Magical Temptations, page 12
When I stood, Shanton stared at me, frowning. After I remained quiet and he realized he wasn’t going to get a response, he stepped to the side, watchful.
“Come on,” I said, grabbing my bag and going into the tunnel.
No one said anything as they scrambled to catch up with me.
“Let me take lead,” Myr said. I glared at him until he back away. The abomination was dead. He didn’t need to worry about it anymore.
“Laila,” Venni said, coming to stand next to me.
I ignored him as I sent out my net of magic to detect more traps.
“Say something,” he whispered.
I paused and stared at Venni, at his concern for me.
“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m just trying to wrap my head around the fact that these elementalists created something like that dreho. I can’t understand putting something through that kind of torture.”
I picked up speed, not wanting to get into it, but Venni didn’t give me a chance. He grabbed my arm then pulled me into him, wrapping his arms around me.
I stiffened.
“Let it out, Laila. You can’t hold this in because it’ll be used against you later on. We need you here, with us, not in your head. Let it out.”
“I’m angry,” I whispered, my body beginning to shake. He pulled me closer. His scent wrapped around me, and I closed my eyes. Both my eyes and my nose burned, the emotions ready to burst out. “I’m furious.”
“I know. You lost control, and for you, that isn’t tolerable.”
I nodded. “I want to find the one who created that dreho and I want to unmake them. They knew.” I drew in a jagged breath, my chest hurting. “They had to know what they were doing, but they didn’t care.” I whispered the next part. “Just because you have the ability to do something, doesn’t mean you should do it.”
I gripped Venni’s shirt, my fingers tangled in the cloth. He rubbed my back. I was so messed up. I unmade someone. And I lost control. I did something that should have been impossible. And I lost control.
I, Dr. Laila Porter, magical genius, lost control.
That shouldn’t have happened.
The ground shook and a breeze that shouldn’t exist blew through the tunnel. Someone swore.
“Calm down, Laila. Hold onto that emotion. Understand it. And when you have the opportunity to meet the one who created the dreho, unleash those emotions on them.”
Venni said the right thing, and I forced myself to relax. I drew in my magic, wrapped it up and put it off to the side. This was special magic now, one infused with my fury. I would hold onto it, feed it, and then lash out when I met the creator.
“Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but won’t they be dead?” Davies asked.
“Not likely,” Shanton said as he stared at Venni before looking at me. “Elementalists are immortal. We need to keep moving.”
I sighed. He was right. We didn’t have time to deal with my emotions. Venni glared at Shanton and was about to say something, but I jabbed him with my elbow. He grunted, but at least he kept his mouth shut.
I led as we continued, my net of magic searching as we slowly worked our way through the tunnels. I was ready for our journey to be over with.
A ping in the magic net caught my attention, and I halted. The others stopped in sync, paying attention to their surroundings.
“What is it?” Shanton asked, coming to stand next to me.
“Another trap around the bend,” I said. I followed the bend and came to a massive door with nowhere else to go.
“So, what, open the door and get shot or stabbed by something on the other side?” Davies asked.
I shook my head. “From what I feel, it’s like a container that we have to walk through. When we open the door, we’ll create the spark needed to cause an explosion.
“What kind of explosion?” Davies asked.
I rested my hand against the door, feeling the dense power, as Shanton called it, seeping through the cracks, trying to escape. The magic and energy were packed so tightly, they didn’t have room to move and they really loved to move around. If we opened this door without caution, they would explode outwards, stretching out for all the freedom we just gave them.
For us, that resulted in an explosion of power, ready to cut through us. They would tear us apart before we even knew what was happening.
“We’ll die,” I said.
“Is there a way around?” Tyren asked.
I backed away from the door, and we looked around. I touched the walls to find some hidden opening, so did the twins and Yvenne. None of us found anything.
“Is it possible we took a wrong turn?” Shanton asked. He had the map laid down on the ground. I went over to him, and we stared. I followed the path we took with my finger, marking where we could have gone wrong.
“The only place we could have messed up was here, when it broke into two, but I’m pretty sure we took the right path. Other than that, it’s been a straight shot.
“And our mysterious intruder is on the same route as us,” Shanton said, finally understanding. “We haven’t run into them yet.”
“Exactly.”
“So they made it through the bomb room?” Davies asked.
I nodded. “We need to figure out how.”
“What about siphoning?” Chez asked.
Shanton glanced at me, before focusing back on the healer. “Explain.”
“We use the technique sometimes when healing. If a trauma is too hard for even our strongest healer, we’ll have the healer siphon magic from another to boost their talents so they heal.”
“I don’t think I’m comfortable with that,” I said. “Are you able to do this?”
Chez shook his head. “My specialty is healing. This has nothing to do with that.”
I bit my lip as I stared at the door.
“Laila,” Shanton said, getting my attention. “This is nothing like the syphon you fought with a few weeks ago. Nothing at all. That woman took magic and made it her own, throwing it back. That isn’t what Chez is suggesting here.”
