Endless Magic (Stella Mayweather Series Book 6)
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Authors: Camilla Chafer
Endless Magic
Stella Mayweather Series, Book 6
Camilla Chafer
Copyright: Camilla Chafer
Published: April 2016
Publisher: Audacious
ISBN: 978-1-909577-10-7
The right of Camilla Chafer to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.
Visit the author online at
www.camillachafer.com
to sign up to her newsletter and for more information on other titles.
Other books:
Lexi Graves Mysteries:
Armed & Fabulous
Who Glares Wins
Command Indecision
Shock and Awesome
Weapons of Mass Distraction
Laugh or Death
Kissing in Action
Trigger Snappy
A Few Good Women
Stella Mayweather Series (Urban Fantasy):
Illicit Magic
Unruly Magic
Devious Magic
Magic Rising
Arcane Magic
Endless Magic
Contents
Endless Magic
When Stella awakens, the last thing she remembers is being kidnapped by The Brotherhood. Robbed of her magic and memories, she struggles to discover what happened to her and why. She’s not even sure how she escaped until her terrifying memories begin to return.
Stella soon learns she wasn’t The Brotherhood’s only target; and by escaping, she was forced to leave others behind, others who desperately need her help.
Turning to the prophecies she discovered, Stella knows it’s a race against time to find the mythical superwitch who could save them all, according to legend. Yet the divinations are impossibly cryptic. The only clue that might help in her search are the talismans that were distributed among the supernatural factions years ago. Navigating the supernatural world is no easy feat, but Stella has no other choice but to fight for her survival in this explosive finale.
Endless Magic is dedicated to the wonderful readers who rooted for Stella throughout her journey.
Thank you.
You are, simply, magic.
"Stella?"
The name came through a thick fog, black and syrupy, barely audible. I reached for it with my mind, but it fluttered away, leaving me suspended in the dark.
"Stella?" Stronger this time, and more urgent. Again, I reached for it, knowing somehow it was my name being called. Someone was calling me. A male voice, sure, but I couldn't comprehend who it might be and why I couldn't see him. "Stella? Can you hear me? I think she's waking. Stella?" he asked again, his voice growing stronger now. Something touched my wrist, something warm. A hand. The fingers tightened, but it was reassuring, not frightening. I wanted to reach for him, but I couldn't make my limbs work.
My eyelids were stuck together by the syrupy fog, although I managed to blink. My lids resisted until a little chink of light appeared, the tiniest tunnel in this miasma. Focusing on that tiny sliver of light, I struggled to expand it, my eyes opening slowly until I was nearly blinded by the sudden rush of consciousness. Instead of the dark, I found myself enveloped in bright whiteness. No, not all whiteness. A white ceiling. White walls. A cool, white sheet. Then a face appeared above mine.
"You're awake," he said, smiling. There was something familiar about him, something so familiar that my being seemed to reach for him, as if it could call him and draw him to me. Only my arms stayed by my sides, like lumpy weights, against soft fabric. Sobs bubbled up and tears dribbled from my eyes. "Hey, don't cry," he said. "You're safe. You're safe now, I promise. You called me and I found you."
"Evan?" The hoarse whisper came from my throat.
"Yes, it's me."
"Y-y-you found me," I stuttered. Reaching through my body, I sought signs of injury, but felt only a lingering heat. Aside from grazes stinging my skin, there were none. Nothing severe anyway. No internal bleeding, no broken limbs. My knees were bruised, and my knuckles stung. My fingers, the extremities of my physical being, brushed together and I felt the cool metal of Evan's ring, the one he gave me a long time ago during a happier time. I twisted it slightly, feeling the broken shard of the jewel. I must have activated it, I remembered in a brief flash, and he found me. "What happened to me?" I asked, struggling to say the words despite the thickness of my tongue and dry mouth.
Evan stroked the strands of hair away from my cheek. "You don't remember?"
"I..." I stopped, mentally struggling to find an answer. My thoughts were tangled in brief flashes. A scream. Running. Something scraping my skin. The ring. Breaking the jewel and waiting. All were tiny flashes. "Have I been in an accident?" I croaked. "I remember running."
A cup was put to my lips, and a hand held behind my head raised it just enough that I could sip it. I tried clearing my throat, which felt raw.
"No, you were kidnapped."
I frowned, wincing at the pull of skin over my eyebrow. Stitches were holding my skin together. What happened to me? "How?"
"We don't know."
"We?"
"Étoile is here." Evan stepped to one side. Étoile sat in the corner, her body still and poised. Her face bore no emotion. I knew that face. It didn't matter that it was devoid of expression; I'd seen it enough times to know Étoile was worried. Then she was gone, blocked by Evan when he sat on the bed next to me.
"Kidnapped?"
"By Auberon Morgan, arch enemy number one."
