Master of Magic

by Linsey Hall

  Maybe I’d played this all wrong. I shouldn’t have left my magic behind, but I hadn’t been able to abandon my sisters like that.

  The fight raged around me as Elis’s lightning crashed all around. It lit up trees and fried bushes. Fortunately, her aim wasn’t any good. Not yet, at least. All she needed was a little practice.

  I drew my mother’s sword and charged her, knowing that I was dreadfully outmatched. But at least I had my wings.

  Wind tore at my hair as I hurtled downward, approaching her from behind. She seemed to sense me, turning just as I struck out with my blade.

  I pierced her in the shoulder, and she shrieked, her eyes widening. The blood that poured from her new wound matched the stuff streaking down her face.

  Mayhem appeared, blasting her with fire, then whirled away and flew into the trees. Smart dog.

  She hissed and threw out her hand, hitting me with a sonic boom that sent me hurtling through the air and slamming into a tree.

  Pain flared as my mind scrambled to process.

  How the hell did she get that power?

  I thought it was gone.

  Talk about insult to injury.

  Rage shot through me, overcoming the ache in my middle. It felt like my insides had been liquefied, but I ignored it. I staggered to my feet, catching sight of the torn-apart body of the Mayan god.

  Cade had really done a number on him.

  My gaze darted through the clearing. In his wolf form, he charged Eris, dodging one of her lightning bolts and leaping toward her with his mouth open, fangs glinting in the light. He bit her arm and spun her around, but she hit him with a sonic boom, sending him flying.

  I leapt into the air, aching wings carrying me toward Eris.

  As if she’d heard me—hell, she probably did, with Heimdall’s power—she turned and thrust out her hand.

  Thunder cracked, and I looked up. Lightning flashed in the sky, and I dived, barely avoiding it. I raced toward her, slicing out with my blade and hitting her in the arm.

  She shrieked, and I flew up, racing away.

  In the distance, Cade fought another god who had ambushed him right after Eris had hit him with the sonic boom. I could see the desperation in his movements, the desire to get back to Eris and take her out.

  Adrenaline raced through me as I whirled to head back down to Eris. The clearing was a madhouse, with enemies and allies going at it full tilt.

  I raised my sword, determined to make this the kill shot.

  Then light and pain flared through me, accompanied by the crack of thunder. I never saw the lightning coming. It hurtled from the sky, crashing into the ground with a thud that was sickening.

  Every muscle and bone in my body ached like hell. The trees above me spun like I was on a carnival ride.

  I turned my head, catching sight of Cass sprawled out next to me. Blood seeped from a wound at her neck, mixing with her red hair.

  Panic flared.

  Aching, I dragged myself to my hands and knees and crawled to her.

  “Cass!” I cried.

  She blinked, eyes cloudy with pain. The wound at her neck was atrocious—I’d never seen anything so terrible. How was she even alive?

  Fear doused me in ice water. She was dying.

  “Bree,” she croaked.

  Oh god, this had been a terrible plan.

  A roar of fear and pain sounded in the distance, but I ignored it, thrusting my hands onto Cass’s chest and giving her every bit of healing power I had in me.

  Thank fates this was the power I’d saved.

  My arms shook as I forced the magic into her. The wound at her neck began to close, but it was too slow. I was stopping the flow of blood and mending the skin, but it might not be enough.

  Tears pricked at my eyes.

  I kept giving her my magic, but it was flagging. My healing gift wasn’t strong enough. Not with a wound this grievous.

  This cost was too great.

  I’d screwed this up so bad.

  A huge man fell to his knees on the other side of Cass, grief and fear all over his face. His auburn hair was flecked with blood, as was his face.

  Aidan. Her boyfriend.

  “Cass!”

  I’d never heard such pain in a sound.

  He touched the side of her neck on the only undamaged spot.

  Immediately, she glowed with light. The wound began to close, faster than I had managed.

  Aidan had healing powers!

  Relief surged through me.

