‘Because it is!’
The floorboards rippled toward her and pushed her away toward the top of the staircase a second before the first swirling tendrils of green had the chance to lash around any of Jessica’s limbs. She slammed a hand against the wall to keep from flying head-first down the stairs. “Stop pushing me!”
‘Then stop being so slow and stupid. Go, go, go!’
The Gateway let out another furious growl, and Jessica booked it down the stairs. Green light flashed and sputtered behind her, stronger than it ever had been, and the stairs felt like they’d give way any second beneath her.
“What’s going on?”
‘Are you serious? It’s the damn Gateway.’
She slammed against the wall at the bottom of the first landing, then shuffled down the last few stairs and headed down the hall. With a final glance at the green-hued explosions wreaking havoc on the second floor, Jessica gritted her teeth and stalked into the lobby. “I know it’s the Gateway. Why is it doing…that?”
‘If I had to guess, I’d say your little close call with almost opening it yesterday and ruining everything gave the thing some extra insight.’
“I have no idea what that means.” Jessica ducked halfway to the desk when the growling roar upstairs increased in intensity and something loud and heavy knocked around up there. Thick waves of dust fluttered down through the slats in the ceiling.
‘It means I’m pretty sure the thing knows what we’re about to do and doesn’t like it. At all.’
“How is that even possible?”
‘Because it almost had you, Jessica. It knew about the Brúkii. It just…found out somehow. And now it’s trying to stop you.’
The lid of the inkwell clattered onto the desk when it slipped from her hand. She dropped a finger in the ink, laid out her fingerprint, and tore off the top sheet. “I hate how much sense that makes right now.”
‘I know, right? Here’s to hoping the entitled brat behind that doors quits throwing a tantrum once you’re actually outta here.’
Jessica paused in front of the vault’s door, her tin box clutched in one hand and her fingerprint paper in the other. “And if it doesn’t?”
The door swung quickly open on its own. ‘Meh. Then it doesn’t.’
“But what about you?” Her rapid footsteps echoed across the vault’s black floor, leaving ripples of glittering gold and green light in their wake. “If the Gateway starts tearing the place apart and I’m not here to help you stop it—”
‘If you’re not here, that means you’re out there. Getting your magic back and doing this other reckoning spell with the Laenmúr whoevers. And when that’s done, whatever the Gateway thinks it can do now will just be a drop in the bucket.’
Jessica lifted her fingerprint toward the wall, and the vault boxes spun and whirred and roared almost as loudly as the thing behind the Gateway. But not loud enough to completely drown out the sound. “I don’t like the way you said that.”
‘Don’t worry about me, Jess.’
“Too late.” Her box stopped in front of her with a flash of green light, and she had the thing open five seconds later. “I can’t just leave you here if that—”
An even louder roar split through the bank, this time making the safety deposit boxes shudder in their places along the circular room’s walls. There was a grinding metallic sound, like huge moving gears being forced to a halt, and Jessica stumbled forward before catching herself on the side of the open drawer.
“It’s getting worse. And that’s my point.”
‘You have to leave. Otherwise, this is the end of everything. Apparently, we’ve run out of time.’
She jerked open the overnight bag, dropped the dented tin box inside with all the other reagents for the spell, then hauled the bag out and settled the strap over her shoulder. “What if you can’t stop it?”
‘I can’t. That’s your job.’
Jessica slapped the front of the drawer and was already hurrying across the black marble floor again as the drawer slid back into the wall with a bang. “I’m serious.”
‘So am I. I can’t stop the thing. But I can keep it from doing way more damage than it would if you hadn’t finally gotten your head out of your ass and figured out how to make this work. And hopefully I’ll still be around to celebrate with you when you come back. You know, completely yourself. And with phase two opened up and all that.’
The second she stepped into the hall, the witching vault’s door slammed shut behind her and another violent burst of green light flared from the second floor. A deafening crack rose from the staircase where the banister had finally given up the ghost under the abuse. Loud, urgent pounding came from the other side of the Gateway, filling the bank with the metallic echo.
Did the thing trying to get through know that Leandras’ plans had changed? Or was this just another one of those mind-exploding coincidences?
‘Does it matter?’
“Not really.” Jessica hurried toward the desk, where she now had to perform more emergency lock-smelting just to get that damn coin out of the drawer. Something else crashed overhead, and it sounded a lot like it had come from her bedroom.
‘You gotta be faster than that, witch.’
“I’m trying!” Her fingers grew hot as she pumped heat and magic into the lock. The metal turned red and started to droop in the middle, but that would still take too long. Gritting her teeth, she slammed her palm against the glowing red metal and unleashed as much of her broken magic as she could efficiently aim. Dark tendrils of smoke and black light burst from her fingers and her wrist to shoot straight through the wood. The desk drawer splintered, the bottom fell out, and the contents quickly followed. “Shit.”
Shaking out her burned hand, Jessica dropped to her knees and tossed aside Tabitha’s other random leftovers that really had no business being stuck in a drawer in the first place. Then her fingers closed around the white box, and she lifted it out of the mess to take a peek inside.
‘It’s in there, okay? Just get moving!’
