by Antara Mann
I thanked the fates, smiling, and reached for the thread in my center. Instead of the lame, almost dead power I’d felt a few minutes ago, my energy pulsated with strong, palpable magical vibrations. I summoned all of it, letting it fill my senses until each cell of my body pulsated with this strange yet so familiar magic. I waited one more moment for the sorcerer to move away from Kagan, and then blasted him with all the power I could muster.
A light-bluish shimmering light painted the space around us in bright colors. Next, the earth shattered beneath our feet, and flames, debris and smoke filled the air.
Chapter 12
The force from the explosion caused me to black out for a second or two. I guessed it happened because I’d fully unleashed my magic. I coughed and took a desperate breath of air, but it was full of debris, dust particles and smoke, and my lungs screamed in pain. I tugged at my power and it invigorated me, strength flowing through my veins, tingling in my body. Heart beating out of my chest, I searched for Kagan. The chaos and the blazing flames didn’t allow me to see much.
“Alex?” I heard his hoarse, rough voice near me. “Are you okay?”
“I am fine. You?” The smoke and heat irritated my eyes, and I was trying hard to not blink or cry. Then Kagan’s magic touched my senses, caressing me, soothing me, healing me better than any balm in existence.
But I still couldn’t see him. “So your magic is back? Is the suspect still here?” I asked.
“No, I don’t think he’s here anymore — that’s probably why my powers are back.”
I had to agree; my magical radar didn’t register any magic other than the fae’s.
Kagan’s magic intensified and a strong wind swirled in the air around us. It roared like a thunderstorm. Then, rain drops began falling down. From small, they quickly grew larger and showered upon the destruction zone. Soon enough Kagan’s rain extinguished the fiery mess I’d created. When the fire died down, I finally saw him, standing amid piles of rubble like some avenging god.
I rushed to him. He slid his hand around my waist, pulling me closer. I hugged him tight.
“Thanks.” I sighed deeply and forced a smile.
“I owe you big time. You did it yet again.” He beamed. “You summoned and unleashed your goddess power.”
“Yeah — only because the situation called for it. We didn’t have another alternative.”
“At any rate, I’m so proud of you.” He kissed me lightly, our lips barely touching, his fingers skimming over my butt.
“What do you think of our suspect’s way to teleport?” I asked him, locking my eyes with his. He smoothed a strand of my hair.
“Well… I think whatever we witnessed was either his usual teleporting — or rather, running away — style, or he was out of shape.”
“He seemed to re-connect with his magic pretty fast.”
“It’s sorcery. He stole our abilities and used them against us.” Kagan sighed.
“Bastard,” I spat out and frowned. It was a very powerful and shrewd tactic. I was beginning to comprehend why a large part of the supernatural community was prejudiced against sorcerers.
“Not all sorcerers are bad guys, you know,” Kagan chimed in. “But screw that guy. I am so, so bloody proud of you, sweetheart. You used your goddess power without relying on Anumati’s necklace, or on today’s new moon.”
In that whole mess I had completely forgotten tonight was a new moon. Hmm… was that why it had taken me more time to summon my hidden goddess magic?
Great changes are coming your way, my inner voice said, startling me. I shook my head.
Pardon? I asked it.
The voice chuckled inside my mind, stirring up a mild headache. Quite soon, sooner than you realize, you won’t depend on the moon — even less on an object such as this necklace.
“Hmm, if you say so,” I muttered. “Oh! That reminds me to check the necklace.” I hastily griped it. Its power tickled my fingers and hand in a light circular movement. Thank fate my necklace was all right. I couldn’t help but smile.
“You were so badass,” Kagan said, oblivious to my dialogue with my inner voice. He pressed his lips hard against mine and kissed me with such intensity I was left gasping for air. His touch and kisses were always soft and erotic, yet strong and reassuring. Quite surprising, given how powerful a supernatural he was. I drew in a large breath and stopped him from going any further.
“Umm, not to be a party pooper, but we have to teleport back to the Magica World Center.”
