Heart of Stone (Alice Worth Book 4)

by Lisa Edmonds

  “Excellent.” I rubbed my hands together. “I love it when a plan comes together.”

  Sean tilted his head, frowning. At the same time, Haggar’s voice came over our earpieces. “Down!”

  We hit the ground and lay flat. At first I didn’t know what had spooked Haggar and Sean, but then I heard the telltale sound of helicopter blades. Moses was arriving by helo.

  “Didn’t call that one, did they?” Ben muttered beside me.

  We lay still as the helicopter flew low overhead, its light sweeping over the trees before moving across the empty field toward the brothel. The helicopter slowed, circled, and then landed on top of the hill between us and the house.

  Haggar and his team were conferring, but I couldn’t tell what they said. They were on a different channel from the rest of us. I wondered if they were debating whether to try and take Moses out now before he got into the house.

  I couldn’t see who got out of the helicopter from this angle, but the helo’s rotors slowed as the pilot shut down the blades. It looked like Moses planned to stay a while in the house.

  My heart raced and my breathing grew shallow. The man who had tortured and imprisoned me for twenty years stood a few hundred yards away. I fought to keep my magic in check and not let it spark on my hands or shake the earth beneath me.

  Sean wrapped warmth and comfort around me—and resisted when I tried to push it back. He’d never done that before.

  He reached out and touched my hand. “You are not alone,” he told me, his eyes glowing softly.

  I breathed deeply. “Thanks,” I murmured.

  Haggar’s voice spoke in my earpiece. “Murphy went inside the house,” he reported. “Hold in place until we have confirmation the dealer has arrived.”

  The minutes crawled by as we waited. Finally, just as my watch read eleven thirty, Haggar spoke again. “Two vehicles are arriving. We have eyes on the dealer and his bodyguards. They are approaching the house.” A long pause. “They’re inside.”

  “Ten minutes,” Nora said in my ear, her voice startling me. “Give them time to get settled in, and then we’ll move.”

  “Copy that,” Haggar said.

  Another interminable wait. As Sean and Ben invoked their protection amulets, my mind conjured up disastrous possibilities. What if my plan for breaking the wards failed? What if I broke the wards, but I couldn’t protect Sean and Ben? What if Nora and Tomás couldn’t contain Moses’s fire? What if Moses got away? The more I tried to stop imagining worst-case scenarios, the more I came up with.

  Finally, Haggar directed us to get up and move closer to the edge of the trees. I took the backpack from Sean as we grouped up.

  “We’ll take the perimeter guards out first,” Haggar reminded us in undertone. “As soon as they’re down, Ms. Worth will break the wards. At her signal, we’ll clear your way to the primary and secondary entrances and retreat to the rally point I indicated on the way in.” He looked at me. “If you signal that you can’t break the wards, we’ll go to Plan B.”

  “Got it,” I said.

  The Court mage, whose name I didn’t know, tied a spell crystal on a leather cord around the wrists of the four mercs. “This will last for a half-hour unless you take it off,” she told them. “Don’t come into contact with the house wards while wearing those or everyone will know where you are because the wards will nuke you.”

  They nodded.

  The mage touched the crystal on Guy’s wrist. “Abscondo.”

  Air magic flared and he vanished.

  She invoked the obfuscation spells on Cody and Belger, and then finally Haggar. I heard and saw nothing, but I assumed they were on their way unseen across the field toward the house to take out the perimeter guards.

  I crouched down with Sean at my side. Malcolm was behind us, his chilly presence a comfort near my shoulder. As we waited for the snipers to tell us the exterior guards were down, I breathed deeply in through my nose and out through my mouth, clearing my mind and preparing for the task at hand. It was far more difficult than I thought it would be to put aside my feelings and memories. My grandfather’s voice seemed to drift on the wind. I shivered.

  Sean opened the backpack and placed the bag of sand on the ground next to me. My heart thudded in my ears.

  A quiet voice spoke in my ear. “Guard one is down.”

  “Copy that,” Haggar said in my earpiece, also quietly.

  Another voice on the comm. “Guard two is down.”

  “Copy,” Haggar said.

