42. Violet

42

VIOLET

Practice makes perfect, they say. But practising with ancient magick while trying not to tear holes in reality? That's a bit trickier.

"Again," Thorne commands, his shadows writhing around us as I channel another burst of power through him. The library's magickal barriers shimmer, struggling to contain what we're doing.

But something's different this time. As my power flows through his shadows, I catch glimpses of other places. Places that shouldn't exist anymore. Or maybe places that don't exist yet.

"Stop," I gasp, pulling back. "Something's wrong."

Thorne steadies me as I stumble, still seeing fragments of impossible scenes.

"What did you see?"

"I..." Before I can answer, Gaida bursts through the door, her usually perfect composure shattered.

"We've got serious trouble! "

"Never start a sentence that way, Gaida," I groan. "What is it?"

She holds up a scrying mirror which shows a creature on it, with horns sticking out of his head, as he announces the bad news:

"...unprecedented supernatural phenomena reported worldwide in the human realm. Sources confirm multiple sightings of supposedly extinct magickal creatures, while several previously hidden supernatural communities have suddenly become visible to mortal eyes. Experts are baffled by the sudden failure of concealment charms that have stood for centuries..."

We watch the chaos unfold in the mirror with growing horror.

In London, the Thames writhes with creatures that definitely do not belong in the human world. In Paris, gargoyles are breaking free from Notre Dame's walls. New York's underground supernatural community spills onto the streets of the Big Apple, one such terrifying creature, climbing the Empire State Building just like King fucking Kong.

"Oh, fuck," I mutter.

"Is this because of us?" Flint asks.

"Not directly, I don't think," I say slowly. "It's because of what we're preparing to do. The barriers are already starting to react to me practising to fuck them over."

"Shit a brick on a plank," Caine growls. "This is a veritable nightmare. Do you know how much shit is going to hit the fan? "

The news bulletin continues, showing footage of Dragons soaring over Sydney, kelpies emerging from Loch Ness, and entire fae villages appearing in rural Ireland.

"The supernatural world is reverting," Thorne murmurs, his brainy brain going into overdrive. "It's going back to how it was before the barriers."

"Before the Old Ones were bound," I add quietly.

"You need to move faster, girl," Gaida says, a note of panic entering her tone. "I have a very bad feeling this is just the beginning."

As if to prove her point, the mirror suddenly shows breaking footage again from London. The Thames is glowing with ancient magick, and something massive is moving beneath its surface.

"Those aren't tourist boats," Flint notes unnecessarily.

"No," I snap. "They're much older and hungrier."

"Gods," Caine murmurs.

"Agreed. The lines between gods and monsters got very blurry in the old days," Gaida says, showing off her apparently vast knowledge of supernatural history. "Before the barriers, before classification and control..."

"Everything was possible," I finish. "Everything was untamed and dangerous."

Thorne grips my wrist tightly. "The whole world is..."

"Transforming," I whisper. "Just like we're trying to transform the wild magick. "

Now you begin to understand the true scope of what we face.

"If you aren't going to help, Morgan, I suggest you shut your face," I growl, earning myself curious stares from the group.

"I hate to be that arsehole," Gaida says, chewing her lip, "But The Council needs to know about this."

"They already do," a familiar, chilling voice says from the doorway. We turn to find Gaida's father, Aurelius, standing there, looking as cool and calm as only a primordial vampire can. "The vampire councils worldwide are in chaos," he continues, entering the room. "The werewolf packs are reporting ancient alphas returning from death. The fae courts are splitting and reforming in patterns we thought lost to time."

"Shit," Thorne breathes, his face pale.

"Which makes what you're attempting even more crucial, and more impossible."

"How so?" Thorne asks, recovering from his shock.

"Because you're not just trying to transform wild magick anymore," Aurelius explains. "You're trying to transform the nature of supernatural reality. To create new barriers that can contain not just power, but possibility itself."

Well, when he puts it that way...

But suddenly, I understand. Really understand.

"He's right," I say, making everyone turn to me. I gesture at the mirror, still showing scenes of supernatural chaos. "The world is changing. We have to stop this and revert it back, or we are going to lose everything. If this becomes too set in time, we are…"

"…fucked up the arse with a red-hot poker," Blackthorne says, striding into the room and finishing my sentence with a rare expletive that makes me snort into my hand.

