Endless Magic (Stella Mayweather Series Book 6) (18 page)

"Getting darker," she said, glancing back to me. "I don't see anything."

"That's good. Here, I brought you this."

"Thanks."

"Shout if you need anything."

"Sure thing," she said, ripping open the sandwich packet as she turned back to the window.

I gave my last food packet to Marcy, the shapeshifter acting as sentry on the north window before walking back to Evan. "Nothing so far," I told him. "All quiet."

"Good. Forty-eight minutes to sundown. We'll switch shifts soon."

"Where do you want me?"

"Nowhere yet. You and I will take the last shift. Right now, eat, and then I have a task for you."

"What kind?"

"Eat," he insisted, ignoring my question.

I chewed, my mind wandering over what I'd already seen in the short time we'd been here. Like the rest of our team, I studied the map prior to our arrival, but I wasn't sure how to find my way around. A map was one thing, stumbling over countless potholes and tree roots was another. I wasn't even sure how to use a compass. What if I charted a potential location in the wrong place, leaving our army to tumble into it?

"You look grim," said Evan.

"I feel grim. I've never done anything like this before."

"There are a lot of things many of us haven't done before."

"That doesn't help."

Evan chuckled. "Sorry. Are you finished?"

I wodged the wrappers into a ball and stowed them in the bag, intent on following the orders of not leaving a shred of evidence behind. "What's the task?"

"We're going to search the area using our magic. If there's any life out there, we need to know about it before it gets here. Magic sharpens the eyes."

"We might just signal we're here."

"I thought of that already. That's why we're going to combine our magic. Yours is seeking life. Mine will search for any traps. Since the search area is so large, we'll power off each other."

"I've never done anything on this scale."

"In ten minutes, you won't be able to say that again."

I looked at him for a full thirty seconds, but couldn't think of a reason why we shouldn't mesh our magic together and do this. "Okay, how do we do it?"

"We need to draw a circle to protect us from incoming magic first, and then just follow my lead," he said, producing a stick of chalk from his pocket. I nodded and he crouched on his knees, drawing a circle around me, large enough to contain us both while seated. I began to get up, but he indicated I should stay put by pressing his hand on my shoulder. The circle secure, he sat down and reached for my hands. "You're nervous."

"Yes," I agreed. "And you don't need a circle to protect you."

"It's for you, not me. Send your magic into me," he instructed, "then do as I do."

I tightened my fingers around his as my magic leapt forwards. It was looking for an outlet and surged over my skin before pouring into Evan. Through my half-closed eyes, I saw him wince with the unexpected impact. I applied more control, taking charge, slowing its flow as it searched for new magic to connect with. Evan pushed backwards with his magic, connecting seamlessly with mine. His voice came to me telepathically. "
Let's get used to this before we start searching
," he said. "
Relax
."

"
I am relaxed
," I said. However, the instant I sent the thought, I wasn't. My shoulders were bunched up tightly, my neck and jaw stiff, and my hands gripped his. Controlling the magic flow again, I focused on relaxing, softening my muscles, dropping my shoulders, and unclenching my fingers.

"
That's better. Easy now. Send your magic out to search for life."

I renewed my concentration, powering off Evan as I pushed the magic out, sending what felt like a sheet rippling through the cabin. I recognised the genetic makeup of the witches, and the denser, darker shapeshifter, the fiery shape that was Evan. Pushing again, my magic rippled from the cabin. There was so much life. Mostly trees and shrubbery. I altered my internal parameters, excluding anything without a heartbeat. Small shapes danced through the magic, too small to be people. Instead, they were squirrels and deer, wild mammals inconsequential to the search. My magic stretched thinner, the ripples becoming softer the further it radiated out. I couldn't fathom how many miles I navigated through the ether.

"
Nothing
," I said to Evan. "
You?
"

"
No traps so far
."

"
Good
." I pushed on, changing direction to concentrate on one area, and then sweep around, lest my magic become too thin to register any person. I knew the moment I reached the other team by the strong signatures I perceived. In my senses, I could feel they were camping out in a thicket of trees. Just as I finished counting them, their life sources surged forwards. My magic raced past them, noting the human signatures of several guards. One of them began to fade until it disappeared altogether, blinking out of existence. "
Team one are on the move. They took out one of the guards
."

"
Anything else to worry about?
"

I swept past them in all directions, searching for anybody lying in wait. "
No one. There are faint signatures in the holding area, but I don't think I can look inside. I can feel a kind of magic, but I'm afraid if I touch it, I'll trigger something. They shouldn't be attacking yet. We're waiting for sundown.
"

"
Time may have changed for us. I'll check it out. Keep searching
."

With a mental tug, I shifted the magic away from the fighting and into the next zone, sweeping across the landscape. I wanted to ask him what he meant by the time changing, but I was struggling to hold onto my senses. I had to focus on the potential threats above all else, but by the time I fully swept the area and began to recall my magic, I still hadn't registered any life.

