Heartache (The Twenty-Sided Sorceress Book 5)

by Annie Bellet

  The plan we worked out, crouched there in the snow, was stupidly simple. I’d walk toward the front doors and do a lot of showy magic, keep myself shielded against bullets, and create a nice distraction. Levi, Ezee, and Harper would go around and break in the storm doors, searching the lower level for Rose first and then coming up the front to meet me or running away out the back if they found her.

  I’d destroy the snowmobiles or maybe steal one, and meet them back at the car. Or fly away, which was my super backup plan, now that I knew I could fly. Of course, if I flew, I’d have to land again, and I wasn’t in a super hurry to repeat that experience.

  Unless Samir was here. I had no idea how I was going to fight him, but at least out here I could unleash some real magic and not have to worry about taking the town out with me. If he was here, well, things were going to get very dangerous. For him.

  One problem at a time, I told myself. First, I had to go get the attention of people with guns.

  I’d marched up on dudes with guns before, so I had a weird feeling of déjà vu. This time, however, I wasn’t going to waltz in under a fake flag of truce. This time, I was going in magic blazing. If I could figure out how.

  Pulling my power into a shield was second nature now so I was pretty sure I could stop bullets from making me into a colander. If I’d had time to stop and think about it, I would have been impressed with how much magic I was able to toss around these days. The training was paying off.

  Those kinds of thoughts just led to thinking about my failure to save Steve, so I shoved them away as soon as they surfaced and concentrated on my path toward the main door. There was about twenty yards of open ground to cover.

  Unless I didn’t go through the door. Rule number one of adventuring? Always look up. The counterpart of that is mistake number one of horror movie survival, which is never looking up.

  The roof of the church was sloped, but not super steep. There was a bell tower that was boarded up with a metal spike on it that might have been a weathervane sometime in the previous century. Thick snow coated the roof in drifts, and parts had sloughed off with their own weight, but there was enough in piles that I thought I could effect a landing without breaking my legs.

  Time to fly again.

  “Okay, when I land on the roof, make a break for the back door,” I said to my friends.

  “Land on the roof? What?” Harper looked at me like I was crazy.

  I probably was. I felt a little crazy. Glad to be out of jail and doing something, anything, to strike back at Samir. To act instead of react.

  I grinned at her. “Just watch, grasshopper.”

  I threw myself into the air before I thought about how stupid my plan was, crashing upward through the trees. Branches slapped my face, evergreen needles catching and tangling in my braid. Snow went right down the back of my jacket, bringing out a yelp of surprise that I quickly swallowed. I hurtled a good hundred feet up and pulled downward with my magic to stop myself. I hung in the air, feeling pretty pleased. Jade Crow: one, gravity: zero.

  A coyote, a wolverine, and a fox, all about twice or more the size of the wild version, glided through the forest and got into position below me. From up here, I could see the SUV, though not Junebug.

  Shouting rang out from inside and the front door of the church opened. A man in a grey and white camouflage coat emerged, looking toward the trees I’d just sailed out of. He was a shitty adventurer, but a great horror movie victim. He scanned the treeline but missed the floating woman in the sky. If I’d been closer and more sure of the angle, I would have Magic Missiled his ass.

  He went back inside, and I flew toward the church, angling my descent to hit the biggest lump of snow on the roof. This landing went much better, as I used my magic like a jetpack, pulling myself toward the target spot, then pushing away as I came close so that my descent slowed. Thinking about it like thrusters in a science fiction movie helped a ton. I’d never been a huge fan of Mandalorians from Star Wars, but the jetpack thing was suddenly a whole lot cool-seeming.

  If only I’d had badass body armor, too. And a lightsaber.

  Instead, I had magic. I hit the roof and let out a whoop as I thumped down. I wrapped my power around me in a shield in case the idiots started shooting through the roof and kept making lots of noise.

  Voices and then bodies appeared. Two men charged out, guns in their hands, pointing and yelling at me. They took shots but I glided forward, using my magic to keep me just over the snow and to hold my balance on the ridge of the church. Their shots went wild, one glancing off my shield but the others missing me by what felt like miles.

