Warmth whispered over Edie’s heart, driving back some of the fear. “Did he wake up, or did you boost him the way you have me?”
“A boost. He said I could tell you.” Harper stuck his hands in the pockets of his white coat. “Okay if I give him general info on your condition?”
“Josh can know whatever he wants.” That was the least she could do after he’d stepped up to help her. That he cared came as a big surprise.
But maybe he was just being nice.
Harper patted her shoulder. “We’re a bit more casual than Mundanes, so you don’t have to sign anything to that effect. I’ll go make the transfer arrangements. Meanwhile, don’t try to get out of bed without help, just in case.”
“Am I that sick?”
“It’s a precaution. We’ll boost you as needed, of course.”
“I don’t have much experience with that.” If she couldn’t recharge, what would happen to her? Fighting worry, she asked, “How long will that work?”
Harper’s lean face turned grave. “Two or three days, and each time will be slightly less effective than the time before. What worries me is that this drains your magic and then taps into your life energy. A magically depleted mage is usually the same as a Mundane, but that’s not happening with you and Josh.”
At least he hadn’t tried to sugarcoat it. Edie carefully asked, “What if you don’t figure it out within three days?”
“Let’s not worry about that until we have to.”
That likely meant something drastic. Edie bit her lip. Could she and Josh die from this?
“I promise you,” Harper said, “we absolutely will figure this out.”
He hadn’t promised her a time frame for the figuring out, but she thanked him. Harper walked out of the room.
Suddenly cold, she pulled the blankets higher. If Josh was sick because he’d helped her, she would never forgive herself.
* * *
Frowning, Stefan headed toward the nurses’ station. Boosting Josh and then Edie had again left him tired but he, unlike his patients, could recharge easily enough. Doing so in a hospital was dangerous to the sick and weak people all around, but finding a window so he could draw on the sunshine was safe if he was careful. Much harder would be figuring out what caused the two mages’ strange fatigue. Moving them to the Collegium, putting them in quarantine, was a logical first step, but only that.
He stopped at the lounge across from the station. As he’d expected, Griffin Dare and Valeria Banning waited for him there. Griff had texted that he needed to see Stefan.
Val lounged in one of the chairs though the back had to be too low for her tall frame. The orange glow of sunset from the big window behind her glinted off her tawny hair and flashed tiny rainbows from the square-cut diamond on her left hand. Brow furrowed and hazel eyes focused, she worked at something on her new smartphone. Stefan sensed the magical screen concealing the broadsword at her hip.
Griff stared out the window, his black hair neatly combed but flowing over his collar. His rigid shoulders implied tension. The fire and the danger it posed to Wayfarer ate at Griff, more than they would’ve if he’d still had his powers.
Stefan took a moment to watch them, to savor the affection that bloomed in his soul when he saw either of them. Finding them not touching was rare. Only touch could still activate the magical bond disrupted by the recent loss of Griff’s magic, but that wasn’t the reason they were so often in physical contact. They simply liked to touch each other.
Not that Stefan had ever asked, but he did have some observational skills.
Val smiled at him. “Hey.”
As her eyes narrowed, assessing, Griff turned from the window. He, too, peered at Stefan’s face.
“I’m fine,” Stefan assured them. “I need to recharge but not urgently. What did you need to see me about?”
“I talked to Dan Burton this afternoon,” Griff said of the Wayfarer County sheriff, “and he mentioned a firefighter being attacked and his clothes stolen near their base camp just before dawn. His buddies coming along the trail saw the struggle and chased the attacker off.”
“Good for them, but why does that bring you here?”
Griff’s expression hardened. “Burton was shaking his head over the description—muddy-looking eyes, yellow tint to the skin, ammonia stink, long fingernails. Ring a bell?”
“Shit,” Stefan breathed. “What would a ghoul want with a firefighter’s clothes?” He and his friends stared at each other in shared anger and concern.
“That would be the question,” Val said.
