by Nika Gray
10
Sadie
I floated down towards West campus on a cloud of bliss. My body tingled and my heart fluttered. I was breathless only in that way that happened when you kissed a gorgeous boy. I hadn't expected to have such a strong reaction to Declan. Now that it was here, and I was headed towards an even more delicious time with him in the privacy of my own bedroom, I couldn't take the smile off my face.
I had gotten halfway to West campus before I realized where I was. I’d totally zoned out on most of my walk.
I watched a woman come towards me who I didn’t recognize until she was right in front of me, my blissed-out state was so extreme. It was Leonora Trahern and had I seen that she was coming my way I would've change direction immediately.
Instead, as I blissfully thought about all the delicious things that Declan and I would do to each other when we got into my bed, something tugged at my elbow and when I looked I stared into the most frightening woman's face I’d ever seen.
I could see that Cole had taken after his mother. They bore a striking resemblance to each other. She was six-feet tall, lithe with a square face and brilliant blue eyes that bore into mine. She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Those eyes stayed cold and calculating.
“I’ve been meaning to find you since I got here,” she said in a pleasant baritone voice. It was shocking to have such a deep voice on a woman but somehow it fit with her.
I pulled away from her.
“Do I know you?” I asked. I knew who she was, but I didn't want to give into her power play.
“You must have been at the assembly. My name is Leonora Trahern. I’m the Head Deputy of the Magic Council,” she said.
“Why were you looking for me? I'm a nobody,” I said.
“I'm sure that's not the case, Sadie Bishop,” she replied.
How she said my name made it sound dangerous. My back stiffened.
“Yes, my name is Sadie. Hi.” I didn’t want to be standing there talking to her. The dorms were within view and I cursed myself for not being aware of my surroundings. I could have avoided this woman entirely if I’d had my wits about me.
“I've heard a lot about you from some of the students here,” she said.
“You’ve been asking about me? Why?” I asked.
“I make sure I know all the powerful mages under my jurisdiction.”
“Oh, you flatter me,” I said. “What exactly have you heard about me?” I asked against my better judgement.
“Professor Krysz speaks very highly of you. Apparently, your strength is one of the most powerful he’s ever seen. You’ll make a wonderful Battle Mage at the Borderlands. Would you like to have some tea with me?” she asked.
Could I say no to somebody as important is her?
“I was about to go back to my cottage, and I'd love to have some company,” she said.
I did not want to be alone in a room with this woman. “Oh, that’s very kind of you, but I actually have a class in the next half hour,” I said.
“Why are you heading back to the dorms then?” she asked.
Her question was supposed to catch me off guard, but it didn’t. I lifted my chin in defiance and smiled at her.
“I forgot my textbook in my room for my Magical History class which is next. I have just enough time to run to my dorm room and get back to class. If I leave now,” I said.
“Surely you'd want to miss a silly class like Magical History to have tea with someone like me.”
Her voice was calm and pleasant, but I heard the dangerous undercurrent beneath it. This woman was not used to having someone say no to her.
“I'm really new to the magic world and with this updated schedule, every class is important. I didn't grow up in this world and so I don't know many of your customs, or legends and stories, and I do want to survive the Borderlands. You didn't give us very much time to train,” I added.
Leonora nodded at me; her eyes blank. That was even more frightening to me. Would she create a portal and whisk me away now that I’d said no to being alone with her?
“Another time then,” she said. “The Protectors Academy was created for such a purpose and in these increasingly dangerous times, the students here are more prepared than any other mages in this realm. I know you all will meet the challenge head on.”
She sounded like a commercial for the military or something.
“I am really gonna be late if I don't go now,” I said and smiled sweetly at her.
Leonora frowned. “I will not allow you to say no to me the next time,” she said and waved me away.
I was dismissed.
“It was nice to meet you Ms. Trahern,” I said as I rushed past her down the pathway towards the dorms.
I didn’t slow down until I was at my dorm steps. I’d resisted looking back every minute to see if she’d followed me. I had no idea why she let me go. I was ready for a portal to open and someone push me through it.
Something bad was coming, I was sure of it and yet Leonora had a reason for letting me go.
Ugh, I thought. Why did I have to see that awful woman? All floaty body tingling feelings of amazing sex left me as this new feeling of dread and doom crashed over me. Were they on the brink of arresting me?
That didn’t make sense, though because if they could arrest me then they would have done so already. Instead, she was trying to lure me back to some cottage to be alone with me. Maybe she couldn’t open a portal on the hill. Too conspicuous. But in a cottage, she’d be able to open a portal and take me back to that lab.
She would make me disappear without anyone being the wiser. Most likely back to the lab they’d held me before. And who would find me then? Wherever the lab was, it was well hidden.
Nobody had seen hide nor hair of Alexis and I’d bet that was exactly where they were keeping her.
I had to stay away from that woman, whatever it took.
Now that I knew that I was at least partly Fae, my situation made perfect sense. They would try to disappear me like they had disappeared all the other Fae after the failed war. And then there was Cole, Ferguson, and Declan. They were all sons of important Magic Council families.
