Magic Unbound: A New Adult Urban Fantasy Novel (Touched By Magic: Dragon Book 1)

by Ashley Meira

  “His magic should be gone but isn’t?” If that was true, then Bane did know of a way to get my powers back. But what if the thing that gave Bane his magic back was a fluke? What if Nicholas was wrong— No, he wasn’t. “All right. One step at a time. Bane told me Nicholas had taken something from him. Based on how pissed he sounded, I’m guessing it was something important.”

  “His magic,” Fiona said impatiently.

  “But he attacked you,” Adam said. “When we first met him, he threw ice magic at you to test if you were Fireborn.”

  “So, he got his magic back?” I said, frown still in place. So much for working things out one step at a time. I was beginning to miss the simplicity of prison. “How?”

  Diana gave me a flat look. “I don’t know.”

  “Do you know anything?” Fiona huffed.

  “More than you,” she said, not sparing the redhead a glance. “Whatever power Bane had in the past is beyond my knowledge, but I fought him today. He used his magic sparingly but to great effect. The master brought vampires along. They’re nothing more than smears on the floor now, and you see what he did to me.”

  “Why leave you here?” I asked. “Is he done with you?”

  The question drew a withering glare from her. “I defeated Bane, but he won’t be knocked out long. I told the master to return ahead of me and secure him.” She paused, still glaring at me, then turned to burning holes in the ground. “He said he’d come back for me.”

  “Do you want him to?” I asked softly.

  When she looked at me again, I was thrown back to twenty years ago. Back to the doe-y eyes of my baby sister looking up at me as she held her sniffles in, a skinned knee cradled in her hands.

  “So—” Fiona planted her hands on her hips “—Nicholas is going to take all of Bane’s knowledge and power, then kill him.”

  “The hermit won’t go without a fight,” Diana said.

  Fiona’s lips were a thin line. “Torture, then. That’s even better.”

  “It’ll at least give us time to rescue him,” Adam said. “How do you feel?”

  Diana continued healing herself after he stopped, but I grabbed her hands when they began to shake. She squeezed mine before widening her eyes and pulling away.

  “I’m fine,” she said, shooting me a petulant look that felt terribly familiar. “Leave.”

  Fiona arched a brow. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Did you miss the part where I said the master would return for me?” Diana asked. “Even Bane won’t need much more time to be restrained. He’ll be back soon.”

  I slapped my hands against my thighs, trying to wipe away the sweat that had formed at her words. “How long ago did he leave?”

  “Ten, maybe fifteen, minutes. A few minutes before you three came barging in screaming for Bane.”

  “She’s right,” Adam said through gritted teeth. “This isn’t the time or place to face him. We need to leave.”

  I looked at him, then at Diana. His eyes were hard. Hers were harder. The muscles in Fiona’s legs were tense. She was caught between wanting to stay and fight and running from the nightmarish boogeyman of our childhood.

  I was caught, too. Between several things I couldn’t begin to put a name to. Bane claimed he never fought anymore, but his knowledge on Nicholas could still help us. And me? Hell, I always fought. But as much as I hated to admit it, my lack of magic would only be a handicap. No matter how I looked at it, we were down two useful mages. We needed a way to even the odds if we were to keep going.

  We needed someone to take my place.

  I took Diana’s hand again. Relief calmed my nerves when she didn’t pull away again. “Come with us.”

  “WHAT?!”

  I winced at the volume of the three voices. If they were as synchronized at fighting as they were at yelling, we’d be golden.

  “Are you insane?” Fiona shrieked. “Did the Inquisitors fucking lobotomize you in prison?!”

  “Bad idea,” Adam said sternly. “Bad. Idea.”

  “For once, your friends are right.” Diana’s words were cold, but her hand was still cradled in mine.

  “You never answered my question,” I said softly. “Do you want him to come back for you?”

  She stared at me, her chest heaving.

  I held her gaze. “This is your chance to escape.”

  “Do you really think this is her first chance?” Adam asked. “This is Nicholas we’re talking about. He must have a way of tracking her—”

  “Or she’s brainwashed and this is all a giant trap,” Fiona said.

