He glanced at me, expression uncertain, then turned off the truck and climbed out. I did the same and swung the backpack over my shoulders and waited while he collected his pack from the back of the truck.
“Here,” he said, offering me a flashlight.
“We don’t need it. The wild magic guides us.”
He dumped it on top of the hood instead of returning it to the rear of the truck. “Yeah, well, I’ll still keep one. We may need it for the return journey.”
“Oh, we definitely will,” I said. “This merger is going to knock the hell out of both Katie and me, and I very much doubt either of us will be in any sort of position to guide us out.”
Hell, I might not even be conscious.
“Then I’ll pay close attention to where we’re going.”
Given he had very human eyes and senses, and the trees in place were a maze of similarly unremarkable trunks, we seriously doubted he’d succeed. But we held our tongue and, when he motioned us forward with a sweep of his hand, moved on.
Follow this path for five minutes, Katie said.
I glanced down and saw we were indeed on a track—one used by roos rather than humans, but a track nevertheless.
Her presence withdrew again, and I sucked in a deeper breath that did little to ease the slowly gathering ache in my head or the fear in my heart. But then, it was likely nothing would—not until we’d taken care of the witch who held the hone-onna’s leash.
And maybe even the hone-onna herself.
Though it was inky-black amongst the trees, I had no trouble seeing. Katie’s presence, however remote it currently was, had heightened my senses again. It was testament to just how far my sensory changes had to go before they truly reached that of a wolf.
When the five minutes were up, Katie came back online. We’re close to it now, but don’t send out any sort of magical probe—she’s laid intrusion spells.
I stopped so fast, Monty had to do a quick side step to avoid me.
“The altar’s just up ahead,” I said. “But there’s a network of warning spells between us and it.”
He quickly scanned the area. “I’m not picking up anything just yet.”
“Gabe says it’s off to the left and its output is shielded,” we said. “We can’t risk a probe, and we won’t see or hear it until we’re almost on it.”
If Gabe now haunted our connection, it would explain its sudden heaviness—and why my energy was fading at a faster rate.
I’m here if you need to syphon came Belle’s comment.
Not unless it’s absolutely necessary.
Or until you’re almost dead, she grumbled, because you’re a pigheaded, stubborn woman.
Takes one to know one, I replied, amused.
Concentrate came Katie’s soft rebuke. Or Gabe’s. It was hard to know which right now. It gets dangerous from here.
I sucked in another of those useless breaths and then slowly moved to the left, letting her senses guide me. After a few minutes, a very soft, somewhat irritating hum became evident.
“Hear that?” I said, glancing at Monty.
He nodded. “Its resonance suggests it’s an alarm spell of some kind.”
“Would she have used blood magic in its construction?”
“I’d have thought that overkill, but I’m also not a dark witch.”
We’d only gone another couple of feet when the hum abruptly cut off. I didn’t need Katie’s sharp warning to stop. At first glance, there was no sign of a spell. It wasn’t until I dropped my gaze and saw a slight shimmer that I realized the spells had been placed very low to the ground and were protected not only by scrub and rocks, but also by a covering spell. It had been so well constructed that the unwary—or those in a hurry—might not have even noticed it until they’d stumbled through it.
Monty squatted and studied the shimmer for several very long seconds. “I can’t see much thanks to that cover spell, but from the feel of it, it’s going to take some strength to dismantle.”
“You won’t be dismantling it,” we said. “You’re the one with the knowledge and the means to cleanse and destroy the altar. We should handle this.”
He shot me another of those incredulous glances. “I’m not sure—”
I reached out and grasped his arm. “Monty, you can’t do everything, especially when you need to be fully powered to counter whatever protection measures our dark witch has around her altar.”
He grimaced but didn’t disagree. “So your plan is what, exactly? Because we both know that while you have the power, you don’t have the knowledge to counter something like this.”
“Gabe is going to partially merge with me. It’ll allow him to see the spells clearly so he can guide me through dismantlement.”
“Isn’t merging with a spirit dangerous? What does it actually involve?”
“It’s really not all that much different to me sharing sensory awareness with Belle. And she’ll be in the background, keeping an eye on things. She’ll split us if it becomes necessary.”
He drew in a breath and released it slowly; it failed to budge the concern in his expression. “So, back to the current problem. I suspect there’re multiple alarms woven into this bloody spell.”
“Yes, but Gabe is confident we can get around them all.”
“I hope that confidence isn’t misplaced.”
So did I. I hesitated, caught by a moment of uncertainty, and then firmly reached out to Gabe. As Katie’s presence faded into the background, his energy flooded the link and fused with mine. As before, it wasn’t so deep that his spirit shared body space, but he could use his skill and direct my magic while seeing through my eyes.
And it still felt fucking weird. Felt like I was present in my body and yet standing apart.
You remain in control, Gabe said, I’ll only intervene as necessary.
I knew that, but it didn’t really help. Not before; not now.
I pushed the fear aside and concentrated on the spell that blocked our path. After a moment, we said, “Our best option isn’t to dismantle the entire spell; it would take too much time and risk her becoming aware of our presence here. Instead, we’ll just remove the cover spell and peel back the first five or six layers of the main spell. That should allow us to step over it without triggering it.”
Monty nodded and motioned us to proceed. With Gabe’s presence weighing on me heavily and guiding my actions, I carefully reached out and plucked the cover spell’s initiating thread free. It felt foul—unclean—and my skin crawled. She might not have used blood magic in the construction of these layers, but it nevertheless stained her presence and her spells. And that suggested she’d been playing on the dark side for a very long time.
It took us five minutes to disconnect the cover spell, and its removal revealed the true complexity of the main one.
Monty sucked in a breath. “Fuck me.”
“You’re my cousin,” I murmured absently. “It may be legal, but it would also be icky.”
Monty snorted but otherwise didn’t reply. Gabe studied the spell for several seconds and a wave of deep admiration washed through our thoughts. I could totally understand why—this spell was rich and deep, with a complex range of exclusions woven through it. Not only would no animal or bug trigger it, but it also treated regular humans different to witches and wolves. It would have taken her at least twenty-four hours to construct—if not longer—and meant Gabe had been right in wanting to avoid complete dismantlement. We simply didn’t have the same luxury of time.