Magic In My Blood

by Kellie Sheridan

  MAGIC IN MY BLOOD

  LESSER MAGICKS, BOOK THREE

  KELLIE SHERIDAN

  Contents

  MAGIC IN MY BLOOD

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 1

  Finding a needle in a haystack had nothing on trying to find a specific castle in Ireland.

  It wasn't that I couldn't appreciate the drive through the countryside, watching the shoreline or spotting dozens of the country’s three million sheep. My adopted country was gorgeous, no question. But we were only two days away from the largest supernatural summit in history. And more vampires, witches, werewolves, and fae were arriving on our shores every hour, some of which seemed eager to kill any of my people on sight.

  There was no time left to consider a mass evacuation unless we were willing to surrender ourselves as the property of the factions. Which meant we needed somewhere to hide. Now.

  And I only knew one place that might be big enough for our purposes. One day, I'd probably be grateful that it was so well-protected and well-hidden—but I needed to find it first

  Back when I'd first been getting to know other people with lesser magick abilities, I'd only experienced Castle Elgan from the inside. No one at the time had felt all that inclined to give me the grand tour or to tell me much about where I was. I'd arrived through an enchanted door via a pub in Galway and had exited the same way. The door had since been sealed from the other side, which hadn't left me much to go on when it came to figuring out where I'd been or how to get back.

  Endlessly scanning online maps had gotten me nowhere. Sure, Ireland isn't the biggest country by any stretch, but it turned that it houses about thirty-thousand castles. I'd spent an afternoon hopping around the countryside with Simon, a Greek teleporter whose family I’d had the privilege of helping to reunite, but every place had been a dead end. And since there were only so many jumps Simon could make at a time without feeling the negative effects, we'd run out of time.

  Thankfully, I hadn't been alone when I'd first visited, and I wasn't now. I still had someone by my side who'd been able to point me in the right direction. Between my powers online and the bits and pieces of information Nina could remember, we finally had a real lead.

  "The town had these adorable little houses, more like cottages, and a bookshop with a blue roof," Nina explained again, her French accent broadcasting over the hands-free speaker in Taya's car. My ex-roommate and I had left Galway in the early morning hours, hopefully to finally get back to the castle.

  "You need to spend more time around these parts," I answered. "Every single town has a few cottages, and a bunch of them have bookstores. Let me guess, there was a florist and a grocery store as well."

  Nina's laughter tinkled over the line. The two of us had first met under less than fantastic circumstances, when she’d been working with Aoife, who was hell bent on destroying the factions in order to supposedly protect those with Lesser Magick. It had taken me a while to feel like I could trust Nina’s intentions, but now considered her to be a friend. A friend whose healing gift would always be a welcome addition. "I really couldn't see that much from the window, but I've told you everything I could remember. Now it's up to you." And to Nina's credit, she'd been nothing but helpful. The castle's previous owner hadn't exactly been forthcoming with information, preferring to keep her home base as secret as possible, but Nina and a few others had spent enough time there to help us track down a handful of landmarks to home in on the right area.

  "Well, I think we're almost there," Taya said, glancing down at the GPS.

  Not far down the road, I could make out a small grey farmhouse atop a hill and a few sheep in the distance. Beside it, a crooked old tree leaned toward the roof, its bark twisting like a rag being rung dry: exactly the image Nina had described seeing from her bedroom window.

  "I see your tree!" I said, leaning forward in the passenger seat. "This has got to be it."

  Sure enough, not two minutes later, we rounded a bend in the road, and an old stone manor house came into view. It probably wasn't quite old enough to be a true castle, its shape a mix of features from different centuries. But with a broad front door and a tower looming overhead at each corner, it certainly felt like a castle to me. The bulk of the building was three stories tall, with narrow windows spaced evenly across each level. It was easy to imagine a medieval lord or nineteenth century aristocrat calling a place like this home.

  And now, maybe it would be mine, at least for a while. Home was becoming a bit of a precarious term for me. I'd barely had time to settle into my last flat before receiving a declaration of war from a very pissed off selection of vampires and their allies. Technically it was still mine, but each night I'd had to sleep there since getting an even bigger target on my back had been a challenge.

  Taya stopped her little green hatchback at the top of the driveway, leaving us parked right in front of the rather imposing building. On either side of us, lush gardens sat untended and overgrown.

  "And we're sure she's not in there?" I asked Nina again. It didn't look like anyone was home, but it wasn't like Aoife had hung a fluorescent open sign in the front window. In the middle of the afternoon, it was difficult to tell if there were even any lights on.

  "We're sure. From everything I've been able to learn, she's currently holed up in Romania, either plotting or recruiting. I doubt she's been back to Ireland since... everything."

  Taya opened the door to her side of the car and stepped outside. "It's hard to imagine anyone giving up a place like this."

  "I don't think she ever planned to stay in Ireland for the long run," Nina answered. "She's managed to luck her way into places to stay all across Europe, and she knew she'd need to start branching out to other areas of her network if she wanted to make any real progress with her agenda."

