Julius sincerely hoped she was right. But while he’d never doubted Marci was incredibly capable, she was still alone with an enemy no dragon dared face, and she was very,verymortal. A fact Julius had never been more aware of than he was right now.
“Brace yourselves,” Svena warned, raising her hands.
“Ooh!” Amelia said, pulling herself to the edge of her couch. “Do it without the snow this time so I can see how it works!”
“Not for all the gold in your mother’s treasury,” Svena growled as she slammed her hands down. A wave of snow rose at the same time, whiting out Julius’s vision as the wind came to blow them all away.
***
Marci had had it with this stupid mountain.
From the moment Algonquin had left, she’d tried everything she could think of to get her and Ghost off of the ledge/lobby combo where the Lady of the Lakes had left them. She’d tried blasting, she’d tried digging, she’d tried flying (and had the bruises to prove it), she’d even tried opening a portal using the Kosmolabe and what she remembered from watching Amelia, all to no avail. Frustrated as she was, Marci was tempted to blame herself for that, but the real problem was the cliff.
At first glance, it looked like nothing more than a hollowed-out rock face spruced up with a bit of interior decorating. The longer Marci picked at it, though, the more obvious it became that there was a lot more going on here than just furniture and cliffs. It wasn’t a ward, exactly. There was no detectable wall or barrier. It was more like a resistance, an invisible, implacable force that got stronger the further she pushed out from the little square of tamed mountain where the Leviathan had set them down.
“Ugh, sofrustrating!” she cried, throwing the now-empty breakfast tray off the ledge. Naturally, it didn’t get caught by the invisible whatever-it-was. The tray just sailed out into the night, falling for an impressively long time before finally hitting the rocks below with a distant clatter.
“See?” she cried, throwing out her hands. “How does that even work?”
It could be a ward tuned only to you,Ghost suggested from his perch on the table.
“Ah, but a ward would still flicker when something passed through it,” she said, glaring at the empty—and obviously not glowing—air. “This is some weird spirit mumbo-jumbo I’ve never seen.”
Don’t look at me,her cat said, lashing his tail.I free people, not trap them.
“I shouldn’t evenbetrapped,” Marci argued, flopping down on the cold stone. “I’m supposed to be a Merlin! What kind of super mage can’t escape from an unmonitored prison cell?”
She can’t keep you locked up here forever,Ghost said helpfully.Unless Algonquin wants you to starve, someone has to be by to feed you. We’ll just jump them and get out then.
“I’m pretty sure she’ll have thought of that,” Marci said. “Anyone careful enough to wrap us in a bubble like this isn’t going to do something stupid like have an easily attackable guard bring us breakfast.” She looked down at her hands, which were scraped, dirty, and chalk covered after hours of fruitless casting. “What I want to know is where all this Merlin power is when I actually need it. ‘Cause so far, all it’s done is make my life complicated.” She glanced back at her cat. “I don’t suppose you’ve gained any insights on that score while I’ve been beating my head against invisible walls?”
If I had, I would have told you,Ghost assured her.But again, I don’t know any more about this than you do. Sometimes I hear things and they feel right, and then I know. Most of the time, though, your guess is as good as mine. It’s not like there’s another Mortal Spirit around to tell me how this works.
Marci knew that feeling all too well. “I just wish I knew what a Merlin actually did,” she grumbled, hauling herself up off the stone to go flop into the chair beside him. “It’s hard to figure out how to be something when you don’t even know what it looks like or how it works. So far, most of what I’ve heard is ‘like a mage, but better.’ How am I supposed to work with that? I’m already being the best mage I know how to be.”
Maybe it’s me?
“It’s not you,” she said quickly, giving him a reassuring smile. “You’re a great spirit.”
That’s not what I meant,Ghost said.On the jet, Raven told you that the path to Merlin was different for each person.
“How do you know that?” she asked. “You were asleep.”
I live in your head,he reminded her.I know what you know. Think about it, though. The potential to become a Merlin is defined by a human making a connection to a Mortal Spirit. But if that’s the case, it only makes sense that the same spirit would be the key all the way through. Otherwise, why would they be required in the first place?
Marci had never thought of that before. Now that she’d heard it, though, she couldn’t believe she’d seen things any other way. “I think you’re right,” she said, eyes going wide. “The only reason people think I can be a Merlin at all is because of you. Ofcourseyou’d be the secret to actually getting it! It makes total sense!” It also explained why every Merlin’s journey was different, because every Merlin bonded with a different Mortal Spirit. “You are such a clever kitty!” she cried, scooping Ghost into her arms.
He yowled in protest, but considering he could have phased through her arms and gotten away at any point, Marci didn’t believe it. “So what do we do now?” she asked when she finally put him down. “You’re the key to all this. What do you need?”
I don’t know,he confessed, looking out over moonlit spirit land toward the faint glimmer of the DFZ on the horizon, which looked much farther away than it really should have.But it probably has something to do with my purpose.
Marci frowned. “Your purpose?”
Every spirit has a purpose,he explained.A thing we’re meant to do, like how Algonquin was born to watch over her waters or how Raven minds his flock. I don’t have land or animals, but even when I knew nothing, I heard the calls of the dead.
“You’re talking about your domain,” Marci said. “The place where your magic comes from.”
Ghost nodded.The lost and forgotten have always called to me, and I’ve always been compelled to reply. But there are so many, I can’t answer them all.His glowing blue eyes slid back to her.If I had more power—