  “There has to be a way,” I insisted, squeezing Diana’s hand. “We have to help her. She’s my sister!”

  Fiona’s eyes shone with hurt and anger. “I’m your sister.”

  I stammered out a few empty breaths. They were both my sisters. How was I supposed to choose? If I’d been asked hypothetically, it would’ve have been a no-brainer. Fiona and I had been together through thick and thin. We’d survived together, made a life together — she was the most important thing in my world.

  But this wasn’t hypothetical. I was staring directly at my birth sister. My twin. We’d shared a womb, a childhood, a harsh tutelage under our kidnapper. We’d made flower crowns with our mother and held each others’ hands when our parents ran from the monster who might have killed them. I might not remember everything, but I remembered that.

  “Please,” I said quietly, wincing at how my voice cracked. “I’m not going to list out a bunch of pros and cons or try to sell you on anything. I’m just asking, as your sister—” I turned to Adam “—as your partner, please.”

  Adam winced and turned away as if he’d been punched in the gut. Fiona’s nails were so deep into her skin I expected to see blood. They remained quiet, but I felt the fight drain from them. I must have made a pretty pathetic sight for them to deflate so quickly. For once, I didn’t care.

  Diana scoffed, but it sounded defeated. “And he said I was soft-hearted.”

  She sighed and pushed herself up before fishing something out of her pocket. It was a charm. A pair of bones no bigger than my pinky were tied together with blackened string in the shape of an ‘x’ and tiny symbols were etched into the bones with red ink. A shadow surrounded it, one that didn’t fit the lighting in here. The darkness seemed to swirl around the charm itself. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t good news.

  The look on Adam’s face told me I was right on target with my observation. “Is that a Rangda’s Favor?”

  Diana nodded.

  “It looks and sounds evil,” Fiona said.

  “It’s not good news.” Adam’s jaw was tight as he glared at the charm. “Really not.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Black magic,” Diana said. “Very black.”

  “Evil.” Adam tugged his fingers roughly through his hair. “But effective. It’s a concealment charm. One of the most powerful in existence. Whatever tracking magic Nicholas has on her likely won’t hold up.”

  “It won’t,” she said.

  “You sound sure,” I said. “You have been planning to escape.”

  “I was trained to be prepared for every situation.”

  “It’s temporary,” Adam said. “It works for twenty-four hours after activation, then it’ll crumble.”

  “Damn it,” Fiona muttered. “Where to, then? Santa Fae?”

  I nodded. “Nicholas won’t risk attacking such a high-profile target directly, and I’m sure Symeon can get his hands on another Rangda’s Favor.”

  “No,” Diana said. “Japan.”

  “What?” Fiona’s brow furrowed. “Why Japan?”

  “Because you can’t just ‘screw Seraphine’ and go after the master,” she said calmly. “She needs to be taken out as soon as possible.”

  “Or what?” Adam asked, furrows etched deep into his brow. “What is she planning?”

  “She’s going to wipe Asia off the map.”

  Chapter Eleven

>   Our trip to Japan wasn’t as smooth as our trip to Croatia. Maybe it was because we were all waiting for a giant bolt of lightning to strike and knock us out of the sky.

  “He isn’t God,” Adam said dryly when I shared that thought. Guess he was still wound up about bringing Diana along. “The charm will keep her hidden for twenty-four hours.”

  “Then what?” Fiona asked. I didn’t need to guess whether she was wound up. The fact that she’d taken the farthest seat possible from Diana and was curled up in a glaring ball made that clear.

  “I leave,” Diana said cooly. “And when the master finds me, I tell him you captured me and I managed to escape.”

  “I can’t tell if you’re joking.”

  “Did you find it funny?”

  “No, but I don’t think any of your jokes would be funny.”

  “We can get another charm, can’t we?” I asked, trying to ignore the eye daggers being thrown across the plane. Better than real daggers, I suppose. “You said the charm was black magic—”

  “Evil,” Fiona said. “Evil magic.”

  “But that kind of stuff has never stopped Symeon from sniffing it out,” I continued. “It’s worth asking.”