She shoved the box into her jacket pocket and jogged across the lobby toward the front door as the banging and roaring and strobing green light grew and intensified. The bank’s very foundation shook and shuddered, adding the groan of warping wood and shifting beams to the din.
Right now, the only thing that mattered now was that Jessica got this done. Just one foot in front of the other, like she’d been doing her entire life.
The bolt in the front door slid aside, and the door opened before she reached it. The jingle of the bell was completely drowned out by the Gateway’s attempts at rebellion. Or whatever it was doing. And with the frigid cold of the dark November air seeping through the open door and hitting her face like a physical slap, Jessica suddenly didn’t want to leave.
‘You have to.’
“I have no idea what I’ll be coming back to.”
‘Hey, just focus on coming back at all, okay? I’ll—’
Another violent crash rocked the second floor, and the ceiling on the far side of the room beneath the upstairs hallway buckled.
‘Listen, Jessica. Just keep an eye on the pendant. At the very least, you’ll know I’m not a pile of charred wood if it’s still glowing. And if that damn portal ever shuts the hell up, I’ll know you didn’t get ripped to shreds by the Matahg you tried to kill. Deal?’
“Wait, no. That’s not—”
Blue light crackled all around her, and the bank shoved its owner through the open door and onto the sidewalk.
Jessica almost ate cement but managed to find her balance first. She spun around and glared at the storefront of Winthrop & Dirledge. “What if I—”
The door slammed shut in her face, and the click of the deadbolt was now the only sound in the early-morning darkness. The lobby lights clicked off all at once. Remnants of the bank’s crackling blue magic flickered across the frosted-glass pane, and that was it.
The street suddenly felt way too quiet. The bank l
ooked way too dark.
Jessica shivered, and it wasn’t from the cold this time.
She studied the front of the building, craning her neck to peer at the bay window on the second floor that looked right into her bedroom. It was dark in there too. The Gateway might have stopped acting up the second she’d stepped outside, but she really didn’t think that was the case. This entire place had been made to contain everything inside it, hiding the witching vault and the Gateway and the sentient building in plain sight.
After a quick glance up and down 8th Street, Jessica pulled out her keyring and slid the one that opened Winthrop & Dirledge into the lock. It fit like every other time, but the lock itself wouldn’t budge. She tried two more times and finally gave up. What was the use of arguing with the bank when it had obviously made up its mind? Not to mention that neither one of them could even hear the other side of the argument now anyway.
No, now it was time for Jessica to do her job outside the walls of Winthrop & Dirledge Security Banking. The bank would take care of the rest on the inside.
She hoped.
It wasn’t exactly encouraging when she couldn’t open that door or ask what was happening or even see what was happening with her own eyes out here on the street.
She put her keys away and pulled the pendant out from beneath her hoodie and jacket instead. The round glass with all the black specks still glowed faintly in the darkness. Just like it always did when she stood outside the bank, within range.
Hopefully, going out of range this time—with both of them knowing what was at stake—wouldn’t make this pendant’s light go out. How else was she supposed to know if she’d be walking back into her bank, on her terms, and not into the gaping jaws of some monster from another world looking to devour Jessica and everyone else around her?
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” she muttered.
“Indeed.”
Leandras’ voice behind her made her jump and whirl around. “Jeeze.”
“And I expected to have to wait on you.” He gestured at the overnight bag strapped to her shoulder. “But you’ve beaten me to it.”
“Come on. You can’t just pop out of nowhere like that.”
The fae’s smile was thin and unamused. “You know that’s not true.”
“Well you’re gonna give me a heart attack doing that and kill me before we even get started.”
“That would be highly counterproductive.” Leandras extended his hand toward her but paused when the barely audible echo of all the chaos on the other side of the front door rose through the night. “What was that?”
“That was our timeline moving up on us.”
He stared at the bank’s outer wall, and they both took a step back when a huge crack splintered up the center of the bay window in her second-story bedroom. “Jessica, if this place doesn’t hold itself together—”
“Then we’re all screwed. I get it. Did you manage to stop Mickey from leaving town?”
“Not yet.” Leandras slowly turned his head to meet her gaze, his eyebrows furrowing into either concentration or severe concern. “I believe I’ve played my cards to their full extent now. The rest is up to you.”
“Great. Nothing new, right?” She grabbed his outstretched hand and took a final look at the storefront of Winthrop & Dirledge. Maybe the last time she’d ever see it the way she’d always known it, too.
Wasn’t that a happy thought?
“Jessica.”
“What?”
“I realize it’s unsolicited advice, but when we arrive, do try to maintain your composure.”
She snorted. “Unless I’m somehow suddenly immune to the gut-toss of teleporting, that might be pretty hard. But I’ll try.”
“I’m not referring to the nausea.” His gaze fell from her face to the sidewalk, as if he knew exactly how she’d react and that it wouldn’t be pretty. “Just remember we’re all here for the same thing. No matter what it looks like.”
“Wait, what?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Leandras whisked them both away through another gut-clenching jump across town, and the panic that had risen in Jessica’s throat was momentarily drowned out by the tingling buzz racing up her arm and into her head. Her lungs burned almost as much as the fae’s slender fingers wrapped around her own.
