by Linsey Hall
When my magic latched on to his, I almost retched. It felt dark, tainted. But after a moment, the sickness faded. As he died, I realized his magic had been tainted by his evil. When I drew it back into myself, it was pure. Bright and sparkling like champagne.
Warmth and strength surged as it flowed into me. It was both wonderful and uncomfortable, a pleasure I shouldn’t be taking as a result of theft, but I couldn’t help myself.
When it ended, I fell off of him. He stared at the sunless sky, his gaze blank.
Thank magic, the illusion of the dungeon had faded. I was back in the desert.
“Cass!” Aidan roared.
I scrambled to my feet and spun to face him.
He, Del, and Nix raced across the sand toward me. Thank magic they were safe. I turned and crawled across the sand toward Dr. Garriso, my limbs still trembly.
I knelt over him, pressing my fingers to his throat and staring fixedly at his chest. It rose beneath the tweed coat. My shoulders slumped. He still breathed.
“Are you all right?” Del fell to her knees beside me.
“Fine.”
“We could feel you,” Nix said. “But we couldn’t get to you.”
Aidan swooped me up in his arms. Hugged me. Pain streaked through my arm. My wound. I cried out.
“Shit. Sorry.” Aidan loosened his grip and set me on my feet. His concerned gaze raced over me, settling on my arm. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah.” I tugged my jacket off and winced at the size of the slice in my bicep.
Nix tugged the thin linen scarf from around her neck and tied it over the wound. I flinched, but at least the blood flow would lessen.
“Let me heal you,” Aidan said.
“No, we need to get out of here. Now. This is connected to the Monster somehow.”
Nix’s and Del’s stark gazes met mine.
“I knew it.” Nix shook her head.
“Can you carry Dr. Garriso?” I asked Aidan. “Del, can you take us back?”
“Yeah, let’s get out of here. I can’t transport to the waypoint—I need to save my power to get across, back to earth. But if we can make it to the portal, I can get us across, into the museum. Once we’re on Earth, hopefully I’ll have enough power to get us where we need to go, but no guarantees.”
Aidan picked up Dr. Garriso. “To the hospital in Magic’s Bend.”
“Okay,” Del said. “Let’s go, then. I’ll lead the way.”
I sucked in a ragged breath of hot desert air. Pain blazed in my arm, and I felt like I’d run a marathon. Trekking across this sand was not my idea of a good time. I was just grateful that Del was using her dragon sense to find the portal. I didn’t have the energy.
“Right,” Del said, and set off.
We followed, Aidan carrying Dr. Garriso and me leaning on Nix. We dragged ourselves across the sand, down a mountain, over a moor, and through a jungle. I hated this damned place.
“You okay?” Nix asked.
I thought of the power I’d stolen, of how I’d been more in control this time. “Yeah, I think I’m doing all right.”
And I meant it. Maybe I could get a handle on this whole FireSoul thing.
“Good. We were scared.”
“Me too.” Fates, I was tired.
Finally, the purple glow of the portal appeared on the horizon. If we hadn’t had a FireSoul’s ability to find what we sought, we’d have been screwed. The changing scenery did not lend itself to navigation, and I seriously doubted a compass would work. Not that I knew how to use one. Never needed to learn.
We reached the glowing purple portal and clustered around Del, each making contact.
A second later, we stood in the museum.
“Oh, shit,” I said.
The room blazed purple. The air was thick as soup. And the guards and investigator were frozen in place, their bodies like mannequins, expressions of horror etched on their faces.
5
“Get us out of here, Del.” Aidan’s voice sounded slow.
I reached for Del, my arm moving so sluggishly it was like I was dragging it through sand. The air was thick, viscous. I moved slower with every millisecond that passed, like I was freezing in place with the portal.
The faces around me glowed in the purple light, which pulsed behind us. The sickening feeling of the Monster’s magic surged from it.
