Magical Seclusion

by Jaliza A. Burwell

  I nodded as he joined in on the discussion to retrieve the admins. I tuned them out as I focused on the ward and how to get through it. Even just a break in the magic could be useful. I didn’t need to bring the entire thing down, I just needed to throw a wrench into its mechanics to create a small opening.

  The monitors flashed as viewpoints changed and movements drew my eye. My legs still feeling like jelly, I went to the screen with the ward on it and then to the screen showing the largest group of people as they continued to work on breaking through.

  I repeated the intricacies of the ward in my head, my lips moving with each thought, though I didn’t speak out loud.

  Five-foot radius.

  Disintegration.

  Tracking.

  Muting senses.

  “Group effort,” I said out loud.

  “What?” Elliot asked.

  “The ward. It has to be a group effort. There’s too much to it, too much power. Even I can’t tear it down. Each person would have to contribute a layer to it, plus one more to make it as cohesive as it is right now.”

  “How many people?” Ami asked.

  “Five.”

  “That’s half the people. Question is, which half,” Alijah said.

  “Definitely the witch and mage,” I said. “Shadowsmiths can’t do magic. The man who shot out the blue liquid. So two more. The ward they created wasn’t built to last long. It has no way to be fed.”

  “So we can wait until it goes down then?” Logan asked.

  “How long until it’s down?” Henzie asked.

  I bit my lip. “Hard to answer. It depends on the level of the originators. They came prepared though, so I’m going to assume they are all level A. So all As for the time, that’s too hard to predict without knowing the intricacies, and I can’t get close enough to do that. I’d put this at twelve to twenty-four hours before it’d collapse on its own.”

  “And we don’t have that kind of time. By then, we’ll all be dead,” Ami said.

  I nodded. “They can do a lot of damage in that time span. They aren’t taking hostages. They aren’t even hesitating.”

  “And we can’t afford to throw people at them. Henzie, find a way to reach out to the remaining guards. The other three are below us. Get them up here, but leave one. There is a pregnant woman with them and she’s in labor.”

  “I can help,” Jacynth said. “With the pregnant woman. I have experience.”

  Ami seemed to think about it for a moment and then nodded. “Clayton, escort her down and bring two of the guards back up with you. Be fast. Have the other guard lock that room down. Since it’s further down, they’ll be safer.”

  “Will do.” Clayton escorted Jacynth and Winne out the door.

  “Contacting them now,” Henzie spoke up.

  I scanned the screens, noting where each one was. I frowned.

  “Something’s wrong,” I said.

  “What is it?” Logan asked. Ishaan and he joined me. I pointed to each person as I counted each one out loud.

  “Three on the main floor, one on the roof to act as sniper, and seven on the fifth floor,” I said.

  “That’s only eleven,” Ami said. “We counted twelve.”

  “Maybe so, but there’s only eleven now,” I said, my throat going dry.

  “Shit,” she said as she counted each body. “One of them is sneaking around.” Ami tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling for a moment before closing her eyes. Her lips moved softly, but she wasn’t casting any magic. She was losing herself.

  “Ami?” I asked.

  She didn’t move.

  “Ami.” Henzie went to her side and tentatively touched her face. Her eyes snapped open and focused on him.

  “I’m fine,” she said and stepped away from him. His hand fell to his side, and he curled it into a fist.

  “You always are,” he replied.

  “We need to find them. All this,” she waved at the screens, “could be just to fuck with us while the other person does what they’re really here to do. Dammit.”

  “He,” Alijah said. “We are missing a male.”

  “Must be a shadowsmith,” Henzie said. “I have nothing.”

  “Okay. Henzie, keep looking,” Ami directed. “Ben, and Ishaan, you guys are with me. We’re going to escape the first floor and then scale the fucking building to take out the sniper and get to the sixth floor. Logan, you stay here with Henzie. Laila, figure out a way to get that damn ward down or something. Anything.”

