by Jasmine Walt
“That’s great.” Touching my serapha charm, I confirmed that Iannis was indeed back in Solantha, and though he seemed tired and strained, he was healthy. “I’ll go find him. Thanks.”
Using my serapha charm as a guide, I picked my way through the rubble-strewn streets toward Iannis. He was a couple of blocks west, at the town center, putting out a fire in the town hall. I leaned against the remnants of a street lamp and watched as he and, to my great surprise, Director Toring, worked together to staunch the flames licking the roof of the building. The other buildings on either side of the town hall were partially charred and still smoking, but their fires had been put out safely.
“You’ve been busy,” I said, strolling up to the two mages once they’d gotten the fire under control. I would have volunteered to help, but I was still recovering from the healings I’d done, and the two of them hadn’t seemed to need my help anyway. Like Chen, Iannis and Garrett were dressed in simple robes rather than their usual finery. Both their faces were black with soot, but I grabbed Iannis and kissed him anyway. He tasted like ash and blood, but also himself, and as he wrapped his strong arms about me and crushed me tight against him, an indulgence he rarely allowed in public, the knot of grief and pain inside my chest loosened a bit.
“I’m very glad you’re safe,” he finally said, pulling back. He pushed a curl out of my face with a blackened finger, no doubt streaking soot across my forehead. But I didn’t care. After this hellish day, I needed to feel his touch, hear his voice, see those brilliant violet eyes staring down at me as they did now, still so full of vitality despite the grueling, draining work. “I felt your pain, and I was worried that something had happened to you. Are you all right?”
I swallowed hard against the sudden ball of tears in my throat, eyes stinging again. “Fenris is dead,” I choked out.
Iannis’s face went deathly pale beneath the soot. “What?”
“Dead?” Garrett echoed, scowling. “What do you mean, dead?”
“I mean he’s no longer living in this world, you asshole!” I took a step toward him, fangs bared, and Garrett recoiled in shock. He wasn’t used to seeing me this feral. Iannis braced a hand against my forearm, and the only reason I halted was because he was as much leaning on me as he was silently telling me to stop.
“Why don’t you sit down?” I said heavily. We sank onto the cracked marble steps in front of the town hall, and I relayed the story to Iannis, leaving out only the part about Fenris gifting his knowledge to me. By the time I was done, my eyes were burning with unshed tears, and my heart felt like it had been repeatedly run over by a steamtruck. By Magorah, how could he be gone? How could I have let him die?
A long silence settled over the three of us when I finished. Iannis’s expression was like stone, but I knew that was because we were in public—the anguish coming off him, which I could feel clearly through the serapha charm, was so great that it made mine feel paltry in comparison. Fenris had been his friend far longer than mine.
“You did not fail him,” I said firmly in mindspeak, sensing what Iannis was thinking. “He left this world knowing how much you loved him.”
“He wouldn’t have left this world at all, had I not convinced him to stay the first time he announced he was leaving.” Iannis’s eyes burned with restrained emotion, and I had to struggle to keep from hugging him again. “He could be a thousand miles away by now, living his own life.”
“Well, that’s very convenient,” Garrett said skeptically, interrupting our silent conversation. “For Fenris to die just as I was preparing my arrest warrant for him. How do I know that you aren’t lying, and that he didn’t escape in the confusion?”
“You bastard—” I snarled, but stopped myself before I lunged for Garrett again. Fenris wouldn’t want me to get myself into hot water after all he’d done to save my life. Fuck. Taking a deep breath, I sat back down, then said, “If you doubt me, I will take you to the place where it happened. We need to recover the body anyway.”
“Sunaya,” Iannis said, putting his hand on my arm. He turned to Garrett, his voice full of reproach. “Now is hardly the time to squabble about such a petty—”
“No,” I said, my voice hard. I got to my feet and pinned Garrett with an icy stare that could give Iannis a run for his money. “If taking time away from helping the sick and the dying is what we need to appease Director Toring’s sense of justice,” I spat the word, and his eyes flickered, “then that’s what we’ll do.”
