Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Nick’s bulletproof-vest spell shielded me some from the initial blast, but it threw me forward into him, the explosion leaving both of us scrambling for more protection.
The shrapnel of wood and drywall, and some extra metal Woolworth had clearly fashioned into an IED, ate away at the protective circle Nick had drawn on my chest, and I felt the heat of the flames at my back.
When I looked over, Nick’s mouth was moving, but all I could hear was ringing in my ears.
He rolled over and checked on Mallory. I struggled to my feet, pulling the air in tight around me, weaving as much protection as I could from it.
Then I started trying to contain the fire that had resulted from the blast. I stepped in close and pulled all the air out of the room.
Fire needs air. Drop a lid on an oil fire in a pan and suddenly you just have a charred dinner and a screaming fire alarm. But air is hard to control. I could pull it away from the flames for maybe a couple of seconds. I had to hope that was enough.
Digging deep, I wondered how much magic I had left. Laurel’s smoothie and the endless supply of her delicious sandwiches had helped refill some of my magic, but I didn’t have the reserves I was used to.
A whirlwind surrounded me, pulling all the air from the bedroom. The flames flickered and then subsided. Out. I sighed in relief.
Releasing the air, I took a step closer to the bedroom, wanting to make sure. Nick grabbed me and pulled me behind him, dropping what looked like a quarter on the ground. A shield shimmered into existence, Nick feeding it with his green magic, gasping for breath and going to one knee at the drain.
Another explosion rocked the house, and this time I got a front-row seat to what we’d survived.
It looked like the entire floor was blowing up, the wood splintering, and now I could see what Woolworth had done.
He’d made his circle out of metal and somehow placed it underneath the wood.
The spell was literally tearing itself apart, exploding as sloppy spellwork released the magic it contained.
My expertise was in fae magic and witchcraft, not alchemy spellwork, but I could tell it was going to keep exploding until the entire circle destroyed itself and demolished the house. Something in the room moved.
The closet door burst open and a werewolf shoved out, scrambling over the spellwork, his paws getting burned and his body taking the brunt of the next assault. I could see the metal tear through him, revealing a bloody ribcage. He yelped, but kept moving until he was right at Nick’s shield.
Nick wavered. The wolf pawed at the shield and I put a hand on Nick’s shoulder. Drawing on the air again, I shoved as hard as I could, creating a jet stream forcing the explosion away from us just long enough for Nick to open the shield and let the wolf past.
It collapsed on the other side and I looked down. Nick’s teeth had bitten down hard on his lip, leaving a thin trail of blood down his chin. He couldn’t hold out much longer.
The explosion blasted Nick’s shield again, and I did the math. I couldn’t carry both the wolf and Mallory. If Nick depleted his magic again, I’d have to save all three of them. No.
There had to be a way to disrupt the spell before it ate itself and left us buried in rubble. I reached out and listened. The circle was made out of pure iron.
It was thinner than I’d thought. He hadn’t had to set it under the floor, just slightly hammered into it, an inlay of metal hidden by all the books and papers and a now burned rug. I woke the iron with a hint of my magic, the infusion causing another explosion. Closing my eyes, I spoke to the iron.
I reminded it how tired it was, that it wasn’t meant to deliver magic. Iron is dangerous to fae because of how it drains magic, sucks it up like a sponge absorbing water. But then that magic just sits there until it’s reabsorbed by the earth or fades from existence.
The iron remembered when it had been in the ground and exchanging magic with the world around it.
I held it and then gave it away. The metal sighed. My purpose was to be a container.
“You weren’t meant for spellwork,” I reassured it. Maybe that was part of why Woolworth had chosen iron. It contained vast amounts of its own magic, but couldn’t move magic the way alchemy circles should.
No. The iron agreed.
“So, you could stop,” I suggested. “Before you’re fractured completely. Just let the magic go.”
The iron considered it. Most of it was still in a circle, which meant the magic it contained and the extra Woolworth had added to activate the spell was sloshing around in it, a powder keg surrounded by matches.
What would take the magic? The iron asked.
It should go straight into the earth, where it would be reabsorbed, but I could tell the iron didn’t want to poison the ground with whatever Mark had put into it. The well of my magic was empty, and I’d been trained first as a warlock. I knew how to take magic that wasn’t mine and use it.
