“What time is it?” Nicola asked while rubbing sleep from her eyes. “That was some crazy shit last night.”
“It’s still early,” Nathan said. “But since we’re all awake, we might as well get ready to leave. I’ll rustle up some breakfast. Alex, you might want to put some clothes on.”
Nicola yawned and rolled over again, and I could see that she’d gotten dressed before going to sleep. Nathan must have carried me out of the sweat lodge and placed me beneath the blankets. Either he or Nicola had left my bag sitting next to me, and I dug through it to pull out a clean shirt. It was only when I went to pull it down over my head that I noticed the fresh injury on my shoulder. There, between the bites and scratches from the wild snow creatures, were the distinct claw marks from where the owl had grazed me before knocking me over.
I dressed hastily, not wanting to dwell on how weird it was that I’d sustained an injury within a vision. I of all people knew some pretty weird things could happen when magic was involved, but this was pretty surreal. I’d never gone on any kind of vision quest before, but as far as I knew, what happened in the mind wasn’t supposed to translate to the physical body. To make matters even stranger, when I put my hand in my jacket pocket I discovered a single white feather nestled inside.
“Where did you get that?” asked Nathan when he noticed me turning it over in my hands.
“No idea,” I said with a shrug. “I just found it in my pocket.”
Nathan stared at me for a long time, looking like he wanted to say something, then deciding against it. He went back to preparing breakfast by the edge of the fire, concern written all over his face.
“Is it bad?” I asked. “What does it mean?”
“It is… difficult to say.” He sat back on his haunches and looked me in the eyes. “Only time will tell. One thing is for sure, though. These coming days will not be easy on you. You will have to make a difficult choice, and I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when that time comes.”
“Well, that’s certainly reassuring,” I said.
I jammed my feet into my boots and started doing up the laces. Nathan returned to preparing breakfast while Nicola complained about not having gotten enough sleep. Once dressed, I shuffled off towards the trees, looking for a private place to pee. After doing my business, I stood at the edge of the tree line and stared back at our little camp. The sun had begun to rise, bringing with it a light that should have warmed my face. Instead, I felt only bitter coldness. It didn’t come from the snow beneath my feet, or from the chilly air around me. It came from inside. The Black Fog had stained me, darkening my heart and filling me with anger.
I watched Nicola and Nathan joke with each other by the fire. They laughed easily, free from the oppressive weight that threatened to crush me. I didn’t blame the hipster vampire for leaving town. If I was a different kind of person, I’d probably hop on the next bus myself. Nicola needed me, though. More importantly, it was looking like the whole town might need me. Eric and Nathan had more knowledge between them than I could ever hope to gain in a lifetime, but they had no innate powers. Dedicated as they were to recording and passing on their knowledge, I didn’t see how they’d be of much help in pushing back the Black Fog. As potentially the only real mage in town, if I didn’t take up the fight, I didn’t see who would.
The smell of sizzling bacon eventually drew me back towards the fire. As heavy as my heart was, my stomach was still able to make decisions for me. I sat down next to Nicola and Nathan, accepting a stick wrapped in bannock dough. I held it over the fire, distracting myself with the task of cooking the bread to a golden perfection. I wanted to join in the laughter when Nicola nearly dropped her entire breakfast into the fire, but I could only feel annoyance at what a bratty and spoiled girl she was.
And Nathan. Nathan was even worse. Sitting there with his rugged good looks, always grinning at me and Nicola like we were nothing but pieces of meat. Not to mention all that bullshit with the sweat lodge. I was beginning to think this whole thing had been cooked up just so he could live out some perverted fantasy of getting a couple of girls nearly naked out where they had no place to run.
I closed my eyes and took a long, slow breath. Deep down, I knew that wasn’t true. What had happened in that sweat lodge was far from a sexy threesome. There hadn’t been anything even slightly romantic about it. Between heat so intense it was impossible to breathe, and the thick clouds of smoke wafting off of the smoldering sage bundle, the whole experience had been more like being trapped in a torture chamber than relaxing in a fancy spa sauna.