“Very well,” Garrett said, his tone chilly. But I could tell I’d thrown him off balance, and that he was no longer so sure about the move he’d just made. “Lead the way.”
Since the roads had been completely torn up by the quake, we were forced to traverse the town on foot. To prevent ourselves from being constantly accosted, we disguised ourselves as humans, but it was incredibly hard to ignore the pain and suffering going on and continue forward. There were so many times I wanted to stop and help, to dig out more survivors, to heal more broken limbs. But Fenris’s body was still buried beneath that school, and I would not leave him there to rot. He deserved better than that.
“Here we are,” I said bitterly as we stopped outside the cracked sidewalk in front of the school. Someone had put out the fire, but the damage had been done. I stalked across the once-grassy field, now charred to ash, heading toward the side of the school where I had created that tunnel. The entire building had been reduced to rubble.
“Miss Baine,” Garrett said, his voice subdued. He hurried to catch up with me, pulling at my sleeve. “Miss Baine, I see now. There is no way anyone in that basement could have survived. I believe you.”
“Don’t touch me, you self-serving prick.” I smacked his hand away, staring straight ahead so that he wouldn’t see my tears. “You wanted to see proof. I’ll get you proof. Fenris’s body is buried down here.”
“Sunaya,” Iannis warned as I sank to the ground in front of the pile of debris blocking the tunnel I’d dragged Rusalia through. The tunnel I’d made using Fenris’s knowledge.
“Fenris’s body is down here,” I repeated, refusing to look at him. “We can’t leave him there.” Calling up a spell from my dead friend’s memories, I turned toward the tunnel and attempted to excavate it again. My magic burrowed into the ground as the spell yanked on it and, for a moment, I thought it was going to work. But something inside me snapped, like a wire stretched too taut, and I gasped as piercing pain sliced through the center of my body. The spell shut off abruptly, and my inner muscles began to seize up as intense heat radiated throughout my skull. Suddenly, I couldn’t draw breath; it was as though all the oxygen had been sucked out of the air around me…
“Sunaya,” Iannis shouted, his voice rife with fear. Strong arms came around me as I toppled sideways, and that was the last sensation I felt before the blackness claimed me.
18
When my eyes opened again, I found myself lying on the sandy beach of the island I’d once been stranded on, staring up at the cloudless blue sky. The white sand was powdery beneath my skin, and the warm water lapped gently at me, like a pet dog trying to rouse its master from a slumber.
But I couldn’t get up. Exhaustion had settled into my limbs, so pervasive I could barely keep my eyes open. The only reason I was even awake was because I was struggling for breath—my lungs felt like they were collapsed, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t suck in enough air.
Writhing in the sand, I tried to roll over, hoping a change of position might help. But my arms and legs were leaden, and I only seemed to dig myself further into the surf, closer to the tide that no longer seemed quite so gentle. The waves were growing larger, more menacing, the sea turning its hungry gaze toward me. It had deemed me not worth saving, and instead intended to drag me beneath its depths so I could join the myriad souls it had carried to the afterlife.
“Relax,” a female voice, low and musical, said. A warm hand settled on my damp shoulder, and I turned my head to see an exotic, caramel
-skinned woman with golden eyes and flowing mahogany hair crouching next to me. Her teeth gleamed white in her dark face as she smiled down at me, and I stared dumbly up at her, struck by her beauty. She was otherworldly, her presence gentle but powerful. Somehow, I knew I was in the presence of a powerful spirit. “You are not going to die.”
The knot of anxiety in my chest loosened a little, and I nodded. The woman pressed a dark green leaf to my lips, and I opened my mouth. As soon as it touched my tongue, a wave of cool, soothing energy rippled through me, soothing my raw nerves. Power hummed in my veins, and I sucked in my first real breath as my magic flared back to life.
“Much better,” the woman said, nodding in satisfaction. She pressed her slender hand against my brow…
And then I opened my eyes to see Annia leaning over me, her dark eyes warm as she pressed her own hand against my forehead.
