Between the two of them and Marcus, I’m forever protected. And forever grateful, even when their overbearing natures chafe.
I wave off Ian’s concerns. “I told you I’d be fine, and I am. I’m better than fine. Ian, wedid it. Something no mages have been able to do in centuries. Sienna is going to be floored!”
I don’t tell them about my nascent plan. Not yet. I want to pass it by Sienna first. I don’t want to disrespect the history of this great castle and the pack who built it, but surely a pack like theirs would have supported what it is I want to do.
I hear a car pull up at the bottom of the hill, and Ian looks down and nods. “That’ll be Langford and Sienna.”
When the headmaster and his historian wife finally climb to the top of the hill, they look the worse for wear, as though they’ve barely slept.
“We were watching over the safe houses last night,” Sienna explains. “I thank you for not telling a vain woman she looks tired,” she adds dryly.
“Nothing suspicious through the night?” Ian asks.
Headmaster Langford shakes his head. “Nothing to report. Just some very scared omegas.” He looks to me, eyes squinting in his ruddy face. “Sienna tells me you’ve done the impossible. You truly are a remarkable young woman, Miss Rose.”
I blush at the compliment and look to deflect it quickly. “I had a couple of rather intriguing visions, that’s all. Ian and Marcus were able to make sense of them for me. What’s truly remarkable is the castle itself. If you’ll let Ian perform the spell on you, you can see it for yourself.”
Despite her fatigue, Sienna practically vibrates with excitement. “A find like this… Ian, I’d let you perform a dozen spells on me. Let’s have at it, then.”
Ian traces out the sigils for the spell over Sienna and then over the headmaster, then carefully leads them into the whorl of torrential magic. Sienna gasps as they pass through unscathed. I race ahead through the magic to lead them in and send Ian back to perform the spell on Simon and Cassian. Simon, ever the tech nerd, already has his laptop out.
“I’d bet the very good money I’ve coaxed out of the stock market that no signal can penetrate that magic,” I hear him say, as he nods toward the storm cloud of magic surrounding the castle.
I’m already partway through it, Sienna’s hand in mine and the headmaster’s hand in hers. Both look around the magic, their eyes lit up with curiosity and the errant beam of lightning frozen in time above them. When we break through to the immense yard surrounding the castle, Sienna lets out a hearty gasp.
“Saints above, you trulyhavedone it! And the castle, it’s safe? You’d expect a building this old to be in some state of disrepair by now.”
“That’s the thing,” I tell her. “The entire building is remarkably well-preserved. Untouched by time itself.” I set my hand on the warm wooden door and nod for her to do the same.
She gasps again and eagerly reaches for the iron ring to open the door. “Give us a hand, Martin!”
The headmaster’s mustache twitches with a smile. Whilehe may not fully share his wife’s enthusiasm at this discovery, it’s clear he’s excited for her. He gamely gives the handle a tug, and we pull the door open together.
I let Sienna step inside ahead of me, just as Cassian and Simon break through the magic into the yard.
“Holy fucking saints,” Simon mutters, looking up at the storm above the castle captured in a single instant. “Junes, this is… this is insane. No one’s been inside this castle for hundreds of years, and people have tried. Hell, people havedied.”
“Don’t let Ian know that,” I hiss, shooting him a warning glare.
“I already knew,” Ian says with a roll of his bright blue eyes. “I also knew I wasn’t about to let you be the one to try anything risky.”
“Are you coming to see the castle, or are you going to mess around on your computer?” I ask Simon with an arched eyebrow. “We already know cell service isn’t a thing in here.”
Simon frowns. “It’s for all our safety. If we’re going to be spending any amount of time here, I want to be sure we’re protected. My new encryption should keep our phones untraceable, but I don’t want to risk it.”
I come to his side and watch as he taps a few keys on his computer. “Anything in or out?”
“Nothing in, nothing out,” he confirms. “Hell of a pain in the ass that we have to leave to make a phone call, though.”
But a necessary evil if we can house the freed omegas within the castle grounds, I suspect. I’m itching to tell Graeme, to bring him through the magic too, but I’ve decided the decision must be Sienna’s. I can’t be the one to decide what to do with something of this historical significance.
“Juniper!” I hear the historian shout from within thecastle’s great hall. “Have you evenseenthe rest of the castle yet?”
I kiss Simon’s cheek and go to my mentor with a smile. “And deny you the first view of something so amazing? Of course not.”
“Well, get your ass in here. This is your find, not mine.”
We spend the next few hours examining the castle from the dungeons to the highest towers. At the height of the tallest tower, we can hear a pennant snapping in the light summer breeze that’s captured within the magic surrounding the castle. We peek into bedrooms and the castle’s massive kitchen; it’s clear that the castle was home to more than just Pack Marmora as we pass room after room and take in the sheer scale of it. Finally, utterly agog and wholly in her element, Sienna finds the library and stumbles at the intricately carved wooden door.
