by Pat Esden
Henry’s eyes went wide, pleading for help, but he seemed unable to move.
“My point is,” the Shade continued, “simple creatures have simple brains, easy to manipulate.” The vibration of his magic sang in the room, fast and hot, a high-pitched squeal gaining momentum. Henry’s ears went back. His ruff stood up, a low growl vibrating in his throat as his glare homed in on Devlin.
“Stop it!” Devlin shouted, striding toward them, his magic rumbling. “Henry, good boy.”
The Shade let go of Henry’s head—and the dog hunkered down, tail between his legs as he apologetically wormed toward Devlin. The Shade straightened to his full height. “As I was saying, simple brains are easily manipulated. Witches’ brains take more finesse”—he glanced at Athena—“right, my dear?”
Athena nodded her agreement. But the Shade slanted a look toward Chloe, the glisten in his eyes hinting his words weren’t perhaps just about what Athena and he had done to fellow witches; they were also about what he’d done to Athena. Chloe glanced toward Devlin to see if he’d caught the innuendo as well. But he wasn’t paying attention. He had Henry by the collar, dragging him toward the front door.
“Well,” the Shade said, sanding his hands as if readying to move on from the current topic of conversation. He stopped mid-rub, his gaze once again going to Chloe. “What you might want to take away from this small demonstration is that I am capable of teaching you how to cure your worst nightmare. However, the same skills and spells could also be used to create new ones, say for your simple-minded and non-witch friends, if I so desire.”
His eyes remained on hers, as if to burn his point into her soul. She didn’t look away and—beneath the raw terror that his words had inspired—a pulse of anger grew, fierce and determined. No one, not even one of the most powerful wizards to ever walk this earth—or his shade—was going to threaten her friends like that and get away with it. No way in hell.
Abruptly Merlin’s Shade turned away from her, the air seeming to lighten as his attention went to where Devlin was returning from letting the dog out.
“Now that he’s gone,” Devlin said, “maybe we can get on with the healing?”
The honesty and concern in Devlin’s voice stole a measure of Chloe’s anger and fear. But she reminded herself that she couldn’t afford to be stupid, especially when it was a certain sexy feeling just south of her belly that kept insisting she should trust him.
She wriggled forward. “Are you talking about healing my wrist?” she asked. “How bad is it?”
Athena shrugged. “Don’t worry. We have a cauterizing spell that should make it as good as new.”
“You’re not cauterizing any part of my body,” Chloe said, clasping her arm against her body.
“We’ll see about that.” The Shade strode to the bed, snatched her arm, and pulled it away from her body. His grip was so powerful, there was no way for her to resist. He unwrapped the bandage. “Your boyfriend may be a skillful enough witch, but he lacks ability in the healing arts. This whole thing is an untidy mess.”
Devlin stabbed him in the back with a dirty look, his jaw tensing as if he were struggling to keep his thoughts to himself.
“Does this hurt?” The Shade poked the wound with one of his black-tipped fingernails.
Despite being frozen, pain ricocheted up Chloe’s arm. She winced in agony. “Yes! A lot.”
“Hold still,” Athena snapped.
Chloe gritted her teeth and focused her attention on her wrist. An oozing wound gaped across its entire width, swollen and scabless. Maybe it wasn’t a perfect healing job, but Devlin had successfully stopped most of the bleeding, though the Shade’s poking had partly reopened it.
“In the end” —the Shade yanked her arm out straighter—“the outcome of this healing depends on your threshold for pain.”
“That’s not exactly comfort—” she started to say.
But before she could finish, the Shade flicked his fingers, sending a spray of cold magic at her wrist, freezing her arm until she couldn’t even sense the numbness. He glanced at Athena. “Fetch my staff and we’ll get this over with.”
Chloe closed her eyes and sunk down against the pillows, lightheaded and nauseous. A shade was about to heal her. A wielder of dark magic.
“Don’t worry,” Devlin’s voice said, gently. “I promise, nothing bad will happen to you.”
