I was so close to Jason – pressed against his chest with his arms locked around me – that I could feel how that statement affected him. A shiver ran through his torso and up into his neck. I swore if any more tension plunged into his jaw, it would plain snap. “What do you mean?”
“She needs to be healed. She’ll black out. Or at least I assume that’s what will happen,” Max said.
“… I don’t sense a change in our opportunities,” Jason said.
“But you were never the true finder, brother,” Max shot back.
They stared at each other, and I swore history itself passed between them. I was still trying to get over the fact that these guys were brothers, but right here and now, that fact became obvious. Because only two people who’d shared a lifetime could stare at each other with that much bottled up animosity.
Jason was the first to crack. I felt his shoulders descend a centimeter. “We don’t have the time—”
“Then find it. She is in pain.”
Jason paused, as if assessing his opportunities. This close to him, I swore I could feel him use his magic. Not the kaleidoscopic power of a sorcerer – but whatever control of finder magic he had. It was almost the same sense I got when I was close to Max and he was using his finder magic – but it was on a completely different scale. It was much, much smaller.
“Jason, you don’t need to find the truth of this statement,” Max spat, “you just need to help her.”
Jason paused. It was clear he was calculating his options.
I was only just following this conversation – because Max was right. I was in so much pain, it felt as if I was seconds from blacking out. But a scrap of reason told me that if Jason cared for me, he wouldn’t have to calculate anything – he would drop to his knee and help me immediately.
Finally he appeared to come to a decision. He turned, placed me gently on the ground, and took a step back. He brought up a hand, pressed his fingers hard into his brow, then turned to Max. “Concentrate on the change in opportunities. If the window closes for us to get the books – tell me.”
“Yes, brother,” Max said.
It’s not what I expected him to say. I expected him to snap at Jason that he couldn’t be controlled.
But it appeared that if there was one person in this city – no, possibly the entire world – that could control Max, it was his sorcerer brother.
Jason now turned his full attention to me, and the tenderness that had been in his gaze when he’d first realized who I was returned. A smile spread his lips. “I won’t be able to heal you completely – not considering the damage you’ve done to your hands,” he said in the kind of way people do when they’re politely telling you off when they’d rather be screaming in your face. “But I’ll be able to dull the pain and kick-start the healing process. Now, you must concentrate – because we’re running out of time.”
I stared at him. The questions flooded my mind. Who the hell was this guy, and why was he so confident that we were meant for each other?
That question kept banging around my head. Jason had mentioned something about a prophecy, but how did he know that I was the person mentioned in the prophecy?
After all, he wasn’t the finder – I was.
Jason wrapped his hand around mine. Though all I wanted to do was jerk away as pain flooded through me, his grip was tight. “Concentrate on receiving my magic. It will do the rest.”
“… Okay,” I managed.
Though Jason was right there in front of me, and minutes ago, all I would’ve done was stare up at his face, I found myself staring at Max.
He was all the way forward in his chair, but he didn’t dare allow his fingers to touch the chains that still locked his ankles to the chair legs. He stared at me. I’d never seen his expression so crushed.
I wanted desperately to get Max alone – to question him about what the hell was going on here – but that wasn’t going to happen, and as Jason’s magic flooded into me, I started to become lightheaded and woozy.
Just before I could fall backward, Jason brought up a hand, set it on my shoulder, and pulled me toward him. I flopped against his chest, my cheek close to his chin.
My body had been telling me to embrace him ever since we’d met – and now, here I was, right in his arms. And yet – my gaze was still on Max.
Max was staring at me, too.
“Is that it?” Jason asked in a hard tone that was obviously not meant for me.
“… That’s it. I sense your opportunities have opened once more. But you need to hurry,” Max said.
“Don’t worry, brother, I will.” With that, Jason turned me around and headed for the door.
I wanted to scream at him that we couldn’t leave Max behind. I didn’t know how much magic it took to take away someone’s pain like that, but it had to be considerable. So why couldn’t Jason spare just a little bit more to break Max out?
I think I got my answer in the gazes they shot each other before Jason opened the door.
It was filled with animosity, competition, and something more.
I got the impression that these two brothers had never liked to share.
Jason opened the door and walked me out. I was provided with one last view of Max over Jason’s shoulder.
Max looked directly at me and mouthed, “You’ve found him. Well done.”
Then Jason walked through the door and closed it behind him.
I wanted to scream at Jason that we at least needed to leave Max with a weapon.
I couldn’t speak.
I was so woozy.
Jason tightened his grip on me. “You need to concentrate on the books. I know you’ve never seen them – I know you don’t know what they are. But you can concentrate through me,” he said. As he did, he shifted his arms, bring them up tighter until I fell harder against his chest.
My cheeks pushed up against the underside of his chin. “… What?” I managed with a great deal of effort.
“You can concentrate through me. If you connect with me, you can find my feelings. I have seen the books, and you can use that knowledge to find them.”
