Twenty minutes later, he pulled up in front of a sprawling, abandoned warehouse much like the one he and Thea had checked up on a few nights ago. AID didn’t own this one, so it did not have any of their wards around it. It was the only building on the street, surrounded by empty lots with cracked cement. Plenty of weeds and grass grew between the cracks, enhancing the rundown appearance.

  The warehouse had several broken windows and crumbling brick walls. It was worn by age, weather, and poor maintenance. Furthermore, it stood on the edge of a swamp. The air around it was thick with the odor of rot and damp earth. The rot came from trees but also something else. The scent of something dead a long time and not preserved well. Though not magically inclined, both Brandon and Jax sensed it wasn’t good.

  Something about the tang in the air made Brandon want to run. Get the hell out and pretend this place didn’t exist. He didn’t understand why anyone, mage or not, would want to live here. It’s a good hideout, that’s why, he concluded a moment later. No one would think to search here.

  So why had Arthur been coming here with supplies for his friend? Was the mage simply someone down on their luck, seeking resources, who happened to know Arthur and reached out to him? Or was something darker going on?

  “As much as I want to go in and see what the hell is happening, we shouldn’t do it without Thea,” Jax insisted.

  He was right. They needed someone who could sense the magical workings of this place. It would help to have a witch if they found a mage.

  “I’ll call in a team to keep an eye on the place until we can get her here,” Brandon replied. “That way, we’ll at least see who’s moving in and out.” With any luck, they would spot Arthur Adderget.

  Brandon dialed a number, but it wasn’t any of the junior AID agents.

  “Who are you calling?” Jax asked as they headed back to the car.

  “Thea. I want to know if she’s had any luck tonight.” Secretly, Brandon’s real desire was to make sure she was still safe.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “The only way we can gauge the existence of other worlds is through magic. Since the Veil became exposed to the common people, we are made well aware that there is at least another world. Many people consider this less of a world and more of a parallel realm.

  “Nevertheless, other realms have been reported by mages of great power in distant times. Most of these mages are dead today, having gone mad from the amount of power they gained. It is difficult to believe many of the things these mages have said since their insanity was obvious by the time they made such claims.”

  —Orlena Gorbana, The History of Covens and Adjacent Societies

  Thea wasn’t sure she’d be able to get through the whole list of places Brandon had transferred to her. Reports of disabled wards across the city had come into headquarters in droves. They weren’t only of locations owned by AID but also local law enforcement offices and government buildings AID helped protect.

  It would take days to check them all, and they were better off tracking the mage behind it down. Cutting off the head of the snake, or whatever you can call a festering pool of black magic, Thea thought. Taking care of fewer locations wouldn’t be a waste of time, though. It would serve as a warning to the mage that they were after him.

  No sleep? Kira asked, perching on Thea’s shoulder in bird form.

  Not tonight, I don’t think.

  Can I at least turn into human form, then?

  Thea’s brows furrowed. You’ll attract too much attention.

  And you, a person with a bird following everywhere you go, won’t?

  She had a fair point. Thea sighed again. Fine, but you’re going to wear this. She tossed a hoodie into the passenger seat of her car as Kira climbed in, wearing her pretty, blonde human form. Kira smiled and slipped the dark blue material over her head. “Aye-aye, boss. Where to first?”

  Thea studied the list on her phone as she turned her key in the ignition. “We’ll start with the inventory buildings and end at the old AID training yards. They haven’t been used for a few years, but the wards are still up. Or they’re supposed to be, anyway. They’re all relatively close.”

  Though Thea could use astral projection now, she didn’t want to overdo it. Otherwise, she’d be useless to Brandon and Jax going forward. “I wish we could have gone with Brandon and the others,” Kira bemoaned as Thea pulled out of the headquarters’ parking lot.

