by Linsey Hall
I leaned over to look down at him, catching sight of his panicked gaze darting from the Monster on the ground below to the griffin above him. Less than a second later, the magic that had flared to life in my chest died, replaced by the now familiar aching loss that accompanied the Nullifier using his powers.
Dread had only a millisecond to set up camp in my heart when the griffin beneath me disappeared. I screamed as we plummeted through the air, me, Aidan in his human form, and the Nullifier.
Before his magic had been nullified, Aidan had flown us out over a deep valley. The ground was thousands of feet below.
“Stop!” I screamed at the Nullifier, my gasping shout lost on the wind that tore at my clothes and made my eyes water. My stomach was in my chest, and my hands clawed at the air.
The little dragonets swooped around us helplessly, too small to lift us.
The Nullifier’s panicked gaze met my own.
“Stop!” I screamed.
A massive concussive force bowled into me, knocking the breath from my lungs. The Monster had thrown one of his signature sonic booms. Pain bloomed in my entire body. Before my vision darkened, I caught sight of the Nullifier pin-wheeling through the sky. He must have been hit with the majority of the boom. The Monster had hit me with one once. It’d made my insides feel like soup.
When I opened my eyes again, we were still falling, though much closer to the ground. I’d only been out a second.
My magic bloomed in my chest. Hope swelled. I prayed the Nullifier wasn’t dead, but the fact that I had my magic meant that maybe I wouldn’t be crushed to death on the valley floor. Aidan would have his magic too. And he could fly.
I twisted my head, looking for Aidan. I caught sight of him twenty yards away, falling through the air. Silver gray light surrounded him, the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. The wind tore at my hair and clothes as I plummeted, and I prayed Aidan would be in time. I glanced at the ground. It was closer, but still far.
Maybe this would work.
A golden blur caught my gaze. I looked up to see the griffin, fully transformed. He swooped under me, catching me on his back. Relief welled. Not enough to banish the fear, but enough to get me moving.
I clutched his warm fur gratefully and scrambled high onto his back. He flew left, then plunged again, right beneath the Nullifier. I reached out and grabbed onto the Nullifier’s tweed coat, then dragged him onto Aidan’s back. In the distance, the dragonets flew off, I hoped toward safety.
I pulled his unconscious body close, my stomach still in my throat as we surged upward, the griffin’s powerful wings beating the air. I was so not built for this kind of travel.
I dug into my pocket and withdrew the transport charm.
“I’m throwing the transport charm!” I shouted at Aidan.
I thought his head nodded, so I chucked the stone ahead of us and envisioned the safest place I could think of. The stone exploded in a poof of silver dust, and the griffin hurtled into it.
A second later, we soared over the green fields of Ireland, Aidan’s massive estate below. It was the only house for miles, and the emerald hills rolled out in every direction.
The griffin headed for the front lawn and slowed its descent to land gracefully on the grass.
I scrambled off his back, trying to carefully bring the Nullifier’s body with me. I crashed to my butt, but I kept the Nullifier from further injury.
The ground had never felt so good.
I resisted the urge to kiss it and felt for the Nullifier’s pulse instead. His skin felt paper thin beneath my fingertips. He must be ancient.
There!
Faint, but definitely there. In a swirl of silver light, Aidan transformed back into a man.
“We need to get in the house.” Aidan swept the Nullifier into his arms and sprinted across the grass. I surged to my feet and followed.
We raced up the sweeping stairs to the front door. A gust of wind forced the door open with a bang. Aidan’s elemental powers, I realized. I raced into the foyer behind Aidan and shut the door, panting.
“The house is guarded,” Aidan said as he took the grand stairs two at a time. “I think the Nullifier’s powers broke your concealment charm. As long as you’re near him, the Monster can find you. But if he’s passed out, your concealment charm and the protections on the house will hold. You should be safe.”
For magic’s sake, I’d never even thought of that. I was losing my edge.
I ran up the stairs behind Aidan, following him to the first bedroom on the left. He laid the Nullifier on the grand bed, then pressed his hands to his shoulders.
