Torin glances around at the others. “All I can tell you is that the Door is opening. I don’t know where. I don’t know when. It’s not… close. What I feel here are remnants of its strength. It’s sapping magic from this world to strengthen it. But when that being comes through, we need to do everything in our power to drive him back before he destroys this world.”
“If it’s not here, we need to find it,” Imani says.
“Yes,” Torin agrees. “I could possibly have a better feel for it if I got closer to the actual location the Door is forming. I would leave someone here just in case it opens here, but I don’t believe it will.”
Imani nods. “Okay. Let’s get the agency out and scour the city. I’ll have someone section off the city and determine where everyone should scout.”
“I have already compiled a set location for each team,” Tommy says, flipping his laptop around to face us. “I assumed you’d need to do something like this as soon as you stated you needed to find the Door’s location, so I have split the entire unit into teams of two.”
“You’re so much more useful than Mickey,” Imani praises as she examines it. Mickey just shrugs, fully agreeing with this statement. Tommy flashes it to me so I can see my assigned route that will infuriate Torin to no end once he discovers it follows a subway line.
I turn to Torin. “Okay. Let’s… see what we can do.”
“I require a mount,” he announces.
“We’ll just take the subway.”
“No, no, no. I’ll be able to sense the Door better on a mount.”
“You’ve got a mount right in front of you,” Mickey says with a grin.
“Do you want death?” I hiss. “I’ll make sure to bring you back afterward with your own necromancy power.”
Mickey holds up his hands in surrender. “No, no. I meant you have the power of necromancy. Bring him up a mount worthy of a god.”
Torin’s eyes are on me. “The bigger the better.”
“Please don’t do this to me,” I whisper.
Everyone else leaves me to it, preparing for their routes, and I’m left with a god with big pleading eyes and a huge smile.
“I don’t even know how to find a mount, and it’ll probably be all mangled and shit.”
He keeps staring at me, and when I make no move, he turns to wave Imani down before shouting to her, “Please put out a notice that the woman who can turn into a unicorn must report so Riley can touch her and become my mount.”
I sigh and set my hand on the ground, positive that I’m not going to sparkle ever again. Not quite sure what kind of mount is around, I try to feel for something useful. With my hand pressed against the ground, I can feel the bodies beneath it. None are nearby, but that doesn’t seem to even matter for this powerful necromancy magic I’ve borrowed from Mickey. It’s almost like some reach out to me, willing to help, and others turn away from me with no interest in being reanimated. Some I can see clearly in my mind, and I can tell what they are with ease, but others are more wisps of an idea. I don’t know whether that’s because they’re farther away or they died much longer ago.
It’s almost like the magic knows just what I’m looking for since it seems to zip through the earth until I find two large beasts. Now that I’ve identified them, I get the impulse to mentally ask them if they’d like to help me. All too soon, the ground in front of me begins to shake and crack. It splits before a paw reaches out and the first of the two creatures crawls out. It’s a massive wolf that looks completely alive, thanks to Mickey’s strong magic enhanced by my own. The second that emerges is a large feline who comes up to me. They both appear very interested in me as I regret how powerful my magic is. If I sucked at it, I could have ridden the subway.
But thankfully, summoning two undead isn’t enough to hurt me like it would if I summoned a whole army.
“They are beautiful,” Torin enthuses as he starts petting them vigorously. “Which do you want?”
“You can have them both. I’ll be taking the subway,” I say with a salute, but he grabs me and sets me on the back of the feline before jumping on the wolf.
“And off we go.”
“Dammit, no!” I growl, scrambling to grab its fur before questioning whether that’s rude. The beast doesn’t seem to mind as I’m whisked away while Imani’s and Vinny’s laughter follows me.
Chapter Seventeen
Riley
It’s been a long day of on and off searching with nothing to show for it but a sore ass from riding this creature. All we’ve gathered is that Torin can feel the magic from the Door opening, but there’s no clear pinpoint on where.
“Do you think he already opened it?” I ask as I slide off the feline creature. “Did we already fail?”
“I don’t think so,” Torin says. “But I don’t know.”