A smile stretched on his lips, he sighed, and slowly pulled himself away from me. “Are you ready?” he asked.
I nodded. The air swirled around us again, and the all t00 familiar yellow-white swirl appeared. It took us through the void, delivering us inside the Magica World Center. The building’s protective spells routed us back to the lobby, and we once more faced the hearth-witch with auburn hair on the reception desk. She was visibly startled to see us yet again.
“Hello, Mr. Griffith. Is everything all right?” Her voice sounded somewhat concerned.
“Hi. Meghan, right?” he asked her. She nodded and he went on. “Good news is, Meghan, that we have a suspect. Definitely better than nothing.” He smiled at her and quickly added, “We need to talk to the person in charge of the clerks’ room, the lady owl shifter.”
“Umm, okay, I’ll inform her. But weren’t you two inside the room not so long ago? I don’t recall seeing you going out of it.”
A grin flickered across Kagan’s face. “Yes, we were, but had to chase after a suspect who happens to be your employee.”
“Oh,” she said, embarrassed, and hurriedly dialed the intercom. After a quick exchange with the owl shifter, she turned to us. “Amelia Rivers is awaiting you. Please go to the third door on the right, at the end of the corridor.” She smiled at us and we thanked her.
As we reached the door in question, it opened with a buzz, and the owl shifter appeared on the doorway. “Did you catch him?”
“No, he outsmarted us,” Kagan said. “May we ask you a few questions about this guy? We suspect he is involved in some way or another with the mages’ disappearances.”
“Hmm, I had long feared something like this would happen someday. He always seemed so quiet and obedient, so detached and reserved, you know? Like he was doing his best to not attract attention to himself. These are never good signs. But, please, do come in,” she said, and we walked into the room.
The supernatural clerks glanced at us and resumed working. Amelia Rivers went across to the other end of the room and opened a door I’d only just noticed. She invited us in, and we followed her through.
The room we were in was the same size, but much quieter and peaceful-feeling. There was only one desk in the corner next to the window, a laptop and a dozen or so sheets of paper scattered on it.
“Take a seat,” she said, pointing at the two chairs before her desk. We obeyed. Hers was a cozy office. I took a look around and noticed framed photos of her as a younger woman. She was holding a golden award reading “Shifter of The Year, 1999.”
“Yeah, that’s my favorite photo,” she remarked, glancing at the picture over her left shoulder. “Shifter of 1999.” She beamed. She was quite young in that photo, and looked dashing.
“So, what do you want to know about Derek?”
“His name is Derek?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yup, that’s right. Derek Matthews.”
“Here’s what we need, Mrs. Rivers: all the information you have about this Derek lad,” Kagan said, prompting her. He liked to cut to the chase, but he managed to be polite with it, too. If he wanted to be.
Amelia smiled at him. “So, first things first. His name is Derek Matthews, age… hmm, let me check his file on my computer.” She woke up her laptop on and typed in his name. After a quick search, she added, “According to the data here, he is 39 years old and has worked for the Magica Word Center for over a year.” She looked up at us, thoughtful. I sensed she was considering how
much more to say to us. “As you may have noticed, Derek is a sorcerer, and a powerful one, though I suspect out of practice. At least, he hasn’t used his innate magic in my presence. My shifter sense and intuition tell me he hasn’t used it at all.”
“Yes, I felt that, too,” I said, “though he quickly made up for that. He stole our powers and used them against us.” I swallowed the bitterness I still carried from today’s fight. The day wasn’t over yet, but it felt as long as a week already.
“Really? Well, he is a sorcerer. What else can I tell you? As I said, Derek has always been a guy who kept to himself. I don’t know much about him or his personal life except that he was a meticulous, disciplined person. I’ve never seen him hang out or even befriend a single supernatural from the center. I liked to think it was his nature or a sorcerer thing; now, I guess, we know he had his reasons.”