  Then one of the men shifted, turning into the biggest black bear I hoped ever to see. He let out a roar and jumped, flying upward through the air and gaining the lower edge of the roof. It held his weight. Not good. I threw a wave of force at him, slamming the bear off the roof edge, and back to the snow below.

  Counterforce is a bitch, apparently. My push knocked me backward, and I lost concentration as I rolled down the other side of the roof. Wrapping magic around me, I rolled through the thick snow and gained my feet as the giant bear rounded the side of the church and flew at me. Snow melted off my face as I rubbed my hands over myself quickly, checking for injury. My jeans and coat were soaked and I knew I’d be a human icicle if I stood still out here like this long enough. No danger of that. I heard more gunfire and braced for impact, but it was muffled. Coming from the other side of the church, or perhaps inside. I hoped it wasn’t from inside.

  I had big-ass bear trouble to worry about. Harper and the twins would have to handle their own problems.

  The bear charged, and I threw lightning from my hands. It fizzled and arced away from the shifter. Damn.

  Time for fire. This much cold and wet, and the church being mostly stone, I didn’t have to worry about burning down the forest or the building. I threw a fireball right into the bear’s face from nearly point-blank range. He roared in pain and rage and sprang aside, plunging his burning body into the snow. Acrid smoke steamed off him as he twisted and came to his feet again, snarling.

  Okay. Maybe too much snow for fire.

  “My magic will tear you apart,” I yelled at the bear. “Whatever Samir is paying you, it isn’t worth your life. Run now, and I let you live.”

  The bear snarled, and a huffing roar barked from his mouth. I think the bastard was laughing at me.

  Another ball of fire stopped that. He turned aside so it didn’t catch him straight on, instead frying a painful-looking swatch of charred hair and flesh down one of his ginormous sides.

  My body hurt, my feet were numb with cold, and I was burning through a lot of magic. Time to end this. Somehow. I was going to have to kill the bear.

  He’d signed up for this, but I was still tired of death. No time for second-guessing or mercy. The bear clearly had no intention of showing me any.

  I brought another ball of fire into my hands, making it smaller but pouring in as much will and heat as I could. I pictured more than fire, I pictured napalm, Greek fire, the worst grease fires I’d ever seen while working in commercial kitchens. I poured every memory of fire I had into the magic, honing the spell until it was a swirling purple and green sphere of death. I took every last second I could, waiting until I felt the breath of the great bear upon me, until he was only one more preternaturally quick step away.

  Then I unleashed my ultimate fireball. It burned right through his side as he tried to twist again. But he was too close. He crashed into me and we fell, the snow beneath me melting away from the focused heat engulfing us both.

  All my magic went right into my shields, more on instinct that by design. I closed my eyes and tried not to breathe. The bear convulsed and I shoved hard, managing to roll away from him and escape the conflagration.

  A man in fatigues was watching, his gun loose in his hand and pointed at the ground, as I rose slowly to my feet. I raised a hand, gathering magic in my palm.

  He dropped his gun and
ran.

  “Heh, normals,” I muttered. At least one person here had some sense. Which was good, because I was exhausted. My body felt like it had been steamrolled by a dire bear. Funny that.

  “Jade!” Ezee’s voice brought me back to planet Earth and roused me from my tired fugue.

  Turning, I saw him coming around the side of the church. “Okay?” I said, my voice barely above normal, but he was a shifter and heard me just fine.

  “Rosie is unconscious. Something’s go her bound and we think it’s magic. Levi got shot, but he’ll live. Come on.”

  “What about the other guys?”

  “Levi and I killed a wolf. Harper took out a human. Nobody else down there.” Ezee had blood spatter on his shirt, but from how he was moving, I didn’t think it was his.

  The sound of a snowmobile caused us both to jerk our heads around, but it was the one smart dude running away. I wondered if Junebug would pick him off or let him go.

