Stealth Magic 401 Read online

  A grubby hand scrabbled at her wrist, but she didn’t open her hand. No one was getting that stone.

  A low growl got the idiot’s attention, and Imara’s hellkitten had morphed into a hellcat once again. His eyes glowed with rich flames, and he grabbed the man clawing at her by the back of his shirt, flicking him away toward the parked cars.

  He stood next to her while she got back to her feet. When she was standing and had the stuffies in her custody once again, she leaned on him and watched the zip-tying of the thugs from the haunted house.

  Argus came up to her after glancing warily at Mr. E. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes. I think so. I have a grip on the stone, and that is what matters.”

  “Imara, your hand is turning black.”

  She nodded. “I thought so. I am using my life force to wrap around the stone. It consumes me much more slowly than it does normal humans or other mages.”

  “Consumes?”

  Mr. E’s giant head lapped at her fist, and she opened it slightly. A moment later and her skin felt like skin again.

  “What happened? Mr. E, what did you do?”

  Her familiar looked at her with a smug demeanour, and he shrank back down into his normal fuzzy form.

  Don’t worry; I can regurgitate it when we get to a safe storage area.

  Imara flexed her hand and ignored the kitten climbing her thigh, dangled from her shirt, and continued up her arm.

  When he was settled against the back of her neck, she turned to Argus. “Well, he has it. So, now, we need a place to safely store it.”

  “Can’t we take it to a repository?”

  “No. This thing is dangerous. Degraded spectres are worn down to the basic compulsions. They want freedom, power, and life again. They can’t have the life, and it makes them angry, so they take what they can. They have no intellect; they can’t be reasoned with. They are formless ghouls. Creepy fuckers.”

  He blinked. “Right. Well, where do you suggest?”

  “A Death Keeper made this, so until we figure out who that was, it needs to be safe from interference.”

  Lio came forward and offered, “Why don’t you contact Ritual Space? They might have some sort of facility for storing powerful artifacts.”

  Argus pulled out his phone and dialled. “Good evening, Madam Adrea. My name is Agent Argus Dencroft with the XIA, and I need your help.”

  Imara got a slight smile as Argus went into detail on the phone.

  Why are you so happy?

  He asked for help.

  Her kitten snorted and rubbed his head against her neck.

  Argus turned to her and extended his phone. “She wants to talk to you.”

  Imara took the phone. “Hello?”

  “Hello, I am Adrea from Ritual Space. Who am I talking to and what do you have that needs our special brand of concealment?”

  “My name is Imara Mirrin, I am a Master Death Keeper and a student at Depford College. The object that we need secure storage for is an accumulation stone. Some idiot Death Keeper has fused nearly a dozen faded spectres into one stone. This makes it an excellent power source for a weak mage, and it makes it a deadly weapon in the wrong hands. Until I can unravel and disperse the spectres, I need a safe place to put the stone.”

  “Can you do that?”

  “Oh, yes. I have an affinity for the dead.”

  “How long will it take?”

  “Well, provided that it goes smoothly, I should be able to disperse the mages in about eight weeks. I am a student, after all. It is a bit out of the way for me, but I can make it there once a week at your convenience.”

  “Have Argus bring you in. I look forward to seeing what you can do.”

  Imara smiled, though Adrea couldn’t see her. “Thank you.”

  She hung up and smiled at Argus. “We are good.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, she will help us.”

  “How long can Mr. E hold that thing?”

  “Two hours, tops. So, please, let’s get out of here.”

  Lio called out, “What do we charge them with?”

  Imara answered, “Possession and use of an uncontained artifact of mass destruction.”

  Argus whistled and looked at Mr. E. “Right. Well, we had better get it somewhere safer. Get in the car, and I will get you to safety.”

  She nodded and looked out at the sea of dark SUVs. “Um. Give me a hint.”

