“She’s… scary,” Mariana said, frowning. “Sirens aren’t supposed to freak you out just…” She laughed nervously. “Turn you on.”
I nodded. “Something about her...”
“I thought she was supposed to be a witch,” Jen said. “A blood witch!”
“The minotaur said she was something more, but I didn’t think he meant, wait—” Squinting, Mariana pushed aside a couple of leaves and adjusted her position. “That woman’s not a water elemental.”
“Are you certain?” I asked.
“Yes!” Mariana sounded slightly indignant. “She may look like a siren, but she’s not even a water elemental at all.”
“That’s not possible, is it?” Jen asked.
Mariana and I shook our heads.
“I wish I could hear them better,” I grumbled. If only the sun were set, my ears would certainly be keen enough to hear them easily.
As if granting my wish, the siren-like woman suddenly raised her arms.
“She has a wand!” Jen said.
Sure enough, the woman was clutching a wand in one hand.
“And so,” the woman cried. “We welcome our newest disciple, who successfully completed his initiation earlier this evening.”
As the others applauded, she motioned to the wizard standing next to her and I forced myself to look away from her and focus on him. Had I seen him somewhere before?
"Hey, isn’t that the guy who was with the jackal?” Mariana gasped.
None of us had gotten a great look at him, but it certainly looked like the same person.
“I think so,” Jen said.
The man looked tired, if not ill, as he stood next to the woman. He didn’t seem very pleased to have everyone clapping for him; he simply nodded his head a couple of times.
“He looks sick,” Mariana commented.
“Like his familiar just died?” Jen suggested.
A chill ran up my spine and I swallowed nervously. For a moment I focused on my bond with Thomas, just to make sure. To my relief he not only felt safe, but it also seemed like the pain from the blood magic was wearing off. I reflexively checked Shannon as well, who was worried, most likely about us, but otherwise grand. I always tried to avoid checking in on Delilah but couldn’t stop the thought of her. After so many years of trying to block her out, the sudden lack of bond was almost harder to ignore than her feelings had been. But now wasn’t the time.
I turned toward Jen, just in time to catch her staring vacantly in the same direction I had been, sensing Rak I assumed.
“Now,” the blood witch who seemed to be in charge said loudly. “I have received some disturbing news from my minotaur. Donna is dead.”
“That’s impossible,” a voice gasped.
The first witch snapped her head toward the voice and I felt a chill. “Excuse me?” she breathed.
“M-my apologies, Mistress Alaria,” the voice continued. I recognized it as the blood witch who spoke with Jen and my heart sank.
“Oh no,” Jen whispered. “Taylor!”
I felt as if I was holding my breath - there was no question now that the woman we were watching was Alaria.
“It… it’s just that… I spoke with Donna. Just a few minutes ago.”
“What?!” Alaria shrieked. “Where?”
The other blood casters shrank back, leaving Taylor exposed and alone. “I… I went back to the cabanas to…” Taylor paused. “There was someone in one, it was a witch. She said she was Donna! She said she had um… information for you. She told me to go on ahead to the ritual while she prepared something.”
“Describe her,” Alaria said. Her voice was so soft I could hardly hear her, yet there was no mistaking the malice in it. Taylor’s description was even quieter, but I had seen Donna and knew that there was no way to mix her up with Jen. “That was not Donna,” spat Alaria. “It seems we have an imposter in our midst. Donna died within the labyrinth. Yesterday.”
“I thought you said the minotaur wouldn’t hurt us!” shouted a male voice. “That it was under your control! I knew using a labyrinth to travel was a bad idea!”
Alaria whirled and snapped her wand out toward the speaker. “Skal-ang-gral!”
One of the robed blood casters was hurled to the ground, screaming in pain. The others backed quickly away from him, all of them bowing toward Alaria as they did.
Mariana, Jen, and I all glanced at each other in alarm. Alaria was willing to use blood magic against her own followers; it made her more unpredictable and much more dangerous.
