Then a werewolf twice my size lifted me clear off the floor, swirling with emotions. I hugged him back, just letting him feel my relief and my fear instead of voicing it.
“We have to go,” I said after a moment that was far too short. “We don’t have long. Tomorrow they’ll ask you to go or stay. Stay. Tell them you’ll stay. They’ll kill you if you say you want to leave.”
“Bloody hell,” Tethys groaned.
“We have to go to our rooms, we’re locked in tonight, but we’ll find you in the morning,” I promised.
They both nodded, none of us wanted to be the first to move. I could hear footsteps in the hall.
“Come on,” I said softly to Danio.
He gave Charlie one last kiss, then reluctantly turned to follow me.
Neither of us spoke, even after we got back to my room. We both settled in wordlessly on the bed. I couldn’t say how long we lay there in silence until Danio broke it.
“Two weeks. We waited for two fucking weeks,” he choked. “Why the hell did we wait?!”
“We… we were being cautious,” I said, voicing the same argument I was having as I guilt-tripped myself. If I had sensed anything from Tethys that made me suspect he was gearing up for something… “At least you get to see Charlie?” I offered.
“Honestly?” Dani murmured. “I’d rather never see him again and know he’s safe someplace and not… not here. Anywhere but this fucking madhouse.”
I couldn’t argue. I was, briefly, jealous of their reunion and found myself wishing I could see Jen. But he was right; I’d rather not see her at all than have her a prisoner here too.
“Maybe now…” I said. “Maybe the four of us can find a way out.”
“Maybe.” He sighed, then said, “Even if they are here, we did get a message out. If we can’t escape, we can hope we gave the others enough information to find us.”
“Yeah… we can hope.”
~~~***~~~
We didn’t see much of them the next morning and it was torture. We knew we couldn’t risk being too familiar with them too quickly. Instead, Danio and I watched from afar as Adaira came to collect them to meet Reave.
I signaled to Tethys to find us and Danio and I headed up to my room to wait. We both paced around as the minutes ticked by.
All at once, I sensed a sudden surge of panic from Tethys and whirled in the direction he was in.
“What?!” Danio demanded, yanking out a throwing knife.
“I… I don’t know.” I frowned, focusing on the feeling. It was suppressed now, but still roiling under the surface. Something had Tethys worried. Scared.
“What happened?!” Danio pressed.
“I don’t know!” I waved my hands helplessly. “He’s upset about something.”
“Could something have happened to Char?”
“No. Something is just…” I shook my head, baffled. “It’s wrong.”
“They’re with Reave now, right?” Danio asked. “And Victor? Do you think they’ve been… caught?”
“I don’t think so…” I bit my tongue and concentrated on curiosity. A sense of calm, a gentle fingernail poke in my palm. “Whatever it is it’s… okay. For now.” Yet despite the reassurance, something still had Tethys on high alert.
Danio frowned and returned to pacing, a bit faster than before.
“They’re coming,” I announced in relief a few minutes later.
After another, much longer more relieved exchanged of hugs, greetings, and a few curses, we were all settled down.
“Teth, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“That woman with Reave, the witch…” he said.
“Adaira,” Danio said. “She’s the one… oh right, you never got the message, did you?”
“Message?” Char asked.
“We called,” I told them grimly. “Yesterday.”
They both sighed.
“We didn’t get it. Obviously,” said Tethys. “But…”
“Well, we think Adaira is up to something,” Danio told them.
A strange surge of emotions passed through Tethys. “You’ve got that right,” he growled.
“You know her,” I said in surprise as I realized it.
“I’ve seen her…” He shook his head. “I didn’t recognize her until this morning…”
“Well, who is she?” Danio asked.
Tethys was quiet for a moment, filled with a rush of fear.
“You’re afraid of her,” I whispered. “Why?”
He raised his eyes to mine, then glanced at Danio and Charlie. “That witch… Adaira… That’s not her name.” He swallowed hard. “And she’s not a witch.”
“Then what is she?” Danio demanded.
“Who is she?” I asked at the same time.
TS took a deep breath and, as if he was afraid she would hear him, whispered, “Alaria.”
~~~***~~~
Magic Unveiled
Rise of the Arcanist
Book Five
A More than Magic Serial
Elizabeth Kirke
Copyright 2020 Elizabeth Kirke
Cover by T.M. Franklin
Editing by Rachael Riches
Formatting by EK Formatting
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.
Chapter One
Ember
“Ember,” Jen said softly.
I glanced down and noticed that, once again, I had set fire to the carpet of the car.
“Sorry.” I patted the little flame out and then clenched my fists to stop from snapping my fingers and creating more sparks. “I'm just nervous.” Nervous was an understatement.
“We all are,” Mariana said.
I nodded, but the sentiment didn't help that much. “How long have we been sitting here?” I asked, even though the clock was right in front of me.
“Two and a half hours,” Shannon said.
