“I have a really great idea,” he said excitedly.
Blu frowned. “I wouldn’t say it’s a good idea. It has a very high success rate but is extremely dangerous.” Then she directed her attention to Kalen and gave him a sharp look. “So you can’t say it’s a good idea if she could possibly die.”
He gave her a quelling look in an effort to silence her and she made it quite apparent that wasn’t going to happen. As they entered the apartment, the frown she’d directed at him eased. When he reached for her hand, she moved away from him. She definitely wasn’t on board with whatever he was about to offer.
He leaned into her. “The other spell failed. When they get her back, Levy has to make sure this one doesn’t,” he whispered.
Blu’s deep brown eyes were on me and I could see the concern in them. “Desperation makes people fools. Fools often die quickly,” she warned.
It was something I often said myself. Fear was another problematic emotion because it made people irrational. I wasn’t afraid but I was definitely desperate. “I agree. But if it’ll help Savannah, I have to try. I’m the reason she’s in this mess.”
She nodded in assent, and Kalen took that as a cue to proceed. “You know how Savannah is an ignesco, she can indiscriminately enhance anyone’s magic?” he started.
I nodded.
“Roboro works the same way. It’s a magic booster. It’s a spell that will boost any magic or any subsequent spells you do after it is invoked. I don’t think the spell you performed was the wrong one, it just wasn’t strong enough to undo Conner’s. If he’s as powerful as you say, you need to be twice as strong as he is to reverse anything he does. The roboro will fix that.”
I didn’t want to be too optimistic because I could see the pained look on Blu’s face. Her eyes narrowed on Kalen and she allowed them to travel up and down him. By the uncomfortable way he looked, I could tell he knew she was doing it. “Go ahead and tell her about the ingredients needed for the spell,” she said in a fake dulcet voice.
“You need the bloom of a Culded,” he said, his voice significantly lower than before as if he was whispering a secret. His tone had lost all enthusiasm. Instead it was heavy, laden with apprehension.
“Go ahead and tell her where she can find it,” Blu interjected again, in an acerbic huff.
He inhaled and held the breath for a long time, and just as he was about to speak, Blu said, “It’s on Menta Island.”
Kalen made a face and then rolled his eyes away from her. “Why don’t you go ahead and finish telling her, darling?” he rebutted in a saccharine tone that matched hers—his passive-aggressive way of showing his irritation. With an exaggerated gesture, he bowed and stepped back, giving her room to move in front of him and finish.
His dramatics weren’t lost on her and she fixed him with a look but continued. “Menta Island is located near the Virgin Islands, and its occupants choose to stay as far away from us as we want to stay away from them. It’s a good rule to live by. A rule that keeps us alive.” I assumed that her concern for me had made her overzealous and dramatic until Gareth sucked in a sharp breath.
She gave him a knowing half-smile as if they were bonded by apprehension.
“I’m good at protecting myself,” I told her. Not because I was arrogant but because she seemed to need the assurance. Obviously Kalen hadn’t truly expressed the dangers of going to the island.
Blu sighed. “I know you are. We want Savannah back just as much as you do.” I didn’t just want Savannah back; the city needed her as well. With a combination of my blood and Savannah’s they were able to treat those stricken by the virus delivered during the Solstice attacks. I assume they had saved some of the concoction, but magic couldn’t be duplicated the same way an antiviral could. Once they ran out, they were out.
She started to pace the room, and for the first time Kalen seemed to share her concern. “I think you’ve been given a crappy deal. Half of your life you had to hide and pretend to be something you’re not. People try to kill you because of their bigotry and hold you responsible for something you had nothing to do with, and yet you found it in yourself to actually help us when we needed you. No one can do anything to help you now that you need it. It’s not fair,” she said.
Long ago I’d realized that life just wasn’t fair. Once I’d accepted that, things had become a little easier to handle. “You’re helping me now. You’ve helped me countless times.”
Nothing I said was going to soothe her worries. After several moments of consideration, her frown faded. “It’s not easy to get there, either,” she informed me.
“If she decides she wants to go, I’ll get her there,” Gareth said. His lack of enthusiasm was starting to worry me as well, but with full disclosure about the island made, Kalen had regained a look of muted excitement. He was confident in the spell and my ability to obtain the necessary ingredients for it.
“Well, if you can get the Culded the rest will be easy.”
“Easy. I can’t get near Savannah without her screaming or trying to attack me.”
“I can do the spell if she won’t let you near her,” Blu offered. Then her gaze slipped in Kalen’s direction. “I think we should go with you.”
“No,” both Gareth and I responded. Kalen looked relieved. He was a great employer and had become a wonderful friend, but he wasn’t likely to run in the direction of danger.
“I think it will be best if you two stay here.” It wasn’t what Gareth said that bothered me, it was what he hadn’t. I could hear the doubt in his words, as if he was saying he needed them to remain in case we didn’t come back.
How dangerous was Menta Island?
Blu nodded and Kalen expelled the breath he’d been holding since she’d volunteered them. They agreed to acquire everything else needed for the spell. By the time they left, we still hadn’t decided on a day to go. Gareth wasn’t optimistic about setting one, which set off all types of alarms for me.