  “No reason to panic, I’m here,” a guard said with a grand gesture as he entered with a big grin.

  “Abram,” Elliot said, expression blank.

  Ami glared at the new guard. “Where the hell were you hiding?”

  “Not in sight, that’s for sure,” he said with a satisfied smirk. “I brought my friends if you care.”

  I recognized the honey colored eyes, light brown hair that now fell just below his ears, and the swirling darkness in his eyes. Abram Suttel, one of the meatheads. Davies hated him and the two of them were always butting heads. From what I’d been told, Abram said some shit about me, and Davies has been trying to take him out ever since. Everyone had their suspicions about him, but he was too good at his job to just fire him based on suspicions.

  “Too bad you hadn’t gotten shot yet,” Logan said, and I raised an eyebrow. Did everyone at BMS hate the guy?

  “Yes, very unfortunate,” Abram said, not caring that most everyone in the room glared at him. He scanned the room, and when he spotted me, his eyes lit up with mischief. “Today has to be my lucky day. How are you, Dr. Porter?” He came closer, but Alijah quickly placed himself between us, acting as an immovable boulder, shielding me from the man who managed to make every small hair on my body stand up.

  There was something dark about Abram, and I had to lock down my body to keep from stepping away from him.

  “Where are the other two?” Ami asked.

  “They’ll be here soon,” Abram replied.

  As if on cue, he moved further into the room to allow two more guys to enter. One of them had pitch black hair to match his pitch black skin tone. His eyes were deep set, hidden in the shadows of his brows. Coldness seeped from him as he took in the state of the room, his lank body all bones and joints, nearly skeletal.

  “Good, more help. Schifrin, you’re with me,” Ami said. The man gave her a slow nod before taking up space against the wall by the door. Schifrin was one of the new meatheads, joining us a week ago. I didn’t know much about him. His file was almost as bad as mine, sorely lacking in information.

  The second man was shorter than me by half a foot. He had a wide chest, tree trunk arms, and a square shaved head. The one thing about him that captivated people were his eyes. They were milky white, and yet it still felt like he saw through the bullshit when he looked at me. I knew he was of the troll family, but he wasn’t quite a troll.

  “Rollo, you’ll stay here.”

  “What about me?” Abram asked.

  “You’re a distraction,” she said.

  Abram grinned. “Baby, why didn’t you just say so. I don’t mind giving you a helping hand.”

  “Dickwad, I mean you’re going to be bait. You’re going to distract them on the first floor so we can slip out. Please try to get yourself killed.”

  “You know they’ll never be able to touch me.” He waved at us before strolling back out of the room. Ami rolled her eyes.

  “Is he serious?” I asked. “And how did we not know they were here?”

  “Just watch, and you’ll see why he’s still here,” Ami grumbled. “Let’s go.” She grabbed her weapons and left with the four others she’d assigned to help her. I mentally wished them luck.

  “Abram is a trickster,” Henzie said, face dark with fury. “He’ll do what he was told and unfortunately, won’t even come back with a scratch.”

  “Trickster?” I asked.

  “He’s a fae,” Alijah said and pointed to a screen. “He cr
eates illusions, tricking people. His illusions even affect the senses, so they’re nearly impossible to detect.”

  I almost laughed at what I saw on the screen. The three guards were chasing after a small group of what looked like leprechauns around the hallways. When they followed the illusion into a room, Abram popped onto the screen and slammed the door shut, before winking back out.

  A moment later, he was back in the room with us.

  “Too easy,” he said.

  “That’s unfortunate,” I said. “I was hoping they’d at least fry your ass.”

  “Hmm, do you offer to kiss and make it better if they do?”

