Chapter 46
FORTY-SIX
EMMA
Apparently, Rachel’s idea of “funny” was to send me on a mission with Caden and James.
Nothing says efficient mission planning like throwing an emotionally constipated ex, a homicidal boyfriend, and the girl the whole world was apparently hunting, into a desolate building, probably used by Collabs, without a plan.
What could possibly go wrong?
The three of us portaled out to Greenland—a few miles from the border between the Human World and the Scandinavian Collective, Sisu—ten minutes after I’d stepped out of the shower.
Caden walked ahead, shoulders squared, posture relaxed.
James trailed behind me, a quieter version of himself I hadn’t quite figured out yet.
We slowed to a stop as the trees around us began to thin.
The forest opened into a wide, snow-blanketed clearing: eerily still, surrounded by skeletal birch trees that creaked faintly in the wind. The air was cold, and the sky above hung low and gray, like a lid over the world.
Faint tracks crisscrossed the snow, then vanished, like something had passed through and been erased.
“So, what is it you need me for exactly?” I asked, scanning the emptiness.
“You need to cast your untraceable haze into the clearing,” Caden said, his breath fogging the air. He turned to face me. “As far as you can. See if there’s anything cloaked. If our intel is correct, there should be a hidden building here.”
Easy enough.
I lifted my hand and sent my invisible red haze sweeping out in a wide arc. It rippled across the snow like light caught in fog, curling around tree trunks and sinking into shadows.
Then—suddenly—it hit something.
Not a wall. More like a presence. Cold, metallic, humming faintly beneath the surface.
My eyes snapped toward the far edge of the clearing, to the east.
“Something’s definitely over there,” I muttered.
I stepped toward the far edge of the clearing, where my haze had stopped, where something cloaked and pulsing sat right beneath the snow. But both men shot out their arms, stopping me in my tracks.
“Not so fast,” Caden said. “Can you break through the cloaking?”
I nodded slowly. “I can try. Cloaking’s basically a network of mirrors. If I shatter them, I might be able to see what’s behind.”
Without waiting for a response, I extended my haze again, this time focused on tearing through the magic and exposing whatever was hidden underneath.
The building revealed itself slowly, materializing piece by piece, and something about it unsettled me. This decaying shell, sitting there in the middle of the godsforsaken woods, felt too quiet. Too intentional.
“Bold of them to cloak this shit out here in the Human World,” James muttered. “Not exactly sure how Sisu’s LiaPrism didn’t pick up on it.”
“Maybe it did,” Caden mumbled, already working through the implications in his head. “Maybe Rachel’s right and Sisu’s working with the Collabs.”
“You think Collabs are operating from places like these?” I asked.
“Possibly. But why in the Human World?” James replied. “It’s where they’re most traceable.”
Caden shrugged. “When I was in Monaco, I killed humans who were experimenting on magi out in the open. No magic involved. Who says their experiments even need translation anymore?”
I rubbed my hands together and blew into them once. “Could be. But cloaking still requires translation either way.” I glanced between them. “So how did Sisu not pick up on this?”
The two of them went still before James turned to Caden. “Either their LiaPrism isn’t working properly…”
“Or they’re involved,” Caden finished, then shook his head.
“We need to move,” James commanded, his tone even. “If this is Sisu, the three of us won’t hold against all their Offensives if they show up.”
Caden and I exchanged a brief look, then nodded, having reached the same conclusion.
With the building now fully visible, the three of us approached it in silence. The structure loomed ahead, its silhouette slicing into the afternoon light. Even in broad daylight, with the sun high above, it felt like a dark chapter ripped straight out of a horror movie.
The windows were boarded up, splinters of wood jutting out like broken teeth. The walls were weathered and stained, the brickwork dark with grime and age.
Caden’s hand brushed the small of my back, guiding me toward the entrance. The rusted door stood slightly ajar, creaking as it shifted in the cold breeze. A low hum pressed against my ears, subtle but persistent, a vibration deep beneath the surface of my skin.
“This place feels…”
“Haunted,” James muttered darkly.
I swallowed hard, my gaze sliding toward the thin strip of darkness visible through the crack in the door.
Caden stepped forward first, hand holding on to his non-magical blade. “Stay close.”
My heart hammered against my ribs as Caden pushed the door open. The metal hinges screamed in protest.
As I followed him inside, James was right behind me, the sound of his boots against the concrete too loud against the dead silence pressing down on us.