  He walked up to one of the vehicles and opened the door. She hopped up and settled into the seat, buckling up and keeping her stuffed animals at her feet. Her live buddy she kept against her and kept a hand on as they left the carnival parking lot and headed back to the highway.

  Her fuzzy buddy’s body temperature was lowering. His normally warm little tummy was approaching her skin temperature.

  Ritual space was less than half an hour away. They would have plenty of time.

  “So, what was going on with your hand, precisely?”

  She flexed her fingers. “It was dying slowly. It’s an emergency response that I learned from Thomins. He was the one who offered me an apprenticeship, and he eventually pushed through my journeyman papers with the guild.”

  “A good man.”

  She snorted. “A man who liked to have someone to do the bulk of the maintenance on the spectre stones. He was a good friend, though, in as much of a friend as I had in those days.”

  Imara continued, “He taught me to block energy from my limbs in case of a thirsty spectre.”

  “Have you run into one of these before?”

  She nodded. “Once. Death Keepers are given bonuses for clearing shattered and worn spectres from their memorial gardens or repositories. A friend of Thomins was filling in for a few hours while Thomins got some dental work finished up, and he took a stone out and showed it to me. I can only describe it as horrific. He had cleared out his fading section to make room for more spectres and stuffed the remaining traces of passed mages into the stone in his hand.”

  “Let me guess, Thomins came in.”

  “He did and beat the shit out of his friend. His friend dropped the stone, and I picked it up...” She trailed off, trapped in the memory.

  “What happened?”

  “The strongest of the spectres was leeching power from the weaker ones. They were all still there, the stronger roaring, the weaker screaming. The stronger one grabbed hold of me and tried to pull my energy out through the contact point. Thomins slapped it out of my hand, put it in a pouch, and called the authorities.”

  She rubbed her hand in memory. “When the guild officers were gone with Thomins’ buddy, he started showing me how to defend myself against an accumulation stone.”

  “Does it always threaten your limbs?”

  She looked at him and reached out to pat his hand. “Only when there are other targets that the stone could choose. Contact with me revs them up, and pulling in extranatural energy is very easy for them. It is why Death Keepers were created as a branch of the Mage Guild. We are needed if folks don’t want embedded spectre stones to be draining life left and right out of all who pass.”

  “Deadly jewellery.”

  “Very.”

  He grabbed her hand and kissed the inside of her palm. “I am glad you made it out, fingers intact.”

  “Me too.”

  She kept tight to Mr. E, feeding him what she could via their connection. Her eyes scanned the horizon and watched for the first signs of Ritual Space. When the lights of the parking lot flickered in the distance, she nearly cried. Keeping her Death Keeper face on was the key to getting through this, but inside, she was sobbing with relief.

  When she got out of the car, she stepped toward the gateway, just in time to watch it swing open.

  “Imara? Welcome to Ritual Space. I am Adrea Morrigan, this is Officer Hyl Luning.”

  “This is Agent Argus Dencroft. Oh, and this is Mr. E, my familiar, and currently the fadin
g containment of the stone.”

  Adrea smiled; her snow-white hair and bright blue eyes glowed in the limited light. “Come this way, and we will find you a gateway to safe storage.”

  Imara smiled gratefully. “Thank you. Mr. E, cough it up.”

  She set him on the white gravel, and she supported him while he went through the standard feline retching noises before the crystal fell. Imara grabbed it and scooped her familiar up. “Lead the way.”

  Adrea led them through the gateway, and Imara could feel the magic in everything around her. There was an outburst of life, and nothing could suppress it. “Wow.”

  Adrea smiled. “Thank you. It has been the work of generations to keep it this invigorated. I am sorry; I made an assumption. Is this your first time here?”

  “Yes. No apologies necessary.”

  A white and blue flash appeared in front of them. Adrea nodded and crouched to pet him. “This is Blueberry. He is effectively my butler. He will lead you to the position he deems safest for the stone.”

  “Don’t you want...”

