Cinder. He didn’t answer. Cinder, where are we going? We should wait for everyone else. Still no response. Cinder! I internally shouted.
His ears pricked. Quiet, he muttered.
I sighed and let him take me to this mystery destination.
We were on the outskirts of Scanton when he finally stopped and sat down. I didn’t want to be around them. Skye can hear me, and I wanted to talk privately.
I nodded slowly. I completely forgot about that.
We should keep what Cam told us about Ston a secret. I don’t want Skye to think we don’t trust him, at least not until we know we can trust her.
I don’t see why we can’t. Cam won’t tell us why not, and he wouldn’t have told us about what is going on if he didn’t want to help us.
Better safe than sorry. We need to get in contact with Liam as well; his soldiers could be useful during this mess. And he could keep an eye on Ston.
I shook my head. He wouldn’t listen to anything about it. He doesn’t want to see a bad side to Ston.
I’m not saying we tell him to watch him, I’m saying that Liam has a heart of gold; if anything were to become suspicious he would look into it or tell you. With Liam around, Ston wouldn’t be able to do anything harmful. Cinder stopped me before I could even get the words out. I’m not saying that he would, but just in case.
His parents are sick. He needs to be there for them.
He’ll come if we ask him to. We need him, Casey. You know it as well as I. Not just because of Ston, but in the war overall.
I sighed heavily and focused my attention on Scanton. I chewed my lip in thought. Fine. I’ll send him a message after we survive the attack at the Temple.
I could tell Cinder wasn’t happy with waiting until then, but he didn’t push it any further. We should get back. Tell them we were looking for the best way into town.
I just nodded and followed him back to the camp.
“WHERE HAVE you been?” Cam’s voice was high as she ran toward Cinder and me. She pulled me into an insanely tight hug before moving back and checking for any signs of injury. “Are you okay?”
I shook her off and said, “We’re fine. Cinder and I went to see the best way into town. We thought about taking the main entrance, but we didn’t want to draw attention to strange newcomers, especially with a cinderwolf and a dark elf traveling with what looks to be three humans. In fact, Cinder is going to stay hidden outside of the city”—What? his voice echoed in my head, but I pushed it aside—“and we’ll all split up once in the city.”
Casey, no. I’m going with you.
No, Cinder. I don’t want to draw his attention. You’ll stay out here. “The man is a pirate. The Old One showed me a vision of him. He is tall, muscular, he has some facial hair, dark brown hair, and gold eyes. And I mean gold. If you see him, come and find me.”
At least take Cam with you, Cinder practically begged.
“Take me with you. Don’t go off on your own,” Cam pleaded.
“No,” I said firmly. “I am capable. I know nobody around me believes that I can handle myself, but I promise you that I can.” I glared at the two of them. “I do not need a babysitter. Cam, I thought that you believed I was fine on my own.”
“I do—”
Of course you can, it’s just that—
“Then that should be enough. We will find him faster if we split up. This is a big city. He could be anywhere. All of us can use magic, so if someone thinks they might have found him, use a transfer sight spell.”
“A what?” Skye asked curiously.
“It’s a spell that allows two people to see through each other’s eyes for a short time. When mages were used actively in war they would use it to see the whole battlefield. At the Temple we would use it to cheat on exams.” Martun’s face swam in my mind. “It’s advanced magic, and they didn’t teach it, so the idea that someone would use it wasn’t on the professors’ minds. Do you know it, Ston?” I could teach it to Cam and Skye. Their Life Forces were naturally built for magic. Dark elves had acquired excess Life Force through a ritual done by a sect of elves thousands of years ago. Because the Life Force wasn’t natural, they learned how to use it through painful training, and once a spell was mastered, their Life Force would burn a rune into their flesh. Ston’s torso was covered in raised, pale scars in the shapes of elvish runes. When he used magic the rune that corresponded with the spell would glow brightly. Ston rarely used magic despite being so obviously proficient in it, though he never talked about why.
He nodded. “Our schools encourage its use. To get perfect scores on our exams you have to.”
“I know it too. It’s something I learned while I was in the Veil. It’s how some of us communicated with each other over long distances,” Cam added.
“Then this should be easy. Ston, could you grab some charcoal from the fire?” I asked.
“No problem.” He went to the small campfire from last night and took a stick that had a blackened tip and brought it back to me. I took his wrist and held his hand so that his palm was facing up.
“This is about having a connection with another person. Transferring our Life Force to another being. It’s complicated, and not many can do it.”
“We don’t have much Life Force in us pixies.” Skye sounded afraid to screw this up.
“It doesn’t actually require much of it. It’s about using it and transferring it.” I followed the dimly glowing blue line of Life Force on the inside of Ston’s arm. It pulsed faintly against his purple-black skin. I took the tip of the stick and drew a charcoal streak down the line from his wrist to the center of his palm where his Life Force line formed a thin circle, which I traced. I then made a line starting from the bottom of the circle where the first one ended and drew it up to the tip of his thumb.