Griff added, “Burton said they told the guy to come here and get checked out. I wondered if you’d heard anything.”
“No, but I can ask around. Hellfire.”
The dark magic users known as ghouls had all those physical traits. The talons were retractable but could rake or pierce a victim’s body and inject a lethal venom or drain magical power. Unable to breed among themselves or digest anything but fresh kill, ghouls sometimes kidnapped Mundanes or mages to serve as breeders or occasional snacks.
“Meanwhile,” Griff said, “come to dinner. We’re having meat loaf, and there’s plenty. Your shift was supposed to be over at three. It’s now after five.”
Stefan’s mouth watered. He could almost taste that rich, tender beef and the homemade mashed potatoes Val served with it. But he shook his head. “I’m transferring a couple of patients to the Collegium clinic, so I’ll have to take a rain check on your meal invitation.”
“We have my team’s SUV,” Val said. “We could handle transportation and get things rolling faster.”
“Thanks, but I’m limiting contact to medical personnel.”
Both of his friends shot him questioning looks, but this wasn’t the place to discuss specifics. “I have a transport van on the way. You two go ahead, and I’ll see you later.”
They reluctantly agreed and headed for the elevator. Stefan let his cheerful mask drop.
Anything that could sap a mage’s recharge was potentially lethal. Until he knew how this energy drain worked, only his magically shielded medical personnel could be allowed to risk contact with Josh or Edie.
* * *
“He’s more worried than he’s letting on.” Valeria echoed Griff’s thoughts as they walked down the corridor toward the emergency room exit.
He ran a hand down her arm. “Yeah, and that worries me.”
At the restroom doors, she said, “I need a pit stop before we leave.”
“I’ll meet you outside, then.”
As she pushed through the door, Griff strolled toward the exit. People filled the waiting room to his left, many of them coughing. The smoke was taking its toll on Wayfarer.
He scowled. Too bad mage ethics forbade summoning a massive storm to drown that damned wildfire. Unfortunately, creating a big weather effect in one place tended to screw up weather in another big-time.
“I don’t care,” a loud, raspy voice said in the waiting area. “I must see Josh Campbell.”
Griff turned to look. A big guy in the grimy, soot-stained yellow and green garb of a wildland firefighter leaned over the admitting desk across the room, his back to the doorway. He had a fist clenched on the desk, and his broad form blocked Griff’s view of the admissions clerk.
“Sir, that information is confidential.” The woman’s voice shook.
“I’m a friend,” the big guy growled. “I want to see him now.” He shifted slightly, pounding his fist for emphasis, and Griff spotted the black, wrap-around sunglasses he wore.
Sunglasses. Indoors. Maybe to cover the muddy whites of a ghoul’s eyes. Griff hurried toward him.
“Sir, don’t force me to call security.” The slight, middle-aged woman had pushed back from the counter, out of reach.
“Hey.” Griff put some mean into the word. The big guy whirled, and the whiff of ammonia confirmed he was a ghoul.
Hell. Griff had to get him out of here before he turned nasty and hurt someone.
/> Pasting on a smile, Griff said, “I’m Josh’s brother, Bo Campbell. Come with me, and I’ll tell you what’s going on with Josh.” He didn’t dare shake hands. A touch might let the ghoul sense Griff’s magic, stifled though it was.
The ghoul followed him. Good.
If Griff had needed any further confirmation, the ghoul’s failure to question that he was Josh’s brother provided it. Josh had two sisters but no brothers. Any friend close enough to come to the hospital would know that.
As they walked, Griff’s heart beat fast. He’d never fought a ghoul without either magic or his quarterstaff, which he no longer carried. Why bother, when he couldn’t put any power into it? But having it would at least let him gain some distance against a foe that could fry him on contact.
No help for it, though. He had to protect the Mundanes in the hospital, and that meant getting this creature away from them.
They walked out the doors and into the parking lot. Thank God, it was deserted.
“I must see Josh,” the ghoul insisted, its jaw jutting. It planted its fists on its hips.
