Chapter 11 #5
A sorcerer-human hybrid? It shouldn’t be possible. I wrack my brain to remember what David said about Tish’s research, wishing he was here.
Percy shakes his head slowly. “No, I’m sure there was nothing like that in the notes we seized.”
“There also wasn’t anything about these supporters on the West Coast,” Gideon points out. “We thought we got all the compounds in that area.”
“What else did you smell?” I demand. How can we possibly find Noah with no information?
“Grass,” Alistair says succinctly. “Fresh, still growing, but it was a type I’ve never come across, so not a common lawn variety.”
“Still growing?” Sam asks incredulously. “Like, they brought a planter box of exotic grass in here with them?”
He shrugs. “I can only tell you what I smell. There’s a difference between the scents of cut grass and uncut.”
I look at Percy. “Are you sure Noah’s okay?”
“Yes.” He sighs. “It’s the strangest thing. I keep getting little nudges from the magic, giving me a feeling he’s fine. Every few minutes. It’s never done anything like that before.”
“Maybe Noah’s sending you the message?” Sam suggests. He shoots a quick glance around to make sure nobody else is within listening distance. “Using the magic to let you know he’s okay.”
Percy spreads his hands. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Is it just a feeling that he’s fine?” I persist. “Do you get anything else we could maybe use to find him?”
He grimaces. “I tried, Andrew. I’m trying to get an idea of location, but the magic just… slips away.”
Hopelessness swamps me, but I shove it away. Noah’s fine. He’s maybe using the magic to send us messages. I have to do my part at this end so we can bring him home.
Alistair is now wandering the perimeter of the reception area. “Well, this is interesting and creepy. Gideon, are you absolutely sure they didn’t teleport in and out?”
“Positive,” he says immediately. “There’s no residue at all in here, and those wards are still active.”
“They are,” Percy agrees, nodding. “There’s no sign someone even tried. Why?”
Stalking back across to where the broken ward is, Alistair paces off a rough rectangle that covers the area from just a few feet in front of us, along the length of the ward for a few yards, then on the inside of the ward for maybe four feet.
Then he turns and heads toward the hall that leads off to private offices.
“Noah was here, leaning against the wall,” he says, sniffing again.
“He came down this hallway, but he definitely stopped here.” He takes another step, and the wall is suddenly blocking most of him from view.
“Hiding,” Gideon says grimly.
Alistair nods. “They saw him, though. Two of the hellhounds were over here as well.” He takes a few more steps, moving out of sight, then comes back. “They stopped a few feet up the hall, so I’m guessing that’s where they grabbed him.”
I hiss.
“I’m sorry,” Alistair says sincerely. “I’ll try to be more sensitive.”
Closing my eyes, I suck in a deep breath.
“You’re fine. So they went through the ward after he breached it—how did he breach it?
It was coded to let him through for those nights he and David stayed late.
Even if he shoved through from the inside, it shouldn’t have had any impact.
And he couldn’t have done that from over there. ”
“The magic?” Sam asks, looking doubtful. “If he breached it on purpose to warn us, would he have used the magic to punch through it?”
We all look at Percy.
“I suppose it might be possible. We don’t ward against the magic, because supposedly nobody can wield it. And the inside of the ward would be more vulnerable anyway.”
“We still don’t know why, though.” Gideon’s frustration is clear. “Why did Noah breach the ward to warn us of intruders who hadn’t tried to breach the ward? Percy, aside from the obvious damage, is there anything wrong with it? Any reason it wouldn’t have alerted you to an attempted breach?”
Percy opens his mouth, studying the ward, but Alistair butts in.
“Sorry, Percy, but right now, this is more important.”
“What is?”
Alistair gestures to the area he paced off before. “Aside from the two hellhounds who came this way, none of the intruders left that space.”
I look at the space. Then I turn and look at the door to the stairwell behind me. The elevator. And I remember that Gideon had to open the after-hours lobby door for me to enter the building.
“How did they get in?” I ask Percy. “We didn’t stop to check. Loading bay?”
“The team downstairs hadn’t ascertained that before we came up,” he says. “I’ll check with them now.”
“You’re not hearing me,” Alistair snaps. “They. Didn’t. Leave. This. Space.” He paces off the rectangle again. “Their scent markers are all here. None of them are over toward you. And that’s even with all the people who’ve tracked through here since then.”
Sam squints at his best friend. “You’re saying they didn’t come up the stairs or the elevator?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
I look at Gideon again, but he’s already distant-eyed, his brow furrowed. “Are you—”
He shakes his head slowly. “There’s nothing. Absolutely no sign of a teleport.” He turns to Percy. “I’m going to test the wards.”
“Is that necessary?” Percy sounds alarmed, and I get it. Attempting to teleport in an area that’s warded against it is, by all accounts, painful.
“We have to eliminate the possibility.”
Sam opens his mouth to protest, but Gideon doesn’t wait. He flickers slightly—a sign of a failed teleport—then makes a sound of… well, pain. I grab him before he collapses and lower him to the ground.
“They’re working,” he groans as Sam rushes to kneel beside him.
Percy nods. “And I can clearly see your blocked attempt on the wards. Nobody tried to teleport in or out before Gideon, not since we had the wards checked and reset three months ago.”
We all look toward the breached ward and the space Alistair is standing in.
What the fuck is going on?
And how can I rescue Noah if there’s no way to track his abductors?