“When did you see this?” I asked. “After you pulled the map from my safe?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve already been warned. Pulou told me when he gave me the assignment. That’s why he gave it to me.”
“My magic is adaptive, but I’m not sure I will be able to protect you all the way,” Warner murmured.
“Good thing that isn’t your job,” Kandy said snarkily. She held up her arms to display her cuffs and looked at Warner as if he was a massive moron.
I stifled a laugh and ended up snorting like a pig instead — so not sexy.
Kandy mimicked my snort three or so times and then laughed her ass off.
“Pulou wants us to check in,” I said, attempting to maintain a serious tone against Kandy’s peals of laughter. “We’ll see the treasure keeper, then figure out what’s going on.”
Warner didn’t answer.
I looked at Kandy and raised an eyebrow.
She smirked at me, then rather mournfully said, “Fortress probably nixes the bikini idea, hey?”
I laughed. “The bigger issue is getting back to the nexus.”
Then, as if I’d said the magic words, a portal opened behind me.
∞
As I stepped through the golden magic of the portal with Kandy death-gripping my left hand, I realized I was leaving Seattle and Kett behind, without figuring out what the vampire was doing there or why he was following Wisteria. I ignored my immediate concern for the reconstructionist. She was a big girl and well versed in the Adept world, unlike me. Plus, Kett wasn’t evil. Just … morally challenged. Though I felt like a heel even admitting that to myself. Kett’s business was Kett’s business.
Kandy’s cuff kept zapping me with tiny electrical shocks whenever it came into contact with the skin of my wrist. It was like getting poked by some obnoxious kid in school. Poke. Hey, pay attention to me. Poke. Hey, why do you think the far seer thought Kandy needed extra strength? Poke. Hey, I thought you were tired of walking into unknown situations and having information withheld …
Except no one was withholding information. No one actually knew what was going on. And they still expected me to pull this hunt off.
Well, that was a first.
“How did you know to open the portal?” I asked Pulou two seconds after Kandy and I stepped into the nexus. I was seriously hoping we were psychically linked because that would be super cool and useful.
The treasure keeper was hustling toward the door that led to the territory of Australia — my father’s territory — but he paused to look back at me.
“The far seer’s gaze still rests on you,” he said. He sounded as heavy about it as I felt. He lifted his eyes to look at Warner as he walked through the portal behind me.
It was exceedingly daunting — crushing, actually — to go from no expectations to being under the gaze of the far seer. As in, I was never going to do anything more than run a cupcake bakery, but suddenly I was hunting treasure referred to as the ‘instruments of assassination’ where ‘dragons dare not tread.’
The portal behind us snapped shut before the treasure keeper spoke again. “I didn’t know that the task I set before you was so potentially perilous, alchemist. But I must ask you to continue forward.”
I nodded. “Does Chi Wen … does he …” I couldn’t bring myself to finish the question about my own mortality, or the mortality of my companions. It had been obvious since Warner showed up in the alley that this wasn’t some ordinary trinket collection. But it freaked me out to think I was walking some path that had already been foreseen by the far seer, and that what I was doing was important enough for him to notice from among all the things he must see in his day-to-day existence.
Pulou cast his unusually stern gaze across us all — first Kandy, then Warner, then back to me. “There is another who also sees.”
“Rochelle,” I whispered, thinking of the charcoal drawings stuffed in the sketchbook that Rochelle — the Oracle who’d sought haven from Blackwell with the pack last January — carried with her everywhere. A sketchbook I’d had no desire to even glance inside. That sketchbook, and whatever it contained, was at least one of the reasons Chi Wen had begun mentoring Rochelle.
“We don’t want to know,” Kandy blurted.
I nodded in agreement.
Pulou looked to Warner for confirmation.
“The fact that the far seer’s gaze is upon us speaks of the significance of this mission,” the sentinel said. “And is reason enough to continue.”
“It’s what Chi Wen doesn’t see that is always a concern,” Pulou said.
