“I’ll fix the damage,” Chelsie said before Julius could say a word. “Just get downstairs.”
Julius nodded and ran out the door, taking the steps three at a time down to the living room. He’d just hopped the banister on the last landing when everyone—Marci, Ghost, Myron, Amelia, Raven, Emily, even the DFZ, who was back to her giant rat—rushed in through the hastily repaired front door. Amelia came in last, slamming the freshly nailed and spellwork-covered wooden door closed behind her just in time.
Through the windows, Julius could see the faux cavern outside getting brighter and brighter. Then, when it was almost too bright to look at, the light broke apart. Just fell into pieces until it looked like snow. A soft, thick, glowing blizzard of pale light in all colors, only it wasn’t cold, and it wasn’t falling from the sky. It was rising from the ground, and it was beautiful.
“That’s it?” he said, walking to the window. “That’s what we’re afraid of?”
“Yes,” Amelia said, her face grim. “Don’t let the pretty light show fool you. That’s pure magic of a grade this side of the world has never seen.”
“It looks like the barrier between the Sea of Magic and the physical world absorbed most of the impact,” Marci added as she joined Julius by the window. “That’s better than I’d hoped, but there’s still way more magic out there than the physical world has ever experienced.” She bit her lip. “We are going to see someweirdstuff coming out of this.”
“We’ll have a rash of new mages for certain,” Myron said, glowering at the beautiful glow from the window by the fireplace. “Everyone who was on the edge is going to get shoved right over, and it’s not going to be pleasant.”
“Animals, too,” Marci said. “Remember all the crazy mana beasts that popped up around the meteor crater? Take that and spread it all over the world. Detroit’s probably going to get the worst of it since the DFZ thinned the barrier here, but I don’t think anywhere is safe.”
“How long will it last?” Julius asked, transfixed by the glowing particles rising from the ground like fireflies.
Amelia shrugged. “Who knows? Even I’ve never seen a magical surge of this magnitude.”
“I’d guess two weeks, tops,” Marci said. “They weren’t this big, but we’ve had magical disasters before. In those cases, the majority of the fallout—”
“Generally settled within forty-eight hours,” Myron finished. “But you’re assuming this follows the same fallout pattern as events that happened on this side of the divide. This magic is coming from the Sea of Magic itself, and we don’t have any data for that.”
Marci scowled thoughtfully, and then she turned and headed for the stairs. “We need to get a better look. I’ve got an observation circle in my lab upstairs.”
“Do you have a phone?” General Jackson asked, chasing after her. “The UN office in New York will have accurate readings for sure.”
“Ifthe phone networks are up,” Myron said grimly as they all went up the stairs. “It’s a miracle this building still has power.”
That was a good point. Now that he thought about it, all of this—the intact house, the power, the wards—struck Julius as suspiciously convenient. Another time, he would have stewed about the implications of that. Right now, though, he couldn’t do anything except stand there and watch Marci walk up the stairs with everyone else. Walk away from him.
He was still watching when a hand landed on his shoulder, and he turned to see Chelsie waiting beside him with her daughter, who was now back in human form as well and wearing one of the T-shirts Justin had left behind like a dress.
“There’s a lot going on,” she said quietly, her green eyes flicking pointedly at the bend in the stairs where Marci had just disappeared. “She’s just busy right now. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t care.”
“I know,” Julius said, taking a shaking breath. “She’s a Merlin now. She’s doing what she needs to do, and I’m happy for her.”
He didn’t sound happy. For once, though, Chelsie didn’t call him on the lie. She just squeezed his shoulder and set off toward the kitchen. “I’m going to raid your freezer. There’s no telling how long this will last or how long we’ll have power. Better to stock up now. Want to help?”
Julius tried for a moment. Hereallydid. He even managed to walk all the way to the kitchen door. In the end, though, he just couldn’t. This entire night, through everything that had happened, he’d been holding it together on sheer adrenaline. Now that things were suddenly calm, there was simply nothing left.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his body shaking. “I…that is…”
“It’s fine,” Chelsie said, looking over her shoulder. “Go to your room and do whatever you have to do to get yourself together, because we’re going to need you.”
Technically, she had no business telling him what to do, but Chelsie’s words weren’t a command. They were an escape, and Julius leaped on it, whirling around and going up the stairs to his room as fast as he could without actually running away. He was turning to lock the door behind him when someone else grabbed the opposite handle.
Julius froze, confused. Then confusion turned to joy when Marci pushed her way in.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” he replied lamely, running a hand through his hair. “I thought you guys were talking big-time magic stuff.”
“We were,” she said, stepping into his room. “But then I thought, you know, this is going to be going on for a while, and I didn’t want to sit there being a third wheel while they called every mage at the UN, so I told them I was tired.”
He frowned at her. “Are you tired?”
“Iwasdead for four days,” she reminded him, closing his door so she could lean against it. “So yeah, I’m pretty tired. But I don’t want to sleep inmyroom.”