I could feel Del struggle to access her power. Her magic swelled, feeling like soft grass beneath my feet and smelling like fresh laundry, but it faltered, less sure than normal.
Finally, we began to disappear. But even that happened slowly, as if the portal were loath to let us go. It had trapped the guards and investigator and was trying to trap us too. Normally, transporting blinked you out of a place so quickly you didn’t realize it.
This time, I watched as my deirfiúr faded. It was eerie as hell.
What felt like ages later, we found ourselves standing in the lobby of the town hospital. Bright white linoleum and the smell of antiseptic dragged me back to reality.
My arm started hurting. Worry for Dr. Garriso swelled.
A nursed rushed from behind the counter, her eyes wide.
“This way!” She gestured, leading us through swinging gray doors and into a wide hallway.
Everything else happened in a blur. The healers took Dr. Garriso away on a stretcher, and I was moved to a regular healer’s exam room. Medical implements and magical potions were scattered on the shelves. Magical medicine was a bit like human medicine, from what I’d seen on television. Some things were treated with human means, others with magic. Most with magic, though a good band-aid was never turned down.
Aidan stood by my side. Del and Nix had gone with Dr. Garriso.
“How are you doing?” he asked as he stepped around to my wounded arm.
“Great.” My arm burned, blood dripped onto the floor, and the rest of me felt like I’d been hit by a dump truck. “Remind me how many fights I’ve been in today? Three? Four? I think I’m losing it.”
He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “You deserve a nap. But first, let me see if I can do something about this arm. At least make it feel better before the real healer comes in to finish the job.”
Aidan hovered his palm over the wound beneath Del’s scarf. Warmth flowed through my arm, bringing with it relief.
I plopped my head against his chest. “That feels so much better.”
“This scarf is soaked with blood. Do you feel all right?”
Fatigue dragged at me. “Yeah. We need to call the Order of the Magica. Tell them something is up with the portal.”
“I will.”
I swayed on the table. “I don’t feel so—”
The edges of my vision blackened. I reached for Aidan, but blackness took me.
I woke, my head foggy. I was no less exhausted. Darkness cast the room in shadows. I blinked, trying to make out the blurred shapes. Aidan slouched in a big chair near the bed, his chest rising and falling slowly. A sliver of light shined from the crack in a door, highlighting his face.
Asleep.
The bed felt like heaven, the sheets like they were a million thread-count.
“Hey.” My voice scratched my throat.
Aidan jerked awake, his eyes meeting mine. “Hey, how you feeling?”
“Like shit.”
“No surprise. You lost a lot of blood, as it turns out. That knife wound nicked some big veins.”
Just my luck. “How’s Dr. Garriso? Nix and Del?”
“He’s fine. Sleeping in a room down the hall. Nix and Del also.”
“Are we at your place?” I knew he had a big house in Enchanter’s Bluff, the richest neighborhood in town, but I’d never been there.
“Yeah. It’s close to the hospital. And the security is excellent.”
I thought of the demons who’d showed up at P & P yesterday looking for FireSouls, and was glad to be here. And not just for the great sheets.
“Does the Order of the Magica know what’
s wrong with the portal?” I asked.
“No. But they’re trying to work on it.”
Shit. For being the most powerful magical organization in the world, they didn’t seem to know their ass from their elbows. Or this wasn’t a priority for them.
“We’ll figure it out tomorrow,” Aidan said. “It’s still the middle of the night. And you’re recovering.”
My body felt like it weighed a million pounds, so he was probably right. I wasn’t about to charge at the portal in this shape.
“Why are you in that chair?” I asked. “This is a big bed.”
“Didn’t want to disturb you. And I’m not in the habit of getting into bed with women unless I’ve asked them first.”
I grinned. But he was right. We’d only slept in the same bed once, and I’d been healing that time too. Every time I got near a bed with Aidan, I was too wounded to do anything about it besides sleep.
I really needed a lifestyle change.
“Come on, sleep here with me,” I said, exhaustion slowing my voice. “I need at least another few hours. And that chair can’t be comfortable.”