“That’s okay,” I said with more bravado than I felt. “I prefer it that way. At least then no one knows what’s going on, and it’s not just me … in the dark …wallowing in fear and distrust.”
Pulou raised his eyebrow at me.
Yeah, I could have kept that last part to myself.
“I think I was in your coat earlier,” I said. “Just in case an alarm got set off or something. That was me.”
“Pardon me?” Pulou asked. His English accent always made it difficult to tell if he was pissed off or not. “My coat?”
I fished the gold and gem banded artifact out of my satchel and held it aloft.
“It’s the key to the map,” Kandy said proudly. “I figured out that part, but Jade pulled it out of the tattoo.”
“You retrieved this from the tattoo?” Pulou asked. He stepped forward to look closer at the key, but didn’t attempt to touch it. “You’ve unlocked the map?”
“Partly.”
“I must return now,” Pulou said with a nod toward the door that led to the territory of Australia. “I can’t allow your father to have all the fun.”
He meant guardian ‘fun.’ AKA vanquishing demons and saving the world. Whatever had been going on in my dad’s territory a couple of days ago was obviously still happening.
Pulou looked at Warner. “You’ll go as far as you can?”
“I will.”
“Shall I open a portal?” Pulou said. It was obvious he wasn’t happy about leaving us, but that he felt like he didn’t have another choice.
“We’re heading to a grid point,” Warner answered.
Pulou turned away before I could mention I didn’t actually know anything about the grid point that led to the Bahamas. I uncovered the location of the portal in Scotland while researching Blackwell. So I could try to find this one the same way … except the books in the library had a tendency to move around.
Pulou opened the door to Australia and disappeared into the golden portal magic. Kandy shuffled her feet, and I could feel Warner staring at me … waiting on me. I guessed it was time to go.
I turned around to face the door that led to every grid point portal in North America, which happened to be the territory of Haoxin, the youngest of the guardian nine.
I stood staring at the native-carved cedar door, weighing my options. Warner, who stood to my left directly in the line of my vision, felt very tall all of a sudden. Brick wall-like, actually. Kandy shifted on her feet behind my right shoulder.
“So, here we go off to the Bahamas,” I said.
“Sun, sand, and … some sort of girly drinks,” Kandy said gleefully. Though I could hear her gritting her teeth from the intense magic of the nexus. “Margaritas in Mexico … Mai Tai’s in Hawaii …”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, wolf,” Warner said. “Why are you hesitating, alchemist? This deliberation seems out of character.”
“I’ve never been to this grid point,” I said. “I also feel … unprepared.”
“You have your knives and necklace. The wolf has her strength and claws,” Warner said. “And I’m a dragon. What more do we need to prepare?”
“Proper shoes?” I said snarkily.
Kandy snorted.
Warner looked down at my 8 Eye boots, then raised his eyebrow. “Shall I lead?” he asked. The sentinel hel
d his hand out to me, elbow bent and palm up. An offering.
Kandy wove her fingers through my right hand. “Go, go, go,” she muttered through clenched teeth. The excitement of the adventure obviously overrode the pain of the portal passage and the pressing magic of the nexus for the werewolf.
I turned to lock gazes with Warner. I had to tilt my chin much farther up than I thought naturally becoming. The blue starbursts around his pupils were a sharp contrast to the deep green of his irises.
He frowned and glanced down at the hand he still held out to me. “I will not harm you, alchemist. Or the wolf. We are compatriots, are we not?”
I nodded, though I had only a hazy idea of what he meant by ‘compatriot.’
Then Warner smiled. He might not have my father’s easygoing charm or Pulou’s booming laugh, but the grin transformed his face, making him more than tempting. He lifted his hand higher and wiggled his fingers.
Tempting was exactly what he intended to be.
I shook my head at my hesitation, and — after urging my necklace to amp up its shielding — I placed my hand in Warner’s.
Without another word, he reached over and opened the door before us. Kandy gasped as the golden magic flooded around us. Warner stepped through, tugging at my arm only lightly before I followed.