I was too tired and weak to question whether this was possible. Plus, my body didn’t have an option. As I was pressed there against his chest, again a flood of emotion started to spring through me, until the next thing I knew, I brought a hand up and latched it on Jason’s chin.
It wasn’t me doing it. I had no reason to touch him. My mind – and quite possibly my heart – was back in that room with Max. But the magic within me and the feelings sailing through me made me grab Jason’s chin. I started to shift it this way and that, and Jason obviously appreciated my magic was trying to give him directions. He followed. The sound of his footfall filled my head as the rest of me tried to shut down.
Whenever we came across resistance, he dealt with it.
He was easily the most powerful warlock I had ever met. And yet, there was one thing he couldn’t do – precisely what he was using me to do right now.
It didn’t take any conscious thought on my behalf. My hand, of its own accord, kept itself locked on Jason’s chin. I didn’t know if these rooms and corridors had been spelled, but they were much larger than they should be. It felt like a sprawling city down here.
But that didn’t matter. What mattered is we were getting closer. I could tell that, because the sensations rushing through my body were tightening, as if somebody had locked their hands around my middle, and was trying to crush me.
Though I was still weak, as the seconds ticked by, whatever magic Jason had used to heal me, was gathering force. I could feel my legs and chest and face again, and it no longer seemed as if there was a drill trying to crush my skull from the inside out.
I started to wriggle about.
Jason shifted his attention to me. “Are you recouping your strength?”
I nodded.
“Then try harder,” he said immediately, not even bothering to say it was good that I was healing. He had a one-tr
ack mind, and was absolutely obsessed with tracking this book down.
Which a part of me told me was wrong. If I truly was his soulmate, shouldn’t he care more about me?
Or was that the wrong question? Was the correct question what the hell these books were? Because they had to be something very important to capture not just Jason’s, but Max’s full attention. Max had told us to leave him behind, half tied to a chair in enemy territory – all for a chance to get these books. Jason had promised that the books contained lessons that could teach warlocks new, powerful spells. That blew my mind. And the reason it blew my mind was this – the modern world of magic bore little resemblance to fantasy magic in books. There weren’t hidden, powerful enchantments in old scrolls and grimoires that could change the balance of magic in the world. Most spells were known – and most of them were on the Internet, for heaven’s sake. But if Max and Jason were to be believed, I’d just stumbled into a world right out of fantasy. A world of powerful spell books, of forgotten destinies, and of prophecies that had somehow promised me to a man I’d only just met.
This was utterly crazy in every way, but the more I tried to deny what was happening to me, the less fight I could muster. My mind kept repeating the scene of Jason dealing with those 15 warlocks – the sheer power he’d shown. Before today I’d thought sorcerers were nothing more than urban legends – but experience had proven me wrong. And by the end of the day, who knew what other beliefs experience would ruin.
I was getting much stronger, to the point where I was satisfied that I could stand on my own. Jason wouldn’t let me. He kept demanding I lead him forward. I no longer had a hand on his chin and rather muttered directions under my breath.
I could feel Jason’s tension rising through him with every second. It was utterly clear he would do anything – anything at all – to get his hands on these books.
The more I concentrated on the books through Jason, the more I started to get glimpses of them in my mind. It could have just been my imagination playing tricks on me – as I had no way of knowing if the flickering images playing in my mind’s eye were real. But they felt real.
Those fleeting images showed me a set of three black leather-bound books with gold trimming. They were tied together with not just chain, but a loop of red ribbon. It was the deepest crimson I’d ever seen and reminded me of pigeon’s-blood-red rubies.
Why anyone would tie up magical books with chain and ribbon, I didn’t know – but it was significant. As were the books themselves. Even glimpsing them in my mind’s eye, I got a sense of history welling up from them. It was as if they were three paths through history to a time far more powerful.
Now I could see the books, I started to feel where they were, and they were close. Yet they were shifting, too.
“Where to now?” Jason asked as we reached a fork in the path.
I didn’t answer, taken by the image in my mind.
“Beth?” he snapped, either not bothering to hide the anger and tension in his tone, or incapable of trying.
“They are… moving,” I stuttered.
He hissed through a breath. “What do you mean? How are they moving? Is somebody carrying them away?” His words were hisses, and they seemed to whip and lash the air.
I opened my mouth to answer. I paused. I ticked my head to the side as I considered his question. All the while, I kept my attention locked on those three black leather-bound books in my mind’s eye. I could see them so clearly now that I could almost reach out a hand and touch them….
“They’re in some kind of shifting space,” I answered as that realization popped into my mind.
If it were possible, Jason stiffened even more until he was standing at his full height. His arm muscles were rigid as they pinned me to his chest. He’d already stopped at the fork in the corridor, and he now stared ahead, dead eyes locked on the drab concrete wall opposite us. “There will be an entry point. You need to find it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t have the time to explain to you the physics of magical moving spaces, Beth – just concentrate through me.”
If Frank were here, he wouldn’t have snapped at me like that, and he would’ve told me the information I needed to know. Because Frank appeared to appreciate how my magic worked. Jason?
