Chapter 12 #2
Darian leaped off his stool and punched his tiny fist in the air. “Maze! Maze! Maze!”
Oh yeah, sugar high coming in strong. Full force. Tiny gorilla energy levels climbing rapidly toward concerning territory. In another five minutes he’d either be happily running through magical hedges or attempting to climb something he absolutely shouldn’t. Possibly Ruth.
I laughed. “You sure you’re up for this?”
Ruth gave me a warm smile. “Yes. And I’m sure you’ve got lots to do today.
I thought I’d watch Darian so you can relax.
” She said it gently. Calmly. Like relax was a normal thing people did after discovering they accidentally opened reality inside a magical prison while evolving terrifying ancient powers they knew absolutely nothing about.
Relax wasn’t at all what I had in mind. In fact her taking Darian with her for a few hours was actually perfect for me to start doing some testing.
Terrible idea testing. Potentially dangerous testing.
Which described at least seventy percent of my life these days.
Maybe more. Hard to say. I’d stopped keeping track somewhere around cursed founders and near-apocalyptic events.
“Thanks, Ruth,” I said as she took Darian’s sticky hand in hers and started for the front door.
Sticky somehow followed him now. Syrup. Dirt.
Crumbs. Mystery substances. Tiny fingerprints permanently decorating every surface within reach.
Parenthood really lowered your standards fast. A year ago I would’ve cleaned syrup. Now? Survival.
She turned her head around, smiling. “We’ll bring you back some souvenirs.”
Not sure what souvenirs she meant, but I didn’t want to know.
With Ruth that could mean festival prizes, homemade candles, a suspicious mushroom sculpture, or three squirrels she accidentally befriended.
Last spring she brought me what she called decorative moss, and somehow it escaped.
I still occasionally found pieces of it in the cottage.
Just as soon as the door closed and they were gone, I chucked the last of my coffee and slipped off my stool.
It was time.
Time to get my portal mojo juices flowing again.
Even though I didn’t know how to call up another portal, I was going to bust my ass trying.
Because Addison was out there. Because Darian had gotten sick.
Because Allison was dead. Because my Nexari side apparently came with hidden bonus features nobody bothered telling me about.
Fantastic family communication. Truly exceptional.
If ancient magical bloodlines had customer service reviews, ours was getting one star.
“Let’s do this,” I said, rubbing my hands together, and then started to do some stretches. I even did some jumping jacks followed by some running on the spot.
Yeah, I was losing my damn mind.
Still I moved to the living room and pushed back the furniture to give me more room because I was expecting some disasters here.
Thinking back to my conversation with my father last night, he said that a lot of Nexari portals and magic responded to emotions.
Good thing I had lots of those. Also instinct.
I was going to basically rely on my instincts since no one could train me.
I could see a lot of errors with that—big ones, major ones—but I didn’t have a choice.
Right now, finding Addison was my priority. Kicking her ass was also my priority, but I had to find her first. And if Marcus and his deputies hadn’t found her yet, it meant she was good at hiding.
But I had portal magic. She didn’t.
Exhaling, I focused on my magic, calling it to me. It surged fast, stirring beneath my skin. Now that I had it, I tried to remember how I’d pulled it off in the prison. I’d been desperate, afraid. The ley line I was trying to reach wasn’t there, and my portal arrived instead.
So I tried it again.
I pulled everything I had. Every ounce. Every cell in my being. Every piece. Every scrap of magical mojo I had inside of me… and shoved.
Nothing.
The cottage remained aggressively cottage-like. No portal. No swirling ancient demon weirdness. No reality tearing open. Just me standing in my living room with both hands stretched out in front of me like I was aggressively presenting invisible jazz hands to my refrigerator.
“Okay,” I breathed. “A for effort.”
Maybe I needed movement. I paced because pacing made people smarter. Science probably.
I rubbed both hands through my hair and tried again. Focused harder. Pulled on my magic harder.
Nothing.
A decorative spoon hanging beside the stove rattled slightly.
“Oh good,” I told it. “Excellent. Ancient Nexari powers. Fear the spoon-shaking abilities.”
I exhaled slowly. No. Think. Prison. Grimway. What happened?
I closed my eyes. The wards. The panic. The desperation.
Darian.
My portal took me where I needed to go.
The connection, the emotion, the protection.
Magic recognizing magic. My father’s words rolled slowly through my head.
Places. People. Magic.
My pulse picked up.
Addison.
Slowly, I straightened. “Okay,” I whispered. “Worth a try.”
I focused on Gorilla Barbie 2.0’s perfect face—same eyes as Allison, same smile only colder, crueler. I thought about Hollow Cove. Her showing up, blaming me, lying. Allison dying. Darian getting sick.
I gritted my teeth and pushed my magic harder.
I pictured her standing in my doorway. I pictured her smile. I pictured the way my instincts screamed that something wasn’t right the moment I met her.
Anger stirred, fast and ugly.
Magic surged beneath my skin, different this time. Bigger. Ancient. Heavy.
The air around me shifted. Wind moved through the cottage hard enough to stir papers on the counter. My hair lifted slowly off my shoulders. The lights flickered once. Twice.
“Okay,” I said. “This is better.”
My pulse hammered harder. Magic climbed and expanded through me. It burned, but I didn’t let go.
Pain flashed sharply through my chest.
The air changed first.
Pressure built around me fast enough that my ears popped.
Papers scattered off the kitchen counter and skidded across the floor while cold wind spiraled through the cottage hard enough to lift strands of my hair around my face.
The space in front of me warped strangely, bending wrong somehow, like the world itself had stopped following its own rules.
Dark crimson light bled slowly outward. Black shadows curled through it, twisting and folding over each other in silent movement that made my stomach tighten. Magic rolled through the room heavy and ancient, pressing against my skin in a way ley lines never had.
And then the opening appeared.
A shimmering circular tear hovered off the ground.
And through it was Addison’s stupid face.