Magical Compass: A Supernatural Prison Story

by Jaymin Eve

  As soon as the rest of my family stepped through, the doorway vanished. I let my dragon burst free from my skin. Josephina! My call went out into the world.

  Her huge gold body appeared on the horizon almost immediately, which made me think she had been standing by, waiting.

  Fighting the urge to take to the skies too – my dragon hated being caged again so quickly – I pulled his energy inside and shifted back to supe. Clothes appeared across me without thought. I couldn’t think at this point. I was acting on pure instinct.

  “Time has run out on discussing this,” said Jacob, “but I’m saying it now. We need to leave the babies with the dragons.”

  Jessa let out a strangled laugh. “Sounds like they might be able to hold their own anyway. I still can’t believe Evie dissolved the dome. I think we should do some research into what possible gifts they might have. Got to prepare myself. I hear threenager is a real bitch.”

  Everyone expected Jessa and Braxton’s twins to be shifters, but if Evie had dissolved that dome, she had used magic. Or something beyond a shifter’s ability. She was only two months old and already following zero milestones for the normal developments of her race.

  Josephina, close now, banked and came in to land.

  Welcome back. Her voice echoed through my head. You have very little time. The hunters have left the girls to be sacrificed. When the final tide of the spell washes over them, the demons will spill enough blood to free the shadows. The blood of the four royals created the prison, and all four are needed to unlock it.

  My vision flickered with red and gold. I knew my eyes were changing, scales scattering across my skin as I fought the shift. “Can you open a step-through there? I don’t want to risk landing in one of the jeweled meadows.”

  I can. The dragons are amassing now. We’ll help you fight. I will also keep the little ones safe while we’re gone. Jacob does not need to stay, they will be beyond all reach.

  Somehow she had known that Jacob planned on staying. I knew he was happier to be coming into the battle, and all of us trusted the dragon queen’s words.

  The three babies were quickly unwrapped; no one could argue that this was the safest thing. Jackson, Evie, and Lily were then kissed and hugged repeatedly by us all, before their parents placed them on the ground at the dragon queen’s feet. She lowered her head, and leaving a small gap around them, started swirling her snout over them, circling them, smoke pouring from her nostrils. This smoke twirled as it got thicker and thicker, until it surrounded the babies completely in a hovering band of grey. It then rose up, churning, lifting the three young with it. In sync, all of them let out big yawns, closing their eyes. The smoke circle started to rock back and forth and … they fell asleep.

  No one can cross this barrier or penetrate the protective ball. Any who try will be burned by dragon smoke … immediate death.

  “What about other dragons?” Mischa asked, her tearful gaze locked on her peacefully sleeping child.

  None but those of my blood, and I’m the last of my family line. They are safe.

  A shimmering doorway opened, and I was moving before anyone could say another word. I was done waiting, done with these bastards touching my mate. I was fucking done. I needed her back. It was hard to leave my nieces and nephew behind – and I couldn’t imagine how hard it was for their parents – but I trusted the dragon queen. It was safer here for them, I truly believed that.

  The step-through was far less turbulent than usual, formed by dragon magic beyond my knowledge. I wondered if being dragon mated would mean my sorcery gifts would grow and change in new ways. As I exited on the edge of the ruby field, a thought struck me. When Braxton and Jessa stepped out, I said to them, “You should talk to Josephina about what Evie and Jackson might do. Wild dragons have magic different than shifters. Your babies might be taking from that.”

  Jessa wrapped her arms tightly around me and I absorbed her comfort. “I love you,” she murmured to me. “We have your back, Ty, but be careful.” I dropped a kiss on her forehead.

  “I know, Jessa babe. I love you too, and I will be careful. Now let’s find my mate.”

  “And kill whatever bastards thought they could touch a member of our pack.” Braxton had fire in his eyes and a hard determination on his face.

  I took in the scene … everything looked the same. The golden sand of that central space was still surrounded by four jewel-covered lands. Grace! I called for her, urgency rocketing through me.

