“They’re for you. You’re going to use the three candles as an anchor around us.”
“Anchor?”
“Because we’re at the locus of the spell, there is a chance that… if you were…”
“To stuff up?” I said, putting into words what he was obviously too polite to mention.
He conceded my point with a shrug. “If you were to make a mistake, there is the potential that we would be torn apart,” he pointed out.
I made a suitable face at that. “Then light the candles now.”
“You will have to light the candles. They will be part of the ceremony. As for the markers and the atlas, they are reference points and the means by which you will draw the map.”
Something started to click in my head, and I frowned. “I’m gonna be using finding magic to do this, aren’t I? And I’m… going to have to give in to it, aren’t I? Allowing it to draw the right map for me?”
He nodded. “It will be similar to the other experiences you have had with finding magic. For instance, when you found Howard with me. You will go into… I suppose it is called a dream state.”
I didn’t like losing control of my body that much, but considering the world was on the line, I could make an exception.
I leaned over, grabbed the box of markers, and placed them beside me. Then I nodded over at the atlas. “I guess it’s time to get this done.”
“You’ll need matches for the candles,” Max began as he shoved a hand into his pocket.
I brought my fingers up and clicked them. Though I’d never created a spark of fire using my magic before, that didn’t matter. I tuned into the power and controlled it. If there was one thing running those constant sorties with Josh had taught me, it was how to refine my skills. It had been like a seriously intense hour-long training session. Sure, I was tired, but I knew how to control my powers better than I ever had before.
Max looked impressed as a stable magical blue flame appeared over my fingers. I clicked my fingers again, and it disappeared.
I nodded hard. Was I frightened? Of course I was frightened. Inside, I was shaking. But, importantly, outside my hand was steady as it settled on the markers.
Max handed me the atlas. I opened it and placed it on my lap.
I looked up at him. “Is there anything else I need to know?”
“Trust the process. Trust the house, too – it will guide you.”
I didn’t need to second-guess that. I’d already felt that this house was on my side. So I trusted in that fact as I opened the atlas, took a deep, rattling breath, grabbed a marker, and closed my eyes.
I started to concentrate on my finding magic.
There was an ideal way to take the map of the city and to draw it over the map of the house.
First, I needed a map of the house, didn’t I?
That notion clicked into my head, and I found myself uncapping the marker in my hands. I leaned forward and started drawing a map of the house from memory.
I wasn’t one of those savants who could figure out distances and lengths and whatnot simply by standing in a building.
The house was guiding me.
It was also forcing me to draw on Max’s rug.
Max didn’t stop me, and considering he didn’t have a length of butcher’s paper for me to draw on instead, there was hardly any other option.
The finding magic spread through me, controlling my fingers and every single movement of the marker until I’d finally drawn a perfect map. I clicked the lid back on the marker, threw it to the side, and selected another color.
The entire time, I concentrated on that door in my heart, letting it remain open as it imbued me with magic.
I kept concentrating on finding that one opportunity – that one perfect way to align the maps.
I didn’t have to reference the atlas. Every time my magic surged, I kept working methodically, my finding magic imbuing the atlas and perfect street maps simply appearing in my mind.
Max ostensibly did nothing by my side, but that would be denying just how powerful his presence was. It allowed me to concentrate, feeling safe enough to focus my full attention on this spell and not to leave a scrap behind to monitor what was going on in the building.
… This was the power of his anchor, wasn’t it?
The power I’d glimpsed in the past.
Before too long, I felt magic start to pick up through the room. I hadn’t lit the candles yet, and I could tell that Max was starting to get uncomfortable by my side. He was fidgeting around, probably genuinely concerned by the fact that if I didn’t light them soon and I stuffed up, we would be torn apart at the molecular level.
That’s when I grabbed them, lit them with the tip of my magic-laced finger without a second thought, then placed them down around us. I was completely absorbed by the spell now, taken by the magic, allowing my finding abilities to control my every movement.
This was different to the times I’d found Howard or the hidden set in Constantine’s tunnels. More and more magic began to pick up through the room. I could hear it sizzling and crackling as if it were a barbecue and someone had just thrown meat onto it.
That wasn’t a particularly pleasant image, considering what Max had warned me of if this spell went wrong.
“Almost there,” Max said softly under his breath.
Though technically my eyes were open, they were in this funny kind of state where I couldn’t really see what was going on. I was so focused on the spell that it was as if everything else had ceased to be relevant. As if my attention could travel no further than the tip of my marker.
“Almost there,” Max repeated once more, his breath low and quick.
I felt a surge of magic. All around me. It seemed to come from the markers beside me, from the atlas in my lap, and more than anything, from my heart.
I actually started to shudder as if I was on a tectonic plate trying to break free of the Earth.
“It’s happening,” Max announced, excitement forcing his voice to bark high.
I closed my eyes. I squeezed them shut until I thought I would tear the eyelids.