Just wanted to use me.
I recoiled at that thought, but before the part of me that wanted to be his soulmate could push it away, I held on.
Jason wanted those books more than he wanted me, right?
I looked up into his eyes as I tried to answer that question.
“Beth – just do it. I’m running out of time.”
He didn’t say we were running out of time – he said he was running out of time. And that was answer enough, wasn’t it?
I took a breath. I could easily decide not to help Jason, but that was the wrong thing to do. And the reason it was the wrong thing to do was that Max had told me explicitly to help Jason find those books.
So I took a breath. I remembered everything Frank had told me about magical moving spaces. He’d said that the particles of the rooms and buildings had to go somewhere when they weren’t in use. So all I had to do now was track down where those particles were being held, right?
I didn’t ask Jason for clarification, and neither did I concentrate through him once more. I was done allowing his feelings to access my magic.
Before he could open his mouth and snap at me once more to concentrate, I stilled my mind, centered my breath, and followed my heart.
“Put me down,” I said.
“Beth—” Jason said, his voice arcing up as he got ready to shout at me once more.
“Just put me down,” I commanded. “We’re close.”
He hesitated, then finally followed through with my command.
The move wasn’t tender – he didn’t place me gently on my feet, and rather quickly shuffled down, got onto one knee, and opened his arms.
I didn’t need to be placed on the floor like a China doll, and yet the difference between his tenderness and Max’s struck home.
Somewhere inside my head I was keeping a tally of the difference between these two brothers, and when it mattered most, I would call on that list.
But right now what mattered was finding those books.
And Josh and Frank. And saving the day.
I stood up and arched my back. Jason stood beside me, his hands curled into hard fists and his jaw clenched even tighter. The look in his eyes was a fiery one, and though I could tell he was trying not to lock his anger on me, I could also tell it was hard for him.
I took another centering breath, strode forward, brought my arm up, and pointed.
I didn’t point down the corridor, but rather right at the solid concrete wall in front of us.
Though at first Jason let out a breath of relief, he quickly transformed it into a frustrated sigh. “There’s nothing there—” he began.
“There is. I don’t know that much about magical moving spaces, but I think… it feels like there’s some kind of invisible doorway there. Enough—” I began, intending to tell him it was enough to open a bigger doorway with, but he clearly didn’t need that advice.
Jason punched forward, and without a word, spread his hands and flattened them against the concrete wall. His appreciable shoulder muscles bulged as it looked as if he was trying to push the wall back.
Magic started to crackle up and down his arms, sparking over the fine fabric of his suit and sparkling over his tie.
His raw power filled the air, sounding like a thousand bonfires lined up in a row, and looking just as bright.
I could have easily turned my head to the side, brought up a hand, and tried to protect my eyes, but I didn’t bother. I stared right at Jason. As I did, I asked myself perhaps one of the most important questions I ever would – had I found something in Jason? Something I wanted? Something I needed?
My destiny?
I didn’t get time to answer that questi
on.
There was a crack, and a door appeared out of nowhere directly under Jason’s fingers. The concrete he’d been pushing simply fell away, erupted into sparks, and cascaded over the floor until a doorway appeared where it had once been.
Jason took the tensest breath.
A smile crept across his lips at the same time. It was deep and easily marked his handsome features. “This is it,” he said to himself under his breath. He jerked forward, locked a hand on the handle, and began to open the door. But just before its old metal hinges could creak, he turned to me.
With a rushing sensation darting through my chest, I realized he was using his finder magic – or at least trying to. He narrowed his eyes, looking from me, back to the door, then down to his feet.
He shook his head. “You shouldn’t come. I don’t sense it’s safe,” he added.
… Really? He was finally showing me some care? Or did he just want to find those books for himself?
Though I still didn’t know much about these books – and had only glimpsed them in my mind’s eye – I could tell they were critically important. I could also tell that whoever found them could easily become one of the most powerful witches ever.
Jason shook his head again, obviously continuing to think through whether I should come. This time, there was a fair amount of certainty behind the move. “Stay here. It should be safe. I can use vibration magic to sense that there are no other warlocks around. I won’t be long, anyway.”
I could have easily pointed out that there was no way of knowing if there were any other warlocks around. If the Cruze Gang had manipulated space in these tunnels, then what if more warlocks were hiding in hidden rooms?
I really didn’t have a death wish, and even though I was suspicious of Jason, I could appreciate one fact – I was much safer off with him than without him. Though he’d promised that true finders like me could easily become sorcerers, I didn’t have any of that kind of magic yet. Meaning that if I came across a contingent of warlocks, I’d be screwed.
But I didn’t point any of that out. And the reason?
I sensed an opportunity. There was no doubt in my mind this time. I didn’t remind myself that I was only a locator and I couldn’t sense chances like Max could. I went with my feelings and trusted them wholeheartedly as I tilted my head back and nodded. “You go – I’ll stay here.”
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