Natural Dual-Mage (Page 42)

Shadows moved and shifted, dizzying my mind. A moment later, my stomach flipped and my magic settled down, stilling the fuzzy image. A familiar man stood in front of a tree by the road, now in plain sight, draped in shadows, a blank expression on his face and a line of red ink on his cheek.

“That’s…helpful,” Emery said in a hard voice next to me, clutching the back of my utility belt. He didn’t want me to go running off. “The magic you stole from the goblin wipes out the shadow illusion. Mostly.”

“It wipes out the brain fuzziness, not the shadow illusion. And he means us no harm.”

“When did you become such an expert?” Reagan asked, sword in hand.

“I honestly have no idea.” I wiped my face.

The druid took a step to the side and put out his hand. I sucked in a breath when Veronica stepped out from behind the tree and took it.

“What are you doing with her?” I asked, magic at my fingertips and an intense spell brewing.

“Oh thank God,” Veronica said, rushing forward. Until she got to the road, that was. She stopped and looked both ways really quickly before running forward again. “Penny, the house is under siege! I went out to blow off some steam and police the neighborhood”—she held up her red Sharpie—“and when I was on my way back, I heard bangs and crackles.” She put her hands up, made them into claws, and wiggled them. I squinted, trying to follow along. “I snuck a little closer to see what was going on, because, you know, it could’ve been you, but he”—she hooked a thumb over her shoulder at the druid—“stopped me and said it wasn’t safe.”

“You trusted a random stranger?” I asked, mystified.

Reagan, clearly sensing the threat had passed, since the druid hadn’t hurt Veronica, moved off toward Roger, who was standing over my mother as she laid out a cloth on the tailgate of the nearest truck. The rest of the shifters were organizing, splitting into groups of various sizes. Their packs, I’d bet. Everyone was getting ready.

Veronica lowered her eyebrows. “Of course not! I tried to attack him. But I only had my pen, and that isn’t much against a man his size.”

A grin worked up Emery’s face despite his hard eyes. “You got him,” he said. “You marked his face.”

“Yeah. I took him by surprise. My pen didn’t do much good, though.” Veronica’s face fell. “Anyway, in the next moment, there was…this, like…red flash, but Cahal pulled me away from it. And then the guy who’d attacked me went flying, and…I don’t know. It was really confusing. But then Cahal picked me up and ran me down here. He said we had to wait for you to come. That he was supposed to meet you here.”

Leave it to Veronica to be on a first-name basis with an incredibly lethal and terrifying warrior-class assassin.

The druid—Cahal—stepped forward and handed me a little envelope inscribed with my name in a beautiful scrawl. Feeling a heavy weight in my stomach, I pulled a mauve card out of it and read the simple note.

A gift.

There was no signature.

I looked at Cahal for more, but his glacial stare gave me nothing to go on.

“Reagan,” I called. She didn’t so much as glance up, instead watching my mother with her tarot.

“Uh, Penny?” Veronica tapped my arm.

“Reagan,” I called again, finally getting her attention.

“Penny?” Veronica repeated, whispering in a way that tugged at my focus.

“What?” I asked, trying not to feel the press of time.

Reagan reluctantly tore her eyes away from my mother’s work. She walked over, Roger in tow.

“Why are there a bunch of naked people gathered around?” Veronica asked in a shocked whisper. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, wow. They have a perfect reason to show it all, but there are some dangerous people up near the house, and…well…that’s not really a great way to go into battle, know what I mean?”

“Why the hell didn’t anyone ever tell me how cool it is to watch your mother do her magic?” Reagan asked as she stopped next to me. “She even seems legit. Color me surprised.”

Veronica’s eyes went as big as the world as they slipped down Roger’s body. Her face went beet red and she jerked her gaze skyward. “Sorry,” she muttered.

I gave the note to Reagan. Roger leaned closer to see the two-word note as she quickly scanned the card. Her brow furrowed and she eyed Cahal. “Who sent you?”