  “No, I don’t want to know where it is. Just follow the blue rabbit.” Adrea winked. “I will put a kettle on.”

  Imara turned to Argus, gave him a thumbs-up and headed off in search of the bunny.

  Chapter Three

  Walking through the brush and into the shadows, she followed Blueberry until he led her to a gateway.

  “Holy heck.” She stepped through the wall between worlds and looked around at a pocket dimension filled with benches of stone and archways of energy.

  The bunny hopped up on the bench and chattered at the arc.

  Imara stepped forward and settled the stone into place. The energy in the archway grabbed it and held it in mid-air. The power had the signature of inert gel. The stone would get no purchase there. There was no power for it to consume.

  Imara reached out and withdrew her power from the stone, filtering it through Mr. E until they were both back to normal strength.

  Well done, Mage.

  “Thank you. Now, I hope that bunny is willing to lead us back.”

  The blue and white escort waggled his puff of a tail and hopped out of the building, leading the way.

  Imara followed the rabbit and waited for Mr. E to ask to be on his own four feet. He seemed content to ride along in her arms.

  After the shadows and trees, they stepped out amongst berry bushes. A barely visible path led her to a backyard where Adrea was sitting with the two men, a tray of cookies, and a pot of tea. The entire area was illuminated by lanterns that were not attached to anything.

  Argus got to his feet and came to her. “Imara, you have been gone for hours. Are you all right?”

  She blinked. “I thought it was just a few minutes.”

  Adrea winced. “Sorry. I forgot to regulate the temporal energy in that area. You lost a few hours.”

  She checked her watch, and it did, indeed, show that it was nearly midnight. “Damn.”

  Argus stayed next to her as she went to have a seat. Adrea poured her some tea, so Imara grabbed a cookie.

  Adrea smiled and asked, “So, you are at Depford College?”

  Imara swallowed her mouthful of chocolate chip cookie, and she mumbled, “I am in accelerated general studies.”

  Hyl smiled. “What does that entail?”

  Argus grinned. “Taking a bunch of mindboggling courses to add skills that most mages can’t manage.”

  Imara ignored his words but patted his leg. “I am taking a number of high-credit courses to get a mage degree as quickly as I can so I can open my own spectral consulting agency.”

  Hyle nodded. “Nice. What is your next course?”

  She glanced at Argus and then looked back to Hyl. “Stealth Magic.”

  Hyl looked shocked and amused. He pulled a card out of his pocket, wrote something on the back, and handed it to her. “When they ask you if you have a tutor, say yes.”

  Adrea looked between the two of them. “Is there something I should know?”

  Argus was looking suspiciously at the business card. “Why does she need you?”

  He informed the group of them. “Stealth Magic is a difficult course. On the first day, you are going to be offered a tutor. Once you have that tutor, you will need six to eight weeks of intensive training to work your body, your spells, and your nerve. On the last day of actual class, you will be given your assignment. It usually entails breaking and entering into the house of a prime family to retrieve an easily identifiable heirloom. You bring it to your instructor, and you pass.”

  Imara’s eyes bugged out. “Are students arrested?”

  “All the time, but if they have their course assignment sheet with them, they are usually just dismissed, as long as they are caught on the date of the exam.”

  Imara ran her left hand through her hair. “Shit. It is too late to cancel the course.”

  Adrea lifted her hand. “If you have a secure space, I can link a temporary gateway to you. You can come and go for training. Hyl lives here, so he is here more often than not.”

  Hyl smiled. “Not many women pass the course. It would be my honour to help you through it.”

  Argus looked at the gathered folk. “I can help as well.”

  Imara looked to Hyl and took in the silence of his figure. He had training, and she guessed that some of his assignments ended in death.

  “Argus, you are distracting as hell when you are around me. It is wonderful when we are together, but I can’t imagine concentrating when you are next to me. Also, I can’t work out at the college if I am understanding Hyl correctly. This is a very competitive course, right?”