Aidan’s magic surged on the air as he fed healing power into the Nullifier. The old man’s color improved slightly—less of a deadly pale, at least.
“Dial zero on the phone near the bed,” Aidan said. “Tell Iona to get the closest healer here now.”
Iona was the housekeeper, I recalled. I’d been here once before, and she’d made a delicious dinner, though I’d never met her. My fingers trembled as I dialed the phone. I blurted the request when she picked up. She didn’t even bother asking who I was, just said the healer would be here straightaway. I hung up.
“How’s he doing?” I approached Aidan and stared down at the Nullifier’s still form. Though his color had slightly improved, his cheeks looked sunken, and his breath was shallow. I had to squint to even tell if his chest was moving.
“Still alive,” Aidan said. “But that sonic boom hit him dead on. At his age, he’s lucky he didn’t die on the spot. Another hit like that and he’d have been dead.”
This had been the trauma that Aethelred had mentioned. Time and decay might not get the Nullifier, but murder could.
“You could have shifted in the air, Cass.” Censure laced his tone. “I like saving you, but you need to remember your powers. You could have mirrored my ability to shift and saved yourself. What if I hadn’t gotten to you in time?”
He was right. Damn it. I’d been so freaked out by falling that I hadn’t even thought of it. The idea that I might have let myself be pancaked because I hadn’t remembered all my powers made me cringe.
I scrubbed a weary hand over my face. “You’re right. I need to be better at it.”
He nodded. “Good. You’re powerful, but you need to be faster.”
I studied the floorboards hard, disappointed in myself. I was learning. But he was right, there wasn’t time for me to do it slowly.
A few moments later, a banging sounded at the front door.
“I’ll get it.” I left Aidan to continue trying to heal the Nullifier and sprinted down the stairs, grateful to be on my own with my embarrassment. I peered through the wavy glass inset in the door. “Who is it?”
“Healer Caerdowen,” a feminine voice said. “Called by Iona.”
I didn’t feel any dark magic wafting through the door, so I pulled it open. A pretty woman with serious eyes stood on the other side. She was dressed like a mountain climber in cargo pants and an athletic t-shirt, but there was an old-fashioned doctor’s bag gripped in her hand. I stepped back to let her enter, then shut the door.
“Come on,” I said. “He’s up here.”
“What am I dealing with?” she asked as she hurried up the stairs beside me.
“Sonic boom hit an old man.”
“How old?”
“No idea. Older than is natural. He’s got some protection against aging.”
“All right, then.”
We hurried into the room. Aidan stepped aside as Caerdowen approached. She studied the Nullifier, her gaze serious.
I stood near Aidan and gripped his hand, comforted by his warmth and strength.
“Do you think he’ll be all right?” I asked.
“Give me a moment.” Caerdowen’s tone was all business. It comforted me. This chick could handle herself and whatever her job threw at her.
I stood in anxious silence. When I was unable to take it any longer, I leaned up and whispered to Aidan, “I’m go
ing to go call Aerdeca and see how the museum is doing.”
He nodded and leaned down to kiss my forehead. A small burst of heat flared inside me. I ignored it and hurried from the room, pulling my cellphone out of my pocket.
The battery was almost dead, but it should do. I found Aerdeca’s name in my contacts and pressed Call.
“Do you have any answers?” she demanded as soon as she picked up.
“Maybe. We’ll know soon.” If our savior is alive or dead. “How is the museum?”
“Still glowing and disappearing. More of the east wing has disappeared, but the majority is still there.”
My shoulders slumped in relief. We still had time. At this rate of disappearance, a whole day. Maybe even two. Not that we’d wait that long. We needed to fix the portal ASAP.
“How is Mordaca?” I asked. “And the rest?”
“The same. Frozen. She’s alive though.”
“Good. We’ll be back soon. I think we’ve got an answer. But has the Order of the Magica said anything?”
“They’re trying to find a Nullifier. They had one other lead, but they didn’t sound confident.”
