Natural Dual-Mage

“Hurry,” I begged, bleeding my energy into the spells Emery and I had created all those months ago. Sinking lower and drilling down one more time, hoping we’d done enough to crumble this crooked, corrupt establishment. That we would bring in new life. That a new organization would rise to replace the Guild, spread evenly across the country so no one grouping of power was too big for the area. I wanted to share my love of magic, and the pure bliss it was to be able to work it.

I wanted witches and mages to feel that bliss.

I wanted everyone to heal.

“Almost,” Emery said as our survival magic wall dimmed. We didn’t have enough energy to keep it going. Spells kept hitting it, further eroding it. “Almost.” A whisper.

Eyes closed, heart open, I loosened everything up. I let go of my fear. And the magic poured out, a small stream that became a torrent, a gushing deluge.

The spells we’d planted so long ago burst into the compound. I felt them break through the ground, blasting their way out of the concrete. Taking chunks out of buildings. Fresh, natural beauty rushed up into the air. It spread across the ground and smashed into people. It insisted we pay attention.

I felt a tug on my middle, and warmth flooded my chest. A new feeling rose, welling from somewhere deep down, a chasm formerly untouched and unnoticed.

Emery put his hand to his sternum. “What is…”

“The gods are speaking through you,” Cahal said, and his voice seemed to echo across a great chamber. “Let the angels use your voice…and sing.”

The feeling rose, tingling hot. Like when I first stol—ingested the magic, rainbows painted across my vision, across all of the strife going on around me. The bloodshed.

The two images didn’t fit together.

Still the feeling kept building, surging down to my limbs, reaching my neck. My heart started to beat faster. Icy fingers of panic wrapped around my chest.

“Give in to it, Penny,” Emery said, crawling to me, his eyes rooted to mine. “Give in to it. Like when you released that spell. Let it flow.”

I swallowed. Fought my fear. And for the second time, held on to him for dear life as magic overcame me and sucked me under.

A shock wave of pure power exploded out from our centers, slicing through the open space. New life was given to the spells we’d seeded so long ago, fighting the decay that had infested the compound.

I could sense that those touched by this new hybrid spell were placed on giant scales, their worthiness weighed and measured. Their deeds were pored over, their hearts analyzed. Those who were found wanting…fell. They breathed one last breath and tumbled to the ground. I couldn’t sense the parameters for the spell. I couldn’t control who was affected.

Like a receding wave, the circle of magic, spanning a hundred yards or more, pulled back, settled down, and sank back down from whence it came, something I was absolutely sure I had no control over.

“What in the fu—” Emery breathed hard, pushing far enough away from me to look down at his torso. His wide eyes came back up to hit mine. “What just happened?”

“I don’t know,” I said, trembling. A current drifted by me. A whisper of sweet-smelling air from the wood.

Reality smacked me, and I spun, looking around.

Callie and Dizzy were still working at the spell, the hole they’d formed almost big enough to fit through. Reagan’s magic had dimmed, her energy clearly sapped from taking on so many huge spells, and her progress on the magical veil was almost nonexistent. Our tattered party was mostly down, lying on the ground with blood seeping out around them. Of the few still standing, Reagan and Darius, one arm tucked against his side, fought back to back, standing in the middle of a cluster of mages rapid-firing spells.

Mage bodies littered the ground, some with wounds, some deceptively healthy looking. But many of them were still on the attack, their natural among them, now concentrating her force on Reagan. More mages waited outside, probably creating heavy losses for our reinforcements.

“But…that should’ve done it,” I said, tears of frustration in my eyes, struggling to rejoin the fight. “That should’ve been it.”

“It helped,” Emery said, back to working on the spell locking us in. “Just a bit longer and we’ll be out.”

The mages, as a group, stepped forward. “We don’t have a bit longer.” I shook my head. My mother had never let me down when it really mattered. Never. What else had she said?

Find your alleys. Reconnect.

Vision shaky, I scanned the area for alleys. Then looked around at the people who were still standing. Was her advice rhetorical? “Reconnect—”

My vision skittered across a face. Stopped. Swung back.

I widened my eyes and my stomach fell down through my feet.

“Mary Bell,” I said, suddenly out of breath.

She smiled in a knowing way and stepped forward, putting out her hands for the others to cease fire. Her robe was purple. “Give in, Penelope.”

“Yes, listen to your friend.” I saw the High Chancellor stick his head out of the building door. He’d been hiding this whole time, the coward. How had he not been affected by the weighing spell?

I shook my head as Mary Bell pointedly looked to the side. The mages were slowing, easing up on their spells. Backing away a step.

Then I saw another familiar face and nearly threw up. Rage boiled through me. “John.”

He glanced my way before narrowing his eyes at Emery. His robe was purple, too.

“You cannot escape,” Mary Bell said, something moving in her eyes. A glint that I recognized. “You must put your hands behind your back, ask your friends to put down their weapons, and give in.”

Find your allies. Reconnect.

“Fucking autocorrect,” I blurted.

Mary Bell nodded, a tiny smile on her face. “Remember what I said.” She paused, and her eyes implored me. “You are surrounded. You must give in…now.”

That pause. As though she wanted to say for now.

Find your allies. Reconnect.

I remembered what Mary Bell had said in the bar in New Orleans: “The line between good versus evil is horribly blurred. Good people sometimes do horrible things. Bad people occasionally do good. So trust in the person who shows their good intentions. Do not listen to their words. Watch their intentions.”

This was a huge leap of faith, but I wasn’t sure I had much of a choice. The dual-mages weren’t ready for us. Reagan’s magic was so very dim. Her legs shook, and she was all out of snarky comments. Darius bowed just a bit, something he never did. He had to be tired. And that beautiful golden lion lay on the ground, panting shallowly, his tangled mane coated with blood.

“Okay.” I dropped my hands and put them behind my back. “You win.”

“Penny,” Emery said urgently.

“You win,” I said louder. “Let my friends go, though. Like Reagan said, Darius is worth money, and I bet you’d be rewarded for releasing Steve the lion, too. The druid has no real part in this. Let them all go. You can have me. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“No,” Emery said, fierce possessiveness ringing through his voice. His magic welled up, sexy and wild, like the smell of rain in the air before a monsoon. He wrapped his arm around my upper body, capturing me to his side. “She will not go with you. You can have me. I have more experience anyway. The same power. She can’t even function with normal mage training. She’s useless. Take me.”

“Now, now, Mr. Rogue Natural…” The High Chancellor stepped out of cover, which had to be the only reason he’d survived the weighing and measuring. “She is new to all this, isn’t she? Exceptional, and still new. She can, of course, be trained. And you can be brought to heel. But we aren’t barbaric. I ask only that we have some time to sit down and chat. About your futures.”

Cold washed through me. Mary Bell glanced over at John, her eyes bright, and my doubt started to grow.

“I know how to work with her,” Mary Bell said. John shifted, and something moved from his palm to his fingers. A casing.

“Yes, you were saying.” The High Chancellor stepped farther forward and motioned at a burly guy. “Bind them.”