by Linsey Hall
Though I was tempted to step inside, I didn’t dare. There was too much magic in there. Too much risk.
The center of the circle glowed golden and bright. I shielded my eyes, squinting within.
A figure appeared within, the same one that had appeared to me in the fairy-tale world.
“You,” I said.
“Aye, Ana Blackwood. I have called you here, through your dreams.”
“Why? What do you want from me?”
“What every god wants of a Dragon God.”
“So you are a god. Which one?”
“Sulis.”
“I don’t recognize that.”
“That is not a surprise. We are an ancient religion, with many factions and many gods.”
“But which—”
A shriek sounded, and a light flashed, cutting off my question. At the edge the circle, a figure hurtled toward Sulis. Another ghost.
The golden figure of the god disappeared, leaving nothing but the one who had tried to attack.
I blinked, shocked. “Mom?”
The ghost turned to me, so familiar it made me ache. I reached out to her.
“Ana, you must go! Never come to the circle.”
“But what do you—”
Thunder cracked and lightning struck, shooting from the sky as a bright white bolt.
It struck my mother’s ghost, lighting her up like a bonfire. She collapsed.
Something inside me tore. I screamed, starting forward, but she reached out a hand.
“No!” The command in her voice stopped me. “Too dangerous.” Her voice was weak, ragged. “I would save you from this.”
Tears poured down my face, a ragged sob bursting forth. “But I need my Dragon God power. I need to know what I am. I need to help you!”
I had to go to her. I stepped forward.
“No! Don’t chase it, Ana. Too deadly. Too much.” The plea in her voice stopped me.
“Deadly to others? To you?” I couldn’t hurt my mother.
“To you.”
Thunder cracked again. This time, the lightning exploded in a burst of light. It struck from the sky, landing directly on her. She screamed. I screamed.
She disappeared.
I gasped, my own shriek waking me. I bolted out of bed, sweating and shaky.
My eyes popped open, meeting Lachlan’s immediately.
I screamed again, but I had no breath and it came out as a wispy thing.
Lachlan gripped my shoulders, his touch grounding me in reality. “Ana! Ana, are you all right?”
Gasping, I blinked, trying to get it together.
That had been a dream.
But I’d seen my mother. She’d really been there.
Tears sprang to my eyes.
She’d been struck by lightning. Twice.
Tears rolled down my face, and I gasped. Losing her once had been hard enough. We’d been only thirteen, still on the run from those who had hunted us. Mom had taken us away, keeping us on the run.
Then they’d found us.
She’d bought us time, letting us escape.
But she hadn’t made it.
And I just watched her die again. The sobs tore through me, ragged and harsh.
Lachlan pulled me close, hugging me. I gripped him, unable to let go, and sobbed. The Cats of Catastrophe, who’d clearly vacated the bed when I’d had my freak-out, leapt on and pressed themselves against me. Even Princess.
Lachlan petted my hair. His touch sent waves of calm through me, slowing my sobs and my shaking.
“A nightmare?” he asked.
“It didn’t start as one.” Reluctantly, I pulled back. I needed to get it together. I scrubbed the tears from my face. “It almost seemed like I was going to learn what I was.”
Lachlan didn’t say anything, though he had to be curious. I’d alluded to getting new magic, but I’d never said exactly what I was. He might have guessed. Maybe.
But either way, I no longer felt weird about telling him. He’d had my back during the last week, never failing. He’d given his magic to the ghosts, and never faltered when the Cheshire cat had tried to give him his heart’s desire in exchange for me.
“I’m a Dragon God,” I said.
His eyes widened briefly. “That’s something.”
I chuckled weakly. “Isn’t it? But I have no idea what pantheon I’m part of. I think I was about to find out in the dream. I think one of the gods called me there. But then my mother appeared, driving him away.”
“She did?”
I nodded. “Her ghost, at least. Or her spirit. I don’t know. I told you that she was killed when I was thirteen.” I sucked in a ragged breath, blinking to keep the tears in my eyes. The last thing I needed was more weeping. “But I didn’t mention that she was murdered.”