“It’s not.” He rose and walked around the bed, then climbed in behind me.
I scooted over to climb into his arms and kiss him, but it felt like moving through sand. So I settled for just cuddling up against him. He wrapped a big arm around me and tugged me closer. Comfort—belonging—welled within me.
Aidan leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “You doing okay otherwise?”
“Yeah.” The memory of the other FireSoul in the desert drifted behind my eyelids. I shivered. “There was another FireSoul at the waypoint. When I was separated from you and my deirfiúr. I had to kill him to escape. I didn’t want to steal his power, but it was so valuable. Illusion. It would have been stupid to leave it behind to prove something to myself. So I stole it, but this time it wasn’t so bad. I think I had control.”
“That’s all that matters. As long as you made the decision consciously, you’re improving.”
I smiled. “I hope so.”
But as sleep tugged at me, I remembered the joy that had surged when I’d taken the Illusionist’s power. The smile faded from my face.
My heart pounded against my ribs as we crept down the darkened hallway. The stone floor was cold under my bare feet, and the chill air crept through my thin dress, though no worse than I was used to.
The dark cell we’d lived in for months—years?—had been colder than this. Darker than this.
“Hurry,” the girl behind me whispered.
“Shh,” hissed the girl behind her.
My two friends, though I didn’t know their names, had escaped with me from our cell just minutes ago. I’d killed the guard who’d come to take one of us. Girls they took came back different. Or they didn’t come back at all.
I’d stolen his magic before I’d killed him, though I had no idea how. It thrummed in my veins, an electric sensation that I didn’t understand.
I tried to keep my breathing quiet as we moved down the hall. When we’d been in our cell, we’d rarely seen guards, but they could patrol these halls. My friends and I were only fifteen—at least, that’s what I thought—and all of us were weak from malnutrition. Though I’d fought off the one guard, I knew I couldn’t do it again.
We had no idea where we were, or how we’d gotten here, only that we had to get out. That meant moving forward, though I was so tired I wanted to lie down on the cold, hard floor. I’d grown accustomed to sleeping upon it and could be dreaming in seconds.
But if I did that, I’d never wake up.
Heavy wooden doors ran the length of the hall to our left. We didn’t dare open them, though I’d have bet anything they were locked. A dark wooden door marked the end of the hall.
I glanced back at my friends. Frightened blue and green eyes met mine, wide in pale faces. They both nodded. I turned back to the door and gripped the handle, praying.
It opened.
Probably because the cell doors were locked and the inhabitants kept starving. How would they ever escape?
But we had.
Almost.
We crept silently up the stairs, stiffening at every little noise. The hair on my arms stood on end, prickling uncomfortably. When we reached the top, I was vibrating with fear. Slowly I pushed the door open.
A dimly lit hallway stretched out on either side of us. Wood floors and pale silk wallpaper gleamed dully in the light of oil lamps. The luxury of the hall was so at odds with the dungeon below that it turned my stomach.
Whoever had imprisoned us liked the good life.
The smell of dark magic stuck in my nose, making me gag. It smelled like rot and decay. Tentatively, we stepped out into the hall. As soon as I crossed the threshold, my soul felt lightened. Buoyed. The magic that seethed in my veins became more comfortable. As if it fit me better. Or worked, somehow, whereas once it hadn’t. Maybe the dungeons had suppressed our magic.
I looked at my friends, startled by how thin and drawn they looked. As if they’d lived underground for a year and were just now seeing the sun.
Which I supposed was almost true. And I probably looked the same.
I jerked my head left and right, silently asking which direction to go. They both shrugged. Frustration welled within me. We were so close. I just wanted to escape.
An invisible, almost intangible tug about my middle pulled me left, so I followed it. Our bare feet were silent on the smooth wood beneath. We came to an open door on our left and stopped, peering in. An expansive library spread out before us, thousands of books tucked neatly into dark wooden shelves. A fire crackled warmly, making me ache to feel its warmth.
