A promise of war?
“Mormo,” she called. “Here.”
The magician was by her side in an instant. His eyes narrowed. “Well, well. This is really impressive.” He waved his hands, muttering spells and whisking the magic away.
And there, under the mess of magical fabrication, lay the twenty-six members of the Beast Brigade, snoring like thunder.
She stared around her, inundated with the noise of deeply sleeping shifters. “I’m so confused.”
“Likewise.” Mormo moved around the room, gathering objects and tossing them into a small bag that appeared and disappeared. Seeing her attention, he explained, “It’s a pocket dimension where I store the weird crap I’m constantly finding in this plane. The Mundane realm isn’t as mundane as you’d think.”
“But… How did someone do this? It looked like death. Even smelled and sounded like death.” She’d heard the bloated gases leaving someone’s belly a few seconds ago.
“Did you sense The End?”
“Not at all. Not even a little.”
“It’s not divine interference, I don’t think. I’m just not sure why they’d go to the trouble of making us think they’d killed everyone.” He frowned. His eyes narrowed. “Come with me.”
“But—”
“Now.” He grabbed her hand and whisked her back with him to the storage locker where her things had all been burned…and were no longer a smoking ruin.
The locker had been tossed. But nothing had been destroyed, only gone through.
“Damn it.” Mormo growled as he looked around, his magic saturating the space. “Does anything feel like it’s missing?”
She shrugged. “How would I know? Look at this place. This is real, right?”
“Yes.” He sighed. “I should have put a protection spell over this before we left. They must have been watching and usedour distraction at the shifter house to finish looking through everything here in the storage locker.”
“But how? We left through a magic portal didn’t we?”
“We did.”
“So how did they tag you? I mean, I’m just a human. But you’re a lot more than that.”
“I am. Buthe’snot.” Mormo swore long and loud.
“He? Mormo?”
“I think we’ve been played.”
“I’m confused.”
“I’m not. I’m finally seeing what’s been in front of me all along.” He looked around once more and settled magic over her and the surrounding area. “I don’t feel anything foreign. Do you?”
“No.”
He took her with him back to the shifter house. “Rouse your friends. I’ll set a few protection spells. Then we need to go.”
“Do you think Khent and the others are okay?”
Mormo paused, the aura around him shining, a pulse of red firing now and then, the power majestic. If he wasn’t partially divine, she’d eat her left sock.
“Mormo?”
He grimaced. “No. I don’t think they’re okay. Move faster, Val.”
