The Painter Mage: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  A roar split my ears, and a small streak of dark fur—too small to be Jakes—shot toward Adazi, knocking the orb from his hand.

  I watched, hoping the orb would shatter on the ground, but it hovered in the air, as if suspended by the power filling it. I realized the base glowed, as well. The figurine danced on the ground, slowly elongating.

  Another streak of fur jumped over the orb, snatching it from the air.

  I stood, my legs wobbly and shaky from the effort of my magical exertion, making me feel like I’d run a marathon. Devan might be safe enough, but now I had to keep Adazi from using my mistake.

  Chase shifted back into human form, holding onto the orb. Like Jakes often did when shifting, he stood shirtless in front of me, his muscular frame making me feel woefully inadequate. At least he wore pants, tattered as they might be.

  I advanced on him slowly, trying to draw myself up to look larger. I held the charm Devan had made, the obelisk one that stored energy, in front of me. At least I could make myself look threatening, even if I had little power to infuse into the charm.

  Chase eyed the charm. “You were a fool to come here. Sam was wrong about you.”

  “Well, Jakes didn’t really tell me much about you, so maybe we should sit down and chat.”

  “You think you can simply return to Conlin and make demands? You don’t know what this place is, how much has been sacrificed.”

  “He can’t have the orb,” I said.

  “You were always willing to give it to him.”

  “Not the real one,” I said.

  Chase looked down at the orb. “This isn’t the real one?”

  “We made a duplicate, but I made a mistake and placed a pattern on it that lets Adazi power it. I don’t know why he wants it, but I can’t let him have it.”

  “That’s not for you to choose.”

  “Jakes told me what will happen to shifters if he has it.”

  Chase twisted, his neck elongating as he did, so that he managed to still keep an eye on me as he turned toward the far side of the barn. “He’s always been afraid. His father taught fear. But my brother has shown that we should be the hunters, not the hunted.”

  I hesitated only a moment. Brother? Hadn’t Jakes told me Chase’s brother was dead? “And you know better than Jakes?” I asked, trying to delay him until I figured out what was happening.

  “I know that neither Sam or his father bothered to search for my brother after my father died, trusting that he was with them. The Alpha left him to die. Only he was stronger than the Alpha gave him credit.”

  I tried to understand what Chase was telling me, but my mind couldn’t put it together fast enough. “You know that Bill died for the pack. Why would you—”

  Chase snarled at me. “You don’t get to question me about this. You’re nothing but a painter—”

  I triggered the charm.

  All I needed was a tiny amount of energy.

  Devan’s work was as precise as usual. The power streaked from the charm, striking the orb. At first, nothing happened, almost as if the orb simply absorbed the power. Then I heard it, the slow and steady cracking of glass. It happened gradually, as if time slowed, before the orb exploded in shards of glass.

  Chase dropped it and turned to me.

  “You don’t know what you’ve done.”

  “I thought I was just a painter,” I said, exhaustion making my voice come out all shaky.

  Chase shifted, stalking toward me as he did. There was nothing I could do to stop him, nothing that would prevent him from overpowering me. I was too tired—too weak—to turn and run. So instead, I stood my ground, facing him.

  “You don’t have to do this, Chase. Jakes will forgive you.”

  He snarled again.

  A massive form leapt over me, landing atop Chase. Teeth and fur and blood flew as two shifters fought. They moved with supernatural speed, tearing at each other. Surges of power burst and exploded as they attacked each other with magic, as well. I stood transfixed, unable to take my eyes away when someone grabbed me by the elbow and steered me toward the back of the barn.

  It was Taylor. She looked as rough as I did. “Are you—”

  She nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Chase betrayed us,” I said.

  Taylor looked to where the shifters fought. I couldn’t tell which one was which at this point, only that they tore at each other with merciless precision.

  “Makes sense,” she said.

  “It does?”

  “Well, there was the shifter you saw out here the other night. That must have been Chase, right? We knew he’d lost his brother, but we had thought him dead. You were the one who picked up on Adazi’s superhuman ability.”

