Chapter 24
Elana
I paced the penthouse kitchen like a caged mama bear, back and forth, back and forth across the tiles so hard that I was surprised that my feet weren’t worn down to nubs by now.
Blaze had appeared ten minutes ago right inside the penthouse, because unlike Cassian he was actually allowed in here.
And what he’d told me had completely gutted me.
Melly and Dizzi had been kidnapped. They were gone.
Taken from a castle full of staff, wards, and—oh, I don’t know—a freaking dragon.
Flame and Cassian were out there right now, combing the woods for any signs of them and the duplicitous wizard.
If I got my hands on Leroy, he was going to end up toasted crispier than that goblin mage.
I pressed a hand to my chest, right over my heart, and tried to think. Right before Blaze had shown up, I’d gotten a feeling—a sudden, horrible, sinking fear—that I couldn’t explain. I’d assumed it was mine, my own stress finally boiling over after days of simmering.
But what if that terror was Melly’s? She was somewhere out there, terrified, and I was here, doing jack-all but wearing a hole in the floor.
“I have to get out there,” I said, my voice shaky. “I have to do something.”
“Do what?” Tansy stood on the other side of the island. Eadie was down for her nap, and the penthouse was finally quiet.
“Find her. I think I can. We have a connection. I can feel her. If I get close enough, I think I can follow it right to her.” I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but I wasn’t going to say that part out loud.
Tansy’s frown deepened, her eyes narrowing like she was already calculating all the ways this could go horribly wrong. “Then I’m coming with you. I can help.”
And she could. She was the one with magic that she could actually use and control. Not me. But I couldn’t ask that of her, not when she had Eadie to care for. And besides, this felt like something I had to do. But I wasn’t going to be an idiot about it; I’d take all the help I could get.
“You have a child to care for. But you can help me in other ways. I’ll need to get close to Melly, so that means a portal there and a portal back when I have her. I’ll have Flame and Blaze. Maybe you can make me some canned spells I could use. Spells set to draw on my own magic.”
I might not be able to control my own magic consistently, but I’d had a lifetime of being a magical battery. This time, the spells would be wielded by me.
Tansy pressed her lips into a thin line. “I don’t like this.”
“Yeah, well, join the club. But I have to do this. I know it sounds cliché, but I feel it in my soul.”
Tansy studied me for a long moment, her expression softening. She didn’t approve—hell, I didn’t even approve—but she understood. This was something I had to do.
“I understand,” she said, her voice quiet. “But there has to be another way to do this. A safer, better way.”
“I have to do something. Melly’s scared. I can feel it. She’s somewhere dark and cold, and she’s scared.”
“Dark and cold?” Blaze asked. “How do you know?”
I frowned, not quite knowing how to answer. “I just do. It’s a feeling.”
“There are a few cave systems near the castle,” Blaze said. “Maybe they are hiding in one of them.”
“A cave does make a pretty good evil wizard lair,” Tansy agreed.
“Yes.” Blaze nodded. “And according to Emmett, there are now three wizards involved: Leroy, the guy we saw in town, and some new wizard who recently joined up.”
“That’s a lot of magic,” I said warily.
“We have a lot of magic too,” Tansy said.
“Except mine isn’t usable.” I reminded her.
“Nonsense!” The voice was accompanied by a flash of smoke, and Flame appeared next to his brother. “You toasted that goblin mage real good. Your magic is definitely usable.”
He had a point. “It might be more effective if I can touch some of Melly’s things.”
“Yes!” Tansy agreed. “Can you bring some back?”
“Can’t,” Flame said. “I can’t actually carry anything when I dematerialize. In that way, we are like demons.”
“Portal me over.”
“Excuse me?” Tansy looked confused.
“Portal me over. Same place you picked me up.”
“There’s no need to do that,” Blaze said. “You can portal straight into the castle courtyard now. Leroy isn’t controlling the wards anymore; Emmett cut off his magic from it.”
“But if the wards are down, then it’s not safe,” Tansy protested.
“They aren’t down completely, just selectively up,” Blaze explained. “We’ll be there. And Cassian too. The whole castle, in fact.”