Grief flashed in his eyes. Not pity, but grief. The empath in him?
“I was being hunted by someone who wanted me because I was a Dragon God.” My sisters, too, though I didn’t mention them. I trusted him not to reveal them, but protecting them was second nature, and it was easier just not to bring them up. “My mother sacrificed herself to let us get away. Then she came back now, sacrificing herself again to keep the god from telling me which pantheon I’m part of. She doesn’t want me to know.”
“Why not?”
“She was a powerful seer, so she must have seen something.”
“She fears it’s too dangerous.”
“How’d you know?”
“It’s not hard to guess. She died to protect you the first time, so she’d do it again. Danger to you could bring her to this plane.”
I nodded, my mind playing the lightning strike over and over again, like a horrible movie. Tears spilled over my eyelids. I clenched my teeth and scrubbed them away, pissed at myself.
“I’m such a wimp,” I muttered.
“I’d say you’re human.” He smiled. “And you’re tough. Stalwart. You never complain. You always take care of business. Those are all very unwimpy qualities.”
A smile tugged at my lips. “You sound like you don’t use the word wimp very often.”
“I can’t say that I do.” He gave me one last look, searching my eyes to make sure that I was all right.
I tried to give him a reassuring smile, which he seemed to buy, thank fates.
He stood. “Ready to find Grimaldi’s?”
“Totally.”
We met everyone in the main entryway at eight a.m., as planned. Bree, Rowan, and Caro waited for us, each holding a steaming cup of coffee. Bree and Rowan each held an extra cup, and I eyed them hopefully.
I grinned when Bree passed one off to me. Rowan handed one to Lachlan, raising her brows.
The question was clear. Why the heck are you coming downstairs with my sister early in the morning?
He just smiled and murmured, “Thanks.”
I chugged the coffee, nearly burning my throat, then said, “Everyone ready?”
There was a chorus of yeses, and we all set our coffee cups on a ledge. Eventually, they’d magically disappear back to the kitchen, a spell that I wished my apartment had.
As a group, we set off toward the enchanted forest. There was a portal there that would take us straight to Magic’s Bend.
Lachlan led the way through the twisted old trees. Though the sun was bright in the sky, it was shadowed and cool in here, the fairy lights dancing in the air. It smelled of damp earth and greenery, a scent that I was growing to love.
Rowan grabbed my arm to slow my walk, and I looked at her, confused. Caro hurried ahead, starting to talk to Lachlan, while Bree hung back with me and Rowan.
Ah, of course. “Question time?”
“Duh,” Rowan said.
I eyed Caro’s back. Clearly, my sisters had put her up to distracting Lachlan.
“So…” Bree whispered. “He came down from your room this morning.”
“Nothing happened.”
“You don’t let strangers sleep in your apartment,” Rowan sai
d.
“We’re not strangers. We’re colleagues.”
“Like Cade and I were colleagues?” Bree said.
“That’s different.” I scowled. She and Cade had ended up together. It was clear to anyone that they were a perfect match. Me and Lachlan?
Yeah, I might’ve wanted to jump on him, but that didn’t mean we were the perfect match.
“It doesn’t seem different,” Bree said.
“Well, it is.”
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” Rowan said. “It’s not platonic. Let me tell you that.”
“Well, we’ve gone on a no-kissing ban.”
“So that means you kissed?” Rowan asked.
“It means they kissed.” Bree nodded knowingly.
I sighed. “It was a quick one.” But the best of my life, hands down. “Then he said we couldn’t do it again because we work together.”
“Ah, I’m familiar with that one,” Bree said. “It won’t stick.”
“Yes, it will. I’m a professional. I want to become a full member of the Protectorate. I’m not going to screw this up.”
“It’s not technically against the rules,” Bree said. “And he doesn’t even work for the Protectorate.”
