Aaron handed the electramage’s gear over, then gave the witches a grin that toed the line between friendly and sharp. “You two must be the O’Conner sisters.”
“Aaron Sinclair,” Odette said breathlessly. “Your reputation precedes you.”
His grin was definitely sharp now. He gestured. “This is Ezra Rowe, a Crow and Hammer aeromage.”
The sisters assessed Ezra, their eyes nervously tracing the scar on his face.
“How lovely to see you again, Olivia and Odette,” I said with venomous sweetness. “I hope we didn’t keep you waiting long.”
“N-not at all,” Olivia stammered. “Though we really should get moving.”
“Look west,” Kai instructed as he pulled on his ninja-vest, the subtly armored black garment arrayed with pockets of throwing knives and steel stars. “Someone has lights set up down on the beach.”
I squinted along the coastline. Beyond a rocky outcropping, a man-made glow glimmered on the water.
“There are definitely people down there,” Aaron agreed. “Let’s go see who they are and what they’re up to.”
He strode back up the pathway with Kai beside him. Ezra and I followed, leaving the witches to trail after us. We traipsed up the sloping sidewalk and across the parking lot, then started down a paved path that wound into the thick woods.
“Excuse me,” Olivia called in a low voice. “We were wondering … when is the rest of your team arriving?”
“This is the team.”
She stumbled and almost fell. “Oh. I see.”
I kept half an eye on her as we followed the winding trail down toward the coast. The lapping water grew louder and the odor of rotting seaweed permeated the air, overpowering the pleasant leafy smell of the forest. Light flickered through the trees, and nerves tightened my stomach. We were getting close.
Aaron and Kai slowed, then stepped off the trail into the trees. They moved carefully, barely rustling the undergrowth as they inched toward the lights. Ezra and I stopped to watch. Neither of us was any good at stealth.
“The seawall and a walking trail are just ahead,” Odette murmured. “It’s a steep drop from here down to the trail, though.”
When Ezra and I made no effort to start a conversation, the sisters moved away from us and began whispering. The night was so silent I could almost make out their rapid words. I angled my head, trying to catch the sound.
Ezra glanced at me, then at the witches. A soft breeze kicked up, blowing their voices toward us.
“… only three mages,” one was muttering. “I thought they were bringing a real team! It won’t be enough.”
“It might,” the other whispered back. “As long as they interrupt the—”
With a rustle of foliage, Aaron and Kai stepped back onto the path. The electramage swiveled sharply toward the witches. “Care to explain what’s happening down there, ladies?”
Olivia’s eyes widened. “Is something happening? What did you s—”
“You know what we saw,” Aaron snarled. “What game are you playing?”
“What did you see?” I demanded.
“A black magic ritual on the beach. A massive circle, a dozen mythics, portable lights, and crates of supplies. This is no small operation.”
Cold spread through me, adrenaline tingling in my fingers. A dozen mythics was too many, even for three tough-as-shit combat mages.
“You were supposed to bring a real team,” I informed them with heavy sarcasm, then jerked my thumb at the sisters. “According to them, anyway.”
“You have five seconds to start explaining,” Kai said flatly. “Starting now.”
Olivia and Odette exchanged panicked looks, and I thought wistfully of my illegal interrogation spell. I should have brought it with me.
When they didn’t speak, Kai nodded curtly. “Very well. Aaron, Ezra, Tori—let’s go.”
“Go where?” Olivia yelped.
“Back to our guild.”
He strode past them, and Ezra followed. Aaron grabbed my hand on his way by, pulling me into motion.
“We’re leaving?” I whispered incredulously.
“Hell yeah. We might be reckless, but we aren’t crazy. There’s too many of them, and we’d be going in blind. It could be an ambush for all we—”
“Wait!” Olivia ran after us, her sister on her heels. “You can’t leave! You have to stop them!”
Kai didn’t slow. “No.”
Ooh, someone didn’t like getting played either. I felt a fresh surge of affection for Kai.
“Please!” Odette begged. “You can’t let this happen.”
