Captured by Magic

by Linsey Hall

  “Bail out, cats!” I shouted. “Look for children!” Even as I shouted it, I knew there were no kids here. It had been an ambush, pure and simple. But I didn’t want the cats to end up crushed by these maniacs. “Scout for more demons!”

  They’d abducted our friends, and if we let them get the drop on us, we’d be in just as much trouble.

  2

  Princess and Bojangles leapt off the demon and swam away. I called upon my magic, reaching deep for the elements of nature that I was learning to control.

  To my left, Rowan fought off her attacker, her footwork quick despite the water that came up to her shins.

  I needed something to take them both out. Something that the wind spirit couldn’t defeat. He swirled in the air behind my demon, looking like he was forming a tornado.

  The earth.

  I reached down deep into the rocks below me, commanding the earth to split open right behind the demon who stood ten feet away.

  He looked up at me, fire blazing red in his eyes.

  Oh man, he is pissed.

  “Didn’t like my cats, huh?” I cackled, hoping to annoy him. My magic was flowing, splitting the earth in two, but it was taking time. I needed it to be deep, because I’d only get one shot at this.

  My heart thundered as I worked.

  The demon snarled, black fangs glinting in the light, and raised a hand. Fire burst to life around his palm, and a half second later, he hurled it at me.

  I dived left, water splashing. It took everything I had not to drop my hold on the magic that was currently splitting apart the earth.

  By the time I scrambled upright, the crack behind the demon had grown wide enough. Deep enough, too, from the feel of it.

  I’ll take it from here! Muffin whizzed past me, little wings flapping. He wasn’t a good flyer, but for this, it didn’t matter.

  He yowled as he headed straight for the demon’s head. The monster grimaced and lunged backward, trying to avoid the oncoming cat.

  One last step, and he dropped into the abyss.

  “Rowan!” I called.

  “I see!” She maneuvered her demon toward the crack in the ground.

  Either he didn’t understand English, or he was too caught up in the heat of battle, because he didn’t seem to notice what was happening behind him. How the ground had opened up, ready to swallow him.

  “Cats! Help her!” Heart thundering, I sprinted for Rowan and her demon, determined to lend them a hand.

  The wind spirit hit me out of the blue, a giant gust of air that knocked me into the water. The cold liquid closed around me, and I thrashed, trying to heave my way upward.

  But wind pressed me down, blowing away the water until it was just me, pinned to the rocks below. The force was so strong that it blew the breath from my lungs. Pressing. Pressing. Crushing me into the earth.

  The son of a witch was trying to use the wind against me. I had command of the wind. I was the Druid.

  Bastard wouldn’t get away with this.

  I called upon the magic inside me. It was fainter now, much of my stores used up. The wind battered me as I reached for the gifts that the gods had given me.

  My enemy’s power blasted into me, making it difficult to breathe. Determination roared inside me as my heart thundered in my ears. My magic welled up, spilling out of me as a hurricane force wind. It plowed into the spirit, blowing him backward. Obliterating him, maybe.

  I didn’t know. But he was gone suddenly, and the horrible pressure on my chest lifted.

  I sucked in a huge breath, my head clearing.

  Oh, thank fates.

  I freaking loved air.

  Then the water rushed back over me, no longer forced aside by my attacker’s magic.

  I sputtered and heaved upward, breaking through the surface with my hair streaming over my face.

  Fear for Rowan vibrated across my skin as I surged to my feet, scraping back my hair and whirling around, searching for her.

  My gaze caught on her just as she kicked the demon in the chest, sending him backward into the abyss that I had created. His roar cut through the air, dissipating as he fell.

  She turned, a grin on her face. “Not bad, eh?”

  “Not bad at all.” Ever since she’d returned from captivity, she’d had no magic. Somehow, it was all gone. So she’d practiced her fighting. Over and over and over.

  I turned my gaze from her, briefly spotting the cats as they found taller river rocks to sit on.

