Shattered (Alchemy Series Book #3)

by Augustine, Donna

  "We'll discuss phones later, Jo," Cormac replied in a serious manner, but I saw the underlying laughter and mockery. His expression was screaming ha ha ha, I've got a better phone.

  Cormac held up his phone, showing a grainy picture of the buildings. "They're in a large generator plant, not far from here."

  I knew I shouldn't say anything. I tried to stop myself, knowing it wasn't the time or the place, but the words slipped out anyway. "Is that like…two megapixels?"

  Cormac looked up at me, glaring slightly.

  Yeah, that's right, buddy, I said it. Your camera phone isn't all that.

  "Did you see any of them? Oslo or the others?" Crash asked, bringing the conversation back to subject.

  "No, but there's a lot of people there," Katie said. "And other things."

  Cormac handed me his phone and I flipped through the images while we all crowded around the small screen.

  It looked like there were guards on walkways on top of the buildings. The place was lit, but it was a generator plant. Who knew how large of a coal stash they had. It was a good site to pick, with the large body of water behind it.

  And then I saw the rippers. That wouldn't be out of the ordinary except that something seemed off. They weren't scattered along the area but clumped together.

  "Why are they gathered like that?" I asked, looking at the pictures. They appeared to be in a frenzied swarm.

  Everyone looked up, wondering the same thing as me. Even in the dark, I could see Katie had turned white.

  "They were feeding," Cormac said.

  "Did you see who they caught? Was it one of their people or ours?"

  "They didn't catch anything, they were fed."

  Chapter Seventeen

  "What are those men doing with you? Who are they?" Buzz asked.

  "Not here," I said. I looked behind me at the casino lobby where Cormac was telling Kever where to put Crash and his men. I motioned to the stairwell, which was becoming my place.

  I should have known something was up as I saw the door to the stairs open and let out a group of people. When had everyone started taking the stairs?

  When I entered the stairwell, it was like Grand Central Station, people coming and going every second or so. I had to press myself against the wall to let an especially large group get by. "What the hell?"

  "The elevators on this side of the casino are gone," Buzz explained.

  "They broke?"

  "Uh, no, not broke. Just gone."

  "Gone where? Talk, Buzz!" I said, losing more and more patience as I saw my stairwell becoming completely overrun.

  "Last night, at approximately two a.m. they disappeared."

  I looked at him, almost not believing what he was saying. He threw his hands into the air and shrugged.

  "What's there now?"

  "Stone. It was pretty ugly. A couple of people were in them when they disappeared and they got wedged in between the stone walls. It was a disaster to get them out."

  "Are the Fae behind it? We need to figure out who's screwing around. This is not the time for practical jokes."

  "They are denying any involvement."

  Tired of being bumped by the people passing by, I entered the flow of traffic heading upward with Buzz. It looked like I'd have to get used to sharing my stairwell. Even though there were other elevators in the casino, no one would want to use them, now.

  The crowd dissipated the higher up we got and I was able to start taking the stairs two at a time by the tenth floor.

  "If it's not the Fae, then what's happening to the building?" I said as soon as we had enough privacy.

  "Burrom is starting to think it's the spells they've been using toward the casino. He wouldn't tell me the whole thing, but there is at least one line in the incantation that says something about being as strong as a fortress of yore. The way he explained it, now that magic is much stronger, it could be interpreting the words more literally."

  "Fortress of yore? With all the crazy shit happening these days and stone popping up everywhere, it just occurred to them?" As bizarre of an idea as it was, it was a logical conclusion, considering the progression of things. "Does he have any guess as to how much of a castle we are to become?"

  "Nope. Did you find Sabrina and the rest of the changed? Dodd is climbing the walls. I think he might lose it soon."

  "We found them but they're being held at a heavily armed generator plant."

  "Shit. How many?"