When I open my eyes again, I saw Nathan staring at me. I shook my head to let him know I was fine, and that I didn’t want to talk about it. I was obviously feeling the aftereffects of what I’d experienced in my vision. I had all day on our snowmobile ride back to the truck to figure out how to not let it get the better of me.
Chapter Twenty
Breakfast done, Nicola and I helped Nathan take down the sweat lodge. We packed everything back into the gear sled, then made sure the fire was completely out before covering it with snow. When we were sure we’d left nothing behind, we climbed aboard our snowmobiles and set about retracing our tracks. The farther we got from our campsite, the more oppressive my internal bleakness became. I wanted to ask Nathan about it, but it was impossible to talk over the sound of snowmobile’s engine. With the difficult terrain, and the constant getting off in order to push and maneuver the snowmobile over obstacles, there just wasn’t time to have any kind of real conversation. It wasn’t until we stopped for lunch that I was able to ask him about what exactly we’d experienced inside that sweat lodge.
“I don’t know exactly what it is about the glade,” he said. “My great-grandfather told me it was a sacred place and that I would always be safe there. I don’t know how happy he would have been to learn that I took you there. Worse, he probably would have slapped me upside the head for using the sweat lodge the way I did. A sweat ceremony is a sacred event, not something to be taken lightly. To begin with, men and women never sweat together. Even then, you and Nicola should also have been dressed a little more modestly. I didn’t think either of you would enjoy that very much, though. And to be honest, it’s just too damn hot to worry about propriety. More to the point, while magic users like you and my people have never exactly been enemies, our relationships have never been so friendly we would invite a mage into our ceremonies.”
“It’s not too different among mages,” I said. “At least not the few I’ve met. We tend to be pretty damn careful about who we share our secrets with.”
“I seriously can’t believe all this stuff has been going on my whole life, and yet I’d never have had a clue if you hadn’t been assigned to protect me,” Nicola said. “I still don’t know if I even fully believe everything. I saw some pretty wacky stuff in the sweat lodge last night. It’s making me doubt that whole thing with the sasquatch and the lightning shooting from your fingertips was real in the first place.”
“Lightning?” asked Nathan, eyebrow raised in curiosity.
“Long story,” I said. “Let’s just say I couldn’t think of any better options at the time.”
Nathan nodded sagely, choosing to not pursue the subject any further.
“I’m worried the Black Fog has sunk its teeth into me,” I confessed. “I haven’t felt the same since last night.”
Nathan stared at me as though trying to gauge the extent of the damage with his eyes. His jaw clenched involuntarily a few times, then he looked away and ignored my question as though I’d never said anything.
“We should probably get going,” he said. “We are almost back at the more traveled sections of trail, but we’ve still got a bit of difficult terrain to cover. I assume we’re all eager to get back to town. Last night left me with more questions than answers, and I’m keen to do some digging.”
“Same here,” I said, wondering if there was something he didn’t want to say in front of Nicola. “I’d like to talk to E
ric again. See if maybe there’s some overlap between your legends and our history. He didn’t know much about this area beyond a couple hundred years ago, but maybe there were beings like this Protector elsewhere in the world. If there were, his people would have to know something about that.”
Nicola stared at me with furrowed brow. “Eric? What the hell does Eric have to do with any of this?”
Shit. I frowned and looked away. “I should not have said that. Any chance I can get you to forget I mentioned his name?”
“Not a chance,” Nicola said. “Is he a mage like you? I always knew there was something weird about that guy.”
Nathan glanced at me, then just shook his head to let me know I was on my own. He busied himself packing our lunch away and checking the straps on the gear sled.
“I feel like kind of a dick for saying this, but there are some things that are just too dangerous for you to know.” I looked at the girl I had been put in charge of protecting. I’d already told her too much. One of these days I was going to have to learn how to keep my big mouth shut.