  “You would hate Dark Street,” Thea replied. “Trust me. Even I’m not a fan of that place. Mia does okay there, but she avoids going if she can.” Kira would enjoy the attention at Dark Street for about two seconds before some creep came up and tried something unappealing.

  “I’m sure it wouldn’t be too bad with Brandon there,” was Kira’s light response.

  Thea shook her head. “Kira, you do realize you’re a lot more powerful than Brandon, right? You could protect us far better than he ever could.”

  Kira winked. “And I’m hotter.”

  Thea suppressed a laugh. They lapsed into silence for the rest of the drive to the first location. Thea formed a plan in her mind. She could use her astral projection to insert herself in the lake realm. Being close to the parasitic drain in the physical world would mean she could stop it easier in the Lake realm.

  It will be exhausting work, but it has to be done, she reminded herself. If not her, who else? Besides, though it would wear them both out, projecting with Kira sounded more fun than tracking Arthur Adderget down.

  A short while later, she pulled up to the front of a warehouse. It was less rundown than the one she and Brandon had visited the other night since it was still in use. Standing outside were two armed guards who approached as she exited the car. Thea had spied them as soon as she drove up and hissed to Kira, “Turn and stay low. You’ll have to be a bird for this one.”

  It made sense that AID had guards here, and Thea’s heart sank at the thought of finding them at every location. She hoped they would only be at the still-active locations. “You can’t be here, miss. Private property.”

  Thea realized she was still in street clothes and flashed a badge Brandon had given her. Under the AID logo, it read: Theadora Blackwood, Witch Liaison.

  The guard cleared his throat. “My apologies. I didn’t realize.” He scanned the area behind her, peering into her car. “You didn’t come with Agent Cole?”

  Thea produced a tight smile. “Agent Cole is busy right now. I’ve come to take a look at the wards. Does that bother you boys?”

  The guards shared a glance, then the first one shook his head. “Go ahead.”

  Thea passed them to walk along the side of the building, Kira following in sparrow form. Can I change back now? she asked when they were out of the guards’ sight.

  Thea glanced at the cameras overhead. Not here. I don’t need to be put in time-out for having an extra-dimensional entity following me around. Or worse, fired.

  Getting fired from AID wouldn’t be the end of Thea’s world, but being Fleeced from her coven would. Kira grumbled into her mind but made no more objection. “Here,” Thea remarked at last when they reached the back of the building, and she noticed a fraying in the shimmering wards against the far portion of the parking lot. It was empty except for her, Kira, and a tall light that cast a blueish glow over the cement.

  Thea stood in the center of the parking lot, where she was less likely to hit the building if she lost control of her magic. Too bad Mia couldn’t be here to make precautionary wards around her. Oh well, she was needed more at Dark Street with Brandon and Jax. I’ll be quick anyway, Thea thought as she closed her eyes.

  The feeling of Kira’s talons pricked her shoulder. Kira’s warm magic floated into her body, meeting her own rushing energy and fusing to create the combination necessary for astral projection. Thea’s eyes flitted closed, and she imagined a copy of herself flying into the Lake realm dimension.

  The next thing she knew, she stood before the vast silver water. Everything was still. She turned and walked a short distance before coming to the second body of water. It had grown since she last saw it.

  The black, oozing water rippled out into several channels like vines spider-webbing out. Now that Thea had a good view of it, the center of the black water was almost oval-shaped. Like an eye, she thought. The streams of water leading out were like veins. She wished she had the skill level and endurance to plunge all her power into the center of that blackness and banish all the foul magic coursing through the city.

  However, doing that wouldn’t work for two reasons. One, it was a good way for her to blow herself up. Two, they hadn’t figured out yet where all the foul magic was concentrating in the city. From what she saw in the Lake realm, it all came from one spot, location unknown.

  One would think we would have gotten a report about that first, Thea considered. Such magic concentrated in one spot should have been obvious. Whoever created this problem was doing a good job of keeping the center hidden. For now, Thea would shut off as many channels as she could. At the least, it would serve as a warning to whoever was behind the matter.