I groaned and wiggled my back against my seat, trying to get comfortable. I felt like the closer we got, the longer everything seemed to take. Rak climbed from the center console and onto my lap, purring. The sound was comforting, but I had to wonder if he was also keeping an eye on me, so I didn’t set anything else on fire.
“Someone’s here!” Jen said suddenly.
I looked up at the parking lot across the street, watching as a car pulled in and parked. For the last hour the only movement in the parking lot had been people leaving. This was new. After a tense minute, people started to get out of the car.
The first thing I noticed was a woman with long, bright red hair, which transitioned to orange and then yellow as it grew out. The hair was a dead giveaway she was a fire elemental, but I switched briefly into thermal vision to check her temperature anyway.
“Fire elemental,” I said softly.
Mariana gasped and leaned forward, between the two front seats. “And that’s Anthony!”
I didn’t know what he looked like, but Shannon nodded. “That’s him, alright,” she said grimly.
“Looks like the guy with the raven is in charge,” said Jen.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
The other two were walking behind him, but it seemed more like a formation than just three friends walking from their car into a restaurant. Or maybe that was just because I knew that at least one of them was involved in this whole thing.
“I guess something is actually happening now. Can you hear what they’re saying?” Jen whispered.
“No,” Shannon breathed, “But if that guy is a vampire, he might be able to hear us.”
There was no way to tell at this distance if he was a wizard or vampire, but considering the nature of the group, I doubted he was human.
We all fell silent, watching out the windshield as the trio went into the restaurant. I could feel my heart pounding as I waited for somethi
ng to happen, but of course, just like the last two and a half hours, the outside of the restaurant was unchanged, giving no clue as to what was happening inside.
“I don't like this,” Mariana said suddenly. “It’s stupid. If Dani and Thomas haven't been able to even contact us in six months, what good are TS and Charlie going to be able to do?”
“I don't like it either,” Jen said. “But it has been six months. If they haven't been able to get back to us, then the only choice we have is to go to them.”
“What happens when they don't come back either?” I blurted.
“It’s a risk they’re willing to take,” Shannon said softly. “We all feel the same, we’re just… not the ones who can do it.”
I sighed, they were all right, of course. It was the same argument we had been having for weeks now. One with no good answer.
Mariana was right; Dani and Thomas were supposed to be some of the best agents in the region and they hadn't even found a way to reach us yet. Sending two people in to rescue them was just going to result in having to rescue four people instead.
But Jen was right too. If they couldn’t get out, the only answer was to go in after them.
Shannon, too, was right. We all wanted to go rescue them. In fact, we spent a long time debating who among us were the best choices. It had to be at least two, nobody was going in alone, but it couldn’t be all of us either. Someone had to stay behind in case…
We were also forced to rely on just ourselves for this. Knowing these people had someone inside MES, we couldn’t risk making it a big thing until we knew who the spy was. Jon told us we absolutely were not to try and find Thomas and Dani by going to Cavaliers like they did, but I suspected he knew that wouldn’t stop us. He couldn’t possibly keep TS from looking for his soul-packmate and it would be just as hard to stop my dad from looking for Dani. With the added complication from the blood casters, we couldn’t even try to turn to anyone else. It was just us.
Jen couldn’t go, seeing as she was a witch. As desperate as I was to go find them, I was the only one with the knowledge of getting around the MES database, not to mention my dad shot down the suggestion immediately. I was no happier with him going, but I couldn’t argue with him – not that I hadn’t tried – and I wasn’t stupid enough to try and sneak along, no matter how much I wanted to.
That left Shannon and Mariana. We arranged a meeting for them, and for TS and Charlie, with Anthony, just in case not everyone was chosen. It seemed we were right to be cautious, TS and Charlie were given instructions to come to the meeting, Shannon and Mariana were thanked and that was that.
We sat in tense silence, all eyes on Cavaliers, for several minutes. Just when I was starting to feel like I couldn’t stand to wait any longer, the door opened and the guy with the raven came back out, followed by Anthony and several people. TS was the tallest and I noticed him right away. For one panicked moment, I couldn’t see my dad, then I realized there was heat coming from behind TS. As they gathered around, I spotted him and sighed in relief.
They stood around for a while as the guy with the raven talked. Then, they lined up and took turns putting stuff into a box. We all exchanged a curious look. I started to say something but Shannon frantically shushed me and pointed to her ear, then at the man across the street. I nodded and forced myself to stay quiet.
Jen sucked in a breath and waved for our attention, then pointed. A bus was arriving! We watched as it pulled into the parking lot and then stopped near the group. I held my breath as they all slowly boarded the bus. For a couple of minutes, it sat there idling.
Heat! I gasped and turned my attention back to the building. There was a very hot spot growing in the center.
“Fire!” I hissed as quietly as I could. “In Cavaliers!”
It burned for a minute – too hot for a normal fire. Then, it died down. A moment later the fire elemental woman walked out.
“Was it her?” Jen asked.
I nodded. “She burned something.”
“I wonder what,” Mariana said.