Cam held her arm out for me next. “Charcoal is a brilliant conductor of magical energy, so what you do is focus your Life Force and the image you’re looking at to the center of the circle. Casey will have the master mark on her, meaning she can communicate with all of us and we can communicate with her, but the rest of us won’t be able to communicate with each other.” Cam took her hand away when I finished and held it up to show Skye the line starting at the base of the circle and ending at the tip of her index finger. “You can only have up to five people per master mark, but one person can have two master marks, one for each hand. Each finger represents a different person and allows the person in charge of these people to distinguish whose eyes they are seeing through.
“This gets really complicated when in battle because, say you have five people with master marks on one hand. On the other hand, they could have an identifier mark, which is what Ston and I have right now, linking them to another person with a master mark. This can become a chain then: if the first person shows someone with a master mark something deemed important, while keeping the Life Force connection with the first person, they will also bring in the second person with a master mark into the viewpoint. You have to have a lot of control to keep two pathways open like that and then be able to pinpoint someone’s location and feed it to the next person in command.”
I took Skye’s arm and did the same thing to her, only taking the line to her middle finger. “What you’re going to do is send Life Force to this spot here. You don’t need much, while also looking at what you want me to see. I will feel the corresponding finger get warm and will be able to focus my Life Force there, exchanging it with yours. You’ll see whatever I’m looking at, and I’ll see what you’re looking at. Because you’ll no longer be seeing what you wanted to show me, try to catch him while he’s not moving or is occupied with something, because you won’t be able to see him and move your head to follow him.”
You haven’t done it with this many people before. I don’t think this is a good idea. You did it with Martun twice. You’ll be doing this with three people all day until you find Wulf. Casey, I know you’re a capable mage, but I think you need to try this on a smaller scale fi
rst. We’re not sure how it’ll affect you. We need to play it safe.
This is the fastest way to find him. I’m in charge of a war now, Cinder. You said this last night; I need to be focused on the war. I’m focused. We have to find him and leave today. I need to get back to the Temple.
Why do we have to leave so soon? So what if we don’t find him until tomorrow? What’s the difference?
I don’t have a good feeling, Cinder. I need to get back as soon as I can. I promise I’ll be okay. Plus, if they can do this now, then this may be something we can try in battle. It may work.
I don’t agree with this. With any of this. But I’m going to trust you.
You know I can do this. This is hardly the most dangerous thing I’ve done with magic.
That doesn’t mean it’s safe, Casey. People have died from stretching themselves too thin.
It’s three people, Cinder. I can handle this.
It’s complicated magic.
And so is bringing someone back from the dead! I snapped at him. I am capable, and if you could stop treating me like the child in this equation that would be great. I will be fine. We will find him today and be on our way in no time. Just let me actually get started.
“Ston, can you draw the master mark on my hand?” I held the charcoal stick and my right arm out to him.
He nodded and drew a dark line against my wrist and traced a circle on my palm. He filled in the circle completely and then drew lines to my thumb, index, and middle finger. I sent a short pulse to the palm of my hand, activating the mark and connecting the four of us.
“We’ll be entering through a side gate, and we’ll split up once inside. Cinder will be waiting outside. Ston, try and check along the docks. He’s a pirate after all. Cam and Skye, keep an eye out around town. If you think you see someone who could be him, show me. I’ll also be looking for him. We’ll keep our camp set up here so we can come back tonight, hopefully with this Wulf guy. Is everyone ready?” They nodded, and I turned my back to them and faced Scanton. “Let’s get going, then.”
Chapter 11
THE DAY wasn’t starting off well. It had only been an hour and I’d already seen fifteen people through their eyes. Fifteen people who weren’t this Wulf person. And to make matters worse, I had Cinder in my head constantly telling me to take it easy and asking how I was feeling. I loved him, but I needed him to let me do my job right now.
I could feel my middle finger begin to prickle. Another possible sighting from Skye. I had my doubts, but I closed my eyes and sent my own Life Force down to the finger to meet hers.
When I opened my eyes again I was in a bustling marketplace looking over at a produce stand. A tall, thin man with light brown hair turned a tomato over in his hands while he talked and laughed with the merchant. His face was soft, and he had a thin, patchy beard. Definitely not our man.
I severed the connection and slammed my hand into the wall beside me, causing a shooting pain up my arm.
Goddammit!
Casey, perhaps you should take a break.
There’s no time for a break, Cinder. I am trying to build an army to fight a threat we aren’t prepared for. I can’t exactly sit down and have a cup of hot chocolate and a nap, I snapped back before throwing up a mental wall to block him from my mind.
I immediately felt guilty for shouting at him and blocking him out, but I didn’t have much of a choice right now. Last night he encouraged me to put aside my personal problems and focus on what was really important, but now that I was doing just that, he wanted to stop me.
I took a few deep breaths to try to calm myself, reaching up to touch the engagement ring that hung around my neck. I needed to do something productive; I couldn’t just wait around for more images of the wrong man to come to me.
Finally, I pushed off the wall I had been leaning against and ran a hand through my hair, meeting tangles as I went. When was my last shower? What did I look like to everyone here? Some street kid? Dirty and unkempt?