The door swung shut behind us with a heavy clang, and I almost jumped out of my own skin. “Easy there, Nightcrawler,” Caden murmured in my ear.
My breath fogged in the air, thin tendrils of white disappearing into the dark as the sound of dripping water echoed through the emptiness.
The floor creaked beneath my boots.
The darkness stretched.
And then…
A breath.
Right next to my ear.
I spun, my Skindo already in my hand.
Nothing.
Only blackness.
“You okay?” Caden murmured close by.
No weakness, Emma. You will not have another panic attack in the dark. You’re safe.
Caden’s here.
I gave him a curt nod, as my knuckles tightened around my weapon, right before we moved deeper into the dark.
The next room we entered was thick with the coppery tang of blood, undercut by the cloying sweetness of decay.
My boots stuck slightly as I stepped forward, the slick, wet sound of liquid against concrete curling unease in my stomach. The walls were rough and uneven beneath the faint light filtering in from outside through the cracks, dark streaks glistening along the surface.
Blood. And something else.
“What the hell is this place?” James’s voice cut through the oppressive silence.
“No idea,” Caden replied quietly, as he scanned the room with methodical precision.
My ex-boyfriend stepped toward a dark patch smeared across the floor. “The fuck is this? Blood?”
I crouched down, my nose hovering almost right above the stain. “Yeah… And lots of it.”
My head snapped back up as I studied the walls. Dark streaks glistened wetly under the glow of magic. Pieces of—
“Tissue.”
My stomach twisted.
“Human tissue?” James’s jaw flexed.
“Or magi,” Caden said, his voice low.
“We need a Healer in here,” James growled, barely holding back the edge of his rage.
“I don’t think a Healer is going to magically fix these tissues back into a person,” I muttered, trying to tamp down the fear curling through me with sarcasm.
James shot me an annoyed look. “Thank you for that dark but rather useless comment,” he said tightly. “I meant a Healer to discern whether it’s magi or human blood. Can you nex Hillary? And then portal her out here?”
I stilled. My gaze slid toward Caden, who was already watching me. His look was intense, but steady beneath his lashes.
“How would a Healer know the difference?”
James waved a hand. “Hillary will know what to do.”
But Caden’s intense stare stayed on me, unmoving. His voice was quiet but clear when he finally spoke.
“A Healer’s haze would recognize magi blood because it would feel similar, like its own. Blood infused with translation. Human blood would feel foreign. Different.”
“Would a Healer need some sort of forensic training for that?” The words trembled slightly despite my attempt to steady them.
James’s attention shifted between me and Caden. “What’s going on?”
Caden shook his head once. “No specific training necessary. The haze only needs to touch the blood, and the Healer would know.”
I drew in a shaky breath. “Okay. What I’m about to do,” I said, more forceful now, “does not leave this room. I will not become another experiment.”
James’s brows drew together. “Do what?”
I inhaled slowly, focusing on the heat running through my veins. The haze stirring right below the surface. I reached for it, not the scarlet one. The gold. The one I never let anyone see.
I closed my eyes.
“What the hell is she doing?” James’s frustration cut through the quiet. “We don’t have time for this—”
“Will you shut up?” Caden’s tone was threaded with a quiet edge of impatience.
The golden haze stirred beneath my skin, curling hot and electric. It coiled tightly, then shot out in a thin, controlled stream as it slid across the room toward the darkest smear of tissue along the wall.
I didn’t focus on making it invisible, choosing to let James see the secret I’d been holding onto for so long.
James stiffened. “What the hell? Since when is her translation gold?”
My energy made contact with the blood, and recognition pulsed through me so fast I almost stumbled. I felt it. Understood it. My haze registered the foreign texture, the wrongness of human blood laced with the unmistakable signature of magic.
Both.
When my haze retracted, I opened my eyes. James’s gaze burned into me like I’d grown two heads. And Caden…
Was perfectly still. His expression smoothed into careful indifference, but his eyes—his eyes were fire. Burning beneath the mask. Pride and something else shining through the edges of his stare.
“So?” Caden’s voice was quiet and cold. Detached. But I knew him too well to believe that was the case.
“It’s both,” I said, straightening my back. “Magi and human blood. So is the tissue.”
The hell did that mean?
James’s jaw went slack. “Hold on. You’re a Healer?”
I straightened my spine. “Yes.”
“Since when?”
I shrugged. “Since always I guess.” I hesitated for a beat, then decided he had a right to the truth. “But I found out after one of AJ’s classes, back at Cyclos.”