Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic (17 page)

The magic of the portal bloomed above us, spilling light even more deeply golden than the sun. We paddled out of the way, waiting for someone to drop out of the sky.

Instead, a pretty, petite blond poked her head out of the doorway, hovering about three feet above us. Her dragon magic was a spicy combination of sweet, creamy tomatoes with a hint of basil. Only guardian magic was potent enough for me to taste it over the power of the portal. I’d never formally met Haoxin, the guardian of North America. But I’d caught a glimpse of her through the mind-scrambling magic of the nexus the day I pulled a demon through a portal to save my friends. At just over a hundred years old, she was the closest dragon in age to Drake and me that I knew of. Not that I was considered a dragon by everyone.

Haoxin scanned the horizon, then spotted us in the water below her sandaled feet. “Oh, it’s you, alchemist,” she said. Her accent was light-touch American. I would have guessed Californian if pressed, but her silky, straight blond hair and perfect tan might be cause for bias on my part.
 

“Guardian,” I answered, as dignified as I could be when paddling around in the middle of the Caribbean Sea with a green-haired werewolf clinging to my shoulder. “May I introduce —”

Haoxin’s gaze shifted to Warner and she smiled. This reminded me that she was also known by a secondary title — ‘reckless and adventurous.’ Guardian magic was divided among the nine by specific gifts — such as my father’s sword — and characteristics. Though why the attributes of ‘reckless and adventurous’ were an important component of how the nine guardians of the world functioned, I didn’t know.

“Hello, sentinel,” Haoxin said. I swore her eyes were suddenly bigger, bluer, and her lips fuller, pinker than they had been moments before. I was fairly certain her guardian magic didn’t have anything to do with shapeshifting, though, so maybe I was just seeing her through envy-tinted glasses.

“Greetings, guardian,” Warner said affably. His grin was effortless and welcoming. Charming, even.

Lovely.

“We seem to have made a misstep,” the sentinel continued.

Haoxin laughed softly, the sound raining down over we peons in the water like perfectly tuned chimes. “Shall I help you up, sentinel?”

“Thank you, but we must proceed.”

A light wind moved across the sea to dry the droplets on my cheeks. This breeze caused Haoxin’s blue silk dress to dance around her smooth, unblemished thighs, but she ignored it to point over our heads. “Land is that way, my friend.”

“Thank you, guardian.” Warner gave a nod that had to take the place of a bow, seeing as he was still treading water. He reached for Kandy and the werewolf wrapped her arms around his neck from the back.

Haoxin lost her sunny smile as she watched this exchange. Then she looked at me. “Alchemist,” she said. But then instead of continuing to speak, she bit her lip and glanced back into the portal.

“You will find the island friendly,” she finally said, though I got the sense she was editing herself. “Though I don’t usually use this portal when I walk here.”

“Yeah, I can see why.”

Haoxin grinned fleetingly in a rote response to my sarcasm. “I hadn’t thought … I would go with you on this adventure, alchemist, but I understand you tread where I may not. It bothers me that there is such a spot in my territory. Do you have your knife?”

“Yes, guardian.”

Haoxin grinned again, her seriousness dissipating beneath a gleeful, almost mischievous, anticipation. “It’s a brilliant blade. Wield it well. I look forward to the tale and … the cupcakes I’m told I’ve been missing.”

Before I could answer, she stepped back into the portal and it snapped shut behind her.

“Haoxin?” Warner asked.

“Pretty, pretty,” Kandy said. Despite the fact she was clinging to the sentinel, her predator nonsmile was firmly back in place.

“Yeah,” I answered both of them. “Can you read their identities by their magic? I mean, when a new guardian … ascends? Do they retain or embody the magic of their predecessor along with their names and titles?”

“Some. Enough,” Warner answered. “Though I’d never met Haoxin before.”

I opened my mouth to question him further, but he turned and began swimming in the direction Haoxin had indicated. I couldn’t see any land. I wondered if the guardian’s eyesight was just that much better than mine, or if she simply knew what way to head through experience.

Warner, who carried Kandy on his back as if she weighed no more than … well … a bag of cotton candy, was quickly outpacing me. His long arms and strong legs cut through the blue water with minimal backsplash. I sighed. I wasn’t such an accomplished swimmer, but I could stay in the water for hours without much effort.

