"That's why we'll move as fast as we can. Everyone will be on high alert for any magic in the area. Wards, crystals, spells, innate magic... we don't know what they have, and that's just the magic they'll use. We don't know this terrain either, and they do. They know every spot in which to corral or ambush us, and we should expect them to do so at the battle. The more information we can gather now, the better it will aid us."
"What if they already know we're here?" asked Abby.
"We still need to recharge from shimmering. Rest and eat. I want sentries on each side of the cabin, rotating in twenty-minute shifts until sundown. Anders, Vanessa, Jamie, and Marcy," Evan picked the two remaining witches and the shapeshifter, sending them to each side of the cabin to set up watch. Meanwhile, Abby pulled out a map, spreading it out on the floor to study.
"I'll start distributing food," I said, reaching for the food packs.
"Before you do that, here," said Evan, slipping a hand into his pocket. His fist was still closed when he extracted it, extending his hand towards me.
"What is it?" I asked as the cold metal touched my palm.
"The last pendant."
I gaped, pulling my hand closer so I could peer at it in the low light of the cabin. Sure enough, it was the pendant, as small and sparkling as the others, but with two ragged edges. And equally infused with magic. "Where... How... did you get this?" I stammered through my surprise.
"Don't ask."
I paused, trying to read his impassive face. A flood of cold traveled my spine as I made a guess. "What did you trade for it?"
"A very large sum of money."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, raw guilt tainting my words.
"Because it's not an issue."
"I'll make sure you get it back."
"Don't. Consider it a gift."
I knew better than to argue with Evan when his mind was made up. "Then thank you." I tucked the pendant into my pocket and zipped it, determined to take some time to view the pendants together later. I would have liked to do it sooner, but time was critically important, and I didn’t have enough of it. We had to hurry to eat and rest before chasing about the dark countryside, and mapping all the places The Brotherhood might try to trap us. Anticipating the need for haste, I started to unpack the sandwiches and fruit we brought with us. I intended to pick a brief rest stop later; but right then, I began passing the food out along with water bottles.
"Back soon," I said, grabbing portions of food to take to the sentries. I passed the first set on without comment, then I moved through the room to a small, rustic kitchen. Patterned plates were stacked on open shelves, mismatched pans hung from hooks, and it was devoid of anything modern. Even the oven looked like it was fueled by logs. In another time, I might have been charmed by the quaint scene. Instead, I had to wonder which of The Brotherhood used such a place and why. "How's it going?" I asked as I approached, knowing better than to sneak up on a witch.
"Getting darker," she said, glancing back to me. "I don't see anything."
"That's good. Here, I brought you this."
"Thanks."
"Shout if you need anything."
"Sure thing," she said, ripping open the sandwich packet as she turned back to the window.
I gave my last food packet to Marcy, the shapeshifter acting as sentry on the north window before walking back to Evan. "Nothing so far," I told him. "All quiet."
"Good. Forty-eight minutes to sundown. We'll switch shifts soon."
"Where do you want me?"
"Nowhere yet. You and I will take the last shift. Right now, eat, and then I have a task for you."
"What kind?"
"Eat," he insisted, ignoring my question.
I chewed, my mind wandering over what I'd already seen in the short time we'd been here. Like the rest of our team, I studied the map prior to our arrival, but I wasn't sure how to find my way around. A map was one thing, stumbling over countless potholes and tree roots was another. I wasn't even sure how to use a compass. What if I charted a potential location in the wrong place, leaving our army to tumble into it?
"You look grim," said Evan.
"I feel grim. I've never done anything like this before."
"There are a lot of things many of us haven't done before."
"That doesn't help."
Evan chuckled. "Sorry. Are you finished?"
I wodged the wrappers into a ball and stowed them in the bag, intent on following the orders of not leaving a shred of evidence behind. "What's the task?"
"We're going to search the area using our magic. If there's any life out there, we need to know about it before it gets here. Magic sharpens the eyes."
"We might just signal we're here."
"I thought of that already. That's why we're going to combine our magic. Yours is seeking life. Mine will search for any traps. Since the search area is so large, we'll power off each other."
"I've never done anything on this scale."
"In ten minutes, you won't be able to say that again."
I looked at him for a full thirty seconds, but couldn't think of a reason why we shouldn't mesh our magic together and do this. "Okay, how do we do it?"
"We need to draw a circle to protect us from incoming magic first, and then just follow my lead," he said, producing a stick of chalk from his pocket. I nodded and he crouched on his knees, drawing a circle around me, large enough to contain us both while seated. I began to get up, but he indicated I should stay put by pressing his hand on my shoulder. The circle secure, he sat down and reached for my hands. "You're nervous."
"Yes," I agreed. "And you don't need a circle to protect you."
"It's for you, not me. Send your magic into me," he instructed, "then do as I do."
I tightened my fingers around his as my magic leapt forwards. It was looking for an outlet and surged over my skin before pouring into Evan. Through my half-closed eyes, I saw him wince with the unexpected impact. I applied more control, taking charge, slowing its flow as it searched for new magic to connect with. Evan pushed backwards with his magic, connecting seamlessly with mine. His voice came to me telepathically. "Let's get used to this before we start searching," he said. "Relax."