How many Nullifiers could there be? Surely more than one. Or maybe not. Either way, I needed to pray that our Nullifier recovered. For his own sake and for ours.
“That’s all they’ve got?” I asked.
“Apparently this is unusual,” Aerdeca said.
“No kidding. I’ll be in touch.” I hung up the phone and returned to the room.
The healer stepped back from the bed and turned. “I put a quick-healing spell on him. He’ll sleep for about seven or eight hours and wake in good health.”
Seven or eight hours? Did we have seven or eight hours? I thought so, though it didn’t really matter because we didn’t have much choice.
“Thank you,” Aidan said. “What should we do for him in the meantime?”
“Have someone sit with him to monitor his progress, but he should be fine.”
“Excellent. Thank you for your help. Please send the bill to Iona.”
She nodded and departed. Aidan went to the phone and dialed. From his words, I guessed he was asking Iona to come watch the Nullifier.
When he hung up, I said, “So now what?”
“Now, we have our date.” His gray gaze was serious.
I laughed. “Our date?”
“We’ve got seven or eight hours. We can get some solid dating in. And I’m going to try, because I’ve accepted the fact that you don’t have a normal schedule. Restaurant and a movie may never happen, so we’re going to get creative.”
“I don’t like movie theaters all that much anyway,” I said. My heart beat frantically, like a butterfly on speed. I was tired from all we’d been through, but at least I wasn’t sick or injured. I could definitely get on board with whatever Aidan had planned.
“What are we going to do?” I asked.
“We’ll shower first. Then I’ll get us food.”
“What?” I gestured up and down my body, at the blood and dirt and singe marks. I could literally not remember the last time I’d showered. “You don’t like this?”
“Oh, I like it.” His gaze heated. “You can stay just like that if you want. But I’m going to shower.”
I grinned. “All right. I’ll meet you after. Where, though?”
“There’s a room at the end of the east wing on the second floor. Take your time. I’ll bring us dinner there.”
“Deal,” I said.
“I’ll wait with the Nullifier until Iona shows. You can get started.”
“What, you think I’ll need extra time?” I lifted a tangled, dirty hunk of my hair and showed it off.
He laughed. “Just go.”
I grinned and left, passing Iona in the hall as I made my way to the guest bedroom I’d used last time I was here. I greeted her briefly, then hurried on.
As I entered the opulent suite—all modern luxury, unlike Aidan’s more traditional home in Magic’s Bend—I pressed the comms charm at my neck to turn it on.
“Del? Nix?” I asked.
“Hey,” Nix said.
“Yo,” Del said.
“Del, you think you’ll be ready to take us through the portal in seven or eight hours?”
“Just about,” Del said. “It’s not too long of a journey, so I should be okay.”
“Great, thank you. How’re you? And Dr. Garriso?”
“We’re good,” Nix said. “So is Dr. Garriso. He’s up and about now.”
“Good,” I said. I considered telling them about my date, but discarded the idea. I wanted to get to the date sooner, not spend my seven hours talking about it. They could get the news later. “Be safe there, okay? I’ll call you before we leave here.”
“Sure thing. You too,” Del said.
“Seconded,” Nix said.
“Bye, guys.” I grinned as I disconnected the comms charm and walked into the bathroom. I turned toward the mirror and almost shrieked.
A banshee stared back at me, wild red hair sticking out at all angles and coated in dirt and grass. My eyes were wild and my skin streaked with blood and more dirt. I was pretty much ninety percent dirt with speckles of blood.
Aidan wanted to date me like this?
I grinned and shrugged, then headed to the enormous shower to turn on the water. If Aidan wanted to be my dude, he’d probably better get used to me being filthy. True, I was presently grosser than normal. My usual jobs only involved forty percent dirt coverage, at most.
But best to begin as you intend to continue, someone smarter than me once said.
I turned the fancy silver taps in the big marble shower and jumped back as the eight shower heads turned on. My laugh echoed off the gleaming stone walls, and I made quick work of stripping out of my clothes. They were so filthy that they almost stood up on their own.