  A long silence, then a third voice. “Guard three is down.”

  A moment later: “Guards four and five are down. No other guards in sight.”

  “Copy,” Haggar said. “Go for ward break.”

  I touched my earpiece. “Copy that. Thirty seconds to countdown.”

  “Thirty seconds,” Haggar confirmed. “Standing by.”

  I closed my eyes. It wasn’t necessary for me to do so, but I felt safe under Sean’s watchful gaze and I always perceived wards best when my other senses didn’t interfere.

  The house’s wards seared my senses. I lowered my shields and suddenly their power was everywhere, sizzling on my skin and even in my blood. These wards were powerful—dozens of layers, deadly and merciless.

  I took a deep breath and plunged headlong into the wards like a diver headed for the ocean floor. The analogy wasn’t as far off as it might seem. Pressure built in my head, growing steadily worse as I sifted through the many strands of spellwork, searching for a familiar thread buried deep in the roots of the wards. A few times I sensed myself nearly bumping against a landmine or cascade as I searched for the familiar trace of my grandfather’s magic. It was tempting to move as fast as I could through the wards, but I forced myself to go slow. One false move and I might not just give away our arrival—I might kill myself outright.

  Finally, I found what I was looking for: Moses’s magic, woven in the wards. Hidden from view of the others by Sean, I took a small ritual knife from my pack, pulled up my shirt, and cut three runes quickly into the flesh of my abdomen, away from my tattoos. My blood magic surged.

  I cleaned the knife on my pants and handed it to Sean. I picked up the bag of spelled sand. “A world in a grain of sand,” I murmured.

  I glanced up into Sean’s golden gaze. Like Ben, he wore his spelled collar, with its protection amulets. His wolf amulet hung in the middle, a reminder that his life was in immediate danger and I would have to save it.

  In her vision, Carly had seen trees and broken earth and a gray man made of fire. We were surrounded by trees and somewhere inside that house was a gray man who bent fire to his will. All that was missing was broken earth. I felt another surge of fear, but this time it was for Sean.

  He leaned forward and touched his forehead to mine. Around us, the forest was still and silent. “Take it down, Miss Magic,” he said softly.

  My eyes on his, I touched my earpiece. “Fifteen seconds.”

  “Copy that,” Haggar said briskly. “Fifteen second countdown begins…now.”

  “Go now,” I told Malcolm. “Count it down. Ten seconds.”

  Malcolm vanished.

  I rose slowly, the bag in my hand, my pounding heart marking the seconds as I spooled air magic. I poured the sand from the bag and caught it with my air magic, forming a small, softly glowing sandstorm in midair. The sand was warm and smelled like parchment.

  I reached for the magic in the sand and invoked Carly’s spell. “Disintegrate.”

  The magic in the sand began to pulse. With my air magic, I sent the sandstorm swirling through the air, over the hill, and across the lawn as I mentally counted down to zero.

  On zero, the spelled sand hit the house at the same moment every ghost in the house—or at least every ghost Malcolm had been able to rally to the cause—attacked the wards en masse.

  The wards flared like sunbursts going off in my head. The landmines detonated as the ghosts attacked, but the hidden spellwork and curses had no effect on the
ghosts. Their attack—and Carly’s spelled sand—cleared the way for me.

  I reached for the blood magic spell I’d cut into my belly, grabbed the thread of Moses’s magic in the house wards, and invoked the spell. “Incisura,” I breathed.

  The spellwork ignited and unfurled with a snap like a flag caught in a sudden gust of wind. The blood magic spell sliced through the wards, and where it couldn’t cut them, it left them tattered and shredded.

  The sensation of the wards tearing apart turned my world white and then silent as the sheer power of it overwhelmed my senses. I thought my head might be in danger of exploding as the wave of pressure and pain surged. My legs went out from under me, but I was only marginally aware of being caught and lowered carefully to the ground.

  Through the haze, I heard distant muffled explosions—probably the mercs going through the doors and setting off flash-bangs.

  Slowly, the pain and pressure in my head faded. I opened my eyes and found myself in Sean’s arms, sitting in the dirt. Ben was crouched beside us, his eyes golden. My ears rang from the pain of breaking the wards. Malcolm floated beside Sean.

