Dragon's Gift: The Protector 02 Trial by Magic

by Linsey Hall

  “A number,” Connor said. “I’ve made enough invisibility potion for all of us. It’ll last an hour. It won’t protect us from everything—there are enchantments that could reveal us—but it should help a lot.”

  “And Roarke has gotten us a boat,” Cass said. “I can use my illusion power to make it blend in with the sea.”

  “And I can use my ability to muffle sound to quiet the engine,” Del said. “We should at least be able to get onto the beach without them detecting us. From there, we find Claire and the beaker.”

  “Oh, man. That’s a lot of unknowns.” I grinned. “But then, we’re used to that.”

  “Aren’t we ever.” Cass looked up at the clock. “Two hours until dark. We don’t want to approach until then. The dark will make it easier for me to conceal the boat. But we can get going in ten minutes. The boat is in the port, which is about a one-hour ride from the compound.”

  “Yeah, we should be ready to make a move as soon as possible.” Unfortunately, my magic felt drained and I was exhausted, but I’d find some energy somewhere.

  I had to.

  Everyone left the coffeeshop to gather whatever they needed for the assault on the compound. I was about to head to my apartment for a quick change of clothes when Ares touched my arm.

  “Wait,” he said.

  I stopped, turning to him. Connor had gone into the back, no doubt to pack his potion bombs for the attack, and we were alone in the shop.

  “How are you?” Concern laced his voice. “The goddesses… that was heavy stuff.”

  “I’m good.” I had a lot to think about. But I couldn’t think about it now.

  “You’re more than good. You were amazing,” he said. “You won every challenge, never sacrificing what was important. You awed me.”

  “Wow.” Heat warmed my cheeks. “Thanks.”

  “And the Vampire Court is now on your side. It’s done.”

  “I thought I’d have to meet with Magisteria and Doyen again? Make it official?”

  His gaze darkened. “I’ll deal with them. The fates made it clear—you made it clear—how important you are to all of us. We’re in your debt.”

  “So it’s officially over.”

  “It is.” He stepped closer, towering over me. Heat filled his gaze. He reached out, cupping the back of my neck.

  I gasped at the gentle touch of his strong hand, fire igniting in my belly. His scent wrapped around me, rich and lovely and him.

  “I’m going to kiss you now.” His words had days of pent-up desire in them, as if he’d been holding onto them since the trials began.

  He’d given me my chance to step back, to say no. No way was I going to do it. We only had a few moments, if that. But I’d take them. I’d take whatever I could get, as crazy as it was.

  My breath caught in my throat at the hot look in Ares’s eyes. He crushed his lips to mine. Heat streaked across my skin and I sunk my hands into his hair, holding tight as his lips plundered my own. He groaned low in his throat, an animal sound that made me shiver.

  I swiped my tongue across his, desperate for one taste, then pulled away.

  He stepped back, drew in a ragged breath. “Let’s go save your friend.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Ten minutes later, after running up to my apartment for a change of clothes and a granola bar, I rode in the back of Cass’s car. She and Del sat up front. I’d insisted that Ares go with Roarke, Aidan, and Connor because I’d wanted a moment to talk to my deirfiúr.

  And frankly, he was a distraction.

  “How’d it go in the Vampire Court trials?” Del asked.

  “Crazy.” I shook my head, remembering. “They’ve got some weird magical creatures there. But it was the goddesses who were the weirdest.”

  “Goddesses?” Cass asked.

  “Yeah.” I described Laima, Karta, and Dekla to them, along with what they had said about me and my power.

  “Wow,” Cass said. “But then, we’ve always known that you’re special.”

  “That we’re all special,” I said. “But didn’t that sound pretty…intense?”

  “It sounds world saving,” Del said. “Which isn’t a huge surprise given that you are Life in the Triumvirate.”

  “Yeah, without you, there’s nothing.” Cass turned sharply onto the road leading to the port. “Zip, nada, nothing.”

  “It’s a lot of pressure.” I did not want to fail at this.

