by Rain Oxford
* * *
Fortunately, Cy had Darwin’s notebook, because Darwin had left it behind. The problem was that he’d underestimated how complicated it was.
The spell was rather simple, but preparing for it was complicated and would take most of the day. Darwin used little flags on sticks to mark boundaries in the ground, as well as a ten-foot-wide circle in the middle of the boundaries. He pointed to the north, south, east, and west and said, “Earth, fire, air, and water. We need bowls or cups of water, candles, and incense sticks.”
“You still haven’t explained what we’re doing.”
“We are going to take the balance into our own hands. Henry, paint these on the ground.” As Darwin handed him a notepad and explained where to put certain sigils, my intuition warned me that I was being watched. I tuned them out and reached out with my magic. I detected a dozen people watching us, but they were only curious and wary over what we were doing, which was to be expected.
“Okay, here’s the deal,” Darwin finally explained. “The school is surrounded by a ward, but it’s not like Hunt’s; all it’s doing is keeping us in and everyone else out. These sigils are the shit. They’re producing a constant stream of magic that is hurting the elementals.”
“But if all magic comes from elementals, how can magic hurt them?”
“How do I put this in average-person-speak? You can talk. You can create sound. However, you can still be hurt by someone screaming in your ear. Think of it in terms of energy. Nature created the elementals. The elementals create magical energy. Paranormals control that energy with their soul. Shifters use it to shift. Vampires use it to thrall. Fae and wizards use it to do their magic. Even psychic magic and witchcraft uses this energy.”
“I already think of magic as energy, so that makes sense. When I use too much magic, I feel drained.”
“Elementals provide that energy and guard the balance of it. If magic is unbalanced, it can lash out at wizards and nature itself. If the unbalance is widespread enough, the world could be torn apart. It would look like the end of the world— freak storms, forest fires, earthquakes, and much more. The elementals do what they can to prevent magic from becoming unbalanced.”
“So far so good.”
“The ward is keeping us and the elementals in. It’s not actually that difficult a spell to do. You couldn’t do it, but someone like Remington could.”
“If it’s not that powerful, why can’t Hunt break it?”
“Defensive magic like that is often easier to construct than it is to break, especially from the outside. If the elementals were stable, we could have it down in under a minute from the inside. From the outside, it’s nearly impossible without going after the person who put it up.”
“So maybe we can stabilize the elementals.”
“That’s the plan. We’re basically going to summon the elementals to each section and away from each other,” Darwin explained. “We need three people at each section— the three people who are best in the school at that element. Meanwhile, the person who stands in the center will absorb the unbalance of the curse.”
“Who do you plan on having on the center?” I asked.
“Dr. Martin. He’s the only one safe from the unbalanced, chaotic energy because he’s not human and his magic isn’t elemental.”
“Where do you want me?”
“To the south.”
“What about me?” Remy asked.
“You won’t be summoning elementals. We need all your focus on the ward. You’re the best person here to take it down.”
Some people would crack under that pressure, but she just nodded. She welcomed the responsibility.
“I’m working on incantations, but in the meantime, we need to get set up.”
We sent the students and teachers to class despite Murphy’s objections so that we could focus on getting the necessary materials together. Staff members who didn’t have students (like Henry, Murphy, and Yuun) helped to gather ingredients and tools.
Fortunately, we had clean, running water back, so I took a quick shower. Despite our urgency, I felt like I was caked in shit and needed a few minutes to process my situation. When I had first been cursed, I was given fifteen to twenty years as long as I was careful and never took off my scorpion. I had faced danger so many times that my impending death wasn’t a shock to me. Then I bonded with Rocky and was given my full life back.
Now that I had a day or two left… it really sucked. I still hadn’t told Remy. If I did, she would do everything in her power to try to save me, and when her efforts failed, she would blame herself. And my last days would be filled with her misery.
I didn’t feel like my time was coming to an end, though. The thought of it was jarring and terrible. I hadn’t made peace with anything. I wasn’t done living. My chest throbbed as if it was reminding me of what would come. Just a week previous, I was perfectly healthy, happy, and solving cases with my girlfriend waiting for me at home.
But that was the problem with the paranormal world… hell, it was a problem with all life; the end could come so sudden and unexpected. I wasn’t unlucky. It wasn’t even unfair. Although I wished to live a long time, I entered the paranormal world (albeit reluctantly) knowing what I was getting myself into. I put myself in danger knowing the risks because the idea of losing my loved ones was worse.
I remembered seeing my mother on the floor, covered in blood. I thought she was dead, and that Astrid had killed her. My mother, my father, and my best friend were lost to me at that moment, followed by Cody. It took two decades before I could open myself up to care for someone again, Marcus being the exception.
I needed someone to protect and he needed to be protected, but even though we were friends, I never expected him to live. That was why I fought so hard to save him that I used up my scorpion’s power; I had changed. Because I could see a future for myself with friends and family, I saw it for him, and he was so damned close. I wouldn’t let him die moments before he was finally freed.