  “You did it,” Sean said, kissing the top of my head.

  My eyes went to Arkady, standing just behind him. “Tell the Court that I held up my part of the bargain,” I told her. My words sounded a little slurred. “Tell them to release the rest of the nulls.”

  “I already did,” she told me. “The second the wards went down.”

  “We need to move.” I used the tree to get to my feet. I wrapped my hand around my protection amulet, hanging around my neck with the wolf amulet. “Triton.” I felt a surge of water magic through my connection to Malcolm.

  “Yes!” the ghost crowed. “She did it! Alice, can you feel the water around us?”

  I smiled. “Yes, I can. It feels amazing.” More importantly, it felt as though I could use the water—not as well or as powerfully as I could use air or earth, but the ability was there. “Carly, you’re a miracle worker,” I said under my breath.

  Sean turned to Ben. “You ready?”

  The younger werewolf grinned. “Born ready.” He winked at me. “See you later, gator.”

  I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry. “After a while, crocodile.”

  He dropped to his knees. Golden magic surged, pushing me back a half-step as he shifted. Ben’s wolf was gorgeous: tawny brown with dark ears and tail, with a chest that was almost white. The collar fit perfectly on his neck. The wolf walked to Sean’s right side and waited.

  Haggar’s voice came over our earpieces. “Guards are down and all vehicles out front are disabled. Delta team, you are clear.”

  Nora’s response was immediate. “Delta team coming in.”

  “Copy,” Haggar said. “All primary targets are still inside the building.” A pause. “Correction: two primary targets are inside. Target Three is coming out the front and he’s got company. My men are moving out. It’s your show now.”

  Target Three was Stephen Novak, the earth mage turned lieutenant. I wondered who was with him. Kade would stay with Moses, so it had to be someone we weren’t aware was in the house. I supposed we’d find out soon enough.

  Arkady and Matthias had their guns out. Arkady winked at me and chambered a round as she pulled down her balaclava. “Let’s go.”

  We ran across the field toward the house. Haggar jogged past us, headed for the woods with all of his men in his wake. He gave me a nod as he passed. The mercs disappeared into the forest.

  There were a half-dozen black-clad bodies in the grass near the back door: the perimeter guards, all taken down in less than two minutes by Haggar and his team.

  My attention went to the two men walking out the back door of the house.

  “That’s Novak on the left,” Sean said in my ear. “Who’s the one on the right?”

  I got a good look at the other man and my blood turned to ice. I couldn’t remember his name, but I knew what he was. I raised my voice so the others could hear. “The one on the right is a fire mage.”

  Ortiz rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “Excellent.”

  I felt an odd tingle on the back of my neck. A moment later, four large wolves ran around the corner of the house, heading straight for us at full speed.

  Ben’s ears went back and he snarled. Beside me, Sean tensed. “Shifters.” He looked at me, his eyes golden.

  “Go,” I said, my throat tight with sudden worry. “We’ve got this. Be careful. They may be wearing collars with silver spikes.” Both he and Ben wore their amulets that were supposed to protect against silver, but we’d had no way to test them. I wasn’t prepared to take anything on faith, not when their lives were at stake.

  He kissed me hard and looked at my left shoulder. He couldn’t see Malcolm, but he could usually sense the ghost when he was close. “Keep her safe.”

  “You got it,” Malcolm said.

  Sean went to his knees beside me, his joints popping as he shifted in a powerful surge of golden shifter magic. His wolf was enormous, almost a third bigger than Ben’s. The wolf nuzzled my hand for a moment and then both of them took off across the lawn to intercept the incoming wolves.

  As much as I wanted to watch to make sure Sean would be all right, I couldn’t lose focus on the mages approaching us. I had to trust that he and Ben would hold their own, even against four opponents.

  As the wolves tore into each other, I turned on Nora. “An unexpected fire mage and now shifters. Where did you people get your intel on who was in the house, the walls of a public bathroom?”