  Within seconds, the wound was gone. Cass sat up, her color returned. Aidan sagged, weakened from the effort. He must have given her everything.

  “Go!” Cass yelled. She kissed him quickly, then pushed him away.

  He grabbed her and kissed her back, hard and fast, then sprinted back to the battle, transforming into a griffon as he ran. He was massive, a terrifying beast with golden feathers and fur and a beak that could crush cows. He launched himself into the air, then whirled around to return to the fight.

  Cass looked at me, fully healed. “Eris took your magic.”

  “Yeah. We have to kill her.”

  “We’ll do more than that.” Cass staggered to her feet. “We’ll get your magic back for you.”

  “How?”

  She raised a hand and wiggled her fingers. “FireSoul. I’ve never given magic to another, but we’re going to try. I’ll take it from her and give it to you.”

  Hope flared in my chest. “How?”

  “You deliver the killing blow. Then I’ll get to work.”

  “I can do that.”

  We turned, searching for Eris.

  Horror streaked through me as I caught sight of Rowan and Ana racing for her, anger and determination on their faces.

  Ana was supposed to be gone.

  “Come on!” I launched myself into the air and flew for Eris.

  All around, the battle raged, but I only had eyes for her. She was getting better with her lightning bolts, but I dodged every one, determination fueling me.

  I might get my power back.

  From the far side of the clearing, Del shot an enormous icicle right at Eris. It flew through the air, sparkling and bright, but Eris didn’t notice it.

  The spear pierced her through the thigh, throwing her to the ground. She shrieked, pure rage and agony in the sound.

  I dived low, just as Rowan and Ana neared. I struck out with my blade, slicing at Elis’s neck. Ana threw a dagger, hitting Eris in the eye. Rowan went for the heart, plunging her blade deep.

  The goddess thrashed, and the sight turned my stomach.

  But it had to be done. What she would do with my magic was too terrible to contemplate.

  Cass joined us, falling to her knees by Eris’s body. “She won’t stay down long.”

  I had to agree. Eris was too strong to allow a little thing like three mortal wounds to keep her down.

  “Guard us!” Cass said. “I’ll need a minute, at least.”

  Ana turned, throwing out her hands and creating a massive white dome over our heads. Her magic crackled and popped, the white shield growing more opaque as she gave it everything she had.

  Cass reached for my hand, and I grabbed hers. “Focus on the magic.”

  I did as she commanded while she put her other hand on Eris’s chest.

  The goddess twitched, trying to get up, but Cass pushed her down.

  White flame flickered around Cass’s arm, reaching down to Eris’s body. Cass winced, her face twisting with pain, but kept the flame going.

  Eris hissed, and her magic flared. It felt like acid against my skin and smelled like putrid wounds. She was as dark as they came.

  Cass’s magic competed with hers, a much purer signature that smelled like fresh water and sounded like rustling leaves.

  When the flame crept from Cass’s arm across her body and into me, the burning began. I gritted my teeth and ignored it, praying that Cass’s magic would work.

  The burning grew worse, making sweat
drip down my temples, but magic came with it.

  My magic.

  It flowed into me, strong and fierce. Filling me like a well. Strength flowed through my muscles as the power returned to its rightful home.

  Beside me, Cass sagged, her strength clearly waning. Eris looked worse, though. Blood poured from her wounds, and her skin turned gray.

  Finally, the last of the magic flowed from her into me. Cass dropped her hands and sagged, panting. Eris’s body shriveled into dust.

  I sucked in a deep breath, feeling like a million bucks. “Are you okay, Cass?”

  “Fine.” Her voice sounded weak, though.

  I touched her shoulder, feeding some healing energy into her. Now that I had the rest of my magic—including a bit of the healing power I’d put into the crystal—it was stronger. Soon, she looked good as new.

  She grinned. “Thanks.”

  “No, thank you.” What she’d done for me was enormous. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. The fight wasn’t over yet. I looked at Ana, who still had her back to us. “Drop the shield, Ana!”

  She did it immediately, turning, her gaze searching for me.