  Where the heck had that last demon gone? The little old one who had mimicked a child’s cry.

  As if she knew what I was seeking, Rowan pointed. “There he is.”

  My gaze followed her arm. The ugly little demon sat crouched in the rocks, his brown leather clothing blending in with the land behind him. His watery yellow eyes widened when they met mine. He hissed.

  Then disappeared.

  We were alone in the steep river valley. I could feel it as easily as I could feel the cold water around my ankles.

  “There’s not a single kid here.” Disgust echoed in Rowan’s voice. “We were had.”

  “And the purpose was to abduct us.” Seemed insane. “Why us?”

  “I don’t know. But where the hell were the others taken?”

  “Beats me. Let’s look for clues.” I trudged toward the spot where I’d last seen my friends, worry a cold vise around my heart. Even as I neared the spot, I knew we wouldn’t find anything. “This ambush was well planned.”

  “But by who?”

  My mind searched for an answer, but before I could land on one, the ground around us began to tremble. The rumble thundered up through my bones and muscles.

  A warning from the earth.

  My heart thundered. “We have to go.”

  “Just a little quake.” But fear sounded in Rowan’s voice.

  “It’s not.” Big quake or magic, I had no idea.

  But I could feel the earth. Just like before, some kind of new druid magic that gave me the ability to feel what was happening in the ground below. In the wind and trees and everything that was natural.

  “We’ve got to go.” I spun and sprinted away from the spot. Rowan followed. We’d been together too long not to trust each other’s instincts when it came to life or death. And somehow, this was life or death. “Cats!”

  They leapt off their rocks and joined me.

  I used the last of my magic to clear the river away from the ground in front of me. The demons were gone and the fight over. Escape was the only battle now.

  “Do you have the transport charm?” I shouted to Rowan, desperate hope filling me as the ground began to tremble harder.

  “Caro had it!”

  Shit.

  I pressed my fingertips to my comms charm. “Bree! We need an out! We’re in the Narrows, far back past the split.”

  “I’ll find someone.” She spoke quickly. No doubt she could hear the fear in my voice.

  I sprinted as fast as I could, dodging the larger river boulders and occasionally slipping on the smaller stones.

  It’s getting worse! Muffin shrieked.

  “Disappear!” The little cat had the magic to bail out of here, no problem.

  Not without you!

  Warmth tried to ignite in my chest, but fear kept it suffused.

  Together, we raced down the valley, as far from the rumbling as we could get. I could manipulate the earth, but not like this.

  Whatever was happening back there was huge.

  Fear chilled my skin.

  In the distance, the air shimmered slightly.

  Then Lachlan appeared. Joy burst inside me.

  He searched the valley, looking for us. He spotted me, the relief on his face followed quickly by fear. I’d never seen him so white.

  What was behind me?

  I turned, catching sight of a wall of water that was as tall as a skyscraper. It surged through the narrow gorge, roiling and white, rocks and mud and trees caught up in its deadly grip.

 
“Hurry!” Lachlan shouted.

  I turned back and sprinted, neck and neck with Rowan and the cats.

  Lachlan created a portal, a glimmering beacon of hope.

  My muscles burned and my lungs felt like bursting, but I pushed ahead, fear driving me.

  The cats reached the portal first, leaping through without hesitation. Rowan next, sprinting past Lachlan so fast that his hair blew back from his face. I followed, shooting him one grateful glance as I entered.

  Just as the ether sucked me in, I turned back to look.

  I caught sight of Lachlan entering the portal behind me, the water nearly to him, so close that I could smell it.

  Would he make it?

  Fear like I’d never known wrapped around me like a snake, squeezing.

  The ether grabbed me, spinning me through darkness.

  Then the water came. Cold and fierce, it crushed me before the ether shoved me out onto a hard surface. Out of the ether, onto land. I scrambled in the grass, hundreds of gallons of water rushing around me as I tried to get to my knees.