  Adam nodded. “I will. Rangda’s Favor isn’t a difficult charm to make, so it shouldn’t be a huge challenge to find through darker channels.”

  “Evil channels,” Fiona muttered.

  “Illegal channels,” he said.

  “What makes this thing so bad?” I asked, eyeing the glowing charm. “Besides the black cloud swirling eerily around it?”

  “It used to be a token given by the demon queen Rangda to her assassins,” Diana said.

  “So, demons?” I frowned. Fantastic. Just what we needed. “You said ‘used to be.’”

  “As far as I know, the demon queen Rangda isn’t operating anymore. The charms she made could make someone invisible in all ways. No one could track or even see them. These days, Rangda’s Favor are made by mages. They don’t hold as much power as the hers, but they work well enough.”

  “Made by mages?” I turned to Adam. “If we can’t find someone selling the charm, could you make one?”

  Adam pursed his lips. “Technically. But I’d rather not.”

  “Why?”

  “The materials,” Adam said. “They aren’t… entirely wholesome. It’s why I’m hesitant to find another at all.”

  Diana raised a brow. “Do you have any other suggestions?”

  “None that will work as well as that charm.”

  “What do you mean ‘aren’t entirely wholesome’?” A bad feeling settled in my stomach, but I decided to ask anyway. “You don’t usually use vague terms like that. What do you need? Please don’t say baby parts.”

  He winced. “Well….”

  “Okay, no.” Fiona waved her hand like it would erase the moment from our minds. “This is who we’re working with? Someone willing to use a charm like that.”

  “The fae used to send legions into our world for the sole purpose of abducting newborns,” Diana said. “Even after they formed an alliance with the Council, babies are still considered a delicacy, albeit a rare one. Also, are you saying you wouldn’t use this charm if it could hide you from the master?”

  “For one, I wouldn’t call him ‘master’—”

  “Okay,” I said loudly. “Back on topic, please. We’ll find a replacement charm — and hopeful a more baby-friendly alternative to it — before this one loses it’s power. Next on the agenda is Seraphine.” I turned to Diana. “Dish.”

  “As much as he would like to, the master does not currently possess the ability to retrieve the other three parts of Seraphine’s soul.” She thumbed Rangda’s Favor a few more seconds before pocketing it and looking at us. “The nereid and siren tribes guarding them reside too deeply in the water and are very distrustful of outsiders.”

  “Can’t imagine why,” Fiona said derisively as she forced herself over to join us.

  Diana didn’t acknowledge her, but I didn’t miss the way her eyes darted to her sword. “Since she only has a piece of her soul, her powers are drastically weakened. A small storm isn’t very straining, but she requires a few days to prepare truly damaging storms like the ones she’s been causing.”

  “She’s been quiet for over a week.” Adam swore, the muscles in his neck taut. “I knew something was up.”

  “Japan is going to have a bad time,” I said gravely.

  “They’d need years to recover.” Diana leaned back. “And that’s only the beginning of her plan.”

  Fiona undid her ponytail and ran a frustrated hand through the loose hair. “Damn it. How do we stop her?”

  Diana gave her a pointed, severely unimpressed look. “Kill her.”

  “Argh!” I grabbed Fiona before she could leap across the table but wasn’t fast enough to dodge the pinch she gave my side. “I hate her.”

  I rubbed my side. Damn, she pinched hard. “I noticed.”

  “What kind of disaster are we looking at here?” Adam asked. “Earthquake? Tsunami? Typhoon? We need to begin evacuating people immediately.”

  “You’ll never get them all out in time,” Diana said calmly. “Besides, I told you she was planning on wiping Asia off the map. Japan is only her first target, but if you send the victims here away, she’ll just go somewhere else.”

  “You expect me to do nothing?”

  She turned her disdainful look toward him.

  His jaw clenched. “Apart from kill her?”

  “Not up to the task?”

  If his jaw got any tighter, it’d break. Fortunately, Adam seemed to realize that. His jaw relaxed and he let out a deep exhale that I’d only heard from the most frustrated of parents. He took two more similar breaths before turning to me — and forcing Diana out of his sight in the process. Not that that would calm him much. We were twins.

