Paranormally Yours: A Boxed Set

by Alisha Basso

  We were currently in dark of the moon phase. Technically, this phase occurs during the last two days of the fourth lunar phase, waning, and on the actual day of the new moon. These were the days when the moon was not visible in the night sky. I have read in various books over the years that this is supposedly a “dangerous” lunar phase, and I shouldn’t cast any spells or perform any magic during this time. I strongly disagreed with that mentality.

  The moon was an enchanting symbol for the goddess in all her aspects: the Maiden for the increasing crescent, the Mother for the full moon, and the Crone for the waning moon. Yes, it was true, working during the dark of the moon required planning and wisdom. But if I carefully plotted out my magic and worked with good judgment, I would get great results. This phase is the best to work to transform. I have had phenomenal success working my dark chocolate recipes during the dark of the moon, infusing them with much more flavor and texture. From dark chocolate to a dark madman. I certainly had journeyed far in the two weeks since Olivia’s death.

  Next I thought about what herbs I needed to construct the spell. I wrote down aloe for luck. I couldn’t go wrong with that, then althea for psychic powers, angelica for visions, blackberry for protection. I wasn’t taking any chances this time. Basil was an attracting herb normally used to bring the spellcaster wealth, but I was going to bend it to my will in this spell to search for either the mage or his warehouse.

  Now for the verse. While I stirred the spell, and before I absorbed it into me through my second scent, I would recite the verse.

  “Magic moon

  Dark as night

  Give me what I ask tonight.

  Find the man I seek

  By the name of Bleak

  Wherever he hides.

  Let my mind be the guide,

  Give the answer I need

  With blinding speed,

  And make his evil plans null.

  Render his tools of destruction

  Harmless as his surrender.”

  I worked it over in my head until it became a cadence, then wrote it in my grimoire, feeling the spell take shape in my mind, just as I did with my recipes. I grabbed a handy pad of paper and wrote down the ingredients for Nock. “Get these and come right back as quickly as you can.”

  “All right,” he saluted in a grumpy gnomish way. “I’ll be back lickety-split.”

  Talon walked over and I glanced at him. “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “I am now. I thought he was going to kill me.”

  “I tried to get to you.”

  “I know. This isn’t your fault at all, Talon.”

  Talon took a slow breath. The tension flowed out of him as he exhaled. “I wanted you out of this, Lily, and now it seems you are the only hope for the Twin Cities. I’m on my way to speak with my director. We’ll make preparations for the fae warriors to mass just in case. I believe the Prime is discussing similar plans with the other leaders. The OS is mobilizing its wardens as we speak.”

  I reached out and grasped his forearm. “I hope it doesn’t come to that. I’ll find him.”

  I could see in his eyes how much he wanted to touch me, but we both knew the kiss we shared in my back hallway was the last one we could afford. He nodded.

  “I’ll be back to support you when you cast your spell.”

  “Hurry,” I said. “I want you here with me in this.”

  His eyes softened. “You are supposed to be a case and nothing more. Damn that undead for shifting things around. And for your ingrained sense of justice.”

  “He’s dead now.”

  “Good riddance.”

  “He wanted me to give your name to the rogue mage.”

  “You refused?”

  “Yes. Of course I did. I didn’t save your fine ass to have him kill you.”

  He chuckled. “Lily, you are a piece of work.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  He turned and left. The OS wardens found a comfortable place to wait. I could see by their set expressions they weren’t going anywhere.

  Nock was back in record time with Flynn, who hovered around me and finally settled on the counter.

  I started the potion.

  There was a pattern of knowledge lying beneath the physical universe. It was always present, even though, like a candle flame in blinding sunlight, it seemed invisible and unknowable. But magic took us to those deep realms of power and knowledge. Magic led us into the soft moonlight, where a candle flame glowed steady and bright.

  The knowledge of where Bleak and his warehouse were. All I had to do was tap into it and it would be revealed to me. A seeking spell was nothing more than a way to harness the knowledge and bring it to the seeker.

  There would be only two reasons why my spell would fail: the proper effort was not put into it in the first place, or there was a strong force opposing my spell.

  Opposition doesn’t have to come for a concerted magical effort, either. It can come from no more than the will of those involved to walk their own path and not bend to anyone else. Bleak would be actively hiding. It was up to me to discover where.

  No one said magic was easy. If it were, we’d all be rich, beautiful, famous, and cherished by our perfect soul mates.

  Magic was just like anything else. It took the path of least resistance.

  I closed my eyes and waited for my subconscious to tell me what to use and in what quantity. As the cauldron started to boil I breathed deep, waiting and waiting for that one perfect moment.

  “Magic moon

  Dark as night

  Give me what I ask tonight.

  Find the man I seek

  By the name of Bleak

  Wherever he hides.

  Let my mind be the guide,

  Give the answer I need

  With blinding speed,

  And make his evil plans null.

  Render his tools of destruction

  Harmless as his surrender.”

  I breathed in the potion at the exact moment of full potency and then breathed out. I looked into the empty pot. Success.

  I turned to the waiting faces. Talon had returned. “I’m ready.”