Once the door closed behind Blu and Kalen, I turned to face him.
“Tell me about Menta Island.” The fact that I’d never heard of it whetted my curiosity. “Why does the idea of going there scare Blu so much?” She didn’t strike me as the type of person who was easily driven to fear, and she was definitely afraid for me.
He was just about to take a seat, but suddenly rushed past me to my bedroom. I followed close behind. Before his phone stopped buzzing, he picked it up off the dresser and answered. The fact that he could hear his phone vibrating hundreds of feet away was another display of his preternatural abilities. There were a few quick exchanges, which consisted of him asking: “Where?” “When?” “How many supernaturals were involved?” During the conversation he’d started to put on his shoes. His anger and frustration were noticeable, along with the slight flicker of his shifter ring, which had brightened.
“What’s the matter?” I asked after he hung up.
“Another attack, in Forest Township.” This was where most shifters resided. “They have the shooter and are waiting for me to talk to him. This one seems to know something.”
“He’s talking?” I asked. Most of the people they’d caught didn’t know anything. The few who had information made it very clear they weren’t sharing. It was only with the help of the fae that they revealed what little they had. Whoever was behind this went to great lengths to hide his identity.
“No, but he seems like he has something to withhold.” I realized that Gareth was trying to get there before the police intervened. Usually the lines between the human and supernatural authorities were well defined. The Supernatural Guild handled crimes that supernaturals committed, and the police handled those by humans. The rules became more nebulous and ill-defined when a crime included a human and a supernatural. When a human committed a crime against a supernatural, there were organizations that petitioned to try to let it be handled by the police instead of the SG because they assumed the perpetrator would be treated more harshly by nonhumans. Most of the time, a h
uman was sent to the police department. When I’d been charged with murdering a fae, a shapeshifter, and a mage, no one had petitioned for me to be sent over to the human courts—but I’d been suspected of being not completely human although I’d been living as one. It probably hadn’t helped that the crime had been considered egregious.
“Do you think they’ll want him released to the police?”
“Things have been strained. The supernaturals aren’t as trusting now that there’s someone with the ability to kill them slowly with a simple virus. And the humans are more suspicious now that things aren’t being covered up as well as they once were. We need to replace Harrah.” He blew out a rough breath. I wondered whether this hypothetical replacement would be as powerful or strategic as Harrah. There had been something ruthless and scary about her, and seeing the results of her absence, I wondered if those qualities were necessary to do her job.
I will not feel guilty. It was easier said than done. Harrah had deserved the ending she’d received. Whether I owned the guilt or not, I had irreparably changed things. She’d provided an invaluable service. Being a powerful fae who could nearly erase a person’s memory by just walking into a room had made her a force most couldn’t contend with. She’d protected the image of the supernatural community—ruthlessly. If she’d suspected a person was a problem for it, they would eventually be eliminated. I was a problem, and she’d attempted to get rid of me.
“How many shifters were injured?” I asked before he could exit.
“Ten.” I was trying to keep up with the number of victims. Eventually they would run out of the cure. We had to find Savannah and get her memory back, or at least locate another ignesco.
I hadn’t been able to go back to sleep after Gareth left. Instead I spent my time looking up information on Menta Island on the web. After two extensive hours of searching, I understood Blu’s concerns; I shared them but for different reasons. There wasn’t any information about the island anywhere. Not even an errant article from suspicious sources. Nothing. How did a place exist without someone posting about it? Blu, Kalen, and Gareth knew about it. Was it folklore passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth? For a brief moment, I questioned whether it even existed. It could possibly be a story of a mystical place that was pure fantasy—but behind every fantastical story was a little truth. It wasn’t beyond reason that a “Harrah job” had been performed, someone strategically wiping away any evidence of its existence, but I found it hard to believe given the level of detail it would have taken.
My research did reveal articles about small islands that people never returned from and tales of boats disappearing, but there wasn’t a specific mention of Menta. Tales of the Bermuda Triangle came to mind.
In need of a break, I took a shower. Steam filled the small bathroom and gave me clarity, or maybe the heat just relaxed me enough to clear my head. I prioritized things. I would find Savannah and then assess her mental state before I considered traveling to an island people were afraid to even document under the cloak of Internet anonymity. Meanwhile, Savannah could stay with Lucas—wait. It wasn’t unreasonable to think Conner would remove all her memories and implant more false ones to make her think we were all her enemies. Lucas having allowed us to attempt the spell earlier would rationally support the latter. There was no way Savannah was going to be okay with hanging with Lucas.
Back up the bus. I couldn’t find Savannah because Conner kept blocking my location spells. I needed the Culded to make my magic stronger, break the wards, and find my friend. Crap, need to go to Menta first.