As always, I stepped into the blinding magic with no sense of space or grounding. This time, I also had no idea where we were going to end up. I blanked my mind, just in case the portal picked up on my ignorance over Warner’s direction, and willed myself to also not think of the first and last time I’d stepped into a portal without direction.
That time, I’d ended up in the dragon nexus with a demon crushing me.
I took a second step. Warner’s grip was firm on my hand. His skin was even warmer than the portal magic, and his black-forest-cake magic teased my taste buds. The sentinel bothered me … put me on edge. I didn’t like being afraid of anything. I didn’t like being afraid of myself, specifically my desires. My hormones had driven me into a pile of pain and trouble over the past year, and Warner looked like a bruised ego and wounded heart delivered in a mug of tasty hot cocoa with whipped cream and a cherry on top. So because of that, I would shove those thoughts and feelings far —
The bottom dropped out underneath my feet. I fell — without even having a moment to flail — into cool and very, very deep water.
Warner let go of my hand as the water closed over my head.
Kandy, who was still clinging to my right hand, started dragging me down like a lead weight … a hundred and twenty pounds of lead.
I opened my eyes, feeling the sting of salt water as I did. I was surrounded by blue that thrummed with magic. If I looked up, I could see sunlight glinting on the surface and a trail of air bubbles. Warner was above me, probably with his head above water.
I’d felt this sort of intense natural magic once before, at the grid point portal in Scotland. This magical reservoir was the reason guardians tied their portal system to the grid points. Well, at the points that intersected over land … at least, I’d assumed that to be the case.
Kandy panicked. She wrenched her hand out of mine, still sinking as she began to thrash and scream. More air bubbles streamed by me. She knocked my leg with her hand. Her three-inch claws, manifested in her terror, ripped through my jeans. I tried to grab for her but she was out of reach.
Ignoring my instinct to surface in order to breathe, I twisted, swimming downward after my drowning friend. I’d swum in the ocean my entire life, but I’d never tried to swim down — or while wearing boots — before. Thankfully, the water was warmer than I was accustomed to, and Kandy’s thrashing was slowing her descent.
I grabbed one of the green-haired werewolf’s outstretched arms. This time, instead of fighting me off, she grabbed my wrist in return.
I changed direction, attempting to pull Kandy up. For a moment, we simply hung there suspended, even though I was kicking for all I was worth.
Kandy wrapped her other arm around my waist, and then got both arms around my shoulders, freeing my second hand.
I swam. Black dots obscured my sight as my oxygen-deprived brain started to shut down, and I closed my eyes in order to ignore them. My lungs screamed and I released the air I held, even though I was pretty sure that was the wrong thing to do.
Warner grabbed the back of my T-shirt — and painfully, a handful of hair — and hauled me to the surface.
I gasped, filling my lungs with sweet, fragrant air over and over.
Kandy’s arms hung limp across my shoulders, her head lolling backward. Warner, swimming in place beside us, slammed the palm of his hand between her shoulder blades. The werewolf spewed a lungful of salt water all over me. Then she started coughing.
“Sorry,” Warner said. “I didn’t know about that last step.”
I squinted at him through the glare of sunshine on the vibrant blue water. He was soaking wet, his hair plastered to his broad face. I could see prisms of natural magic everywhere, glinting off the water, the waves, and the droplets on Warner’s face. The early morning sun was low in the sky behind me.
I started laughing. The seawater was salty on my lips — even saltier somehow than on the west coast.
Kandy groaned, then tried to laugh but ended up coughing again.
“Wolves don’t swim,” she croaked.
“I got that,” I said. “Where the hell are we?” I couldn’t see anything but blue water no matter what direction I turned.
“Off the coast of the Abaco Islands, I would guess,” Warner said. “If the Spanish didn’t destroy the land along with their extermination of the Lucayans.”