"I am relaxed," I said. However, the instant I sent the thought, I wasn't. My shoulders were bunched up tightly, my neck and jaw stiff, and my hands gripped his. Controlling the magic flow again, I focused on relaxing, softening my muscles, dropping my shoulders, and unclenching my fingers.
"That's better. Easy now. Send your magic out to search for life."
I renewed my concentration, powering off Evan as I pushed the magic out, sending what felt like a sheet rippling through the cabin. I recognised the genetic makeup of the witches, and the denser, darker shapeshifter, the fiery shape that was Evan. Pushing again, my magic rippled from the cabin. There was so much life. Mostly trees and shrubbery. I altered my internal parameters, excluding anything without a heartbeat. Small shapes danced through the magic, too small to be people. Instead, they were squirrels and deer, wild mammals inconsequential to the search. My magic stretched thinner, the ripples becoming softer the further it radiated out. I couldn't fathom how many miles I navigated through the ether.
"Nothing," I said to Evan. "You?"
"No traps so far."
"Good." I pushed on, changing direction to concentrate on one area, and then sweep around, lest my magic become too thin to register any person. I knew the moment I reached the other team by the strong signatures I perceived. In my senses, I could feel they were camping out in a thicket of trees. Just as I finished counting them, their life sources surged forwards. My magic raced past them, noting the human signatures of several guards. One of them began to fade until it disappeared altogether, blinking out of existence. "Team one are on the move. They took out one of the guards."
"Anything else to worry about?"
I swept past them in all directions, searching for anybody lying in wait. "No one. There are faint signatures in the ho
lding area, but I don't think I can look inside. I can feel a kind of magic, but I'm afraid if I touch it, I'll trigger something. They shouldn't be attacking yet. We're waiting for sundown."
"Time may have changed for us. I'll check it out. Keep searching."
With a mental tug, I shifted the magic away from the fighting and into the next zone, sweeping across the landscape. I wanted to ask him what he meant by the time changing, but I was struggling to hold onto my senses. I had to focus on the potential threats above all else, but by the time I fully swept the area and began to recall my magic, I still hadn't registered any life.
"Nothing," I told Evan. "I went as far as I could. Beyond the reaches of the map, I think, and there's nothing. Thanks for the boost. I doubt I could have searched that far without you."
His confusion echoed through our connection. "What boost?"
"Your magic when we connected."
"Stella, I didn't boost you. You didn't need it. I drew energy from you."
"Then... how?" I started, as my shoulders began to tighten. No, not tighten. Someone had a hand on my shoulder, and was shaking me. Before I could suggest to Evan that we broke our connection, my magic lurched from his body, as if he forcibly ejected it, and snapped back into mine. I opened my eyes, blinking at the dark.
"Stella, are you okay?" Seren's voice whispered, close to me.
"Yeah, I think so. I feel fine. Why's it so dark?"
"You've been in the circle almost an hour."
"It felt more like minutes. Evan?"
"Time alters when we are in that state. It felt like minutes to me too, but this world continued moving forwards."
"I rotated the shifts and we covered for you guys. Anything we need to know?" asked Seren.
"The rescue attempt is underway, but I don't sense anyone else in the forest. I think we're safe to move out and complete our mission. Evan?"
He gave a nod of agreement. "I didn't find any magical traps, other than the magic at the holding area, but team one's witches have that covered. I agree but..."
"But…" I prompted.
"No one patrolling anywhere?" he said, frowning.
"Maybe they got cocky," said Lewis the shapeshifter. I jumped at his voice, not realising in the dark that he was so near. I searched for him, finding the whites of his eyes only a few feet away. "Probably thought we'd stick to their summons."
"Maybe," said Seren, "we should be cautious anyway."
"I agree. Everyone in here, get ready to move out," Evan called, waiting as the three sentries rejoined us. "We'll divide into four teams, taking north, south, east and west, and travel no more than one hour in each direction. Synchronize now. In two hours, we reconvene here and shimmer out." Evan pulled back his sleeve, revealing a black sportswatch. Around us, other sleeves rustled as the teams followed suit. I pressed the buttons on my watch, synchronizing with Evan. Being one of the three members of our team who could shimmer, I knew there was no danger of being left behind, but I definitely didn't want to be blamed for leaving another in danger. Plus, one team didn't have any witch with them so Lewis and Marcy agreed to run in animal form if necessary.
A flurry of activity had us attaching packs to our backs, and fixing shoelaces of our hiking boots, zipping jackets and swallowing last sips of water. "Be safe," whispered Evan, dropping a light kiss on my cheek, and taking advantage of everyone's distraction.
I reached for his hand, and squeezed it. "You too."
"Moving out," said Lewis, stepping forward to grasp the door handle. He walked out onto the porch and stopped, blocking the doorway. Half-turning, pain ravaged his moonlit face. He stumbled backwards, dropping to his knees in the doorway as his hand covered his chest. Blood coated his fingers.
"Ambush," he groaned as the bullets began to fly.