“No way,” Nicola said. “To hear you guys tell it, an insanely powerful being that’s been sleeping in my backyard for millennia is now awake because my dad chose to build his new development right where the damn thing is taking its nap. And now the ancient force that may or may not have gone insane during its imprisonment is trying to kill me. If anyone deserves to know what’s going on around here, it’s me.”
“Okay,” I said, already regretting it. “Without going into details, Eric is part of an extremely secretive group of people who act as a sort of liaison between magic users and the rest of the world. Eric doesn’t have any powers himself, but he knows more about magic than many magic users themselves. He and his people are basically the historians of magic.”
“How the hell have I been surrounded by all these people who know so much about magic, and yet I’ve never heard so much as a whisper of it being real?” Nicola asked.
“That’s easy,” I said. “You probably have heard whispers. Most people just ignore them. As to how you met Eric, he and his people tend to embed themselves into whatever community they’re a part of. Given the social circles you play in, and how everybody who’s anybody in Whistler knows each other, it’s not surprising you two wound up friends.”
“So he’s not, like, stalking me or anything then?”
I laughed. “If he is stalking you, it has nothing to do with magic.”
Nicola blushed and turned away. Knowing this conversation could very well go on all afternoon, I stood up and headed toward the snowmobiles. Nathan was right about us needing to get back to town. The sooner we returned to civilization, the sooner I could start hunting down answers. Based on everything I’d felt so far, the Black Fog had reached critical levels of ingress into the surface world. It wouldn’t be long before the effects were felt by both the magically sensitive and the mundane alike.
I began pulling my gloves back on. I was halfway back to the snowmobile when something heavy landed on me from above. I heard Nathan and Nicola shout a warning, but it was already too late. Red-hot pain flashed along the base of my neck, and I rolled away, instinctually summoning magic to my fingertips. Something large and furry was on top of me, growling while it swiped its claws across my arms as I made a pathetic attempt to protect my face. Without being able to see where I was aiming, I sent a broad blast of energy outwards, lifting the beast clear from my body.
The cougar skidded through the snow, then stood up and stared at me. Cold hate burned in its red-rimmed eyes. Fangs bared, foamy saliva dripping from its mouth, it stalked around the edge of our little lunch clearing.
“Stay back!” I shouted to the others.
Once again, I conjured energy into the lightning spell I’d used to kill the snow beasts the day before. Although I knew the cougar could probably evade most of my attacks if it really wanted to, it seemed more intent on coming straight at me instead of preserving its own life. The cougar leaped through the air, colliding with the torrent of electricity I’d sent arcing towards it. The sickening smell of burning flesh and fur filled the air. The cougar dropped to the ground, shuddering and twitching before staggering back to its feet.
“Alex,” Nathan said from behind me. “If you can keep it busy, I might be able to take it out.”
I heard Nathan rifling through the gear sled. I didn’t know what he had planned, but if my lightning attack hadn’t killed the cougar, I couldn't see what Nathan thought he could possibly do to help. I looked around for Nicola. She’d run to towards Nathan’s side and was now cowering behind the sled. I instinctively moved between her and the cougar, anticipating an end run around me towards her. Unlike previous attacks, however, the cougar seemed fixated on me. It prowled back and forth, issuing a series of low and guttural growls. I sensed that it was just waiting for a good moment to strike, so I lashed out with a bolt of kinetic energy before it had a chance to attack again.
The cougar whined pathetically when it was hurled backwards into a tree. I heard the snap of bones when its body was bent awkwardly around the thick trunk. Just like the wolves that had attacked us the other night, the cougar seemed mostly unfazed by injuries that should have killed it. Yet again, it struggled to its feet, not the least bit deterred from its desire to kill me.
“What the hell are you doing back there?” I asked.
I risked a glance over my shoulder, and I saw Nathan extracting a shotgun from where it had been wrapped in oiled cloth.
“I need a second to load it,” he said, fumbling for a box of shells. “Do what you can in the meantime.”