“By Magorah.” I shot upright, nearly slamming my forehead into Annia’s nose. “Annia, you’re back! How long have you been here? How long have I been out? What’s going on?” Heart thundering, I looked wildly around me. I was in the Palace infirmary, and I wasn’t alone. Dozens of metal-framed beds were filled with other patients, mostly mages, but a few shifters and humans, too. I’d never seen the place so crowded.
“Slow down, champ.” Annia laid her hand against my shoulder and pressed me back into the pillows. “You’ve been out a few hours, about the same length of time I’ve been back. Was a real shock to return home to this shit show.” Her elegant features drew tight as she surveyed the room. “I was on a boat for the last couple of days, so I had no idea what I was coming home to.”
“I’m so glad you’re here.” Tears sprang to my eyes, and I sat up so I could hug Annia, hard. Seeing her back, alive and well, was the balm my soul needed after this horrific day. Pulling away, I studied her, wanting to make sure that she really was intact. Her normally fair skin was a little darker, tanned by the tropical Southian climate, and her dark eyes seemed older, almost ancient. There were secrets lurking in those eyes—stories I would pull out of her when things settled down.
“I see you’ve been shopping,” I said, my eyes dropping to her collarbone. A gorgeous, antique-looking torque of solid gold lay against her tanned skin, with a fiery gemstone in the center. It smelled strongly of magic, and I frowned. “What is that?”
Annia sighed, looking decidedly unhappy for someone who loved clothes and jewelry as much as she did. “It’s a long story,” she said, settling back into her chair.
I pursed my lips, remembering the woman from my dream, and how she and Annia had both touched my forehead. “Did you do something to heal me?” I asked, lowering my voice a little so the others wouldn’t hear. “A strange woman appeared in my dream, and she gave me something that restored my magic.”
Annia shrugged. “You might have gotten a little boost, yeah.”
I stared down at the torque, then back up at Annia again. That ancient presence that lingered in her eyes…was that Annia, or the woman I’d seen in my dreams? Now that I was paying attention, there was a subtle aura of power around Annia, similar to what I’d sensed from the spirit. And it was emanating from that torque.
“Who was the woman in my dream?” I asked slowly, sinking back against the pillows again. What kind of adventures had Annia gotten herself into, to come back with a goddess, or at the very least a powerful spirit, attached to her?
“Her name is Garalina, and she’s a friend, of sorts.” Annia smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Like I said, it’s a long story, and one I’d rather tell in private.”
“Of course,” I said, understanding. We were sitting in Solantha Palace, the seat of the Mages Guild, and Annia might very well be in possession of illegal magic.
Certainly, whatever spirit resided in that torque was incredibly powerful. I had no idea how the mages would react if they learned that Annia, a human enforcer, was walking around with the equivalent of a mage hanging around her. I’d have to discuss it with Iannis, once I learned more about what happened to my friend. And I’d extract a promise from him that, no matter what, he wouldn’t interfere with Annia.
“I hadn’t planned to come back for another few weeks,” Annia said. “I wanted a little more time to deal with my new…condition. But Garalina said I was needed at home, so I hopped on a boat a few days ago. I can see that she was right,” she added, her eyes somber now. “Did the quake take you guys completely by surprise?”
“Not completely, but almost. We’ve been preparing over the past week, but we didn’t have nearly enough time to protect the citizens and buildings.” I briefly explained to her about our meeting with Kardanor, the truth about Mendle and Gorax’s practices, and what limited preparations we had been able to make.
“I can’t believe those bastards were able to get away with this for so long,” Annia seethed, her dark eyes glittering with restrained fury. “My mother lives just a block away from where the worst of the fires and collapses are. Our house was built by a reputable company, and my father made double-damn sure it was quake-resistant, so she’s fine. I checked on her before I came to find you, and I’ll go spend the night with her after I volunteer for a few hours. They need all the help they can get out there.”
