Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
We continue clearing the buildings, dropping the last human guards with quick, precise shots. Meredith’s bedroom adjoins the one where Samuel is working. We decide to neutralise everyone else and destroy all the paperweights we can before facing her.
I despise this vulnerability.
The team dispatches the remaining mages swiftly and silently, yet one remains unaccounted for—the fire mage I fought.
Her absence prickles at my nerves.
Riker scents four more paperweights and destroys them. I test my power: stronger now. Filaments spread across the island like glowing threads, illuminating the blank spots where my senses cannot yet reach.
“There is one in Meredith’s room,” I whisper. “Another with Samuel and three more… over there.” I indicate a building: all sharp lines and reinforced concrete, no front windows, only a thick metal door and a slab-like facade.
“Think that’s where they’re keeping Knox?” Lander asks.
“I do.”
“The illusion curtain’s up,” Jill murmurs. “Anything loud or magical will be swallowed before it reaches the house. Meredith and Samuel will hear only the wind and the sea.”
Lander nods his thanks.
We slip away, leaving Dayna and Jill behind to keep Meredith and Samuel in sight. George takes point again; with a flick of his wand he peels the ward from the door, and we step inside.
I follow George and Riker, sweeping the left-hand side with my gun, while Lander boxes me in, pushing me to the centre of our small formation.
We stand in the building’s hub, a dark, windowless space that links every corridor and doorway.
The lights are off, and the air is heavy with silence and that institutional smell of polish and old stone.
Riker gestures; George leads us right, down the first corridor.
As we move, we clear each room—offices, small meeting spaces, nothing more.
At the building’s heart the security block comes into view, complete with its own row of containment cells, steel bars, and rune-lined walls.
The guards go down quickly but violently, rounds puffing against George’s personal wards as he deflects the handful of shots fired. Once the corridor is secure, Riker trusses the guards with plastic ties and drags them into the nearest cell.
The first occupied cell holds Knox. He reclines on a bunk, arms folded behind his head, looking—of all things—perfectly relaxed. The relief I feel at finding him alive makes my knees weak. We use an unlock spell to open the door instead of hunting for a key.
Knox rises to his feet and meets our eyes. “You came,” he says to me. “Why?”
“Because you came for me, and I was not going to let them hurt you or your people. Are you all right? Did they harm you?”
“Not physically.” He glances between us. “I can’t believe you’re actually here and you brought the Magic Hunter?” His eyes narrow at Lander, who merely shrugs. “Councillor Meredith Jackson has broken the treaty,” Knox adds, his voice on the verge of a snarl.
“We know,” Lander replies. “Her attack is personal; it wasn’t sanctioned.”
Farther down the corridor, Riker discovers the last of the three weights and smashes it without ceremony. Magic splinters; glass falls in harmless shards.
Knox steps out of the cell, stretches, and gives me a weary smile. “Those things pack a punch.”
“They do. They are paperweights,” I reply.
“Paperweights? Is this some sort of sick joke? They’ve made glass magic just to mess with ours?”
“It is an old spell. Illegal.”
Knox glances at Lander, who gives a grim nod. “They’re illegal, and they were used by one of the Magic Sector’s top councillors.”
“She’ll be dealt with,” Lander adds.
“Not if I deal with her first,” Knox growls. “When this is over, I want it in writing that the Ministry of Magic will destroy every paperweight they find, every single one.”
“They will.” I glance up at Lander. “They will do that, won’t they?”
He meets my eyes, expression hard. “If they don’t, we’ll make them.”
“And if that still doesn’t work,” Knox says softly, the edge in his voice sharp enough to cut, “I’ll craft spells that tear the Ministry apart from the inside. You don’t want me as an enemy.”
“Hey.” Lander lifts a hand, calm but firm. “No one’s threatening anyone. Meredith acted on her own authority; that’s not on us.” He steps closer, voice low. “We’re here to help you, and we will finish this.”
“We need to be delicate,” I say. “They have set up some volatile magic.”
“They mentioned something about unwilling soul magic,” Knox says with a grimace, as if the words taste foul.
“Lander’s team have taken out most of the guards and all but two of the coven. That leaves Meredith and Samuel—he’s working on the circle in your living room. Meredith is asleep.”
“The bitch is sleeping in my bed,” Knox growls.
I wince.
“What do you want us to do?”
“Could you stay here?” I nod to George, who stands nearby. “George can ward this building. Until we have destroyed the rest of the magic, you might as well stay here where it’s safe.”
“But I feel stronger. Can’t I help?”
“The magic will still pin you down.”
“So you want me to sit here, in my own home, and wait?” Knox asks.
“We got this far; trust us to finish it. Trust me.”
He holds my gaze for a long beat, then exhales. “All right, Harper. Just be careful,” he grumbles.
“We just have to smash the last two paperweights, then I can break down the circle, and we can leave you in peace.”
Riker hefts the hammer on his shoulder and smirks. “I’ll get them.”
“All right, Thor,” Knox says. His eyes narrow as he looks at Lander. “Don’t think this is the last you’ll hear of this; I’ll be seeking serious reparations,” he adds.
He turns to me, his expression softening. “Thank you for rescuing us. If you’ll excuse me, I need to check on my people.”
He heads down the corridor. The cell doors already stand open.
Cries and whispers ripple through the block as everyone realises they are free.
I watch Riker as he prises apart a few anti-magic cuffs, his muscles straining.
A woman with strawberry-blonde hair and pale skin flings her arms around Knox, weeping, and he holds her close, murmuring in her ear.
“Are you ready?” Lander asks.
My stomach flips. “No. But let’s do it anyway.”
The whole coven was needed to cast the unwilling soul magic. No wonder they are exhausted and easy to fell. Samuel carried on working after everyone else. He should not be a problem—we can handle a mage drained of power.
We leave the building, and as I stride past Knox, he gently catches my arm.
“Harper.”
I turn.
The woman beside him trembles, clutching his sleeve.
“If you get the chance to kill her,” he says, eyes dark, “please take the shot.”
I don’t speak. I simply nod.