  Now that Taylor pieced it together for me, it did make sense.

  “There’s only one problem,” Taylor said. “Kacey told you shifters can’t use painter magic.”

  “That’s not actually true,” I said. “Kacey said shifters didn’t use painter magic, not that they couldn’t.”

  “What now?” Taylor asked.

  “Now we have to grab Devan and get—”

  Adazi dropped from the loft, landing in front of us. His sallow skin looked even more deformed than before. I made the connection.

  “You taint your shifter self when you use painter magic, don’t you?” I asked.

  “I heard what you told him,” Adazi said.

  I ignored him. “That’s why you’re twisted like this. You can’t shift all the way back. Somehow, using our magic makes you into something else. That’s why you needed Chase to help.”

  Adazi glared at me. “It’s a price I’m willing to pay. If it allows me the chance to free them, then it’s well worth it. Now,” he said, stepping forward. “You told Chase the orb was only a copy. I think it’s time you take me to the original.”

  I thought about what I’d seen Adazi do with the copy. Would he be able to power the original the same way? Or was I the one who had to use it? Maybe that was what Jakes feared, that I’d be tempted by the power of it.

  “It won’t work for you.”

  “Perhaps not,” Adazi agreed. “But it will work for the son of the Elder. Either way, we will free them.”

  “Who?” I asked, but even as I did, I thought I knew. The figurine he’d placed on the ground was more than simply a figurine. The orb trapped it, frozen in place. And Adazi wanted to set it free.

  Like the one in my pocket that seemed to writhe each time I powered the orb. What would happen with the others in Jakes’s shed. Would they do the same thing? Was that the reason my father had Jakes’s father store them in the shed—because it was some sort of prison?

  I hoped Jakes survived so I could get answers from him.

  And then there were the figurines Devan made. They weren’t the same, but they looked similar. Why would that be?

  If the shed was some sort of magical prison, then I didn’t want to think about what sort of creatures my father and the elder Jakes felt worthy to store there.

  “Adazi—” I started. As I did, I tapped Taylor on the arm and motioned to the pattern near his feet. The Adazi mark. I hoped she understood what I needed. I didn’t have enough strength to infuse my will into a circle, but Taylor still should. “Why do this? To serve the Druist Mage? That’s what this is all about?”

  He laughed bitterly. “Serve? You think I serve? The Druist thinks he gives me little choice. Serve him or die, but I won’t be controlled. I won’t fear him.”

  Adazi gave me a knowing smile. The Trelking had offered me a similar bargain. Not quite so explicitly, and there were never any marks of power placed on my body, not like what I’d seen on Adazi, but the effect was the same. It had taken me the better part of five years to figure out how to get away from the Trelking. Most of that time had been spent deceiving him so that I could help steal Devan away, too.

  “We all make choices, Adazi. We have to live with them. The Druist is powerless here. You could stay, rejoin your pack.�
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  Adazi snarled at me, his jaw sliding out before relaxing back into his face once more. “You think I can ever rejoin my pack? What I’ve done has made that impossible. At least my brother is safe,” he said, and glanced around.

  Brother? Could he mean Chase?

  “And by bringing De’avan to the Druist, I can be free of him,” Adazi went on. “If you think he’s powerless here, you are more foolish than your father.”

  “My father is the Elder.”

  Adazi sneered. “Your father was a fool. Never forget that, Escher.”

  “And you should never forget her,” I said. “Taylor?”

  Too late. Adazi glanced over and realized that Taylor infused power. He lowered his gaze, eyes falling to his mark, and the dark smile I’d come to despise returned to his face. “Foolish, Escher.”

  His power built, but it had been twisted. I doubted that even Adazi had seen what I’d done to the mark when I returned to the barn looking for more answers. I’d made his mark an arcane pattern, one that funneled power differently. Even I had no idea what would happen as he pressed through it. That was why I needed Taylor.

  The blast was enormous.