  He nodded. “I took it years ago, but I can’t imagine that it has changed much.”

  Imara stroked Mr. E and looked around. “Thank you. I will take you up on that offer.”

  Adrea grinned and clapped her hands. “Excellent. When do you start?”

  She bit her lip. “My course starts in thirty-nine hours.”

  Adrea nodded. “Good. I will lay in some extra supplies.”

  Hyl chuckled. “It isn’t a tea party.”

  Can I go and play with the rabbits?

  Imara looked down at a sheepish Mr. E. Don’t chase them. They are not food.

  I know. They glow with power. The damned kitten wants to play.

  She set him down, and he went bounding over to the bunnies on the grass. There was a moment of introduction and then black tumbled around with white and grey.

  Adrea blinked. “He is a very fun familiar.”

  “I know. He isn’t fond of being a kitten unless he is standing in a banana cream pie. Perhaps coconut in a pinch.”

  “Is that good for him?”

  “He isn’t an actual cat, so yeah, it’s fine. He gets a little gassy but is blissed out for days. The bunnies just looked like fun to the beast brain that comes with the fluffy body.”

  Hyl looked at her. “He won’t be able to be with us while you train.”

  “That is fine, as long as he can run around and play here, he will be fine.”

  Adrea smiled. “While you are here for training, can you start on that stone? It is weighing the area down.”

  “Oh, sure. If I can get some pebbles from around here, I could even start taking it apart tonight.”

  Argus grumbled. “No. Not tonight. You have already changed colour in your extremities; no more spectre manipulation tonight.”

  Adrea got to her feet. “Right, speaking of pebbles, I will give you something to use to make a portal.”

  Imara sat in surprise. “Right. I will have to make a portal.”

  It isn’t hard. I can show you the best book.

  She glanced at the critters and stifled a laugh as Mr. E rode the much larger Blueberry around the yard and through the gardens.

  Argus was chuckling, and Adrea let out a snort when she returned. “That is something I am going to remember.”


  The way it was said, it was as if the space was going to remember it.

  Adrea wrapped an arm around Hyl and leaned forward with her hand extended. “Here you go. Four stones from Ritual Space. Set them out in a box formation, step through a mirror, and you will be here in no time. Only a first level transport chant is needed. From here, I can boot you home.”

  “And when the training is done, I bring them back?”

  Adrea grinned. “If you like. If we get along, you can keep them for visitation purposes.”

  Imara looked at the small black rocks. “What if someone steals them, tries to break in here?”

  “Well, first, you are going to text me to let me know that you are coming. But the stones are also keyed to you and your familiar. No one else can get in on your ticket, so to speak.”

  Relief flowed through her. “Right. Yes, thank you. That is a relief.”

  A small paw clawing at her jeans got Imara’s attention. Blueberry had a small drawstring bag in his teeth with R and S entwined on it. “Just in case I forget. Thank you, Blueberry. Did you throw Mr. E?”

  She looked around, and the kitten in question was napping in a pile of bunnies. That was a lot of fluff.

  “He is out for a few minutes. Have some tea. Recover from your evening.” Adrea didn’t look much older than Imara, but she seemed to have centuries of calm.

  Her host poured the tea, and Imara held the delicate cup for a moment, inhaling the herbal scents that were soothing and invigorating at the same time. A first sip said that the tea had the same properties.

  Imara drank the tea and felt a tingling down her left arm. The gravel abrasion from the fight was going from angry red to pink as she watched. “Okay. So, healing potion?”

  Adrea sat and poured her tea from a different pot. “No, just herbs from Ritual Space. I, myself, can’t use any magic. I am just a curator.”

  Hyl snorted. “Yes, she is a curator of everything you see around you. It all comes when she calls, one way or another.”

  Argus looked at Imara. “I know that feeling.”

  She smiled brightly at him. “I text. I don’t call.”

  The group laughed, and Imara finished her tea.