by SA Magnusson
“What will that do?”
“Hopefully, it will keep him from getting back up until this is all over. Which one was that?”
“It was a mixture of your Stinger and one Barden had made.”
“A mixture?”
“I didn’t know if one would be enough. The other guy”—I made a point of forcing him out of my mind, not willing to think about what had happened to him or the way his head had looked like it was going to explode—"told me that once he had experienced the spell, he knew how to counter it. I didn’t want this guy to be able to counter the Paralytic.”
“Did you know mixing them would work?”
“Not really.”
“Good work.”
“Thanks.”
Matt hurried to the other side of the rooftop, and slammed the coin down on the other guy, pushing power out through it.
“Do you think that’s it?”
“Probably not, but it at least it’s a start. We can go from here, and if nothing else, we can see if there’s a way for us to prevent them from diverting the power from the generators again.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“I wish we had a fully-fledged mage here,” Matt said.
“Why?”
“Because they would be able to place a spell to prevent it.”
“What if we do something like we did with the spells up there?” I asked.
“What do you propose?”
“What about a giant protective spell?”
“Like a barrier?” Matt asked.
“Right.”
“That would take too much power.”
“I thought it wasn’t the size of the pattern that mattered. It’s the focus and intention put into it,” I said, hesitantly.
“You know how to build a guy’s confidence.”
I barked out a laugh. Matt finally seemed to be relaxing, which I thought he needed to, with everything we had already been through and everything we might encounter. “I just said it wasn’t the size, but the pattern. I wasn’t talking about anything else.”
I started making a pattern, dragging my foot around the generator. My soft soles scuffed off fairly easily, and when I was done, I paused outside of it. “Now that I’ve done it, I’m not sure I’ll be able to seal it off.”
“Maybe think about the rooftop as if it were a giant coin.”
“Have you ever tried that before?”
Matt shook his head. “I haven’t been able to place patterns on my own before. Then again, I haven’t tried, either.”
I told myself I could do that. It wasn’t about the size of the pattern. It was about the nature of how I applied the magic to it. An idea came to me. “I need you to help. Add your power to this.”
“I don’t think it works like that.”
“Probably not, but if both of us do this, then it becomes harder for them to trigger.”
“I can try, but…”
“You don’t have to be the one to seal it off. Let me do that.” I said it with far more confidence than I felt.
“How do you want to do this?”
I thought about having him on the opposite side of me, but wasn’t sure that was right either. We needed to push power through it at the same time, but maybe if he sent power first, with me following him…
“You go ahead and start, and I’ll add to it.”
Matt glanced over at me before shrugging. “I don’t even know if this will work.”
“Me neither, which is why we’re going to try it.”
He smiled, and then I felt his power building. It surged from him, and as soon as it began to flow into the circle, the pattern on the ground glowed a little. I added my own magic to it, drawing through myself, the slow and laborious process which allowed me to push power outward. As I did, I added Barden’s power into it as well. Three of us would form this pattern. Hopefully, it would be enough to would prevent the operatives from disrupting it, and if so, then we could use that to ensure power remained restored within the hospital.
As we worked, the power flowed out from me, heading into the circle. It was an enormous amount of strength. I trembled with it. I had been drawing on a lot of magic throughout the day, and eventually—probably soon—I would reach the end of my limits. I needed to finish this before we did anything else.
I thought about it as if it was a giant coin-type spell. I focused on what I wanted, the way I wanted nothing more than a barrier, holding that in my mind, pouring that out, and trying to tie it to the rooftop. As it happened, I could feel it solidifying. It was different from what it had been with the coin. That had happened rapidly—a sudden shift from power flowing into it until it stopped, the spell sealed off. In this case, it was as if more and more power was absorbed, drawn into the shape, into the rooftop, a spell I could then trigger in order to protect the rooftop.
“Dr. Stone?” There was tension in Matt’s voice, and I glanced over. “I don’t know how much more I can offer.”
I could swear we were close. I poured everything I had into it, and when that was gone, I drew upon the necklace, using that as well. If I drew everything out of it, I would be emptying Barden, so I hoped I could finish this before that occurred.
I could feel the pattern solidifying more. Then it was done.
I staggered back. “I think… I think it worked.”
“It worked,” Matt said. “I feel it. It’s strong.” He turned to me. “That’s impressive.”
“Not bad for a hedge mage.”
“Not bad for any mage.”
“We need to figure out where the source of these patterns is, and we need to do so before they try this again.”
“I don’t know how much more I can offer right now.”
“At least take these two away. Take them to your little prison.”
“What about you?”
“I need to go and see if the hospital has been restored.”
“I’ll do that and then return.”