We all nodded in agreement.
The fire elemental woman got on the bus and then it began to pull away. My breath hitched and I clenched my fists, praying that I hadn’t just seen my dad for the last time. The last six months, not knowing where Dani was or if even if he was okay had been torture. I couldn’t imagine even six days now without him and my dad. I couldn’t lose them both…
“Ember,” Rak said, gently curving his claws into my thigh to get my attention.
I realized I had just raised the temperature in the car by ten degrees and muttered an apology before getting myself under control.
Jen started the car and slowly pulled out, after giving the bus time to get ahead of us. “Here we go,” she muttered.
We drove in tense silence, trying to keep far enough back so nobody would realize we were following, but not so far we would lose them.
The minutes passed as the bus rumbled along. Then the hours. The bus exited onto a small highway and I read a sign without really reading it. A few seconds later, it sank in.
“That sign,” I gasped, turning in my seat. “We’re heading toward Allegany State Park!”
Everyone sucked in a breath.
“It’s a big park…” Mariana said slowly. “We might just be going near it…”
But just a few minutes later, the bus turned onto a road that led to a campground. A gated campground.
“Ashes,” I muttered, as the gate raised, allowing the bus through, before lowering in front of us. I watched in growing alarm as the bus continued into the campground.
We pulled up to the gatehouse and a man leaned out. “Hello. Do you have a reservation for a cabin?”
“Oh, no,” Jen said. She hesitated and then said, “We’re just checking out the campground. Mind if we drive around a bit?”
“It’s a little late for that,” he said skeptically.
“We’re ghost hunters,” Shannon called from the backseat, flashing a huge smile at the man. “We love campgrounds at night!”
He stared at her for a moment, then cleared his throat. “Sure. Okay…” he said, “Let me get you a pass…” He pulled back into his gatehouse with a shiver and started writing.
“Skata,” I spat; I had lost sight of the bus.
The man handed us a pass, which Jen stuck onto the dashboard. “Happy uh… hunting?” he offered.
“Thanks!” Jen told him.
The gate rose, so slowly I wanted to scream, and we drove through.
“Drive faster!” I snapped, even though I could see that Jen was already going ten over the speed limit.
Nevertheless, Jen sped up a little bit.
“Does anybody see the bus?” she asked nervously.
I felt a rush of wind and turned to see Shannon had opened her window and was sniffing the air. “No, but I smell it,” she said, pulling her head back in. “Keep going this way.”
“Mar,” Jen said, aiming her wand at her eyes.
There weren’t enough lights around here for me to see well either, so I switched to thermal vision. Everything changed to shades of blue and green, and even some black. I shivered at the sight of the cold. In the distance I could see little dots of orange and red from campfires and much larger blobs of yellow from trailers. I looked all around us, searching for signs of people or the bus.
We reached a fork in the road and Shannon directed us to the left. The road looped around and curved through the trees, with RVs and campers on either side. We passed a row of restrooms and a run-down barn. I peered in through the large holes in the doors of the barn as we drove by, but it was empty.
The road curved around farther and we slowly followed it, searching desperately for the bus. A nervous knot began to form in my stomach.
“I can’t smell it!” Shannon cried. “Turn around, we missed it!”
Jen quickly pulled into an unused campsite and turned. We retraced our path along the road, an air of tension in the car. We got all the
way back to the fork, but Shannon shook her head.
“No, it’s the road we were just on for sure.”
“Damnit!” Jen spat, turning around again. “Does anyone see it?!”
I swallowed hard. This couldn’t be happening. We were right behind the bus! We got back to the curve again with no luck. Still, Shannon was certain she couldn’t smell the bus down the rest of the road. Mariana let out a soft, mournful whistle as we turned again.
“Maybe we should get out and walk?” Shannon suggested.
“There!” Mariana shrieked. “In the barn!”
Jen slowed the car. We all leaned toward the windows. I could swear I had already looked in the barn, but sure enough, there was heat coming from it – something in there was warm. We all waited, watching, but nothing seemed to happen. The only change was that the warm spot was gradually cooling down.
“I don't think anybody's in there,” Shannon said at last.
“Neither do I,” I said, the knot in my stomach twisted and I felt another one forming at the base of my skull, poised to become an awful headache.
“Let's go,” Jen said, drawing her wand.
We opened the car doors and cautiously headed for the barn, keeping an eye out all around us. I couldn't see anyone. It was a cold night and most of the campers were likely already asleep or huddled around the fires I could see in the distance.
“Anything?” Jen whispered softly.
Shannon shook her head. “I can't smell anyone.”
“I don’t see anyone,” I added.
“Ahn,” Jen whispered.
One of the doors swung open. I switched out of thermal vision, just long enough to confirm that I really was looking at the same bus, and then switched back as we went into the barn.
“The engine is warm,” I said softly, looking at the shades of orange. The edges of the engine had cooled to yellow, but it was still almost red in places. “It didn't turn off that long ago.”
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