“What do you propose? We already tried to cross the Veil and were unsuccessful.”
“There has to be another way.”
“Crossing the Veil takes a lot of power, and without enough power—or a sort of doorway in order to cross over, I don’t know if we would be able to do this, Dr. Stone.”
I leaned back, resting my head. I wasn’t tired. I had expected to feel more than I did after the bite, and yet, there was nothing to it which left me feeling any different. Had Jean-Pierre lied to me in order to borrow from my magic? That was a possibility I hadn’t considered before, and now I did, I had to wonder if he had played me. There had to be some benefit to him other than just drinking from my blood. Then again, my interactions with Jean-Pierre had been honorable, if only honorable in a way which served his purposes.
“We have to find a way of crossing.”
“As I said, there are ways to cross the Veil, but it takes more power than what we are able to draw upon.”
“What about if we use the power from the ley lines near the city?”
“Unfortunately, those have become restricted.”
“Restricted?” I frowned, looking over to him. I shifted my shirt, trying to keep it covering my neck, not wanting Darvish to know what I had risked in order to try to help Kate. “How could someone restrict the Mississippi River?”
“It’s not about restricting the Mississippi River, but it’s about restricting access to the power flowing through it. And while I doubt anyone can restrict the river itself, there are those who have the ability to restrict access to the ley lines.”
It wasn’t as if I had any ability to reach them, anyway. I would be dependent upon others like Darvish in order to do so. If I couldn’t, we wouldn’t be able to cross the Veil. There were others who could. I thought of the fae trapped out on the island on the lake, but going to her scared me. But there was another possibility, and it was one which should scare more than it did, but for some reason made sense.
“John Adams,” I said.
“What?” Darvish said.
“John Adams. That’s who we need to go to.”
“How would he help?”
“He made a comment about crossing the Veil. He would know how to do it.”
“How could a hedge mage be able to help us across?”
“He’s not a hedge mage. John Adams is a full mage, and he’s the one who was granting power to the other hedge mages in order to let them use his power to fight.”
“That sounds rather complicated.”
“Trust me, it’s entirely complicated. I think he’s our best bet.”
“Even if he is, I don’t know where to find him.”
“I don’t think that’s quite true,” I said.
“You must be forgetting I just returned from the side of the Veil.”
“Barden is holding him. Wherever he would hold someone of dangerous magical ability is where we’ll find him.”
Darvish frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Quite. After we stopped John Adams, Barden dragged him away and offered to keep him hidden. It was the safest way. It was the only way that wouldn’t draw the attention of the entire mage council.”
“Barden sits on the mage council now, so I find it difficult to believe he would care if the rest of the mage council were to know about him holding someone prisoner.”
“He would if it involved him having to explain Kate and her abilities. It’s the same reason Veran and Cynthia Michaels were willing to work with him, and…” It was also why I thought Veran and Cynthia had a strange interaction with Barden now. It was uncomfortable, and it was almost as if they were resentful of the fact they were now bonded together in such a way, forced to interact, and yet, Barden had held up his side of the bargain, I was sure of it.
“Where would Barden keep people of dangerous magical ability?”
Darvish looked away from me.
“You know, don’t you?”
“There might be a place,” he said.
“Then we can go to it, and we can find him. If we do, then we can use him to help us across the Veil.”
“If this man is as dangerous as you say, I’m not so sure this is the best strategy for either of us. How many did you say it took to eliminate him as a threat?”
“Mostly me.”
Darvish shot me a look. “A dangerous mage and you were able to take him down?”
“Not without help, but he can no longer augment himself to be more than he should be.”
“What do you mean?”
“What I mean is that he, like many others within that organization, place specific augmentations on themselves. Runes. And those runes hold additional power, like these spell coins do,” I said, holding out one of my coins. “Now, since he has been captured, it’s possible he would have the opportunity to place more of the spell coins on himself, but I doubt Barden would have allowed it. If we are just dealing with a powerful mage, then certainly you would be able to restrain him.”
Darvish took a deep breath, frowning. “I don’t like it.”
“I don’t like it either, but what choice do we have? If Kate has been captured, we need to find a way to get to her and offer whatever help we can.”
“If he gets free, you understand the consequences?”
“What I understand is that if we don’t do anything, then Kate, and possibly Barden or anyone else he took with him”—I suspected this was at least Veran and Cynthia, though it was possible he’d brought others with him—”will be in danger. I know you don’t want that to happen any more than I do.”
“Start the car.”
“You’re going to help?”
“Do I have any choice? Start the car.”
I put the car in gear, and started off along the street, and as I went, there came a sense of pressure, a squeezing sense, and when it was gone, we had transported to a deserted road. We were somewhere well outside of the city. It looked like desert all around us, nothing but a dusty road leading in front of us, and nothing but a simple shack for as far as I could see.
“Where is this?”
“Somewhere else,” Darvish said.
“This is Barden’s place?”