I’d somehow infected them with Fae fire and they themselves were showing they too were Fae. How in the world did three sons of Magical Council families, all mages that hated the Fae more than most anybody in this magical community end up with sons able to create and use Fae fire?
That thought took me all the way to my dorm room. I’d lost any interest in having a sexy time with Declan. I needed to find a way to discover what Leonora Trahern had on me. They were coming for me and I needed to play offense instead of defense.
11
Cole
It took me the last two weeks to discover the location of the lab where my mother had been keeping Alexis Schonberg. I still didn’t know if Alexis was there recovering from the wounds from her fight with Sadie or if my mother was holding her prisoner there. I put nothing past my mother when she had a mission in mind.
I’d disguised myself as one of the laboratory workers. It had been a rough two weeks of running every single errand my mother, Leonora, demanded of me.
I’d made myself as visible as I could to anybody who worked with the Magic Council. I figured if they knew I was one of my mother's minions, that when I finally discovered the area where Alexis was being held, no one would question why I was there.
I waited in the parking lot to see who worked there, hidden in the shadows of the trees. When I watched one of the lab technicians going to his car for a second set of clothes, I knew I’d hit the jackpot.
He would be my way in.
I broke into his car and found the lab coat he’d been wearing along with the ID card he’d left inside the pocket. Thank you, random tech guy.
I was still not entirely sure what this laboratory had been designed for or exactly what they were doing in there. When I’d found the address in my mother’s files, I mapped it and saw it was only an hour away. It
became my primary focus as Alexis Schoenberg’s prison.
Once I’d found the location of the lab, I dug through the building plans I’d found online from the county building permits department to see what the layout was like. It had offices on the first two floors and then research workrooms and chemical testing rooms on the next two floors.
The next two levels had a similar layout to a wing of a hospital. I figured if Alexis was there, she’d be somewhere on those top two floors. The building had an underground garage for employees. From the plans, I guessed there was no other subterranean level.
My plan was to find Alexis and get her tell me why she’d attempted the kidnapping. What had my mother promised her or her family? I’d talked around the subject, but my mother was too good. She wouldn’t let anything slip. Gregory Mathonwy would never speak out of turn. He was out as a source. But Alexis, especially with the way her family must have been treated after she’d failed, would tell me.
I was sure of that.
I entered the nondescript office building and flashed my ID to the receptionist in front. She nodded and waved at me. I waved back and kept on going.
The first step was successfully navigated. Next step was to get past the medical crew on the fifth and sixth floors. I rode up the elevator determined on a big gamble. I would pretend I was from the Magic Council and had been ordered by Leonora to check on Alexis.
It was a huge risk because I had no way of knowing if my mother had been there recently. I’d been with her over the last two weeks though, and the planning needed to bring hundreds of mages to the Borderlands was intense. I never knew mages needed so many resources to fight in the Borderlands. The accommodations, food, and equipment were becoming a logistical nightmare.
Through all of that, my mother still wouldn’t say if portals were really opening or if brownies and sprites were actually attacking. What was really happening out there? She wouldn’t say. She wouldn’t release any control over the preparations, either and personally spearheaded every aspect. I hadn’t seen her leave the headmaster’s manor, much less the campus. That gave me hope I had a shot at making this work.
The elevator opened onto the fifth-floor nurse’s station with a chime. I stepped out and faced a semi-circle desk with two nurses working at computers. Behind them, more nurses busied themselves with what looked like patient’s charts. I glanced around, taking in my surroundings. Two hallways branched out in either direction. Farther down the hallways double doors hid what I guessed were the patient rooms.
I stood there a moment wondering how I should play it. Dazzle them with a smile, or demand what I needed with a straight face? I thought of Sadie. In my mind’s eye I saw her face as she moved beneath me, her full lips parted, her face glowing in pleasure. The thought of someone hurting her made my decision easy. No-nonsense was the way to go.
I approached the nearest nurse.
“May help you?” she asked.
“I’ve been sent by Leonora Trahern from the Magic Council to check on our special visitor.
“Not sure exactly what special visitor you're speaking of,” she said.
I hesitated in surprise, but then remembered my game plan was to take no prisoners. Just like my mother never did.
“Yes, you do,” I said without smiling. “You know exactly who I’m talking about.”
“But.” The nurse looked down at some paperwork. “No one’s allowed to see her except Leonora Trahern herself, and her care team.”
I let the nurse see the anger smoldering in my eyes. Then I give her one my hundred-watt dazzling smiles.
“You don’t know who I am, do you?” I said politely.
The nurse bit her lip and looked back at her colleagues. “I know who you are, Cole Trahern. I recognized you the minute you stepped off that elevator, but your mother gave us very specific instructions. Outside of the care team, she’s the only one allowed access to that patient.”
I frowned and looked down at my phone. “What is your name?” I asked.
The nurse hesitated, then answered “Hannah. Hannah Embick.”
“Thanks, Hannah”. I said without looking up. “And what is the name of your direct supervisor and that person’s direct supervisor?”