“The beast is under my control. Never question me again.” Alaria’s tone held a calm rage that sent a shiver up my spine. “When Donna failed to arrive, I entered the labyrinth to question my minotaur and discovered that someone else had been there and Donna was dead; killed with a blade, not by a minotaur. Now you tell me there is a witch on my island, masquerading as Donna… we will find her. And she will join us or she will die. Taylor, she deceived you, perhaps you would like to sacrifice her and renew your power.”
“That would be an honor, Mistress Alaria,” Taylor said.
I forced back a protective growl and settled for inching closer to Jen.
“Yet, we must not delay the ritual. We will deal with this witch when it is complete. It is time, behold, the sun is about to set!” Alaria declared.
Shite! I should have been paying closer attention. It was so close I could feel my body practically itching, every hair standing on end, waiting.
“TS, we’ve got to go!” Jen gasped. “You can’t be here when the sun sets!”
I nodded and we slowly began to back away. The last sliver of sun slipped below the horizon and even as I felt the rush as my body imperceptibly changed from human to non-human, I felt something else too, a sort of heavy weariness. Could I already feel the blood magic barrier affecting me? Would it be that fast?
The discomfort intensified as we crept away, then a loud explosion rent the air and I saw smoke through the trees.
“What was that?” Mariana gasped.
Eyes narrowed, I carefully hurried back. The three of us returned to our hiding spot and watched as Alaria was obscured by thick, dark smoke. Had there been an explosion? She was only hidden for a moment, then the smoke began to dissipate, revealing another figure next to Alaria!
This one was a man dressed in normal clothing instead of a cloak. His arms were up, protecting his face, but he began to lower them as the smoke cleared, brows furrowed in confusion.
“Where did he come from?” Jen asked.
I shook my head. “No idea.”
The man’s eyes widened in alarm and he raised his hands defensively in front of him.
“Air elemental?” Mariana said, noting his white hair too.
“I think so,” I said.
All at once, one of the chains on the alter rose of its own accord, shot out, and snapped around one of his wrists! He struggled, but was quickly overpowered. We watched in horror as, one by one, the chains latched onto his wrists and ankles and dragged him into place on the stone alter.
“We have to do something!” Jen said.
“What?” I growled, feeling maddeningly powerless. “What can the three of us do against that many blood casters?!”
Jen shook her head helplessly.
“This is horrible,” Mariana whispered. “They’re not really going to kill him, are they?!”
As he struggled, he rose several inches off of the stone, straining at the chains, confirming that he was indeed an air elemental. A wind began to whip around the blood casters, sending their cloaks billowing.
Heedless of the wind, Alaria raised her wand over him. “Skal-ven-resh!” With an abrupt jerk, she slashed her wand across one palm, then clutched her fingers around it. When she released it, her wand was glistening with dark-looking blood. Was it my imagination or was the wand beginning to glow?
She flipped the wand around in her other hand, reversing it so she held it more like a stake than a wand. “Skal-ven-resh! Ayer-grash-kren!�
�� Her cry seemed to echo around us, then she stabbed her wand down into the air elemental’s chest!
Mariana let out a choked gasp and clamped her hands over her mouth.
“Oh my god!” Jen murmured, eyes wide with horror.
My heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest. This was mental! Impossible. Horrible. And I was absolutely fecking powerless to do anything but watch.
Alaria yanked her wand out and held it high as white air elemental blood dripped from it. It was glowing! The glow intensified and a strange smoke began to swirl around it.
“Skal-ven-resh, ayer-grash-kren,” Alaria chanted.
In one smooth motion, she slashed the wand down and across the air elemental’s throat. His cry of pain choked off and he dropped heavily to the alter, motionless. Dead.
Someone let out a muffled sob. I wasn’t sure who it came from, maybe all three of us.
Alaria began to laugh; it was a cold, shrill sound that made me want to retch. She raised her arms in the air and threw back her head, cackling madly.
Then she began to rise.