“I know that.” I scowled. “But I can’t worry about any of that right now.”
“True story,” Rowan said. “You’ve got bigger shit to worry about. Like this cloaked figure and Arach’s heart.
We’d just reached the clearing in the woods where the three portals hovered in midair. Two were active—the glowing blue one went to Edinburgh, and the white one to Magic’s Bend. A third was dark and dormant. It had once led to a fae realm, but had since been blocked off from permanent access. One could still get through, but it was difficult.
We lined up in front of the white portal and stepped through one at a time. I went last, and the ether sucked me up and spun me around, carrying me through space and spitting me out in a dark alley.
My friends were already at the edge of the alley, and I hurried to join them, not enjoying the distinct scent of pee that permeated the place. The portal put us out in the Historic District, which was the oldest part of Magic’s Bend. It was also the party district, where restaurants and bars crowded into the old buildings.
As a result, the alleys acted as last-minute bathrooms for the supernaturals stumbling home from the bars late at night.
It was gross.
When I reached the street, I sucked in a breath of fresher air. There were only a few supernaturals out, most carrying cups of coffee or waiting in line for brunch. Magic’s Bend had a totally different feel that even the supernatural district of Edinburgh lacked. There, we had a neighborhood within a bigger human city. Humans couldn’t find it, of course. But people were still aware that there were non-magical folk nearby.
Not in Magic’s Bend, though. There were no humans for a hundred miles. The little city was blocked by a charm, and as a result, the supernaturals were one hundred percent comfortable with walking around with their wings or their horns on display. I definitely liked it.
“Lachlan’s getting a cab,” Bree said.
“Good.” We’d have to go a few miles to Factory Row, where the FireSouls had their shop, and I didn’t want to hoof it.
When a glittering purple car pulled up to the curb, we all piled in. The pink leather seat in the back extended magically to accommodate the four of us girls, while Lachlan took the front. A pixie with green hair grinned into the rearview mirror.
“Where are we off to?” she asked.
“Ancient Magic, on Factory Row,” Lachlan said.
“All righty.” She hit the gas, and the cab jumped away from the curb. “I seem to deliver a lot of people to that shop.”
“Popular place,” Lachlan said.
“Don’t I know it,” she said. “Those three who work there run a good business.”
That was the truth.
“What do they sell?” Caro asked.
“They’re treasure hunters,” I said. “They find enchanted artifacts and sell the magic inside.”
“That’s illegal,” Caro said. “You can’t just wander up to an archaeological site and take stuff.”
“Right. They only take the artifacts with the most decayed magic.” Over time, magic degraded. “They take the ones that are about to explode, then remove the magic and put it in a replica artifact. That’s what they sell. Then they return the original artifact to the archaeological site. They’ve got a permit for it and everything.”
“I like it,” Caro said. “That’s really freaking clever.”
“And hopefully they’ll be able to tell us where Grimaldi’s is.” I leaned toward the cab driver. “Do you know where Grimaldi’s is?”
She glanced into the rearview mirror. “Never heard of it.”
I leaned back. It was weird that a cab driver wouldn’t know, but I wasn’t that surprised. Things were never so easy.
A few minutes later, we arrived on Factory Row, a street on the outskirts of town that had once been the industrial center of Magic’s Bend in the nineteenth century. Sometime recently, the old warehouses and factories had been converted into trendy apartments and shops.
We passed by Potions & Pastilles, where Connor and Claire worked, and the cab pulled over in front of Ancient Magic.
We piled out of the car and approached the wide glass window of the shop. Cass, Nix, and Del all lived above Ancient Magic, each inhabiting one of the upper three floors of the building. Cass usually handled most of the treasure hunting, with the occasional help from Del, while Nix ran the front counter.
I strode up to the window, peering between the scrolled golden letters that spelled out Ancient Magic.
Behind the desk, a dark-haired woman was fiddling with something small. Nix.
I reached for the door handle and pulled, but it was locked.