The mirror suddenly goes static and then shows a scene that makes us all freeze.

Stonehenge. Its ancient stones are glowing with a power that hasn't been seen in millennia.

"The old places are waking," Aurelius murmurs. "The paths between worlds are opening."

The question isn't whether you can stop this, little flower. It's whether you can become what the world needs you to be.

"What is that then, hmm?" I snap, turning away from the group as I talk to Morgan. "You have all these little anecdotes, but nothing to tell me what is actually happening or how to stop it."

The world isn't just remembering what it used to be. It's becoming something entirely new.

"That still doesn't help me!" I roar. "You have to give me more than this!"

A deep rumble shakes the academy foundations, making us all lose our footing. Through the window, I see the time-frozen forest ripple.

"That's not good," Caine grits out, his knuckles white on his cane.

"The freeze is failing faster than we anticipated," Aurelius observes. "The changes in the outside world are affecting it. "

Another rumble, stronger this time. Books fall from shelves as ancient marble cracks. Something vast and hungry stirs beneath us.

"We don't have five days," I realise, horror creeping through me. "We barely have five hours."

"Mr Caine," Aurelius says. "Your time freeze, while remarkable, is not your innate power. You need to do what you do best."

"Freeze shit with ice?" he asks with a feral smile.

Aurelius nods. "Can you do it? Can you contain it to within the forest as before with time?"

"What are you asking him to do?" I demand, ignoring my conversation with Morgan for the time being.

"Squirrels and acorns, princess," Thorne mutters.

Realisation descends, and I shudder. "An Ice Age?"

" Contained Ice Age," Aurelius states firmly.

"How is that going to help? The problem is out in the human world."

"But it's because of the magick in the forest," Aurelius says patiently. "The time freeze isn't strong enough. It needs to be completely stamped out."

I glance at the mirror; it is now showing scenes from around the globe, and chaos spreads like wildfire. The Thames creatures are emerging, their forms too ancient for modern minds to comprehend—dragons wheel over major cities, their calls awakening things that should have stayed sleeping. The fae courts are waging war in broad daylight, their glamours completely fallen.

Beneath it all, that something darker stirs .

"The Old Ones. They're already starting to break through."

The academy shakes again. This time, I hear something else - something that sounds disturbingly like laughter coming from deep underground.

"But how do we know that will help?" I ask, ramming both hands into my hair.

"We don't, but we have to try," Caine says.

"Can you do it?"

"Piece of piss. Should've just done it in the first place."

"You are infuriating," I growl.

"I know," he says with a smile.

"You need to do it now," Aurelius says urgently. "Before?—"

But whatever he was going to say is cut off by a sound that makes every supernatural being in the room freeze. A sound that shouldn't exist in this reality. A sound that I shouldn't even recognise, but I do.

The call of an Old One.

The windows shatter, unable to contain the surge of power over the academy.

Another tremor rocks the academy, and this time, I hear stone breaking somewhere below. The Old Ones aren't just stirring anymore.

They're breaking free.

"They're here. Not out there," I murmur. "Caine, you are going to have to freeze every fucking thing except us. "

He nods grimly, all signs of arrogance and humour gone.

The library walls dissolve, showing us glimpses of other places and times. I see the world as it was before the barriers—wild, beautiful, terrible. I see the Old Ones in their true forms, beings of such power that it hurts to look at them.

And then I see Nathaniel.

Not in an illusion, but actually here, observing us with a sly smile and a triumphant gleam in his eyes.

"Oh," I breathe, understanding flooding through me. "Oh no."

He doesn't want to serve them. He wants to become one of them.

" Now , you're helping," I snarl, my fury creating a surge of power of my own.

You look like you fucking need it, little flower! Shit just got serious.

"No fucking kidding, you ancient witch!"

Power explodes through me that definitely came from Morgan herself. It's wild magick, vampire strength, her ancient knowledge, and something else new and scary as all fuck.

Nathaniel's voice booms out through the library as we all stare in horror at what is happening around us. "That's my girl."

Then I see it. I see exactly what is going on here, and I curse us to the ends of the world and back. With a shaky hand, I gesture to Nathaniel. "Uh, guys… we forgot something really important… "

Read on with Shadows Entwined Book 3 Shadows Entwined (pre order for December)

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