Shadow City (29 page)

Valery shrugged. “I am. There’s nothing left to say.”

“What do you have in mind to contain the Fury’s power?” Alexander asked as Holt opened his mouth to snap back at her. He scowled at Alexander, then subsided.

“We need to trap it and sink it into something. Mages infuse objects with magic all the time to store it for later or to fuel a spell,” Valery said.

“True, but never this much. We use trickles of power over time, not an ocean-full all at once,” Holt returned peevishly.

“Doesn’t mean it can’t be done,” she said.

“Don’t you think mages would do it that way if they could?” he demanded, his eyes sparking with anger.

She shrugged. “Probably not. You all are so stuck on your traditions that you probably still use an abacus instead of a calculator. You forget to think outside the box,” she said. “We
will
fail if you keep thinking like that. So grow a pair, already, and start acting like the cocky bastard we all know you are.”

He went still, and then a slow grin spread across his lips. He turned away to look at the papers. “What are you thinking?” he growled.

“The problem with the break of power is that it will be explosive and fast, right?” she asked. “So what if we make something to trap it and slow it down and feed that force into a well of some kind?”

Holt did not answer for a long moment. He drummed his fingers on his thigh, staring sightlessly as he thought. Finally, he wiped a hand over his jaw and nodded. “It could work. But it will require a lot of magic, and we don’t have much time.” He glanced at his watch. “Maybe eight hours. We’re going to need a lot of supplies we don’t have here.”

“We’ll fetch what we need. As long as you don’t try to use it as a way to get rid of me.”

“We all do what we have to,” he said with a taunting look.

“I will never forgive you if anything happens to Alexander because you sabotaged what we’re doing,” Valery said in a low, intense voice. “That much I am willing to promise you.”

“No,” Alexander interrupted. He knew that witches needed to give one another total trust when working this kind of spell, or they endangered themselves and everyone around them. Starting out with ultimatums only increased the chances that this would not work. “Holt will be a good boy. He will not risk you, Valery, and since you plan to be here when the Fury is let loose, he will do all he can to make sure this works. Right?” he asked Holt.

The mage gave an unwilling nod. “You shouldn’t be letting her do this,” he said to Alexander. “You should be trying to get her out of here to safety.”

“I am her brother, not her keeper. She is a powerful smoke witch. If she wants to risk herself, that is her choice. You will notice she is not trying to stop me from risking myself. Can I do any less for her?”

“Maybe I love her better than you do,” Holt said.

Valery snorted. “You love those tablets,” she said.

Before Holt could argue, Alexander jumped in. “What do you need from us?”

Holt turned reluctantly away from Valery and pulled up a chair. He grabbed a pen and started a list. “Let’s see what you have here at Horngate,” he said, writing quickly. “Then we’ll fetch the rest.”

“What are you going to use to collect the magic?” Valery asked, leaning over his shoulder to read. “It has to be able to hold it.”

He paused. “I was thinking a stone. Or possibly a metal. Gold and silver would work. Titanium is too brittle.”

She straightened. “Those might not be able to withstand the pressure of the magic . . . Wait. What if we made a seed instead? We could use a stone at the center and wrap the magic around it like fruit around a pit. We could use quartz. Smokey or rose quartz are calming and healing. Infused with power, they might help us calm the Fury enough to talk to her.”

“That’s a long shot,” Holt said.

“We take what we can get,” Alexander said.

Holt looked at Valery. “We’d have to channel the power into some kind of matrix and then hold it until it filled with magic. It could end up being a hell of a big piece of fruit. I don’t know what we’ll do with it then.”

“Let’s worry about that when it’s a problem,” she said. “The spell will be difficult. You can’t shut me out, or it won’t work,” she added.

He nodded. “We’ll do it together. Partners again.” He smiled with arrogant triumph and undisguised pleasure at the prospect. He handed Alexander his list. “See what you have. Valery and I will stay here and work out our spell and then go set it up when everything is ready.”

Alexander took the paper and passed it to Niko, who knew far more about Horngate’s resources than he did. “Is there anything else you need?”

Holt’s mouth twisted. “I need to stop answering the phone when you’re on the other end.”

The corner of Alexander’s mouth quirked. “They do say that curiosity killed the cat. Maybe it will kill the mage, too. But not until tomorrow, I hope.” With that, he left to go shower and get himself ready for the night to come. He hoped that Horngate would still be standing when Max came back for good.

T
HE
S
HADOWBLADES GATHERED INSIDE THE MAIN
entrance before sundown. Giselle, the small cadre of coven witches, Holt, Valery, and the Sunspears were already down in the ravine getting ready. The angels were with Alton, waiting for Alexander.

He scanned the small group, Beyul leaning heavily against his leg as Alexander absently scratched his ears. It was a motley bunch, and most of them he knew well enough to know that they would not hesitate to lay down their lives for one another and for Horngate.

Tyler and Niko stood with the four Alexander knew least. Jody was a tall, athletic-looking black woman with short-cropped hair and toffee-colored skin. Noah looked like a redheaded lumberjack, with broad shoulders, enormous hands, and shoulders like an ox. Simon reminded Alexander of a mink, with delicate features, a small frame, and quick, darting movements. The last one, Nami, was part Japanese and part Mexican. She was about five-foot-six, with voluptuous curves and exotic dark eyes. Her skin was caramel-colored. All four were relatively young, having been made into Shadowblades within the last few years. The fact that Max had trained them meant they were tough.

Another group of four clustered patiently on the other side of the passage: Oak, Ivy, and the twins Steel and Flint. They were new to Horngate. Alexander and Max had helped save them from a trio of ice witches—or something like that. The witches had been beyond deadly and had almost entirely destroyed a covenstead—sterilizing it so that nothing could ever live there again. The witches Judith and Gregory had come from there, as had these four Blades and three Sunspears.