  I didn’t like this fuzziness in our connection. I could feel her, but it was distant, like before the mate bond snapped into place. Tyson! Her scream cut through my mind and I lurched forward, eyes darting around.

  Where are you? My words were no more than a rumble of fury.

  U-u-up.

  My head snapped back and I let out a strangled roar. The dragon rose to the surface and I welcomed him. The shift was fast, the fastest so far. Flapping my wings hard as I rose into the air, I heard the tearing of clothes and snapping of bones below me, and knew my brothers were following.

  Grace was strung up a mile or more in the air, three other girls by her side. There was no visible place for them to be chained, and yet they were hanging there, arms suspended above their heads. It’s demons, Ty. It’s too dangerous.

  Our bond was stronger, but still being interfered with. Demons! They couldn’t exist on Earth without a host, but here they must be able to – they’d be no more than a dark mist in their natural forms. Utilizing every ounce of dragon vision, I focused, trying to see where they were. How many were we up against?

  Why is our mate bond so distant? I shot those words at Grace with force, feeling the resistance as we tried to connect.

  Broke spell. I’m winter … princess … not witch. So sorry.

  That changes nothing. I’d accepted she was the princess long ago.

  As my dragon circled closer to her, dark wisps finally caught my attention. I roared and charged toward them; they were spinning around the girls, forming a similar sort of smoke cloud as Josephina had with the babies. No doubt this was to keep us out.

  Dark clouds broke out across the pinkish sky, moving rapidly and rumbling loudly. The sky had been clear a moment ago; whatever the demons were doing was affecting the weather. Tingling traces of energy raced across my dragon hide. I could feel the moisture, like it was going to rain soon. I was almost high enough now; a few more flaps and I would reach Grace. But I wasn’t sure I’d get there before the demons finished whatever they were doing.

  A glow cut through the darkness from the clouds, blinding as it beamed down on the four princesses. My dragon didn’t like that glow. Portal.

  Portal … ah, fuck. A portal from the demon realm no doubt. Whatever was happening here, we were about to have a war of mammoth proportions. Demons were going to be freed; the shadow ones were going to rise. I had no idea what I could do to stop it all from happening.

  Free Grace.

  It was my sole focus, what every thought centered on, and I did not hesitate to plunge straight into the demon darkness keeping me from my mate. Dark and light splintered across my vision, the portal light, mixing with the clouds and demon smoke, blinding me temporarily, and my dragon’s roar echoed loudly across the lands. Other roars sounded from below.

  Take out the demons, I sent to my brothers.

  Braxton’s reply was immediate. During my private shifter classes, they taught me that dragon fire might possibly disable demons.

  Let’s try it. That was our only possible weapon. Be careful not to hit the girls.

  Spreading my wings wide, I banked to the right, the instincts of my dragon kicking in hard. Flying felt as easy as breathing. A demon appeared in front of me and burning flames spewed from my jaws before I could even register the thought. A high-pitched shriek blasted my ears, and I forced the flames to extend until the demon was gone.

  Do they go back to their realm? I sent the question to Braxton.

  No idea, there was no more informatio
n than “might possibly work”.

  As long as they go somewhere that’s not here, I’m all good. I sensed his agreeance on that.

  Another group ambushed me and I fought them with fire and magic. It seemed each time I cut through one, two more took its place. This is what it would be like if they were freely able to come to Earth, I thought. Their numbers would overwhelm us. We would all be wiped out. Then Earth would become as desolate as the land of the demons.

  As my flames engulfed two from the side, a tugging on my mate bond distracted me. Grace … little witch?

  I could barely feel her presence, slowly sinking under a wave of black energy, the darkness inside of her taking over; she was disappearing … I was about to lose her.

  Baby, wherever you go, I will follow. I will follow you into the darkness.

  I pushed my thoughts into the dark swirls of her mind, continuing to hold on to our bond, slapping out with energy anytime the dark tendrils came closer.

