30. Matilda
30
MATILDA
My head spins as we materialise in Draven’s room, the transportation magick leaving me dizzy. When my vision clears, I see Luc sprawled on Draven’s bed, holding what looks like an ancient book.
“Took you long enough to show up,” he says, glancing up at Draven. “This book of yours has been going crazy.” He holds it up, ignoring me for the time being.
“The whole academy is going crazy,” Draven cuts in, striding forward and snatching the book out of Luc’s hands. “This isn’t for you. Someone’s been messing with necromancy that has no fucking idea what they are doing.”
That gets Luc’s attention. He gets off the bed and fixes me with a wary stare before turning back to Draven. I know it’s because of what he saw in my nightmares. He doesn’t know how to look at me, let alone act around me. Fucking great. Just what I need. An awkward Prince of Hell half-Incubus who wants to get in my pants but has no idea how to now.
“Is that what caused the surge I felt earlier? Thought it was just the usual weird shit around here.”
“No,” I say, my voice still shaky from what we saw in the mist. “Something’s wrong. Really wrong. I think it might be connected to what happened to me in Dark Magick class.”
“What happened?” Luc asks, but before I can answer, the book in Draven’s hand snaps open. The pages flutter on their own, stopping suddenly at what looks like a map.
Vex leans in. “What is that?”
“A map of the Academy,” Draven mutters, laying the book on his desk. His fingers trace the yellowed page.
“What is this book?” I ask, moving closer.
He shows me the cover. Necromancy for the Master Practitioner .
“Fun,” I mutter, shooting him a smile. “Is that an academy book or yours?”
“Academy,” he mutters. “It found me in the library earlier.”
“It found you?” I ask, taken aback.
“It happens,” Vex interjects, peering over my shoulder. “The book was drawn to the most powerful Necromancy practitioner on the grounds. It was seeking its master.”
Draven snorts. “Well, isn’t that sweet? What has any of this got to do with this map?” He taps the page.
“There,” Vex points to a section beneath what appears to be the library but from a long time ago. “These passages aren’t there now. At least not out in the open.”
Luc finally moves closer, his curiosity apparently overriding his awkwardness around me. “Look at these markings. They’re protection runes, but not like any I’ve seen before.”
“These aren’t just protection runes,” Vex says, his fingers tracing the markings on the page. I notice the runes on his chest gleaming faintly through his shirt, responding to whatever magick is contained in the book. “They’re binding runes. Powerful ones. Old and very dark magick.”
“How old?” Draven asks, watching Vex intently.
“Pre-dating the Academy’s foundation old. This place was built here because it is a Nexus of various ancient and beyond powerful magicks.” Vex leans closer, his body pressing against my back as he examines the map.
“Various ancient and beyond powerful magicks?” I whisper. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“It’s not. All that muddled together could create a hotbed of magickal activity.”
“Shit.”
“See these intersecting lines?” Vex continues, pointing to them. “They’re containment patterns. Whatever’s down there, someone went to a lot of trouble to keep it locked away.”
My pendant pulses, and I feel a pull toward the map. “But it’s not locked away anymore, is it? That’s what we’re feeling.”
“No,” Draven says grimly. “Something’s weakening the bindings. Maybe Blake’s amateur necromancy disrupted them, or...”
“Or whatever’s down there is waking up on its own, and Blake used that as an opportunity to attempt the unattemptable,” Vex finishes. He traces another set of runes, and I feel the magick in them respond to his touch. “These are failing. The power structure is deteriorating. This book needed you, specifically, Draven, to learn what is going on.”
“Why him specifically?” Luc asks, careful to keep his distance from me.
“Because he is the only one with the power to raise the dead and have them be normal arseholes walking around like nothing happened,” Vex states.
I stare at Draven, who avoids my gaze. “The only one?” I squeak.
He nods grimly. “The only one here . My dad more so, but he isn’t here.”
“Nope, just his progeny,” Vex says, giving Draven an intense stare that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, and makes me wonder how much he knows about the two Princes and their family.
“So what is this culmination of magicks called then?” Luc asks.
Vex straightens up and adopts his teaching pose. Straight-backed, sterner and more serious than the wicked, sarcastic warlock that makes my blood tingle. “Praxian magick. Pure and hungry.”
“Praxian?” Luc asks. “I’ve never heard of it.”
Vex’s runes pulse brighter as he explains, his voice tight with tension. “It is, for lack of another term, Origin magick. It is what existed before spellcraft, before we learned to shape magick into something controllable. The raw essence of power itself. It is primordial, it is the first.” He scoops up the book and traces the binding runes on the map. “These were created to contain it, to keep it from destabilising structured magick in the Academy.”
“And now we’ve got someone playing with necromancy on top of a Praxian leak,” Draven mutters, his eyes fixed on the book. “No wonder the magickal barriers are failing. It’s like throwing acid into Hellfire.”
The book’s pages flutter again, and I feel something stir in the air around us.
“Okay, so what does this have to do with me?” I ask, and three pairs of eyes turn to me with varying degrees of interest, making me feel less like a witch and more like a hunted prey.