Where are you, Conner? I thought as I pulled my towel-dried dark brown hair into a loose bun on top of my head. I examined the roots for any signs of red, my natural Legacy color. Odd persimmon hair was a giveaway and concealing it had become a habit for me, even though it didn’t matter as much now. We were going to come out publicly soon and would no longer be reduced to ominous tales and speculations. I wasn’t looking forward to it. The questions. The fear. A new crop of anti-supernatural groups whose sole purpose was to make our lives a living hell. It was bad enough we had to deal with the Trackers.
I’d just sat down with a plate of bacon, three donuts, and a bagel with a generous helping of Nutella spread over it when the image of Savannah looking at my plate with disapproval popped into my head. She always managed to scold me for my food choices while posed in one of her advanced yoga positions. A frown didn’t look any friendlier in downward dog and looked hostile in warrior.
A knock at the door interrupted my breakfast. Assuming it was Gareth, I opened the door and was surprised by the lively greenish-brown eyes and oddly familiar persimmon red hair of the extremely attractive man standing there. His height, which I estimated at nearly six-eight, was more overwhelming than his overly defined features. A long aquiline nose was complemented by a razor-sharp jawline and broad cheeks. The shadow of a beard covered his face. Even his lips, which were curled into a faint smile, were thin and edged. Tall and slim, he still seemed intrusive as he blocked the entryway.
After we’d stood and looked at each other in a way that could be described by no other term than weird, I finally spoke. “Hello.”
“Hello,” he responded in a deep, raspy voice.
Oh, come on. “This is the part where you tell me why you are standing at my door,” I urged.
“May I come in?”
“Probably. But it definitely won’t be before you tell me who you are and why you’re here.”
He smiled. It was forced and strained. “I’m Elijah, and you are Olivia, correct?” Since he hadn’t bothered to change the color of his hair, I assumed he wasn’t using an alias.
I nodded and waited patiently for him to elaborate. He didn’t.
“Seriously, this is like pulling teeth. Elijah, why are you here?”
“You’ve been looking for me, right?” His intrigued gaze tracked me as I shifted back and forth, anticipating a reason why a stranger was standing at my door. Shoving his hands into his jean pockets, he remained silent.
I exhaled a deep breath, hoping it would calm my nerves, which were being tried by the new visitor. “Let’s start again. Hello, stranger who showed up at my door uninvited, what brings you to my home at the lovely hour of eight a.m.? And please feel free to provide as much detail as possible because that will be the difference between me slamming the door in your face and calling the Supernatural Guild, and something worse.”
“The Supernatural Guild sent me,” he explained, extending his arms to stop me from closing the door. “Tina…Tina Merkle sent me.” I quickly realized that he was being just as cautious as I was. He probably had a long history of people hunting him down, too. And Tina being the head of the SG in a neighboring city probably wasn’t enough of an incentive to trust me.
“Okay,” I said slowly, using those moments to try to figure out what to do. “Give me a moment. I need to make a call.” He lowered his arm and I closed the door and locked it. I wasn’t sure why I even bothered. If he were a Legacy, a locked door wouldn’t stop him. I considered erecting a ward, but I’d run into the same problem: he’d be able to break that as well. Or could he? Was I stronger than him? Maybe as a Legacy, but definitely not if he was a Vertu.
After meeting Conner I’d realized the limitations of my skill with magic. It wasn’t wise to think this guy had the same ones I had. Quickly I made my way to my bedroom, grabbed my phone, and called Gareth. It took several rings before he picked up and he sounded rushed and distracted when he spoke. “Yes, Levy?”
“Do you know anything about Tina sending a Legacy to me?”
He cursed under his breath. “Did you not get my text? I tried to call, too, but I’ve been busy here.” I looked at my messages. I had a missed text from him. It was succinct and only requested I call him; he might know a Legacy who could help.
“How does she know him?”
“He was brought in after he had a run-in with Trackers. Tina called me because she suspected t
his situation was similar to yours and since we’re supposed to be finding other Legacy she sent him here.”
“Run-in?”
“Yeah, run-in, like the one you had a couple of weeks ago.” That incident had led to me killing three of those who had ambushed me. I wondered if Elijah’s situation had ended similarly. I was reluctant to ask.
“Where is he?” Gareth asked.
“I left him outside to call you.”
“Is something wrong with him? Is he odd?”
“Well, I don’t see him winning any awards for being particularly normal.” Grinning, I added, “And you must be really secure sending random hot guys to my door.”
“I have no idea what he looks like. But she seemed to trust him and I trust her. If he possesses as much magic as you do, he could be of use in helping us find Savannah.”
He’d beaten me to the suggestion. But if Elijah was as cynical as I was, would he be willing to help me—a stranger? It gave me hope that just on Tina’s instruction he’d come to meet me. “I need to talk to him. I’ll call you later.”
Gareth called my name before I could hang up. “And yes, I am that secure.”
“And truly humble as well,” I mumbled to the dead air.
Quickly, I made my way back to the front door and opened it. “Please, come in.”
Giving me an appraising look, he hesitated and then stepped over the threshold.
“I hear you had an incident with Trackers.”
“They came up to me and I killed them.” He didn’t mince words. I wondered if he did it by combat or magic. “I was under the impression that they weren’t a problem anymore,” he added.
Rogue Magic Page 5
