Chapter 20
Nina and Ivanna came back in time for lunch to be served. Viria was still meditating and Mitch had informed Ivanna that she’d woken up earlier and had had cereal before starting the day.
“Update?”
“Got treaties signed,” Ivanna said at the table. “Nina will have to spend a while in the office and catch them on suspicious behavior to question. I had to head over to some site and left Nina with the paperwork. It led me to another base but it had been abandoned mid-way. I traced all the others I could and it seemed as if they’d stopped being made very recently. Like a halt of sorts until matters were sorted out.”
“Just how long are we talking here?” Kevin asked.
“Until noon,” Ivanna said. “I’m sure you can take care of Dahlia until then, right?”
“I need Nina’s safety ensured.”
“One scratch on her from any of them and Viria won’t hesitate to go to war with them,” she assured him. “They know that very well and it wouldn’t be the first battle with them.”
Diana sighed. “Goodness. Where is she, by the way?”
“Meditating,” Ivanna said.
“What else is left to do?” Luke asked.
“We need to start training the shifters we already have in the sanctuaries,” Ivanna explained. “While that is happening, it’s come to my attention that we need to approach the vampires. They’ve been found and have taken action to relocate and go into hiding.”
“Where did you find this out from?” Diana asked, instantly alarmed.
“The other base I tracked had some writings left behind crumpled in a bin,” she explained. “Apparently, some chick of their acted as a girl friend of sorts to one of their kind a few months ago and had been observing them. She’s dead now but the Morbus are tracing the vampires with the essence she got from him using the help of rogue witches. Which also bring me to the next operation where we have to deal with rogue beings from our communities. We’ll need help with that.”
Luke spoke up, “I can offer my help with this.”
“That would be highly appreciated.”
“So can I,” Fergus said. “My pack’s recovered tremendously and grown stronger.”
“Also,” Ivanna started, “is there any way you could get yourself into peace treaties with other packs and come under one flag? Unity is very important in these trying times.”
Luke nodded. “We can definitely try. Whenever you give the signals. We can go and start now. We can trust you with the girls.”
“I need someone to stay behind here to contact you guys immediately.”
“Kevin will stay,” Fergus said, and Kevin shrugged.
“I’m okay with it.”
“Great.” Ivanna sighed. “It’s settled then. You two can head back to your packs tomorrow. Explain everything to them and do what you can to the best of your abilities.”
“What if someone starts a battle over it?” Fergus said, “Shifters tend to be hot-headed.”
“If so, ask for Viria or I,” she replied, “We’re good negotiators and I have alliances with a few other packs out there who can help if I find connections between them.Call us up and we’ll be there.”
“What about the vampires, though?” Diana demanded.
“Viria will go ahead and deal with them starting tomorrow. They’re in no immediate danger. Meanwhile, I have to gather a team of proper combat instructors and start sending them into sanctuaries. Luke, Fergus, you know your kind will have to join in on that.”
“We’ll get them started as soon as they assemble,” Fergus said. “But it will definitely take a while so how about we at least shift our own packs?”
“It would be best to get a head start this way,” she agreed, “All right, meeting dismissed. You guys should probably head into town for supplies. I shall take you.”
“That would be nice and all, but we’re short on money.”
“We aren’t,” Ivanna says. “It just sits in our bank accounts now and we’re busy distributing it where possibly needed. Come on, you guys will be staying her for quite some time.”
Nina realized that night that she’d forgotten her jacket back at the Inner Circle HQ, and it held some important stuff she couldn’t risk leaving lying around. It was strange that she’d forgotten it. Living a part of her life always on the run, she was instinctively careful about her possessions and that she never left them behind.
She carefully pulled away from Kevin and Dahlia, leaving the room and tip-toeing up to the High Council HQ. It was empty and dark. After chanting a spell to conjure light, she walked over to Morrigan’s portal and teleported herself to the Inner Circle office.
It was just as dark over there, and she was about to move when the door creaked opened. Her heart jumped and she immediately jumped behind a curtain to peek behind from.
It was Agatha. Nina remembered her voice well to distinguish even when whispering. Straining her ears, she recognized the chanting as a permission spell. It was used to give specific people, who were usually unauthorized, the power to enter specific places. And the HQ was guarded by a spell to keep outsiders at bay but this, along with the essence Agatha was pouring into a flask, would easily allow outsiders to break in.
Nina focused, committing it all to memory. She had to go back and immediately tell Ivanna everything. Nina stayed as still as a statue until Agatha left.
This was meant to happen. Nina knew she was meant to be here to see this. And when the door closed she immediately chanted under her breath and disappeared back to the High Council quarters, not giving a damn about her jacket. She rushed to Ivanna’s room where she was busy meditating, even at this time of the night.
Ivanna must’ve sensed her presence because she pulled herself out of the meditative state and flowed gently to the ground, legs uncurling to stand.
“You’re out of bed at an unusual time.” Ivanna asked with concern, “Is everything okay?”
“Agatha,” she breathed, “She might be helping with a break-in into the Inner Circle.”
