Haoxin spotted me, whirling my way far too quickly for any creature her size.
Warner lunged, grabbing Kandy before she got crushed under the guardian’s foot. Then he was gone, carrying my wolf to safety.
I sliced downward, intending to sever the final strand connecting Haoxin to the gateway. I remembered Pulou saying that the former warrior had never been the same after he’d walked through the gateway’s magic. Haoxin was still fueling it. So getting her free might help contain her.
But before I could cut it myself, the thick tendril of magic loosened, snapping back toward the guardian.
“Got it,” Mory grunted with satisfaction.
I dropped my knife, scooping Mory up in my arms.
Then Haoxin brought the roof down.
I clearly saw her reach overhead.
I saw her wrench two of the white metal pylons free, breaking off large chunks of concrete and shattering an epic amount of glass.
I wasn’t going to be able to clear the area in time.
I hunkered down, covering as much of Mory as I could with my body. Then I prepared myself to take the hit, to hold whatever fell for as long as I could.
I felt the roof come down, dampening the light all around us.
Then … nothing.
I cranked my head, looking up over my shoulder. A barrage of twisted metal, glass, and hunks of concrete was suspended above me. Magic rippled across it all, tasting of apricots.
Alivia’s magic.
I straightened, frantically looking for the ward builder and finding her off to one side of the gateway. Her hands were flung forward, her face etched with determination and pain.
“Oh, my God,” Mory whispered.
“The gateway!” Alivia screamed.
One of the metal pylons was just above the gateway. Inches away from hitting it. The gate was tilted at a sharp angle, with the last of the elves still trying to cross through it, dragging the wounded. One at a time. Seven left, including Alivia. Six …
Something heavy slammed over my head.
Alivia moaned. Everything she was trying to hold aloft — an entire section of a freaking stadium roof — slipped down a couple of inches.
Another hit from above. More slippage.
Haoxin was trying to get through to us. To me. She was trying to crush me like a bug. And everyone along with me.
Five elves left.
“Stay here, Mory,” I said. Then I sprinted toward the gateway.
“No, Jade,” the necromancer shrieked behind me. “You can’t! You can’t close it!”
“I’m not closing it. I’m holding it.” I knelt as I slid to a stop, shoving my hands into the magic. Turning my face away as best I could, I placed my hands on either side of the elf tech. Then I tried to hold it in place.
The next elf in line grunted, shifted the warrior he was dragging up over his shoulder, and stepped over me. He fell into, then through, the magic boiling over my head.
Four elves left.
Alivia’s ward took another hit.
The gateway shuddered, pressing against me. A biting, twisting pain shot through my arms, but I held on. I looked up, catching sight of Haoxin — her body huge and distended — beating against the ward. A flash of gold informed me that my father had resorted to unleashing his sword.
“What a fucking mess,” I murmured.
Three elves left.
Two.
I looked over at Alivia. “Can you move? And hold?”
She nodded. “I believe so. If I tighten the aperture.” Then her gaze dropped to Mory. The necromancer was watching us with massively wide eyes, holding her ankle. “But … you need to clear the area first.”
Haoxin hit the ward over us again. Hard. Like she might have resorted to kicking it. The magic cracked. Pieces of concrete and glass began to fall.
“We’ll time it,” I said, trying to focus despite the fact that I was starting to feel off. Stretched thin. As if the gateway might have been draining me now, fueling itself from my life force. “I’ll get Mory out.”
Alivia nodded, carefully stepping toward me while still concentrating on the shield she was holding overhead.
Haoxin swiped the area above me clear, shoving the debris of the roof aside so she could peer down at me.
I couldn’t see my father anywhere.
The guardian grinned, cartoonish and maniacal. Then she reared back, raised her foot, and slammed it through Alivia’s magic.
“Jump!” I screamed to Alivia, even as I rolled away from the gateway.
Something hit me on the back, then across my head.
Everything went black.
Someone was crying.
It wasn’t me.
Mory.
Mory was crying.
I opened my eyes.
I was on the ground … on the metal … the concrete … the glass all around me. Blood was dripping into my eyes. Panicked, I wiped my forehead, but I could still feel the ridge of scar tissue there. I was bleeding from my skull, not a gemstone embedded into my brain.
I had killed Reggie. I’d freed myself from her, then killed her. I was bleeding for an entirely different reason now.
Something shifted on the edge of my blurred vision.
I blinked.
Hands.
Toasted marshmallow magic.
Mory.
The necromancer was crawling toward me.
I tried to twist toward her, but … aside from my arm, I couldn’t actually move. I was … pinned? And something was tugging at my legs?
Right.
The roof had fallen.
Mory pulled herself over a hunk of concrete, making eye contact. Then she let out a terrible sob that sounded as if it tore through her heart and soul.
“Hey, Mory,” I croaked. “Shh, shh …”
Something rumbled nearby, the debris around us shifting. Magic exploded all around us, tasting of spices and chocolate … and tomato. A combination of Yazi and Haoxin. Maybe Warner.