"
Nothing
," I told Evan. "
I went as far as I could. Beyond the reaches of the map, I think, and there's nothing. Thanks for the boost. I doubt I could have searched that far without you.
"

His confusion echoed through our connection. "
What boost?
"

"Your magic when we connected."

"Stella, I didn't boost you. You didn't need it. I drew energy from you."

"Then... how?"
I started, as my shoulders began to tighten. No, not tighten. Someone had a hand on my shoulder, and was shaking me. Before I could suggest to Evan that we broke our connection, my magic lurched from his body, as if he forcibly ejected it, and snapped back into mine. I opened my eyes, blinking at the dark.

"Stella, are you okay?" Seren's voice whispered, close to me.

"Yeah, I think so. I feel fine. Why's it so dark?"

"You've been in the circle almost an hour."

"It felt more like minutes. Evan?"

"Time alters when we are in that state. It felt like minutes to me too, but this world continued moving forwards."

"I rotated the shifts and we covered for you guys. Anything we need to know?" asked Seren.

"The rescue attempt is underway, but I don't sense anyone else in the forest. I think we're safe to move out and complete our mission. Evan?"

He gave a nod of agreement. "I didn't find any magical traps, other than the magic at the holding area, but team one's witches have that covered. I agree but..."

"But…" I prompted.

"No one patrolling anywhere?" he said, frowning.

"Maybe they got cocky," said Lewis the shapeshifter. I jumped at his voice, not realising in the dark that he was so near. I searched for him, finding the whites of his eyes only a few feet away. "Probably thought we'd stick to their summons."

"Maybe," said Seren, "we should be cautious anyway."

"I agree. Everyone in here, get ready to move out," Evan called, waiting as the three sentries rejoined us. "We'll divide into four teams, taking north, south, east and west, and travel no more than one hour in each direction. Synchronize now. In two hours, we reconvene here and shimmer out." Evan pulled back his sleeve, revealing a black sportswatch. Around us, other sleeves rustled as the teams followed suit. I pressed the buttons on my watch, synchronizing with Evan. Being one of the three members of our team who could shimmer, I knew there was no danger of being left behind, but I definitely didn't want to be blamed for leaving another in danger. Plus, one team didn't have any witch with them so Lewis and Marcy agreed to run in animal form if necessary.

A flurry of activity had us attaching packs to our backs, and fixing shoelaces of our hiking boots, zipping jackets and swallowing last sips of water. "Be safe," whispered Evan, dropping a light kiss on my cheek, and taking advantage of everyone's distraction.

I reached for his hand, and squeezed it. "You too."

"Moving out," said Lewis, stepping forward to grasp the door handle. He walked out onto the porch and stopped, blocking the doorway. Half-turning, pain ravaged his moonlit face. He stumbled backwards, dropping to his knees in the doorway as his hand covered his chest. Blood coated his fingers.

"Ambush," he groaned as the bullets began to fly.

Chapter Eighteen

I lay flat on the floor, my hands over my ears as a torrent of bullets peppered the cabin. A heavy weight pressed on top of me, and the sickening fear that a dead body was crushing me made me wriggle and writhe, trying to push the burden off.

"Stay down," hissed Evan, "and stop wriggling."

I did stop wriggling, so relieved to learn it was Evan and not a corpse. "You're okay?"

"I'm fine. Someone get him out of the way and kick that door shut," he yelled. Lewis's body slid out of my sight line, and the cabin was swallowed by darkness as the door slammed shut. "What the hell happened?" asked Evan when the gunfire died down.

"I swear, I didn't register a single person," I gasped, the air rushing into my lungs as Evan eased off me. "There was no one out there!"

"Anyone see anything?" he asked, looking around. Someone moaned softly. "Who's hurt?"

"Abby," said another voice, but I couldn't tell if it were Vanessa or Marcy. "She took a round in the arm. Lewis is dead."

"Shit." Evan slammed his fist against the floor. "What happened while we were searching?"

"None of us saw a thing," said Seren, shuffling on her elbows across the floor to us. "The ground shook a bit, and you two were freaking glowing."

"The ground shook? Like an army marching?" I asked.

"No, like your earth magic," said Evan. "I could feel you pulling it through the ground."

"I did not!"

"You did," agreed Seren. "We all felt the earth shaking."

"I swear I didn't. I didn't call it and I didn't feel a thing."

"Maybe you were too far under to register it, but it happened, Stella. Not that it matters, since none of us saw any movement outside the cabin."

"They must be cloaked," I decided, turning my head from her to Evan. "Did you find any pockets of magic you couldn't explain?"

"Nothing. Except for the holding area, there weren't any traps or cloaking magic. I would have known."

