by Ella Summers
“Of course not! I’m an entertainer, not a warrior! I’ve never been in an actual firefight!” said the hysterical fairy
“Then just keep your head down and try to stay out of the way,” Alex said and ran off. She did not have time to babysit Daemon Grimoire right now.
Marek cut her off before she got to Kai’s guards.
“We need to talk,” he said.
Alex could barely hear him over the cacophony of spells going off in the room.
“I’m not hear to fight you,” Marek told her. “I want to help.”
Alex glanced briefly at Sera and Kai, who were busy fighting Logan. “That’s what they say.”
“Yeah, I know. They think you’ve gone nuts.”
“And what do you think?”
“That you need to get out of here. Grab Logan and Daemon and leave. No matter how strong you’ve become, no matter what new spells you’ve learned, you’re outnumbered here. You can’t fight them all.”
“Sure I can.”
Alex lifted her hands in the air. Power flooded her—terrible, beautiful power. She snapped her fingers and eight Spells of Entrapment burst out of the ground. The crimson magic geysers swallowed up Sera, Kai, Marek, the commandos, and Kai’s guards. The room was suddenly quiet.
“Whoa,” Daemon said, his eyes as wide as saucers as they panned across the eight mages Alex had imprisoned with a snap of her fingers.
Alex strode toward Sera. Betrayal gripped her wounded heart. Her sister had turned on her.
The memory of a dream flashed through Alex’s head. She saw a dark and terrible hunter in a long cloak. Dragon fire shot out of her hands. The purple flames reduced a group of humans to ashes.
Alex shook off the images. She’d had those dreams—those nightmares—many times, dreams in which she was the villain. Evil Alex. Were those flashes of the future? Or just the frightened fantasies of a troubled mind?
She dropped her arms to her sides. The spell on her hands sizzled out. Her anger faded, leaving only dread. She didn’t want to become Evil Alex. She didn’t want to be a Black Plague on this earth that killed people out of anger—or, worse yet, for pleasure.
“Let’s go,” she told Logan.
She cast a teleportation glyph on the floor, and, linking one arm with Logan’s and the other with Daemon’s, she took them far from this place.
25
Imagination Magic
Alex jumped out of the teleportation glyph. Logan and Daemon were right beside her. Her spell had brought them to Wizard House Pizza, the one closest to where Alex and Sera had once lived, back when they’d been working as mercenaries for Mayhem.
The remnants of Alex’s spell rustled the pizza boxes around. They were in a back storage room, which was stacked high with unused delivery boxes. The gale of the spell knocked some of them off the shelves. Luckily, no one was around this time of day. Pizza places didn’t do much business early in the morning.
So they were safe. No one knew where they were, and no one would think to look for them here, one of so many places from Alex’s past. She hastily broke the glyph’s magic, so Sera and the others couldn’t follow them through it. Sera. Her sister. Alex had never thought that things would go this way, that she would be hiding—running—from her own sister.
Daemon looked around the storage room, his eyes scanning the stacks and stacks of pizza boxes and the tubs of ingredients. “Charming place.”
“Well, I’m sure it’s nothing like you’re used to,” Alex shot back at the flamboyant fairy.
“Certainly not. I never much cared for Wizard House Pizza. Their sense of style is…” His eyes locked on to a bright yellow-and-red box. “…lacking.”
“But they do make the world’s best pizza.” Alex turned to Logan.
He had already completed a quick survey of the room. “There are no security cameras back here.”
“I guess they figure empty pizza boxes aren’t worth stealing,” replied Alex.
The sweet, fresh aroma of tomatoes still lingered in the air, coupled with the creamy, comforting scent of cheese and the yeasty smell of dough—leftovers from last night’s dinner rush.
Alex paced across the small room, feelings of betrayal filling her once more. “Why would Sera and Kai turn against us?”
“They haven’t,” Daemon said. “Not really.”