“Pretty strong words for someone who rips shadow demons apart with his bare hands,” I said, jumping to the conclusion that the Lucayans were the first inhabitants of the Bahamas.
“The Lucayans posed no threat to the invading force. As far as I remember, the Spanish didn’t even want the land.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“Not for me.”
“Dragons aren’t usually so concerned with human history.”
Warner didn’t answer. Instead, he reached out to Kandy, offering his arm. I was surprised when she took it. She divided her weight between us, then started attempting to kick.
“You really can’t swim,” I said. “I’ll have to book you some —”
“Forget it,” Kandy snapped. The wolf was made of steel — literally, judging by the way she’d freaking sunk.
The magic of the portal bloomed above us, spilling light even more deeply golden than the sun. We paddled out of the way, waiting for someone to drop out of the sky.
Instead, a pretty, petite blond poked her head out of the doorway, hovering about three feet above us. Her dragon magic was a spicy combination of sweet, creamy tomatoes with a hint of basil. Only guardian magic was potent enough for me to taste it over the power of the portal. I’d never formally met Haoxin, the guardian of North America. But I’d caught a glimpse of her through the mind-scrambling magic of the nexus the day I pulled a demon through a portal to save my friends. At just over a hundred years old, she was the closest dragon in age to Drake and me that I knew of. Not that I was considered a dragon by everyone.
Haoxin scanned the horizon, then spotted us in the water below her sandaled feet. “Oh, it’s you, alchemist,” she said. Her accent was light-touch American. I would have guessed Californian if pressed, but her silky, straight blond hair and perfect tan might be cause for bias on my part.
“Guardian,” I answered, as dignified as I could be when paddling around in the middle of the Caribbean Sea with a green-haired werewolf clinging to my shoulder. “May I introduce —”
Haoxin’s gaze shifted to Warner and she smiled. This reminded me that she was also known by a secondary title — ‘reckless and adventurous.’ Guardian magic was divided among the nine by specific gifts — such as my father’s sword — and characteristics. Though why
the attributes of ‘reckless and adventurous’ were an important component of how the nine guardians of the world functioned, I didn’t know.
“Hello, sentinel,” Haoxin said. I swore her eyes were suddenly bigger, bluer, and her lips fuller, pinker than they had been moments before. I was fairly certain her guardian magic didn’t have anything to do with shapeshifting, though, so maybe I was just seeing her through envy-tinted glasses.
“Greetings, guardian,” Warner said affably. His grin was effortless and welcoming. Charming, even.
Lovely.
“We seem to have made a misstep,” the sentinel continued.
Haoxin laughed softly, the sound raining down over we peons in the water like perfectly tuned chimes. “Shall I help you up, sentinel?”
“Thank you, but we must proceed.”
A light wind moved across the sea to dry the droplets on my cheeks. This breeze caused Haoxin’s blue silk dress to dance around her smooth, unblemished thighs, but she ignored it to point over our heads. “Land is that way, my friend.”
“Thank you, guardian.” Warner gave a nod that had to take the place of a bow, seeing as he was still treading water. He reached for Kandy and the werewolf wrapped her arms around his neck from the back.
Haoxin lost her sunny smile as she watched this exchange. Then she looked at me. “Alchemist,” she said. But then instead of continuing to speak, she bit her lip and glanced back into the portal.
“You will find the island friendly,” she finally said, though I got the sense she was editing herself. “Though I don’t usually use this portal when I walk here.”
“Yeah, I can see why.”
Haoxin grinned fleetingly in a rote response to my sarcasm. “I hadn’t thought … I would go with you on this adventure, alchemist, but I understand you tread where I may not. It bothers me that there is such a spot in my territory. Do you have your knife?”
“Yes, guardian.”
Haoxin grinned again, her seriousness dissipating beneath a gleeful, almost mischievous, anticipation. “It’s a brilliant blade. Wield it well. I look forward to the tale and … the cupcakes I’m told I’ve been missing.”
Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic (Dowser Series Book 4) Page 13
