There were few things that would destabilize my already tenuous position more than being caught in a compromising position with an alpha werewolf, even one who had been nothing but a friend to our cause.
"You did. So far, it looks like everything is right on schedule. And you haven't changed your mind about any of this?" he checked.
"I'm always open to better ideas, but if it helps, this one’s feeling like less of a lost cause than it did even yesterday." I wanted to fill him in about my thoughts on the humans. As someone firmly embedded in the supernatural world but with a very human daughter, I was sure he'd have an interesting perspective. Instead I was thrown head first back into my own role as a faction leader.
The castle had filled up quickly. Voices sounded from nearly every corner of the large building, the old stone walls doing little to mask the chaos.
Even just walking from the rabbit hole to the living room, I spotted at least five people I'd never seen before in my life. I spotted Taya and Jeff in the front hall, speaking in hushed serious tones to a young woman near the front door with a giant suitcase.
"Tilly?" I asked, spotting the fae woman who had somehow become integral to my sanity. She sat at the end of a large dining room table, completely engrossed in whatever was on the laptop in front of her. I tapped her on the shoulder and leaned in close to her ear. "Who are all these people?"
Tilly's blue eyes looked up from her screen for only a second. As soon as a flash of recognition crossed her face, she was back to typing out another message. "Mostly, they're Irish. Lesser magicks who needed somewhere to go. Simon's been working over time, hopping around the country, but he's going to need a break soon."
As we spoke, Ethan had grabbed an unused chair from the other side of the room, bringing it over to give me somewhere to sit beside Tilly.
"Okay, but they know that they're better off getting some distance from Ireland right? And are we actually checking them out before we let people in here?" I hadn't expected an influx of people this quickly, let alone strangers.
"Everyone already here had a connection to you. They'd been vouched for by Taya, myself, Nina, or someone like that before we let them in. I've got another two dozen messages from people we don't know, swearing up and down that they need somewhere to go and quickly. And that's nothing on the list of people from outside these borders. There was no way the summit could house every single faction member on the continent, or even all of their leaders. Those left behind look like they've chosen to hunt lesser magicks as a means to keep themselves distracted."
"How many more people can we take in?" I asked, looking around nervously. I'd been at parties that had seemed less crowded than the room I was currently sitting in.
"You don't need to worry about any of that." Tilly shifted her laptop so the screen was facing me. In the time I'd been gone, she'd put together a multi-column spreadsheet with a list of names that extended farther than I the laptop's screen could show. "These people are coming to you because of the summit. What's coming for them both before and after has everyone nervous, but I'll handle it as best I can. We have room here, and I have a lead on a safe house in France that we might be able to use. So let me worry about the logistics of refugees, and you focus on giving these people what they're going to need long term: peace, stability, homes. This is what we need you to do."
I glanced up at Ethan for confirmation, but even before he gave me a reassuring nod, I felt a small weight start to lift off my back. How many times was I going to have to learn this lesson? The lesser magicks were a community, and a strong one, if not a little fractured. Everywhere I looked, I found more people who were looking to help make things right, who wanted to help me because they believed in what we were all working towards. Tilly was right where I needed her, being my voice when I couldn't be, lending a hand to get things organized. Taya probably hadn't sat still since people had started arriving in earnest, settling them in and putting them at ease.
And then there was Ethan.
Selfishly, I wanted to keep him for myself. How nice would it have been if his purpose was simply to help keep me standing? Perfect. But his purpose was his own. He had an entire pack to consider, a daughter to protect. And still, he was here, offering me information I might have had to risk my life for otherwise.
"Who are you bringing with you?" Ethan asked. We'd spent the last few hours going over the logistics of breaking into a supernatural summit. A lot of magick had gone into protecting the event from any prying human eyes, and security would be anything but relax. Still, we had options. Now it was just a matter of figuring who exactly we were.
Already bracing myself for a debate, I put my hands down on the table. "Okay, hear me out."
Ethan reacted immediately. "You're not going alone."
"Probably not," I admitted. "But I think it's a matter of what kind of message I want to get across." And who I was willing to put in danger. "If it's just me..." I couldn't come with a single good reason to go alone. And to my surprise, I didn't really even want to. Which meant finding a different angle all together. "It's not like every member of every faction is going to be there. There are no more than two people representing any coven, any pack, any seethe. So if I'm trying to present myself as someone on an equal footing with other factions, it should be me and Simon." I could take any of my friends who had greater magicks flowing in their veins. "He can get me out of there quickly if he has to."
"Actually, there are wards in place to prevent magick use," Ethan pointed out.
"How targeted are they?" I raised myself slightly out of my chair to reach for the map of Saint Augustine's that we'd found online. "Would the wards be focused on witch and fae magick, or all magick?" Plans for the summit had been in the works for close to a year, far longer than most people had known I was alive or than the lesser magicks were ready to fight back. "It's entirely possible that no one thought to account for us."