As though for the first time, Roger noticed the large, incredibly lethal man standing a mere five feet away. The thick cords of muscle lining every inch of his frame went taut. A heavy gush of shifter magic boomed out and all the shifters waiting near the line of cars flinched and glanced up, their bodies tensing in anticipation of a fight.

Cahal didn’t so much as bat an eye. He continued to look among us silently.

“If you don’t tell us who sent you, we cannot accept you,” Reagan said, thrusting the note at him.

“It is not for you to determine if I am accepted,” Cahal said, ignoring the note. “I signed a blood contract to protect Penelope Bristol to the best of my ability. I have been instructed to take her away from the action if necessary.”

“Well…” I snorted and shook my head. “There’s no way that’s going to—”

“Fine,” Emery said, surprisingly, turning away. He glanced at the sky. “Is it possible to hurry your mother up, Penny? Time is ticking.”

“No.” I waved my finger at Cahal. “Nope.”

“He got me out of the action, and I was glad for it,” Veronica said, her gaze now shooting past me. “There are…wild animals. Oh my God”—she gasped—“don’t tell me shifters are real! Are those shifters? Because there are vampires, and now shadow men, and…those are shifters, aren’t they? Wow, they sure are built. I am on Team Shifter all the way.”

“Not helping,” I muttered out of the side of my mouth.

“Oops. Sorry. I’m just fan-girling a little.” Veronica put her red pen into her pants pocket.

“You’d change your tune if you took a tumble in the sheets with a vampire,” Reagan said with a grin.

“Would you guys focus?” I demanded, a cold sweat covering my forehead. I was still unsure about the druid and the person who sent him. Surely someone of his stature had to be expensive. Who would have that kind of money?

“Could Darius have hired him, you think?” I asked.

“He would’ve said something,” Reagan replied. “Even if he had kept the secret until today, once the house was surrounded, he would’ve instructed me on how to connect with the druid. No, it can’t be him.”

“Vlad?”

Reagan just shook her head. “Vlad would present him to you with a flourish. It’s not like him to keep a gift of this magnitude under wraps. Not when you’d basically have to accept it because of the circumstances.”

“Then who?”

“Whoever it was, Cahal seems extremely capable,” Veronica said, stepping back to pat him on the arm. “He’ll definitely help out. You should keep him.”

My mother backed away from the tailgate, her hands on her hips. “Well, that’s the shits.”

My mother swearing tore my mind away from the situation. I couldn’t help a little righteous indignation. All this hubbub about me swearing, and she goes off?

“What are your thoughts?” Alder asked, standing beside her.

Roger didn’t take his eyes off Cahal to look.

“You’ll need to leave me here. This is where my usefulness ends. After we secure Darius, I’ll need to communicate with you through text.” She blew out a breath. “I would’ve much preferred getting magic like Penny’s so I could be part of the action.”

“Did you get anything about the current situation?” Emery asked, stalking up the road a little on his own.

“Very little.” My mother pulled over her crystal ball. “Charge them, basically. I got the idea that this group of mages is made up of cowards. Same as the group that tried to take on Roger. They won’t stick around. The real meat of the magical world is waiting for you back at the Mages’ Guild.”

“And do you have anything that will be of use to us there?” Emery asked, clearly having taken charge. No one questioned it.

Alder held up a jagged piece of cardboard. “I catalogued the things she was saying, since she didn’t have her tape recorder. It’s not enough for a well-orchestrated plan, but…” He switched his weight to center mass, and it seemed like he wasn’t thrilled with the next bit. “She says to let chaos be our guide.”

Reagan raised her hand, then pointed at me. “We got chaos all day long.”

I rolled my eyes. We’d spent a half-hour or so at the bottom of the road, not long enough to make it safe for Darius and the other vampires to leave the house. “The sun doesn’t seem to be complying with our window of opportunity.”

“No. It doesn’t,” my mother said. “But that’s the time frame we have. You need Darius. He is an important piece. I don’t know anything about his entourage, but you definitely need him. Which is common sense. You didn’t need me to tell you that.”