And then I thought of Remy, Darwin, and Henry. I thought of all the children at the school who relied on us. Life meant more to me now than it had when I was first cursed. That was why I felt deprived now that I had days, if not hours to live. If we couldn’t free the school, they would go on and eventually break the curse, but I wouldn’t be around to protect them.
I owed it to them to survive, and there was still a chance to do that; I had to free the school and get to Rocky. This wasn’t the end, merely one of the hurdles I had to overcome. I wasn’t ready to give up on living.
* * *
There were enough ingredients to gather that everyone was doing their part, yet no one said anything about my detour. Remy and I used lake water to fill plastic cups. Fortunately, the lake was already in the water section, to the west of the school, so we didn’t have far to take them. We placed the cups on the sigils. For those on the building, we had buckets to wet the stones.
Yuun and Murphy spread dirt over the sigils in the earth section. Amelia and Darwin set sticks of white candles in the fire section. Ms. Bounds and Mr. Whittaker put sticks of incense in the air section. Henry used silver paint to make sigils throughout the entire school grounds.
Teachers caught onto what we were doing and used their planning hours to gather more correspondences. Once we had the sigils covered, we moved on to filling the spaces between them with everything from colors to stones in order to give these sections a stronger link to the elements.
Everything did not go according to plan. When I tried to go into the Center basement to get supplies, the door wouldn’t open. Then I went back outside, only to find everyone taking cover in the buildings. Lightning struck at Yuun from a sinister cloud forming in the sky.
That was an attack from elementals, and there was nothing we could do to stop it, so we waited it out. It wasn’t as bad as some of the other attacks. When the cloud broke half an hour later, we got back to work.
Unfortunately, that was just the beginning. I
was helping Ms. Bounds spread shells across the water section when my intuition drew my attention to Henry, who was frozen in shock, staring into open space. I set the shells down and went to him. “Are you okay?” I asked.
Slowly, he shook his head. “Can you see her?”
“Who?” I looked, but saw no one unexpected.
“Zoe. She’s standing next to Darwin. Is she a ghost?”
My ghost mark was quiet and I didn’t see anyone next to him. “No.”
“It’s not an illusion.” Familiars saw through illusions.
“Your bond to Langril is broken right now. It must be that, although I have no idea who would make an illusion of your late wife.”
“I’ve got to go.” I didn’t blame him for retreating to the Center.
“Where is he going?” Darwin asked.
“I’ll tell you later.” We had to break this curse so that we could use magic freely again. It bothered me, however, because whatever caused Henry to see Zoe, it wasn’t the elementals to blame.
Ten minutes later, my intuition warned me of danger. The stabbing pain in my chest was expected, but I ignored it. “Get inside!” I demanded. No one argued or questioned me. A few seconds after the last person got into the Center, an earthquake struck.
The initial quake lasted nearly a minute. The instant it stopped, I rushed up the steps and into my room, ignoring the people calling after me. Going upstairs was dangerous. I would never forget the time that a quake tore the dormitories at Quintessence apart while we were all in them.
Between the stabbing pains in my chest was a deeper, duller throb that made it difficult to draw in a breath. By the time I made it up the steps, I had slowed to a meager pace and was bracing myself on the railing. My scorpion was warming from the effort to heal me.
In my room, I opened my trunk and pulled out my elemental sword. Unlike my staff, I didn’t have to hide it, because if anyone touched it with the intention of stealing it or harming someone with it, it would kill them. I initially thought it was a fire sword, but it was much more than that.
There were no certain facts about the elemental sword (or sword of balance as the undine called it). All Darwin could find on it was legend, and some legends were too fantastical to believe. What we could confirm was that it adapted different aspects of elements to create balance and serve our purpose.
When the elementals of air (sylphs) were attacking Quintessence under a curse, the sword called griffins (magical beasts of the air) to help us. Using the purification of fire, it also broke the blood bond between shadow walkers and their powerful master. Although there were many uses of the sword, there were no instructional guides. Instead, I would let my intuition guide me.
After strapping on the harness and slipping the sword into it, I went back downstairs. There were no aftershocks, since the quake had been magic, not the sliding of tectonic plates. “Wait!” Darwin said when he saw my sword. “That sword isn’t exactly easy to control.”
“We don’t have many options.” I went outside.
“I’m going to get Henry!” he called after me.
Remy followed me. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
“Not a clue. This sword was created to balance the elements, though. We know the elementals are attacking because they’re hurting and they don’t understand that we’re not the enemy. I’ve met, helped, or been helped by all of the elementals. If I can calm them for just a few seconds, maybe they’ll tell me how to help them.”
“You realize that breaking the ward might make things worse, don’t you?” she asked.
I stopped and turned to her. “We still wouldn’t be able to use magic, but the elementals would be driven away from the sigils. I imagine this will become a sort of dead zone for magic.”
She nodded. “If the elementals are still capable of leaving.”
“We’ll jump off that bridge when we come to it. If they don’t scatter, at least we’ll be able to.” And I can reconnect with Rocky. “Are you worried?”
She sighed. “Of course I am. Elementals are the most powerful and mysterious beings in this world. Someone was able to trap them here and drive them insane. I don’t have your intuition, and even I know something is going to go wrong.”