“Yeah, I got that. Just hang on a minute.” Griff turned away, taking a couple of steps he hoped looked restless while he gathered himself and gained distance.
“See, it’s like this.” He spun into a high roundhouse kick.
The ghoul tried to duck, but the top of Griff’s booted foot and his shin caught it in the temple, staggering it.
Griff followed up with a left hook. The punch connected, hard, as the ghoul’s muddy gold shield flared to life and singed Griff’s knuckles. Crap.
The ghoul loosed a blast of that same muddy energy. Griff ducked. His sidekick at the ghoul’s kneecap bounced off its shield, as he’d feared.
He rolled with the rebound in time to dodge another power blast. Its energy sizzled past his head and raised the hair on the back of his neck.
The ghoul grabbed him. Its talons stabbed white-hot pain into his shoulders. Ghoul magic seared his skin, and the stench of its burning stung his nose. On his knees, Griff fought to stay conscious.
He had to do something. Fight back. Somehow.
“So.” The ghoul leaned forward, its breath rotten in his face. “A mageling after all.”
No, a fucking full mage. Intensely trained, extremely dangerous. Until a month ago. Because of things like this and their mage traitor allies.
Grinning, the ghoul shook him. “Easy prey.”
Rage erupted in Griff’s veins. With it, incredibly, came a familiar stirring in his blood. Power? Or pain-induced delusion?
He had no time to think. Glaring at the ghoul, he slammed the butt of his fist hard against the side of the thing’s kneecap.
The movement raised flaming, blinding pain in his shoulder, but the ghoul screamed. Its shield dropped as it crumpled.
Griff gained his feet and snap-kicked it in the face. It fell backward.
“Griffin!” Valeria raced toward him, her drawn broadsword glowing with silver mage power. She halted in front of him and pointed her sword at the ghoul’s throat.
Searching his face with anxious eyes, she said, “I screened us, so no one will see. Are you—?”
“I’m okay,” he managed. “More or less.” Somehow, he’d driven his fist through its shielding to take out the kneecap. That shouldn’t be possible. Had his body reacted to the ghoul on instinct, summoning some last bit of power within him?
The sweet song of magic in his blood had died. Hellfire and damnation. Maybe he could get it back, once his wounds healed.
“Those’re bad burns.” Valeria’s worried gaze scanned him. “And those talon wounds…”
“They’re not too bad.” At least, not in the grand scheme of all the ones he’d ever had. They burned but not as badly as the reminder of everything he’d lost.
Fury flashed in Valeria’s eyes, and she tightened her lips.
A groan came from the ghoul. Griff stepped clear, fists clenching, as her sword flared with more power.
The ghoul sneered up at them. Then its eyes fixed, staring. It made a choked sound.
Muddy yellow light flared around it, an ammonia stink erupted, and a burst of flame consumed it, leaving a greasy patch behind.
Griff and Valeria stared at the stain. “Okay,” she said, eyebrows knitting. “That was really weird.”
“Yeah, and maybe smart on someone’s part.” Griff glared at the smeared pavement. His kick shouldn’t have been fatal, and ghoul bodies didn’t usually burst into flame. “We needed to question this one, find out why it wanted Josh.”
“Or, maybe, what the ghouls did to him.”
They shared a worried glance.
Valeria cupped Griff’s cheek, her fingers cool and careful. “We should tell Stefan ghouls may be involved. We need him anyway. I can fix some of this but not all.”
“No.” Griff caught her wrist to kiss her palm. The honeysuckle scent of her wafted through the burned odor and wrapped itself around his heart.
“Stefan’s busy,” he reminded her. “Do what you can, and we’ll go see a medic when we get back to the Collegium.” Her status as leader of the task force to unmask mage traitors rated an apartment there, which they used when they weren’t at their new home in Wayfarer.
Her brow wrinkled. “You know what Stefan will say about that, considering he’s right inside, but okay.”