“Oh, really? So what do you call what they did back there in Magnus Drake’s cave?” Alex said drily. “They were going to imprison us. But why? It doesn’t make any sense! Could Damarion have gotten to them?”
“I don’t think that’s what’s going on,” Daemon told her.
“Then what the hell is going on?”
“Remember the night they took your brother?” he asked.
“Of course. I can’t forget it.”
The anger that Riley was gone. The feeling of being helpless.
“There was a flash of magic when the mage pulled him through the glyph,” Daemon recalled. “An explosion. And then everything started going downhill after that.”
“The pain of losing Riley has put a lot of stress on our family.” It was the only explanation Alex could arrive at for Sera’s odd behavior.
“Yes. And no.”
“If you don’t stop being so cryptic, Daemon, I’m going to crack open your mind and pull what you’re thinking out of you,” Alex snapped.
Daemon paled at the threat. Good. She hadn’t lost her touch.
“Riley is a shadow mage with the power to warp reality,” Daemon said. “Damarion and Nightstar planned his capture, and they captured him for a reason. They could have plugged him into the machine right away after they got him. We all blacked out for a bit after the explosion. What if we never woke up?”
“Wait, so you’re saying that we’re all in this fake magic world, inside of Riley’s imagination?” Alex frowned. “All of us?”
“The three of us are at least. The whole world has gone topsy-turvy upside down, and we’re the only ones acting normal. I think we’re trapped in a simulation, and everyone else is just a figment of the program, a shadow of Riley’s magic.”
“That is ridiculous. I know this is real.” Alex looked at Logan, whose senses were better than anyone’s. “Right?”
“This is real, not a simulation,” he stated. “We have to stay focused, not allow ourselves to be distracted by unfounded paranoia.”
Daemon stared at his boots, looking rather sheepish. “It was only an idea.”
Alex was fiddling with her jacket when a piece of paper fell from her sleeve.
Logan caught it before it hit the floor and handed it to her. “Lose something?”
Alex glanced down at the piece of paper. Except it wasn’t a piece of paper at all. It was a thick, black business card. She rubbed it between her fingers. The card was high-quality. Someone had written something on it using gold paint marker. An address and a time. Alex flipped over the card to find a fancy M printed on the back.
“It’s from Marek,” Alex said.
That ornate, cursive M was his signature.
“It could be a trap,” Logan warned her.
Alex winked at him. “We have to stay focused, not allow ourselves to be distracted by unfounded paranoia.”
Logan’s eyes twinkled, clearly amused to hear his earlier words repeated back at him.
“But just to be sure, we’ll proceed with caution,” Alex said.
Logan nodded in approval. “I’ve got to say, Alex, that I’m impressed by your lack of recklessness.”
“Right now, we can’t really afford to draw attention to ourselves. I do trust Marek. But I trusted Sera too.”
“Your sister thinks she’s helping you.”
“I know,” Alex sighed. “That’s what makes this so hard. It’s much easier when someone’s right and someone’s wrong. When it’s black and white. When there’s a right and a wrong. When there’s a clear hero and a clear villain in the story. Well, that’s not the case here. So we must be careful.”
She
pulled out her phone and checked the time. “We have over two hours before Marek wants to meet us. That should be enough time to scout out the meetup location.”
26
Hunted
Marek had asked to meet them in the library. Not the big Library of Supernatural Affairs, but a smaller, older, often-overlooked library in a darker part of town. The Magic Council surely had people out looking for them, so they couldn’t just walk through the front door. At least not until Daemon, a fairy well-skilled in the art of magical disguise, had changed their appearances.
He’d turned Alex into a mousy university student with limp brown hair and very large glasses. She wore a fluffy sweater with a gigantic kitten knitted on the front, a baggy skirt that kissed the tops of her woolen knee-high socks, and black shoes with oversized buckles on them.
Dressed in a checkered sweater vest over a faded white shirt and a pair of loose khakis, Logan looked like her male twin. He had the same dark, floppy hair and the same oversized glasses.
