I moved us to the same spot I'd sat on the stump and mused several hours before. The angel Ezekiel was still inside, and the ward was as strong as ever. Using the stump as a table, I assembled the ingredients, mumbled the Latin words over the small stone bowl Gabriel had provided to do the spell in and watched it ignite.
Holding the bowl up, I used my power to drift the smoke rising from the bowl toward the ward. Where it hit, the ward fizzled. I fanned the smoke up and down, spreading it enough to create a hole both Michael and I could walk through.
As I moved toward the doorway made of smoke, I hoped Mary had been right about the spell and that I wasn't about to be vaporized by the powerful ward.
Holding my breath, I stepped through the smoke, then laughed in delight when I opened my eyes and discovered it had worked. The woman deserved a medal. Michael stepped through the smoke and joined me. "Now we just have to hope we can portal out of here and aren't stuck in here," he said.
The front door of the house opened, and an angel stepped out. He was handsome and looked like he could step into a boy band lineup at a moment's notice. "Stop there," he said. "I'll use my powers if you don't!"
The shakiness in his voice negated the threat of his words. The kid was scared out of his mind.
"Do you want to die before you've begun to live?" I asked.
Ezekiel shook his head. "No, I want to live," he said in a squeaky voice.
Hoping he won't be an idiot, I gestured to the yard. "Then come on. We just have questions for you. If you answer them, we won't hurt you."
He stepped off the porch slowly and moved toward us. This felt too easy, once we got past the protection spell.
"How'd you get the ward up?" I asked.
"Raphael gave me a rock," he said. "I don't know what it is." Ezekiel held out the rock and dropped it into Michael's hand. He handed it to me, but I didn’t take the time to look at it then. I grabbed Ezekiel and Michael and took us back to the barn. Hopefully, Ezekiel would be as free with his tongue as he was with giving the Relic to us.
Chapter Thirteen
It didn't take long to get all our prisoners lined up and ready to talk. We wrapped them in power, then let them sit together in the middle of the dried blood in the barn. We listened outside the barn as they told each other to stay calm. Uriel took on a position of leadership, cautioning Ezekiel and Genevra to keep quiet. He seemed confident that Raphael had their backs.
"Let them sit and stew while I mess with this," I whispered.
The rock Ezekiel had handed over wasn't a rock. It was a gem. One of the biggest rubies I'd ever seen, but uncut and unpolished. It looked like it had just fallen out of a cave, laced with stone and dull. If I hadn't seen one before, I might not have realized it was a ruby at all.
Trickling magic into the stone, I explored its abilities. As soon as I did, a ward slammed down around us. The stone was full of magic, old magic. Unused, sleepy magic. It was somewhat excited, probably from being used recently, but there was still a fount of magic stored inside that hadn't activated itself yet. It slept in the recesses of the gem, unaware that after all those years, it was in a position to be freed from its red prison. I tickled it with my power, urging it to wake and give me it's purpose. If I could make the magic like me, it would tell me its secrets. That would be the easiest way to get to the bottom of it.
Soon, the ruby buzzed with life, floating over my hand and spinning of its own accord. I let my power lace in and out, through and around, dancing with the magic of the stone.
It worked. The gem was so eager to interact with my power that it clung to me. I whispered to it.How powerful you are. So impressive.
The magic loved to be complimented. It danced all the more merrily.
Can you tell me what all you can do? I imagine it's quite remarkable.
Whispers filled my mind, snatches of sentences and explanations. I listened, piecing together everything the magic tried to tell me. It took a few minutes because I had to sort out all the half ideas and barely heard whispers.
Oh, my. I was right, you are formidable. Would you allow me to use your considerable talents once in a while?
The magic stopped whispering, but after a few moments, a feeling of acceptance came through my magic. The stone had chosen me to use it. More than likely, it would never work for anyone else after this. I'd heard of this happening but never experienced it myself.
Thank you. I will use you with good intentions and won't waste your talents. You will be very important.
That soothed it, and it settled back into its stone, calm again. The ruby lowered and rested on my palm.
"Well, there's more magic in this thing than I've seen in a long time, for starters." I spoke freely, knowing the eager magic in the stone had us warded tight. "It's protection magic. Someone made this to protect someone else. It will work in my defense. It bonded to me."
Michael whistled. "Nice. That doesn't happen very often." He held out his hand, and I placed the stone in it. "Yep. It's masking itself from me now. I can't even tell there's power in it."
Lucifer and Gabe both felt it and agreed. The stone belonged to me.
"Well, now what?"