  "That's one of the problems. It's not just the changed. They've got rippers there and they seem to be in cahoots, somehow. I don't know if the rippers are bright enough to make a deal with or maybe they're just tamed somehow. Whatever is going on, it's not good."

  "What do you mean?"

  "They're feeding them."

  "What?"

  I didn't say anything as I waited for him to absorb this new information. His face contorted into horror. "How could they do that? They're still human."

  I just shook my head, having no words for it.

  It took a minute for Buzz to get over the shock himself before he moved on to the next issue. "What are those guys doing here?"

  "They're with the senator."

  "This day just keeps getting better and better."

  "No one wanted to go in unprepared and we also didn't want them going in without us, or vice versa, so we hit a stalemate. Problem is, neither one of us wants to lose sight of the other." I looked back at Buzz, who was starting to lose ground to me on the stairs and I waited for a minute, so I didn't have to yell. Once he caught up again, I continued. "So we got stuck with them."

  Buzz nodded. "Oh, and before I forget, Burrom's been waiting for you."

  "Do you know what he wants?" I lived on his floor so what was the big rush?

  "Said it was a private matter."

  My plan was to stay on Crash's group like white on rice, but Burrom wasn't someone I felt comfortable leaving hanging.

  "Can you do me a favor?"

  Buzz nodded.

  "Don't let the tall one with the sandy hair out of your sight. He's not what he seems and I want to know what the deal is."

  "Where you going?"

  "Burrom," I said, breaking into a run as I cleared the final stairs, leaving Buzz behind.

  "Change your shirt first!" he yelled after me and I remembered what a mess I was.

  After Crash removed the bullet from my shoulder, the pain had subsided quickly. I got into my room, wiped down the old blood and changed my shirt before I headed back out.

  I opened the door and headed down the hallway to find Burrom. He was already in his suite, waiting.

  "You alone?" he asked, his eyes darting around me as I walked in.

  "Yes."

  "Lock it," he said, motioning to his door.

  I did as he asked and the moment it shut, his pretense dropped and I could see the strain appear in his face.

  "What's wrong with you?" I asked as I followed him into the living room, where I watched him collapse upon the couch.

  "It's time for me to go to ground."

  "Now?" I asked. His eyes closed, feet up on the couch, all I was waiting for was to hear a death rattle.

  "Tonight."

  "You can't go tonight. You said there was some time! I don't know how to do anything, yet!"

  "This isn't a choice. I've got to go to ground."

  I waited for more of an explanation that didn't come. He was lying so still with his eyes closed I wasn't even sure if he was breathing. "Burrom?"

  His eyes opened again and he turned his head. "The magic is too strong. It's calling me back to the ground early. I've got to go."

  "And that's it? You get a day’s notice?"

  "No, there have been signs but it was so early, I thought I was mistaken."

  "Cormac's coming." He dragged himself to his feet.

  "So what? He knows most of this anyway."

  "I don't want him coming and knowing where I'm buried. He'll use it, if needed." He grabbed his
pipe and walked to his door. "Meet me in the stairwell landing, seventh floor, at eleven tonight. That should be enough time. Tell no one!"

  "But where are you going? This is your place?"

  "I don't want to see him. He won't care. He's here to check up on you, anyway."

  He held out his hand to shake mine. It was an odd gesture, but he was an odd little creature. I shook his hand and watched him leave.

  He zipped out and I thought he was wrong when I heard nothing for a good five minutes. Then Cormac strolled in by himself. I looked exhausted, like usual, but not him. His clothes were a bit dirty and dusty from the road, but other than that, he looked like he'd just woken from an afternoon nap.

  "Where is everyone?" I asked, curious to see him alone and on the seventh floor.

  "Keeping an eye on the senator's men."

  "What are you doing here?"

  "I wanted to speak to Burrom," he said, but Burrom wasn't here and he didn't look like he was leaving. "What are you doing here?"

  "I live down the hall now, remember?"

  He stalked me across the room, not stopping until he was so close I could feel the heat of him. I saw his eyes rest on my shoulder.

