Magic Unknown (The Elustria Chronicles: Magic Born Book 2)

by Caethes Faron

“I can’t believe you can do that!” Nicole said. I had forgotten she hadn’t seen me perform magic like that before.

  Alex watched the whole thing with a hint of approval in his eyes. “Now why don’t you tell us what that was about?”

  “Casper’s probably been working with the Directorate to find me. That also explains why Sibelius didn’t come see me in my mother’s house even when my aunts were there. I doubt he killed the guard. Casper must’ve tracked me to my mother’s home. The Directorate would be smart to keep a spy there to see if I showed up. Then after they killed the guard and I fled, Casper likely changed tack and got Sibelius to help him.”

  “We should’ve been expecting this.” Alex shook his head, and I could see him mentally berating himself. “Casper will never let you go. What was it Sibelius told you?”

  I went over everything with them. It physically hurt to reveal the truth about the woman who had given birth to me, whose memory I had clung to with hope despite what everyone had told me.

  “So that’s why I had to destroy the notes. Sibelius knows the general theory, but he doesn’t know the specifics involved in creating a talisman. I don’t think anyone does, and I intend to keep it that way.”

  Alex and Nicole both looked stunned.

  “How are you?” Nicole put her arm around me.

  I shrugged. “I’m fine, I just want to get back to the Council.”

  “You’re not fine. Your mom literally killed your dad. That’s some heavy stuff. You don’t just brush that off.”

  “Well, I have to. I can’t break down right now.” I’d never been destined to have a family in adulthood. Every time I felt like I belonged somewhere, to a guild or group or family, something took it away. Some people were just meant to be on their own. Tears stung at my eyes and I shook my head to push them back. This was ridiculous. Right in this room I had better friends than most people found in a lifetime. “As soon as Millhook is able, we need him to make a portal to Elustria.”

  “And what if Sibelius and Analise find us first?” Alex asked.

  “I don’t know. We need to come up with some kind of plan.” I looked to Nicole. “No matter what happens, you need to go home. You can’t come to Elustria. You might as well leave now so we know you’re safe.”

  “No, I’m not just going to leave you here.” Hurt and offense filled Nicole’s eyes. “They’re not after me. I mean nothing to them, so don’t worry about my safety. There’s no way I can leave here without knowing you’re going to be okay.”

  I knew Alex and Millhook both understood that tampering with Nicole’s memory was now off the table. It didn’t make any sense to waste Millhook’s power on such a trivial thing when there were more serious concerns.

  “Well, we can’t stay here if they come,” I said. “We’d be endangering innocent people. With all the commotion, someone will call the authorities, and Millhook won’t be able to create a portal.”

  “There’s a wooded area to the northeast of here. I saw it on my phone when I was looking at the map of this area. It looked secluded and private enough for what you need,” Nicole said.

  “So if they come, we’ll make our way there.” Alex shifted and tended to Millhook’s leg again.

  The limb appeared to be healing, but not fast enough for comfort. With how intently I stared at it, I couldn’t tell if it was really improving or if my eyes saw what I willed.

  “Do you think it’ll come to that?” Nicole asked.

  “I hope not. With any luck, Sibelius and Analise won’t find us, and Millhook can make a portal right here when he’s able.” My eyes didn’t waver from Millhook’s leg.

  If Sibelius or Analise forced us to run, I had little hope that I would survive.

  Chapter 29

  The tension tightened with each passing minute. Alex shifted between human and panther to tend to Millhook’s leg. Toward the end of each healing session, his tongue would darken as if it were taking on some of the curse from Millhook. I suspected that’s why he had to keep stopping: to give himself time to heal. Not only did Millhook’s leg look better, but his overall color had improved too.

  Alex had just shifted back to his human form when Millhook pierced the silence that had thickened in the room. “Am I the only one who’s gonna say it? Meglana was one scary mage.”

  Despite everything, I couldn’t help laughing. The tension in the room lifted once everyone saw my response.