“What?” Chez looked disgusted. “Never like a syphon. First off, no one but a syphon can pull it off at that scale, stealing magic like that. And we only do it with permission. If the other healer said no, we wouldn’t be able to even try.”
“Even if the person is dying?” I asked. I tried not to think about the fact that I wanted to create a device that did exactly that. Steal someone else’s magic.
He nodded, his expression turning sad. “Healers know best. Sometimes, if they do it, they put themselves at risk. We don’t push them, we don’t force them, and we don’t steal their magic.”
I nodded.
“What I’m suggesting,” Chez said, still explaining. “Is to create a leak. You can feel it, right? The little bit that is able to come through the cracks. My guess is when the other person went through, the seal was broken and when it reset, it couldn’t reseal completely. So pull the magic out and release it carefully.”
“Okay, let’s try this,” I said. “But you guys are staying back in case I mess this up.”
“No fucking way,” Davies said.
“I agree, not happening,” Venni said.
They both stood there, acting like solid rocks, unwilling to move. I glared at them. “You will because it doesn’t make sense for all of us to die. And I have some tricks up my sleeve if it all goes south, but I won’t be able to use them if you’re here and I need to worry about protecting your butts.”
“Then don’t protect us. We’d want you to protect yourself.”
My glare hardened. “Do you really think that’s the type of person I am?” I asked.
They winced because they knew the truth. I would never do that. They were my people, my friends—people I worked with and cared for. I could never save myself over them.
“Enough,” Millie said. “You guys will back off because I really want to get past this. You’re only wasting time, and she isn’t about to change her mind.”
It became us two girls against two stubborn men.
“She’s right,” Shanton said and the men turned their glare to him. Rhett stood next to him, silent, but when he looked at me, I saw the amusement in his eyes. He thought this situation was funny. “She’s here to do her job, and you are trying to hinder that. She’s taking point on this and you guys are going against her commands. I won’t accept that. She said we back off, we will.”
“But what if she gets hurt,” Davies said.
“You aren’t trusting her right now,” Rhett spoke, surprising me. I thought he’d be on their side. “You know she’s good. You know she can handle herself. Let her do her job instead of making it harder. You’re only putting more pressure on her, and if what the doctor said is true, this will be very difficult. Think of her being in her lab with the Do Not Disturb light on. You know she can screw up and get herself killed then, but you aren’t breaking down her door. You give her space.”
Davies and Venni shared glances and Davies’s shoulders slumped. “Fine.” He stomped away.
Venni stared at me, the worry clear in his expression, but then he went after Davies to keep the human from killing himself.
“If things go south, we’ll be here,” Rhett said and disappeared with the others. Only Shanton stayed back.
“I know you can do this,” he said. “You’re a remarkable woman and you’ve done some amazing things already. Even if you haven’t noticed it.”
I nodded, even though I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. He surprised me by leaning forward and kissing my forehead. The feel of his lips against my skin sent shocks through my body, and I gasped against what should have been an innocent touch.
“You’re not allowed to die. You’re our ticket out of here.” He smirked as he straightened and then walked away, disappearing into the shadows of the tunnel, around the bend.
As my mind worked, I dug through my bag for a small box I kept in there. Normally magic circles weren’t needed, but since I would be messing with something I’d never done before, I needed to be careful. The box held a ceremonial knife forged through the sweat and tears of a maiden in disgrace. The blade shimmered with old magic, and I respectfully ran my fingers along the cool, sharp edge before getting to work
It only took a few minutes to carve the magic circle into the ground. The purpose of the knife wasn’t to look pretty like most ceremonial props, but to add an extra layer to the magic circle, making it difficult to break. When the circle was almost done, I stepped inside of it, closed it, and began. I closed my eyes and calmed myself. When I felt centered, I reached out to the door with my magic.
My magic ran along the rough stone, feeling out for the cracks. When I found one, it didn’t dive right in, but slowly coaxed the power out, asking it if it wanted to come out, to be free. To play.
The power definitely was interested.
The trouble was that all the power wanted to come out at once, but for this to work without getting myself killed, only a little bit at a time could be released.
I tapped my foot against the ground gently as an idea formed. I couldn’t release all that power into the air and no way was I going to absorb it. But I could ground it, send it into the earth. While the tunnels themselves were full of power, the surrounding earth was dead, all life leached out. I would give some of it back. It would be a start to restoring the land to its original state.
I switched my focus from the door and sent my magic down, opening up a path from my feet, through the thick layer of magic until I hit deadness. I took in a deep breath, reminding myself I could do this. I needed to.
I didn’t know how the other person got through, but my instincts told me that whatever they’d done had to have taken a toll on them. My best guess, we were going to meet them very soon. We just needed to get through this.
While keeping the path from my feet into the ground open, I reached out to the door and seduced the power again with the idea of freedom, of being able to move and explore. Oh, the power really liked that idea and tried to surge outward. The ground shook slightly at the push, but I sent the power calming thoughts, a feeling of patience, that they’d get what they wanted soon, but they needed to hold on a little bit longer.