“I should go back out, too,” I said, sitting up again. I didn’t want to sit here, alone with my thoughts, while my friends were out there working their asses off. I needed to keep busy, or I’d break down in tears again.
“Oh no, you don’t.” The doctor chose that moment to bustle into the room, much to my consternation. He was a tall, lean mage with silver-streaked chestnut hair and wire spectacles, dressed in blue-and-white robes. “You just suffered a massive magical burnout, and you nearly died. I cannot allow you to go back out there.”
“Burnout?” I echoed as the doctor fussed about me, checking my heartbeat, peering into my eyes, and feeling my forehead.
“Yes, you silly girl.” The doctor clucked his tongue, then pressed his thumbs against my forehead and spoke a Word. A jolt of magic went through me, and I jumped back with a yell.
“What the fuck was that?” I demanded, wrapping my arms around myself.
“I was testing to see how much magic you still had left.” His eyes narrowed. “Come closer. I need to test you again.”
“You’re not doing that to me again,” I snarled. “My magic is fine.”
“It certainly seems to be,” the doctor said, looking both amazed and irritated. “Which doesn’t make any sense at all. You suffered a level-two burnout, which means you exhausted your magic so completely you almost snuffed it out. Lord Iannis healed you as best as he could before he had to leave, but still, you should have been unconscious for days.”
Annia and I exchanged a look. “Maybe my shifter healing allows me to recover faster,” I said, shrugging.
“Hmm. Whatever the reason, you are very lucky indeed,” the doctor said, not entirely convinced. “Most of the mages in here are suffering from similar levels of burnout, and it will take them several days to recover. There are even a few who have lost their magic completely.”
My eyes widened. “Does that happen very often, in situations like this?”
“No,” the doctor said, his mouth tightening. “It is very rare, actually, because mages will usually faint in time to prevent such a calamity. I’ve never seen this many cases of total burnout.”
Alarm bells went off in my head. “How many cases do you have?”
“Three. Why?”
“Take me to them.” I threw off the bedsheets and swung my legs over the side. The room spun a little, and I gripped the headboard—I might have gotten my magic back, but I was still physically weakened. “Annia, help me up.”
“What do you want to see them for?” the doctor demanded as Annia slung my arm over her shoulder and gently helped me stand.
“Stop arguing and just show me.” I gave him my best death glare. The doctor complied, though not without a scowl of his own, leading me to
three beds on the far side of the room. Two men and one woman lay prone in their beds. Their faces were nearly as white as their bedsheets, their breathing so slow I could barely detect their heartbeats even with my sensitive ears.
“By the Ur-God,” Annia said, pity in her voice. “They look like they’re ready to be embalmed.”
“No kidding.” If not for my keen nose, I would have thought they were dead, too. “Where were these mages found when they collapsed?” I asked the doctor.
“They were excavating a building in Maintown somewhere.” He picked up the clipboard sitting on the side table next to one of the pages, scanned the sheet there.
“The Mendle mansion, actually.” His lips twisted in a mockery of a smile. “That is some cruel irony—you would think the Mendles would have quake-proofed their own mansion, at least.”
“By Magorah.” Icy horror filled my veins, sending a burst of adrenaline through me, and I whirled toward the doctor. “We need to send a message down there right now. No other mages should go near that mansion, or shifters, for that matter!”
“Naya, what’s going on?” Annia asked urgently. “What have you discovered?”
“Hang on,” I snapped. “Iannis!” I called, using my magic to boost my mindspeak signal. “Iannis, I know where Thorgana and the Magic Eraser are!” There was no answer, and I gnashed my teeth. He was too far away. Drawing on Fenris’s knowledge, I conjured three ether pigeons, then sent them off to Iannis, Chen, and Garrett—with the message I knew where Thorgana was, that I needed to see them immediately, and that they needed to keep mages and shifters away from the Mendle Mansion at all costs, because I strongly suspected the Magic Eraser was in there.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Annia demanded when I’d sent the pigeons off.
“Yes,” I said tiredly. “But let’s head back to my room. I’d rather not have an audience.”