"I have a list." My laugh was a hoarse splutter. "I escaped." It wasn't a question. I didn't know how it happened except that I was safe. I had to be, seeing Evan and Étoile were in the room with me. My forehead tightened as I forced my mind to work. Auberon came to my door and I opened it for him, never expecting someone so evil to literally knock at my door.
"You did," Evan confirmed.
"And I activated the ring." Again, not a question. A statement. I touched the broken jewel again, knowing I was right.
"Also true."
Struggling onto my elbows, my body's functions returned to me after the initial paralysis. I felt like I awakened from a very long sleep. Panic filled me as I realised exactly what Auberon standing on my porch meant. "You have to find Auberon and stop him! He slipped through the defences placed around my house! He's dangerous."
"We're trying."
"You have to find him now! If he could kidnap me, what else might he do? He can't have gone far! Wilding's only a small town. I have to get out of the hospital. We can still pick up his trail."
Evan frowned at me, his eyes troubled. "Where do you think we are, Stella?"
His question puzzled me, but all the same, I looked around. The white ceiling, the white walls, the elegant furniture. This wasn't the local hospital; it was far too nice for that. It definitely wasn't my rambling, old house in Wilding either, which left one other possibility. I spent some time in treatment rooms like this before and it was anything but a conventional facility. We were in The Amethyst, the establishment where the Witch Council conducted their business, and hundreds of miles from my last memory, which was standing in the doorway of my home.
"Why did you bring me here? We need to go to my house. We might be able to trace Auberon from there," I said, my voice fueled with urgency as I tried to sit up while simultaneously pushing back the sheet. Someone apparently dressed me in soft jersey pyjamas, but my feet were bare. I peered at the floor for shoes and tried not to land on my head as the movement pushed me off balance.
Evan caught me, but didn't lower me onto the pillows. Instead, he glanced over his shoulder to Étoile although neither said anything.
"What? What is it?" I asked as he held me. Fatigue washed over me. I wanted to rest my head on his shoulder and absorb his heat, not just to chase away the shivers, but also to feel his reassuring arms around me. Yet I couldn't. We were just becoming friends again. How could I ask for something so familiar, and so much more than friendship? I knew he felt it the moment I stiffened, suddenly uncertain, but he didn't let go. The hand on my back didn't move, nor did the one at the nape of my neck, but the feeling between us shifted. "Evan?"
Evan looked down at me with troubled eyes. "What's the last thing you remember?" he asked.
"I..." I started, then stopped, frowning again. The memory of activating the ring was vague and incomplete, barely more than a flash. I must have been reeling from whatever magic Auberon hit me with. No, not Auberon. Georgia Thomas was there! She was laughing. "I remember Auberon on the porch and Georgia behind him. I was on the phone with you! Then... nothing. I don't know. I think they knocked me out somehow."
Again, Evan turned to Étoile and nothing audible passed between them. Finally, Evan turned back to me. "That's your last memory?" he said. "You're certain?"
I nodded. The shivering stopped, and the warmth infusing me felt all too familiar. Yet his words commanded my thoughts. I was missing something. "Yes. What's wrong? I know there's something wrong. Were you looking for me? How long did it take you? Hours? A day?"
Evan sucked in a breath. "Two months. Stella, you've been missing a good two months."
Chapter Two
Magic coursed through my veins in blind fury, nearly exploding from me. I barely registered the windowpane cracking from one end to the other as hands were placed firmly on my shoulders.
"Stella, look at me."
I struggled to think beyond the magic, squelching my anger and fear, now bristling across my skin. "Evan?" I murmured, fighting for control, knowing it was he that buffeted my magic with some kind of bubble. I wanted to resist it, or push it to one side, but another feeling tempered that one. What was I doing?
"It's me," came Evan's comforting voice. "Stella, you need to relax. You're breaking things. You have to control your magic. Remember,
you
control
it
. It doesn't control you." His hands moved from my shoulders, then a palm rested on my forehead. Using his presence as my anchor, I pulled my magic inwards. When it subsided, and I could no longer feel its energy dancing through every vein, my muscles collapsed, utterly weakened. Evan wrapped his arms around me, holding me close, and I nestled my forehead against his shoulder, knowing instinctively that the heat I felt came from his rescue. When Evan released me, my eyes finally adjusted and I could focus properly again. Gone was my fear, replaced by a calming, cocoon-like whiteness.
"Why am I so exhausted?" I muttered, yawning.
"I don't know."
Étoile walked around the bed, gently perching at the end. She folded her hands in her lap, staying calm and steady as always. I wondered how she did it. How she always managed to maintain that cool manner in the face of everything. How could I have been gone two months? "I suspect they used some kind of magic to weaken you. You must have used all your strength to escape, and then this episode... It will take at least a day or two for you to regain your strength. Maybe even a week before you’re fully you again," Étoile told me.
