Me.
Even though he knows exactly who I am.
Disbelief blooms. I let out a bewildered laugh and shake it off. We have no time for this. We still have to rescue Knox, destroy the circle, and stop Meredith.
Chapter Thirty-One
We continue clearing the buildings,dropping the last human guards with quick, precise shots. Meredith’s bedroom adjoins the one where Samuel is working. We decide to neutralise everyone else and destroy all the paperweights we can before facing her.
I despise this vulnerability.
The team dispatches the remaining mages swiftly and silently, yet one remains unaccounted for—the fire mage I fought.
Her absence prickles at my nerves.
Riker scents four more paperweights and destroys them. I test my power: stronger now. Filaments spread across the island like glowing threads, illuminating the blank spots where my senses cannot yet reach.
“There is one in Meredith’s room,” I whisper. “Another with Samuel and three more… over there.” I indicate a building: all sharp lines and reinforced concrete, no front windows, only a thick metal door and a slab-like façade.
“Think that’s where they’re keeping Knox?” Lander asks.
“I do.”
“The illusion curtain’s up,” Jill murmurs. “Anything loud or magical will be swallowed before it reaches the house. Meredith and Samuel will hear only the wind and the sea.”
Lander nods his thanks.
We slip away, leaving Dayna and Jill behind to keep Meredith and Samuel in sight. George takes point again; with a flick of his wand he peels the ward from the door, and we step inside.
I follow George and Riker, sweeping the left-hand side with my gun, while Lander boxes me in, pushing me to the centre of our small formation.
We stand in the building’s hub, a dark, windowless space that links every corridor and doorway. The lights are off, and the air is heavy with silence and that institutional smell of polish and old stone. Riker gestures; George leads us right, down the first corridor. As we move, we clear each room—offices, small meeting spaces, nothing more.
At the building’s heart the security block comes into view, complete with its own row of containment cells, steel bars, and rune-lined walls.
The guards go down quickly but violently, rounds puffing against George’s personal wards as he deflects the handful of shots fired. Once the corridor issecure, Riker trusses the guards with plastic ties and drags them into the nearest cell.
The first occupied cell holds Knox. He reclines on a bunk, arms folded behind his head, looking—of all things—perfectly relaxed. The relief I feel at finding him alive makes my knees weak. We use an unlock spell to open the door instead of hunting for a key.
Knox rises to his feet and meets our eyes. “You came,” he says to me. “Why?”
“Because you came for me, and I was not going to let them hurt you or your people. Are you all right? Did they harm you?”
“Not physically.” He glances between us. “I can’t believe you’re actually here and you brought the Magic Hunter?” His eyes narrow at Lander, who merely shrugs. “Councillor Meredith Jackson has broken the treaty,” Knox adds, his voice on the verge of a snarl.
“We know,” Lander replies. “Her attack is personal; it wasn’t sanctioned.”
Farther down the corridor, Riker discovers the last of the three weights and smashes it without ceremony. Magic splinters; glass falls in harmless shards.
Knox steps out of the cell, stretches, and gives me a weary smile. “Those things pack a punch.”
“They do. They are paperweights,” I reply.
“Paperweights? Is this some sort of sick joke? They’ve made glass magic just to mess with ours?”
“It is an old spell. Illegal.”
Knox glances at Lander, who gives a grim nod. “They’re illegal, and they were used by one of the Magic Sector’s top councillors.”