"Unfortunately, the specifications of the protections in place weren't in the brochure." A small smile tugged on Ethan's mouth. When his eyes turned their steady focus on me, it took most of my will power to remind myself to focus. "Don't count on Simon's ability to get you out of there if things go badly though. If possible, John and I will position ourselves near an exit, see if we can keep that covered, but there are no guarantees."
I didn't love the idea of Ethan putting himself or his second-in-command in the line of fire, trying to protect me if someone made a move. Allying with me in any official capacity wasn't going to make him friends and might even put a target on his back.
And yet I didn't think there was a chance in hell that I could ask him not to get involved if someone decided to attack me as a show of force. Well, I could ask, but that would be breath spent on part of a plan that might actually stand a chance.
For all of our sakes, we needed to ensure this wouldn't come to a fight.
"There are no guarantees in any of this. My other option is to treat the lesser magicks more like the fae." Having been around longer than any of the other factions, the fae had been afforded the most time to work out a unified system of government that encompassed all of their people. Rather than having local branches or offshoots, all the fae answered to the royal family and their court. Because of that, the fae would be sending one unified delegation. Having a united front would unquestionably give them an advantage in negotiations. Or discussions. Or a fight. Whatever ended up happening. "I wouldn't want to bring as many people as they are, but we could bring enough people to get noticed."
Ethan cleared his throat before reaching over to rest a hand on mine. "No matter what you decide to do Melanie, you'll be noticed." I couldn't slow the blush that rushed to my cheeks but did my best to ignore it.
Ahem. Yes. Business thoughts.
But, in a non-romantic sense, he was right. Of course I would be noticed. I was the head of a brand new faction, the child of prophecy, and lesser magick to boot. People were going to be on the lookout for me. I was sure they knew I
was coming. There was no way I could just slip in and act like I was anyone else at that meeting. And if I did—and somehow got away with it—that would leave me with as much of a vote as any other leader in that church.
Which was not much at all.
I knew in the end it wasn't really going to come down to voting as much as it was to how many people I could make to see things our way. How many eyes I could open up to new possibilities?
But what I needed to do was make an impression.
"We'll bring a small group," I said, decided. "I'm not sure yet if it will be in our best interest to include Tilly and Taya, who represent the full makeup of our faction, or if we should focus on Ireland or more globally." I was already leaning toward all the above. Besides, how many people who had taken refuge were really going to be raising their hands to walk straight into the lion’s den? "We'll bring enough people that they can’t ignore us."
"Has Taya reached out to her friends?" Ethan asked, shifting gears in our plan while also making it oh-so-clear that he hadn't forgiven Taya for betraying me for Belfast's coven to better her own position.
Truthfully, neither had I. Not completely.
We had every reason to believe that the most powerful local witches were going to be the key to getting past any security measures that would have been put in place to keep the wrong people out of the summit. Hopefully, the wrong people were just humans, but we had to be prepared for their having means to enforce a strict guest list.
"She's working with them now, but we're having trouble walking the line between curiosity and raising suspicion. But I have a backup plan. Maybe we won't need them." I grabbed my phone from the table, pulling up a spelled app I'd created after seeing Tilly's wonderful spreadsheet. The information she'd been working with mostly had to do with collecting names, dates of contact, who we could trust. But, being the superstar she was, she hadn't just focused on information for how we could help the lesser magicks who needed us; she’d also included how they could potentially help us.
After tapping the screen to highlight a few entries, I handed Ethan my phone, leaving the screen on a list of abilities that we potentially had at our disposal.
He studied it for only a moment before recognition lit up his expression. He put down my phone before reaching across the table to grab a small slip of paper. The invitation he'd been given. On one side, his name was engraved in a deep red ink. On the other, two thumb prints were marked in blood. His and John's.
"Use this." He handed me his invitation.
I shook my head. He'd caught on to exactly what I'd intended, but was a little too enthusiastic for my taste. "They'll be able to trace that back to you in a heartbeat if something goes wrong. There are going to be invitations like this floating all over the city. We'll find a way to get our hands on one. Someone completely obscure who no one would suspect of having a connection to us."
Ethan looked pointedly up at the clock that hung on the wall above us. "When exactly are you planning to stage and execute an ambush?"
"We can make it work. There's still time."
"This is safer."
"For me." I didn't want to put a single person more in the line of fire than needed.
"Yes. And you're the one who is already putting herself at risk tomorrow. I can take care of myself. Besides, like you said, this only matters if something goes wrong. Otherwise, no one is going to care how you got in."
"That's a pretty big if."
"Honestly, Melanie, I'm not sure it is. If you can get yourself in there, I know you'll be able to pull this off. There's not a question in my mind. So let’s get you and your people inside so you can change the world, shall we?"
Resigned, and a little flattered, I reached out and took the invitation from his hand.
Chapter 7
I’d visited Saint Augustine's only a few times before, and still it was one of my favourite spots in the city. I’d entered the church for the first time the week after I’d moved to Galway, when I was determined to see as many sights as possible before choosing a neighbourhood, and after that, only when my parents were visiting on a Sunday and wanted to go to a church service.