  If they thought I was letting her go, they were mistaken. A small bead of warmth strummed along our bond. I felt her presence again.

  Tyson… She flickered there, before going again.

  I sent out another surge of my power, thankful that Braxton and Jacob were trying to keep the demons off me. I could focus on staying in the air and keeping Grace from disappearing. She gasped, loud enough that I could hear it over the flapping of my wings. More dragons joined us in the skies, and then Josephina was tangling with a huge bundle of dem … no, it was a shadow.

  The shadow. It was here, and Josephina was taking it on. Was that shadow the reason Grace was filled with darkness?

  Grace, you back with me? This time it felt like our bond was strumming strongly, stronger than it had been since the sanctuary.

  I’m here. Thank you for bringing me back … I love you.

  It felt like my huge dragon heart was about to explode from the strength of the emotions rocking through me. Dragons understood love; it was one of the few things they felt even more strongly than humans.

  A group of demons evaded the dragons close to me, and I knew it was time to destroy them all so I could get to my mate. I love you too, Grace Carter. I have to kill a few demons now, but I will be right there. Hang on for me.

  Bad pun, since she was literally hanging in the air. I took off, falling in beside Jacob, our flames joining in a huge pillar of fire. Demon screams filled the air, until it became almost impossible to hear anything else.

  The fighting went on for some time, and I had a clear run to the four girls, when another scream reached me. Everything inside of me froze. Grace’s screams echoed along with three other voices. I felt it then, like the skies had opened and rain was pouring down. Only it wasn’t rain.

  It was blood.

  Grace Carter

  Everything had been going so well. The four of us had unlocked our powers and were busy admiring that we seemed to have natural body glitter, badass tattoos, and crowns – every little girl’s dream – when demons rose up around us and there was no time to do anything but protect each others’ backs. We fought as hard as we could, but the black shadows that surrounded us had no substance. No way for us to stop them; my fists went straight through, but they didn’t have the same disadvantage.

  Claws cut into me, my arms and legs seized, my heart pounding hard as we started to rise into the air, the pink skies coming much closer than I ever thought they would. Justice, Gretley, and Cam were right with me, the four of us struggling as hard as we could.

  How can they hold us like this but we can’t touch them? How come we knew so little about demons? In school we were taught that they were dark spirits, banished to another realm thousands of years ago. And that was the end of the story. Oh, and as magic users we got extra strong warnings about never summoning one, never contacting them in any way at all, never bartering with them. To become demon-touched meant your life was forfeit, no coming back from that. The demon forever owned your soul.

  They should have taught us more … like, how do we return them to their realm? How did we fight them? Useful information.

  When we were very high in the air, far too high to survive a fall, the demons let me go. My silent scream caught in my throat, and I prepared myself to end up a splat on the ground. I only fell for a foot before my body jerked and an invisible barrier held me. My arms were then wrenched up and secured together. I didn’t even have time to swallow the bitter panic coating my tongue before the barrier fell out from beneath me. Then it was only my arms keeping me aloft. My shoulders screamed, the pain of hanging was immediate and intense.

  “You okay there?” Justice’s soothing voice came from my right, and I really wanted to turn and look at her, but my arms up on either side of my head prevented me from moving too much.

  Gretley let out a snort of laughter. “I’m doing just brilliant. Hanging from my freaking arms. Body about to rip in two. Black misty clouds attacking me. Just brilliant.”

  I couldn’t help the strangled chuckle that escaped. “That’s the spirit.”

  All of us let out a snort of laughter before we went back to groaning. The pain grew steadily worse the longer we hung there, and while it wasn’t as bad as my torture, it hurt in a different way to the cuts and hits. Constant strain, the feeling of tearing muscle and tendon, like being torn in two.

  “We need a plan,” I said, injecting all the serious I could into my voice. “The demons are going to use our blood to free the shadows and open a permanent portal from their world to this one. It will be a bloodbath.”