  “Fortunately, you’re used to pressure,” Del said. “These last few months haven’t been easy. Hell, our life hasn’t. But we’re doing fine.”

  “As long as we get Claire back.” My stomach turned. The idea of something happening to Claire…our best friend…

  I couldn’t bear to think of it. She was tough. She was a damned mercenary, for fate’s sake. She could handle herself until we got there.

  “We’ll get her back,” Del said. “And we’ll take care of this dragon gang too.”

  “I’m really starting to hate those bastards.” My fists clenched.

  Cass pulled the car to a stop at the port. Though Magic’s Bend was near the sea, it was just far enough away that we didn’t have much of a touristy developed seaside. Mostly just a port for receiving shipments and some fishing boats.

  There were several large docks and a number of smaller ones for pleasure boats and the fishing craft.

  It was busy at this hour, everyone bustling around, finishing up for the day. The guys had already arrived and stood at the head of one of the smaller docks, waiting for us.

  We joined them, weaving around a man in a forklift who was delivering crates of fruit to a waiting truck.

  For these folks, everything was just so normal. For us… our friend’s life hung in the balance. It was everything. I wanted everyone else to be as freaked out as I was, but that was obviously a shit plan.

  So I fixed my gaze on Roarke and tried to focus on the business at hand. “Is the boat ready?”

  “Should be,” he said. “Belongs to a demon employee of mine.”

  We followed him down the dock, which bobbed underfoot. The water was dark and still, with bits of seaweed floating on top. The boat was docked at the end, a big white powerboat that looked fast.

  Good. Fast was exactly what we wanted.

  A demon waited beside it, his small horns poking out of his dark hair. Otherwise, he looked human, which didn’t necessarily mean that he was a good guy. But if he was with Roarke, Warden of the Underworld, then he was probably fine. Not all demons were evil—though most were—and those that weren’t had an opportunity to live on earth if they worked for Roarke and followed the rules.

  “Hey boss.” The demon nodded at Roarke. “Ready to go?”

  “Yes. Thanks, Quincy. We’ll take good care of it.”

  Quincy nodded, his gaze uneasy, as if he were worried we’d wreck the thing. But I guessed you didn’t say no to the Warden of the Underworld when he asked you for a favor.

  We climbed on board, the seven of us barely fitting in the cockpit. Quincy undid the lines and tossed them into the boat. Roarke, apparently some kind of boater himself, turned on the engine and pulled the boat away from the dock.

  The wind was cold out in the harbor. I shivered and zipped up my jacket.

  Connor handed out the invisibility potions, saying, “I’ll give the signal to drink.”

  Cass turned to the group, shouting over the wind. “If we get separated, I don’t know if we can transport out of the compound. We’re not sure about the extent of the protection charms. So get back to the boat—it’s out best way out.”

  I swallowed hard. Great. That could get sticky.

  The waves got bigger as Roarke steered the boat out of the harbor and into the Pacific. As soon as we were out of the low-wake zone, he cranked the throttle and we took off. I grabbed a hand rail and braced myself against the bouncing of the waves. Wind whipped at my hair, cold stinging my cheeks.

  I had no idea what we were going into, or what was coming after
we finished this. If we finished it. The goddesses of fate had said some crazy things. It was just so hard to imagine that I would be the one to save us all. Or whatever.

  It was almost too big for my mind to comprehend.

  I might have known this was coming—my role in the Triumvirate had been revealed months ago—but the extent of it? That was a shock.

  The sun set behind the horizon about thirty minutes into our journey, leaving us with a warm pink sky and an ocean that glinted with pale orange.

  About twenty minutes later, Connor shouted to the group, “Drink your potions.”

  I dug the little vial out of my pocket and met Ares’s gaze. “Enjoy. They’re tasty.”

  I slugged mine down, grimacing at the muddy taste that I’d learned to despise. Across from me, Ares grimaced.

  “Liar,” he muttered.

  I laughed as the potion’s shivery chill worked its way through me. Because we’d all taken the same batch, we’d be able to see each other.