  I stumbled down through the storm doors to the basement. Levi waited at the bottom of the stairs, an appropriated gun in his hands. His face was paler than it should have been for a full-blood Nez Pierce, but his eyes were clear and he nodded to me as I stepped over the savaged body of a man in grey and black fatigues, and made my way into the basement. Rose hadn’t been locked in a bathroom but was chained with a thin silver chain to a thick wooden chair. Harper paced around her mother, clearly wanting to do something but afraid to fuck with whatever magic was holding her.

  The sickly sweet scent of Samir’s power washed over me in a wave and I gagged.

  “Don’t touch anything,” I said, even though they all clearly had the picture. I pulled on more magic, digging deep. I was closer to the edge of my limits than I’d thought. Wolf appeared beside me and whined, pushing on my hip with her nose.

  I stepped back and looked down at her. “Can you help?”

  “Who are you… oh. Holy shitballs.” Harper took a step back as Wolf let herself become visible to the rest of the group.

  She circled Rose and then looked back at me with unfathomable night-sky eyes. Then her huge jaws closed on the chain. Silvery smoke puffed into the air as the chain unraveled and curled like a snake, twisting for a moment in the air as though in death throes and then dissipating.

  Rose groaned and her eyelids fluttered.

  “Mom, Mom,” Harper rushed to her side as Wolf backed off and flopped down on the floor.

  I looked at my Undying friend and whispered my thanks. Her sides were heaving as though what she had done had taxed her greatly, but watching Harper and Rose embrace was thanks enough for both of us. I went to Wolf and threaded my hand into her thick, warm fur. She felt as solid and comforting as ever.

  “We should get out of here,” Levi said.

  “No telling when the rest will come back or where Jade’s evil ex is,” Ezee added, going to Rose’s side and helping her stand.

  She leaned heavily on Harper and Ezee, unable to stand under her own power. Pain lined her face and her eyes were puffy and red as though she’d been crying. She looked around and violently shook her head.

  “Where is Max?”

  “Max? He’s in Washington, Mom. Remember?” Harper said, her forehead creasing.

  “No, he was here. That golden-eyed monster had him here. He took him upstairs after he talked to Jade. Where is my baby? Where is my boy?” Her voice got louder, stronger, and yet rougher and more broken with each word.

  I ran up the steps two at a time. The main floor of the church was empty. The pews had been pushed to the sides, blankets folded on the seats. A couple of shotguns leaned against one wall, but otherwise the place was abandoned. There was an office and another bathroom, both empty as well of anything useful. No clues about Max, no sign he’d even been here.

  No sign of anything but a skeleton crew left to guard Rose. A polished chunk of obsidian resting on one of the folding card tables in the main room caught my eye. I had seen stones like it before. Without even having to summon my magic, I felt Samir’s power, his presence. That rock was like the ones he’d used in the school to feed my dead family’s voices to me, drawing me into his trap.

  I blasted it to pieces without half a thought.

  My phone, somehow undestroyed by bad landings and crushing bears, began to play the X-Files theme song.

  Unknown caller.

  With shaking fingers, I pulled it out. The screen was cracked but I was able to flick it to answer.

  Samir was on the other side, and before he spoke, I knew deep in the despairing depths of my shrinking heart exactly what he would say.

  Alek called me just after Samir hung up on me. He was at the Henhouse and crazy worried. I told him to wait in the barn and stay out of sight. We took the snowmobiles and met up with Junebug, transferring the half-conscious Rose to the car. I went with Junebug, while the other three drove escort on our stolen snowmobiles.

  Samir wanted Clyde’s heart. He had arranged to meet us at the old rock quarry. Max’s screams had confirmed he was still alive, for the moment.

  It was a trap. Another one. But we were tired, injured, and I was running out of juice. Chasing down Samir and playing his games was taking too big a toll on me, but I didn’t know how to stop.

  Not without getting Max killed, and I wasn’t willing to let that happen. I wasn’t dead yet and nothing short of total annihilation was going to stop me from continuing to fight Samir.