  “No, but I can do better.” I turned fully to him with a smile I knew came off as sultry. It hid the anger boiling inside of me. Something about him set me on edge, and the fact that he could toss around jokes while we were under attack didn’t help.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

  I released enough of my magic to force him to step back from the pressure. “If you don’t stop acting like a complete asshole, I’ll show you what it’s like to be one of the females you’re always disrespecting.” I stepped closer, hands curled into fists at my side. “In theory, it’s a simple procedure. I tear off your dick and shove it back in, and with a little magic, turn it into a vagina and ovaries. You know I can do it. And you know I can make it irreversible. Don’t fucking tempt me. Not today.”

  His expression darkened, and he stepped away from me, angling his body so his dick wasn’t facing me. Someone in the room snorted, and my lip twitched with real humor.

  “Now that that’s handled, it’s time to figure out how to break that ward,” I said. “Henzie, any luck on that last guy?”

  “None,” he gritted out.

  I shared a glance with Alijah. “You mentioned it being all over if we can get Lombardi inside?” I asked.

  “What are you thinking?”

  “That we get him inside. I can’t tear down that ward, but I can disrupt it enough to get someone in. Make a big enough hole for him to jump through.”

  “If you can do that, it’s game over for them.”

  “Is he really that good?”

  “Better,” Abram admitted. When we looked at him, he shrugged. “I’m not afraid to admit it. The only reason I work here is because he’s a legend.”

  “Those transport charms, anyone have one?” I asked.

  “Ami has them all,” Henzie said.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  “Wait—” Elliot called out, but I was already on the move. A moment later, my magic released me into my lab. I found my bag, digging out the charm I had taken from Venni and Davies. The black bag was made of leather, filled with about half a cup of herbs and metals. I grabbed extra ingredients I thought I might need and a couple of vials to help restore my magic reservoir. With my mind still whirling with theories, I popped back into the security room.

  “Never again,” Alijah growled out, crowding me. His chest brushed against my arm. “Don’t do that again.”

  “I just went to my lab,” I said, trying not to let them know how dizzy I was. “They aren’t even down there yet.”

  “We have one missing. You have no idea where he is.”

  My shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. I just got an idea and I got a little too excited about it. And I needed one of those transport charms.”

  Alijah nodded and took a step back.

  “What are you thinking?” Elliot asked.

  “I need to get into Anaria’s lab,” I said. “She has some equipment I can use to help me figure out what exactly is in here.”

  “I’d rather you didn’t make Anaria mad,” Logan said.

  “Are you scared of the small labbie? She’s what, five foot three? Besides, she’s always so shy.”

  Logan snorted. “You haven’t pissed her off. I made her mad once. I still wake up in a cold sweat.”

  “What did she do to you?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine the cute blonde being anything other than sweet, if not a little sad.

  “Do you not know her specialty?” Logan asked.

  “Micro projects,” I said. “Like those microscopic bugs she created to help with surveillance.”

  “She sent her bugs after me.” Logan shivered and rubbed his arms. Abram chuckled and received a glare for it. “They kept munching on me in my sleep. People thought I was carrying some kind of virus for weeks because it looked like a bad rash.”

  “What did you do to her?” Elliot asked.

  “I called her adorable.”

  “She is adorable,” I agreed.

  “Right!” Logan threw his hands up in the air. “Well, don’t call her that to her face. She’s this sweet little thing, but the moment you voice it, she’s the first to claw your face off.”

  I laughed and shook my head. “She’ll understand. But I do need to get down there. Who’s with me?” I asked.

  “I’m going,” Elliot said and Alijah stepped forward too. I nodded, knowing I wasn’t going to make it five feet without them with me.

  “Once you know what it’s made out of, how is that going to help?” Logan asked.

  “I’m going to change the charm. I’ll need to give it a boost, divert the current magic to create a burst. Just a little tweak.”

  “That won’t be so easy,” Henzie said.

  “Why not?” Logan asked.

  “Yes and no,” I said. “Yes, it’ll be easier because the foundation is already there for me to work off of. But it’ll be harder because I’m not the creator. I’ll have to bend the magic inside to my will.”