I focused all my might on that door in my heart. Because I could feel that the magic imbuing the room was coming from me. And yet, at the same time, it wasn’t making me tired. It was like… I was a conduit.
I ground my teeth back and forth, focusing so hard on that doorway, the rest of the world simply didn’t matter. Jason could’ve appeared in front of me or even kissed me, and I would have completely ignored him.
I could feel the chaos above me, pushing down. I was taken back to that moment where I was torn apart, my lips locked against Max’s.
There was… something in that moment. A secret.
Some kind of clue….
“It’s happening!” Max announced, his voice pitching high. “Whatever you do – stay perfectly still.”
I didn’t need an explanation as to why I should remain exactly where I was. It was in the nature of the spell. The candles could only do so much, and if I found myself jerking out of their magical reach, I would be split apart. Or maybe I would be squashed as the city came landing down on top of me.
The honest truth was, I wouldn’t be able to move if I’d tried.
I could feel the chaos… beckoning me. No, it wasn’t beckoning me. It was almost like I was trying to understand it.
For the first time in all my long lives… I was trying to—
There was a massive shake that traveled through the floor, shook up high through the walls, and rattled the building as if it was nothing more than a child’s toy.
The only thing that stopped me from lurching out of the reach of the magical candles was Max’s hand. He suddenly locked it on my shoulder, pushing into me with all his weight as he pinned me to the spot.
I opened my eyes.
The door in my heart closed. And in front of me… I saw a bedroom.
A different bedroom.
“What…?”
Max immediately
pushed in and pressed a finger against my lips. He shook his head.
He was warning me to be quiet, but I had a hell of a lot of questions lining up in my head. Like where the hell were we and where the spell had gone. You see, my intricately drawn blueprints on the carpet had disappeared. The three candles protecting us had gone, too.
Max leaned in close, anchoring a hand on my shoulder to get near my ear. He whispered, every push of his breath sending the fine hairs along my neck tickling over my jaw. “We’re in my bedroom,” he said.
If the situation hadn’t been as dire, I think I would’ve given into the sudden tingle of pleasant nerves that jumped into my stomach at those muttered words.
It was in his harsh whisper and the fact he was so close. And also, in the fact that this wasn’t a 14-year-old’s bedroom anymore. The bed behind me looked comfortable and more than accommodating.
As I narrowed my gaze and looked around the room, I realized two things. It belonged to somebody very rich with great taste, and it was in the city. There was a massive bank of windows to one side, and it had a great view of Madison City’s skyline.
“You mean this is your bedroom in the city? We’ve been transported?” It was my turn to whisper, ensuring my voice was down low.
I didn’t honestly know why we were whispering, but Max seemed to know what he was doing. So I didn’t announce with a bellowing voice that I had finally arrived in the most eligible bachelor’s pad.
“We haven’t been transported. When you completed the spell, the room where the spell was cast linked to the city.”
I understood in a flash. “But how do we get back to the house, then?” It was stupid that I hadn’t discussed the exact dynamics of how this spell would work until now.
“You do. If you concentrate, and you open any door in the city while fixing an image of my mother’s mansion in your mind, you will arrive in one of the corridors. Then you’ll be able to concentrate again, open a new door—”
“And arrive wherever I want,” I concluded.
“No,” Max said. He was still pressed up against my ear, his form so close, I could feel his radiant heat. And though on any other day that would’ve been distracting as hell, now all I cared about was his every tense word.
“You will have to match the map you made. Though you can use any door in the city to return to the mansion—”
“Every door in the mansion will only open to a specific place in Madison City – following the blueprint I made. Got it,” I managed. “But, Max, why are we whispering?”
“Because right outside my door are three Internal Affairs agents.”
“How do you know that?” My voice dropped down so low, I could barely hear it, let alone hope that Max could.
“The effect of casting the spell is dulling your senses. Concentrate and listen,” he said as he pointed to his closed door.
I did as he said, drowning out the dull ringing in my ears as I fixed all of my attention on the door. And that’s when I heard it. Three men having a conversation. Before I could question whether they were from Internal Affairs, they started referencing the current operation.
And what were they calling the current operation?
Operation Dead Zone.
I shuddered, not knowing exactly why they’d picked that title but realizing it had to be important.
I looked at Max with wide eyes. “What the hell do we do?”
“We should get out of here – head back to the mansion. There, we can regroup, pick a more advantageous section of the city to appear in, and then… try to find the hidden sets.”
I began to nod, then I stopped abruptly, my neck muscles taking over the move of their own accord.
Max frowned hard.
I looked at him directly. “I’m sensing an opportunity.”
His eyes had time to widen, then I heard someone heading for the door.
I was too far away from it to throw myself against it and grab hold of the handle before they opened it.
I looked up to see a guy in a long trench coat staring down at me.
I didn’t give him the opportunity to stutter in surprise and warn the other agents.
I lurched forward, keeping my body low and angling my shoulder toward him.