The guys kept walking, but I hesitated. Whatever was going down on the beach sounded nasty. We should at least find out what those mythics were up to, shouldn’t we? It was the responsible thing to do.
Yeah. Responsible. It had nothing to do with my burning curiosity.
I stopped, drawing Aaron to a halt, and arched an eyebrow at the sisters. “Last chance. Explain.”
Olivia hesitated, then steeled herself. “Those rogues are trying to bind a fae lord.”
She said it like she expected me to gasp loudly, lay a hand against my forehead, and contemplate fainting on the spot.
Instead, I scrunched my nose. “Huh?”
“A fae lord!” she repeated with a spark of anger. “The most elite and powerful of the wyldfae. Black witches have ways to force fae into becoming their familiars, but no one has ever bound a fae lord before. If they succeed, they’ll command a power beyond—beyond anything we can comprehend!”
“You knew about this all along,” I accused. “Was all that stuff about the missing fae a lie?”
“It wasn’t! The smallfae have gone missing—those rogues have been killing them.”
“If you knew it was rogues killing the fae, why didn’t you say so? Why hide it?”
“Because …” Odette gulped audibly. “Because the rogues down there are from Red Rum.”
Ominous silence hung over our small group, but I had no idea why. It sucked being out of the loop all the time. “Red Rum?”
“The nastiest rogue guild you’ll ever have the pleasure of meeting,” Aaron told me grimly. “They specialize in everything from extortion to assassination. Think ‘mob boss’ and add in the worst of the dark arts.”
“If they bind the fae lord, they’ll command his power.” Olivia grasped my elbow. “Do you understand? Red Rum in control of a sea lord? It would be catastrophic.”
Tugging my arm free, I brushed two fingers across my inner wrist where an almost invisible rune marked my skin. I’d met a wyldfae before, and the thought of Echo under the power of a rogue guild terrified me.
Faint heat kindled in my wrist, tingling under my skin.
“Hold up,” Aaron cut in. “Sea lord? How do you know what type of wyldfae they’re after?”
Olivia’s eyes darted around as though she were searching for an escape. “Only one fae of any note comes here … There are legends about him—a sea spirit that once lived beneath the cliffs at Prospect Point.”
“Anything else you’d like to share?” I asked nastily.
Her shoulders wilted. “The ritual will succeed or fail within the next hour. They must complete it before the tide comes back in. They can’t be allowed to succeed …”
I pointed at the sisters. “You two wait there. We need to have a huddle.”
“A huddle?” Aaron repeated bemusedly.
Taking his and Ezra’s arms, I steered them twenty feet away. Kai followed with one eyebrow arched. Grabbing him too, I pulled them into a literal huddle, my arms around Aaron’s and Kai’s broad shoulders. Across from me, Ezra grinned in amusement.
“What’s the game plan?” I whispered.
“Is the huddle necessary?” Kai asked grumpily.
“Absolutely. I’ve always wanted to be part of a superhero huddle.”
“Which we’re not,” Aaron snorted.
“Shut up and let me have my moment.” I looked between them. �
��We can’t let Red Rum get control of an uber-fae, can we?”
“Assuming the ritual works, which I doubt it will.” Kai considered our options. “We can stay and observe, but we shouldn’t get involved. Red Rum isn’t a guild we can afford to provoke. I’m betting they are the reason all the other guilds turned down this job. No one wants to end up with a target on their back.”
“But what do we do if it looks like they might succeed?” I asked. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want you guys going up against any Red Rum rogues, let alone twelve, but …”
Aaron nodded like I’d shared a complete thought instead of trailing into awkward silence. “She’s got a point.”
“Agreed.” Kai pulled out of the huddle and withdrew his phone. “I’ll text Darius.”
As he sent off a quick message, I massaged my wrist and frowned toward the beach. Rhythmic sound rumbled through the trees—male voices chanting.
“They’ve started,” Odette gasped. “They’re summoning the fae lord!”
Aaron gestured for us to follow and stepped off the path. I got behind him as we crept through the trees, the sound of our movements covered by the chanting men.
