The whole time, Nariel is silent as a shadow in the backseat, and I can’t help wondering what he thinks of how I’m handling this.
And then we get to Stonehenge, and everything gets interesting fast.
Seamus stays with the car and Nariel’s cap. I’m oddly sad to see it left behind, but it’s as clear of a demarcation as any: Now it’s time for work, not play.
I expected more argument from Seamus, but I should have known he’s too smart for that. Until I can key him to a wand and he’s had time to practice with it, he has no business getting closer to the inevitable fight and he knows it. He can watch how mages fight and take notes.
One thing I don’t have to spell out for someone like Seamus is that if I manage this, the fight isn’t going to be over with just one battle, and he’s going to be part of it.
That’s another reason I asked Letty for Seamus. He is not a man who knows how to quit fighting, even when it would be easier for him.
Except for when it came to magic. But I’ll see if I can’t change that for him.
Maybe he won’t hate me for it.
So Seamus is out of sight with the car, cloaked by Nariel so even I can’t see him. He could be gone for all I know, but I have to trust that he’s not and I’ll have a way out of here.
If he decides he’s willing to take the risk of having a wand, he’ll wait. If not... I’ll have to figure that out later.
Nariel is also out of sight, but he’s cloaked all of Stonehenge in a giant dome, so at least I can be sure he’s still here. The evidence of his presence surrounds me like a weighted anxiety blanket. Sort of comforting, but also a weight you can’t ignore, and that, if you’re me, reminds you why it’s there.
Nariel’s here so I can bring back magic for both—allof us.
And that’s what I’m going to do.
This first anchor is the real test of whether I can actually make what I’m aiming for stick. A declaration of who I am and what I’m capable of. If I mess this up, it almost doesn’t matter what I do next; it’ll be the beginning of the end.
No pressure.
I cast a cascade of lights like I did in the airport, but this time they spread away from me like tiny fae lanterns, illuminating the site.
It’s safe to say I’ve never seen Stonehenge like this.
As a power spot, Stonehenge always feels a little unreal. You look at the stones, the arrangement and size of them, you think about how long they’ve been here and how they got here, you see how the sun filters through them. You don’t have to be a wizard to feel it.
I cross to the center of the stones, letting the power of this place touch me and touching it in return.
In the darkness, illuminated by magic lights, encased in a flickering shadow-cloak dome, Stonehenge feels like nothing less than magic. Like Stonehenge is its own realm where anything is possible, for people or spirits, and the only limit is your imagination, your will.
Sufficient imagination and will have never been my limitations.
It’s time to get to work.
I close my eyes and raise my wand, a pulse of power echoing between me and Stonehenge like a bolt of crackling energy connecting us before I’ve even begun to cast.
I take that power, and I put it back into the world.
There are plenty of spells you can perform with nothing more than a flex of will, but for a spell of the magnitude I’m working with, that you want to last, you have to anchor it.
I’m like a dancer, my muscle memory burning to life as I use my wand to draw arcane symbols and place them around Stonehenge, glowing glyphs forming in the air in front of me and flying away to stick in place like they’re drawn magnetically. The magic burns them into the rock and the earth.
I weave the spell in a light trance state. Artists know that flow state, when it’s like your body becomes the conduit for what’s passing out of you to be physically manifested in the world, your mind firing, your heart thrilling.
That’s what it’s like to work magic.
And I get a third of the way through everything I’m setting up before Evram arrives.
This time, it’s not just Destien. He’s finally deigned to bring a team with him. Dark purple uniforms, which means they’re an advanced magical combat unit.