  I spotted the cats first, washed over to the far side of the castle lawn. A sodden Rowan lay fifteen feet away, coughing up water. There was a massive puddle all around us. I turned, searching for Lachlan.

  He appeared in the air behind me, being shoved out of the portal by another wall of water.

  Holy fates.

  It had followed us through the ether.

  Lachlan slammed to the ground behind me. The portal cut off, the water stopping abruptly.

  I coughed and gasped, slowly catching my breath.

  “Lachlan!” I crawled to him, slipping in the wet grass.

  Lachlan coughed and sat up, his wet hair flat to his head. He turned to me, concern in his dark eyes. “Are you all right?”

  I reached him and hugged him, tears pricking my eyes. “Holy fates, that was close. Thank you.”

  He wrapped strong arms around me, and I melted into his warmth. “I came to find you at the Protectorate. When I entered the main hall, Bree was running down the stairs like the hounds of hell chased her. She grabbed me and told me to find you. Told me you were deep in the Narrows. I’ve hiked there before.”

  I leaned my head against his shoulder, panting. “Thank fates for that.”

  He pressed a kiss to my forehead.

  I took a half second to savor it, then pulled back. “There’s a problem, though. My friends were abducted.”

  “Abducted? By who?”

  “No idea. Demons, but they had to be working for someone.” Could it have been the Fates? Probably not—I had no idea why they even would. But we’d just saved my mother’s village from them last week. They were all I thought about. Every bump in the night, I attributed to them. I’d spent hours in the library researching them and anything about ancient Roman mythology that I could find.

  None of it had told me why they might abduct my friends, so it was crazy to think it was them.

  I climbed to my feet. “Come on. We have to go tell Jude. We’ll need to put together a search party.”

  Lachlan stood.

  I turned, finding Rowen walking toward us, her face pale and clothes dripping. In the distance, the cats walked toward the castle, shaking out their wet legs as they went.

  “Thank you,” she said to Lachlan. “You saved our bacon.”

  “Any time.”

  We headed toward the massive wooden doors that made up the main castle entrance. In front of us, someone sprinted around the side of the castle. One of the demon hunters from Jesse Ammon’s unit, I thought. The guy didn’t even spare us—or the massive puddle—a glance. He had a one-track mind, and soon he disappeared around the corner.

  We crossed the stone courtyard and ascended the steps. As usual, the huge doors swung open, and we walked inside, dripping on the floor.

  Voices echoed down the hall, shouts that sounded nervous. Scared.

  I tensed. “Are we under attack?”

  Lachlan tilted his head, listening. “I hear no weapons.”

  “Something is wrong, though.” Rowan hurried forward.

  Hans, the cook, appeared through a doorway. Boris the Celtic rat rode on his head, perched in his chef’s hat.

  “Hans! What’s wrong?” I asked. With every second I stood there, I could feel it more. Fear cloaked the castle. And panic. The voices never ceased. The words missing echoed most clearly through the halls.

  My skin pricked with cold.

  Hans’s mustache quivered. “Distress calls are coming in from all the teams that are out in the field. Abduction, we think. People going missing.”

  My breath cut off, and I turned to Rowan. Her face was pale as snow, her eyes stark.

  “Where’s the rest of your team?” Fear echoed in Hans’s voice.

  “Kidnapped.” I tried to speak the words, but they came out on a whisper. “Stolen by demons.”

  Rowan’s cold hand reached for mine. I took it and squeezed. “Bree’s here, though, right? And Cade?”

  “They made it back. The others didn’t.”

  Tears pricked my eyes. Holy fates, what was this?

  Footsteps sounded on the curved staircase on the other side of the hall. I looked up.

  Jude was descending, her face pale. She spotted us and pointed. “You. Round Room. Now.”

  I nodded. No crap, this was definitely a job for the Round Room. We didn’t even stop to change our soaking clothes, just raced toward the meeting room where all of the important stuff went down.

  From behind, I heard Hans’s voice, weak with fear. “I’ll get juice.”

