Steadiness came back to him, just in time to be upright and not looking like death warmed over when Benjamin slammed open the door to the interview room. He took one look at Patrick before yelling over his shoulder, “Collins is conscious. What about the others?”
“Others?” Patrick asked.
Benjamin gestured at Patrick to follow him. “Every mage in the building just went down. We’re checking on everyone and those who haven’t made it in today. You should get checked out.”
“I’m fine.”
“You seem to be the only one.”
Patrick grimaced, thinking about why. “Yeah. How’s the SAIC?”
“Don’t know.”
“Let’s go find out.”
Benjamin left, already distracted by what was going on beyond the interview room. Patrick looked over at Frigg, who was pulling on the brown fur coat that had been draped over the back of her seat.
“I’ll find your husband,” Patrick promised.
Frigg nodded, looking for all the world like a queen, despite the drab surroundings. “See that you do.”
The goddess left the interview room, perfectly capable of seeing herself out of the building. Patrick swore and pressed the heels of both hands against his eyes, rubbing them until colored spots were all he could see against the back of his eyelids. The sound of his phone going off had him fumbling it out of his pocket to answer it.
“Are you all right?” Jono asked without even a hello.
“Yeah. I’m fine,” Patrick said.
“You’re such a bloody liar. Ifeltthat.”
“Something hit the ley lines.”
“So why would you feel it?”
Patrick hesitated. Without Jono, he couldn’t tap a ley line. The only answer he could think of pointed at Hannah, and nothing good would ever come from that. “I can’t talk about it here.”
He didn’t want to talk about itever, but he knew he had to tell Jono as soon as they were alone.
“Right. Me and Wade are coming to you. We’ll find a Starbucks near your building, or anything that is open in this bloody weather, and wait for you to pick us up. If you needme”—Jono stressed the word, making it obvious what he meant without outright talking about the soulbond—“I’ll be close by.”
Patrick bit the inside of his lip, holding back all the words he wanted to say but couldn’t while in a building surrounded by SOA agents and workers. “Might have better luck with a Dunkin’ Donuts.”
“I vote Dunkins,” Wade said loud enough that Patrick could hear him through the line.
“Youjustate,” Jono said.
Patrick snorted. “Stay warm. Talk to you soon.”
He ended the call and went to find SAIC Andrew Dabrowski.
The Chicago SOA field office only employed about a dozen mages, half of which were assigned to the Rapid Response Division. The fluctuation had ricocheted through every mage, whether they were tapped into a ley line or not. It had caught people unawares, even through their shields.
Which means Ethan doesn’t care if we know he’s taking that power.Patrick grimaced as he got in the nearest elevator and pushed the button for the twenty-ninth floor.Frigg is right.We’ll need to shield the nexus.
His thought seemed to be shared by Dabrowski, because the second Patrick stepped into the SAIC’s crowded office and the older mage got eyes on him, Patrick became the center of attention.
“Collins,” Dabrowski said, cracking open a potions bottle one of the witches on staff must have given him. He looked about as green as the potion he poured into a cut-crystal glass. “We’re shielding the nexus.”
“Hope you don’t expect me to help with that, sir. My shields aren’t the greatest, and I can’t tap a ley line or nexus,” Patrick replied from the doorway.