And despite not being particularly religious, I still felt something inexplicable and powerful every time I stepped through the front doors.
As it turns out, I felt the same sense of awe when I used the back doors, which were easier to use for sneaking purposes than approaching the building. We’d learned the hard way that we wouldn’t be able to teleport inside after Simon’s first attempt had resulted in his instant return, along with a nasty rash that quickly spread from the base of his spine up his back. It hadn’t taken Nina long to heal him, but none of us had felt particularly inclined to make any other magickal attempts at entry.
This left using the invitation Ethan had given us, marking it with spelled drops of our own blood and going inside two by two.
Everyone in attendance had been informed of one specific security measure: a spell had been placed around the cathedral to make it appear to humans that it was closed for construction and unsafe to enter.
It probably wouldn’t have been a big deal to approach the perimeter at night, when the city was dark. But since we were sneaking in ahead of time, we had a lot of concerned locals to contend with. Some were well-meaning, thinking we simply wanted to go inside to pray and had missed all the construction signs—which didn’t actually exist—warning us off. Others thought we were looking for trouble and aimed to protect one of the gems of the city from those who would do it harm.
Ultimately, we’d had to split our group apart, sneaking in one at a time, all while looking as though we had every right to go inside. When in doubt, look like you know what you’re doing.
The extra hassle left us with only an hour to go before the official arrival time for the summit. Which left me huddled in the basement, trying to stay out of the way, and wishing Ethan had been able to come with us. But he and John would be arriving when they were supposed to.
“Alright, that’s all of us.” Tilly looked down at her phone, checking one last item off her mega list as Nina crept down the basement stairs to join our group,. Her travel partner, Leda, would already be on her way back to Ethan so that he could use the invitation to enter properly when the time came.
Sensing what I needed, Nina strode straight over to me and wrapped my whole body up in a hug. “You’re okay,” she promised. “We’re all okay.”
I could see that much; the problem had more to do with making sure we stayed that way.
After hours of discussion and debate, we’d ended up opting for the “go big or go home approach,” taking not only a bigger group, but our greater magick members who were up for a challenge. I suspected that everyone hoped they wouldn’t be called on to do much more than make their presence known and that I would be doing most of the talking. But they’d come, and that meant everything to me.
Nina stood with Jeff and Tate in the corner near the church’s stash of extra chairs, catching up after a time apart. The rest of our group consisted of myself, Tilly, Taya, Simon, and a Greek gentleman with the ability paint or sketch images that he found inside other people’s minds. I doubted Nico’s talent would be of much use to us during the summit, but it was a pretty epic representation of our new faction’s capabilities.
We had the most incredible array of talents, from individuals spread all over the world; that was where our strength as a group could be found. Well, maybe that and shared generational oppression.
Between stone walls and decades-old flooring, we clearly heard the footsteps of the first arrivals as they began to filter in above us. An uncomfortable silence filled the cellar, but the soft hum of voices reverberated through the floors. That had to be a good sign. If the factions were relaxed enough to interact with one another, they were less likely to kill me on sight.
How much less likely, we were about to find out.
“Here goes nothing,” I said, working my variation of wolf magi
ck over myself. While the wolves had an intense sense of smell, I had the ability to shift and change my natural scent. On that night, I willed myself to smell faintly of witch magick; I figured I was most likely to be mistaken for one, so long as no one looked too closely.
I stepped upstairs ahead of the others. I’d insisted on knowing what we were getting into before the others joined me, potentially putting themselves at risk as well. They’d stay close but hidden, until I could be sure the way was clear.
By the time I made it up the steep flight of stairs, down a cramped hallway, and into the main part of the building, the central room was already starting to fill. It took a bit of fancy footwork to slip out one door and into the shifting tide of the crowd taking their seats. No one moved in any particular hurry, and I was surprised to see
People were taking their seats all along the large, empty aisle that ran down the center of the cathedral. It was the most magick I’d ever seen in one place; a haze of color surrounded everyone, making it difficult for me to distinguish talents as clearly as usual. I’d also never quite appreciated how well I could determine the intensity of a person’s magick with only my second sight. It was one thing to see a few people on their own; seeing so many individuals, each with different powers, at once heightened my senses. I delighted in exploring the variations in everything from hue to strength of color. And most people in that room had a more intense haze than anyone I’d ever interacted with.
These were the strongest among their races, the most powerful and magicklly inclined. The difference was particularly noticeable among the wolves and the vampires. Looking at any given alpha werewolf, I could almost sense the different shades of blue hidden within their own inherent power, as though the alphas were also touched by the powers of those within their pack.
I allowed myself a full two minutes to hang back and take it all in, trying to get a feel for the best way forward. While masking my scent and hiding my identity gave me the ability to walk freely as people settled in, I didn’t know enough to assess what the danger might be for others. Or for me, once I made myself known.
Magic In My Blood Page 4