"They're better than us. I don't know how, but they're better," said Seren. "If they could sneak up on us and catch us unawares, we have to assume they knew the second we arrived. They were probably waiting for the first opportunity to pick us off and we gave them an easy target in this cabin."

"If they know about us, then they must know about the other team," said Astra. "We need to warn them."

"They're already attacking..." I started as another hail of bullets slammed through the cabin, forcing us to press our faces on the dirty floor. I covered my head with my hands, and Evan's arm slung across my shoulders, simultaneously pulling me to him and holding me down.

Evan pressed the radio to his mouth. "Ambush! Do you read me? Ambush!"

Static fizzled over the speaker.

"We're sitting ducks here," said Seren. "We need to forget the plan and just get out."

"You can shimmer us out of here, right?" asked Anders.

She nodded. "We'll combine our powers and all go together. If I were they, I would put a trace on us, and the moment I saw us using magic, I'd attack with full force. We can't risk leaving anyone behind. It would be suicide."

"Someone's moving outside," said Astra. She knelt by the window, cautiously watching, her posture growing rigid as if she expected to drop to the floor any moment.

"What are they doing?" asked Evan.

"Walking in front of the trees. He's dragging something in the dirt."

Evan and I frowned at each other. Moving on his elbows, he crossed quickly to Astra, crouching to see through the tiny gap in the shutters she pointed at. We waited silently, impatiently, for him to speak. "They're drawing a circle around the cabin. I'll bet it's to contain us," he said, his voice sounding more urgent. "Make a circle now and link hands. Stella, Seren, Astra, get ready. We have one shot at getting out of here."

We scrambled into a circle, reaching for each other’s hands, hissing, "ready" as we linked our hands together.

"To The Amethyst. Now," yelled Evan and magic surged through the group, binding us together. I squeezed my eyes shut, focused on the building, and began to shimmer.

Magic evaporated from my veins, and I heaved a sigh of relief as I opened my eyes to safety.

My relief was short-lived.

Moonlight trickled in shards through the bullet-riddled cabin, bringing with it a cold chill.

"They closed the circle already," said Evan, slamming a fist onto the ground. "We're trapped. They must have been finishing it, not starting."

"We can fight," snarled the remaining shifter.

"The second we open that door, they will kill whomever they see," pointed out Seren as we dropped to the floor one-by-one. "We need a better plan."

"We can hold out until reinforcements arrive," said Anders. "We can defend ourselves."

"We have enough food until morning," I added. "Like Anders said, we are our own weapons."

"You can bet we don't have as much ammo as The Brotherhood," said Marcy. "They'll wait for us to wear out before storming this place and killing us all."

"We have our magic," piped up Seren, driving home the point Anders and I already argued, "and we can fashion spells to aid us. We don't need bullets."

A thought dawned on me unpleasantly. "Their circle stopped our magic. We can't use ours."

"You're right that we can't shimmer. We are stuck here, but we can use our own magic within their circle. They've simply contained it, but not disabled it," said Evan.

"What if we can disable their circle?" asked Vanessa.

"If we can break their circle, we have a way out," agreed Evan, "but it would be suicidal for anyone to step outside."

I took a deep breath and made an offer I hoped I wouldn't regret. "What if I shimmered to the edge, materialised and broke the circle? I could shimmer back before they could lock onto me as a target. You could all shimmer out the moment you feel it break and I'll follow."

"It's too dangerous. Plus, you're not going out alone." Evan's tone forbade any argument.

Regardless, I opened my mouth to protest, but shut it again when the radio crackled. "Team two, what's happening?" came the disembodied voice.

Evan grabbed the radio. "We're surrounded. Did you get out?"

"Yes, but it wasn't what we expected. They had more reinforcements. We lost four of our team, and we had to leave some of the hostages behind."

"How many?"

"Hard to say. We took the strongest, those who could run, before the demons returned them to The Amethyst."

Evan dropped his head backwards, staring up at the ceiling like it had all the answers before he rested the now silent radio against his knee. "Why aren't they shooting?" he asked, addressing all of us. I looked around blankly as if answers would pour through the bullet holes. "Forget I asked," he said, dismissing the question.

"You there?" came a new voice.
Gage.

Evan moved the radio to his mouth. "Yeah, we're here."

"We're shimmering the last of the prisoners out in a few seconds, but some of us can stay. We can get to you."

"You're miles away."

"The demons can shimmer us closer."

"Don't!" said Evan quickly. "Whatever we thought was the situation here, it's not. You could land in the middle of another ambush. We already have one dead and one injured."

"If we run..."

"Send help. Get back to base and send help. We can hold out until then."

"If it's anything like we just faced, no, you can't. We're coming. Sit tight." The radio went dead.

"Don't come. I repeat, don't come! Do you read me? Damn it! They shouldn't come," he said to the quiet cabin.