My daughter pressed her lips into a tight line. “Fine. But I’m pulling you back the second you need.”
“Thank you.” I turned to the two ifrits. “Let’s go.”
“Wait!” Tansy was moving now, running over to the kitchen and making a beeline for the tin foil. “Let me make you a few spells just in case. I can make them run on your magic so you can have some control over them.” She was casting now, her hands dancing over the foil.
Chicken Nugget, who had been quiet on her perch, flew over to land on Tansy’s head, offering support.
Soon I had about a dozen foil-packaged spells lined up on the table, each one labeled with a different color Sharpie. The problem now was how to carry them without smashing them all up in my purse.
“You can borrow my tool belt!” Shelby offered.
She’d been listening in from the end of the kitchen counter.
“I bought it thinking I’ll use it when I sew, but I never do.
I just like my stuff laid out on the drafting table.
” She disappeared into her section of the penthouse and returned with a pink tool belt that had more pockets and slots than I could shake a stick at.
Before long, I was suited up, armed with spells, a magically enchanted paring knife, and the dragon scale Emmett had given me that day at the gala. I was ready to go.
The portal spat us out right next to my favorite potted jasmines. Tansy had set a marker on Blaze before he popped back to join Cassian and Flame, then she’d opened a portal to their location.
Cassian looked surprised to see me.
“I’m glad we have more help, but Emmett is not going to like it that you’re here when the castle wards are low. It’s not safe, especially when Leroy made it clear that some strange wizard is after you.” He looked up into the sky where a big bronze dragon circled.
As if detecting my presence, Emmett turned and started flying toward us.
I shrugged. “Last time I checked, he’s not my boss. And what’s it to you anyway? I don’t see Flame and Blaze getting their balls all in a knot over this.”
“Because they don’t have balls.”
“Hey! I resent that,” Flame said. “I do too have balls.”
Blaze ignored the interruption. “Elana can feel Melly through the bond from when she was still inside her egg. If we can amplify that connection, it might lead us to her.” He turned toward the castle doors. “Let’s get something—”
The words died in his throat as the castle started to shimmer around us.
What the hell?
It wasn’t just the castle, but the very air itself began to glitter with gorgeous golden threads, the glow intensifying and swirling into something powerful and ancient.
My breath caught as I recognized it as the very soul, the magic of the castle.
It condensed into a ribbon of light that streaked toward me.
I didn’t have time to react. It wrapped around me in a whirlwind of magic.
My skin prickled, and my chest vibrated so hard I couldn’t breathe.
Then, just as suddenly, it absorbed into me, settling into my body like it had finally found its home.
The pulsing quickened to match my own heartbeat, and after just a few seconds, it was like it had always been there.
The entire courtyard watched in silence.
I patted my chest. But all there was, was me.
Emmett had landed in a crouch in his half-shifted form.
His golden eyes burned into mine, and he was the first to speak.
“Sena’s magic was woven into the castle itself.
It is the only part of her that’s still with us.
With Leroy’s connection to it severed, it must be finally free to choose its next keeper. ”
It took the meaning several seconds to settle.
Then I barked out a laugh, surprising everyone. It had chosen me because of my magic; I knew that because it was part of me now. “So now even a building is using me for my magic? Fantastic.”
Just what I needed—more freeloaders. But I didn’t come to play housekeeper. I came to help find Melly.
But as my chest rose and fell, breathing in the mountain air and the magic around us, the power inside me pulsed.
And the connection to the castle didn’t feel like chains; it didn’t feel like a burden.
I felt the castle’s presence, just like I did with Melly, and dare I say, Emmett’s?
Almost as if all three were a package deal.
“Fine,” I said, meeting Emmett’s eyes. “We’ll hash this out after we get her back.”
The part that was unsaid but understood by both of us was that hashing it out meant more than just the castle’s claiming of me. I needed to know if Emmett ever considered using me for my magic. Because I didn’t think my heart could take it if he had. But that would have to wait.
I turned and stomped toward the door. “Let’s find our little dragon.”