Pushing thoughts of what else long arms and strong legs would be good at out of my mind, I followed Warner. Haoxin had taken an immediate shine to the sentinel, so at least lust-wise, I was in good company. Though, after spending ten months or so in and out of the nexus — as well as in and out of conversation with Drake — I’d ascertained that there weren’t exactly dozens of eligible dragons hanging around, so maybe Warner was just fresh meat to the guardian … as maybe I was to Qiuniu.

I wasn’t sure when all my relationships had gotten so complicated, though it might have been when the vampire had shown up outside of my bakery. More likely, it had been the moment Sienna had walked into my life. Problem was, I didn’t think I could survive without people to care for. So, all I could do was what everyone else did — cherish the good relationships and attempt to avoid the bad. I didn’t have a great track record doing either, but I was sure as hell trying.

CHAPTER NINE

Swimming wasn’t exactly conducive to conversation, but after what felt like an hour — though was probably just ten minutes — I started to feel a little lonely paddling along after Warner. Granted the sentinel wasn’t big on chatting in general … or rest breaks, it seemed.

Still, the ocean felt very, very vast, and that vastness was isolating. Vancouver wasn’t exactly a bustling metropolis, but it wasn’t tiny either. I was constantly surrounded. By magic, by people — human and Adept. But here, if I fell far enough behind Warner, I might get lost and never, ever be found.

Then I began to wonder what was swimming beneath me, and what sort of strange fish the ocean’s denizens thought I was. Then I started to fret.

“What about sharks?” I asked, getting a mouthful of salty water as an answer. I’d never learned how to properly front crawl with my face in the water. “Are there sharks in these waters?” I couldn’t remember if sharks preferred warmer or colder water. “Great whites?”

“What would sharks want with you, alchemist?” Warner called back as he lifted his head to one side to breathe. He didn’t bother pausing. He was also getting far too accomplished at the art of snark.

“You don’t think they’d at least try a test bite?”

Kandy laughed. She was clinging to the sentinel like a freaked-out barnacle, but still, she had the gall to giggle at me.

“Glass houses, wolf.”

“You’re the biggest predator around here, Jade,” Kandy said. “Except maybe the dragon here. I haven’t formed an opinion about him yet.”

Warner stopped swimming. Kandy’s head momentarily went underneath a wave. Hacking and spitting out water, the green-haired werewolf clambered up onto the sentinel’s shoulders, even as I realized he’d managed to touch ground.

I hadn’t thought we were anywhere near land. In fact, I still really couldn’t see anything ahead — but then, I was madly squinting from the sun reflecting off the water.

I kicked my feet down but went under when I didn’t touch the anticipated solid ground. Warner widened the gap between us as he pushed through the water like an army tank, or whatever the waterborne equivalent would be. My arms were screaming with the effort of the last few strokes, the pain made worse because I knew the ground was so near.

Warner was head and shoulders out of the water by the time I got the tips of my toes to touch. I didn’t even want to think about how utterly destroyed my boots were. I was fairly certain the leather wouldn’t bounce back from a saltwater bath. Warner’s jacket, too … though seeing as his clothing was somehow a manifestation of his magic, maybe he was actually walking around naked all the time —

A wave crashed over my head. I choked on a mouthful of water before I realized I needed to spit it out. The surf picked up strength, and I had to fight against it to retain my footing. But even like this, walking was quicker than swimming.

I was up to my waist before I actually saw land. The white sand was difficult to distinguish in the bright morning light, but the greenery beyond made it obvious we were walking toward an island. I’d never known a beach to taper like this. The beaches I knew dropped off deeply after a dozen feet or so, depending on the tide. But then, I usually couldn’t see all the way through the water either, like the clear view I now had of my ruined — but still pretty — black boots.

Kandy jumped off Warner’s back, landing up to her knees in the water, and then made a mad dash for the beach. Her green hair was fluffier than I’d ever seen it. It also looked practically dry. Though it was early in the day, it was still warm. If I let the sun dry my hair and didn’t tug on the curls too much, I shouldn’t look like a complete wreck. I wasn’t sure about my outfit, though.

