Chapter 22

Chapter

Twenty-Two

The black car followed us for a long time, but when Matthias exited for the highway that led to our quiet road, the car continued north on the interstate. We'd never gotten a better look at the driver or passenger thanks to the dark windows. At least my nausea had faded and I felt ready to tackle the trace from the ghost grenade.

On our way home, Cyro texted that she saw no sign of the shadowy figure after it left the scene of Madison's murder. I'd suspected as much, but the news was still disappointing.

Matthias parked next to the house and we went inside. The downstairs had far less daylight than I was used to. Before leaving for the pack land to run as a wolf, Sean had apparently covered the broken patio door with plywood until we could get a replacement. That meant Rogue, Daisy, and Esme, who usually took their afternoon naps in the living room, had to go elsewhere to find sunshine. My guess was the workout room.

"I'm going to let Malcolm out and see what we can find out about whoever created that ghost grenade," I told Matthias. "While we're in the workshop doing that, can you work on your documentation for our lawyers and keep an eye on things until Sean gets back? "

"Yes, of course." He headed upstairs to get his laptop.

I made coffee, told Matthias to help himself, and took some downstairs in a tumbler. I kept Malcolm's lockdown crystal in a warded box inside one of my spelled cabinets. Inside it, he was protected by three layers of blood magic spellwork, all of which allowed passage only one way and could be unlocked by my magic alone.

I put the blue crystal in my palm and let my magic swirl around it. " Release ."

Malcolm appeared beside me. "Alice," he said, clearly as relieved to see me as I was to see him. "Good gravy. That sucked big time. Are you okay?"

"Pretty okay." I waggled my hand. "Physically, I'm fine. Did you see the spirit who attacked me?"

"Unfortunately, yes, I did." He flitted. "That creep was so ugly his momma slapped him when he came out. I also saw him lick your entire face . Who the hell does that? That's just nasty ."

"You're telling me." I leaned against the work table and took a moment to soak in the comfort of my house wards and Malcolm's reassuring presence. "In the category of silver lining, I think that about clinches what we're dealing with. The spirit said we , not I ."

"Yeah, right before he said they were going to kill you." He flitted again. "Katy and Carly are going to have their hands full dealing with this necromancer and Mr. Nasty Ghost, whoever they are."

"When it's all said and done, my money's on Carly and Katy." I set the crystals from today's murder scene on the work table. "In the meantime, I want to see if we can track the magic from the ghost grenade."

As I took off my shoes and socks, Malcolm said, "So, ghost possession emergency aside, I think spending the afternoon with us seems to have loosened Matthias up. He really seemed to come into his own and took charge when you tried to strangle yourself. Even kinda bossed me around a little."

"He did really well." Barefoot, I took a piece of chalk and began drawing runes for the tracking spell inside the smallest inlaid circle. I preferred to do this kind of magic barefoot as a way of feeling more securely grounded. It was an earth mage thing. "Also, at Carly's shop, I treated him to a large iced tea and one of your jokes."

He perked up. "Oooh, which one? The one about the flamingo with restless leg syndrome?"

"No, the one about the pterodactyl."

His shoulders slumped. "Aw, that isn't even one of my good ones."

"Funny, that's what Matthias said too."

"Ha ha."

I'd already cut the spellwork for a strong containment ward into the circle, so all I had to do was invoke it. My carnivorous blood garden in the backyard provided the power. Even if something happened to my magic, the ward wouldn't fail and release whatever I had contained. That was a definite upgrade from circles I'd had previously.

In addition to the tracking spellwork, I added runes to protect Malcolm and me from the black magic, as well as spellwork to transfer magic into my crystal if any came back through the tracking spell. I wasn't sure the latter would work, but if I could preserve the magic that would make it easier to learn more about it and find its source.

"Tracking any kind of unknown magic is dangerous," I said. "And that goes triple for black magic. If I'm going to try, I need to use spells and wards to protect us from black or occult magic. I'm a bit rusty on those."

"If you're rusty, you probably should look at your spell books," Malcolm advised. "One or two wrong glyphs and that's how you end up with some otherworldly abomination in your basement."

I retrieved the necessary spell book from one of my locked and warded cabinets. Malcolm floated at my shoulder as I skimmed for the spell I needed.

"This one sounds fun," he said, pointing at a page with an illustration of a gigantic tentacled creature. "Do you anticipate ever facing a Leviathan?"

"Hope not, but it pays to be prepared." I flipped two more pages and found what I was looking for. I traced the glyphs with my fingertip. "Okay, got it."

"Can I look at that Leviathan repellent spell again? You know, just in case."

I flipped back to that page. As Malcolm read up on Leviathans and the magical repelling thereof, I drew a circle with chalk within my inlaid circle large enough for me to sit in. I copied the glyphs and runes for the protection spell around the perimeter.

I pocketed the chalk, took off my shirt so I had on just a tank top over my bra, and used a washable marker to draw the remaining spellwork on my body. I'd used tracking spells so often I could do this part in my sleep. The spellwork ran up my right arm, down my left, and across my chest.

Prep work done, I sat cross-legged in the circle and invoked a blood magic protection spell housed in one of the crystals on my bracelet. I'd had enough close calls with black magic of late to believe at least two levels of magical Kevlar might be required.

"Okay, I'm ready," I told Malcolm.

He floated over from my work table. "You want me to boost your protection spell or the containment wards?"

"Protection spell. I'll use the house wards and garden energy for the containment wards." Careful not to touch any of the runes I'd drawn, I moved around a few inches at a time until I felt like I was perfectly centered within the spellwork. "Here's hoping I see something that'll help us."