  “Yeah, that’s kind of intense,” Nicole said.

  “What little I knew of her made me wary of her, but I would’ve never guessed,” Alex said.

  “Had the Council known what she was working on, they would’ve banished her to the Vortex,” Millhook said. “Draining magic from sorcerers? That’s beyond their wildest imaginings. If the sorcerers knew, they’d throw their peaceful notions to the wind and obliterate the mages.”

  Millhook was right. What I’d learned today had far-reaching implications, much further than my personal life. What everyone had said about my mother was true, except it was so much worse. I could understand the quest for knowledge and even power, that at least made a little sense, but I couldn’t comprehend killing someone, someone who presented no threat or immediate danger.

  After she had killed my father, had it become easier for her? I’d already killed one man in self-defense, but I knew within me that it’d be easier to do it again should the need arise. It was entirely possible that my mother had killed dozens of sorcerers in pursuit of their power. There was still so much to figure out. What was her endgame? Why did she hide the talismans instead of using them to protect herself? That was the real sticking point for me. It seemed to indicate that she was in pursuit of knowledge itself, that she wanted to see how strong and powerful she could become more than she wanted to use that power. Or, if the way things were going were any indication, there was likely a far more sinister plan she had been working toward.

  I had to wonder why I was still alive. Why didn’t Meglana kill me? Perhaps it was as Sibelius had said, that she wanted me to continue her work. If that were the case, why didn’t she keep me with her? Maybe she didn’t relish having a daughter but also wanted someone to continue on just in case things didn’t work out for her like she thought they would.

  Or maybe, just maybe, she really wanted to protect me. Why, out of all the talismans she must’ve created, was this the one she used, the only one connected to me and my father? I was grasping at straws, but when straws are all you’ve got, you take them.

  “Millhook, knowing what you do now, can you think of why Meglana’s notes kept saying to look to the beginning?” She seemed to have been referencing something she assumed the reader would understand.

  “Ah, I suppose it goes back to the creation myth. It’s believed that millennia ago sorcerers and mages mated. When they discovered that their offspring couldn’t produce magical children, they thought it was kinder to strip them of their magic sparks and send them through to Earth, creating the first humans. I doubt there’s any truth to it.”

  “Even so, it has to be what inspired Meglana.” That was exactly what she had done with me.

  “It’s a twisted mind that jumps from a myth to farming pidges for magic.”

  That’s what I had been to my mother: a resource to be used and discarded.

  “Can you tell me something else? What’s the Vortex? All I’ve heard is that it’s like prison and I’m going there for life if the Council isn’t happy. It’s about time I learn more than that.” The closer I came to my judgment day, the more important this knowledge seemed.

  Millhook shifted on the bed and looked to Alex as if for approval. Alex tensed his jaw but didn’t say anything. Millhook focused back on me.

  “Perkusia—that’s the name of the planet, though hardly anyone ever uses it—is split into two parts: Elustria and the Vortex. Elustria is where most everything lives. The Vortex is the rest of the planet. If you looked at it from far away, you’d see a giant dark purple vortex, like a swirling ocea
n. Inside it is a whole other world. The sorcerers do a lot of work to ensure that creatures from the Vortex don’t spill over into Elustria. It’s also where the worst criminals are sent. Elustria doesn’t have a death penalty; we send people to the Vortex.”

  “In the shifter world,” Alex interrupted, “if we have that much of a problem with someone, we’re more likely to accidentally kill them in a fight than to banish them there. We’re more humane like that.”

  “So what exactly happens in the Vortex?” Nicole asked.

  “It’s a counterweight to the magic in Elustria. Everything has to balance out. So for all the magic you see in Elustria, there is an opposite and equal amount of darkness in the Vortex, the kind that did this to my leg. Mages aren’t supposed to be tampering with it. Sorcerers do more than just make sure the Vortex stays contained. They’re there to make sure it doesn’t overtake the rest of Perkusia. If everyone used dark magic as casually as Sibelius did, it would throw the entire world out of balance. Things would get downright nasty quick.”