"A week? Evan said I already lost two months of my life." The magnitude of it hit me then, far more so than when Evan first told me. I thought I was missing hours, and he said weeks. Where could I have been for those two months? What did I see? What did they do to me? And why did it take me so long to escape? I grasped for any memories of the event, finding nothing but blank voids where they should have been.
"A week is nothing compared to two months," said Étoile, tipping her head to one side, as if considering me sympathetically. It was hard to tell. "You need to rest. You can't do anything in the state you’re in."
"But..."
"No arguments, Stella. You must rest," she continued, still in the gentle voice, but clearly expecting to be obeyed. I felt too weak to argue.
"But we need to find where I was being kept," I pressed despite the fatigue.
"We're working on it."
"How?" I looked from Étoile to Evan, wishing I could interpret their silent glances. "The ring," I guessed. Struggling onto my elbows, I pushed back the sheets, attempting to swing my legs over the side of the bed again, but the same strong hands grabbed me, forcing me to recline. I couldn't fight back; I wasn't even sure I wanted to as the pillow beckoned me seductively. "You can track where I've been via the ring. When I activated it, you came to get me." Another thought hit me. If I sent Evan a signal, I had to have sent it from somewhere that was traceable. "You must know where I was being held."
"Not exactly," said Evan. "It enabled me to pinpoint your location and pull you out of there. Like a remote shimmer."
"My skin feels so hot, like the way it does when you transport me."
"It's a similar thing so it feels the same. The heat will wear off soon."
"But you can trace me that far?" I persisted.
Evan nodded. "We'll do the trace, I promise. So far, I only know the location from when you activated the ring. It's unlikely that was where you were being held."
"Where did you find me?"
"In an empty field. There was nothing for miles around. I went back and looked around after you were safe. I couldn't stay there unarmed any longer without knowing the situation."
"I'm safe and I'm okay. At least, I think I am. What are you waiting for?" I asked as they shot another indecipherable glance at each other.
Étoile answered. "We were waiting for you to regain consciousness. We were hoping you could tell us something about what happened to you. I insisted Evan return. I didn't want to lose him in an ambush."
I gulped. Étoile was right. Who knew what kind of plan Auberon had? A worrying thought sprang into my head: what if I didn't escape, and Auberon just released me to use me as bait? Anyone who came for me could have been killed! "There's nothing. I can't remember a thing. Two months? Really?" I paused, gasping, realising there were no answers no matter how many times I asked.
"Really," said Étoile, adding, "we were all worried sick." She stopped at a knock at the door, and got up to answer it. When she came back, Gage was with her. His hair was shorter, and his beard was shaved off. He looked younger and more tired. The darkness under his eyes told me he hadn't slept well in a while.
"Hey," he said simply, glancing in my direction, his eyes taking everything in. "Glad you're okay."
I mustered a weak smile. "Hey."
Étoile got up, moved around the bed, and reached for the bag she left on the sofa. When she turned back, she had a map in her hand and a crystal on a short silver chain. I'd used such a device before when I was searching for missing people. It worked, but only under certain circumstances. "Can you find the place you were held?" she asked me.
"I can try."
"Just narrow the location while I work on the mark your magic left. Together, we might be able to triangulate the exact location."
The crystals were a simple location diviner and although it wasn't easy to clear my head and focus, I tried hard, attempting to get the slightest inkling of where I might have been held, or some kind of clue. Naturally, memories would have made that task easier. When I felt the most receptive, a sense I didn't even try to rationalise, I allowed the crystal to drop from my palm, wrapping the chain around my fingers. I closed my eyes, gave the crystal a little swing and waited. Barely seconds later, there was a small tug and the crystal pulled down. I allowed it to drop softly against the map, marking the point with my finger. "Here."
Étoile, Evan and Gage leaned forwards. "That's less than a hundred miles from here," said Gage. "I don't know the area and I don't think we have any local wolves there."
"They probably picked it for its isolation," said Evan. "It's around five miles from where I found Stella. Étoile?"
"I'll get a team together."
"I'm coming too." This time when I swung my legs off the bed, my feet hit the floor before Evan caught me by the shoulders.
"No, you're not," he said, gripping me tightly. "You've been through a horrible ordeal. We don't even know how bad it was yet."
"I'm fine. I'm not even injured. Just a little sore and tired." A yawn betrayed my words, showing exactly how tired I was. It was a good thing he couldn't see how weak my knees felt. Without his support, I wasn't sure I could stand upright much longer.
"Stella, your magic was suppressed to an unbelievable level when I brought you here two days ago. It was so weird. If I didn't know you, I would have assumed you were mortal," he told me in a low voice.
I frowned at his words. "I can't have been that depleted unless they did something to me when they kidnapped me."