  “I’m okay!” I shouted.

  She nodded, then sprinted for the trees, no doubt to recoup and restart the fight from a position of power. She’d always fought smart.

  I shot toward the sky, the magic filling me to bursting.

  A quick survey of the clearing showed many of my friends wounded. But many more of the enemies were down. There were still five gods standing, and Cocidius was one of them.

  He hurled a dagger at me, and I dived, barely avoiding the gleaming silver spike that sped toward me. I didn’t see the second blade, however, and it pierced me in the shoulder. I spun backward, my wings faltering.

  Agony flared as I managed to right myself and yank the blade from my shoulder. Each beat of my wing tore through me, but I dragged my mind away from the pain.

  I needed to end this. If it kept going, we’d lose our advantage. We already might have, given how weak my friends were looking. Magic was depleted and wounds were fierce.

  I flew high, reaching inside myself for my new magic. But I had to be smart. I might have a dozen different powers, but I only had so much juice. I couldn’t waste it.

  I didn’t even know what all I had, but I needed to find a way to give my friends the advantage, at least.

  The hot crackle of lightning burned in my chest.

  I could work with that.

  I reached for the lightning that was becoming so familiar, building five massive lightning bolts. It took everything I had in me to create the five bolts, and I knew the bolts would only stun the Rebel Gods for a moment.

  But if I could weaken them…

  They cracked from the sky in unison, the thunder shaking my bones. Each bolt hit a god, sending them flying to their backs.

  My friends took advantage, racing toward the weakened gods, who were already rising to their feet. If the other gods and mercenaries hadn’t been killed already, I never would have managed.

  As a wolf, Cade lunged toward Cocidius, his jaws open. He tore at the god’s throat. Aker went for another god, while Mordaca and Aerdeca joined the FireSouls in their attack. Ratatoskr lunged toward another, Jude at his side.

  Ana and Rowan went for the god in the brown robes, Caro at their side. They fell on him like berserkers, their blades flying. I hurtled down to join them, not wanting to leave my sisters without help.

  I stabbed my blade through the god’s throat, but there was every chance he was already dead. For good measure, Mayhem appeared, blasting him with fire.

  We stumbled back from the body.

  All around, the sound of heaving breaths filled the air.

  The Rebel Gods were dead.

  Relief rushed through me, and I sagged, my wings drooped.

  Was it really over?

  In a swirl of golden light, Cade shifted into his human form. He raced for me, his clothes and skin covered in blood. I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay,” I mumbled against him. Every ounce of magic had drained from me, leaving me exhausted and aching.

  “You have your magic back?” he asked.

  “I do.” I pulled away, turning to inspect the rest of the clearing. I needed to know if anyone had died.

  My friends staggered around, clutching wounds and looking pretty damned bad. Aerdeca’s white suit was covered in blood, and the FireSouls looked like hell. But no one was dead, at least. Even the mercenaries all looked fine.

  Every body on the ground belonged to a demon. Mayhem flew through the clearing, inspecting every charred and dead demon.

  Anyone with transport powers was evacuating the seriously wounded, but there were no tears of grief in the group. What a miracle that was.

  Thank fates we were all okay.

  I staggered finally, going to my knees.

  Apparently, adrenaline had kept me going. And now that the threat had passed and no one appeared to be dead, standing was above my pay grade.

  “Are you okay?” Cade asked.

  “I’ll be fine. Just let me sit a moment.”

  Ana and Rowan joined me, collapsing next to me and panting.

  “We did it,” Ana said.

  “They’re dead.” The vicious joy in Rowan’s voice made me smile. Sure, it was a bit weird. But so were our lives. And if anyone had reason to be happy that the Rebel Gods were gone, it was Rowan.

  “Thank fates for that,” I said. “We’re safe.”

  And together. Finally, after five years apart and fifteen years of running and hiding, we’d defeated our hunters. We’d avenged our mother.

  And we were safe.

  Epilogue

  Three days later

  The party at the Whisky and Warlock was heaving. The Protectorate had booked the whole place for the night, which was apparently normal when a person advanced from trainee to full member.