  “That isn’t really a challenge for you,” Elliot said.

  I nodded in agreement. “Normally not, but I work with raw materials. The metal in there was created by whoever put the charm together. It’s the focus of the magic. Not so easy to manipulate. Can we go?” I asked.

  Elliot and Alijah grabbed me. I’d seen Anaria’s lab once before, and I drew on that memory of the messy lab. My magic wrapped around the group, and after a brief moment that felt like I was sprinting, we were in the lab.

  Dr. Anaria Belment was just as messy as she was a couple of months ago. I winced, my need to clean everything up nearly overpowering. I couldn’t just go around and touch her stuff, and I knew everything was where she wanted it. Plus, I didn’t want to risk activating something.

  I curled my fingers into my palm and spotted the machine I wanted. Grabbing a vial from the drying rack, I dumped just a pinch of the contents of the pouch into it.

  “Can you turn that on?” I pointed to it.

  “How?” Elliot asked.

  “There’s a switch on the side. Just flick it. It takes about five minutes to warm up.” I grabbed the extra supplies I had brought with me and began creating the solution.

  “How does this work?” Alijah asked.

  “This solution will break down the components into a liquid. That machine takes a sample and reads the makeup of the solution and then gives us a printout of what it finds.”

  Once everything was set, I placed it into the machine and let it run. A few minutes later, a piece of paper was printed out with spikes.

  “Of course it couldn’t be easier, like a list of ingredients,” Elliot said, staring at the paper.

  “It’s a list of ingredients, just in science code. See this jagged line?” I pointed to one of the spikes. “This is arnica, common in protection rituals. This small line here is white sage, most likely to help protect your spirit self as you move from one location to another.” I looked over the lines. “I know most of these. This thick spike here has to be the metal; it’s in the right area of the graph. Similar to silver in some ways, but not quite. Could be because of the magic shifting its components. I can work with this. Let’s head back up to the—”

  Pain dug deep through my head, and I groaned. I thought I was going to hit the ground hard, but arms wrapped around my body and pulled me into a firm chest.

  “Laila!”
Elliot called out.

  I squeezed my eyes shut as the pain pulsed and shifted in my head, trying to bury deeper into my brain. “They made it through my blood ward.” I blinked open blurry eyes and grinned. “Took them long enough.”

  “They’re going to find out no one is in that room soon.”

  “I didn’t make the other wards as strong. They’ll find out in a few minutes. We don’t have much time.”

  “Are you okay to get us back?” Alijah said. “We can walk if we need to.”

  “Do you know where that guy is?” I asked.

  “No.”

  “Then we’re not risking it.” I straightened. “Let’s get out of here.

  As soon as we were back in the security room, I got to work, claiming a corner of the space for my mission. I downed a booster to get my magic levels back up as Alijah brought over a sofa chair for me to use.

  I paced, impatiently waiting for the potion to kick in. As I did, I kept thinking of how to go about it. I needed explosive. Just enough of an interruption to create an opportunity for Dwight to get through.

  “Laila, how is your head?” Alijah asked.

  “I’ll live,” I said. There wasn’t a need to go on about the pounding headache or my childish need to hide in a closet.

  He stepped in front of me, and when I bumped into him, he pulled me into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around me. I stiffened against his touch, not sure what he was doing.

  “You’re doing good and you’ll continue to do good. Just calm down.” He kissed my temple. Comfort. He was giving me comfort. My body relaxed against him, and I closed my eyes, basking in his warmth, his scent settling my erratic thoughts. “Take this one step at a time. Don’t focus on the big picture. Not right now.”

  “It’s too much,” I whispered.

  “Yes, too much. So focus on the steps you need to take right now.”

  “I can do that.”

  “I know you can.” He gave me a peck on the lips before pulling away. “Now sit your pretty ass down and calm yourself enough to focus.”

  I stared at the challenge before me and sat down.