Page 54 of Spirit Storm

Fair enough. I stand there for a second longer than necessary, then give up on waiting for my reflection to sync.

"How'd Ireland go?"

I lean against the wall beside the door, and tell her everything in one long stream-of-consciousness info dump: Freya and her family records, Cormac resenting us being there, the tunnels, the traps, Wylder taking the hit and going down hard, my vision of The Nine, how the lockstones might be repairable, Henrik touching the wall, and the spirits taking him down.

When I finish, Mica is staring at me. "I'm sorry. P. That’s a lot.”

I look at my hands. "It was. I only knew Henrik for half a day, but he was easy to like."

She looks from me to Asher, and back again. "Are you two doing okay?"

I don’t even know how to answer that. “I’ll be better when the Order healers figure out the damage done to Wylder’s soul. You should see him. He’s putting up a brave front, but he’s seriously hurting.”

She tilts her head. "So why are you here instead of hanging out at home, pampering him?"

"Because the rescued witches need the Concordance mirror. I couldn’t help Henrik or even Wylder, but maybe I can help them.”

Something shifts in her expression. Not surprise exactly, more like she's recalibrating. “Well, I’ll do everything in my power to keep it safe. No one will get in here without our approval, and anyone who thinks to take it for themselves will have a very bad day."

"That's exactly what I hoped you’d say." She glances past me to where Asher is hovering in the doorway. "Are you good, angel man?"

"Outstanding." Asher props up both thumbs. "Just here for emotional support."

I turn back to Mica. "So, in all your research into empowered objects, old crafts, and ancient myths, did you ever come across anything about lockstones or repairing lockstones?"

She pulls a slow breath through her teeth and crosses her arms. "Sadly, no. But my research focused on finding the forge and dealt specifically with spells and enchantments that affect metal. A stone witch would be a better bet than me."

I hadn't thought of that. "That's a good point."

"They're not common, but they exist. Based on what you said about the runes carved into the circle of the cave, if any affinity was used in the original construction, it was probably a stone witch."

"I'll look into it." I push off the wall. "And thanks again for babysitting my mirror. I’m hoping Briar will respect how busy you are…”

Panicked voices outside accompany a bolt of lightning striking less than fifty feet from the building. The crack of thunder is so loud, I curl forward and duck.

Mica is already moving.

Asher and I race after her, following her out the front door to stare at the academy courtyard in the distance.

The sky above Arcana is wrong.

Storm clouds are rolling in from nowhere, darkening the sky directly over the academy building. Lightning flashes through the dense clouds, and even before it dissipates, another bolt starts.

“It’s just over the academy.” I point to where the rest of the city sits in ordinary afternoon sunlight. The line where the storm stops is razor sharp.

"That's not normal," Asher says.

“We should probably go see if we can help.”

Mica nods. “I knew you were going to say that.”

We run, and we barely make it a hundred feet when wind hits us like a wall.

I throw my shield up, and that cuts down on the noise, but the electrical charge in the air is still making the hair on my arms stand on end.

When we round the corner of the academy building, we can see a crowd of students in the courtyard. There looks to be maybe fifteen students clustered together, having some kind of altercation.

The thunder is constant now, a low continuous roll that I feel in my sternum more than hear. Lightning splits the darkness overhead, and in the white flash I see the descending silhouette.