As for Daemon, the fairy had styled himself in a professor’s evening coat, shimmery green in color. A big bowtie rested at his neck, and he wore a pair of designer jeans with loud cowboy boots. His sense of style would not stand for anything less than bold flamboyance. Subtle, he truly was not.
Logan hadn’t found anything suspicious around the library. No traps, magical or mechanical. No spies from the Magic Council. The place was clean. Still, they had to be careful. Kai’s secret surveillance had fooled them before, back at the Paradise Resort. They all needed to keep their eyes open and their senses primed.
Alex led the way into the library. The librarian behind the front desk, a woman with a tight bun and a stern expression, barely glanced up from the book she was reading. Alex supposed that the three of them looked like boring bookworms, not the kind of people who would set the library on fire or rile up any kind of trouble.
The library’s walls were high, covered in books and the sliding ladders used to reach those books. All in all, the place was very old-fashioned, not nearly as modern as the snazzy Library of Supernatural Affairs. Alex liked it.
They entered the section on magic history, traversing several other sections before coming to a small study nook at the back of the library. That’s where they found Marek seated in one of the plush armchairs.
His clothing, a navy-blue sweater and a pair of dress pants, was quite reserved today, a far cry from his usual style. He’d forgone the upscale, designer-punk look he enjoyed wearing so much. Even his black hair was brushed back, and he’d removed all his piercings.
“The Magic Council is scouring the whole city, hunting for you,” Marek told them as they sat down on the sofa opposite him.
“I still can’t believe Kai would authorize such a hunt,” Alex growled. “My sister’s husband, no less.”
“Unless it’s not really Kai,” Daemon muttered.
Marek frowned. “What does he mean by that?”
Alex explained Daemon’s theory that they were all trapped in a simulation powered by Riley’s shadow magic.
Marek thought about that for a moment, then declared, “That’s ridiculous.”
“Why then did Damarion take Riley if not to use his magic?” Daemon demanded defensively.
“I must be missing something.” Marek’s dark brows drew together. “Damarion?”
“So, apparently, Damarion is not dead. Somehow. Don’t ask me how he’s alive because I have no idea whatsoever,” Alex told him. “And apparently Nightstar is working for Damarion. They ditched their Convictionite alliance after nabbing all of their best magic-modified soldiers.”
“That is concerning,” said Marek. “We studied Damarion’s era in magic history. Centuries ago, when Damarion was at the height of his power, things weren’t good for anyone. The Dragon Born had it the worst, of course, but no one was living well back then. Damarion was a very divisive figure. He sowed strife wherever he went. He split the supernatural Council right in two, some siding with him, some against.”
“He sounds like a charming fellow,” Alex said.
Marek blew air through his lips. “Damarion’s return is bad news, but you have bigger problems right now, Alex. The Council thinks you’ve gone rogue—and quite insane.”
“Mine is a measured, deliberate insanity.”
He leaned forward in his chair. “This isn’t funny, Alex.”
“No shit, Marek. But right now, humor is the only thing holding back the shadow of certain doom that’s looming over my head.”
“It’s not safe for you here in San Francisco, Alex. In fact, it’s not safe for you on this planet. And now Damarion is back, potentially to finish what he started long ago: to wipe out the Dragon Born.”
She sank the tip of her shoe into the thick carpet. “You see, piling on all the doom and gloom is not helping my mental state.”
“I’m trying to help you,” he told her. “I’ve arranged a safe place for you to hide.”
“Hiding?” Her hand reached instinctively for her sword. “I spent most of my life hiding. I’m done with that.”
“Please, Alex. For once, don’t be so bloody stubborn.”
“Who is this friend of yours anyway?” she asked him. “Can we even trust him?”
“He’s your friend too. And of course we can trust him. It’s Gaelyn. His compound in Zurich is well-protected. Everyone who’s anyone respects Gaelyn. Not even the Magic Council would dare attack his residence.”