I wasn’t terribly concerned if he did or not. I thought having Matt return might be helpful, but I wondered if the next focus of the attack would be somewhere else. And I needed to get a hold of Barden, if only so I could talk to him about why they would be drawing on so much electricity, and why here?
Matt dragged one of the operatives over to the other, and pulling a coin out of his pocket, he grabbed a hold of each of them, and with a surge of power, he disappeared. It left me standing alone on the rooftop. I remained there for a long while, looking around, feeling the energy of the spell we had placed. Hopefully, it wouldn’t prevent anyone from coming up here and working on the generators if that became necessary, but at the same time, I had seen them whir back into life, and with them operating like normal again, there would be power in the building.
I headed back down the stairs, exhausted. As I went, I paused at each level, doing so to reassure myself that generator power had been fully restored. It wasn’t the same as complete power, but it was enough to keep the hospital running.
When I reached the emergency room level, lights were on, and I took a seat at the desk. There was no one there. It was a strange sense, an overwhelming emptiness, and I couldn’t help but feel as if I was missing something.
Why divert power? That was the key I had yet to uncover, but there was more to it. We still needed to figure out where John Adams could be found, and once we did, we needed to do whatever we could to him.
My phone vibrated, and I glanced down to see Barden messaging me. I tapped in a quick response, then went to the front entrance of the emergency room, waiting for him to pull his car up.
When he did, I quickly climbed in and rested my head back on the seat. All I wanted was to close my eyes for a little while. Sleep.
“What was that about?” Barden asked.
I forced my eyes open. “They’re attacking the hospital.”
“Why?”
“I have no idea, but our generator went out today, and I discovered they had their operatives atta
cking it. They were using something to divert power away. If they’ve been diverting generator power, it makes me wonder if they’re diverting other kinds too.” I met his gaze. He looked as tired as I was, and then again, he should. His fatigue was my fault. “I’m sorry I borrowed so much from you today.”
“I wouldn’t have granted you the ability if I didn’t think you would use it wisely.”
“I don’t think we’re done,” I said.
“No?”
“Whatever they’re up to, it’s not over. They have something more, but I don’t know how to figure out what.”
Barden watched me for a moment before picking up his phone and dialing a number. I could only hear one end of the conversation, but he instructed whomever he spoke to on the other side to look into the use of power when it came to magic.
When he got off the phone, I frowned at him. “Matt claims this is all about Kate.”
“Why would he say that?”
“The man we captured. Matt says he’s after Kate.”
“Seeing as how she has not returned for quite some time, he will find it difficult to get to her.”
“That was my point.”
Barden frowned. “If this is about Kate, then we need to come up with a better understanding of just what they intend.”
“I need a nap.”
“Here?”
“Give me 30 minutes.”
“You would have me watch you while you nap?”
“I didn’t say you had to be creepy about it.”
“I didn’t say I would be.”
“Just let me sleep a little bit. I think I can get recharged enough to be useful again. Besides, I’m so tired, I’m not even thinking well.”
Barden nodded. “Take the time you need. I’ll watch over you.”
I considered where to go, before deciding to head into the residents’ lounge. I knew it well enough, and the sofa there was comfortable enough, at least reasonably so that I could drift off. The only problem was that as I began drifting off, I kept thinking of the scream, and the way the spell I’d triggered—and used on the man—had caused all that pain.
Eventually, I did drift off.
When I came around, I looked up, searching for Barden, but there was no sign of him. I glanced at my watch, and my breath caught. I had been asleep for nearly two hours.
Where was Barden?
Worse, why was my wrist growing cold?
15
I took a deep breath, focusing on what I could detect around me. The residents’ lounge was dark, other than a single light that must be on the auxiliary power. Even the computer here wasn’t lit, which gave an eerie sensation to this place. I pulled out my phone, looking to see if Barden had left me a message or written a note, but didn’t see either.
Clicking on his contact, I dialed, waiting for it to ring, but there was no answer. Barden didn’t have voicemail, which was both odd and much like him, but frustrating in times like this. I didn’t have any way of getting a hold of him, and there was no way for me to leave him a message. I needed to do both, but right now, I needed to figure out where he had gone.
I headed out of the residents’ lounge and paused in the empty ER. There were still lights on, which left me feeling reassured that despite the amount of time I’d been sleeping, the operatives hadn’t managed to divert power away again.
Until we resolved the power issue, the ER would stay closed. And yet, until I figured out what they were after, we might not be able to come up with any way of reopening it. The key was in the parking garage. That was where they had been operating, but why? I had been under the impression it was to destroy the hopsital, especially after having seen the way the courtyard had been destroyed, but what if that wasn’t the case?
Perhaps the spell wasn’t to destroy the hospital, but was tied somehow to the drawing of power, the way they intended to use it; maybe the answer was down there.