Chapter Eighteen
I lay flat on the floor, my hands over my ears as a torrent of bullets peppered the cabin. A heavy weight pressed on top of me, and the sickening fear that a dead body was crushing me made me wriggle and writhe, trying to push the burden off.
"Stay down," hissed Evan, "and stop wriggling."
I did stop wriggling, so relieved to learn it was Evan and not a corpse. "You're okay?"
"I'm fine. Someone get him out of the way and kick that door shut," he yelled. Lewis's body slid out of my sight line, and the cabin was swallowed by darkness as the door slammed shut. "What the hell happened?" asked Evan when the gunfire died down.
"I swear, I didn't register a single person," I gasped, the air rushing into my lungs as Evan eased off me. "There was no one out there!"
"Anyone see anything?" he asked, looking around. Someone moaned softly. "Who's hurt?"
"Abby," said another voice, but I couldn't tell if it were Vanessa or Marcy. "She took a round in the arm. Lewis is dead."
"Shit." Evan slammed his fist against the floor. "What happened while we were searching?"
"None of us saw a thing," said Seren, shuffling on her elbows across the floor to us. "The ground shook a bit, and you two were freaking glowing."
"The ground shook? Like an army marching?" I asked.
"No, like your earth magic," said Evan. "I could feel you pulling it through the ground."
"I did not!"
"You did," agreed Seren. "We all felt the earth shaking."
"I swear I didn't. I didn't call it and I didn't feel a thing."
"Maybe you were too far under to register it, but it happened, Stella. Not that it matters, since none of us saw any movement outside the cabin."
"They must be cloaked," I decided, turning my head from her to Evan. "Did you find any pockets of magic you couldn't explain?"
"Nothing. Except for the holding area, there weren't any traps or cloaking magic. I would have known."
"They're better than us. I don't know how, but they're better," said Seren. "If they could sneak up on us and catch us unawares, we have to assume they knew the second we arrived. They were probably waiting for the first opportunity to pick us off and we gave them an easy target in this cabin."
"If they know about us, then they must know about the other team," said Astra. "We need to warn them."
"They're already attacking..." I started as another hail of bullets slammed through the cabin, forcing us to press our faces on the dirty floor. I covered my head with my hands, and Evan's arm slung across my shoulders, simultaneously pulling me to him and holding me down.
Evan pressed the radio to his mouth. "Ambush! Do you read me? Ambush!"
Static fizzled over the speaker.
"We're sitting ducks here," said Seren. "We need to forget the plan and just get out."
"You can shimmer us out of here, right?" asked Anders.
She nodded. "We'll combine our powers and all go together. If I were they, I would put a trace on us, and the moment I saw us using magic, I'd attack with full force. We can't risk leaving anyone behind. It would be suicide."
"Someone's moving outside," said Astra. She knelt by the window, cautiously watching, her posture growing rigid as if she expected to drop to the floor any moment.
"What are they doing?" asked Evan.
"Walking in front of the trees. He's dragging something in the dirt."
Evan and I frowned at each other. Moving on his elbows, he crossed quickly to Astra, crouching to see through the tiny gap in the shutters she pointed at. We waited silently, impatiently, for him to speak. "They're drawing a circle around the cabin. I'll bet it's to contain us," he said, his voice sounding more urgent. "Make a circle now and link hands. Stella, Seren, Astra, get ready. We have one shot at getting out of here."
We scrambled into a circle, reaching for each other’s hands, hissing, "ready" as we linked our hands together.
"To The Amethyst. Now," yelled Evan and magic surged through the group, binding us together. I squeezed my eyes shut, focused on the building, and began to shimmer.
Magic evaporated from my veins, and I heaved a sigh of relief as I opened my eyes to safety.
> My relief was short-lived.
Moonlight trickled in shards through the bullet-riddled cabin, bringing with it a cold chill.
"They closed the circle already," said Evan, slamming a fist onto the ground. "We're trapped. They must have been finishing it, not starting."
"We can fight," snarled the remaining shifter.
"The second we open that door, they will kill whomever they see," pointed out Seren as we dropped to the floor one-by-one. "We need a better plan."
"We can hold out until reinforcements arrive," said Anders. "We can defend ourselves."
"We have enough food until morning," I added. "Like Anders said, we are our own weapons."
"You can bet we don't have as much ammo as The Brotherhood," said Marcy. "They'll wait for us to wear out before storming this place and killing us all."
"We have our magic," piped up Seren, driving home the point Anders and I already argued, "and we can fashion spells to aid us. We don't need bullets."
A thought dawned on me unpleasantly. "Their circle stopped our magic. We can't use ours."
"You're right that we can't shimmer. We are stuck here, but we can use our own magic within their circle. They've simply contained it, but not disabled it," said Evan.
"What if we can disable their circle?" asked Vanessa.
"If we can break their circle, we have a way out," agreed Evan, "but it would be suicidal for anyone to step outside."
I took a deep breath and made an offer I hoped I wouldn't regret. "What if I shimmered to the edge, materialised and broke the circle? I could shimmer back before they could lock onto me as a target. You could all shimmer out the moment you feel it break and I'll follow."
Endless Magic (Stella Mayweather Series Book 6) Page 19