That was likely true. Gaelyn was old, well-respected, and kind. He was sort of like the supernatural community’s very own Santa Claus.
Gaelyn made a point of staying out of supernatural politics, but the Magic Council lived and breathed politics—and all the ceremony that went along with it. Supernaturals who held positions of power and esteem in the community couldn’t just be imprisoned, accused, or attacked. Alex had been reminded of that a lot lately. Well, it was high time she used that political circus to her advantage, rather than letting it always get in her way.
“I’ve already spoken to Gaelyn,” Marek said. “He returned to Zurich a few days ago, and he’s ready to take you in and offer you his full protection.”
“All right,” she agreed. “Staying with Gaelyn, out of the Council’s reach, will give us time to figure out what to do next.”
“Getting to Zurich will be a problem,” Logan pointed out. “In fact, even leaving San Francisco will be a problem. The Magic Council has likely set up patrols all across the city, especially at the exit points.”
“They have,” Marek confirmed. “The Council’s patrols are everywhere.”
Alex smirked at Logan. “What’s wrong? Don’t think you can get us around a few pesky patrols?”
“I could get around them,” he replied, unfazed. “But it will take time. And in the end, there’s a chance we might have to go through them.”
Alex had another flash of those nightmarish images, of her as Evil Alex. Of her fighting her family. Of her as a monstrous killer without soul or sympathy. She had to avoid that fate, assuming it was fate and not just fear. The images felt so vivid, so real.
No. She could not be that person. She could not go down that path of degradation. She’d come so close tonight… She couldn’t let that happen again.
“Alex?” Logan asked. He looked worried, and even a little scared.
“I don’t want to fight Sera or Kai or the commandos. I don’t even want to fight the Magic Council.” She took a few slow, calming breaths. “We can’t fight. We need to slip out of the city unnoticed.”
“We can try, but as I said, Alex, I can’t guarantee that we can escape the city without a fight, particularly if the Council’s forces are indeed ‘everywhere’.”
“He’s right,” Marek said. “A fight might be inevitable.”
“No,” Alex said stubbornly.
A fight wasn’t inevitable. Her nightmares coming true—that wasn’t inevitable. She wouldn’t let it happen.
“There’s another way
out,” Alex told them. “I can use a transportation glyph to bring us to Gaelyn’s house in Zurich.”
“You have successfully teleported between two such distant points?” Marek asked, surprise in his eyes.
“No, not yet. But I can do it.”
Marek looked skeptical. Not that Alex blamed him. Teleporting halfway across the world was no small feat. The very powerful Grim Reaper had once teleported Sera from San Francisco to Northern Oregon, but this was a whole other game altogether. And Alex wasn’t the Grim Reaper—or at least she didn’t want to be.
“My powers have grown, Marek,” Alex said.
“I saw that back in Magnus Drake’s cave.”
“Sorry. I had to use the spell on you too, Marek, or the Council might be hunting you now too.”
“Yeah.” He grimaced. “They’ve gone barking mad, the whole lot of them.” He shook his head. “But can you really teleport yourself so far?”
“I can do it. I’ll just need to pull out all the stops.”
All the stops meant using the magic links she shared with her dragon and with Logan. And it might not hurt to pray a lot too.
“What do you need?” Logan asked her.
Alex reached out and squeezed his hand. “You by my side.”
“Always.”
“I’m going to need to draw on your magic, from our Blood Magic bond,” she warned him, rising to her feet.
Logan stood up with her. “Whatever you need, Alex, I’m here.” He nudged Daemon, who jumped up like he’d just been stung by a bee.
Alex drew a teleportation glyph with her magic. It required enormous concentration. Everything else faded out; it was just this tiny spot where she stood—and the place she needed to reach. The two ends were held together by only a thin magic strand.
Alex felt the two ends of that strand compress like a spring, drawing the two points on Earth closer together. Then the magic snapped, catapulting the four of them into the abyss.
27
Sanctuary