Nix looked up, catching my gaze through the glass door. She grinned and hurried forward, then unlocked the door and pulled it open. A cartoon cat grinned out at me from her T-shirt. Despite the fact that she was seriously badass, you wouldn’t necessarily know it. She always wore cat T-shirts, and never looked as strong as she actually was.
“Hey!” Nix said. “We haven’t opened yet, sorry. But come in!”
“Thanks.” I smiled and entered the little shop, my friends following behind me as I headed toward the desk, careful not to bump into any of the artifacts that were stacked on the floor or set onto little tables.
Nix went behind the counter, her gaze traveling over all of us. “I can’t imagine this is an early-morning shopping trip.”
“Not exactly,” I said.
“Though I do like your shop.” Caro wandered around, peeking at the different objects that Nix had conjured to match the original artifacts. With her skillset, she was the perfect one to man the desk here. Cass would bring her the artifacts, and Nix would conjure a replica and move the magic over.
“Thanks.” Nix propped her hands on the counter. “What can I do for you?”
“Do you know where Grimaldi’s is?” Lachlan asked.
Nix frowned. “Never heard of it. Is it supposed to be here?”
“Somewhere in Magic’s Bend,” he said. “It’s a casino.”
“We don’t have any casinos.”
I tugged the golden coin out of my pocket and pushed it across the desk toward her. “Is this familiar?”
Her eyes lit up at the sight of the gold—the dragon in her, no doubt—but she frowned almost immediately.
“I don’t recognize it.” She picked it up and turned it over, her frown deepening. “And my dragon sense isn’t picking anything up either.”
Ah, crap. That was Plan B.
I described the coin’s original owner, hoping that the info would help ignite her dragon sense, but she just shook her head.
Dang.
I’d gotten the impression that Grimaldi’s might be kind of secret. But we had the coin. FireSouls could track almost anythin
g, but only if it wasn’t protected by a concealment charm of some kind.
“So it’s got a concealment charm on it?” Rowan asked.
“It does. A strong one.” She closed her eyes, her magic swelling on the air.
I waited, my breath held. Everyone else seemed tense as well.
Nix’s eyes popped open. “Yeah, my third try was not the charm. I’m still getting nothing.”
Dang it.
The door behind us creaked open, and a lilting voice echoed into the shop. “Hello, ladies. Was I not invited to the party?”
I turned, catching sight of Aerdeca waltzing into the shop. Her usual white pantsuit was impeccably crisp, and her blonde hair fell over her shoulder like a sleek waterfall. Her magic rolled out from her in a wave, deceptively sweet with its sound of chirping birds and the feel of a spring breeze.
The Blood Sorceress smiled at us, and it was a bit shark-like.
“Aerdeca,” Nix said. “What brings you here so early?”
“I need a birthday present for Mordaca, so I had to sneak out before she woke up.”
Nix grinned. “That could be any time before two p.m.”
Aerdeca laughed. “True enough.” Her gaze sharpened on the coin in Nix’s hand. The color drained from her face. “Where’d you get that?”
Nix pointed to us. “They’re looking for a place called Grimaldi’s.”
Aerdeca turned to us, her face stark. I’d never seen her scared before. She was a stone-cold, badass bitch, and I meant that as the highest compliment. I’d seen her face down demons without flinching, coming away with her white suit coated in their blood. But this little thing scared her?
“Why the hell would you want to go there?” she asked. “It’s a hellhole.”
“So it’s really in Magic’s Bend?” Nix asked. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“You wouldn’t,” she said. “It’s not your kind of place.”
“But it’s yours?” Nix asked.
It was clear what she was saying. Aerdeca and Mordaca lived and worked in Darklane, where the dark magic practitioners lived. If you were going to be bad, that’s where you hung out. But Aerdeca and Mordaca weren’t that bad, despite the fact that they were scary as hell.
“It was,” Aerdeca said. “But we escaped that life.”
“Escaped?” That was a heavy freaking word.