  "Ugh. Yeah, that."

  "One thing at a time," she reminded me.

  "Right. Well, I guess we'll go check this out. I'll give you a call if we manage to get in. Or if we don't."

  "Good luck." The line went dead.

  Stepping out of the car, it was hard to feel much trepidation. This place really was lovely even if it was technically owned by a deranged leprechaun.

  "All set?" I asked, already moving toward the front door. Taya had spent all the night before preparing for what came next.

  Taya held up a small fabric pouch. "Here's hoping. Technically an unlocking spell isn't that complicated, but I haven't done one since I was a teenager." Holding the pouch in her teeth, she freed a hair tie from her wrist before binding her hair at the base of her neck, out of the way.

  I stood back as she took up a grounded stance in front of the elaborate silver doorknob. Carefully, she untied the string at the top of the small bag and poured the contents out into the palm of her left hand. A few gemstones, some earth, and what looked like a few animal teeth balanced precariously in her palm.

  So still, she was barely breathing, she let the pouch drop to the ground, bringing her other hand inches closer to the door.

  No
t wanting to screw this up, I slowed my own breath until the scene around us was nearly as still as it had been before we'd arrived.

  "Alohomora." Taya's voice was so quiet, I was sure I'd misheard her.

  My eyes widened, a world of possibility opening up before me.

  Until Taya looked back, a satisfied smirk on her lips. One look at my face sent her into a fit of giggles. "Just kidding!"

  "Right." I let a laugh hide my disappointment... and minor embarrassment. I'd known that wasn't truly how witch magick worked, but in the moment it had seemed pretty damn cool. "You're the worst."

  Taya winked before turning back to her spell, lowering her head and hand until they were level with the lock. With air in her lungs and a spell on her lips, Taya exhaled a steady stream of air. The contents of her hand sputtered forward, brushing up against the door a moment later. A soft click answered back like a secret.

  "I think that's it." Taya stood, brushing her hands against her jeans. "Shall we?"

  I opened my mouth to let her do the honors. But as far as magickal protection went that hadn't taken much to break. If there were more surprises waiting for us inside, I needed to be the one to lead the way.

  My hand settled on the door knob as I waited for additional resistance that didn't come. Aoife's home was ours for the taking.

  With as much confidence as I could muster, we stepped inside.

  Chapter 2

  As far as natural lighting, the windows to the entry hall didn't offer much. I took a moment to text Tilly that we'd found the place. She was waiting in Galway with the handful of other lesser magicks who now called the area home, waiting for the all clear to come through with their families and some belongings. No one wanted to wait around in a city that was filling up with those who might relish the chance to hunt them down.

  But first we had to find the rabbit hole and reactivate it, a search that had brought us all the way to County Limerick.

  Taya shut the door behind her and plunged the room into darkness, forcing us to take a minute to let our eyes adjust. At first I could only make out a few familiar shapes that I pieced together alongside my memories. A table, a lamp. The funnel of intense darkness to my left, which was a hallway toward the kitchens. Quickly after, the stairs, a rug, and a few simple landscape paintings finished the dim interior.

  "The door I came through should be this—" I took a few steps before I couldn't move an inch farther. My left foot hovered mid-step and my voice caught in my throat. Every instinct pushed me to turn back, or at least look around and try to figure out what I was working through, but every muscle was locked. For one panicked moment, I thought my lungs had been locked along with everything else. I'd be dead in seconds. But as soon as I got a hold of myself enough to suck down a gulp of oxygen, it came willingly.

  I could breathe and think, but I couldn't move.

  "Mel?" Taya's voice came from behind me. If she could talk that meant she wasn't stuck along with me. Did she see what had happened? I prayed she caught on quickly enough to avoid the same trap I'd fallen into.

  Of course the security measures I should have been worrying about wouldn't have been the mundane, human kind. I'd assumed since Aoife didn't associate with witches, I wouldn't have to worry about spelled doors or charmed locks. That still left a world of possibility. And I'd wandered into what was probably the most obvious of traps.

  "Don't worry. I'm just going to make a quick phone call to Akiko. I don't want to mess this up. Or move."

  I tried not to freak myself out even more as I listened into Taya's call. Akiko was a witch friend of Leda's, someone she'd met on her travels. We'd been put in touch with her only the day before as we searched for magickal protection solutions we could accomplish with Taya's limited power.

  I felt at least a little guilty as soon as the thought had slipped into my mind. Taya's limited power. It wasn't kind, but it was true. Taya was a witch by birth, but despite years of desperate study, she'd never been able to unearth much natural talent or hone more than the most basic skills. It had left her firmly on the outside of the country's covens, which had led her to betray me in hopes of currying favor with witches who had no real interest in her.