It was impossible, but she lifted off of the ground and started floating in the air above the alter, still shrieking with laughter. Wind swirled around them all, lashing their robes and lifting a spray of sand into the air. Alaria raised one hand and I watched in shock as a visible ball of wind began to spin and form in her palm. She hurled it toward the other blood casters and they all tumbled backward to the ground.
“Behold!” she cried with glee. “I now possess the power of air elementals!” She sank gently to the ground and the wind died down. “Soon, soon my disciples, I will teach you the secrets of arcanism and you will join me and together we will rise; a new generation of arcanists, and we will hold dominion over everything.”
I stared, stunned, rooted to the spot. The stories said that arcanists somehow took the abilities of the people they sacrificed, but I never imagined it was like this. But there it was: a witch wielding air magic – without needing a wand – as powerful as any air elemental, more powerful than most witches. No wonder they said it took one hundred magics to defeat Dewinnos. The power of a regular witch, on top of blood magic, and the abilities of an air elemental combined in one person was terrifying; if Alaria had sacrificed anyone else, if she had even more magic…
They cheered and screamed as Alaria sat down on the stone, ignoring the body beside her.
“Now, go,” she said, with a dismissive wave of one hand. “Find this witch who has come to my island and bring her to me.”
“We need to go,” I said. “Now!”
Jen and Mariana nodded and the three of us turned and began to run through the trees, back toward the cabanas.
We hadn’t gone far when I noticed I was starting to feel unusually short of breath and my entire body ached. I glanced at my arm as we ran; my veins were noticeably darker than they should have been.
“Bloody hell,” I spat, forcing myself to run faster. We had to get out of the area, quickly.
The cabanas had just come into sight through the trees, when a blinding stab of pain sliced through my entire body, bringing me to my knees.
“TS!” Mariana cried.
“Are you okay?” Jen gasped, dropping down next to me.
I nodded, struggling to catch my breath. My fingers dug into the dirt beneath me and I looked at the blackening veins running up my arms. I couldn’t tell if I was having trouble breathing because of the pain radiating through my body or if it was yet another terrible thing blood magic could do.
“Go ahead and change into a wolf,” Jen said. “You can run faster. We’ll be okay! We’ll catch up.”
“What if shifting makes it worse?” Mariana asked.
“Dunno how much worse it can get,” I said weakly. I closed my eyes and focused on my wolf form, waiting for the itching, stretching sensation as I shifted.
Nothing happened.
“I… I can’t shift!”
“We have to get out of here!” Mariana said.
“TS, come on!” Jen begged, tugging on my arm.
Gritting my teeth, I staggered to my feet with a growl and did my best to keep running. Jen and Mariana each took one of my arms and encouraged me along. We made it around the cabanas, giving them a wide berth in case any blood casters were nearby, but it grew harder to keep going with every passing moment.
I wasn’t sure how close we were to safety when I stumbled, went down, and couldn’t get back up. My chest felt so tight it was like being crushed; every time I inhaled it seemed to take more effort than the last. My head was spinning and everything was blurred. Distantly, I could hear Jen and Mariana shouting at me, but I couldn’t focus on their voices well enough to understand what they were saying. I tried to stand, but couldn’t even figure out how to move. Waves of pain relentlessly struck my entire body over and over, as if each heartbeat triggered another.
Through the haze of pain a sudden crystal-clear feeling struck me and I heaved a sigh as something crashed into me, lifting me into the air. I could hardly even tell I was off the ground. I closed my eyes and tried to force more air into my aching lungs. Seconds or minutes or maybe hours passed and I hit the ground again, hard.
I lay there for a second, just trying to breathe. Amazingly, I already felt just a bit better. It was difficult, but I succeeded in rolling onto my side, to where Thomas was on his hands and knees, gasping for breath.
“You… didn’t have… to get me,” I managed to say.
“Like hell I didn’t,” he coughed. I could see dark tendrils of blood magic crossing his cheeks and temples. He hadn’t been across the barrier for nearly as long as I had, but I could still sense his pain. I sensed fear and determination, just before he struggled to his feet. “I have to go back,” he panted. “For Jen and Mariana.”