Hannah sighed and looked down at the chart she was working on. I glanced over the desk and saw that it was Alexis Schoenberg’s chart. Hannah covered it with part of her hand, but I was able to see the room number on the sixth floor.
She looked up and bravely gave me the names of her supervisors.
“I’ll give my mother a call right now then,” I said, turning away from the desk.
“You do that, Mr. Trahern.” She called my bluff.
Crap, I thought as I walked back to the elevator, cell phone in hand. I’d need to find another way.
The building had an exit in the corner opposite of the elevators. I’d use that to get to the sixth floor. I rode the elevator down to the fourth floor and went down the hall until I saw the exit sign for the stairs. I checked to make sure no one was watching and slipped into the stairwell.
I wouldn’t announce myself this time. I had no idea how much time I had. Would Nurse Hannah call my mother? Or would she call one of her supervisors first? While in the elevator I quickly performed the stealth spell I’d memorized. I knew the building was spelled. I’d seen the wards when I was watching the staff come and go. What wards couldn’t I see? I knew Alexis’ room would be protected, too. I searched my phone for the word scramble spell I’d found. It was an old one but was supposed to be able to reveal any words under spell protection.
I should have known people wouldn’t go against Leonora Trahern’s orders. I wished I’d thrown a forget me spell on Nurse Hannah before I walked away, but I’d thought of it too late.
I stood in the stairwell, gathering my nerve. I threw a silence spell in the area before going through the exit door on the sixth floor. I listened for an alarm. When it didn't sound, I entered the narrow hallway and started my search. Most of the doors were open and the rooms were empty. None of the rooms matched what I’d seen on the chart.
When I got to the far corner, right before the double doors where the hallway opened to another nurse’s station, I saw a door that had extra wards on it. I knew Alexis had to be inside. I strengthened the stealth spell and peeked inside the window on the door and finally saw Alexis.
She had bandages around her head and dark circles underneath her eyes. I checked the door, knowing it was warded and locked. I knew spells that could unlock doors, but my mother knew all of those, too. I remembered Aidan’s advice from years ago – when you want to confuse the elders, go low tech.
I slipped into the empty room next door. I felt the wall connecting to where Alexis was being held. I focused my conduit ring on the wall and opened a portal into the mirror world. I stepped into the mirror world, walked across the space, and stepped out again. I breathed a sigh of relief. It worked.
I approached the hospital bed and looked down at Alexis. She whimpered and struggled to move away from me.
“It’s okay, Alexis,” I whispered. “I'm getting you out of here.”
Alexis narrowed her eyes, trying to focus on my face. “Cole Trahern?”
“That’s me,” I nodded. “Can you stand? Are you able to walk?”
She nodded and I helped her to stand up on unsteady feet. She held onto the side of the bed and stretched her legs while I checked the closet. I didn’t find any clothes. She was only wearing a hospital gown.
I slipped off the lab tech’s jacket and took off my sweater. I handed it to her, and she pulled it over her head. I put the tech lab jacket back on. My sweater was huge on her but at least she wouldn't be wandering around in a hospital gown. I didn’t know what to do about the bandages around her head. She looked at me and could tell what I was thinking. She took the pillowcase off the pillow and wrapped it around her head. I used my conduit ring to change the texture. It looked kind of like a hat, but the bandages were hidden. She was barefo
ot. I took off my socks and handed them to her. She put them on, and I used my conduit ring again to make them look like boots.
“Are you ready?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Follow me. We’re taking the exit stairs down.”
“Are there guards out there?” she asked.
“No, but they’ve got this place warded. We don’t have a lot of time,” I said.
“She charmed me,” Alexis said.
I looked back at her. She held up her right hand. Her conduit ring was gone, and in its place, there was a simple silver band.
“Can you take it off?” I asked.
“I think it will set off an alarm or something,” she said.
Dammit. This was why my mother was head of the Magic Council. She was so good at strategy. Well, I could be good, too. I glanced around the room. What could I use? I went back to the closet and got out the extra pillows and blankets. I stuffed them into the bed to make a shape and then scanned Alexis with my conduit ring. I looked up the correspondence spell in my phone. I’d never used it before, but it was another old one, so I was hoping my mother hadn’t put up any protection against it.
The shape was now in the form of Alexis sleeping peacefully. I grabbed her hand and focused my conduit ring on the silver band. I used the spell of correspondence again.
“It hurts,” Alexis whispered as she tried to pull her hand away. I held her hand tighter and repeated the spell. Finally, the light from my conduit ring faded. I pulled the ring off her finger and put it on the dummy in the bed.
I breathed another sigh of relief and grabbed Alexis’ hand again.
“Ready?”
She nodded and followed me into the mirror world. I collapsed that portal and opened another one the same way on the opposite wall. Over and over, I opened portals into mirror worlds, we crossed through, and then I collapsed them until we were back in the stairwell.
We made it to the second floor before the alarms sounded. I grabbed Alexis’ hand and we raced down the last three flights of stairs. We just have to get to my car, I thought. We burst out of the exit stairs into the underground parking and guards ran towards us. I lifted my hand to stop them and before I could activate one of my defense spells, my blue fire shot out at them.