The cougar dropped its head down and began to run. It seemed to have learned from its previous mistakes, this time bounding back and forth in a zigzag pattern, narrowly escaping the bolts of energy I shot at it. Panic made my last attempt fly wild, a bolt of kinetic energy snapping through a tree branch instead of hitting the cougar as it leaped into the air.
I staggered backwards, but I was too late. The full weight of the wildcat caught me on the thigh. Its claws dug a furrow through the fabric of my pants, slicing deep into my leg. The pain was excruciating. My leg buckled, and I dropped to the ground screaming. White hot light flooded into the edge of my vision, and it was all I could do to cast a sketchy kinetic blast at the cougar before it landed a swipe that would otherwise have taken my face clean off.
“Hurry, Nathan!” Nicola shouted. “She won’t last much longer.”
The pain in my leg was so bad I could barely sit up. I force myself into a half-sitting position, scanning the area for any sign of the cougar. When I finally caught sight of it, it stood unmoving. Misty puffs of breath billowed into the air while its tongue lolled like an overworked house cat. The beast looked exhausted. Fury still burned in its eyes, but it was clear that it was being driven to attack me against its own will. Left to its own devices, the cougar would probably have taken a few swipes at me, then retreated to the safety of the trees. Driven by the Black Fog that had corrupted every other creature sent against us, it wouldn’t stop until it had accomplished what it had been ordered to do. Or until it died in the process.
I almost felt bad for what had to happen next. The cougar was already rallying, pacing around to the side so it could come at me from my weakest angle. Only one of us was going to survive this encounter. As much as I hated to see such a beautiful creature come to harm, I knew it had to be done.
Dropping my shoulder back to the ground, I lay on my side and put my hands out before me as though cupping a small beach ball. Digging deep into my resources, I filled the space with energy, forming a swirling ball of raw magic. The energy turned around on itself, burning brightly between my hand with a heat that stung my skin. I poured as much of myself into that ball as I could, watching it grow to the point where I knew even Nathan and Nicola could see the magic energy with their own eyes.
The cougar must have sensed an attack was imminent, because it launched itself towards me with astonishing
speed. Running low to the ground, the cougar dropped its hindquarters and pushed its powerful legs into the snow. Its flat wide paws gave it a solid platform to push from, and it was as graceful as it was deadly when it leaped in for the kill.
I unleashed the built-up energy, letting it slip from my hands at the last possible second. It washed over the cougar, shredding fur, flesh, and muscle from bone. The effect was gruesome. It should have been deadly, but when the cougar dropped to the snow just inches in front of me, I could still see its chest heaving as it clung to its last shred of life.
Hands gripped me beneath my armpits, dragging me backwards. I looked behind me to see Nicola’s face straining as she dug her heels into the snow to shuffle me towards the safety of the snowmobiles. Nathan stepped past us with his shotgun in hand. He pointed the barrel at the cougar, firing one round into the animal’s face, then another into its body. The cougar twitched violently, and even though its throat had been torn completely open, the cougar managed a weak growl while it tried to regain its feet.
Nathan frantically reloaded the shotgun. When it was ready to fire, he aimed a blast at the cougar’s front legs. The heavy buckshot shattered the cat’s forelimbs, crippling them beyond use. Nathan fired another round into the animal’s hindquarters, then began reloading the shotgun a third time.
“It’s not dying,” he said.
“Just keep firing,” I said. “Aim for the heart.”
Nathan fired blast after blast into the beast’s carcass. By the time he was done, the cougar had been reduced to little more than a bloodied pulp scattered across the snow. The gory mess of guts and viscera stank fiercely. I, on the other hand, was too focused on my injuries to care about the smell.
“This looks really bad,” said Nicola. With one hand covering her nose, she used the other to tug aside the edge of my pants were the cougar had sliced them open. “We’ve got to get you to a doctor.”
Black Ice (Black Records Book 3) Page 17