"Yes, they should," said Seren. "There's only a few of us against who knows how many of them? We need their help and a new plan."

"Do you have something in mind?" asked Anders.

"For starters, we have to set up protection around this cabin. If we're really lucky, they'll try and torch the place with us inside it."

"Typical Brotherhood welcome," muttered someone, just loud enough for us to hear.

"And once we have our protection in place, we need to decide how to take them out, then leave here. Not necessarily in that order."

"We could make circles, and mark them with protective magic," I suggested.

"I was thinking of something bigger," said Seren.

"Whatever you're thinking, you might want to do it now. There's movement outside," said Astra.

"I'm going to put a protective bubble around the whole cabin," Seren continued, the urgency rising in her voice. "I won't need to make a circle. It will be similar to a supercharged ward that any witch would place on their home."

"Get to it," Evan told her.

"I can help," I offered, pausing as Evan placed a hand on my arm.

He edged closer to me, leaning in so only I could hear. "I want you to take a look at that pendant I gave you."

"Now? But Étoile said it's no good. Isn't the threat more important?" I asked, jabbing a finger on the cabin door.

"Do you genuinely believe that? Or did you bring the talismans here for a reason?"

"I brought them because I didn't have enough time to store them anywhere. Plus, they're safer with me," I told him, not quite convinced of my own logic. Of course, I could have stowed everything in my room's safe, but I didn't. I didn't even consciously choose to bring them, I just did, stuffing them into my pocket under a rain jacket and wedging the werewolf talisman into my backpack.

"And now you have the demon talisman. We're stuck here, Stella, and I'm clutching at straws. Plus, I have a specific interest in that pendant I gave you."

"Because of whom you got it from?" I guessed.

"Exactly. That particular demon would not have had it, if it did not contain value."

"What if we get shot at again?"

"Let the rest of us handle that," Evan said, pushing my backpack towards me. "You need to do this."

"You believe in it?"

He shrugged. "I believe in you."

Despite the chill in the air, and the fear in my veins, his words warmed me so much that I smiled in the dark. My smile remained even after he grazed my lips with the lightest of kisses before moving away to assist Seren with her plan. Still crouched on the floor, I unzipped my backpack, and pulled out the covered talisman, carefully unwinding the cloth wrapping. I held the talisman in my lap as I searched for the small pouch where I placed the pendants. Two tumbled into my hand. The third, Evan's demon pendant, I pulled from my pocket. I placed them all on the floor, moving them around until, with a light push, I could slot them together like a very odd jigsaw puzzle. They created a pretty pattern, but without the missing piece, the magic couldn't flow between them. I didn't sense any significant increase in power just because they were nearly together again. I wondered how old they were, and if they'd had a lot more power when they were first made. I also wondered if what I felt now were just the dregs as they drained away.

Tracing my fingers over the face-up side of the talisman, I found the shape cut into the wood. One corner was smooth, so I picked up the end pendants. The second fitted, slotting easily into place. I tapped it cautiously, but the pendant didn't fall out.

The next side took the middle pendant, the third took the opposite end pendant. I turned it to the final side, pausing to contemplate exactly what could happen when I pressed the fourth pendant into place. Would it blow up in my face? I glanced toward the window, which was barred against whatever crept forwards outside. The blast would probably take them out too, which wasn’t a bad thing.

I delved into my backpack again, this time, pulling out the horologican. "You told me the third was mine and you were right," I whispered to it. It was right, but the last thing it told me was impossibly cryptic. "The fourth will only be revealed to truth," I whispered, blowing the words across the cover. The book flickered to life, its pages turning rapidly until it was back to the title page again. I traced my fingers over where I knew the drawing of my family was. Something pushed back against my fingertips. Gasping in surprise, I withdrew my hand. The book wouldn't hurt me, I reminded myself, before placing my fingers on the page again. Another push, harder this time, and the feel of paper gave way to something colder. I waited until another push set the object free. I didn't need to see it to know the book produced the one pendant I had no idea how to find. Was that what it meant by truth? Was I the true owner of the last pendant? I couldn't be sure as I whispered my thanks and closed the book.

I looked at Evan and Seren, their heads bowed together, crafting something to save us all.

I didn't want to lose either of them, and I didn't want to die today.

Gulping back nerves, I pressed the last pendant into the talisman and waited.

Nothing happened.

I turned the completed talisman over, pressing each pendant in case they weren't connected fully, my hands smoothing over the carved shapes as I turned the object in my hands. Still nothing. No plumes of smoke, no tornado of magic, and definitely, no genie. Yet, when I stayed perfectly still for a moment, I could feel something. The thinnest threads of magic were connecting as the magic from the pendants infused with that of the talisman. It felt right, pleasing even, now that all five pieces were together. But without it working, or attracting the superwitch, it was useless.