Sure enough, we soon reached the doorway.
God, I couldn’t exactly describe the wash of magic pushing away from it, but it was enough that it made even my addled mind wake up. I felt a rush of energy slamming down my back. It was like someone had connected an electrode to the base of my skull and they were pumping blast after blast of electricity down my spine.
Peter leaned forward and opened the door. Though I could still use my eyes, I only chose to open them every now and then. Now, I blinked one eye open and focused on Peter’s back.
He was a tall, broad-chested man, and his form was striking enough that as he opened the door, I swore I could see every single one of his muscles twinge. It was with anticipation. Anticipation that was reflected through the frigging corridor. There was a breathless silence as the door creaked open.
Don’t ask me how Peter had managed to get access to this tunnel and this room. It obviously had something to do with the contacts he had in the Army.… Though this was a thought I’d managed to dodge around for some weeks now, I could no longer do so. Just how screwed was Madison City? Hell, just how screwed was the country? Before becoming a witch, I could never have imagined how broken our system of government was.
Which was stupid and naïve. Because if I’d ever paused to think about it, I would’ve realized how inherently valuable witches and magic were. And when something has inherent value – especially raw power – it changes people. And governments are nothing if they are not made of fallible people.
Even if somehow I managed to get through this situation without dying and without taking everyone else with me, what would happen then? What would have to rise from the ashes of this debacle? Would Internal Affairs be salvageable? Would the government have to be disbanded? What about the Army? What kind of massive review would there have to be to pull all of Peter’s loyal subjects from their ranks?
Hell, what about the business community? Even though the other two kingpins weren’t explicitly involved in this situation, I knew from simply meeting them that they were still as dodgy as hell. It seemed that wherever witches were, crime wasn’t that far behind.
But you know, there was a time and a place for this thought, and that time and place was not here.
For as the door opened, I… felt something. Deep within me, all through me, practically reverberating through my body and each bone. A sense that I was coming across something. If I’d still believed in my vision – if I’d still trusted in the existence of the Zero Prophecy – then the feelings I was having would be destiny, wouldn’t they? They would be the culmination of several past lives’ worth of work. They would be me finally coming into my true future.
… But I didn’t believe in that anymore, did I?
This close to the door, and this close to so much reflected magic coming off the hidden sets within, I was starting to lose hold of everything I thought I knew. Because my brain just wasn’t up to the task of functioning. I was so distracted by the practically convulsing sensations of magic that ripped through me that it was as if I was whittled down from a functioning human being to nothing more than a heart and panting breath.
It didn’t last, though. Of course it didn’t last.
I had a task to do.
I heard Peter clear his throat. “Hand her over,” he said. Then, without waiting for permission, he grabbed me up roughly. Then again, I doubted, considering how much I knew of Peter, that he was a person who particularly valued being polite.
His hard grip clutched around me as he hefted me up easily.
My sorcerer handcuffs clunked together, and he glanced down at them briefly.
Was there… a hint of worry in his gaze somewhere? Just the slightest indication that he was fearful that I might find a way to break through them? Or was that just wishful thinking on my behalf?
… There had to be a way to break through them. I didn’t have access to my finding magic right now, so that wasn’t the source of my hope – something else was. The same part of me that had been shut down over what I’d learned about the Zero Prophecy, and yet the same part that had been growing ever since I’d listened to Olivia’s doubts.
You see, if you live in a world where anything is possible, then anything is possible. You have to hold fast to that principle. When you’re stuck, barreled up against a wall, with apparently nowhere to go, you can’t absolve your fear by telling yourself that there’s no way. You have to look.
So I finally started to look. A little late considering what was in front of me, though.
I heard Peter take a rough breath. It really pushed his hard chest against my side. There was a little shake to it, too – yet another indication that Peter wasn’t entirely in control.
And why would he be in control? Because here’s the thing. Powerful men always seek out more power. But unless they are truly arrogant, in seeking out more power, they have to accept one fact. There is something out there more powerful than them.
Yes, on the face of it, Peter looked as if he was in complete control of the situation. Or was the situation in complete control of him? He had no option but to search for the seventh set, did he? Because when Jason was no longer distracted by his brother and me, he would come looking for Peter. He would hear about what Peter was doing, and he would use his powers as a sorcerer and his influence with Internal Affairs to shut Peter down once and for all. There’d be no last-minute pardoning. Jason wouldn’t sweep in and shut down any court case involving Peter – he’d deal with him personally.
So Peter, for all his worth, for all his power, for all his connections, was just as trapped as me.
I held onto that as he finally took another grounding breath and stepped forward.
We entered the room.
At first it was dark, then I swore I felt something. A charge of magic shifting down the darkened walls. I knew what was about to happen before it did. Flame torches lit themselves.
I cast my mind back to Constantine’s tunnels and how Hayden had told me that the hidden sets could only be lit with flame magic – something to do with them absorbing other forms of magic.
Shit. They absorbed other forms of magic, didn’t they?
Unless you were a sorcerer.