“You weren’t wrong. Sorcerers are indeed a special bunch,” Kagan said. “Once, not so long ago — less than half a century, anyway — there was this grand, flawless sorcerer in charge of the Magic Council. Well, he made an ill-judged attempt to take over the supernatural world. For some time, he became a threat even to Kai.”
I looked at the fae with interest. I didn’t recall hearing anything about this juicy story. “And what happened?” I prompted him.
He waved his hand dismissively. “Enough evidence piled up against him and they removed him from his position. He is still in prison, I think.”
“But not in Inferno?” I guessed.
My mind raced in a frenzy of thoughts. Could this sorcerer be an ally of Garrett or even of the inferni? Was he involved in the attempt at a magical apocalypse? Or in the mages’ disappearances?
A glimpse of satisfaction crossed Kagan’s face. “No, the prison he should be in — if I recall correctly — is a special prison for ex-Council members only.”
The lady owl shifter cleared her throat and we looked back at her. “I see you two have a lot to chat about, but is there anything else I could help you with?”
“Yes, ma’am. Sorry for hijacking your time. May we search through Derek’s desk if he had one and look into his personal stuff?”
“Sure. Please go back to the communal office; his desk is the first one on the right, facing the room.”
“And one last request. Can you give us his address and any other relevant personal information that may help us track him down?”
“I’ll print out Derek’s contacts for you. I wouldn’t do it in normal circumstances, but if you can assure me he has broken the law and is likely involved in the mages’ disappearances…” she said and typed something else on her computer as Kagan assured her that she would be helping the law in apprehending a dangerous suspect and her assistance in our investigation would be formally acknowledged. She smiled at those last words. Clearly, Amelia liked her official awards.
Soon enough she handed us a sheet of paper. Derek Matthews’ address was printed in bold on it, as well as his birth date, healthcare status and other sensitive information employers routinely store in their records.
We smiled and thanked her. When we went back into the common room, none of the clerks raised their heads or even glanced at us. Either they expected us to go through their colleague’s desk or they were just too busy to pay any attention to us. Of the three clerks that remained, one was a warlock, one a lion shifter, and one a weather witch — according to my magical sense.
Kagan ransacked the drawers of Derek’s desk for information, and we found a few scattered sheets of paper, a bunch of envelopes and stamps, and lots of documents that would require a bit more time to check out. We spent nearly half an hour going through all the papers. Kagan also checked Derek’s work laptop.
Only toward the end of our search did we find a small stack of paper cuttings hidden among documents in a thick folder. One of them contained the names of last year’s Magica of the Year winners. The names of Aldwyn Saal, Kevin Rydell and Samuel Hendricks had been circled in red pen. We’d cracked the pattern of the mages’ kidnappings, but seeing the third mage’s name made the fear for his fate rise in my belly. I swallowed hard.
“Are you seeing what I am seeing?” I turned to Kagan. His otherwise handsome face was marred by a deep frown. More than ever, he looked like a walking thunderstorm ready to blow off at any moment. Anumati hadn’t accidentally called him “Shiva” back in the temple in Bali. Of course, she was only teasing him.
“Yes, I do see it, unfortunately. They’re targeting Samuel Hendricks, too.”
“Umm, is it safe to talk?” I asked.
“No worries, my love. I muted our conversation. None of them can hear even a single word we speak.” He smiled. Now that I looked carefully around, I noticed the shimmering vibrations encasing us: light, almost invisible, just like fairy dust.
“Have you called to check if Samuel Hendricks is safe and sound and warn him? Did you talk to him?”
“Good reminder. I’m calling him now.” He took out his cell phone and dialed a number. After a few seconds he hung up and turned to me. “I can’t connect to Samuel; his phone is turned off. I’ll try something else.”
He concentrated harder, his magic intensifying until it prickled on my skin. I knew he was attempting to mentally connect to him. Kagan’s grip tightened on the desk, and he frowned. A few minutes later, he said, “I couldn’t connect mentally to him, either, but I again talked to the Council and they said the mage was quite busy lately. My friend at the Council assured me they’d look into it. Eventually. I did stress the seriousness of the matter.”