  It lifted me off my feet, throwing me backward. Taylor spun as she flipped. I saw it in slow motion, the cartwheeling fall, me reaching for her and not quite getting to her, and the sickening smack as she struck the wall, her head sagging forward.

  Fire bloomed against the night, surging high in a powerful, arcane-fueled spurt of light and destruction. The old barn would fall. And if I wasn’t quick enough, we’d burn along with it.

  Dazed and barely able to walk, I searched for Taylor. When I found her, I dragged her away from a burning section of the barn. Blood ran down the back of her head, and there was a large gash on her arm. She moaned as I lifted her.

  Smoke and flames billowed around me, made me cough, and breathing was becoming difficult. I had to find some way to get Taylor to safety. A narrow opening snaked through the flames, barely enough for me to squeeze through with her. I started toward it, but hesitated. Devan was still back in the barn somewhere.

  Then a shifter emerged out of the flames. If it was Chase, there was nothing I could do. I’d already spent everything I had and more. But it was Kacey.

  One arm hung limp and her face had a long scratch running along the side. She breathed heavily. “Oliver?”

  She hurried toward me, stronger than she should be after what she’d clearly gone through.

  “Can you take her?” I asked, staring at Kacey’s arm.

  She growled and grabbed Taylor easily with one arm, slinging her across her shoulder with a soft grunt. I started to turn back into the barn.

  “Where are you going?” Kacey asked. “This place is going to burn to the ground.”

  “Devan’s back there. And Jakes.”

  “Chase betrayed us,” Kacey said.

  “I know. And Jakes went after him. I’ve got to make sure they get out.”

  Kacey coughed. “Let me come with you.”

  I forced a smile. “I’m in better shape than you. Besides, Taylor needs your help to get out of here. Take her to the truck. Devan placed enough protections on that thing to let it survive a nuclear blast.”

  Kacey hesitated, then loped away, leaving me standing in the middle of the burning barn, alone.

  But not entirely alone. The amulet on my chest turned cool as it pressed against me, the first time I’d felt it in days. Somewhere in the barn, Devan worked her magic.

  I wrapped my jacket around me, hoping the old protections placed into it would help and keep me somewhat sheltered from the heat. I needed something to cover my mouth from the smoke. My sleeve would have to do. A section of the barn groaned as it started to fall. I looked up but couldn’t see where it was.

  Taking a deep breath, I plunged forward, toward the back of the barn. If I couldn’t reach Devan, she’d be trapped and burned alive. And I didn’t know if Adazi still lived. The blast would have affected him, too, but he was a shifter. It’s possible he survived.

  Flames beat at me. I pushed against them through the protections in my jacket, but my energy was sapped. I managed barely more than to reduce the heat. At least I kept myself from burning.

  A body lay unmoving near the edge of the barn, and a trail of fire was making its way toward it. I hurried over to it and saw that it was Adazi. I couldn’t tell if he still breathed.

  Another section of the barn fell with a groan.

  I left Adazi and pressed onward toward Devan. I finally found her in a clear area near the back of the barn. Fire ringed her and slowly marched onward. It took a moment to realize Devan was pressing the flames back.

  She sat on the ground, eyes glassy, turning her head from side to side. “Ollie?” she asked as I approached.

  “Yeah. Glad to see me?”

  “Took you long enough,” she said. Her voice sounded thick, and she coughed.

  “Let’s get out of here,” I said.

  “Can you—”

  “All out,” I said.

  “Then how?”

  I spun. She was right. The entire barn burned, leaving nothing but the area where Devan crouched clear of flames. I jumped through the fire and wrapped her in a hug.

  She held onto me tightly, pressing her face against my ear. “Thanks for coming for me.”

  “I told you I’d keep you safe.”

  Devan took a shaky breath and let go. “Maybe do a better job?”

  “If we get out of here, I’ll try.”