  They’d know Theadora Blackwood was coming for them, and they’d better be piss-their-pants scared.

  She cracked her knuckles. Get ready.

  She wasn’t sure if the words were for her, the bastard who had created this mess, or Kira, but her extra-dimensional entity answered. Ready.

  Thea was closest to the channel, pulling the magic from the warehouse. If she could shut it off and repair the wards, the place would return to being secure. She summoned her magic, forming it into tendrils of light that leaked from her fingers. She directed them toward the spot where the vein of black water flowed out from the source.

  She poured her magic into it, heating the water until it steamed. The ground beneath it seared with her magic. Slowly, the foul blackness leaked out of sight. Thea’s head grew heavy, her eyelids drifting shut in the Lake realm the same as they were in the physical realm.

  Hold on, Kira told her. Don’t let it take you.

  That was when Thea realized where the black water she’d sucked out of the ground was going. It couldn’t simply disappear. It had to flow into another source. Into my own fucking body, she realized. Why didn’t we think of this before? She would need a major cleansing ritual when she got home later.

  There, Kira’s voice announced. She sounded far away. You’ve done it. Come back.

  It took Thea a moment to fall back into her body. The darkness that had flowed into her wanted to keep her here. She swallowed it with the light of her magic and bounced back into her body, panting hard. She did not realize how much she’d been sweating until she was no longer two Theas but one.

  She glanced at the wards and gathered more magic to repair them. It took a few minutes, but after she was done, Thea was satisfied. One down, about ten to go. And that’s only tonight’s work.

  We can do this, Kira encouraged.

  Secretly, Thea wondered how many times she could repeat this process before her body gave out. Before she was out of magic to combat the darkness gathering inside her.

  I can do this, she told herself, echoing Kira’s sentiment. I have to.

  As soon as her head cleared, Thea skirted the building and smiled at the guards. “All fixed. You’re not needed here for the rest of the night, but knock yourselves out if you want to stay.”

  The guards’ mouths dropped open, unsure what to make of the witch who had shown up after dark to fix the wards. With no official command from a higher-up, they would stay. Thea knew that. She liked giving them something to talk about for the evening. It would help them pass the time.

  For the following two hours, Thea and Kira drove from place to place, encountering a few more guards as well as empty lots and warehouses. They did the same as before. Thea projected herself into the Lake realm, found the right trail of magic, and stopped it by pouring hers over it. More of the foul substance gathered within her, but she could keep it at bay as long as Kira fed her power from the Lake.

  We need to rest, Thea. We should be done for tonight. You need a cleansing ritual and a lot of sleep, Kira told her after they finished the last warehouse.

  Though exhausted, Thea shook her head. There’s only one more spot nearby. We can finish it, then I promise to call Mia to come over and get this dark shit out of me. Assuming Mia was finished at Dark Street and headed home. Thea’s and Kira’s work was bound to take much longer than interrogating shopkeepers at the market.

  Kira hesitated, then agreed. They arrived at the last location ten minutes later. The old training fields of NOLA’s AID office covered a stretch of land that was fenced as well as warded off. The field had not been in use for years, which was obvious by how overgrown the place was. Tall grass stood against the fence. Thea was glad she’d worn her thickest pants and her boots tonight.

  Now can I change? Kira asked after surveying the area for guards and cameras. There were none. Thea told her she could. The next moment, Kira was the pretty blonde again, still wearing the blue hoodie.

  Thea was still getting used to Kira in this form. They walked side by side, and Kira felt more like her equal than ever. Beyond her equal, if Thea considered it. Kira was other and far more powerful. She simply couldn’t do as much in the human realm. Thea wondered what level of power Kira could display in the realm of her origin.

  The pair exited Thea’s car a moment later and approached the fence. They needed to get past it to find the direct pathway of dark magic into the lake realm. Kira turned back to bird form to fly over, then into her human form again. Thea grumbled about how nice it must be to have that capability as she climbed over the fence and dropped onto the other side.