“Here,” I said, reaching out. “I’ll take it.”
The iron reacted slowly, sending out a tendril of magic, and I remembered how Shannon had taught me to trade magic.
At the time, I’d been giving her mine, since I had too much of it and not enough control.
From the other end, accepting more magic than you knew what to do with was terrifying.
All over again, I appreciated how she’d never once flinched away from me, even though I must have given her nightmares.
I pictured the magic coming towards me like a thread being spun onto a spindle. Small at first, but growing larger, I contained it in myself. My reserves filled, storm water reaching the floodgates. Still, I accepted more.
Mark’s touch was a dark blot marring the pure white energy the iron had contained before he welded it into his circle. I felt the iron wavering, the explosions faltering as it ran out of the fuel that was driving them. Finally, it was quiet.
Nick’s shield was flickering, and I said, “It’s okay.”
With a gasp, a drowning man having finally found something to cling to, he dropped the shield, and his forehead bumped the floor. I felt overfull, like I was inflated with too much air. The magic had refilled me, but beyond what I thought I could hold.
How was Mark holding onto five people’s magic at the same time? I searched for his poisonous darkness and wrapped my hand around it. I wanted to drain it into the earth, but that would do exactly what the iron hadn’t wanted to.
Instead, I used it, pushing the magic to wake a tree I could see from the window.
The tree blossomed, purple flowers bursting into bloom.
It felt foreign, but I used the magic to grow the tree, adding nearly a full foot to its height.
Using his magic felt like crying fire. It burned and dried me out. I felt filthy.
When I’d used all of his venomous power, I collapsed next to Nick. I hoped filtering the magic through the tree would be an antidote, and I wouldn’t be pouring the poison directly into the earth. Nick turned his head, eyes red.
“You should call the captain,” I said. “This is a mess. Is this how all your dates go?”
He grunted a laugh.
“How about when this is all done, we go for dinner in LA?” he asked. “Somewhere no one’s trying to kill us?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Sounds good. You’re buying, rich guy.”
Below us, the door burst open, and I heard shouting. The cavalry had arrived, even without being called. Just to be safe, I laced my hands behind my head.
Forcing himself up, Nick answered the shouting voices. “Up here! Three civilians, all injured. We need paramedics.”
“Hey,” I said. “I’m fine.”
“And I’ll believe that when you’ve been checked out by a medical professional,” Nick said. He greeted the cops as they came up the stairs with a warning. “Stay out of the room until it’s been checked out by the alchemist on staff.”
Black tactical gear and enough guns to take over a small government surrounded us. Nick’s captain appeared, and I sat up, watching with interest as a thin woman approached from behind him.
“What’s it look like?” she asked Nick. Her voice held the sort of respect I’d expect from an alchemist addressing a King.
He started to push himself up against the wall, but clearly thought better of it and slid back down to the floor. “He had an unstable circle built into the floor. It reacted when we left the room and caused several explosions.”
Then he looked at me. He clearly wasn’t sure how to explain what I’d done. I rubbed a hand over my face and said, “I was trained as a witch, so I drained off most of the magic, and sent it back into the earth.”
“You what?” Nick and the other alchemist gawked.
“That was the stupidest, most dangerous—” Nick said.
“How were you able to do that? That shouldn’t be possible, a circle is self-contained when it’s set to run without an alchemist present—” the alchemist said.
“Zahide,” Captain Tate’s voice was a lid on the oil fire of Nick and the other alchemist’s disbelief. “Go check and make sure the room is safe to enter.”
As she walked past us, I could see she’d covered every inch of her clothes in circles. She activated five before approaching the doorway.
“You took the spell’s magic?” Nick said. “That was so dangerous. You don’t know what could have happened. You could have blown yourself up.”
“But I didn’t. You alchemists always think the worst is going to happen if you even touch someone else’s magic. I’m fine.”
Tightening his lips, Nick shook his head. Paramedics finally arrived and immediately began working on Mallory and the werewolf. Mallory was coming to, but the wolf was still unconscious.
“This is a mess,” Nick muttered. “Who is this Woolworth guy, anyway?”
I pointed at a picture on the wall behind him. “That guy.”