“They’re human, they’re alright.” I just barely managed to reach out and grab his pantleg, then gave it a weak tug.
Logically, it was the right thing for him to do; they were in danger, especially Jen, and Thomas would easily be able to find them and guide them to safety. He’d be there and back in less time than I had spent beyond the barrier. But he was my soul-packmate and the compulsion to put his safety above everything else, even of other packmates, was too strong to ignore.
“I’ll be fast,” he said, understanding. He gently twisted his leg free, then shot out of my reach before I could react. Stupid as it was, I still struggled to get up and follow before I got my instincts under control and forced myself to stay still.
Well, if I couldn’t go with him physically…
Keeping one ear out for danger, I closed my eyes and followed Tom through our bond. He was swiftly getting farther away, but I could tell from his satisfaction that he was on their scent and on the right track. All too soon, I could feel the effects of the blood magic. Pain. Fatigue. Nausea. He was afraid too. Then: relief – he had found them. A moment later I sensed a brief flash of amusement and bit back a weak chuckle. Judging from the complexity of the amusement, I knew it had to be Jen giving him hell for risking the blood magic. Good.
Still, I didn’t relax until they were back. Thomas sagged to his knees, Jen at his side, veins even darker and more prominent than before.
“Are you okay?” Jen asked. “Do you need blood?”
“I’ll be fine,” he said, even though I could sense he was racked with pain. His eyes met mine and he reached out and rubbed my head, sending a primal surge of satisfaction through me. “I’ll be fine,” he repeated for my benefit.
We both would be. But it wasn’t safe here.
“We have to go,” I said, struggling to sit up.
Thomas put a hand on my shoulder, gently holding me down. “Take a minute.”
“We don’t have a minute,” I said. “Alaria is after Jen, she wants her dead.”
He just gaped at me for a moment. “What?!” Tom finally demanded. “You saw Alaria? She knows we’re here?!”
“She knows I’m here,” Jen said.
“And she’s… She…”
“It was horrible,” Mariana added.
“What happened?!” asked Thomas, confusion and alarm coursing through him.
“It’s real,” I spat. “That’s what happened. It’s all real.” I took a deep breath, his brow furrowed as his eyes met mine. “Alaria is an arcanist.”
Chapter Five
Charlie
“And now, they’re searching the island for me,” Jen finished.
“Well, they aren’t going to find you,” Thomas said vehemently.
TS, who hadn’t been feeling well enough to contribute much, nodded and growled softly, before putting his head heavily back on his paws.
A tense silence fell over the hotel room, as we all sat and contemplated what Jen and the others had seen. I shifted my weight with a grimace, trying to find a more comfortable spot against the doorframe of the bathroom.
“Please go sit somewhere more comfortable,” Danio said from the shower.
I shot him a glare that plainly said I was not budging.
“Stubborn imp,” he muttered.
“So, that’s all Alaria did?” Thomas asked. “She… she killed the air elemental and then just… had air elemental magic?!”
“That’s it,” TS said. “I wouldn’t believe it, if I hadn’t seen it.”
Thomas shook his head. “Here, we thought blood magic was frightfully powerful before. How many other magics has she sacrificed? What else is she capable of?”
“Sounds like she got a siren,” snarled Danio. His gray eyes churned blacker for a moment at the thought of Alaria murdering a fellow water elemental.
“Which means, in theory, she can do everything a siren can, right?” Thomas said. “How good are they at controlling water?”
“Not as good as a nereid.” Danio managed to not sound too smug. “Although we can’t just assume she hasn’t already gotten a nereid too.”
TS sighed. “It’s probably best we just assume she’s capable of, well, anything. Everything.”
“What about the ones she was with?” Danio asked. “Are we dealing with a dozen arcanists?”
“It sounded like she was the only one,” Jen said. “She told them that “soon” she’d teach them how to do it.”
Rise of the Arcanist Series: Books 1 - 6 Page 34