Mory squeaked then pulled herself closer, finally able to brush her fingers against mine.
“You’re hurt,” I managed to say, realizing with the words that something was terribly wrong with me … with my legs, my back and lower rib cage. Something was squeezing me, making it difficult to talk.
But there was no pain. Shouldn’t I have been in pain?
“… Jade?” Mory asked, her tone suggesting she’d been talking to me and I’d missed it. “Jade? You look hurt. Bad.”
“I’m okay. How about you? It’s your leg?”
“Yeah, I think I broke my ankle …” She glanced at me worriedly, mumbling the rest. “When you dropped me. But, um, now the other leg … won’t …” She sobbed, then got herself under control. “They’ll come for us, yes?”
“Yes. Sure.”
Except I had just figured out what was tugging at me, what was pinning me, above and beyond the hunk of roof.
The dimensional gateway.
It must have collapsed over me. And now … and now … I thought it might have been tearing me in two.
I cleared my throat, tamping down my panic. “Mory. Can you see the magic holding me?”
Mory’s eyes widened in fear, then flicked over my head and shoulders. “No,” she cried. “Is it the gate?”
“It’s okay.”
The rubble all around us suddenly rose up, then slammed back down as if an earthquake had just hit the city. Or a large body had just been thrown to the ground.
Pain exploded in my upper chest, my left arm, my head and neck.
Mory cried out. Then, even as wounded as she was, she started to try to dig me out.
Metal creaked and crackled overhead. I could see a sliver of lightening sky above us. It was nearing dawn. But I couldn’t turn my head to see what was making the noise. The rest of the roof coming down, most likely.
Mory was grunting and sobbing, struggling to lift something off my back even though she couldn’t stand herself.
“It�
�s okay. It’s okay, babe.” I grabbed for her with my left hand. “Listen, listen. I’m going to try to teleport us out of here.”
Mory panted through her tears, calming down enough to listen to me. “Yes. Yes.” She gripped my arm.
And I tried … I tried to call the magic forth from my necklace, tried to wrap it around me and Mory. But I couldn’t make it move lower than my upper back. It was as if it couldn’t grab onto my lower half. The half the gateway was holding.
“Nothing is happening,” Mory whispered. “Jade?”
A large chunk of the roof broke off and crashed to the ground about ten feet behind me.
We were going to die. Mory and me. And even if some miracle occurred and I survived the rest of the stadium collapsing on me, and if whoever found me could get me out of the gateway in the end …
Mory wouldn’t make it.
Mory would die for certain.
“Help me,” I whispered, reaching for my necklace.
“I’m trying. I’m trying,” Mory cried, on the edge of hysterical now.
“No. Help me get my necklace off.”
“What? Why? Why?”
“Mory!”
The necromancer slipped her fingers underneath the heavy gold chain. I helped as much as I could with my left hand, but the instruments protested, bristling and pulsing with displeasure.
“Shh … shh …” I whispered.
“I’m okay. I’m okay,” Mory murmured. She eased the chain off over my head, then left it pooled underneath my palm.
I panted for a moment. It was becoming difficult to breathe. And the instruments were already fighting my unvoiced intention.
“Now put it on,” I said.
“What?”
“I need you to put on the necklace, Mory. Leave it loose, please. So I can touch it.”
“I’m not putting on your necklace!”
“Put on the necklace,” I snarled.
Mory snatched up the chain, then remembered that I needed to keep in contact with it. She leaned over me, close enough that her hair tickled my cheek, and looped the chain over her neck.
The instruments screamed, shrieking their discontent.
Mory sucked in a breath.
“It’s okay.” I petted the chain as best I could with my torso, shoulder, and one arm pinned.
Another huge chunk of the roof fell. This one even closer.
“Stay with Mory,” I said, speaking to all the magic contained in the necklace. “Protect Mory.”
“What are you doing, Jade?”
I didn’t answer the necromancer. I had to keep all my attention on the magical artifact. I had to calm it, direct it. “The treasure keeper will come. Everything is going to be okay.”
“What do you mean?”
The magic of the necklace and the instruments settled. Keeping my fingertips on the lower two wedding rings, I called the teleportation spell forward. Then I looked up at Mory.
“Tell them I love them,” I whispered.
“Who? Tell who?”
“All of them.”
I brushed my fingers along the chain, feeling the comforting magic dancing underneath them. “Promise me, Mory. Promise me you’ll make them understand.”
“Understand what?” Mory cried, grabbing at my hand, grabbing my arm.
“To Warner,” I said, speaking to the power of the necklace while I recalled the taste of Warner’s magic — dark chocolate … sweet cherry … “Take the necromancer safely to Warner.”
The magic balked at my command. It was an easy guess that the disgruntled instruments were impeding it.
“What?” Mory was sobbing now, tugging at my arm, trying to pull me free but getting nowhere.
I could feel myself truly fading now, numbness spreading over my shoulders and up my neck.
“Don’t leave me, Jade. Don’t leave me.”
“It’s not me leaving, darling. It’s time for you to leave me.”