"Yes, when they kidnapped you
two months ago
. Whatever it was, it lasted until just before you came around. Maybe they did something to you repeatedly."
It dawned on me: the concern, and the hospital-style room. "You think they did something that could be permanent? I can feel my magic."
"But you're not fully controlling it," he said, his eyes cutting to the damaged window with its thick crack feathering into smaller broken veins. "It's like you're not quite yourself."
"All the more reason to find them!" I protested as Gage walked to the door. I could barely see him past Evan, whose body was blocking me from the rest of the room. Gage's hands were stuck in his pockets, his head low, and he looked horribly uncomfortable.
Evan gave me a gentle push back onto the bed before standing back. He was dressed to go: black jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt with the cuffs pushed up to his elbows, and a thick, black jacket. "We will, but you stay here and rest."
I looked to my friend for support. Étoile knew I was more than capable, and that I could handle myself. Didn't my escape prove that? "Étoile?" I pleaded, knowing even as I did that it was useless.
"No."
"But..."
"No, it's not safe," said Étoile, moving to stand with Evan. "Until we know what they did to you, you're not going anywhere. It's for your own safety, Stella, so no arguments. I mean it. Evan and Gage will check out this place along with a team from the Council."
I sank back onto the pillow, the frustration hitting me like an avalanche. Despite my annoyance at not being able to help, I knew realistically that Étoile was right. Somehow, Georgia either restricted or actually stripped me of my magic, rendering me powerless. Learning that it lasted for two days until I awoke, though, was even more worrying.
It didn't take a genius to guess what worried Étoile: what, exactly, did Georgia do to me when I was unconscious after my capture? Was it something that would leave me vulnerable and unable to defend myself against her in the future? If that were the case, I would be unreliable, at the very least, in the field. Maybe even here in The Amethyst! If Georgia tampered with my magic, she could leave me a virtual prisoner. There was no way I could leave The Amethyst and feel safe, and no way I could stay there and jeopardise everyone else’s safety... and mine.
"You'll tell me when you get back?" I asked, conceding defeat. What else was I to do? Barge my way onto a mission with a powerful daemon and a werewolf, and try to get past the Council president? It was bound to happen without me no matter how much I protested.
"Of course," said Étoile, but I wasn't convinced. My hands were tied. There was nothing for me to do if they were suspicious about what happened to me. All I could do was be hyper aware of myself in case something
were
wrong, and hope nothing was. Patience, however, was never my strong point.
"Okay," I agreed because there was no other option.
"I'll be back soon," said Evan, reaching over to squeeze my shoulder. "Stay put and rest."
Gage simply nodded, barely turning, and the three of them left, leaving me to look around the sterile room.
I didn't know what I should do alone, so for a little while, I laid my head on the pillow and looked up at the ceiling, my thoughts still in a whirl. It seemed bizarre that magic could have knocked me out for so long, and deeply worrying that Georgia discovered some way to circumnavigate my internal defences. If she could catch me off guard so easily, could she do it anytime? To anyone? She had two months to master stealing my magic. Perhaps that was enough practise to aid her against anyone.
I sat up so suddenly, I almost lost my breath.
Could the team Étoile sent be walking into a trap?
The timing of my magic returning was coupled with the discovery of where I'd been held captive. It seemed too neat, too easy.
Pushing the bed covers back, I swung my legs out of bed, my feet landing on the cold floor. I needed to get to Étoile to warn her. The flimsy jersey rubbed my knees as I shuffled woodenly, my muscles aching, to the end of the bed.
I wasn't going anywhere in this
, I decided, hunting for my clothes. I found them folded in a small pile on the couch, and felt strangely reassured that they were the last clothes I recalled wearing. They'd been laundered recently, and there were some small repairs in the top that I didn't remember. I pulled the pyjama t-shirt off, tearing the monitor pads from my chest as I tugged the sweater over my head.
"Going somewhere?" asked a female voice.
"I have to get to Étoile," I said, without turning around as I zipped my jeans.
"I have orders to keep you here."
"Not going to happen," I replied, turning around, then stopping as I saw my old friend. "Seren? How long have you been here?"
"Since yesterday, and it’s fortunate that I came. What did you get yourself into? We've been so worried."
"The usual... kidnap... escape... possibly battling evil. I don't know." I leaned against the bed, breathing hard after the exertion.
"That old chestnut." Seren looked amused, but it quickly gave way to worry. "That doesn't mean I'm going to let you out of here. Étoile told me to watch over you. Can you imagine what it did to me when your heart monitor went dead?"
I glanced at the sticky pads I dropped onto the bed. "That's what those are for?"
"Yes! Stella, you had us so worried. Étoile told me you collapsed right after you got here; and then you didn't wake up for so long. We still don't know what happened to you!"
"Auberon..." I started.
"I know. I heard. They're dealing with it. You should return to bed."