Opening her eyes, Chloe glared at him. He grimaced and slunk up close to the bed, next to the Shade and Athena.
Athena handed the Shade his staff. The amethyst crystal now crowned its head, held firmly in place by a set of claw-like prongs. He rested the head against Chloe’s wrist.
“Naturally, I could do this more quickly by myself. But at least, by allowing everyone to participate, we can turn a botched mess into a teaching opportunity. Now, if you all will focus your magic on the crystal, we’ll begin. Pay attention to the rhythm of my magic, memorize the pattern.”
A flutter of something other than fear took flight in Chloe’s chest. There was one good side to this. With a messed up wrist, she wasn’t much good to anyone, including herself.
She took a deep breath, mixed it with her magic, then focused on the crystal and waited for the next command. She strongly suspected this teachable moment had as much to do with the Shade reserving his own energy and using theirs as it did about teaching healing techniques.
The Shade looked away from the crystal, turning to Athena. “After we’re done with this, I would like to take closer look at those winged monkeys. That witch, Chandler, said she created them out of scrap metal.” He smiled wistfully. “One particularly dull Christmas Eve, we animated a suit of armor. It was most amusing.”
Athena’s eyes widened. “You can do that?”
“Of course, though it would be considerably more work than this mundane task.” He cast a hard smile at Chloe. “But the welfare of the faithful members of our Circle comes first.”
Chloe lowered her gaze submissively, expecting him to look away. But his stare intensified until it reverberated inside her skull. She furrowed her brow, building up a wall of magic around her brain, sealing it away from him. Maybe he could feel her resistance. Maybe not. But as much as she wanted her wrist healed, she wasn’t about to sacrifice her brain or will to do it.
His voice deepened. “Those who loan their magic and obedience to our causes shall reap rewards—cures, miracles, powerful gifts.” He broke off his gaze and the vibrations left her skull. He chuckled, but she wasn’t sure if his amusement was at her attempt to resist him or because his plans for using medicine and magic to manipulate humanity filled him with glee. “Needless to say, we won’t give away these gifts for free. There shall be costs—reverence being the first of many.”
He gripped his staff in one hand and laid the other lengthwise. He began to chant, “Flesh and flesh. Knit and mend. Blood to blood. Muscle to muscle. Return as thou were. As thou were meant to be…”
Chloe repeated the words in unison, then she let her magic flow into the crystal and entwine with everyone else’s. As the conjoined magic flooded her wrist, the sensation of cold left her arm, replaced by intense burning. “Knit and mend. Blood to blood. Muscle to muscle.”
She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, willing herself to not feel the pain, to not show the Shade a speck of vulnerability. The squelch and hiss of the magic knitting her wrist closed sounded loudly in her ears, above the sounds of their voices.
Something else occurred to her, something so profound it stole her breath away. If she focused even harder, she could separate out the threads of each person’s magic, sense each of their energies, almost taste them. Hers was not weaker than the rest as she’d assumed. Hers was raw but just as strong as Athena’s or Devlin’s. She sensed a new level of power unfolding inside her, filling her body. Like a slumbering beast uncurling, shaking itself out, getting ready to awaken. Sh
e wasn’t sure what sort of gift it would grow into, but she knew this much: the Shade wasn’t the only thing awakened last night. The ritual had roused something inside her as well.
* * * *
The healing took less than an hour and left Chloe’s wrist perfect, except for a little temporary stiffness and a pale scar.
The Shade draped an arm over Athena’s shoulder. “How about we go see those monkeys now. After that, I wish to meet Chandler’s boy. I like children. They are quite biddable.”
As Devlin tailed them around the corner and toward the front door, Chloe slipped out of bed, retreated into the bathroom, and locked the door. Her suitcase and messenger bag were still on the bench where she’d left them. She yanked on her jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, then got out her phone.
A soft knock sounded on the bathroom door, followed by Devlin’s voice. “They’re gone. I’ll make us coffee.” A second passed before his voice came again. “Chloe, I’m sorry about everything. I’m sorry…about cutting you. I—”
Anger leapt into her veins, making her blood roar. She flung the door open. “You’re sorry? You didn’t even try to hold back.”