It didn’t take me long to get clean, but I spent an extra few minutes because the shower was just plain awesome. It was one of my favorite places in the world. I’d dreamed of it since I’d used it last, every time I’d stepped into my own tiny one at home.
Regretfully, I climbed out of the shower and gazed dourly at my filthy clothes. I really didn’t want to put them on like that. Maybe Aidan had clothes in the closet in this room. I went out to check, but my gaze was caught by the note and clothes on the bed.
It was short, saying only that I could toss my dirty clothes in the washer in the room at the end of the hall, and Iona would see that they made it to the dryer. There was a big t-shirt and gym shorts next to the note on the bed.
Aidan’s.
They didn’t fit, but they were clean, and that was all I cared about. I tugged them on, then carried my dirty clothes to the washroom and loaded the state-of-the art washer.
“Could probably fly to the moon in that thing,” I muttered.
My own washer bounced itself across my tiny kitchen every time I turned it on, pissing off Nix, who lived below me. Whenever I was peeved with her, I ran it at night. She retaliated by roasting broccoli, which tasted delicious but smelled vile when it wafted up through the floor. Of course, she didn’t share, so I just got the smell.
We might not be blood sisters, but that didn’t stop us from acting like it. And I loved her with all my heart.
After flicking off the lights in the washroom, it didn’t take me long to find the room at the end of the east wing. I stepped inside, expecting a regular old sitting room and getting a masterpiece of windows and a glass ceiling instead.
Telescopes perched around the perimeter of the room, aimed at the sky. In the middle was a blanket laid out on the floor with candles and plates of sandwiches spread upon it. The dim light was enough to illuminate the scene but not kill the glow of the moon and stars sparkling through the glass above.
Aidan stood and spread out his arms. “What do you think? Not a half bad picnic.”
“Not at all.” It was downright perfect, in fact. “Best I’ve ever seen, actually.”
&nbs
p; “Iona is busy, so I had to figure out dinner on the fly. I hope sandwiches and beer are all right.”
“Perfect.” I approached him, my heart feeling somehow light and heavy at once.
“You look good.” His dark gaze was appreciative.
I glanced down at the baggy clothes. “These old things? Just had them lying around.”
He grinned, then leaned down. I stood on my tiptoes, my heart racing, and pressed my lips to his. I sighed against his mouth, at the amazing heat and softness of his lips. When he pulled away, I frowned.
“Eat,” he said. “It’s been too long since we’ve taken a break. You need to eat.”
My stomach grumbled then, as if it had ears.
Aidan grinned. “See, your stomach agrees.”
“Apparently.” I picked up a sandwich stuffed full of ham and cheese.
Aidan popped the tops on two green glass bottles of Harp, an Irish beer I recognized from back home. It was more similar to my beloved PBR than the more famous Guinness, so I was grateful. He passed one over, and I took it gratefully and sipped the bubbling cold brew.
“So you like astronomy?” I nodded to the telescopes.
“Yeah. I used to look at the stars a lot when I was a kid stuck at my dad’s place.”
My heart tugged for him at the memory of the place his father had retreated to after killing two of his colleagues on the Alpha Council. Remote and desolate in the Highlands of Scotland, it would have been a lonely place for a boy to grow up.
“So now you can really look at them,” I said.
He grinned. “Exactly. I rarely do, though. I ought to start.”
“You should.”
“I’ve just been so busy with Origin Enterprises.” He took a bite of his sandwich, his gaze thoughtful. After he swallowed, he said, “And now with you. But that, I like.”
“Me too.” I sipped my beer.
“Is your locket from your parents?” he asked.
I reached up to touch the golden heart that nestled next to my comms charm, my heart pinging. “Yes. At least, I think so. I want it to be from them.”
“There’s nothing inside of it?” he asked. “No photos?”
“I can’t open it.” I’d tried a lot as a girl, hoping to find a clue about my past within. “It’s stuck.”