The beach stretched for miles and miles in either direction, without a single rock or shell that I could see. A dense forest stood a dozen or so feet from the sandy shore. Well onto the sand now, Kandy tugged her T-shirt off over her head to reveal a sports bra. She then yanked off her jeans, one soaking, clinging leg at a time. Thankfully, the werewolf had excellent balance.

Between Kandy and me, Warner was almost clear of the water himself. Until he suddenly whirled around, stumbling as he looked at me … or rather, turned his back on Kandy’s striptease. He looked so utterly aghast that I had to laugh.

“That’s a lot of skin for a five-hundred-plus-year-old dragon,” I called to Kandy.

The werewolf barked out a laugh, but continued to unabashedly wring the water out of her jeans. She’d already jogged over to the nearest tree she could find and hung her T-shirt over a branch. Which was odd, because I thought tropical trees were all supposed to be palms. The forest behind Kandy had some palms along its edge, but most of the trees looked a lot like super-skinny pines.

Warner didn’t seem to want to look at me either. Still ankle deep in the water and utterly soaking wet, he cast his gaze left, then right as if determinedly scoping out any possible security issue on the beach. This was an attempt to cover his obvious embarrassment.

“If you hang out with shapeshifters, they get naked,” I said. “Often. You’ll get used to it, sixteenth century.” I stepped by the sentinel and finally got my wet ass out of the water.

I, at least, would find a stand of trees to strip behind. Not that I was sure I could call the jungle that spread out before me simply ‘trees.’ For that matter, I wasn’t sure it was actually a jungle either. Where was Wikipedia when I needed it? Oh, yeah. With my utterly waterlogged phone in my completely ruined, beloved satchel.

The entire area thrummed with the wild, natural magic I associated with grid point portals, but I was surprised to feel it this intensely this far away from the portal. Oddly, with every step I took I felt like I was somehow crushing microbes of magic underneath my feet.

Unstrapping my knife was easy enough, though the leather of the sheath was stiff. But I absolutely loathed taking off wet jeans. It was the most undignified, ungraceful, and frustrating thing in the world of clothing. And I knew. I owned and operated a lot of bras — aka torture devices — and wet jeans were worse. By the time I got mine off, I was covered in freaking sand — me and the jeans. It was even in my hair and mouth, though how that had happened, I had no idea. I might have lost a bit of time to my white-hot rage.

“You okay in there, dowser?” Kandy called from somewhere deeper in the forest. She was obviously already patrolling. Half naked. Warner was probably about to have a heart attack. Though, it was sort of lovely that a man —
 

“You didn’t get bit by a snake or anything, did you?” Kandy continued.

“Snakes!” I shrieked. “There are freaking snakes in here? And what do you mean by ‘or anything’? What else is there in here to bite me?”

Kandy’s laugh faded as she continued to scout farther into the trees. The fact that the werewolf just casually expected there might be snakes hanging around didn’t help my mood.

After I got the jeans off, I realized my mistake. Was I just going to wait around here for my clothing to dry? Freaking hell, use your freaking head, Jade. Damn it.

I stopped to breathe deeply. Why the hell was I stressing out about such a stupid thing? Because I couldn’t freak out about the treasure hunting mission that had become super intense super quickly? Because I had to prove I was brave and capable? And therefore something else had to snap?

I asked for this responsibility … well, at least sort of. I’d asked to police Blackwell, at least. To be judge and jury in regards to the sorcerer. And Pulou deemed this more important. Hissy fits about wet jeans really weren’t becoming. Thank God, I was currently surrounded by trees and not judgement-happy vampires and dragons.

I started wringing my clothing out. I was going to have to put it all back on, wet and covered in sand.

Kandy appeared before me wearing a new blue tank top, green lycra shorts, and holding a swath of red and orange material. Material that turned out to be an ankle-length sarong.

“Umm, you went clothes shopping in the jungle, and orange was the best you came up with?”

Kandy snorted and tossed the skirt over my wet head. She’d found me an orange tank top and flip-flops as well.

“The town is, like, literally ten steps over that ridge.”

I pulled the skirt off my head to see Kandy pointing off into the jungle. “Literally?”

“Well, I jogged.”

“So like a thirty minute walk for a normal person?”