19
Ihad spent days healing my shoulder wound in the safety of the townhouse in Dragon’s Hollow, Tess never leaving my side.
Zion had come to visit, and I was finally well enough to move around on my own and to touch my magic again.
Isaac had insisted we move to the new safe house permanently, but Nik had fought him tooth and nail, not wanting me to be around the other Shades.
We didn’t want anyone else to know my storm had turned on me. The resistance was relying on my storm magic to turn the tides of this war, and if I couldn’t control it, we had no hope of defeating Donika. Fletcher had been spotted near the training field as Isaac suspected. My blast of storm magic had sent out a magical signature so strong it broke the wards and had Donika’s Nightshade soldiers coming for us.
“What do you know about the Noctani?” I asked Zion, sitting up in bed and taking a sip from the mug Tess handed me. More healing remedies from Liss. “It’s only a matter of time before she sends them after us, too.”
“I have to admit I don’t know as much as I would like, I had to leave before I was able to gain too much information. Her mad scientist was onto me, whispering in her ear. Donika had already turned her trust away from me.”
Her mad scientist…that must have been Corian, the man I saw when I was dream walking. The man who also saw me. Had he told Donika what he saw?
“What exactly are they?” Tess asked, gathering her knees up against her chest as she sat next to me on the bed.
Nik and Puck were out scouting a new training area for when I was well enough to work with Warrick again. Isaac had meant it when he said we wouldn’t be training my storm magic again, not until we had some answers.
“They are human. Donika has corrupted them with her dark magic, creating a monster similar to the Araneoch. Those aren’t the only creatures she has been busy creating.”
“But they have fangs, and claws,” I pointed out. “Even if they were once human, they aren’t anymore.”
“You’re telling me that Donika has created vampires?” Tess asked, shaking her head back and forth. “Great, that’s exactly what we need.”
“Not vampires, not exactly,” Zion answered, running a hand against the scruff on his cheek.
He and Liss had been almost inseparable since his return, and it had me thinking they were much closer back at The Stone Palace than I originally thought.
“If they’re not vampires then why would they need fangs?” Tess asked.
“They feed, but it isn’t blood they feed on. Not alone, at least. It’s magic. The Noctani were designed to suck the blood out of you, thus siphoning your magic as well,” he replied, his eyes downcast. “We cannot let them get near Diana, under any circumstances.”
The thought of a Noctani sinking their teeth into me and sucking the magic out of me had my stomach doing a flip, the herbs sitting in my stomach like a weight.
“Wait a second—” I started, placing the mug on the nightstand and moving to my feet. “Did you say siphon?”
Zion nodded, watching me cross the room with a furrowed brow.
“When we were searching through the grimoire to find out if Donika and I were magically linked, I came across a siphoning spell.”
I pulled the dresser away from the wall and slipped the leather-bound grimoire free, placing it on the floor before me as I knelt and flipped through it.
I was relieved when Liss found the spell in the Kotova grimoire to confirm we weren’t magically linked. The reason she haunted my dreams was no more than familial connection. All it had taken was a few drops of my blood and the spell to determine I wasn’t magically linked to anyone…thankfully. But in our search of the grimoire we hadn’t found the spell Donika would be so desperate to get her hands on. The spell Tyr was willing to risk everything to transcribe for her.
“Here.” I pointed to the page before me, skimming the words. “This must be the spell Donika was desperate to get her hands on! The reason she wanted the grimoire in the first place. She wants to siphon magic.”
“But she never got the grimoire, how could she have the siphoning spell?” Tess asked, peering at the spell over my shoulder.
“She must have found a work around with her blood magic. The dark creatures she created must serve her purpose. She couldn’t get her hands on this siphoning spell, so instead she created the Noctani,” Zion explained. “Clever girl.”
I shot him a glare that had him shrinking back in his chair.
