Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
Martin
“I wouldn’t advise digging it out, at least not yet,” Warlock Holland said. He didn’t need any dire inflection to grab our attention. The words alone were enough, not that I’d needed Holland’s opinion on the matter. Gray said not to touch the thing in the wall, and I believed him.
Keir pulled back his hand. He’d been reaching for the stone wall, palm flat as if to lay his skin against its cool surface.
We’d left Lazarus behind for this little jaunt into the bowels of the Magical Usage Council.
It seemed the wisest course of action considering Hikaru’s presence as well.
Hikaru was fascinated by the shiny, jewel-toned eggs and his tails seemed intent on touching them. Lazarus was not impressed.
“What is it, Niki?” Hikaru asked, inching closer to the wall, as if the threat of danger pulled him in like catnip.
Holland’s hand clamped down on Hikaru’s shoulder, tugging him back. “It is the anchor.”
My head snapped up, immediately finding Gray’s gaze. “Anchor?” I asked. I didn’t like anything related to Huxley having a similar title to the one I now proudly claimed. “An anchor for what?”
“Or who?” Gray asked while shifting closer to my side. I liked him closer. Dryads didn’t have a lot of offensive or defensive abilities, so I wasn’t exactly certain how I planned on protecting Gray from danger. All I knew was I would do whatever I could to accomplish that seemingly impossible goal.
Holland’s lips tightened. “In this case, I believe the who is long gone and is now more of a what.”
Keir’s eyes widened as the blood drained from his face. “What are you saying?” I knew what Keir feared. It was what all of us were afraid of. Another victim could be laid at Huxley’s feet, all of us unaware that there was ever a soul in danger to begin with.
Hikaru’s head tilted to the side, his tails flicking. “I didn’t really understand that one either, Niki.”
Taking a step back, Nikodemus Holland pinched the bridge of his nose.
The warlock appeared tired. Hikaru must have thought so too because he soon had Holland wrapped up in his tails—all eight of them.
“What’s wrong, Niki?” I swear, I’d never heard Hikaru’s voice drip with so much honest concern.
It was an intriguing aspect I’d never witnessed nor had I assumed Hikaru capable of.
Arm slipping around Hikaru’s side, Holland welcomed the kitsune’s affections. “I believe I’ve figured out where the buzzweeds’ magic came from.” Holland didn’t sound happy regarding the revelation.
“Where?” Keir asked the question we were all thinking.
Holland grimaced. “Pixie.”
Immediate silence filled the dank air, followed by Gray’s harshly cursed, “You’re shitting me.”
“I assure you, I am not,” Holland answered.
“Pixie magic,” Keir reverently said. “That’s… Some would say there is no stronger magic.”
“And they would not be wrong,” Hikaru answered instead of Holland.
Keir nodded his agreement before looking to Holland and asking, “Have you figured out what kind or where it came fr—” Keir’s body jerked. “No. Tell me he didn’t.”
“I’m afraid he did.” Holland grimaced.
“Goddess above.” Keir sounded as if someone had stabbed him through the heart. I for one, was still in the dark. Part of me wanted to stay there, hovering in the abyss, blissfully unaware of the latest horror attributable to our previous leader.
“I don’t understand,” Gray said, making me feel a little better that I still hadn’t put all the pieces together yet. “What did Huxley do?”
Head down, Keir bodily turned away, his hands resting on his hips as he took great, heaving gulps of air. I couldn’t tell if he was working his way up to an explanation or if he was on the verge of finally breaking.
Regretfully, Holland filled in the holes. “A home-and-hearth pixie.” Holland swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bopping. “That’s the type of magic Hikaru felt in the first buzzweed that was found.”
Hikaru frowned. “I wasn’t certain. I just told you that’s what it reminded me of.”
I wasn’t certain if Hikaru realized that during his first encounter with the buzzweeds or if he’d noticed later and then spoken of it to Holland. I got the feeling sometimes Hikaru did or didn’t say things not out of any malicious intention, but because he simply didn’t think it important.
“I know,” Holland said, his fingers carding through one of Hikaru’s tails. “At least you pointed me in the right direction.” Nodding toward the wall, Holland continued, “This solidifies my theory.”
“And that would be?” I prompted.
Inhaling, Holland’s chest expanded. “All of the buzzweeds hold a small portion of power. Think of it like slicing an apple and placing small pieces of that apple into different containers. If the buzzweeds are little bits of apple, then the thing sitting behind that wall is the core. It is what will call all the buzzweeds to it, tapping into that power, reviving it and making use of it.”
I could literally feel Gray’s confusion. “But for what purpose?” he asked.
Holland could only shrug. “At this point, that is unknown. What I do know is that pixie magic is something special. None of us know how it works; all we know is that it does. There is no greater defense than a bonded home-and-hearth pixie.”
“Or nature pixie,” Hikaru chimed in.
Holland nodded. “Agreed. One could also argue the case for social pixies. Although rarer, they do occasionally bond, although it isn’t typically to a house or land, but a person in particular.”
Hikaru said, “Like Vander and Parsnip.”
Holland appeared briefly irritated but, in the end, agreed. “Exactly like that annoying warlock and his one and only.”
“Stop complaining,” Hikaru accused. “You like Vander.”
Holland scoffed. “Never.”
Hikaru rolled his green-gold eyes. “Don’t listen to Niki. He has a very soft spot for Warlock Vander Kines.”
Waving his own personal one and only away, Holland said, “Regardless, the point stands. When a pixie bonds, whatever they’ve bonded to is beyond protected.
There is not a force on Earth or in Fairy that can break that bond or get to their bonded without the pixie’s express permission.