“Chloe, calm down.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “No, don’t calm down. I deserve it. But I had to cut you. I couldn’t fake it. Did you want Athena to ask Jessica to do it?”
Her anger subsided, but only a bit. She wasn’t sure why she’d lost control so quickly, other than that she loved being with him and now she hated him for confusing and deceiving her. Then again, he’d jumped down the Shade’s throat about Henry, like he was totally oblivious to the nature of what he was dealing with.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You do know what we awakened, right?”
He looked at her blankly. “Merlin. Why?”
“No, not him—at least not all of him.” She closed her eyes for a second, regaining her composure. Devlin’s voice was too full of truth to be lying. “You figured out that I went through the stone, right?”
“Merlin told us. He knew you willingly sacrificed, but he didn’t seem to trust you. That’s why I was losing my patience with him. That, along with Henry, and…He’s not like I’d thought he’d be. Wise. Compassionate. He’s an asshole.”
“He’s a shade, Merlin’s dark half. Yin and yang. Incredibly dangerous.”
“Shit.” Devlin dropped down onto the edge of the bed, shaking his head as she told him about waking up and leaving her body, about meeting the orb again, how the orb had led her inside the standing stone to where Merlin’s body lay. And when she got to the part about the Shade emerging from Merlin’s body, she shuddered, goose bumps rising on her skin.
“There’s something else.” Chloe rubbed her bracelet hesitantly. It was possible she was wrong. But if she was right…she couldn’t keep this to herself. “Did you notice how Merlin’s speech was really modern, even before his transformation—which is another rather terrifying topic on its own?” And condemning, she thought.
Devlin lifted his head, a confused expression crossing his face. “You’re right. Technically, he should be speaking ancient Welsh or some Celtic language. He’s been asleep for eons.” His mouth fell open. “Oh, I see where you’re going with this. You think he’s been communicating with someone who speaks modern English.”
“Athena’s the only one who would make sense. This plan was her idea from the start. She and the Shade act like they are old friends, like they’ve been involved with each other for a long time already, before tonight.”
He jumped to his feet and paced away from her, toward the living room, shaking his head. “No. It couldn’t be. She wouldn’t. She’s a good person.” He stopped as if frozen, staring blankly out the window.
She went to him and rested her hands on his shoulders. “I don’t want to believe it either. I like your sister. I agree, she’s a good person. But I have been worried about the path she’s led us all down.”
He shook his head. “She’s always been the stable one. The smart one.”
“Smart. Caring. Those attributes don’t mean a person can’t be tricked. You saw how he controlled Henry. Sure he was asleep, but he could have entered Athena’s dreams. Bespelled her somehow. Insinuated himself into her life. He’s a powerful sorcerer’s shade.”
Devlin thumped a fist against his leg. “I can’t believe it. Not Athena.”
“The orb told me to warn you, about danger, not her. It said to protect the Circle. It knows something.”
He spun to face her, jaw clenched. “We don’t even know who the orb is. Maybe it’s in league with Merlin’s Shade, trying to turn us against her.”
Chloe held up her hand, palm flat as if to fend off his anger. “Athena found the crystal, something historians and archeologists didn’t even know existed. Who told her about it? Who helped her find it—and don’t say Jessica and Chandler. They’re smart, but Athena was in charge on that trip to Wales.”
He closed his eyes. A vein pulsed in his tightly corded neck. “I’ve been worried about Athena since before that trip. She hasn’t been herself since early last winter. I—I thought she’d gotten too obsessed with awakening Merlin. I hoped—honestly, I thought we’d fail. Then we could look for different ways to discover cures and she’d relax, go back to her old self.”
Chloe stroked her hand down Devlin’s arm, moving in closer until her chest rested against his. She looked up. “We’ll figure out what’s going on with her. We’ll break the spell or whatever hold he has over her. But first, we need to find a way to put the Shade back where he belongs.”