  The grassy field stretched far ahead. They began their walk, both tired to the bone, as Thea stretched out her magic to find where the darkness lay. “I feel like I’m searching for a ley line,” she told Kira. “Except this one is dark magic and not the raw, neutral energy ley lines are usually made of.”

  “Ley lines?” Kira asked.

  “You know, lines of magical energy that run beneath the ground. It’s how this world has magic to begin with. I think so, anyway. That’s what they taught in the coven while growing up.”

  Kira laughed. “I forget how this world works sometimes. It feels so…muted compared to other places I’ve been.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Well, ley lines in other worlds are more like ley masses. It’s not lines running beneath everything. Rather, magic infuses everything above the ground. Everything feels warm and light and thrums with life. Not like here. Death and destruction have leaked magic out of most things, leaving only remnants of it in the ground and in people.”

  Thea could hardly wrap her mind around a world so infused with magic that it was everywhere. However, Kira was right about the death-and-destruction bit. “I wonder if the world used to feel like that before humans fucked everything up. Are there wars in other places, Kira? Death and destruction?”

  “Of course. But there are also worlds where that never happens.”

  “Must be nice.”

  Kira shrugged. “In a sense. Those worlds are empty in their own way. Magic is strong, pulsing light everything, but there aren’t people like there are here. Though those worlds don’t feel dead, they don’t exactly feel alive, either.”

  This gave Thea something to mull over. She wondered if, one day, when all this shit was over, she could venture to one of those worlds. It would take considerable power to do so. Hell, Kira had barely made it here. It had taken her power combined with Thea’s and Mia’s to slip between the realms. Yet now that she was used to the physical world, her power had grown, and going between was a piece of cake.

  They were silent for a time, and Thea’s mind lingered on Kira. In human form, the extra-dimensional entity was as careful as she was in any other form. She could be flighty, flirty, and naïve, but when she worked with Thea, she was the most focused being Thea had ever encountered.

  It occurred that she hadn’t bothered to ask Kira what it was like wearing a human form and living in a world that did not accommodate her the way other places could. I’ve been a bad friend to her, Thea thought. Are we friends?

  Sometimes, Kira was her pet. Other times, she was her roommate. Kira was always other, and Thea wasn’t sure how to categorize her into her life. Maybe I should let Kira be Kira, she thought. At the least, she could ask what life had been like for her recently.

  As soon as the question left Thea’s mouth, Kira turned, surprise marking her pretty features. Thea continued. “Do you ever wish you could go back to where you came from?”

  “I’m in no hurry to leave here, if that’s what you mean,” Kira replied with a smile. “It’s taken some getting used to, but I’d like to stay for a while.”

  Thea wondered what that would mean if Kira stayed for years. If she tried to live a human lifespan in this world. Would they always live together? Would Kira attempt to venture out alone, pretending to be a human witch? The thought of Kira not being in her apartment every day made Thea ache. She’d grown fond of Kira in all her forms. Getting a regular pet cat would not be a suitable substitute.

  They continued picking their way across the field, pushing through the tall grasses and skirting the occasional boulder. Kira’s voice floated across the soft night wind to Thea again. “If I do return, I hope I won’t be stuck in the Lake realm for long. I may have been hiding from beings who function as Guardians of the Lake of Power when you found me,” she admitted.

  Thea blinked. “Wait. I thought you were a Guardian of the Lake.”

  “Not so much.” Kira sighed. “Back then, I told you I’d attached to you because I was curious, but really…” She trailed off, lifting her light blue eyes into the moon’s glow. For a moment, they looked silver. “I was hoping you could save me. And you did. I’ll always be thankful for that.”

  Thea didn’t know what to say for a beat or two. Surprise etched across her face, and Kira laughed. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I didn’t want you to see me as a burden.”

 

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