  I picked up the scrying bowl, not bothering to make a circle. I was safe in the OS. I dropped in black ink to darken the water, and instantly felt the pull of the moon, sensed the hiss and movement of the dragon currents as if they were a great, restless serpent.

  I gazed into the bowl, releasing my anxiety about what had happened the last time I had sought Bleak.

  He was pissed at me. I was sure that, since I had escaped, he wouldn’t be able to change his name and escape the noose we were now going to tighten around his neck. We were going to end this tonight. Then maybe I could get my answers.

  Who had hired him to kill Olivia?

  I recited my verse over and over as I gazed in the water. But nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. My stomach sank. Something was wrong.

  I looked up at the hopeful faces and when they met my eyes, shoulders slumped.

  “What’s wrong?” Rayne asked.

  “I’m not getting a reading. It’s as if he’s disappeared off the face of the earth.

  I sat back, my mind whirling. I had been there. I had seen the warehouse. At the very least I should have been able to scry for that.

  “Maybe the powerful disorientation spell he had over the warehouse is blocking you,” Nock said.

  “But I didn’t feel any disorientation about where I was.”

  “I couldn’t figure out where we were. I had to go to the timeless core to realign.”

  “What did you say about the core?”

  “It’s timeless. It exists on its own anchor. Time doesn’t affect it.”

  I took a quick breath and looked at Nock. He saw it at exactly the same time I did.

  “He’s not where. He’s when.”

  “What do you mean?” Deangelo said.

  “He’s twisted runic magic to manipulate time. Oh, my goddess, that is so dangerous.
He’s in the future waiting for the computers to download where they can’t be affected by the here and now. As soon as they’re done, he’s going to bring them into current time and release the monsters.” I ran to my spell book. “I have to change my spell.” I erased the word “wherever” and replaced it with “whenever.” Then went back to my scrying bowl.

  This time a red mist appeared as I began chanting the spell. I felt the power of it course through me and my hair lifted in a phantom wind. My heart started to pound. I heard a faint growl and then barking. The hair on my arms stood on end and the wind carried with it a faint canine odor. I saw the stitching of the Order of the Third Eye, then the warehouse, then I saw a face I hadn’t expected. I was so shocked I sloshed the water in the bowl when I jerked. Archmage Tarquin Wilding’s face stared back at me. There was a scream of rage. The knowledge I was looking for thundered into my head, the date, the time, the very place where he was hiding. The red mist thickened and the sound of the hounds grew. I looked up and around as if they were in the room with us.

  “What is that?” Deangelo said.

  “Grimhounds!” Talon cried and he started across the room towards me, but it was too late, I couldn’t look away as three black canine-like muzzles materialized in the water, as inky as the dark, moonless sky above us.

  “They can travel through shadow,” he yelled. “Drop the bowl!”

  But his warning came too late. They poured out of the water and solidified. They surrounded me, growling and snapping, their jaws foaming and dripping saliva. I knew that once grimhounds were sent after prey, they didn’t stop, and that they were coveted pets of the Shadow Fae.

  Black as the pit of hell, the three huge animals came to my shoulder, growled low and menacing deep in their chests. They circled me on elongated paws with large knuckles ending in razor-sharp claws. Their brightly glowing eyes, a malevolent yellow, fixed on me. I got a whiff of burning brimstone as one leapt at me, his jaws open. As he lunged for my throat I threw up my arm. I heard bells and the great beast missed its mark, but still its teeth sank into my shoulder and ravaged me. The pain and pressure of its jaws made me cry out.

  “Lily!”

  Two more hounds came out of the bowl. Rayne shifted into a black leopard and leapt for one of the dogs as Fox released his jaguar, Maya.

  “Break the bowl,” Talon screamed as one of the hounds jumped at him.

  Deangelo streaked through the hounds, shimmering here and there so fast I couldn’t keep my eyes on him. I grasped the dog’s head and tried to pull him off me, but he wouldn’t let go. Deangelo made it to the bowl as one more hound slipped through. He crushed the bowl beneath his heel and the hound who had begun to emerge exploded into dust.

  Then he was beside me, his eyes gone black so absolutely no pupil showed, and he grabbed the dog’s jaws and pried them off me. The release sent me to my knees, and, as my vision dimmed, I slumped to the floor.

  “I know when he is,” I said weakly. Then passed out.

  #

  I came to with a gasp, the smell of blood heavy in the air. Fox was peering down at me, his hummingbird hovering around my shoulder, his wings a soothing hum.

  “Easy, Lily, Flit’s almost done.”

  As soon as the hummingbird darted away and then dissipated I sat up.

  “I know when he is. We have to go, now. We’re running out of time.”

  Deangelo’s cry of rage was the only warning I had as he slammed his arm across my throat and pressed me against the wall.

  “How is it possible those hounds got into a warded OS?”

  I blinked several times. “Are you saying I let them in? I would look internally if I were you. I can’t use my magic in here unless you sanction it. Which you did. So back off.”

  Rayne pulled at his arm and Talon reached for his sword.

  “They were after her, Second Warden, sir. The mage is very powerful, and he’s using magic not many of us understand.”

  His black eyes narrowed at me again. “You understand it.”