“Call them back — a supervisor preferably. Make sure they check this guy is safe. I have the sinking feeling it might be too late for warnings.”
Kagan furrowed his forehead even further. “Tomas Meyer won’t be happy about that.”
“There are more important things at stake than his comfort,” I noted.
The fae took out his cell and dialed a number. When he connected with the other side he was very brief and to the point. He relayed all the information to the person at the other end of the phone and asked about the mage’s whereabouts, and then hung up.
“They’re searching for Samuel Hendricks. Thoroughly. When they learn more, they’ll call me.”
“Okay. In the meantime we ought to check his place, but before that let’s interview his colleagues. They might know something his boss didn’t,” I said.
“I can’t help but love your enthusiasm,” he replied and gave me a peck on the lips. He snapped his fingers and the enchantment that had muted our conversation dissolved.
Kagan and I questioned all three clerks, but they didn’t know anything about their colleague either. They all repeated what the owl shifter had said about Derek’s character. He was a very secretive, quiet and solitary person. Not the type to invite to a party.
When we were done, I pointed Derek Matthews’ address to the fae. He reached for his magic and the wind swirled around us, caressing my hair and skin, vibrating in yellow-white light, then grew into a big swirl that took us through the ether into the void.
We found ourselves in front of a rather neglected five-story building in Queens, NYC. Long ago, it had looked quite decent and probably even fancy. The district wasn’t really poor or shady, but it wasn’t Upper West Side, either. Yet, it seemed safe enough to walk in the dark. The late November wind blew across our faces, but soon we got ourselves inside the building, up the stairs. The house was old, without a built-in elevator. Derek lived on the top floor, and the stairs seemed to be steeper and more numerous than in other buildings.
Once we reached his apartment, we broke into it. The place was quiet. There was no trace of Derek or any enchantments he may have left behind. My magical sense confirmed that he had already gone. Too bad.
We went through all the rooms, furniture, books and even his bed, using our magical senses, but nothing suspicious turned up. Derek’s distinctive magic scent told me he was powerful, but not as much as Kagan or Awen — their sk
ill was hard to beat.
After we physically checked every nook and cranny of his den, I stumbled upon a ring with an inverted triquetra inscribed on the inside. I found it accidentally in his bookcase. It sat before a row of books on the top shelf. The spot where the inverted triquetra was inscribed attracted me. I didn’t consciously know it was there, but the tug in my center made me take a closer look at the ring.
The inverted triquetra almost mesmerized me. I had seen this occult symbol thrice before: first on the papers describing the ritual of releasing the gates of Inferno, the second time during my encounter with Garrett in his den, which I so gracefully destroyed, and finally in my vision when Garrett was draining Kevin — a glowing pendant hung on his chest, a triquetra drawn on it.
As if prompted by some arcane power or spell, I touched the ring. It prickled on my skin, coloring the air around me in dark blue and violet. Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced through my head, my temples throbbing as if a gang of bloodthirsty vampires were punching me simultaneously. My head swirled, my limbs stumbling in the sudden sensation of giddiness and weakness. Dizziness overwhelmed me then everything darkened before my eyes and I blacked out.
Chapter 13
I didn’t know how much time I’d been unconscious, but clearly remembered the circular, rhythmic waves massaging my body up and down. It was the fae’s distinctive magical signature, an invigorating, semi-arousing and semi-empowering touch. The sensations of desire, happiness and joy exploded in my mind, painting my senses in yellow, orange, red and light-blue colors. The scent of early flower dew came vivid to my mind, accompanied by the chirping of birds. It all warmed my insides, cheering me up. I opened my eyes, taking a deep breath of air. Kagan had bent low over me and was looking at me intently.
“W-what, happened?” I asked him. He smiled and placed a soft kiss on my forehead. His warm, tender lips further increased the giddy, dream-like sensation of angelic, ethereal bliss fluttering inside me.
