A second later, they appeared. “Cashmere. Nice. Evie would approve.”
Cernunnos grunted. “Can you sense anything?”
“I’m not like Evie. You might have to direct me, but let me try first.” I sat on the ground, relieved when Cernunnos cleared the snow so my pants wouldn’t get soaked. Sticking my fingers in the ground wouldn’t work for me. I was no Floromancer. My magic had always been a little odd, but after that fight where I got caught in the crossfire of some seriously heavy magic, my power had been forever altered in ways I was still trying to understand.
I couldn’t make flowers grow out of thin air or heal the land or anything glorious like that, but I could suss out suspicious magic, and I was better at identifying signatures than most people I knew. Vampires possessed excellent senses, smell,hearing, taste, all of them. Once I got a taste of the magical signature causing this, I could follow the person to the ends of the earth, even if I didn’t know who they were.
Surprising me, Cernunnos sat beside me. “I will guide you when you are ready.”
I closed my eyes and cleared my mind. Power crackled around Evie’s father like an out-of-control bonfire. He was made of magic—an ancient, cruel power far older than anyone I’d ever met. Sitting next to him felt dangerous. He was a nuke who could go off at any time, and I’d be helpless in the crossfire.
“Concentrate, god touched,” Cernunnos murmured.
“Shhh,” I whispered. “You’re already distracting enough.”
“Do you need me to move?”
“No. Just be quiet.”
“Very well.” He sounded offended, which almost made me laugh.
I let out a slow breath and brought my attention to my surroundings. There were mountains around us, telling me we were not in Caelan’s territory. Snow, so not in Soren’s. Maybe Ethan’s or Thorvin’s. Ben was in the Midwest. Snow, yes, mountains, not so much. Unless you counted the Ozarks, which I didn’t. At least, not from the quick glance I took when I sat down.
Possibly we were still in Rowan’s territory, though the air smelled different and it was a little harder to breathe. Colorado maybe?
The location didn’t matter all that much. I was here to figure out who wanted to harm Danu and Evie by extension. My mind’s eye scanned for rogue magic on the surface, but there was nothing. I did a deeper scan, sensing some animals in hibernation and some life flying above us. Normal things, nothing alarming, except for the supernova of magic sitting next to me.
“I’m going to need you to guide me,” I murmured.
Cernunnos took my hand, jerking me along the shooting star of his magic. My consciousness was yanked out of my body and sent soaring into the ground. Holy shit. Was this what Evie experienced every time she siphoned or communed with the land?
Even with the frigid temperatures above, life bloomed beneath. Flashes of color among the darkness streaked along my peripheral vision as Cernunnos transported me to the heart of the spell.
Whoever did this was intelligent, Cernunnos admitted.
I jerked at the sound of his voice in my head.How are you doing this?
I had no mouth, no face, no body. How were we talking?
Did you forget me being very magical,was his dry response.
Humble, too.
His amusement floated down the link before we stopped abruptly.There, he said.Can you sense it?
A malevolent presence surrounded us, sentient and curious.Yes. You can’t get rid of it?
I am more like Danu than others, he admitted.Engaging will deplete my magic, and I must be prepared for other…occurrences.
With Evie?
Concentrate, god touched, he said instead.See what information you can obtain. We don’t have much time before its curiosity wears off.
Heeding his warning, I studied the entity as it inched closer, my mind trying to grasp knowing my body wasn’t here. How could I touch something when I didn’t exist? Whatever this thing was, it possessed spell components, but it wasn’t completely a spell. Curious, the thing floated closer, moving similar to how an amoeba would. No arms, no legs, just a blob of magic, corruptingeverything it touched. The soil around the entity died as it moved.
Cernunnos moved me back a few feet.Hurry, he urged.
I need to touch it.