It calmed down, and I began the transfer. A hum went through my body, the air smelling of ozone as the power reached the tips of my fingers, surged through my body as a strong electrical current, and then exited through my feet, leaving my toes tingling.
Sweat coated my skin, and I squeezed my eyes shut as the hum turned into a scream. The power enjoyed its journey to freedom a little too much and tore at me as it did it. I bit my lip as my arm jerked. I sent out more feelings of calm and patience.
My heart thudded hard at all the foreign entities entering my body. My body didn’t like it and wanted to fight back, but I kept myself locked down. I needed to do this. I could do this.
The process became long. So much was packed into the room and it pushed to come out. Magic and energy wasn’t meant to be still, they were meant to flow, to dance, and embrace movement, never stopping. It was torture for it to do nothing but be still. And I was giving it the outlet it needed.
My body grew wary, but I pushed on. I could feel the earth sigh beneath my feet. The extra power entering the ground acted as nutrients and boosted the earth to help it come back to life. I felt the shift in the power when I pulled enough out of the room. What came out wasn’t in such a rush anymore; the power was happy, relieved, and excited to be able to do something now.
I kept pulling. Such a large amount didn’t need to be in that room. It deserved to be in the earth, doing something more productive.
When the last was out, it pushed into me, lazily crawled through my body, and exited out my toes. I broke the connection and slumped to all fours, my limbs shaking, barely able to hold me up.
“Done,” I whispered, knowing those with good hearing would be able to pick it up. And I was right because Rhett was there moments later, frowning as he crouched outside the circle.
“Hon, I need you to break the circle,” he said.
I nodded and forced my arm to reach out and dig a line through the dirt. The magic in the circle dispersed and I fell, my legs and arms giving out, my body too heavy for me to hold. Rhett caught me and pulled me into his body. He kissed my temple, his lips warm against my damp skin.
I shivered from the intimate contact.
“Is she okay?” Shanton asked.
Someone touched me, and I curled into Rhett, drawing comfort from his energy. It was soothing as it wrapped around me, sending waves of comfort and safety through me.
“She’ll be fine,” Chez said. “She did more than release the power inside the room. Her fingers are a little burnt. I’ll heal it now.”
Warmth of magic entered my body and easily fixed the damage, my body too tired to try to fight. I couldn’t even make a complaint. The scrapes inside of me, the rawness, slowly disappeared, healing after being torn.
“She fed it back into the earth,” Millie said, her voice filled with awe. “She jump started the earth, fed it something to help it come alive. Mother Nature is happy.”
No one said anything for the longest time, and I nearly fell asleep.
“Should we stay and let her rest?” Venni asked.
“No,” I forced out. “Keep going.”
I opened my eyes and blinked at the harshness of the orb floating near me. I reached out and forced the orb to lessen its glow. It didn’t like it but because it was me making the demand, it listened.
“If I’m like this, that means the other person is just as tired. We have a chance of catching up.”
“You need to rest,” Shanton said.
“And I will,” I said. “Rhett can carry me.”
“What about traps?” Myr asked.
“We can handle it,” Millie said, pointing to herself and Whertz. “We aren’t as good as Laila, but we can handle it long enough for her to get her energy back up.”
Yvenne nodded. “I can help a little too. Let her rest.”
Agreement went around the room. They didn’t have to tell me twice. Everything phased out as my body forced me into resting mode. I didn’t eat to recharge, I just slept more often, and I desperately needed a good night’s rest.
Chapter 12
I woke because of an explosion. It rocked the ground and whoever carried me nearly dropped me. I jerked and pushed away from the strong grip, my groggy mind going from a dreamless sleep into full activation.
They put me down as my magic reached out, trying to access the situation. I turned around, seeing a pile of rocks on either side of us.
“Shit,” someone said. “This fucking hurts.”
“W-what happened?” I asked.
“We got ourselves fucking trapped,” Davies said.
I rubbed at my eyes.
“Who else is hurt?” Shanton asked. He stood over Tyren, who was on the ground, a massive rock on one of his legs. The problem was that there were more rocks on top and all around him so we couldn’t pick it up to set him free. Chez was next to him, trying to assess the damage.
“We’re all fine,” Millie said. “Just Tyren.”
Shanton nodded before turning back to the issue at hand. “I can’t lift the rock off you, we risk bringing down the entire rock pile on us. You’ll have to hold for a bit while we get the pile stable.”
Tyren grunted his response, more focused on breathing through the pain.
“I’ll give you something for the pain,” Chez said, digging through his bag and pulling out a needle.
“How are you feeling?” Venni asked. He stood behind me, so I figured he was the one carrying me.
“Much better. How long?” I asked as we went up to the rock trying to crush Tyren.
“Four hours.”
I blinked in surprise. “That long?”
He nodded.