I looked at my gloved hand and curled my fingers into a fist briefly, feeling the leather tighten around my knuckles. Pulling on these gloves once again had felt like crawling under the sheets after a long day. How odd it was that I felt more at home and more alive when my life was in danger than I did when Regan and I were living in our apartment.
“Yeah, I heard he came to the surface a while ago and has been staking the place out since.” A hushed whisper came from behind me.
My heart jumped, and it took everything out of me not to whirl around to see who was talking. Instead I pretended to be very interested in a small stall on the street that was selling blown-glass figurines. The woman behind the little table talked quickly and excitedly about whatever bauble was in her hand, but I was too focused on the people behind me to notice.
“And has he spoken to anyone?” The voice was like ice, sharp and cold. My skin crawled as he passed behind me and the Life Force he exuded washed over me, nearly bringing me to my knees.
“We believe so, sir,” the first voice replied.
“Then we should expect resistance. Move the plan back two days. It shouldn’t affect anything for us. If they go to the Temple and try to talk to them about fighting back, they’ll be hard to win over anyways. Pushing it back will cast enough doubt for those things to drop their guard, believing it was some false alarm. Bring him to Mother as well. Traitors don’t deserve to be flitting about and spreading rumors.”
“Yes, sir.”
I turned away from the stall slowly as the two walked away. One was shorter and slightly hunched over with lavender skin and his long white hair tied in a ponytail. The one I assumed to have the voice like death was tall and broad shouldered with short bloodred hair. His skin reminded me of Ston’s, almost as dark as night with a purple tint to it. Even from here I could see the light scars covering his neck and arms. Powerful.
He looked over his shoulder and met my gaze. Lifeless violet eyes scanned me before moving on to the other people in the area before returning to me. “We shall talk at another time, Panul. This is not the conversation to have with so many around.” It wasn’t long before I lost them in the crowd.
I spun on my heel and took off in the other direction, pushing through people and throwing myself through groups. I could hear others shouting at me, but I didn’t pay attention. I needed out of here. I needed time to breathe.
Just as I ducked into a small, empty alleyway, my thumb began to tingle. Ston. I took the message quickly, finding myself looking out toward the green sea and a man who was leaning against a post and talking to another young man who was blushing furiously.
My eyes settled on the first man. He was tall and wearing dark blue jeans, held up by a worn, brown leather belt, and dark brown boots. His shirt was white, and his skin was bronze from the days he spent out in the sun, hardened muscles flexing underneath as he reached out and touched the man’s cheek with the back of his hand. And his eyes were like molten gold.
This was him.
I broke the connection and pulled my phone out and found Ston’s name before writing out my text.
Take him somewhere private.
I pressed Send and left the alley in the direction of the docks.
I HAD gotten another text from Ston telling me where he was on the docks, which was at a motel.
The building was rundown, paint faded and the sign almost unreadable. There was graffiti on the outside walls and the whole place smelled like fish. I hadn’t found much of Scanton that didn’t smell like fish, but this place smelled like it had just been brought up out of the ocean itself.
I walked to room 22 and knocked on the door a few times. I heard steps inside and a moment later, the door being unlocked.
A dark hand reached out and grabbed the collar of my shirt, pulling me inside. Ston checked outside before shutting it and locking it again. He placed a hand on the door, and I saw the faint glow of a rune on his back through his white shirt.
“What’s going on?” I asked
, looking around for Wulf.
“He’s in the tub, sleeping it off. Well, kind of sleeping.” Ston’s eyes were as wide as saucers and he was picking at his nails, something I’d never seen him do. “Casey, all I did was knock him out. He started to leave with that guy, so I walked up and acted like a pissed-off boyfriend. The guy scampered off and this Wulf fellow got pissed at me. So I just used some magic to knock him out. The second I touched his shoulder, I could feel my Life Force getting pulled into him, which was strange because it was still being converted into that sleep spell. I managed to pass him off as a drunk friend to everyone who asked, but, Casey, this kid isn’t normal. I don’t know what he is, but he took a lot of my Life Force without even trying. The second I got him in the tub, he started twitching and shit. I don’t know what’s going on, but it doesn’t look normal.”
I made my way to the bathroom and saw him, one hand draped over the edge of the bathtub and touching the floor, his forehead damp with sweat, and low groans coming from his mouth. “He’s Touched, Ston. That’s why I was sent to find him. That must be how he took your energy, and that’s probably why he’s like this now. It must be a vision or something.”
“We barely know anything about the Touched.”
“Well, I guess this is our chance to find something out, then.” I sat beside him and looked up at Ston. “Watch the door. I’m going to try to figure out if I can get in his head, maybe see what he’s seeing and bring him back.”
Ston nodded and disappeared into the other room. I took a deep breath and placed a hand on Wulf’s forehead, instantly feeling my energy being sapped away.
I closed my eyes tightly and tried to pull energy from him into me, something much harder than it should have been, but eventually I was able to manage a steady stream to equal what he was taking from me.
And then I felt my stomach lurch and felt the world begin to spin beneath me.
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