  Next to me, Del gripped a hand rail and closed her eyes. Her magic swelled on the air, the scent of fresh soap strange with the scent of the sea air.

  A moment later, the sound of the engine cut abruptly. It was almost as if Roarke had cranked it off. But we kept powering across the waves, fast as ever.

  Cass cracked her knuckles and smiled at me. “Time to practice.”

  Because of her role in the Triumvirate, Cass had a massive amount of magical power. She represented Magic, after all. She also had a number of magical gifts to call from. Not all were easy to manipulate, and illusion had always been one of the tougher ones for her.

  I held my breath as her magic shimmered on the air, rolling across my skin and into the boat. Slowly, the boat began to turn transparent until it finally disappeared.

  Below my feet, I saw nothing but the water, waves crushed by the weight of the boat passing over them. My stomach dropped at the strange sight. “Wicked.”

  “Those are some serious talents, Cass and Del,” Ares said.

  “We’re the ultimate stealth team,” Cass said. “I can’t do too much more with this magic—it’s too difficult to control—but hopefully I can hold it till we reach the compound.”

  “Speaking of.” I pointed to the massive building on the beach, just a couple miles away. All of the lights in the windows were dimmed, as if some kind of concealment charm had been placed on the windows.

  “They’re committed to keeping a low profile,” Aidan muttered. “That kind of magic is expensive.”

  Roarke slowed the boat as we approached the shore. We were about two hundred meters away when the boat stopped abruptly, as if it had been grabbed by a giant hand.

  “What the hell?” Roarke jiggled the throttle, but the boat didn’t move.

  “Protective barrier,” Aidan said.

  “We can break through—”

  A massive jolt cut off Ares’s words. The boat bounced on the water, then was pulled underneath the surface. It was as if a hand had reached up and pulled the boat into the depths, and it happened in an instant. One second, I was standing on the deck, the next, I was thrashing in the water with my friends.

  The cold drove the air from my lungs as the seaweed wrapped around my legs, yanking me under. Shock made me open my mouth to scream, but instead of making a sound, I gulped in water. Frantic, I struggled to break free, opening my eyes.

  At first it was dark, then light blared from my left. It was Ares, doing his hand light trick. The one where he shined the glow out of his palm. It illuminated the most horrifying scene I’d ever witnessed.

  All of my friends were tangled in seaweed, ten feet below the surface of the water. The green weeds wrapped around their thighs and arms as they struggled to break free. Kelp. Ares was strong enough and fast enough that he could break through the kelp, but more kept coming, twining around his limbs and pulling him deeper.

  Cass and Aidan transformed into sea lions, trying to break the kelp’s grip with their greater strength, but they failed. All they could do was thrash. The cold water weakened our muscles.

  There was no fighting such a strange enemy.

  My lungs ached and my heartbeat thundered in my ears, deafening.

  Beneath us, the boat was tangled in a huge mass of weeds. Cass must have lost control of her illusion magic.

  The kelp had attacked us, dragging the whole boat down!

  The boat below us was strangled by weeds, looking a hell of a lot like the Pūķi trapped by the acid vines.

  I didn’t hesitate, just prayed to the fates that my magic worked on sea plants. And that I had enough of it to go around.

  With everything I had, I pushed my magic into the kelp around us, trying to form the same connection I’d had with the acid vines.

  Do my bidding. Release us.

  At first, nothing happened. It didn’t even feel like my magic entered the weeds. So I pushed harder, gripping the seaweed around my waist and trying to imagine that we were one. That my will was its will.

  After a moment, the kelp loosened. I thrashed, struggling for the surface. But I was so weak, my muscles seizing from the cold and my lungs burning.

  Cass and Aidan were the first to break free of the loosened kelp. They sped toward Connor and Del, who were closest, positioning themselves below the struggling people and pushing them hard enough to break the bonds of the kelp so they could swim to the surface.

  Ares and Roarke broke free on their own, racing for air.

  I kicked and thrashed, but I was slow.

  Freaking seaweed.

  I commanded it to push me toward the surface. Help me! Do your flipping job, kelp!