“This is where he would have taken someone who was dangerous.”
“How often does he have to use it?”
“Not often. Regardless of the reputation we have, we don’t enjoy using this kind of place. If it were up to Barden, we would never have done so. Most of the time, we tried to protect our own, and we rarely went after others. There were a few times when we had to remove particular threats, and in doing so, we were forced to take action in a way which wasn’t necessarily the most comfortable to us.”
“Why out here?”
“Because it’s far enough away that even the mage council wouldn’t come out here. It’s far enough away that we can do what must be done, and we can ensure no one else gets harmed.”
There was a certain practicality to this which I thought I understood. It wasn’t something I particularly liked, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but understand why they would have such a mindset.
“How do you hold someone with the ability to break out of any prison?” I thought about the transport spell, and how it could be used to simply take someone with the right magical ability anywhere else. Knowing John Adams as I did, and knowing the nature of his power, I could imagine him transporting himself out.
“There are specific spells which can hold magical beings.”
“What sort of spells?”
“Come. You will see.”
We got out of the car and approached the building. It was a wooden shack, at least from exterior appearances. There was a sense of power from within it, though it was vague, almost as if intentionally so. The closer I got to it, the illusion began to fade, and we passed through a spell which changed the appearance altogether. Suddenly we were standing in front of an enormous concrete complex. There was still the same sense of power from it, but it wa
s different from before. It looked something like the warehouses Barden had in Minneapolis, though the sense of power from this was different. Whereas the warehouses were made of metal walls, this was all concrete with a weighty feel to it.
Darvish stopped in front of the door, testing it. “It’s possible he’s changed the access.”
“Why would he lock you out?” I asked.
“I don’t know that he would, but I’ve been gone long enough he would have no reason to keep granting me access.”
If Darvish were locked out, then we would have to find another way in. It was possible I’d be able to break in using my ability to trigger spells, but if I couldn’t get in, then the plan would be gone.
A spell built from Darvish. Power surged into the door, and the symbols upon it swirled into a strange appearance. As they did, the door pulled open. Even as it did, the sense of magic continued to radiate outward, almost as if with the door opening, there was not a release of the power within. Darkness greeted us.
“Are you ready?” Darvish asked.
“For what?”
“For this.” He took my hand, and with a surge of power, we transported through.
I felt drawn in a way I hadn’t, even when we were transporting in the car. This was a painful sensation, almost as if my body were being stretched outward, and I was dragged into a thin line. Pain scorched me, leaving me in agony, and yet, though I knew it was brief, it felt like it lasted an impossibly long time.
Then it was gone. I took a few deep breaths, looking around. A soft glow emanated from everywhere. Walls of concrete surrounded us. Symbols on each of the walls caught my eye, and I realized they had to be what Barden had used for the prison.
“I didn’t think Barden had known about these runes long,” I said, pointing to the markings on the walls.
“He’s been studying them for his entire magical life.”
“How long has this place been in existence?”
“Several decades,” Darvish said. “Other people know about runes, Dr. Stone. We have merely copied what we have seen and encountered.”
It was a generally empty space. I had expected to find rows of cells or something similar, but instead of that, it was emptiness. In the middle of the room was John Adams.
It took a moment for me to realize how he was even held, but a series of rings had been worked all around him. Many of the rings were interlocking, and he got to his feet when we arrived, his hands shackled, his legs bound, and he shook them at us. John Adams was a tall man, and there was a certain presence about him. He radiated power, even confined as he was, almost as if he knew he was going to escape from his cell.
“This is a terrible idea,” Darvish said softly.
“I don’t have any others,” I said.
Darvish watched me for a moment before approaching.
“Dr. Stone,” John Adams said. He glanced over to Darvish. “And one of Barden’s minions.”
I chuckled, and Darvish glanced at me. Shrugging, I said, “I can’t help it. I was thinking of the movies.”
“Focus, Dr. Stone.”
Turning my attention back to John Adams, I glared at him. I doubted it was intimidating at all. For a moment, I swept my gaze around the inside of the room. He was trapped here, but who had been providing him food? He was alone, which surprised me, thinking there had to be someone else here to ensure he survived his captivity. Barden wouldn’t have tormented him with starvation. It suggested there had been others who had come over time.
Unless there hadn’t been. It was possible Barden himself had been the only one coming here. All there was in the room was a bucket in the corner. I was thankful that whatever magic held him in place prevented me from smelling whatever foulness was inside that bucket.
“You’re looking a little bit haggard,” I said.
His hair was longer. He had a thick beard, but he still carried the same intensity in his gaze.
“I have Barden to thank for such hospitality,” he said.
“You have yourself to thank for such hospitality,” I said.
“Ah, Dr. Stone, don’t be like that. We can keep this professional.”
“Fine. If that’s all you want. I need you to tell us how to cross the Veil.”
John Adams glanced from me to Darvish before turning his attention back to me. “That’s why you’re here?”