I reached the stairwell, racing down the stairs, and looked around. The operative who had died was still here. Somebody would have to remove him or he would raise questions.
There had been power in the spells that were placed, and maybe I would be able to uncover the nature of what was done here. There was no residual energy. Matt had taken the spells with him so I wouldn’t be able to figure out what they would do. I needed to get to Matt. I punched in his number, waiting for it to ring, but like Barden, he didn’t answer.
Unlike Barden, though, I had no idea where to find Matt. He had transported me to his hideout, so without having someone to help me know more about where he’d gone and what was there, I might not be able to find it.
Heading back out of the parking garage, I exited the hospital, wandering around it. It was late afternoon now, and there was a strange dearth of activity indoors, nothing like there usually would be—and should be. This was an emptiness, a void, a sense there was nothing here. The overwhelming sensation was strange to me.
Heading along the street, I debated what to do before coming up with no other answer than to return to the condo. Once there, I could try to figure out what had happened to Barden and to Matt, and we could work together to try to figure out what to do about the power outage. Eventually, I would need to fix that.
As I was making my way down the street, a strange surge tingled along my skin. Magic. I’d forgotten about the sense of magic I had detected after awakening. Now I felt it again, I turned slowly, dragging my foot in a circle around me, prepared for the possibility I would need to push outward in a protective spell.
But nothing came. It hadn’t been imagined, which meant that wherever it was would be farther from where I expected it to be. As I turned my attention back to the hospital, lights glowed in all the windows. The power had been restored.
I frowned, and considered heading back, but a car came screeching along the street. When it stopped in front of me, a window came down, and Barden shouted at me. “Get in.”
Without questioning, I jumped into the car. “What happened?”
“I found the spell used on the power grid. You were right. It was diverting energy away. I have the Mage Council holding onto it, but I wonder how long they’ll be able to maintain it. It’s already been under attack twice.”
“The Shara?”
“Probably. We aren’t able to determine whether it is or not, only that whoever is attacking has considerable power.”
“How did you figure out where?”
“It wasn’t hard. It was tied to the power grid itself. When you started talking about diverting power, I wondered where would be easiest to do that, and why it had only been focused on this small region.”
“Everyone was saying it was a transformer that had blown.”
“It wasn’t just a transformer, but a series. All were linked, with power drawing in a way that focused it toward the hospital.”
“If it was focused toward the hospital, we wouldn’t have lost our power.”
“It wasn’t that kind of focus. This was something else.”
“What?”
“When I had my people look into what use there might be for using power with magic, they came up with one thing. It was theoretical, hidden in the Mage Council archives.”
“If it was hidden there, how were your people able to get a hold of it?”
Barden arched a brow at me, grinning. “One of the advantages of serving on the Mage Council.”
“What is it?”
“The Veil separates our side of the world from another world. It separates our people of power from others with even more power.”
“I’m aware of that, Barden.”
“I understand, and I’m trying to help you understand something else. It’s not that it’s just a separation between our world and another, it’s a separation between considerable power. The power we have is nothing compared to that on the other side of the Veil.”
“So, you have made it clear.”
“Right. Well, people on this side of the Veil have searched for
ways of controlling and preventing power from the other side of the Veil from causing problems. Most of the time, that has been studied using magic, looking to see if there are ways of controlling those on the other side of the Veil through a combination of spells. The Mage Council has dozens of different options they have studied, and not many have been known to be effective.”
“Effective against what?”
“That’s a good question. Most of the time, we believe power on the other side of the Veil can’t cross over.”
“Well, demons can cross over,” I said.
“They do, and now we know that those which do so become diminished. Let me tell you, the demons we experience on this side of the Veil are nothing like those on the other side of the Veil.” He shook his head. “I can’t even begin to describe what they are like on the other side. It’s horrible, terrifying, and yet, as they cross over, there’s something about the Veil that changes them. It diminishes them.”
“Okay. So?”
“So, with that realization, we have thought the Veil would diminish everything that crosses.”
“And it doesn’t?”
“I don’t know. We’ve seen those of the fae who cross are different to what they would be on the other side. It’s not an insignificant change, though they are still incredibly powerful.”
“How many others than Solera have crossed over?”
“There was a time when I would’ve said there hadn’t been any others beyond Solera. She was always felt to be unique, but I wonder if that’s the case.”
“Barden… What does any of this have to do with anything?”
“What it has to do with this situation is why they were using the power you detected.”
“Does it have anything to do with Kate?”
“Probably, but maybe not for the reason we think.”
“Are you going to make me keep dragging it out of you?”
“How good is your physics knowledge?”
“Physics?”
Barden nodded. “Your physics? How good is it?”
“I don’t know. I took physics in college. It was a prerequisite for medical school.”