“All right, sit down,” she said and pulled Nina inside. She sat her down on her bed and reached to fill a glass with water, handing it to her. Nina gulped it down and explained everything she had seen. Although Ivanna kept her composure, Nina could see the alarm in her eyes.
“I’ll have to set it first on the priority list.” Ivanna sighed. “I wish I could send someone to go to the vampires but Viria and I need to handle this on our own.”
“Shouldn’t you wait until I’ve given you power?”
“Change of plans,” she said, “we have other priorities. If the Inner Circle is attacked, then it would put the lives of everyone in all of the communities in danger.”
Viria wasn’t any less alarmed herself at the revelation next morning, but she was calm and calculating.
“Agatha won’t let them take action immediately,” she explained to Ivanna and Nina. “Distribution takes a lot of time, with the essence being made to recognize another being’s to activate permission to enter. This will take a few days since doing such a thing is not easy for an average witch. The spells are long and complicated.”
“Oh.” Nina sighed. “So we got worried for nothing.”
“Well, not really, no,” Viria said. “The process would be faster, since she has other suspects in alliance with her. They’ll get the work done faster.”
“So, what do we do?”
“Ivanna deals with the vampires,” she stated easily. “I go after Agatha. She’s only ever met me a few times and only when I do an inspection round. I’ll go tomorrow as a pretense. Nina, you’ll remain normal and proceed with communicating and forming alliances with witches in other countries. I know you’ve met them.”
“Yes, definitely.” She nodded.
Viria rubbed her neck. “I need to hold a meeting. Let everyone know what’s going on. I need to think, come up with a plan. Eat.”
“Let’s eat first,” Ivanna suggested. “We’ll hold a m
eeting right after.”
“This is not okay.” Saun sighed. “I understand collaborating with other witches, but with the Morbus itself? I’m disappointed in our kind.”
“How are you sure it’s the Morbus they’re working with?”
“Who else could it be?” Viara asked. “There is no other threat but them otherwise I would’ve stated them. But it’s happened, we have visual proof that can be extracted. Time to hinder her plans and have her imprisoned.Better yet, executed.”
“I’m not sure if I want to leave anymore.” Fergus sighed. “Will you girls really be okay?”
“Yes, we will,” Nina said. “We have the High Council members to call upon and protect us.”
“Ah, yes,” Luke said. “Totally forgot about them. Where have they been?”
“They need days off to spend with their families,” Viria said. “I’ll call them immediately after I’m back from inspection.”
“What about back up?” Cassie asked her. “Won’t you need assistance?”
“I have Mitch,” she said and he nodded.
“I fight well. And in essence, there is always dark energy involved, so I could block a lot of spell effects at will.”
“Bro, what the fuck?” Viria gave him a dubious look.
“I mastered it yesterday with this little lamp that glows eternally fueled by a former witch’s magic,” he explained. “I’m surprised myself and I think it comes with this whole evolving thing.”
“You need to remind me to document you,” Viria said and he shoved her lightly.
“When do we start?” he asked.
“Today at noon,” she said. “First, let’s see Luke and Fergus off. I’d rather you guy use my portals, though. It’ll be faster.”
“And how will we get back if we have to?”
“Just call me and I’ll be there to teleport you back,” she said. “Simple as that.”
“All right,” Luke said and got up. Everyone else followed and they headed outside to the garden where Viria worked on a temporary portal.
Luke held Cassie and kissed her forehead, then reaching out for his cub who moved away grumbling.
“Daddy got me no cand,” she said with a frown.
Luke sighed. “I’ll get you candy when I come back, okay?”
Cassie lightly scolded Violet and she pouted, but reached out for her father, anyway. Fergus was busy holding Diana’s hands to his lips and telling her everything would go well. Diana hugged him and that was the last of interactions they’d have for the time being. The Alphas walked to the center of the portal where Viria stood and kept a distance for her to move. And with a few fluid flicks of her wrists and fingers, the three disappeared into the air. Even the portal had disappeared.
“All right, guys, let’s go in,” Ivanna said. “Nina, you should meditate a bit to prepare yourself. Review some of the symbol movements you’ve been taught. You never know what could happen now that Agatha’s case has been brought up.”
“I will,” she said. Kevin wrapped an arm around her and led her inside. They went for their rooms and Kevin peppered her with endless kisses all over her face. Nina laughed and pushed him back.
“I’ll be fine, Kevin,” she breathed and tip-toed to give him a soft kiss on his lips.
“I still worry about you, though,” he said. “Can’t help it.”
She ruffled his hair and held him close. He embraced her tightly, and she’d never felt safer in her life, despite the circumstances.
“Look after Dahlia well, okay?” she whispered, “I’ll go meditate now.”
He nodded and let her go. Nina left the room and headed to Ivanna’s quarters where she found a nice cool spot to start.
Viria was in her office with Mitch and Ivanna, tracing out a plan.
“Should this be confirmed, I need the others to know this and aid us without letting the others know we are after anything at all,” Ivanna said.
“Let me go on this inspection and decide for myself who is trust worthy,” Viria said. “I want to make sure we don’t make mistakes.”