  I stood with my sisters, pressed in with the rest of the crowd. Jude stood on a chair in the corner, the fireplace flickering to her left. She raised her glass. We all followed suit, except me. I kept my pink cocktail—the Destroyer of Rebel Gods, it’d been named—lowered. I was pretty sure this toast was for me, and while I wasn’t up to date on my etiquette, even I knew it was bad taste to toast yourself.

  “To Bree!” Jude said. “Who advanced through the training program in record time, largely due to the fact that she fought the most fearsome enemy on earth and won.”

  “Which should have been impossible!” Hedy grinned. “And those words came directly from Arach.”

  Jude turned to me. “Welcome to the PITs.”

  I grinned and laughed. I’d chosen to join Caro, Ali, and Haris on the Paranormal Investigative Team. The three of them cheered wildly, and the rest of the crowd joined in. My friends clinked their glasses together and shouted congratulations.

  I sipped my drink, lowering it in time for Caro, Ali, and Haris to rush me and give me a hug.

  “Welcome to the team!” Caro said.

  “It’ll be a blast,” Ali added.

  Haris grinned. “I can’t wait for you to show us up.”

  I laughed. “I can’t wait for the first day of work.”

  They grinned and stayed to chat for a few minutes, then left to refill their drinks.

  Ana leaned against my side. “Not bad, sis.”

  “Thanks.”

  Rowan hugged me from the side. She still hadn’t figured out what was wrong with her magic, but she was adjusting better to life here. Though she was still jumpy and slightly obsessed with becoming a weapons master to make up for her magical shortcomings, she wasn’t nearly as haunted looking as she had been before we’d defeated the Rebel Gods three days ago. It was like a weight had lifted off her shoulders.

  Music blasted through the crowded room, and Mayhem shot into the air, doing loop-de-loops to “I Would Walk 500 Miles.” She loved The Proclaimers, apparentl
y.

  On the bar, Boris ate a bowl of peanuts. He sat with Ratatoskr, who’d magically shrunk down for the occasion. He didn’t necessarily like being smaller—very grumpy, that rodent—but he’d wanted to attend the party and this was the only way he’d fit in the building. He’d wanted to be human size at least, but we’d explained that he couldn’t walk through Edinburgh like that. It wasn’t true, but we were afraid we couldn’t afford his bar bill if he wasn’t tiny. The Valkyrie said he could drink them all under the table. And that was when they were drinking as a team. This way, he got to drink all the beer he wanted, and it was dirt cheap.

  He hadn’t said no to that, at least.

  Cass, Del, and Nix pushed their way through the crowd to join us. They’d come to celebrate, and their boyfriends leaned against the wall near the windows, drinking Scotch and chatting with Cade. It was all very manly looking, and I vastly preferred my own pink drink. Destroyer of Rebel Gods. Scotch couldn’t boast a name like that.

  “Thanks for coming!” I said.

  “We wanted to congratulate you.” Cass thrust a package into my hand. It was wrapped in brown paper and looked like a five-year-old had done it. She grinned. “Wrapped it myself!”

  “Thanks!” I pulled off the paper to reveal three rings set with large white stones.

  “They’re lightstone rings,” Nix said. “One for each of you, actually.”

  “They’ll light up whenever you need them to,” Del added. “Really handy.”

  “And really hard to find,” I said. “I’ve heard of them. They’re rare. Thank you.”

  Ana and Rowan took their rings, then hugged the FireSouls.

  I did the same. “Thank you again for your help with the Rebel Gods.”

  “Anytime.” Cass grinned. “We always like a good fight.”

  “You almost died.”

  “It was a really good fight,” she said. “And you saved me.”

  “Aidan did.”

  “Only because of you. I wouldn’t have made it long enough for him to find me.”

  Thank fates I’d held on to my healing power, then. “We couldn’t have done it without you. Truly.”

  “You helped us once,” Nix said. “We’re glad to do the same.”