“That’s why we’re, and if you aren’t going be able to help us, you will remain here. Seeing as how it seems Barden is the only one who has visited you, and it seems unlikely he has been here in the last few days, I wonder how long you think you can last.” I waited for a moment. “Unless you think you can escape.”
Knowing him as I did, it was possible he did. Which was worse, partly because it was possible he might be able to if given enough time—and motivation. In the case of John Adams, what did he have other than motivation? He was trapped here. Confined as he was, he probably spent his time thinking all day about how he was going to escape. It would be impossible for me to consider, but with his power and his experience, it likely wasn’t impossible for him.
“Why do you need to cross the Veil?”
“There something I need to investigate.”
“You? A hedge mage?”
“Haven’t you sent your operatives across the Veil?”
“The Shara are unique.”
“Right. They’re so unique that you and your newest recruit have proven incapable of defeating even powerful dark mages.”
“And yet, here you are, coming to me for help. Perhaps we were surprised by you and your resourcefulness, Dr. Stone, but I can assure you it won’t happen again. When I do manage to escape from here—”
Darvish tapped me on the arm. “We’re done, Dr. Stone.”
“And who are you?”
Darvish turned back to John Adams, glaring at him. The darkness in his eyes seemed to be deeper than before, and there was an anger that remained. It left me uncomfortable, and for a moment, it was almost as if it made John Adams uncomfortable. There was an intensity to Darvish’s eyes which matched what John Adams could summon, almost to the point where it was even more than what the other man possessed. “More than you could even imagine.”
John Adams watched him, his mouth curling up in a dark smile. “You have been on the other side.” He glanced over to me. “You see, he has that haunted look about him. We know it well from those who stay too long. We aren’t meant to live on the other side of the Veil. We don’t handle the passage of time effectively. Those who stay there do so at their own risk. If they’re there for more than a few hours, things begin to change for them.”
Darvish just glared at him.
“Tell me, how do you sleep?” John Adams asked Darvish.
“I sleep fine,” Darvish said.
“And by that, you mean you sleep all the time.” John Adams glanced over at me. “You see, it is more than just crossing the Veil. While many people on this side have access to magic, not everyone has the ability to withstand the change. There is power everywhere on the other side of the Veil. It’s not only the people who have power, but it’s the entire world. The world itself exudes power in a way it doesn’t over here. You think the ley lines on this side are powerful? Imagine what they are like on the other side.”
“If that’s what you think, you know nothing,” Darvish said.
“I know far more than you can ever imagine. I have spent more days than you can imagine on the other side.
“Really?” Darvish said. He approached the nearest ring, looking across it. As he did, power built from him, flowing across the barrier, though somehow, I doubted it disrupted it. There was something about the way the Darvish used his power which suggested to me he knew how to do so without throwing things off. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve spent on the other side of the Veil?”
“You have the look of a man who spent a week there.”
“A week,” Darvish said, smiling bitterly. “Were it only a week.”
&
nbsp; John Adams eyes twitched.
“Are the two of you done? Darvish, it doesn’t matter if he believes you. And John, neither of us cares about how big a man you are by your time on the other side of the Veil. What we need is to cross.”
“If this one had spent all that time on the other side, then he wouldn’t need me in order to cross.”
“He would if he had just returned,” I said. “Now, if you are unwilling to help us, then we will move on to the next prospect.”
“You don’t have another prospect. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have come to me.”
“We do, but I thought you might be the most interested in cooperating.”
“Why? So I can be returned back here when you’re through with me?” He shook his head. “I think not.”
“Fine.”
I turned, and Darvish hesitated a moment, staring hard at John Adams, and then he shrugged, turning away. When he did, he joined me. “Are you really going to leave him?”
“I don’t know if we have any choice in the matter,” I said.
“I think we could convince him to help,” he said.
“There’s another possibility, but I don’t know if it will work. There was another man working with John Adams. We haven’t been able to find him, but if we could, we might be able to use him to help us across the Veil.” I didn’t like the idea of trying to track down Matt Gillespie, and I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to do so. With Matt wanting to hide—and wanting revenge for what we’d done—it was possible that even if we found him, we would end up on the wrong side of things. Knowing Matt, it was likely he would manipulate things and control them in such a way that we would end up in even greater danger. At least with John Adams, we knew there would be no way for him to have placed augmentations on himself, runes which would potentially be triggered at a time when it would be dangerous to either Darvish or me.
“Dr. Stone.”
I paused, but not turning around.
“I might be able to help you, but you must do something for me.”
“What?”
“I will tell you after we are done.”
“You will tell me now, or you won’t be able to do this.”
Darvish watched me, and I could sense his discomfort. I shared in it, not wanting to release John Adams, but at the same time, not knowing what other choice we had. If we didn’t do anything, if we left him where he was, then more time would pass before we were able to get to Kate and whoever else might have gone after her.
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