Even though I was currently trapped by sorcerer-depleting handcuffs, at some point, Peter was going to have to take them off, as I would presumably need my sorcery skills to find and create the seventh set.
Hope. Just little sparks of it. Just little wisps. It started to gather around me, pushing through me, changing what I thought was possible. And that? What I thought was possible? Would be my ultimate savior.
Peter started to walk down the long corridor. I wasn’t that surprised when the door out to the rest of his team closed. They’d be smart men, and they’d know that they would need to protect themselves from the magic-sucking qualities of the six sets.
Even though it would’ve been easy to distract myself with the sheer amount of power in the air, I ignored it. I focused on what would happen next.
I was weak, and I didn’t honestly know how much magic I would need to try to find and create the seventh set, but if I could channel it toward attacking Peter… then what? I had to find some way out of here. Would a portal spell do? I’d never practiced one. And was now really the time to learn?
I stopped myself from wincing as I thought that. I had enough experience with portal magic to know that if I didn’t get the spell right, I would end up inside something. And that would not be good for me and the thing I ended up within.
But I didn’t need to use portal magic, did I?
I still had a connection to Max’s mother’s mansion.
All I would need was to get to another door.
“I know what you’re planning. Don’t bother,” Peter grumbled down low.
His warning was enough to snap my attention back to him. I tilted my head up and locked my gaze on him. As the flickering light of the flame torches danced across his face, it made his features even sharper and harde
r, as if his very face was a weapon that could cut through anything.
He didn’t bother to look down at me. Why acknowledge me? I was only in his arms.
“I have thought through every possibility. There’s no way for you to escape. You will find the seventh set – or everything you care about will be destroyed.”
My stomach could have twitched. Maybe it should have twitched. At the threat that everything I cared about would be destroyed, I should’ve reacted. A normal person would have. If someone goes around threatening your family and life, you should care, right?
Yeah, well I did. But I knew something else. I could not give in to a man like Peter Mercure just because he threatened my friends and family. Because if he found out it worked once, he’d keep doing it.
I wasn’t a fool. Even when Peter got what he wanted and he acquired the seventh set, he wouldn’t let me go. He’d use it against me, presumably turning me into his latest, greatest toy while he used the seventh set itself to control the rest of the city.
If I gave in to him and his threats, I’d be giving him the world at the same time.
I didn’t point any of this out. I tried to look meek.
This brought a smile to his face. The cruel grin of a man who loved to be in control.
“We are almost there,” he said, his voice a breathless gasp.
“How do I fight off the memory of Paul Knights?” I asked abruptly.
As I spoke, I looked directly up at his chin and stiff cheeks. It wasn’t because I liked staring up his nostrils. It was because I needed to see how he would react. And sure enough, though he did a good enough job of controlling his expression, he could not control the fine muscles underneath his jaw. They stiffened and hardened as if he were attempting to use his mouth to crack open a walnut shell. “I fancy that’s a myth.”
“You don’t think his dead sorcerer memory is protecting the six sets? I would’ve assumed, considering he’s your brother, you would’ve appreciated how tenacious he was.”
Peter looked right down at me. Then he chuckled. It was dark. “So you already figured out that we are related?”
“Yes. Just as I figured out that he, by the sounds of him, was willing to do anything and everything to protect the hidden sets for the Knights family. So what are you going to do if we encounter his memory?”
“I’m going to do nothing. You, on the other hand, will use your superior sorceress skills to defeat him.”
I snorted. “How exactly would my skills, as a trainee sorcerer, be better than your brother’s?”
“Firstly, do not do me the disservice of calling him my brother,” Peter snapped. “There was always too much bad blood between us to bother with that word. He was an enemy, and always was.”
“But he was still family, right? And presumably, you still remember how he worked. And, more than anything, how much he was willing to do to secure the sets. So I’m going to ask again, Peter, what exactly am I going to do if I encounter his memory?”
“Paul Knights was not a finder. He became a sorcerer, just as his son Jason did. Because he was not a complete finder to begin with, he did not have the same inherent power as your form of sorcerer. So you can find a way to defeat him.”
“… You haven’t thought this through, have you?” I said, voice bottoming down low as the realization struck me. “You’re taking a chance, aren’t you? You weren’t prepared for this. But when Jason acted to try to find Max and put the city under martial law, you couldn’t pass up the opportunity, could you? But you haven’t thought this through,” I repeated.
“I’ve thought it through enough,” he snapped. “everybody has their pain point. Everybody has those people they care about,” he said, his lips snarling as he finally turned to face me fully. He tilted his head right down, his back practically bowed as he stared at me in his arms.
My stomach twitched at the look in his eyes. “You’ve got someone I know, don’t you? Is it Sandra? Maybe my whole family? Maybe everyone I’ve ever met?”
“Correct. I’ve also got Olivia. Now, you’re going to be a good girl, aren’t you?”
I looked right at him. I had two options. Show him the natural defiance that was bubbling in my veins, or give in to the weakness that wanted to push through me at the thought that Sandra was in this bastard’s clutches.
I decided to show fear.
