If I went there I would be nothing. If that darkness took me, I would cease to be. I would become a part of it.
Kor began to scream as he was pulled toward that darkness.
I could feel it. A vacuum had begun and it was going to suck us all in. My feet started to move toward that darkness.
It looked like I was heading on another trip, and I prayed this one wasn’t the last.
Chapter Five
Zoey
“He’s up to something.” Sarah paced back and forth on the balcony of her tenth-floor apartment. She had one of the upper-floor units. They were more like houses than actual apartments and reserved for those closest to the royal family. So basically my friends were all here.
And Myrddin. His unit was one of four on this floor. It had been empty for years, waiting for Daniel’s mentor to move in. Dev had arranged for all of Myrddin’s possessions to be moved from the pocket world Nim had imprisoned him in to those apartments and then kept them up. A housekeeper had cleaned once a week, though no one had resided there for years. When I’d wanted to let someone move in, I was voted down. One of the many ways the wizard managed to trump me.
“Of course he’s up to something. Daniel’s lost three of his closest advisors and protectors in the course of a single day. I know Myrddin’s behind it.” I poured the tea I’d made ten minutes before and sat back. The sun was starting to go down and Ether would be open in a couple of hours. We used to spend our every free moment in the nightclub where we’d first met Dev, but now we tended to spend our nights working or having quiet meals and time together. We still found ourselves down there a few times a month, but it was hard. No matter how much we wanted to be a part of things, we were still the royals and there was a wall between us and everyone else. “The question is how. How did he manage to do it and where does he have them stashed?”
I couldn’t consider the fact that Myrddin might have killed them all. I simply couldn’t.
“I might not be Myrddin Emrys, but I cast powerful locator spells,” Sarah said. “If they were dead, I would have found the bodies. My guess is they’re not on this plane. You’re right. He’s hidden them somewhere and we need to find them.”
That was precisely the point of this evening’s meeting. We needed to figure out how to find them before Myrddin did whatever the hell he was going to do. “Are the academics on their way up? I had Albert send us some scones. Hugo prefers a proper British tea service.”
“They should be here any minute.” Sarah sighed and turned back to face me. Her hair was slightly longer than the pixie cut she used to wear but it was still a vibrant color. Seafoam green was the flavor of the month, and it suited her well. “I’m concerned that Myrddin caused this problem so he’s going to be the one to fix it. I heard he’s down in his new temple preparing to work a couple of spells with Nimue. We might find out he’s done all of this so he can be the hero.”
I hadn’t considered that, but it sounded like something Myrddin would do. “You can’t tell if he’s worked any magic?”
Frustration clouded her expression. “Of course he’s worked some magic. It’s what he does. But something is wrong. Not with him. With the whole building. The problem is I know something’s off. I can feel it. But I don’t know what it is. It’s like there’s a ward up, but I’m not sure what it’s doing.”
“When did you start to feel this way?”
“Yesterday,” Sarah said. “But I didn’t want to disrupt the wedding. You were kind of a bridezilla.”
It was fair and I knew it. “Describe the feeling. I don’t feel anything at all different.”
“It’s subtle.” Sarah pulled out one of the four chairs and sank down. “It’s almost like I’ve got a cold. You know that sensation you get when it’s first starting to settle into your chest? You’re not coughing yet, but you feel the slightest bit of weight pressing down.”
Or she could simply be getting a cold. Her daughter, Mia, had been sniffling this morning. I’d already mentally braced myself for Lee and Evan to get sick. The rest of the kiddos had either Fae or wolf constitutions, and nothing would get through those immune systems. “Have you seen a doctor?”
Sarah’s eyes narrowed and I was reminded how good with hexes she was. “I’m serious, Z.”
I held up my hands in apology. “Okay, not a cold. Then what is it? Is it some weird kind of ward? One you’ve never seen?”
“I kind of thought I’d seen them all, but if I had to guess, that’s what I would say it is.” She pulled her teacup closer but didn’t take a drink. “It doesn’t stop magic. I worked a couple of spells and they went great.”
“White magic?”
“And dark,” she replied, meeting my eyes with a bit of challenge. “I wanted to make sure both kinds work. I’ve kept up my skills. I know Felix wouldn’t approve, but I still practice.”
Her husband was a fallen angel, though not for the stereotypical reasons. He hadn’t gone bad. He’d fallen in love with his charge and joined her for an earthly life. He could be prudish when it came to the darker magics, but I didn’t have his faith in the universe. “Good. We might need it. Don’t think for a second I won’t call on you to use all that mojo if Voldemort decides to play rough.”
Her eyes rolled. “No one’s here. You can call him by his name.”
I had to be careful. “I have to think that he’s everywhere. We don’t know that this ward you feel isn’t more of a spell that allows him to hear everything we’re saying. I wouldn’t put it past him.”
She shook her head. “I know he’s better than I am.” She held up a hand when I started to argue. “No, he’s forgotten more magic than I’ll ever understand, but I promise you I would know if he got through my wards. He might be able to do it, but he couldn’t hide the fact. I ward with my own blood. Never tell Felix this, but every inch of this building is protected with my heart’s blood. I would know.”
I felt my eyes widen. Heart’s blood wasn’t like nicking your palm and bleeding a little. “How did you do that?”
“I used a spell, of course. I couldn’t work it on myself so I had Olivia help me. She’s almost as strong as I am. I think when she’s older she might pass me. Well, she might have before.”
Before she’d had her powers drained by a crazy witch coven. They’d used Liv’s magic and hadn’t expected she would survive the experience. “I thought she was getting better.”
Sarah sighed. “Physically she is. Emotionally, not so much. I can’t imagine what it’s like for her. My magic has always been inside me. To have it stripped away, I can’t even think of how it must feel. Like she’s lost her identity.”
“They drained her. Can’t she rebuild it?” I’ll be honest I didn’t completely understand the problem.
“In theory she should. That’s not what’s happening. She can’t even do a simple spell, one that a skilled human could do. It’s like they left a void inside her,” Sarah explained. “I’m worried she’ll do something dangerous to try to get it back.”