  “I’m going to call Symeon about the charm and send out some other feelers in case he doesn’t come through in time,” he said with forced calm. “Then I’ll start looking into spells that will disable whatever tracking magic Nicholas has on… her. It’d be better to have a professional in the field do it, but we’re pressed for time, so I may as well try. Of course, it’d be helpful if I knew what kind of spell he used.”

  “I don’t know,” Diana said firmly. “But he always knows where I am. He can recount my every move perfectly, no matter where I go.”

  Adam forced himself to look at her. “Then how do you know he isn’t aware you have that charm?”

  “I don’t.” They stared each other down for an incredibly uncomfortable twenty-eight seconds — yes, I counted — before she spoke again. “If I knew what spell he used, I would tell you.”

  “I’m not sure I believe that,” he said, shooting me a quick look. Too quick for me to read, unfortunately. “I’ll be in the bedroom making calls.”

  Fiona let out a growl next to me and followed his movements through narrowed eyes. She’d likely been planning on hiding in there to avoid Diana. There was nothing really stopping her from following him, but doing so would make it clear she was turning tail. She wouldn’t allow Diana to think that.

  “I’ll be over there,” she said, stalking back toward the opposite end of the plane. “Feel free not to make small talk. Ever.”

  I chose to believe that was only directed at Diana. It didn’t give me the courage to actually go after her, but it made me feel a little better.

  A silence fell over the cabin soon enough, and I was left sitting awkwardly across from the twin sister I’d forgotten until two months ago.

  “They’re going to need time,” I said slowly. As far as conversation starters went, it wasn’t terrible.

  By the way she stared disinterestedly out the window, Diana disagreed.

  “You did try to kill them.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Why were you there?”

  “Where?”

  Another eye roll. Damn, I looked really bitchy when I did that. “The house.
”

  “I was looking for Bane. Don’t roll your eyes,” I said quickly. “Yeah, I can see those things turning up.”

  She finally looked at me. Her eyes were softer than when she regarded Adam and Fiona. Of course, I had never tried to kill her. Recently, at least. “Don’t say stupid things, then.”

  “Stupid is subjective.” I raised my hand when I saw she turned back toward the window. “Okay, okay. I was hoping Bane could help me get my magic back.”

  Her dark brown eyes locked onto me. “Back?”

  “Yeah,” I said slowly, waving my arms around as if that would make it clear I was magic-less. “Hello? Have you not noticed the lack of magic? You couldn’t have. You called me magic-less in prison.”

  “I thought it was the inhibitor bangle.” Her brows knit together as deep grooves formed on her forehead. Adam was wrong — I did not look cute when I was confused. I looked distinctly pissed off. Maybe she was pissed off. Or maybe I just always had an angry look about me. Probably both.

  “They took the bangle, so I don’t know why you thought I still had it. But it should still be easy to sense. Or not sense, really. My Fire is completely gone,” I said, my voice dropping. “I can’t feel it at all.”

  She worked her jaw like there were no less than eight different things she wanted to say. “How?”

  I gave her a wan smile and leaned back, lifting my legs to curl up in the comfy leather seat. “You want the long version or the short one?”

  She glanced out at the pitch black sky. “We’ve got an entire flight.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Fitting for a city about to be wiped out by a storm, Japan was all gray skies and heavy rain when we landed. Our plane landed in Shizuoka Airport at half past four, and we hauled our bags into a private car that would drive us to the city of Fuji at Diana’s instruction.

  Neither of my companions were happy to be taking orders from her, but they couldn’t argue the logic of it. Mount Fuji was the highest mountain in Japan. If Seraphine wanted to destroy the country, she’d probably do it from there.

  Or from Mount Ashitaka, which was just south of Mount Fuji. Mount Ashitaka was closer to the ocean, allowing Seraphine to draw power from the depths and fuel her spell more quickly. Apparently, the sea witch had mentioned such a thing to Nicholas while Diana was in earshot. Convenient? Maybe, but I didn’t care so long as it was true. Plus, Mount Ashitaka was smaller than Mount Fuji, so we wouldn’t have to do as much climbing. I was all for shaving time off chasing bad guys.