I took the last bit of magic I could summon. I shoved it all at the necklace. “To Warner. Safely to Warner.”
The magic of the necklace expanded. Somewhat pissily, I thought.
Mory shouted something.
The magic contracted.
And the necromancer was gone.
I sighed, finally able to rest my head in the rubble. I could hear voices shouting somewhere in the distance. I felt guardian magic. And the gateway, tug-tug-tugging at me.
And I understood. This was the future Rochelle had seen in her sketch of the Buddha. I hadn’t needed the power of the sorcerer’s amulet to escape the dragon nexus. I had needed it for this. For Mory.
Another hunk of roof collapsed. Debris pelted me around the head and shoulders.
Freddie appeared. As the shadow leech moved over me, its magic tried to grab hold. I tried to brush it away, but I couldn’t move my arm anymore.
“Freddie,” I murmured thickly. I realized that I was leaking blood from my nose and mouth. “Leave it. Go to Mory. Mory will take care of you. The … the bakery wards. I give you permission to take magic from the bakery …”
Freddie chittered indignantly, still trying to grab me. To transport me, maybe. As the leeches had once been able to transport Shailaja. But the rubble and the gateway held me fast.
I closed my eyes.
Then someone was screaming. Shouting. The sound coming closer.
Mory.
Oh, God.
Had something happened? Had something gone wrong with the teleportation?
I struggled to lift my head. And there suddenly was Warner, just on the edge of my sight line, climbing over the rubble. Mory was slung across his back, jabbing her finger in my direction.
I met his gaze.
I smiled. So, so glad that I’d had the chance to see him one last time.
I love you. My mouth wouldn’t form the words, so I thought them over and over and over again.
I love you.
I love you.
Warner shouted.
Freddie shifted, latching onto my head and neck, spreading out across my shoulders.
The taste of burnt cinnamon toast filled my mouth.
I love you.
The roof collapsed.
Taking what remained of me with it.
12
Pain.
Pain. Pain.
Pain. Pain. Pain.
Then blissful nothingness.
Coffee.
And chocolate.
But bitter … too bitter.
Choking.
Suffocating.
Someone was trying to force me to … drink … coffee …
I tried to shove it away … tried to turn my head …
The pain returned, or maybe it had never gone.
Too much.
Too late.
The damn coffee pusher was back.
Seriously, I didn’t freaking like freaking coffee!
I mean, drink it if you want to, but …
Wait.
Music.
Wait.
Coffee … and chocolate?
Wait.
The healer.
I was … alive? Still alive?
Agony shot through my head, down my neck, and through my left arm. Then it was soothed away, carried off by a tune I could never remember.
But … I didn’t want to be soothed. I didn’t want to be shoved into oblivion.
I tried to grab hold of the healer’s magic. I tried to hoard it … but I didn’t have my knife or my necklace.
Where was my necklace?
I had to open my eyes.
I had to move.
I couldn’t do either.
I was trapped on the edge of oblivion.
I was trapped.
I was trapped.
No.
No one held me.
I didn’t need to be able to see or move.
I had magic.
I was magic.
“Oh, thank goodness,” a voice murmured. “I’ve got her. I’ve got her
back.”
The healer. Qiuniu.
I tried to speak, but I couldn’t move my mouth.
So I reached for the healer’s magic instead.
I could suffer through a few sips of coffee, especially if accompanied by dark chocolate.
There wasn’t much I couldn’t do when motivated by chocolate, after all.
“We have to get the necklace off the necromancer.”
“She can’t even move yet, warrior.”
“The girl will die. The instruments are not meant to be held, not together, not by anyone other than the wielder. And Jade will be angry if she wakes to find we did nothing.”
“Jade’s permission will hold a little while longer. The necromancer will survive.”
Mory.
Mory was in trouble.
Dying?
Because of … me.
“Blossom.”
A sudden spike of magic — my father’s power — drilled into my head, deeply into my brain. I gasped, shying away from the intense energy.
“Jade! What did she say?”
I tried to speak again. I couldn’t.
My father’s magic brushed me … my cheek, my shoulder, my left hand.
No.
He was touching me. That was what physical contact felt like.
“Blossom tried, Jade,” my father said urgently. “The necklace refuses to budge from the necromancer’s neck. And for all his arrogant, ignorant declarations, the treasure keeper can’t collect it either.”
The pain rose, but I fought it back. I tried reaching out, seeking the tenor of the necklace. But I couldn’t feel it.
“Bring the girl here,” the healer said. “The proximity might help.”
Mory. Not ‘the girl.’
She was Mory.
The healer’s music rose and I slipped away into the soothing tune before I could voice my complaint.
The intense taste of chocolate and cherries and whipped cream came and went.
Warner.
His magic was full of fury.
Later.
Bittersweet chocolate with a red-berry finish.
Kandy.
Later.
Cool peppermint.
I breathed.
The bed shifted. Cool fingers brushed against my left wrist, checking my pulse.
Gemstones, Elves, and Other Insidious Magic (Dowser 9) Page 27