Experience tells us even a djinn has a difficult time. ”
Gray’s curiosity sang inside me, loud and clear. “Why would that be necessary?” Gray waved a hand toward the wall and then made a broader sweep to indicate the compound as a whole. “Why split the power up? Why the buzzweeds and the…core?”
Instead of Holland, Hikaru answered, “Too much power.”
“Too much?” Gray asked. “In what way?”
This time, Holland took over the explanation reigns. “Most likely a singular object would not be able to contain that amount of magic. Huxley had to divide it up.” Holland appeared decidedly uneasy. “This is most unusual and very disturbing.”
I stared at the wall, unable to see what was on the other side, but through my connection with Gray, when Gray was in his wisp form, I could hear its song.
The song didn’t affect me in the same way it did Gray.
That’s what made me his anchor. Now that I understood what to listen for and how to block the other songs out, I could keep Gray safe when he was in his wisp form.
Or at least I could keep him from being torn apart.
Still, why would Huxley do such a thing? What was to be gained if the pixie were… Realization slammed into me. “He murdered the pixie.” My legs felt like overdone spaghetti. “Gaia, he somehow managed to drain a pixie of their power.”
Another sad, slow nod from Holland. “I am afraid so.” Keir let loose a wounded wail. “I am sorry,” Holland offered, although I had no idea why he felt the need to apologize for something he’d had no part in.
“Who?” Keir’s simple request was but a whisper. “When?”
“I’m afraid I cannot say,” Holland answered. “I cannot tell from the buzzweeds themselves. The magic could have been separated and deposited days or centuries ago. The magic doesn’t fade. It is kept contained, safe, and ready to be called forth.”
“But called forth for what?” I couldn’t take my eyes off the wall. “Without a pixie to control it or bond to an area…what use is the magic? And why would Huxley need that anyway?”
Again, Keir made a noise that sounded more animalistic than humanoid.
“Why would he need wyvern eggs or Hikaru’s magical tails?
” Hikaru flinched, shrinking into Holland’s side.
“Why would he need any of it?” Keir threw up his hands.
He didn’t sound as defeated as before. Now he just sounded livid.
“None of us know because none of us are as devious, deluded, or arrogant as him.”
I flinched, hating the vitriol in Keir’s tone. I’d known Keir for centuries. He’d always been such a steady and guiding presence. Bitterness didn’t suit him, and he wore the emotion like ill-fitting clothing.
Feeling my unease, Gray placed his hand on my forearm, applying the gentlest of pressures. My responsive wane smile was insufficient given the level of ease his mere presence gave me.
With a firm squeeze, Gray turned his attention to Holland and asked, “Shouldn’t we try and remove it?
I’m not saying I want to, and I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t want any one of us going near it.
” Gray shivered. “The buzzweeds’ songs sound like ants beneath my skin.
This thing feels weightier, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Still, it seems wrong to just leave it there.
Can’t we slap one of your charms on it and move it out of the compound? ”
Holland shook his head. “I do not believe the charms I created for the buzzweeds will affect this the same way. I doubt they will be enough and the risk of handling it without some type of dampening charm is too great. Now that I know the feel of the magic, I can hopefully work something out that will be sufficient. It is far trickier than I originally considered. Simply releasing this level of magic, undoing the container it is in, could be very deleterious.”
“You’ve already done so much,” Keir said. “I hate to ask, but do you have any idea when the charm will be completed?”
Instead of Holland, Hikaru answered, “Niki’s exhausted. He’s been working nonstop and needs food and rest. He’ll—”
“I’m fine, Hikaru.”
Hikaru’s foot stomp didn’t indicate he believed Holland. “I will not have you deplete yourself like you did before. Do you hear me, Niki?” Hikaru poked a claw-tipped finger into Holland’s chest. “I will not have it!”
“Hikaru, everything will be—”
“Don’t you dare tell me everything will be fine. It will not be fine if you wear yourself out. I know you, you big sap.”
Sap?
“You will work yourself into a coma if you think it is necessary. I am telling you here and now that I. Will. Not. Stand. For. It.” And with that final comment, Hikaru grabbed Nikodemus Holland and translocated away, presumably back to their home in California.
“Well, that was…interesting…and maybe informative?” Gray turned confused eyes to me. “Also, terribly disturbing.” He swallowed hard. “I’m not sure there’s any graver sin than harming a pixie.”
Of course there were just as heinous acts, but I understood the sentiment.
Pixies were one of the least aggressive species occupying the world.
They were light, laughter, and beauty. Pixies could be hella protective, but only when genuinely threatened.
Peaches’s approach to the two djinn he technically held mastery over was proof of that.
Slumped against the far wall, Keir stared at the floor, head hung and shoulders rounded. “We’ll do as told and leave the object for now. I trust Holland’s opinion. Gray’s too. If both of them say not to touch this thing until it is secure, then that’s what we’ll do.”
It wasn’t that I disagreed, but had to ask, “And what about Lazarus and our expected wyvern guest? Lazarus already knows about this thing. I doubt he’ll be too pleased to hear it has to stay where it is.”
Pushing away from the wall, Keir started back down the hall and toward the stairway. “If Lazarus has a problem, then he can take the eggs elsewhere. Honestly, I’m not certain why he hasn’t done that already.”
Gray’s raised eyebrow let me know he was just as confused by the irritation in Keir’s voice as I was. Not that I didn’t understand why Keir was upset, only why it was pointed in Lazarus’s direction.
Fingers intertwining with Gray’s, we followed Keir at a much more sedate pace. Not that I enjoyed being in this dank underground, but as long as Gray was beside me, I was surprisingly okay.
“What do you say we get something to eat and go looking for something else?” Gray said, leaning into me. “My brain’s too wired to rest.”
Mine was too. “Sounds good.”
Gray’s pleased grin and the increased pressure of his fingers in mine were all I needed.