Not because I felt it – because that’s what he wanted to see.
And here was something I was starting to learn. If you showed men like Peter – men with fixed views of the world – exactly what they wanted to see, then you could control them.
Sure enough, Peter let a snide smile spread his lips. “Good girl. Now, we’re here.” With that, he unceremoniously dumped me on the floor.
I didn’t have the time or energy to jerk my hands around his neck to stop myself from falling on the ground. I couldn’t, considering my hands were handcuffed, anyway. So there was nothing to stop me as I slammed onto the floor, and a powerful stab of pain shot up my coccyx and hard into my spine.
I didn’t bother pointing out to Peter he was a bastard. This was hardly the worst thing he’d ever done.
Peter took a step back, and I saw his eyes widening in the reflected light of the torches.
Greed. That was the only way to describe what was going on inside Peter. Channeled greed.
He had the look of a man who was standing in front of the frigging Fountain of Youth.
“It’s time,” he said. Then he took a single step forward. He didn’t suddenly charge with magic; he obviously wasn’t that stupid. Instead, he shoved a hand into his pocket and appeared to click some kind of remote.
The next thing I knew, there was a resounding thump within my sorcerer handcuffs.
I turned my head down in time to watch them fall off and land on the floor with a click.
And then, in a rush, I finally had access to my magic once more.
It told me to throw myself at Peter – to end this.
But Peter looked right at me, and I don’t think I’d ever seen the bastard look so honest. “Don’t make the mistake of attacking, fool. You’re still as trapped as you were when you were wearing the handcuffs. In fact,” he brought his hands up and spread them wide, “now you’re even more trapped. Because you think you have a way out. But you don’t.”
“Where are you keeping them?”
“Your friends and family? Somewhere dangerous – but somewhere within reach. So pay attention, and be a good girl.”
I dusted off my knees and finally rose. Though I got the desire to petulantly kick the sorcerer handcuffs, I straightened instead. Plus, if I kicked them, they’d probably break my toes, and God knows I didn’t need any other troubles right now.
I chose to stare forward, ignoring Peter’s penetrating gaze as he locked it on the side of my face. It was easy to stare forward. The… darkness was different. In some ways, it reminded me of the darkness I’d encountered in that room in Constantine’s tunnels. This was on another level. It felt like the very lack of matter embodied. As if I was facing off against a void between galaxies and not the end of a lightless room.
“It is for you to take a step within, penetrate the darkness, and find the seventh set,” Peter said, and his voice took on a theatrical, booming quality, almost as if he was some kind of preacher proclaiming the end of the world. And hey, he was some kind of preacher proclaiming the end of the world. Except he was one with an army outside and one who had my friends and family.
I finally tilted my head over to look at him. “Are you worried I’ll use it?” I asked point-blank.
He tilted his head back and laughed. “You’re not a complete sorcerer yet.”
“And you are?” I arched my eyebrow. “Where exactly are the other six sets meant to be, anyway?”
Peter brought a foot up and thumped it down on the ground. “They are this room. The floor, the ceiling, the walls, the lights, the air – everything,” he said, voice grating down low.
&nb
sp; I frowned. “You mean they’ve become disembodied again? There’s a way to do that?”
“In a manner of speaking. It was yet another form of defense that fool Paul Knights came up with to keep these in the Knights family. Deprive a set of grimoires of magic, and it will return to where it came from. No matter. He couldn’t find the seventh, and neither could Jason. And now it’s your turn.” He looked right at me again. “Everything is in place for you. The six have been assembled, and the darkness awaits.” He thrust a hand toward it. “Now go, unless you would like me to call my men and get them to kill your friend? Susan’s her name, is it? Fancy I send you her pinkies once we’re done?”
I turned, and though I’d done a good job of holding my nerve up until that moment, fear finally twisted through my stomach. Peter wasn’t the kind to lie. He would have Sandra – I didn’t need any evidence of that. He was a man who’d been threatening people his whole life, so he knew how to do it properly.
I took a step forward. I entered the darkness.
And immediately I found out it wasn’t dark.
For the darkness seemed to drag my eyes closed, and as soon as they were shut, I started to see swirling shapes and forms and colors. It was as if the very foundation of thought – the substance that made it up – suddenly became visible. It shifted around me in waves as if I were standing in a pool of consciousness.
It was at once the most powerful experience of my life, and yet the most frightening.
I didn’t know if I was standing anymore or being swept up in a dream.
… A dream. That’s it. That’s what the seventh set had the power to do – alter people’s dreams. Change their motivations, change their perceptions of the world until you could do as you pleased with them.
I lost all track of Peter. If he was behind me, then he was formless. The only thing that mattered was those swirling, amorphous thoughts.
They seemed to penetrate me as if I’d never been real to begin with – as if the matter that made me up was nothing more than an illusion.
I felt something shifting around my legs. It took a few seconds to realize what it was, then I appreciated it was the swirling movement of skirts being buffeted by a strong wind. They slammed against my shins, played up around my ankles, and seemed to buffet against something in front of me.
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