I looked away, searching the room for a person. None. We crept past the door, repeating our inspection at the next two rooms, a sitting room and an office. We were nearly to the end of the hall when a noise sounded from the open door ahead.
I stiffened.
Someone was in the next room.
The girl behind me gripped the back of my thin dress, tugging me to stop. It was unnecessary. I halted, dead still and trembling. The same dark magic scent seeped from the room ahead, turning my stomach.
Slowly, silently, we crept forward.
“You’ve disappointed me, Villiers,” a cold voice said from within the room.
“Master, I’m…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” The voice trembled, weak with fear.
“You know I can’t have that kind of poor performance within my ranks.”
“I know. I know. I will do better.”
“I am not so sure.”
I shuddered at the tone, so cold and dark.
“Please, Master. Just one more chance.”
“I think not, Villiers. I am no longer patient with you. You don’t make proper use of your gifts. I thought I’d give you a chance to prove yourself. To use your gifts on my behalf. But I see I was wrong to do so. I could make much better use of them.”
“No!” A scrambling noise sounded, as if the man were trying to run away.
A crash and a scream.
The hair on my arms stood up as dark magic welled, feeling like bee stings against my skin. It came from the man with the cold voice. It had to. And he was going to hurt the other man.
He needed help. I had no idea if we could provide it, or if I was even brave enough to try, but I crept forward, compelled. Slowly, I peered around the side of the door.
A tall figure, dressed all in black, clutched a smaller man by his shirt. My heart thundered and my skin turned ice-cold.
“No!” The smaller man cringed away.
My foot twitched, as if to step forward, but I caught sight of the smaller man’s face then.
One of the guards.
Then the scarier man must be the one in charge. The Master. He gave the command to keep us locked up. He took the girls who disappeared.
My foot stilled. I watched, appalled, as the dark magic swelled in the air and gray flame licked over the skin of the
Master. His face twisted in pain, then in joy, as the flame spread onto the smaller man, enveloping him.
“I am going to enjoy this,” he said. His voice was cold and precise. So controlled that he bit off each syllable with a crunch.
The smaller man screamed, his eyes rolling back in his head. The flame enveloped them both.
I backed away, horrified, then glanced back at my friends.
“Run,” I mouthed.
Now was the best time. The Master was distracted. He was the biggest threat.
On silent feet, we raced past the door. Fear banished my caution. We sprinted out of the hall and into a great foyer. The glass dome above gleamed with light. Great wooden doors on the other side of the foyer beckoned.
Freedom.
My feet pounded the marble floor as we ran from this nest of vipers, desperate to reach the outside. I grasped the brass handle and flung open the door, throwing myself out into the sunlight.
I stumbled in sand. Fell to my knees.
When I looked up, a great golden desert spread out before me. We’d never make it across that endless ocean of sand with nothing but what we had on our backs. And we couldn’t go back into the mansion.
We were trapped.
6
I woke with a scream strangling in my throat, sweat dripping down my body. I thrashed in the covers, scrambling from the bed and thudding to the ground.
My breath heaved as my gaze darted around the room.
It was big. Filled with heavy wooden furniture and an oriental rug that looked expensive. Whimsical landscapes adorned warm brown walls. Sunlight gleamed through the windows.
Aidan’s house. I was in Aidan’s house.
I peeked over the edge of the bed, praying that Aidan wasn’t still there.
It was empty save for rumpled sheets.
I collapsed back onto the floor, trying to catch my breath.
I was going nuts. Clearly going nuts.
Between my magic and the nightmares, I was losing it. I sat there for several moments, trying to still my heart. I scrubbed a hand over my face, trying to rub the sleep from my eyes.
Cowering here on the floor wasn’t going to get anything useful done. Not to mention, it was embarrassing. And right now, there were a lot of useful things I needed to be doing. Checking on Dr. Garriso, finding out what was up with the museum, getting my act together in general.