  Cam said breathlessly, “Didn’t your dragon … say that … one shadow was free already?”

  Josephina had said that. “Do you see anything?” I was trying not to freak out, but it was getting more difficult. I couldn’t think around the pain.

  I heard three noes, and I couldn’t see anything either.

  The demons started to circle, their specters leaving smoke in their wake. A flash of shiny scale caught my eye, and for the first time since I was stolen from the sanctuary, I felt a flicker of my bond to Tyson. I was hit with a rush of joy so pure it cut though everything inside of me. Even the pain disappeared briefly.

  He was alive!

  A large part of me had been unable to truly accept they were dead. I had hopes and prayers and wishes buried deep in my heart. The moment I felt him … that very moment … I shattered. Tears streamed down my cheeks; my breath cut off as I was unable to expand my lungs past the swelling of my heart. Some of the darkness within me receded again; it didn’t seem to like being in close proximity to my mate bond. The ice, though, it loved it.

  I clung to him with as much intensity as I could. Our bond felt a little tattered; the dome had cut us off at first, and now this unlocking of my fey side had pushed it down even further, but it was still a small tingle in the corner of my being. I reached out with all my energy and spoke to him, needing to hear his voice. I got scattered words back, which was worrying, but the happy far outweighed that.

  “Uh, I don’t mean to alarm anyone,” Gretley said casually. “But there are three dragons heading this way.”

  My relief was huge, but also my fear. I knew it was Tyson and his brothers. They were here for us. But they had to fight demons … and a shadow … and whatever else was coming.

  “Any chance these are friends … you know, for a change?” Justice’s voice was low, tinged with her usual sarcastic wit.

  My reply was strangled, strong emotions overwhelming me. “They’re friends.”

  I could feel the girls’ relief, and I wished I had such blind faith. Tyson’s huge honey beast moved with grace and determination, looking like he’d been shifting to dragon his entire life. He went after some of the demons and heat smacked into my face as plumes of fire shot from his jaw, engulfing the dark blots.

  Some of the other demons took off toward the dragons, but most stayed to continue weaving their smoky crap around us.

  “All the ways I anticipated dying, this was not one
of them,” Cam was muttering, swear words interspersed between. “What the hell is happening to us?”

  “Why didn’t they just take our blood when we first got here?” Gretley wondered out loud. “What are they waiting for?”

  I had a feeling they were waiting for that freed shadow. No doubt it would have something to do with breaking the lock on the prison. We needed to free the jeweled meadows before this happened.

  Your blood alone is the key to the spells on the lands, because it was cast by a shadow, and only a shadow can undo it. But you’ll need the girls’ help. Those words drifted across my mind, and a huge golden dragon burst into view.

  Josephina! I was so happy she was here, despite the fact she had just alluded to me being a shadow. Was the darkness inside an actual shadow? I had only just accepted the jeweled princess part, it was too much to be a shadow also. Nope, that was going into my box of things I wasn’t ready to deal with.

  What do I need to do?

  A twinge of sadness hit me, and I prepared myself for what she was about to say. Sacrifice, it is the most important part of any renewal. Jessa had to sacrifice our bond. You have to sacrifice yours.

  I was already shaking my head. No, I won’t. I can’t give Tyson up. We’ve had no time together. It’s not enough!

  Pain pressed in on my chest, making it hard to breathe.

  You don’t have long. Your sacrifice is not the mate bond, but your bond to this world. Your life. You do have darkness in you, but also light. You have to choose. I will keep the shadow occupied to give you some time.

  Josephina’s voice trailed off as darkness blotted out the last of the light in the sky. The clouds above were still thick, but this darkness was from another source. A shadow. It looked different than the demons, a thick substance to it, a presence … like it had bones and organs and more, hidden under puffy clouds of darkness. Actually, darkness wasn’t the right description … more like it was devoid of all light. The opposite of anything good and happy and free.