  There had to be some way for us to get out of the barn. We were near the back corner, and the only way out was beyond the raging flames in front of us. The fire along the back wall burned hottest, pressing against us. So far, Devan was keeping the flames pushed back, but with what she’d gone through, I doubted she’d last much longer. Besides, that wasn’t how her magic worked. And then there was the little issue of the barn threatening to fall in on us. The loft was overhead, and I had no idea how long until it collapsed. When that happened, we’d be buried.

  “Anything you can do to help?” I asked.

  She pointed to the circle of fire. “That’s all I can manage.”

  That’s what I figured. “Listen, Devan, if we don’t get out of here. I want you to know—”

  She put a hand on my chest and shook her head, silencing me. “Not now, Ollie.”

  I faced the part of the circle of fire where it wasn’t burning quite as hot. “Can you shift it to open us a path?”

  Devan took another breath which ended with her coughing. “I can try.”

  The amulet around my neck went colder, and then the flames shifted, swirling away from us. We had only a moment, but I took it, grabbing Devan and pulling her with me.

  Devan’s power lasted only long enough to get us about a dozen steps before fire pressed in on us with more force. I turned to Devan and shook my head. “I’m sorry.”

  “You’re an idiot.”

  “Wouldn’t be here with you if I weren’t.”

  I took her hand and squeezed. My eyes lowered to the ground, and I saw something burned into the wood floor. Not by the flames, but by Adazi. His mark, but with my additions that turned it into an arcane mark.

  Arcane marks didn’t take much to fuel them. Could I summon any energy?

  “Could you protect us if I get us airborne?”

  Devan frowned at me. “That might be all I can do.”

  “Then hang on.”

  She wrapped her arms around me, and I pushed everything I had remaining into Adazi’s mark beneath me. The last time it had been triggered, it blasted Adazi back and set the barn afire. If I could trigger only the blast, it might be enough to throw us free of the barn. Or it might throw us to our deaths.

  Power came from me slowly, painfully.

  I pushed it into the mark. All we needed was enough power to throw us free of the flames. I had to be able to summon that much.

  Devan looked at me with weary eyes.


  For Devan, I would find the power I needed.

  The explosion tossed us into the air. There was no control, nothing but violent pressure that threw us up and backward. I had no sense of direction. Wind whistled past me. A sense of warmth pressed on me, but different from the fire. It took a moment to realize it was Devan’s magic. A loud cracking noise filled the air as the barn began to collapse. Then cool, clear air slapped at my face.

  We hung in the air, suspended like the orb had been above its base. It seemed to last an eternity. Below me, I could see the remnants of the barn burning, fire consuming everything. Nothing moved. Had Kacey gotten Taylor free in time? What of Jakes?

  I didn’t have time for any other thought. We plunged back toward the ground. When we landed, the air knocked out of me. Heat pushed on me again, painfully hot. It hadn’t worked. We hadn’t cleared the barn.

  “Sorry,” I whispered to Devan.

  “Idiot,” she said against me.

  Then strong hands grabbed me and pulled, lifting me from the ground as if I weighed nothing. I didn’t have the strength to worry if it was Jakes or Chase. The heat slowly eased as we were pulled away from the barn, then set on dry grass. How long until the grasses burned? This whole area might go up in flames.

  I blinked smoke out of my eyes. Jakes knelt over me. His mouth was bloodied and a few scratches worked along his neck, but he was otherwise unharmed.

  “Chase?” I asked.

  “Gone,” he said.

  “Adazi. Shifter.” I struggled even getting those words out.

  Jakes nodded. “We can talk later.”

  “Kacey? Taylor?”

  Jakes turned my head more gently than I would have expected from him to show me Big Red parked dangerously close to the burning barn. Only, the flames didn’t seem to bother the truck. Taylor and Kacey sat on the front seat of the truck, looking out the window.

  “They could have moved it,” I said. “They’re going to ruin the paint job.”

  16

  Pain hummed through my body as I awoke. It was less than it had been the day before, but enough that I quickly downed some ibuprofen with a glass of stale water, both having been left on the floor next to me.