  "Totally healed," I said and stepped away from him. He didn't get to dump me, kick me out of what I'd come to consider my home and then act all worried.

  His eyes lost their look of concern and grew deadly serious.

  "Why didn't you tell me you had a problem?"

  "Because, maybe, I didn't want to announce to everyone that I was wounded."

  He took a couple steps toward me, following me across the room. "You should've pulled me aside."

  "When? While you were ignoring me or when you were giving me dirty looks? You weren't exactly receptive to talking to me."

  "Don't bring personal matters into this. I would've listened to you. You were jeopardizing our situation. What if we had gone in? Then what? You wouldn't have been able to perform and I wouldn't have known until you got us all killed?"

  It had been better when I thought he'd cared. Now that I knew it was all business, I was furious. "I would've been fine. Just get out." I didn't scream. If he was going to be cold, I wouldn't give him the luxury of seeing how this was tearing me apart inside.

  "What?" he said, as if he doubted what I'd said.

  "Get. Out."

  Instead of leaving, he came closer and towered over me. "This is my casino."

  "Fine. I'll see this thing through with Sabrina and then I'll leave."

  "Where?"

  "It doesn’t matter. I'll find somewhere but I'm not going to stay here, not like this." Not so close to someone that ripped my heart apart, with either his anger or his indifference, every time I saw him.

  "You aren't going anywhere," he replied, like he had a choice in the matter. Then he had the balls to say, "That's not your decision."

  "Whose is it then? It's not yours. You can't even look at me, most of the time. You should be happy. You wanted me out."

  "You're right, I do. But unfortunately, we need you and as long as we do, you aren't going anywhere."

  "You're insane. You want me out but now I can't leave?"

  "Yes, that's right." He turned with no explanation and I watched him leave the room.

  "And I'm the crazy one?" I yelled at his back. It didn't matter what he said, I'd leave when I was ready.

  Chapter Eighteen

  "Why are we on a golf course?" I asked. I'd imagined a lot of weird places I might have to go to help Burrom, but one of the more well known golf courses, not far from the Vegas Strip, wasn't anything I'd ever considered.

  "Because I'm not completely certain how much control you have of your strength. I want to do it someplace you can return to easily, just in case you botch it."

  I watched as he moved around the golf course, laying hands on trees here and there.

  "Hey, before you go under…or wherever it is you do, can you tell me if there's anything odd about this bullet?"

  He turned from the trees he was inspecting and made a slight grunting noise under his breath, but he held out his hand. I dug the bullet out of my pocket that I'd lifted from the G.I. Joes’ truck the other night and handed it to him.

  I watched as his fingers toyed with it for a minute or so. "It's spelled and by someone very strong."

  "Yeah, that would most likely be the senator," I'd hoped it had been a fluke and the bullet might of just hit in such a way that my body wasn't able to expel it.

  "It fits. It's dark magic," Burrom said.

  "Like his dark smoke probably is."

  "Exactly like the smoke." He handed me back the bullet too quickly, as if he didn't like the feel of it in his grasp. "Did you bring the knife?"

  "Yes," I said and reached down to my ankle where I had started to wear a holster.

  "I'm going to teach you a phrase. Then I will go beneath the ground. You need to slice your vein and dribble a steady stream of blood in a five feet radius around this tree. Not gushing, but a bit more than a trickle. Then you will repeat the phrase."

  "How will I know if it worked?"

  "You will."

  That sounded ominous.

  "I need you to come here every year on this day for the next fifty years and repeat the process."

  "Every year? What if I'm dead or not around here?" I asked, overwhelmed by the obligation he was laying on me.

  "Normally it would only be every five, but I'll have no way of knowing how strongly your magic is progressing, so you need to come more often. If you're dead, that can't be helped. If you aren't in the area, I suggest you plan a trip."

  "What if I can't?"