Just before the hillside dropped off, I parted the branches of a shrub and peered out. Twenty-five feet below, a paved footpath hugged the coastline, and beyond that was a rocky beach. Shining puddles covered the mud exposed by the retreating tide.
Positioned on the foreshore was a cluster of men in dark clothes. Big work lights on stands surrounded them, shining bright beams on the circle they had carved deep into the mud—which must have been fifty feet across. Precise shapes had been drawn through it, and various tools and materials had been placed at specific points inside and around the outer ring.
Seven people stood back from the ritual, while four were stationed at the compass points of the circle, hands raised toward it as they chanted. The last man stood in the center, his back to the coast as he faced the ocean.
“Sorcerers,” Olivia hissed. “The one in the middle is a witch. This is a foul blend of Arcana and Spiritalis.”
I chewed my lip as the sorcerers continued their measured chant. The unfamiliar words vibrated through me even from this distance, making my skin itch.
“Anything from Darius?” Aaron whispered to Kai.
“Not yet. I just sent a message to Tabitha as well.”
Crouched uncomfortably in the bushes, we watched for a few more minutes. The men chanted without pausing or stuttering, and I had to appreciate their perfectionism. How much had they practiced this?
“Maybe it won’t work,” Odette whispered hopefully. “Maybe the fae lord will resist the—”
An electronic buzz interrupted her. Kai raised his phone, the screen glowing with an incoming call. He swiped the screen and lifted it to his ear.
“Darius?”
“Under no circumstances are you to engage Red Rum.” The guild master’s stern words were loud enough to hear, even without switching the phone to speaker. “Withdraw immediately.”
Kai’s expression flickered with surprise, then hardened. “Yes, sir.”
A protest bubbled up in my throat but I swallowed it back. Darius might hear me, and that would ruin the “secret” part of me joining the guys on this job.
“We’ll leave immediately,” Kai continued. “Should we—”
“Look!” Olivia gasped, pointing toward the ocean.
The water, which had been gently lapping against the muddy foreshore, frothed in agitation. The rogues continued chanting, and the others had spread out defensively. White-capped waves surged forward, almost reaching the ritual circle. The air shimmered and danced, and an even larger wave exploded upward like something invisible had slammed into it.
“Oh, blessings of the Mother Earth,” Olivia tremored. “They have him.”
Rippling like a mirage that wouldn’t take form, a shadowy shape slid in and out of reality—a glimmer of scales, a flash of fins. The chanting rose in volume. Another shimmer distorted the water, then the creature solidified in a spiral of glittering light.
A gargantuan serpent writhed on the mudflats. Its body glistened with shades of deep blue, its pale underbelly protected by plates of leathery scale. A line of pointed dorsal fins ran down its back, and a fringe of fins and horns surrounded its large head, the wide brow tapering to a pointed muzzle.
Bracing its huge front fins on the ground, the beast threw its head back and loosed a horrendous shriek of primordial rage.
“A leviathan?” Aaron breathed in disbelief. “Holy shit, it’s massive.”
I bobbed my head dumbly. Oh yeah. Big and beautiful, just like a dragon. I’d know, having met a few.
“Kai!” Darius’s voice cracked through the phone speaker, bringing the three guys to attention. “Withdraw.”
The phone pressed to his ear, Kai hesitated. The fae twisted violently, as though trying to retreat, but it inched closer instead—irresistibly drawn to the circle, even as it fought with all its strength to stop.
“Kai.”
He sucked in a breath, then let it out. Catching Ezra’s and Aaron’s gazes, he said into the phone, “Yes, sir. We’re leaving.”
Backing away from the precarious drop-off, he got to his feet. Aaron sidled back as well, and Ezra rose into an awkward half-crouch, waiting for me to clear the way. Jaw tight, I minced backward.
“Cowards!” Olivia launched up, her hands clenched. “Get out there and stop them!”
“We’re not—” Kai began.
The witch sprang forward, hands thrusting out. She slammed both palms into Ezra’s chest—and shoved him backward off the bluff.