“According to the map, the Inner Circle is surrounded by a maze,” Mitch said. “As far as I can tell, where there are mazes, there are dead people.”
“Exactly.” Viria nodded. “You’ll cover the border from attack.”
“And the inside?” Nina asked.
“That’s where we deal with double crossers,” Ivanna said. “We’ll shame them in front of their communities and take their people under us.”
“Easy conquer.” Viria smirked. “Let’s not waste another moment now.”
THE END
Witch Academy Box Set (1-4)
Book 1: The Missing Queen
Chapter 1
Desmond awoke with a start, his body tensing up. It took him a moment to figure out exactly what the problem was, his magic finding its way up to his brain.
He realized after a moment that it was a crash from his kitchen that had woken him. However, the presence that he sensed was not anything that would cause him harm. His dishes and food supply might be in danger, but he was not.
Running a hand over his face, he tried to pull the sleep from his eyes, glancing at the time piece. He was planning to get up now anyway; the alarm would beep after a moment or two. It was later than he normally got up, but he didn't have anywhere to be for another hour.
“Nathaniel,” he said as the door to his chambers whooshed open at his touch. “What are you doing?”
His former Tiro looked up at him, a piece of toast in his mouth.
“You're awake.”
Desmond raised an eyebrow, leaning against the doorframe.
“You think I can't still sense when you are causing chaos? Eleven years of training you, Nathaniel. I promise that the bond is not broken yet.”
Nathaniel smirked as he searched for more bread, and Desmond decided it was a losing battle. Besides, he was meeting Mariah for breakfast anyway, so he didn't need food here.
He had trained Nathaniel for eleven years as his third Tiro, readying him as a full-fledged witch; the guardians of the galaxy. Magic was dangerous and destructive if not controlled and well trained, and those born with it often didn't survive it unless they were taken from their families and devoted their life to its control. Witches, who were taken to the academies around the galaxy and trained by Maestros, became warriors, guardians, peacemakers, and healers. They were well respected, strong, and completely devoted to keeping the galaxy safe.
It came at a price, of course. They rarely, if ever, saw their families again. They were not supposed to form attachments or have families of their own. They were completely devoted to their craft and their quests. When they were young, they were usually devoted to their Maestros. When they came of age, they were put through a series of rigorous tests that determined whether they could go off on their own and become a new generation of Maestros.
There were exceptions to every rule, of course. Tiros were supposed to be in the academy from the time they started walking, and they needed to be with a Maestro by the time they were thirteen if they wanted to be able to take the tests. Otherwise, they remained at school until eighteen and could work in a minor role. Any time after eighteen, they could take the tests and become a full-fledged witch.
Desmond knew that he and Nathaniel had broken almost every single one of those rules in their years together. It wasn't necessarily on purpose, because he didn't always believe in everything the Jurors dictated. But Nathaniel had been almost fourteen when Desmond finally took him on after a disastrous last Tiro. Nathaniel was stubborn, mouthy, and more interested in fun half the time. Desmond knew Nathaniel would never be the serious, quiet, thoughtful Witch that was expected. Nathaniel was twenty-four when he finally took the tests, passing with flying colors in everything except his attitude.
Now, nearly two years later, they remained at the academy. Nathaniel was teaching some of the classes, and Desmond sat on the Jurors part time, dealing with the intergalactic issues tha
t came their way. Both of them were expected at some point soon to take on a Tiro. But after a bumpy eleven years, Nathaniel didn't seem quite ready to be self-sufficient
Desmond, despite being technically free of a Tiro, found it hard to find time for himself and Mariah – not that he publicly wished for it.
The first day Desmond saw Mariah was nearly thirty years ago. They had both been young witches on their first Tiros. They had locked eyes across the room, and Desmond knew that he was in trouble.
Neither of them had broken any rules, at least in public. But as they started to age toward retirement with a quiet life of advising only in their near future, he found it harder to make sure they were in line and not just existing in a grey area that the Jurors raised their eyebrows at.
He knew Nathaniel was aware of the fine line he walked and took it as challenge. No matter how much Desmond tried and scolded, Nathaniel had always had eyes for women. He wasn't discreet either, and more than once, he had been called in front of the Jurors for disobedience.
Desmond's only solace was that, as Nathaniel got older, he seemed to be settling down and focusing his attention on the one woman he came back to again, and again. A quest on Jeffro – a border planet – had introduced the fifteen-year-old Nathaniel to the seventeen-year-old orphaned ruler, Queen Eliza. She was just as head strong, stubborn, and in control of her emotions as he was. Desmond pretended to not hear the late-night hologram fights they had over the years, and pretended not to hear Nathaniel's thoughts when they were doing well. As long as he was focused on his duties, Desmond could turn a blind eye. And, he noticed, no matter how hard they fought, they always returned to each other. They fought in a way that acknowledged that ending their relationship was never an option.
It was admirable, in a way, except neither of them were supposed to be even thinking of romantic love.
This life was not an easy one, but it was worth it for the greater good. Despite being two of the most powerful warrior witches in the galaxy, they were still only human.
The Hidden Truth (Shadow Claw Book 7) Page 13