  She glared at me. “You and Malcolm take Novak. Tomás and I will deal with the fire mage. Garrett, watch for an opportunity to null one or both of the mages if you get the chance. You two,” she added, addressing Arkady and Matthias. “Stay clear of the mages. Watch for more guards and let us focus.”

  Arkady and Matthias moved back and took up positions where they could watch for any guards who might try to flank us.

  I risked a glance to my right to check on Sean and Ben. To my surprise and relief, two of the other wolves were already down. Sean was circling a black wolf as large as himself—presumably the alpha—while Ben fought a gray wolf. Ben was bloodied, but the gray wolf was limping, one of his hind legs shredded.

  The fire mage’s hands and arms ignited. Ortiz reacted instantly, sending an impressive arc of fire toward both mages. The fire mage and Novak dodged the blast, diving in opposite directions, and the fire mage sent a fireball directly at Ortiz.

  Ortiz caught the fireball and spun it into his own. I was impressed with his skill, though I wasn’t surprised Bell had someone that talented working for him. Ortiz sent the huge fireball back at the fire mage.

  Out of the corner of my eye I caught movement in one of the windows of the house: a flash of gray and a familiar face: Moses, a hundred feet away, looking right out at us.

  I see trees and broken earth and a gray man made of fire.

  “Alice,” Malcolm said in my ear, jolting me out of my paralysis. “What’s the plan?”

  I tore my gaze away from my grandfather and studied Novak as he crossed the yard toward us, green magic coiled around his hands and arms. “He’ll have protective spells but maybe you can get through them. I’ll distract him. See if you can take his head off.”

  “Copy that.” Malcolm went invisible and zipped away.

  To my left, Ortiz and Nora were trading fireballs and blasts of air with the fire mage.

  Novak was now within earshot, so I called out to him. “I’m here for your boss, not you,” I said, spooling earth and air magic around my hands as he approached.

  “If you’ve come for my boss, you’ve come for me.” Novak’s voice was toneless, his eyes hard. He wasn’t the man I remembered from my days in the cabal—not even close. He’d gone over to the Dark Side. “You work for Darius Bell. You know how this works.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t work for Bell. We happen to share a common goal at the moment: eliminating M
urphy.”

  He tilted his head. “So this is personal for you. I can respect that more than if you were just here doing Bell’s bidding.” The magic coiled around his arms surged. “This was still a huge mistake and you’re going to die, but at least you’ll die knowing you tried, so I guess that’s worth something.”

  From my right, I heard a short whine and a yelp that cut off abruptly. I glanced and saw Sean’s wolf standing over the motionless body of the other alpha. Sean’s coat and muzzle were bloody, but he looked relatively unscathed. Ben was already halfway to me, trotting across the yard with only a slight limp. I exhaled.

  Novak smiled. “Your wolf goes first, though.”

  He raised his arms. The earth around Sean and the dead alpha surged up as if the ground were an ocean wave, swallowing them both in less than a second.

  I struck out with my own power, attempting to break Novak’s magic, but Sean had vanished, buried under a literal ton of dirt.

  Trees and broken earth…trees and broken earth…

  “Malcolm, kill Novak!” I shouted and ran for the mountain of overturned earth.

  Earth magic surged. The ground beneath my boots heaved me up and tried to bury me as well. I fought back, pushing Novak’s earth magic away and sending dirt flying in every direction. Our magic collided and a tornado of dirt swirled around me.

  The earth shook and rumbled as the ground pulled Sean even deeper and farther away from me, and from oxygen. I fought to get to where he’d gone under, but dirt filled my nose and mouth and I couldn’t see. I couldn’t tell if I was still above ground or if I’d been pulled under too. I clawed my way through the wall of dirt, choking as it clogged my nose and mouth.

  Suddenly, the rumbling stopped and I felt a powerful burst of magic from somewhere behind me. The storm of dirt fell away, leaving me buried up to my knees in the earth. I coughed and tried to clear the dirt from my eyes so I could see.

  Novak lay crumpled on the ground, looking dazed. Garrett stood over him, earth magic crackling on his clenched fists. Malcolm floated behind him, clearly concerned that Garrett might null him too if he got too close.

  Nearby, Nora dodged another fireball. “Kill him,” she shouted.