  "Then you better hope you're dead when I reawaken." He started to slowly pace around the tree, holding out his arm as if there was a trickle of blood dripping. "You need to repeat these words, 'Seal this ground from all who come.'"

  "It's in English?" My first magical spell and I was kind of hoping for something with more flair.

  "You can say it in any language you want. You don't know Ground Fae, so I was giving you the translation. It's the words in conjunction with your magic and blood that will make it work. Can I continue now?"

  "No reason to be testy. I just want to make sure I'm doing it right. I've never done magic before."

  "Yes, you have."

  "By accident. That doesn’t count."

  He shook his head and started to trail around again. "The words must be said in one circle of the area and one ring of the tree. 'Seal this ground from all who come. Repel all bearing ill will and death to those who dare to trespass'."

  "That's it?"

  "Yes. Are you ready?"

  "I guess?"

  Burrom walked toward the tree and stood above the ground.

  "Wait! What do I do if it doesn't work?"

  "It will."

  "What if it doesn't?"

  "Then, and only then, can you get Cormac. He'll know how to fix it. I'll deal with the cost when I awake next."

  "If he's strong enough to do this and knows how…why me? Because I'm free?"

  "The magic wants you. The cards told me. And don't ask me why. Magic isn't always logical, but it's often very decisive. It told me you were the one. It's why I know you can do it." Then he smirked, "Plus, not being indebted to Cormac is a perk. I'll see you in fifty."

  He stopped talking and I watched his body melt into the ground. It wasn't like watching him go into quick sand and he didn't puddle, it was like he was slowing being poured into thirsty soil that was greedy for water.

  When he was no longer visible, I still waited another ten minutes before I began.

  I was standing on a golf course that would have served the elite of Vegas only a few months ago and preparing to do a chant to protect a Ground Fae. Things just kept getting weirder and weirder.

  Stepping into place, I took the knife out and ran it across my wrist. It might have been too deep but I didn't want to run out of blood halfway around the tree. I slowly chanted as I ci
rcled around, dribbling my blood. I took a final step and completed the circle and stepped back, waiting for something to happen, anything that would signal some magic had taken place.

  After a few seconds, a dull light started to glow where I had stepped and then a mist, like the kind I had used, started to seep up from the ring I had created. This was good. Then the glow started to subside and the mist evaporated. Another couple of minutes and it would probably be safe to leave.

  I'd preformed my first magic. Damn, I’d done well. Considering it was my first controlled use of magic, I was feeling pretty proud. The light continued to dull at the same rate and the mist was already gone. I'd be back at the casino in no time. It almost felt too easy.

  A couple of rippers floated into the area. I wasn't surprised. They always found me if I stayed in one spot too long. They didn't scare me as much as they used to, but I wasn't thrilled they were here either.

  "Hey, don't touch that!" I said when one of them ripper started looking at the still fading ring. It bowed its head and drifted off, like it understood me and I didn't even have mist seeping out of my mouth.

  I kneeled down to look at the dull light that was getting dimmer and dimmer. As I got closer, I saw it start to surge brighter again. I wished I'd gotten better instructions. What if I'd messed it up?

  I didn't know what happened next but I was thrown off my feet and flying through the air and hitting every branch on the way until I lost consciousness.

  "Wrong? She wrong?" I awoke to a childlike voice.

  I was lying on my stomach, my head bent to the right, and I felt like I'd just survived a nuclear blast.

  "We lick?" a slightly lower voice asked.

  Lick? I raised my right eyelid, my left too swollen to open, and saw two rabbits sniffing around my head. I couldn't see who had been talking. I closed the one eye and tried to assess the damage.

  I couldn't take a deep breath, so I probably had a couple of cracked ribs. I tried to shift to my side and everything below my right thigh just flopped. Was I healing already? I didn't know. But there were two issues. If I healed wrong, I'd have a hell of a time getting back to the casino. And secondly, if magic had done this damage, would I even heal? It could be like the bullets.