  “So the entire planet is in this good versus evil struggle? That’s a little quaint,” I said.

  “And untrue,” Millhook said. “It’s a different way of being with the magic. It’s a parasite and host situation. In the Vortex, the parasite is the magic, and in Elustria, it’s all of us who are the parasites. It’s mighty dark stuff, the kind of stuff you don’t teach children. We let the sorcerers deal with it. The rest of us hardly ever think of the Vortex. If the mages understood how much work the sorcerers did to keep our planet functioning, perhaps they’d lay off them a bit.”

  Anger mixed with fear in Alex’s eyes. He didn’t like talking about the Vortex when I might end up there, so he shifted and licked Millhook’s wounds again, putting an end to the conversation.

  “I don’t think there’s any more I can do,” Alex said when he had shifted back.

  “You’ve done plenty.” Genuine gratitude shone from Millhook’s face. “Just got to give it time now. It’s getting there. It won’t be too much longer ’til I can make a portal.”

  “Are you sure I can’t come?” Nicole asked.

  I wished more than ever that she could. I needed a good friend in Elustria, and it looked like things were far from settling down for me. I didn’t want to hurt her, to make her feel left out. I hated people who did that.

  Millhook came to my rescue. “Even if humans could survive in Elustria, you wouldn’t like it. Imagine living in a world where everyone’s doing magic just as a matter of course and you can’t so much as levitate a piece of paper.”

  He was right, but it didn’t make it any easier for Nicole. A part of me wanted to give her hope. Maybe a mage would invent something that would allow her to come to Elustria. They were inventing all kinds of magical devices. But ultimately, giving her false hope would only be cruel.

  “I promise, once things settle down, I’ll come visit more often.” That was a promise I was comfortable making. It was the one benefit to Millhook’s injury. If we got out of here, he wouldn’t have enough energy to do the kind of intricate magic it would take to alter Nicole’s memory. This wasn’t a simple “forget the last few minutes” like he did with the state trooper. That meant I was free to continue our friendship.

  “I understand. But can you bring souvenirs or something next time? Really, I mean, if you were going to the Bahamas you would’ve mailed me at least a postcard, probably a keychain. But you go to an entirely different world and I get bupkis.”

  “Will do,” I said. “There has to be some equivalent to photography there. I’ll bring back lots of pictures.”

  The atmosphere in the room settled into that of an airport gate after the goodbyes were said and all that was left was to wait for the plane. “Are you going to make it back home all right?” I asked Nicole.

  “Yeah, I might hang around Europe for a little while. I’m already here, might as well make the most of it.”

  “What about your passport? It’s missing a stamp.”

  “Yeah, I’ll talk my way through it.”

  I’d feel a lot better if we could port her home before we left, but it wasn’t possible.

  Millhook broke the awkward silence. “Didn’t Sibelius say something about the amber holding on to memory? Did it work?”

  I hadn’t thought much about it, but now that he mentioned it, it made sense. At Meglana’s house, I assumed it had been my own memories that were giving me clues to follow, but that wasn’t right. I remembered back to the surge of anger I had felt when Meglana has whispered Sibelius’s name. The memories had to have been my father’s. He had been nudging me along, helping me throughout this entire journey. It might have even been some remnant of him that had protected me from having the talisman removed.

  “Yeah, I guess it did. I’ve seen visions of my mother I had assumed were my memories, but they couldn’t have been. They must be his.”

  “Wow, that’s cool. So you can like look back through your father’s entire life?” Nicole asked.

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I’m not sure exactly how it works—”

  I was interrupted by Alex taking his panther form and walking to the window. He sniffed the air then shifted. “We’ve got to go. Casper is here. Can you make a portal, Millhook?”

  “How much time have I got?”

  “Minutes.”

  Millhook wiggled his fingers as if testing his magic. “It’s not flowin’ strong enough yet.”

  “Then we go to our backup plan.” Alex helped Millhook to his feet. “Can you get around?”