Her lower lip trembled. She pressed her forehead to the side of his face.
He slid an arm around her waist, steadying both of them. “I’m okay, love, or I will be.”
“It’s just…you scared me.” The words had a watery sound, but she nodded.
He pressed a kiss into her hair. “I apologize for that, but not for what I did.”
She raised her head, and the argument flared in her eyes.
Firmly, he said, “You can’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same.”
The look between them held for a long moment before she sighed. “No, I can’t.” She dropped her head to his shoulder again, and her hand moved smoothly down his back. “I told you when you were a fugitive, you were still a shire reeve at heart.” They’d met while she held that office, which amounted to being sheriff of the southeastern mages. “That’s one of the things I love about you, and I don’t think that will ever change.”
“So we’re good.” He searched her eyes. Finding them clear banished the uneasiness in his chest.
“We’re perfect.” Valeria kissed him quickly.
She held her hand above his burned, bleeding right shoulder. With his magic disabled, they couldn’t share energy as they had once before, the first time she’d treated him as a comrade instead of an outlaw.
Still, he’d not only survived the fight but won it, and he had her in his arms. This ought to help him convince her he should go into battle with her task force to hunt mages allied with ghouls.
One step at a time, though.
Meanwhile he’d think about that sensation of his magic stirring, maybe see if anything else happened. If he’d been mistaken—after all, he hadn’t exactly knocked that ghoul on its ass the way he would’ve with his former level of power—giving her false hope wouldn’t help either of them.
3
It’s good to be back at the Collegium instead of in a Mundane hospital, but I can’t lie in this bed and wait to see what happens.” Perched on the side of it, still wearing his flight coverall, Josh gave Harper his most earnest look. “I can’t.”
“We’d prefer you didn’t. We don’t know what causes this or how long your recharges or our power infusions last. Or what drains them. We’d like to see how you do with normal, if minimal, activity. You can use the lounge we came in through. There’s a television, movies, even a game console, and a selection of books.”
The doctor handed Josh a loop of cord with a white, plastic pendant hanging from it. The pendant’s raised center was red.
“A panic button,” Harper said. “Or an SOS, if you prefer. If you start to feel unexpectedly weak, think you�
�re going to pass out, take a sudden fall, anything like that, sit down where you are and push the red button.”
Josh frowned down at the device. “I thought these were for old people who fell and needed help.”
“They work equally well for mages under the influence of dark magic. Will Davis has been researching since I saw you and Edie at the hospital. The kind of power drain you two are experiencing usually comes from some kind of hex, but you’d have to touch something tied to the spell.”
“I only touched the Huey controls,” Josh assured him.
“We’re checking the chopper.”
A curse on the helicopter was so unlikely that Josh started to laugh, but Harper’s grim expression stopped him.
“It’s the only thing you both touched,” the doctor said. “Meanwhile, do whatever helps you pass the time. I’ll have someone bring up a change of clothes or whatever else you want from your quarters, and you can order dinner via the tablet in your room. It also links to the archives.”
Josh mustered a grin. “I don’t get steak? Might build up the red blood cells.”
“If it’s on the dining hall menu.” Harper smiled but only for a moment. “The lavender candles in the sconces here and in the common room are bespelled to burn when you’re in the room and not when the room is empty.”
Josh sniffed. “Not bad, but it reminds me of my aunt’s sachets.”
“It’s a healing fragrance. When you go to bed, push the gray button on the intercom. It’ll pipe in, at low volume, soothing music that also has healing magic in it. You should barely hear it.”
“Doc, I’ve slept in combat zones. A little music is no problem.”
“I guess not.” Harper smiled. “A nurse will check you every couple of hours. Meanwhile, we’re all working on this. No one’s a better researcher than Will, and his time is exclusively ours until we fix this.”
“Thanks.” Earning two doctoral degrees before turning twenty-seven proved Davis was good. Josh hoped he’d be good enough. He shut his bedroom door and heard the doctor walk away.
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