  If they'd been kinder to her then, would she be one of them now? Sometimes, I still wondered. But despite a birthright that marked her powers as greater magick, Taya had pledged herself to our cause. She understood better than most just how cruel the factions could be. And she wanted to help.

  Ultimately, that was the very reason why I'd decided not to send Taya away as soon as war had been declared on the lesser magicks in Ireland and Greece. Day by day, an “us versus them” mentality was growing stronger all over the world. But when I'd started this faction, my intention had been to offer a home for anyone how hadn't felt protected by the current system. That included Taya, and Tilly, the fae woman who was waiting back in Galway to usher people to safety, and anyone else who genuinely wanted in.

  And thank goodness I'd not only kept my connection to Taya, but had taken her up on her offer to come along with me to find Aoife's hideaway. If I'd come alone, I'd have been hovering in place for hours until someone else worked out what had gone wrong. My muscles relaxed as Taya worked step-by-step through the disarming spell she'd been sent.

  "Is that it?" I asked, once both my feet were planted back on the floor.

  "You should be fine now, but don't go anywhere until I have a chance to try this detection spell to find whatever else we're dealing with."

  I turned my head, mostly to confirm that I still could, and found her rifling through her purse for the selection of spell components she'd brought along with her. It took three attempts, but Taya got it done: illuminating every space of the house where a magickal booby trap had been placed so that the residual magick would be visible to me, as if it were forming an aura around its user. It left Taya blind to any dangers, but we hadn’t been planning on splitting up anyway.

  I made my way toward the rabbit hole. “Should we turn on some lights?”

  “Do you think Aoife’s been paying the electric bill?” There weren’t any traps I could see in our immediate environment, but I’d asked Taya to stay behind me, just to be safe.

  “Probably not,” I conceded. “But based on everything she’s done to try to keep other people out, I’m thinking she’s planning on coming back at some point.”

  Together, we made our way back to the corner of the house where I’d come and gone through. I opened the door and found a linen closet.

  “So not as simple as opening the door to reestablish the connection then?” I grumbled, closing the door again before inspecting the frame for any clues or on switches.

  “Here,” Taya said, nudging me with her hip so she could take my place in front of the door. “Send Tilly a message and let her know we’re in place. She’ll be able to do the rest. Technically, rabbit holes are fae magick. They set up gateways that open up here, pass through their realm, and then end up back here.”

  I nodded my approval as I finished up my text to Tilly. I hadn’t thought anyone other than the fae and lost humans had ever visited Tir Na Gog, but in a sense, I’d already been more than once.

  It didn’t take long before the knob twisted on its own under Taya’s land. She opened the door, and there it was. The quiet little pub that was only a few minutes’ walk from the heart of Galway. Tilly stood on the other side, talking to someone I couldn’t quite make out from where I was standing.

  When Tilly started to speak, her voice echoed slightly as though she was standing at the other end of a long tunnel rather than right in front of me as she appeared. “Any signs of trouble?”

  “I don’t see anything. I can come through your way to check it.”

  Tilly shook her head. “It’s safest for me. It’s not possible to alter a passage in any way that would harm one of my kind. I’ll be able to feel if anything is amiss. But it’s doubtful that anyone would risk damaging a passage like this. It is simple enough to render i
t inactive and active again, but if the connection is severed, it would be... costly to reverse the damage.”

  On that ominous note, I stepped out of the way.

  I watched Tilly as she moved through the passageway, trying to catch the moment when the magick happened. Instead, it looked like the most natural thing in the world. One moment, she was in Galway, the next she was there with me and Taya, in a castle out in the middle of County Limerick.

  Not long after Tilly gave the all clear, the others started to arrive.

  It took nearly two hours to get everyone settled in Castle Elgan once they passed through the rabbit hole. Some, I'd never spoken two words to before: locals who I'd spent years trying to avoid, people I'd seen in grocery stores and at the bank before turning tail and heading in the other direction before they could look too closely at me. Others, I recognized easily, like Tate, who had been the first person to introduce me to other lesser magicks. He was half human but had inherited a gift for fire from his mother and lived in the south of the country. Along with Jeff, who I'd met that same day, he had been volunteered for the responsibility of keeping everyone away from spelled areas until we could decide how to disarm them.

  Not long after I'd declared the existence of our faction, Jeff had gone back to England, but he hadn't been the first person to reappear since things had started to look bleak around here. I'd thought that the embargo on lesser magicks in Ireland would lead to a mass exodus of people trying to get somewhere safe. Instead, the declaration had only served to confirm that no where would ever feel truly safe, not until something changed.

  A lesser magick girl and her human mother had already been killed by fae near Donegal. Their bodies had been hung from a lighthouse that edged on the Atlantic Ocean, glamoured to be invisible to anyone without power, a clear message for those of us that did.

  And still, people weren't running, at least not in the numbers I thought they would—maybe, should—be.

  Still, huddled in the upstairs bedroom I'd claimed for myself, congregating with Tilly and Taya, I tried to find a way to leave them that option, should it come to that.