  “Oh, yes. Leg’s not doing too bad, it’s just my magic that hasn’t quite recovered yet. I’ll be able to make the portal, it’ll just take a little longer than normal, and I won’t be able to hold it open forever.”

  “Then you and Nicole go out the back to get a head start. Kat and I will exit out the front and follow.”

  I grabbed my satchel and gave Nicole a hug. “Be careful.”

  “You too.”

  “Come on, Kat; we don’t have time for this.” Alex grabbed my hand, and we left the room going one direction while Millhook and Nicole went the other.

  I didn’t know if I’d have time to say goodbye to Nicole later. I could only hope that our plan worked and I’d return someday.

  Chapter 30

  “So you saw Casper? You’re sure it’s him?” I asked Alex when we exited the front of the hotel.

  “Yes, I’m positive. It was his scent that first alerted me. I spent enough time despising him that there’s no mistaking it.”

  We made our way down the sidewalk, not outright running, but going at a brisk pace to circle the block and follow Millhook.

  Alex looked behind us. “Casper’s about half a block behind us. And I assume the pissed off girl with a pixie cut is Analise.”

  “Yep, that’s her. Any sign of Sibelius?”

  “No.”

  “Shit. That means he probably followed Nicole and Millhook.”

  “Don’t jump to conclusions. You’re the one he wants.”

  I took Alex’s advice, not because I thought he was correct, but because the only way I could help Nicole and Millhook was to keep a level head on my shoulders and get out of this alive. I’d be no use to them dead. “What do you think our best move is here?”

  “I say we keep him in public as long as possible to give Millhook time to work on the portal. As long as he has us in his sights, I don’t think he’ll make a move until he feels sure he won’t be seen,” Alex said.

  “Sibelius had no problem doing magic in public.”

  “I think Casper will. He has a reputation to maintain.”

  It was easy to forget that Casper Rothian was a world-famous billionaire and game developer, the type of man certain people recognized on the street. He wouldn’t like a video appearing online shot from someone’s cell phone showing him performing magic in the streets of Vienna. That gave a certain predictability to his actions. “I hope you’re right. I don’t know
if I can defeat him in a fight. If it comes to it, try not to kill Analise if you don’t have to.”

  “I’ll do what I have to.”

  I didn’t know if Alex had ever killed before, but I believed he wouldn’t hesitate to. “She’s a victim in all this. Her parents were murdered.”

  “Yes, and then she made the choice to join Casper.”

  “Don’t forget, I did too.”

  Alex looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “Fine.”

  We darted between the people on the sidewalk, never slowing our pace but never running either. Casper and Analise kept pace, seeming content to follow us all day. Up ahead, a steady stream of people poured around the corner. It must be a subway entrance. If I turned right into the crowd, I could take off at a run and possibly lose Casper before he could make it through the people. I grabbed Alex’s hand and gestured to the corner. He nodded his head in understanding.

  Just a few more steps. When I increased my pace to take off around the corner, my legs flew out from under me. Alex’s superior reflexes kept him on his feet, but I took at least one pedestrian down with me as I crashed to the ground.

  Stunned, I didn’t understand what had happened until I tried to get to my feet only to have my hands slip out from under me. “Shit, it’s ice. Casper.”

  Alex pulled me up by my arm and practically dragged me, but it was no use. Casper and Analise had advanced to only a few feet behind us. Freezing the sidewalk had been a stroke of genius, a way to use his magic that was too subtle for anyone to notice and trace it to him. He kept the sidewalk beneath our feet frozen, and it took only a few steps for me to fall again. Casper grabbed for me and Alex threw himself between us.

  “Hey, leave her alone!” Alex shouted, gaining the attention of passersby.

  The distraction gave me enough time to melt the ice with my hands and reform the water into an ice arrow—just as Casper had taught me. I sent it flying straight toward Casper’s leg where it lodged itself in his calf. Casper screamed out, and Alex and I took our opening, sprinting around the nearest corner.