“It won’t be easy.”
“I don’t care about that. I’m worried some of us are going to get killed.”
She never spoke this way around other people, not even Flagstone. “Just be careful, okay? You have a tendency to go all-out in everything you do.”
I kissed her and it was great until the ground rumbled again. This was different than the quake, though, and my intuition fired hard, warning of danger. The crunch and grinding stone overcame the growling ground and we turned to see…
A fucking rock monster.
It was like a golem, but made of rough stone. “The elementals are stepping up their game,” I said.
“I need a bigger gun.”
I drew my sword instead of my gun. I knew if I asked Remy to take cover, I would only piss her off. A cold breeze swirled around the sword and I felt my magic respond to it. I forced my breathing to stay slow and calm, even as my heart rate started to pick up again. As the blob-shaped rock monster advanced on us, Remy formed a ward in front of us. Like the one that knocked me out, it was more electrical than she had meant it to be. The monster touched it and it reared back as if in pain, but the shield disintegrated and fused into the creature.
Now it was made of stone and crackling with electricity. It swiped its bulging arm-shaped appendage at us. Remy shot it, but the bullets did nothing. I dropped the sword, grabbed her, threw us both to the ground, and rolled us out of the way. It lumbered forth. I let go of Remy and dived for the sword, which put me right between the legs of the monster. It started to turn and could have easily stepped on me.
“Hey!” Remy shouted. “Over here! Come get me!” The creature jerked before turning its attention to her. After a long moment of apparent confusion, it stumbled towards her. I jumped up, but the pain in my pounding heart made it feel as if an elephant was sitting on my chest. I couldn’t catch my breath and the world spun.
The curse was progressing fast.
Electricity shot from the creature and she barely dodged it. She shrieked. “Stop that thing,” I silently told the sword. My magic flowed into the sword and I let my intuition take over. I knew how to summon fire into it, but that’s not what was needed against the creature. I felt the air element flow into it.
Earth and air were opposing elements. Earth was feminine and receptive, and was used for strength, stability, and imagination. Air was masculine and projective, and was used for concentration, visualization, and reason. I focused my mind and visualized myself somehow defeating stone with the sword.
I wished I had more time, but the stone beast was advancing on Remy again. With its focus on her, I swung the blade and struck the creature’s thigh. The blade glanced off rock harmlessly. It swiped its thick appendage at me and I couldn’t dodge it in time; I went flying back. Fortunately, it hadn’t been an opportune angle for the creature, and it only hurt like hell and knocked the wind out of me rather than killing me in an instant.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t get my feet under me. The world was spinning and I was pretty sure the blow had cracked ribs if not punctured something. The tightness in my chest grew worse. My heartbeat was unsteady.
“Devon!” Remy shouted.
I forced my eyes open— I hadn’t realized I’d closed them— and struggled to get to my feet. I managed to roll onto my side. First, I spotted the sword ten feet from me. It was vibrating and glowing with power. Second, I saw Remy being chased by the monster. It wasn’t fast, but it didn’t have to be; it shot lightning at her.
When I reached for the sword, my left arm couldn’t support me and I collapsed again. I focused on Remy. She was powerful in magic, but that meant nothing if she couldn’t use it.
“Come back here!” I said, attempting to yell. However, my voice came out
barely above a regular volume, and shouldn’t have been heard by the creature.
Yet it stopped.
Encouraged, I added, “I wasn’t finished with you yet.”
“Shut up!” Remy demanded.
The creature didn’t come after me, probably realizing I was already beaten. I reached for the sword again, willing it to come to me by magic. I could have actually made it come to me with magic; I did that kind of thing sometimes, except I didn’t want the only weapon we might have against the creature shooting off into the distance or stabbing me in the chest because magic was still out of control. Instead, I rolled towards it again.
That shouldn’t have been so damned exhausting. The creature was above me and the sword was too far out of my reach.
And then a black blur shot across the field, snatched the sword up, dropped it at my side, and attacked the stone creature. I picked up the sword as Remy joined me, helping me to my feet.
“Let me help. You’re hurt.” She tried to take the sword from me, but it was cracking with energy and tried to shock her.
“It’s in the middle of something and I don’t think it likes passing hands.” Although I didn’t think it would really hurt her because she wasn’t my enemy, it was given to me by the fire elementals, so I was responsible for it. I was responsible for providing it power, and I would suffer the consequences that came of it.
“It’s obviously not going to help us,” she said.
Now that I was on my feet again, I was a little steadier. Not enough to tackle a rock monster, but it was a start. My intuition told me the sword was the answer, though. I studied the enemy as Henry kept it confused. There were gaps in between the stones. “Striking it does no good, but maybe I can stab it between the rocks.”
She looked at me like I was crazy.
I focused on a plan. I needed it on its back… or front. There didn’t seem to be a difference. The rocks in its legs were too tightly compacted, and most creatures couldn’t be defeated by chopping their legs off, anyway. “Remy, you remember that restraining spell you used on Baumwirt?”