  “I don’t do runic magic, ever,” I ground out.

  Talon strode forward. “These grimhounds are clearly guardian animals, and they are guarding the whereabouts of the mage. She had mentioned she was attacked previously by an assassin. If the mage is tied to the fae, it would have to be the Shadow kingdom. The Crystal fae don’t have such beasts. They have white wolves.”

  I could tell Deangelo wasn’t satisfied, but he released me, although his distrustful look intensified as the black in his eyes diminished.

  “You know when he is.”

  “Yes, I do, and I know when he’s coming into the here and now. He can’t stop the process now, even though he knows I found him. That’s why he sent the hounds. He’s in a warehouse close to the river in St. Paul. I’ll take you there.”

  When we pulled up outside the warehouse, I closed my eyes and verified the energy was the same that I’d experienced before.

  I bolted out of the car, sprinted to an access door, pulled it open, and ran inside. Everyone followed. The place was dark, but the hum of the computers was loud. I ran around so I could see the screens. The game had finished downloading!

  It would be coming up any second. “We have to cut the power now! Nock, kill the generator.”

  All the computers beeped at the same time and I heard snarling, as something horrifyingly ugly with sharp, pointed teeth and long, supple arms complete with sharp claws emerged from the screen.

  “Nock!”

  The power cut out, the monsters were sucked back in and all the computers died. I slumped in relief.

  “Where is the mage?” Deangelo demanded.

  “I don’t know. He was here.”

  “Spread out! Find him!”

  I helped with the search, slipping out the door and closing my eyes, trying to pick up the same kind of energy reading I had gotten while scrying. Nothing. It was as if he disappeared into thin air. I turned around and around, searching, devastated that we had lost him. There was nothing to stop him from setting up another warehouse full of games.

  Then I saw her and froze. The blonde mage from the Order of the Third Eye who had escorted Rayne and me to the Archmage. She got into a taxi and it drove away.

  “What was she doing here?” Rayne said.

  “That’s what I’d like to know,” I replied.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “You want me to what?” Deangelo said.

  “Go to the Archmage and ask him if he has the mage.”

  “It’s the same problem as we had before, Lily. We have no proof,” Rayne said.

  “I feel it in my gut. That woman was here for a reason. Are you going to tell me the Archmage wouldn’t want to mete out his own justice to one of his order? I’d think it would be at the top of his list. You said it yourself.”

  “We do have probable cause. The female mage was spotted leaving here,” Val said.

  “Of course you would all be on her side,” Deangelo growled.

  “We’re a team,” Fox said softly and my heart bumped up a little.

  “But, no matter how much I want to storm in there and demand answers, my hands are tired. The Archmage has already spoken to the Prime and he’s angry we questioned him. We will have to find another way.’”

  “Are you giving us permission to…ah…get creative?” I said.

  “Find a way,” he said softly. He strode to his car as a truck pulled up to the warehouse to gather all the computers and the games for immediate destruction.

  Maybe I was right and maybe I wasn’t, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that Tarquin Wilding had Bleak. I wanted to ask him a simple question and then move on with my investigation of Olivia’s murder.

  “Don’t you have reports to write?!” Deangelo bellowed.

  I looked over at Talon, wishing suddenly I could just snuggle up to him, close my eyes, and go to sleep. He gave me a wave and turned to leave.

  “I’m heading home,” Nock said. “Can you manage to stay out
of trouble for at least the next few hours?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. He snorted and disappeared.

  Dejected, we dragged over to our vehicles and, once back at the OS, I sat down to write my report. I was dog tired. I had been up for twenty-four hours fending off undead vamps and grimhounds, getting tortured and passing through the center of the earth. That was more than enough craziness for one witch to endure.

  “So…whatcha doin’?” Val asked.

  “Reports,” I replied looking over at him floating cross-legged in the air. “Are you already done with yours?”

  He wrinkled his nose. “I give the Second Warden the cliff notes version.”

  I chuckled.

  “So, Lily, when are you going to ditch the shaman and give me a chance?”

  “Val,” Fox growled.

  I looked over at him and he met my eyes, direct and straightforward. I was the one who slid my eyes away. His message was clear. He was a damn sight less complicated than Talon Sunstrike. “Fox and I are just friends and so are you and I, Val.”

  I looked over at Fox again, and he smiled when he caught me peeking.

  Val easily dodged the balled-up paper Fox sailed at him.

  “You’ll have to try harder than that, lightning boy.”

  “Besides,” I said, trying to keep it light, “You couldn’t handle me, Val.”

  This time Fox chuckled.

  “Yes, I could,” he said, giving me a sultry bad-boy look. “Back me up on this, Rayne.”

  “You’re a pain in the ass Val, but as a forerunner, there is no measure and no one better.”

  “Okay, I’ll bide my time,” he said.

  Fox and Val were both long gone when I finally finished. I got up from the desk I had been assigned and turned to find Rayne standing there.

  “I thought you had left.”

  “No. I needed to give you this.”

  She handed me an OS badge and a paper.

  “What is this?” I said glancing down at the paper.

  “It’s a permanent consultant contract. Deangelo wants to lock you in.”