finger, and I seized its magic like a life preserver.
KADUMKADUMBDMDMDMBDMKADUMDRUMDUM
The world canted sideways. I felt like the ground had become a wall and I was slipping down it, unable to find the floor. Magic was all around me, above me, under me, and in me. Tapping the layered enchantments of the ring hadn’t just accessed their magic, it had made me more sensitive to the perception of the magic in the air. Up was down, left was right, and all was wrong.
This is what it feels like to go insane, I thought, as nausea filled not only my stomach but my arms and head. My pocket seemed to bind my hand like a manacle, clinging to my skin and keeping my fingers trapped with the sensory ring.
Fighting for some semblance of reality, I scanned the clearing. Sam’s next bolt of lightning was coming toward me, but it seemed to zigzag. I’d driven Sam to the edge of the clearing, and she stood with her back to the trees, trees that reached hands of bark to seize her, but grabbed me instead. Desmond, Kendall, and Maribel lay in the leaves across the clearing, where the dirt was slowly parting to swallow them.
It’s not real, I thought. Focus on your friends. You can’t let the magic win. I stared at Desmond, clinging to his presence like an anchor in a storm.
His hand was moving.
I was so shocked I nearly let Sam’s lightning hit me. At the last moment I started to move, ducking beneath the zigzagging arc in tedious slow motion. Some of the lightning singed my ear. Pain crawled through my skin in drawn-out clarity. All the while my eyes remained fixed on Desmond, whose hand continued to creep toward the scabbard at his belt.
He was awake. He was preparing to attack. And the way we stood right now, Sam would see him before he came within thirty paces of her.