  We’d saved Rose at least. One down, one to go.

  The problem was, I didn’t have Clyde’s heart.

  I had never been so happy to see anyone as I was to see Alek. He looked tired, but was in one piece. I practically flew from the car over to him as he emerged from the barn. His big arms wrapped around me, pulling me into his warm embrace and for a long moment I let myself cling to him, breathing in his heat and his strength.

  “I should never have left you,” he murmured into my hair.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, ignoring his stupid statement.

  “No,” Alek said. “But I’m here, and we’ll deal with one thing at a time.”

  I pulled back reluctantly and looked up at him. “What happened?”

  “Long story,” he said. He looked past me at the others. “For another day.”

  I wasn’t sure we had another day, but he was right. One problem at a time.

  Ezee carried Rose into the barn. Someone, I was betting Alek, had dragged the dead horses away.

  It turned out that wasn’t Alek, but Yosemite. The big druid walked in through a stall and nodded at us. We all gave each other the quick explanation of the previous events, from Steve’s death, through my arrest, to the capture of Rose and Max. Yosemite had come and given the horses to the earth. He was done with his druid business and here to help, he said, as long as it meant not leaving the forest.

  “I need Clyde’s heart,” I said, looking at Alek.

  “You told me never to give it to you,” he said. Though his ice-blue gaze was calm, his lips pressed into a tight line.

  “Fuck what I said. Making the trade is the only card we have left. It’s a trap, sure thing. But we need to find Samir, save Max, and end this damn thing if we can. If I can.” I folded my arms over my chest, willing him to see the necessity.

  “You’re going to hand the heart over to Samir?” Levi asked.

  “Just like that?” Ezee added.

  “If it will save Max, I’ll do it,” Harper said, her voice tight and gravelly. “Fuck the heart. This is my brother’s life.”

  “Samir is going to kill him anyway, Jade said so before about Rosie.” Junebug stretched out a hand toward Harper.

  “I’m not going to hand him the heart,” I said before this could turn into a fight. Everyone was on edge and I couldn’t let them turn on each other.

  I took a deep breath. I had a shitty plan, but it was better than no plan.

  “I’m going to pretend to hand it over. We get to the quarry with the heart, see what is what. Then I’m going to eat C
lyde’s heart and rain down all hell upon that bastard.” Which I should have done already, I knew. I didn’t want Clyde’s evil inside me. I hadn’t wanted his power, his memories. Universe knew what he’d done, but I was willing to bet it made a sick serial killer like Bernard Barnes look like a Bundy in diapers.

  “You said it was power you didn’t want,” Alek said gently in Russian. “You told me to hide it for just this reason. So you wouldn’t weaken in your resolve if things got tough.”

  “I was an idiot,” I said to him in the same language. The others were looking between us like kids watching a ping-pong match, but I shrugged off their questioning eyes.

  “I’ve been weak,” I continued. “Samir killed Steve. Right in my fucking shop. He died in my arms and I couldn’t do anything. Do you see what he’s done? Destroyed my friends’ lives. He’s probably torturing the kid while we sit here and argue. I have to stop him, Alek. I have to protect them. Save them.

  “No more weakness,” I added. “No more squeamishness on my part getting anyone killed. I need more power, and I’m going to take it.”

  “Jade,” Alek said. His eyes were sad and his voice thick with resignation.

  I knew I’d won. Go me.

  “Take her to the heart,” he said to Yosemite.

  The big man looked between us and took a deep breath. “All right,” he said. He rose and squeezed Ezee’s shoulder. “It isn’t far.”

  Alek and Yosemite had hidden the bag with Clyde’s heart about a ten-minute walk from the Henhouse. Two huge fir trees towered over a large rock. The stone was cracked in half, as though Paul Bunyan had split it with an axe. I knew from Alek and Yosemite’s reactions that this was not how they had left it.

  The bag was on the rock. The snow around us was pristine, only the bare grey stone a sign that something wasn’t right, that this place had been disturbed.

  I walked to the stone and picked up the bag.

  It was empty.