  Right now, even his obsession with giving people juice wasn’t funny. Every inch of my skin was icy, my muscles wooden.

  When we reached the Round Room, the emptiness made me even more afraid. There were only about ten people within.

  “I hope this isn’t everyone,” I whispered.

  Florian, the ghostly librarian, sat nearest to us. He looked at me, his expression distressed. “It’s almost everyone.”

  Jude charged into the room behind us, her face battle ready. Hans followed behind, arms full of juice boxes and a panicked look on his face. No one wanted juice, but they were his weird security blanket.

  “Now it’s everyone,” Florian said.

  “No,” I whispered.

  Oh fates, what was happening?

  Jude strode to the front of the room. I took a seat at the big round table, cataloguing the room’s occupants. The survivors.

  Not survivors.

  That implied that my friends were dead. They weren’t.

  But there weren’t many left. Bree sat next to Cade. Our friends Ali and Haris were gone. Two department heads were here—Potts, the day librarian, and Hedy, the research and development witch. They rarely went into the field. There were three senior Protectorate agents that I vaguely recognized, members of other departments. Then Florian, Hans, and Boris.

  That made thirteen people, one rat, and one ghost.

  “Nearly eighty percent of our forces have been abducted.” Jude’s voice cracked through the room.

  “Or killed.” Fear echoed in Hedy’s voice.

  “Not killed.” Jude’s voice grew somehow sharper. “We have no evidence of that.”

  Hedy nodded, clearly clinging to the lifeline of hope that Jude offered.

  “How?” I said.

  “Demon attacks. Random. Unexpected.”

  “Traps,” I said. “They were traps. There were no children on our mission.”

  “There were no thieves on ours,” said one of the senior Protectorate agents.

  “So all of the calls that came in recently were fake?” Rowan asked. “Not people needing help, but someone planning to abduct all of us?”

  “Not all,” one of the unfamiliar mages said. “We were out on a real job. It’s how we made it out.”

  “Me too,” Bree said.

  “But they’d have gotten you if they could,” Jude said. “Only we don’t know who they are.”
r />   “Or where they’ve taken our friends, right?” I asked.

  “Precisely.” Her starry blue eyes rioted with emotion.

  I felt it, too, a terrible pressure in my chest. A fear like I’d never known. We were family here.

  I couldn’t bear the thought of losing them.

  Of them dying. Or being tortured. Or whatever these bastards had planned for them.

  “We’ll find them,” Jude said. “We won’t rest until we find them. But we need a plan.”

  “I know someone to ask,” Bree said.

  The FireSouls. No question, she would go to the FireSouls. Our friends Cass, Nix, and Del could find almost anything with their dragon sense.

  “Go now,” Jude said.

  Bree pushed away from the table, and her gaze landed on me and Rowan, then on Cade. “Be careful.”

  I nodded, mouthing, “I love you.”

  She repeated the gesture, and though I didn’t look at Rowan, I knew she did the same.

  Then Bree strode from the room, no doubt headed for the Enchanted Grove where she would take a portal to Magic’s Bend, Oregon, where the FireSouls lived.

  I turned back to the room, shoving aside my prayers that the FireSouls could help. Hopefully, they could. But right now, I needed to assume that I was my friends’ only hope. That way, I’d give it everything I had to find them.

  “We can’t assume we’ll find help from that quarter.” Jude nodded to the door that Bree had just exited, stating my own thoughts exactly. “We need to do everything we can.”

  I had a small bit of ability to find things. Nothing like what the FireSouls had, but my druid sense could help me figure things out if I asked it the right questions. I just needed to decide what those questions were.

  “I have some tracking potions brewing,” Lachlan said. “They’ll be done in about twenty-four hours, but they don’t guarantee that we’ll find them. Not if their location is guarded by charms.”

  “They’ll be guarded.” Dread filled my words. “This operation was huge. So well-coordinated that they nearly got all of us. Dozens of people. They wouldn’t skimp on protection charms to hide their prize.” Prize. My friends.