Their coven had been peaceful, which meant that they knew precious little about fighting. Since their arrival, Alexander, Thor, Tyler, and Niko had been drilling them steadily. The fact that they’d already been through hell meant that none of them broke easily. Alexander trusted them.

That left Tyler and Thor. Tyler was pacing up and down, pinwheeling his knives in each hand. Thor slouched with one shoulder against the door, one booted foot crossed over the other, his battered straw cowboy hat pulled low over his eyes. His stance did not fool Alexander. He was tense, ready, and deadly as a panther.

There were only a few more minutes before the sun vanished and they could go outside. Alexander cleared his throat loudly to get their attention. They all turned to face him. Thor pushed his hat back with one finger.

“First, for those of you who have not yet heard, Max was here for a short time today. She left to continue her business with Scooter, but she is not dead. She plans to return to us shortly.” There were looks of shock and relief. Max anchored them all in profound ways. “I would really like her to have a home to come back to. The odds are against us; I will not lie. But we do have a plan, and it is just possible that it could work.

“Your job is to protect the witches and, most of all, Giselle. We are going to be the front line between the Fury and the coven. Hopefully she will be stopped before she comes through us, but if not, then we fight so that she uses up her energy. We will try to weaken her so that when she gets to the witches, they have a chance to stop her. Any questions?”

“Yeah,” Oak said. “Do we get hazard pay?”

“Only you if you don’t die,” Tyler said. “And I’m thinking of killing you myself.”

“Aw, now you’ve hurt my feelings,” Oak said with a puppy-dog expression.

“I’ll hurt more than that,” Tyler said. “But don’t worry. If you die, we’ll throw you a grand funeral with lots of whiskey and a couple of strippers. We’ll hardly miss you.”

The group of Blades chuckled, and it broke the tension.

The sun slipped down to the point where the Blades could be safely outside. The feeling rippled through Alexander. “Get going,” he said. “Niko, make sure everyone is set up. Tyler and Thor, let’s go get Alton.”

Lise, Tutresiel, and Xaphan were waiting outside Alton’s prison when the three Blades arrived.

“Keep him wrapped in the witch chain,” Alexander warned as Lise opened the cell.

Alexander broke the containment circle with the knife Giselle had given him for that purpose. Magic roared up in a sheet of fire and then curled away to nothing. Within, Alton lay on the floor, watching his captors with cold golden eyes. He reminded Alexander of a cobra.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“It isn’t so much what
we
want,” Lise said. “It’s what Cora wants. You remember her. Your daughter? A pretty little girl, only fourteen years old? Her hair was the color of honey. She was smart and funny and brave, and you killed her so you could have more power. Well, guess what? She’s back, and she wants to see you. Personally, I can’t fucking wait for the reunion.”

The Sunspear yanked Alton to his feet. He spat at her, and she slapped the side of his head. Alton fell to the ground like a tree and lay gasping. “You bitch. I will make you pay for that.”

Lise jerked him up again, holding him by his collar. “Bring it on, you dickless wonder.”

She dragged him out of the cell and passed him to Thor and Niko, who gripped him under the arms. Xaphan and Tutresiel took up positions behind. Tutresiel’s sword gleamed like a small star.

“Did you eat?” Alexander asked Lise, falling in beside her as they led the way back to the main entrance. Beyul nosed between them.

She nodded. “Magpie sent me enough to feed the entire coven for a week,” she said.

“Good. You are going to need all your strength to try to talk Cora down.”

She stopped and stared. “I’m going to what?”

He motioned her to keep going and explained their plan to her. “We want you to be the one to try to reach her, since you knew her pretty well. You will be in a circle just outside of the one containing Alton. That alone will be dangerous, since the power she expends could burn right through it and you both. But if it does not, then you will try to remind her of who she was and who we are. Help her find herself. She will be insane with rage and betrayal, with the change and with all the voices she will be hearing. Not just voices—she will feel their pain, too. She will need to stop it; it is her nature. But we hope you can get her to see us and to control her destruction.”

“Oh, goody, a suicide mission.” Lise scraped her fingers through her burnished hair, her brow pinched as she thought. “What if she doesn’t listen to me? What if I can’t do it?”

“Then she tries to break out of the next circles, and the rest of us try to weaken her enough to keep the damage to Horngate at a minimum.”

“This is a crappy plan,” she pointed out.

“Yes, it is,” Alexander agreed. “But it is the best one we could come up with. Feel free to suggest improvements.”

“Don’t die?”

“I will take it under advisement. Feel free not to die yourself.” He glanced over his shoulder. “That goes for the rest of you, too. Except, of course, for the child killer. He can die painfully.”

The angels flew Alton and Lise to the ravine where everyone waited. The three Blades made their way on foot.

When they got there, they stopped on the ridge. The Memory still perched on her stone vantage point, the pack of Beyul’s enormous black cousins wandering through the gathered witches and Spears, snuffling and nosing. They crossed the spell circles as if the spells were not there.

In the center of it all was Alton’s original circle containing the rising Fury. Thick black smoke boiled inside, and the air sizzled with magic. Alexander’s hair prickled over his body, and his Prime surged. His new ghostly vision strengthened suddenly, and the world changed into an odd combination of hard reality and shimmering spirit.

The Memory was like a sliver of jade, and it hurt to look at her. Like Beyul, the other Grims evoked an ancient flow of water. Giselle’s green and Holt’s tiger-eye brown glittered with power. Valery was a shifting palette of green and black. He had not noticed that before. Mostly, he remembered her smell: ancient, solid, and free. Even now, the smell teased from the skein of the others and hooked into his heart.

She and Holt were off to the side, working together. Neither looked damaged, so their day had gone politely, at least. Alexander hoped it had also gone productively.