Then the jump was over, and she slapped her hands against the wall in front of her to keep her face from hitting it instead. The nausea did its thing, but with literally nothing in her stomach since their first jump last night, there was nothing to kick back out.
Jessica gasped, waited for another wave of nausea that didn’t come, then wiped the tears from the corner of her eye and straightened. “What the hell was that supposed to mean?”
The fae looked straight ahead down the dark hallway inside some other building, his lips pressed tightly together. “You’ll see.”
“Are you kidding? You can’t just—Wait. Leandras.” Getting her feet steadily beneath her again, Jessica took off after him down the dark hall. “Hey. If there’s something I need to know before we step into…whatever this is, then tell me.”
The awful thought that she was walking right into a goddamn trap hit her hard, and she managed to grab his upper arm and jerk him to a stop in the middle of the hallway.
“Jessica, we don’t have time—”
“I just left my bank and the Gateway in an epic battle the rest of the world can’t see or hear, and I have no way of knowing how that’ll turn out until I get back. We have enough time for you to tell me where we are.”
Leandras raised an eyebrow and finally looked away from the end of the hall to meet her gaze. “An abandoned warehouse in Lakewood. Just past the corner of Alaska and South Cole, I believe.”
Jessica blinked.
“Okay. That was surprisingly specific. Is…” She ducked her head and turned to shoot a pointed glance at the end of the dark hall and the poorly lit room beyond. “Is he here?”
“No. But he will be, and if we want to salvage this, we need to make an appearance.”
“So then it’s the Laenmúr in there waiting for us.” Staring up at the fae’s pulsing silver eyes, she couldn’t help but think he was definitely still keeping something from her. “Right?”
“Yes. Let’s not keep them waiting.” He brushed past her and moved swiftly down the hall.
Jessica readjusted the strap of the tingling, buzzing overnight bag on her shoulder, then clapped a hand against her jacket pocket. The coin in the white box was still there. Which mean they now had everything they needed to get the job done.
So why had Leandras looked like he was already regretting the decision?
If the bank were here with her, it’d have something witty and insulting to say but with a deeper level of understanding buried in there somewhere.
Jessica fingered the chain of the pendant tucked back under her hoodie and jacket and took a deep breath.
She was on her own now, when it came to her partnership with Winthrop & Dirledge. Completely at the mercy of a hot-and-cold fae and whoever these Laenmúr magicals really were. It gave her a little more hope to know the owners of those low voices echoing from the room at the end of the hall were here to help her succeed in this, to keep magicals like the Requiem and the Hakali Hand Corporation and Jensen Ardis out of the equation. That was, of course, only if Leandras hadn’t been feeding her even more bullshit.
The fae stopped at the end of the hall, where the low light from the room beyond didn’t quite reach. It didn’t sound like the magicals in that room had noticed the arrival of two extra guests—even the centuries-old fae man and the half-powered vestrohím Guardian.
Jessica hurried toward him, trying to ignore the growing buzz from all those black boxes of reagents in the bag thumping against her hip. The energy raced all the way up through her skull now.
Before she fully reached Leandras, he stepped out of the hall, entered the large, dusty main room of the warehouse, and simply announced,
“We’re here.”
The conversation stopped completely as all eyes turned toward him and the mouth of the dark hallway from which Jessica slowly emerged.
Yeah, there were about two dozen of them, give or take. She tried to count, but Leandras made it particularly hard to focus on anything but him as he strolled across the warehouse toward the table in the center of the room.
“Is everything prepared?” he asked in a low voice.
A warlock wearing a long navy winter coat stepped away from the table at the fae man’s approach. “We’re good to go here. As long as you’ve brought—”
“I’ve brought the Guardian, yes. And she has everything we need.” Even before Leandras turned to gesture toward Jessica slowly entering the room, every member of this little Laenmúr faction was already turning to study her.
A few more stepped out of the shadows at the edges of the room. A pair of middle-aged wizards stood slowly from dented metal folding chairs. Someone coughed. The snap and creak of bending wood and the rustle of branches rose through the dim light, and Jessica recognized the dryad’s voice immediately.
“At long last. The Guardian arrives.” Boris stepped out of the darkness at the back of the warehouse, the leaves sprouted from his wrist and fingers fluttering through the air as he swept a thick, wooden arm toward his chest. His body creaked and groaned even more when he gave Jessica a startlingly deep bow.
Beside him stood the gnome Reynaldo, grinning in anticipation. His eyes were still comically enlarged behind the thick lenses of his glasses. “It is an honor, once again.”
She stared mutely at the odd pair of magicals she’d met only once—in the downtown public library, of all places. “Okay, this definitely isn’t what I—”
“Jessica?”
The sound of Mel’s voice dropped an instant knot of apprehension in Jessica’s gut. She stopped halfway toward the table and scanned the few dozen faces of the magicals closing in around her. In the semi-darkness, it was harder than it should have been to pick out her friend’s face, her pink hair, her easy smile.
The Secret Coin (Accessory to Magic Book 3) Page 22