  The plants were mine to command. I knew it. So I’d make it happen. I had to make it happen.

  I pushed my will into the kelp, forcing it to gather under me like a raft and push me toward the surface. It worked, shooting me through the water like a cannon. I burst to the surface, coughing and sucking in air.

  All around me, my friends treaded water under the moonlight. Four humans and two sea lions.

  “Well that went to shit,” Del whispered.

  I choked a low laugh, aware that voices could travel well over the sea. There weren’t supposed to be a lot of guards watching the shore, but I didn’t want to alert any of them to our presence.

  “We’d better swim for it,” Ares said.

  “Just two hundred yards.” It looked like forever, but we’d manage.

  We set out, cutting across the water as waves buffeted us. The water was freezing, making my teeth chatter and my fingers numb. In the chill, my strokes were weak and awkward, but I gave it my all, muscles straining and lungs burning. I still hadn’t caught my breath yet, but there was no stopping this. We needed to get to land.

  Beside me, Ares swam like he was a freaking Olympian. Vampires.

  Roarke had shifted into his demon form, bursting out of the water and taking to the sky with his wings. He picked up Del and carried her along. A sea lion—I assumed it was Cass—joined me and I grabbed on, holding her loosely about the neck. The other sea lion helped Connor, who wasn’t faring much better than I.

  We could swim, but two hundred meters across open ocean in the north Pacific was not a great way to start our assault on a magically reinforced compound owned by supernatural gangsters.

  We reached land and crawled out onto the shore, gasping. Ares walked out of the sea like a freaking merman with legs, as if swimming through the icy Pacific for two hundred meters was nothing. Aidan and Cass transformed back to their human selves.

  “Thanks,” I gasped, shaking from the cold. “The ride was great.”

  Roarke landed next to us, setting Del on the ground.

  We were all accounted for and standing, thank fates.

  “Let’s get a move on,” Connor said. “Only forty minutes left on this invisibility potion.”

  We turned toward the old factory, which sat a few hundred yards back, high on a hill. Tiny black shapes were moving toward us, racing acros
s the grass.

  “Shit. Dogs.” Twelve of them, at least.

  I broke into a run, sprinting for the left side of the house, where there were less of the animals. My wet clothes were horribly uncomfortable, but at least the exertion warmed me up.

  My friends followed, racing alongside. The guard dogs were quick, wheeling to chase us. Though we were invisible, they could smell us, no question. As they neared, I realized they were some hybrid form of wolf and dog, their fangs gleaming white in the moonlight.

  Or were they hellhounds?

  I could shoot them with arrows or my friends could blast them with magic, but I hated the idea of killing them, and I knew Cass and Del would be with me. Demons were one thing. Animals another.

  It’s not like these were bad dogs—they just had bad owners who trained them to bite people instead of squeaky toys. I wasn’t going to blame the dog, even though I really didn’t want to become a squeaky toy.

  And the commotion would probably get us caught, anyway.

  Connor dug into the satchel at his waist, pulling out several small glass spheres filled with potion. He handed them off to me and Ares.

  “Sleeping potion.” He panted.

  “Thanks.” A dog got close enough that my odds were good, so I took aim and fired. The blue globe flew through the air, exploding against the hound’s side in a flash of blue. The beast gave a few more awkward steps, then collapsed against the grass, dead asleep.

  “How many of those do you have?” Del asked.

  “Only six.” Connor hurled one at another dog, who passed out immediately.

  There were at least twelve dogs.

  “Pond Flower!” Del called softly. I could barely hear her over my pounding heart.

  A moment later, a white and brown dog appeared at Del’s side. Pond Flower was a hellhound who had adopted Del a couple of months ago. Despite her name—which she’d given herself—Pond Flower was a hellhound. She was like Del’s familiar, almost.

  “Friends.” Del pointed at the other dogs. “Make friends.”

  Make them our friends, I could hear her saying.

  Pond Flower grinned, her pink tongue lolling out of her mouth, and spun around to charge the dogs. She gave a low, happy woof, running in circles around the other dogs.