Devlin smiled down at her, his fingers cupping her chin. “You’re amazing, Chloe Winslow.”
“More like I’m terrified.” She wanted to get lost in his eyes, to let the warmth of his touch turn into a kiss, but she needed to keep her head. She stepped back. “I have to tell you something else, about how the Shade transformed himself. Then we’ll have to gather all the help we can, but I’m not sure who we can trust. There’s Keshari—” She slapped her hands over her mouth as her mind flashed back to the scene at the ritual, to the energy ball Athena flung at Keshari. Keshari crumpling to the ground. The last thing she remembered before the pain from the cut on her wrist stole her senses was Keshari hooking her arms around Matt’s neck as he carried her off—“Dear Goddess, I need to make sure she’s okay. I feel so horrible about her getting hurt.”
Devlin rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Matt said she’s going to be fine.” He blew out a breath. “I wish she’d never shown up there. I feel bad that she got caught in the middle.”
A sick feeling crept up Chloe’s throat. She had to confess. “I’m the one who told her what we were doing. Jessica was right about that.”
Surprise flickered in his eyes, but his tone was quiet. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. She’s the one who decided to come. Right?”
“I suppose. I’m still going to check and see how she’s doing.” Chloe headed back into the bathroom to get her phone out of her messenger bag. Keshari had probably already left a message for her.
Fear tangled with her confidence when she discovered she was wrong. No texts. No missed calls. No messages of any kind. She glanced at the time: seven forty-five. Almost eight hours since she’d last seen Keshari.
She typed a quick message.
Hey. I feel bad about last night. How are you doing?
“She’s probably sleeping off the effects of the magic,” Devlin said. “She was pretty dazed.”
“I don’t know. I have a bad feeling about this.” Chloe double-checked her messages, though she knew full well that she wouldn’t see anything new. “Did Matt specifically say she got home all right?”
A worried look passed over his face. “No, but I trust Matt.” He scrubbed his hands over his head. “Matt was supposed to watch the perimeter while we did the spell, though. He could have left her in his truck to rest—”
<
br /> Chloe waved him into silence. “Can we just stop speculating for a minute? There are enough bad vibes floating around as is.” She set her phone on the edge of the sink, then held her arm out to him. “Can you undo my bracelet? I’ve got an idea.”
“What are you thinking?” he asked, undoing the clasp.
“I’m going to use my pendulum to locate Keshari. If she’s home, then we’ll wait for her to get back to us. If she’s not, then at least we’ll know where she is.” She took the bracelet from him and pointed out the crystal charm. “It’s tiny, but it’s never let me down. All I need is it and an aerial map of the city. I can get that on my phone. It’ll work. I’m sure of it.”
Devlin started toward the living room. “I’ve got a better idea. Let’s use my laptop. Bigger map, better resolution.”
While she settled down on the couch, he put the laptop on the coffee table, brought up an aerial map. “How’s that?”
“Great.” She pushed the laptop’s screen as flat as it could go, then she held the bracelet so a length of chain and the crystal dangled freely. “Once I locate the general area where she is, I’ll need you to enlarge the map. Don’t worry about my concentration, just keep enlarging it every time the crystal stops swinging and starts to circle.”
Breathing deep, Chloe cleared her mind and brought up an image of Keshari. Two more breaths and she reached into her core where the new level of power had awakened. She drew it upward, letting it surge hot and fast, then flow down her arms, through her fingers, and into the bracelet and crystal. “Show me where Keshari is,” she murmured. “Guide me to her.”
As the crystal began to swing, she moved it over the laptop screen, fanning from the city’s old North End—where Keshari lived with her parents—toward the complex, Oakledge Park, and the Earth Clock.
When she reached the park, the crystal began circling. Devlin enlarged the image, tree tops and the stones of the Earth Clock now visible. Chloe swore under her breath. Keshari hadn’t made it home.
She closed her eyes, focusing all her energy. “Show me.”