“This spell is dark magic,” I said, reading the words over and over again. “This type of magic allows you to steal a witch’s power, leaving them mortal. Did Tyr transcribe enough of the spell that Donika was able to replicate it?” My eyes met Zion’s, panicked.
Donika might not have needed this spell after all, she had found a way to siphon magic, although indirectly.
“But whose magic does she want to siphon? Isn’t she supposed to be the most powerful witch in the entire realm?” Tess asked.
I turned to her, the answer already in her eyes despite having asked the question. It was my magic she wanted. If Donika could siphon my storm magic and leave me mortal, there would be no stopping her.
The realization dawned on Zion at the same time, and he abruptly stood.
“We have to bring this back to the council. Your safety is more paramount than ever. We cannot let Donika’s Noctani anywhere near you.”
“We need to figure out a way to stop them.” I bit my lip, thinking about the other spells in the grimoire.
What other spell could help us to take down the Noctani before Donika set them loose in this war?
“When Nik and Puck return, update them on our new theory. I am going to debrief Liss and Isaac. This could change things. We may need to move you to the mortal realm, where Donika can’t reach you,” Zion said as he moved towards the door.
“I will not run.” My words were sharp, and Zion turned to meet my gaze.
I wasn’t sure what he found there, but he reluctantly nodded before letting himself out.
“Let me see,” Tess said, leaning across me to get a better look at the siphoning spell. The grimoire snapped shut, a cloud of dust wafting into her hair. “I will never get used to that.”
I laughed, murmuring the opened spell and letting Tess see it from over my shoulder again. I wondered if the grimoire would recognize Donika, and if it would react similarly, despite her Kotova blood. Could it also sense the darkness roiling within her?
We needed to confront Tyr about how much of this spell he was able to transcribe for her. I had come to think of the townhouse as a home away from home, and I hoped we wouldn’t have to move again. Fletcher and his men hadn’t found us yet, which meant the wards were doing their job. Since I broke the wards around the training field, I hadn’t been outside other than moving from one safe house to another.
“How will we beat her Noctani if they are going to suck the magic right out of us?” Tess mused, moving to rest her back against the footboard of the bed.
“We don’t let them get their fangs into us,” I replied with a half-smile. “I don’t know if they have true magic of their own anymore. They have been so corrupted by the darkness of Donika’s magic. She said their abilities were amplified tenfold, but maybe that’s only their strength and speed. I find it hard to believe they still possess magic. I think they are simply a vessel now. With the training we have been doing with Warrick, I think we stand a chance. I only need to get a handle on my own magic.”
“You heard what Isaac said,” Tess reminded me. “We have combed through this grimoire day and night, and we haven’t found a spell to help you control your magic yet. What if…” she trailed off, not meeting my gaze.
“What?” I asked, grabbing the grimoire and joining her at the foot of the bed.
“What if there isn’t a solution? What if your magic is too much to handle, and you can’t do more than parlor tricks?” she asked.
“We will have to cross that bridge when we come to it,” I replied.
“Honey, I think we have come to it. You have to admit, there is a possibility you won’t be able to use your magic against her.”
“I’m not ready to believe that yet,” I told her, shaking my head. “I will exhaust every resource before I give up. I can’t simply give up after one bad storm.”
Tess’ eyes moved to the scar on my shoulder, the red burn streaking partly down my arm towards my fingers.
“It wasn’t merely a bad storm.” Her voice was solemn.
Liss had applied skin spell after skin spell, but the wound was still puckered and angry. I applied the salves she had given me, but I knew that the permanent reminder of that storm would remain with me forever.
I swallowed hard. “I know.”
“I only want you to be careful. I can’t lose you.” Tess gave my arm a squeeze.
“You won’t,” I reassured her.
I wasn’t sure if that was a promise I would be able to deliver on, but I was going to try my hardest not to let her down. To let any of them down.
If there was a way to defeat Donika and her Noctani while learning to control my magic, I was going to find it.
And soon.
Time was ticking down and as always, it was not on our side.