I didn’t say a word. I didn’t even grunt. Hell, I ensured the sound of my footfall striking the carpeted floor was muffled and didn’t ring out. I was exactly like a quiet assassin.
I struck the guy. Rather than ram him against the wall, I wrapped an arm all the way around his back.
There were certain classes of healing warlocks who could cast sleep spells. I’d never met one, but I’d heard about them. They often worked for hospitals. I’d never had a sleeping spell cast on me, and I honestly had no idea how they worked. That didn’t stop me from concentrating on the door in my heart and hoping, with all my might, that I’d be able to knock this guy out with nothing more than a muttered word.
“Sleep,” I said as I drove my eyes closed and imagined the guy losing consciousness. It was like I had a mental image of him in my mind and I pushed him backward into a black hole.
The guy didn’t have time to say a word. My spell frigging worked.
I watched his eyes roll into the back of his head.
He fell against me, and before he could send the both of us slamming against the wall, considering he weighed a hell of a lot more than I did, I jerked backward, used a combination of my strength and my magic, and caught hold of him properly. Then I guided his comatose body down to the floor.
Max had already pressed to his feet. Before he could say anything, I pushed my mind into sensing my own opportunities. Though technically I could close the door and try to open it back into Max’s mother’s mansion, I didn’t sense an opportunity in doing that.
It made no sense, anyway. If we escaped now, the remaining two Internal Affairs agents would realize something had happened. Then they would raise the alarm.
If we played this right, Max and I should be able to run through the city without Jason finding out. But to do that, we had to stay hidden.
I felt Max try to grab for me, but I pushed out of his way and shunted forward.
There was an Internal Affairs agent right in front of me, just a half meter away, his back to me as he played on his phone.
The other Internal Affairs agent sounded as if he was out in the kitchen, separated from us by a mostly closed door. The guy in front of me let out a harsh breath of air. “I wish we were out there on the front lines. This job drags.”
“Stay alert,” the agent from the kitchen blurted.
“Why? Max Knights is not going to be stupid enough to come back here.”
Max tried to grab me back again, but that’s when I shunted forward, clasped a hand over the agent’s mouth, and cast another sleep spell. Though I’d only just learned how to cast them, I was quick, really focusing my mind until the guy lost consciousness and fell back against me.
This time Max helped me muscle him to the floor.
I crept forward, staying low as I headed toward the ajar door.
“Hey, William – why aren’t you answering me? Are you on your phone again? It’s an honor to work for Internal Affairs. It’s an honor to have been selected as part of the army who will save humanity. How many times do I have to tell you that? Now stop playing games and check in.”
Though it had been easy enough to take down two of the agents, I wouldn’t have the element of surprise if I rushed into the kitchen.
“William?” the guy demanded.
I felt Max’s hand touch my shoulder as he pushed me gently toward the wall on one side of the door.
He took up position on the other side and nodded at me.
I didn’t know what his plan was, but I could sense that he’d felt an opportunity. The same one that suddenly sprang through my heart as I locked my back against the wall and steadied my breath.
The other Internal Affairs agent stomped through the room, reached the door, and pushed it open
with his foot.
I almost shoved forward, but that’s when I heard Max give a tight breath.
… It was enough to see me pause.
The agent hadn’t walked through the doorway to see us pressed against the walls yet. He shoved a hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone as he started to make a quick call.
Max nodded at me hard.
I threw myself out of hiding, rounded my shoulder, wrapped my arm around the agent, and tackled him to the ground. His phone went flying. Before it could strike the polished floor and break, Max rolled into the room dramatically and caught it right out of the air.
The agent struggled beneath my grip, and I could feel as he started to charge with magic. He was decidedly powerful. But before the bright green light leaping over him could do any damage, I slammed my hands either side of his head and forced a sleep spell to lace through his veins.
Though he struggled, eventually his eyes closed.
I kept my hands locked against his face until his head thumped back down and his body lost all muscular tension.
Shaking, I stood.
I turned my attention to Max as I watched him play on the guy’s phone.
“What have you got?”
“He unlocked his phone with some kind of magical coded biometric information before you knocked him out. He’s given us access to important recent communications from Internal Affairs,” Max said as he gestured with the phone.
I let out a tight breath. “Did he contact anyone?”
Max shook his head. “You acted just in time. Well done,” he added.
I sighed, patted down my jacket, then checked the agent with my shoe.
Though I was pretty confident I’d cast a good sleeping spell that would ensure this guy was knocked out for at least half a day, I checked him thoroughly anyway. Then I walked back into the hallway and Max’s room, and checked the other two agents. When I was satisfied, I walked back in to find Max still searching the guy’s phone. “Have you found anything useful?”
“Just that the city is under martial law and that all nongovernment buildings have been shut down.”
I shrugged. Before I could dismiss that as unimportant information, something forced me to jerk my head up as I frowned at Max. “Doesn’t that help us in narrowing down where the hidden sets are being kept?”
Forgotten Destiny 5 Page 6