"Here's hoping you see it and don't get zapped." Malcolm flitted. "The ghost thing was bad enough. I'll never hear the end of it from Sean if you get fried and I let you do it."

I rolled my eyes. "So glad to hear that you're more worried about Sean's temper than my well-being."

I'd been joking, but Malcolm's expression had no humor in it. " He's mad enough at me already for leaving you alone with Moses to find Liam. I don't need to give him any more reasons to shoot me dirty looks."

"He just needs a little time to cool off. His wolf is probably madder about it than he is."

"I don't know. Every time he hears my voice he looks pretty pissed." Malcolm shrugged. "Anyway, let's get this show on the road. Be safe."

"I plan to." I rolled my shoulders, invoked the various containment wards around us, and picked up the crystal containing the magic from the ghost grenade. The trace barely tingled on my hand. There wasn't much left. I figured I had about a fifty-fifty shot of this tracking spell working and about a twenty percent chance of seeing anything that would help us identify Mr. Touchy or his friends. It was still worth a try.

Slowly, so I didn't fracture what little remained any further, I drew magic trace from the crystal and wove it through the tracking spell. I sensed Malcolm channeling his own magic into my protection spell as the tracking spell surged, ready to be unleashed.

Not that long ago I'd done a tracking spell in my basement and ended up buried alive by a Dark Fae. I'd barely survived. More recently, I'd tracked and encountered a rare type of shifter called a faoladh .

This trace probably didn't lead to a fae or elite death machine of any sort, but it would be nice to track non-lethal magic for a change. As a mage PI and trouble magnet, to use Malcolm's term, I doubted I'd get to do that anytime soon.

I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply, and exhaled slowly as I cleared my mind.

Take nothing with you into the spell , my long-ago teacher had said. Go alone in silence and return the same way. It was a mage's mantra that dated back farther than anyone could trace. I hadn't thought of it in a long time, but recalling my near-disastrous previous tracking experiences reminded me I couldn't take those fears with me this time.

Finally, I found my silence. I took one more deep breath and let it out. " Adinvenire ," I said. Find.

The tracking spell surged from my body, carrying my consciousness along with it like a small boat in a rushing river.

Images, scents, and sounds tumbled through my mind and passed through me: fragments of rituals, glimpses of dark cowls covering bent heads, bones piled in a cauldron, fresh blood dripping from a cup that lay spilled on the floor. An arched door made of old wood with blackened iron hinges. Pale featureless faces around an altar where a body lay unmoving under a black cloth. And a haunting song sung by a single female voice that wove in between all the other images.

Definitely occult magic. Ancient, devastating, and soaked in blood.

I caught a glimpse of a face twisted in rage just before my tracking spell fractured. No, it didn't fracture—it got smashed . Deliberately destroyed.

I didn't even have a chance to brace myself before the spell blew apart.

My protection spells absorbed most of the blast, but my body still took a hit from the shockwave of magic and broken spellwork. I lost at least a full minute. Maybe two.

When the fog cleared and I opened my eyes, I found Malcolm floating above me. I lay on my back in the inlaid circle. The smell of ozone and old pennies hung heavy in the air. Our containment wards had done their job. Without them, the broken spell might have seriously damaged our house.

"Alice?" Malcolm brushed my forehead with his ghostly hand, making me shiver. "You with me?"

"Yup." I tasted blood. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and it came away smeared red. I had a moment of panic before I realized my lower lip was bleeding and I wasn't in fact coughing up blood. Small favors. A busted lip I could handle.

"When the spellwork blew, the crystal hit the wards, bounced off, and nailed you right in the face," Malcolm explained.

"Of course it did." I pushed myself up with a groan. "Shit, everything hurts."

"What the hell happened?" he demanded. "You lasted about four seconds before the whole thing went kablooey. "

I told him everything I could remember from the tracking spell, including what I'd seen, smelled, and heard.

"So everything worked as it was supposed to, and then you saw a face and someone blew up your spell," he said. "Who could do that? Mr. Touchy?"

"Not Mr. Touchy. I don't know whose face it was, but it wasn't him." I got to my feet and staggered over to lean against the work table. "I'm gonna need a bunch of ibuprofen and a stiff drink. Why do I have neither of those things in my workshop?"

"Occult magic with blood and bones." Malcolm flitted around the room. "That sounds sooo bad."

"It felt…" I searched for the right words. "Archaic and very corporeal. I'm pretty sure I saw sacrifices."

" Sacrifices? What the hell, Alice? You remember when all we had to worry about were harnads and stolen objects of power?"

"Oh, the good old days." I put my hands on my knees. "Ugh. Now I'm nauseous."

My phone buzzed on the table. Wolf Calling . I swiped the green button, put it on speaker, and swallowed hard. "Hey."

"What's going on now?" Sean demanded.

"I'm okay," I assured him. "I used a tracking spell on some magic Malcolm ran into. It ended up going sideways, but I'm not hurt except for a busted lip. Matthias did a really good job today, by the way."

"I'm glad to hear it." He sighed. "I'm on my way home."

"Okay. I love you. "

I pictured him on the other end, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I know," he said finally. We ended the call.

I grimaced and looked at all my smeared spellwork on the floor. By the time I got everything cleaned up, took care of my split lip, and texted Carly an update about the necromancer, Sean would probably be pulling into the driveway. He tended to ignore speed limits at times like these.

Then I'd get to tell him not just about getting slightly possessed and what I'd seen during the tracking spell, but also that I wanted to call Charles as soon as the sun went down.

And wouldn't that conversation be so much fun.