Chapter Eight
Ezra pitched down the steep slope in a wave of dislodged foliage and clumps of clay. A gust of wind blasted the falling debris away as he broke his fall with a cushion of air—but he still slammed into the ground with painful force.
I hung half off the bluff, my arm outstretched in a failed attempt to grab him. Aaron held the back of my coat to keep me from falling too, and he yanked me into the cover of the trees.
On the mudflats, the leviathan writhed against the magic relentlessly dragging it toward the circle, but that distraction wasn’t enough. The rogue mythics had noticed Ezra’s plummet. Three of them broke away from the group and started toward the seawall.
Even with his wind magic, Ezra would never make it back up the sheer bluff. The seawall path followed the coastline, leaving nowhere to flee and nowhere to hide.
Without a word, Aaron took two running steps and jumped off the bluff.
As he plunged out of sight, Kai swore furiously. He shoved his phone into my hand, spun on his heel, and sprang after his friends. The wind gusted as Ezra used his magic to slow Kai’s fall.
And that left me alone with the two witches.
“You!” I snarled, pivoting to face them. Fury twisted through me, and my fist was flying before I knew what I was doing.
My knuckles cracked against Olivia’s cheekbone and she fell back into a tree. Pain ricocheted through my hand and it felt like I’d severed my thumb—because I was still holding Kai’s cell. As I yanked my hand back, the phone slipped from my grip. It bounced once, then tumbled off the bluff. A second later, a crunchy crack announced its arrival at the bottom.
I winced. Oops.
As Odette clutched her sister, babbling incoherently, Olivia cast a burning glare my way. Clambering up, she stalked to the bluff’s edge, cautiously pushed off, and slid down it like a muddy waterslide—except a few feet from the bottom, her heel caught on a rock. Thrown off balance, she pitched forward and splatted on the concrete trail.
Ouch. That must’ve hurt. Somehow, I didn’t feel too bad for her.
Olivia scrambled up and straightened her shirt, then ran toward the three mages. Ezra, Aaron, and Kai had retreated along the seawall, but the three rogues were closing in fast—and two more were on the way.
An ear-splitting cry erupted from the leviathan. It was a dozen yards from
the ritual circle and twisting like a snake in agony, its pectoral fins gouging the mud.
The rogues reached the mages, and orange light erupted as Aaron unleashed the first attack. He charged in, flanked by Kai and Ezra. I expected them to split apart, one mage for each rogue, but as Aaron bowled through the first guy, Ezra slammed into the same mythic right after. Fast attacks—giving the sorcerers no time to complete an incantation.
Kai darted past them as Aaron swung his sword, unleashing a band of fire into the second rogue while Ezra blasted wind in the third’s face. Kai swung around, his hands flashing in quick movements. Then he raised his fist.
Lightning leaped from him and speared the three rogues. They collapsed in convulsions and even after the crackling power had died, they didn’t stir.
“Amazing,” Odette whispered.
Olivia reached the guys, her mouth moving and hands gesturing emphatically toward the leviathan. Kai shook his head. Olivia pointed again, then jumped off the seawall and charged toward the mudflats. As she went, a shape formed at her heels—an orange tabby house cat. Her fae familiar?
Aaron, Kai, and Ezra exchanged looks, and I knew what they would do. They were too valiant to do anything else. They jumped onto the rocky beach, racing after Olivia as she ran straight for the oncoming rogues.
There was no way this wouldn’t go badly. Growling, I grabbed Odette by the hair and hauled her toward the bluff.
“Stop!” she yelped shrilly. “What are you doing?”
“This is your fight too—so get down there and fight!”
“I can’t!” Odette wailed, grabbing at my arm. “I don’t have a familiar!”
“So?”
“Witches don’t have any offensive magic! Without a familiar, we can’t fight any more than you can!”
Bullshit. I was way more capable of fighting than this cupcake. “You’re completely useless.”
“That’s why we needed a powerful guild,” she whimpered. “That’s why we got the Crow and Hammer to send their mages.”
Two Witches and a Whiskey (The Guild Codex: Spellbound Book 3) Page 7