The magic mirror the eve.., p.5
The Magic Mirror (The Evermores Chronicles Book 7), page 5
“Do you think you can keep me here forever?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what else we might do with you. Fortunately, we have plenty of time to work it out.” Julia leaned closer so her face almost pressed against the bars. “You were ruining this company, just like you would ruin Earth with your nightmare magic. You didn’t deserve to keep any of it.”
The Darkness glared at her, and the skin beneath its eye socket bulged as a stalked eye tried to break free. Then suddenly, its right arm moved. Tentacles shot from where the hand had been, stretching out to the door where Julia stood.
She jerked back. The magic on the door should’ve been powerful enough to keep the tentacles from breaking through, but they pierced the defensive field. Two of them wrapped around her wrist and pulled, yanking her arm into the cell and slamming her face against the door.
“Who’s trapped now?” The Darkness grinned as it stepped toward her. “Who has the power?”
With her free hand, Julia pulled out her wand. She pressed it against one of the tentacles and summoned a blade, which sliced through the midnight black flesh. The other tentacle clung to her. Now more reached through the door, each straining to break through the magical barrier before wrapping around her limbs.
The Darkness Between Dreams walked closer, laughing as it came.
“You think you can hold me?” it cackled. “After everything you’ve seen? You’re not as smart as I thought you were.”
“Oh, I am.” Julia turned her wand to point at the creature’s face. “Malleo ictu.”
A force like a giant hammer blow slammed into the Darkness, flinging it from its feet. Julia used not only her power but that channeled by Philgard Technologies. Power flowed through her to strike the Darkness and hurl it against the wall. Tentacles pulled her momentarily against the door, then slid away. She stumbled back, shaking from the effort of casting the spell.
“I’m smart enough to hold the power here,” she spat.
The Darkness charged across its cell and slammed into the door. Light and darkness flared as it pressed its magic against the power that Julia had locked into the bars, and the two forces battled for dominance. Steel bars buckled with a squeal. Runes flashed and went dark as the magic in them died.
“Think you’re so smart now?” the Darkness howled. “Think you’re so powerful?”
Tentacles wrapped around the bars, bending them and dragging them apart.
“Lamina.” Julia pointed her wand at the wall above the door and let off a small magical charge. It hit a larger spell implanted in the wall. A section of concrete opened, and a near-invisible magical blade slid out. It flashed down the outside of the door, scraping against bars and slicing through tentacles. The Darkness staggered back, screeching and bleeding, clutching the stumps of those tentacles with its human hand.
“You think I wouldn’t prepare?” Julia hissed. “That I’m so foolish to think I could beat you with my bare hands and spellcraft? I know what you are. I know how much power you have. I prepared for that.”
With a sucking sound, the blade slid back up into the wall. Julia stepped forward and began chanting another spell, her wand waving through the air. The bars of the door bent back into their original shape. Runes flashed into life, then settled into a steady magical glow. The field holding it all together returned, a soft gleam in the air.
“Clearly, I didn’t prepare enough.” Julia ran a hand across the skin of her forearm, where one of the tentacles had touched. She shuddered at the memory of that cold and clammy contact, filled with dread and horror.
“I’ll set up some stronger wards and more of them. We have a team working on barrier spells for security systems, and I hear a certain rising startup has invented a fine containment unit we could borrow ideas from.”
She pressed a hand against the wall, staying back this time, away from the bars.
In the cell, the Darkness Between Dreams had retreated to its corner. It slid down the wall to crouch where wall and floor met, and the shadows that had sheltered it before closed in. There were fewer of them than there had been, and the thing could no longer hide the sagging of its skin suit, the grime on its cuffs.
By Julia’s feet, a piece of tentacle writhed. She stamped hard, driving the heel of her shoe through the gleaming flesh, and it stopped moving. She scraped it off her shoe against the wall, then kicked it through a gap between the door's bars. The magic flickered for a moment as it went through, then returned to its form.
“Don’t go getting any ideas,” she said. “The field will let things in. That doesn’t mean it’s letting you weasel your way out.”
She should have felt triumphant. Instead, she was unsettled. A queasy feeling filled her stomach, and goosebumps covered her skin. The touch of those tentacles had disturbed her more than she could ever have expected. Was it their alien flesh, or the thought of what they represented, the possibility that everything she’d worked for could descend once more into nightmare?
It hardly mattered. She was the one with the power here, the one in control. The Darkness Between Dreams had taken its best shot, and it had failed, burning away some of its precious reserves of power in the process. It was weaker now, and soon her defenses would be stronger. There was no need to worry.
“You should be enjoying this,” she said. “After all, it’s your worst nightmare.”
She walked away, around the curve of the corridor, back toward where she’d come in. Before summoning the elevator, she paused with her hand close to the button and peered down a different corridor. Should she visit the other prisoner while she was down here? She needed to talk to him soon, to resolve that situation.
No. She was still trembling from the touch of the Darkness and could tell that she wasn’t at her best. That conversation would be difficult in a different way. Best to save it for another day.
She pressed the button, stepped into the elevator, and let it whisk her away.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Fran pulled her hoodie tighter around her as she sat staring at the progress they’d made on the magical generator. There were many good things about visiting a base in an old mine in the hills. For example, the surrounding scenery was lovely and the location very secure, but she couldn’t say it was warm.
“The power flow looks much more like what we need,” she said. “Qualitatively, at least. The challenge is going to be getting enough of it.”
Enfield leaned back in his seat, tapping a screwdriver against his good leg.
“I don’t know,” he said. “We don’t have as broad a spectrum of magic as I’d like. Remember, this is supposed to power up everyone on Earth, no matter what magical and type of magic. If we accidentally leave something out, if a crystal’s misaligned or a pair of runes clash, we could disempower a whole sector of magical society.”
Fran sighed. “You’re right. We can’t rush it.”
A buzzing noise made them both look around. A buzz bug had appeared a few feet from the Source’s containment unit. The brightly glowing bug shimmered as it hovered there, wings fluttering. Then it flung itself at Fran.
“Blast it!” Fran rolled aside, and the bug flew through the space where she’d been. “Can’t you see that we’re trying to work?”
The bug swept around and hurtled toward her again. Its outstretched front legs looked like stingers, sharp and barbed and ready to stab into her. Fran flung her hand out, and a staff flew into it, a weapon of Enfield’s from the corner of the room. She swung it like a baseball bat and struck the bug, slamming it into the wall. Before it had time to recover, she ran over and grabbed hold of it.
“Sorry. I don’t know what you guys want, but it’s not good for my friends and me.”
She squeezed the buzz bug and opened the ways for magic to flow along her arms. Light and sound ran from the creature, sucking away half the power holding it together. It went dark, then popped in a burst of heat and force that made Fran stagger back. Her skin glowed with the power she’d absorbed.
“Quick catch,” Enfield said. “Well done.”
“Thanks. I’m getting a little too much practice.”
“You know I’d help if I could, but…” He tapped his injured leg.
“I know. How are the attempts at running going?”
Enfield scowled. “Badly. It’s hard enough to keep my balance without the walking stick. Every time I go at speed, my leg gives out under me. I might have to admit that my running days are behind me.”
“I’m sorry. I know how important it was to you.”
“Guess I’ll have to find another way to stay fit.”
“I hear that yoga’s good. Or I could teach you to roller skate.”
“I can’t stay on my feet without wheels. I don’t think I’ll manage with them.”
One of the rock people walked in, its feet clomping against the ground. It walked to the back wall and knocked against the stone.
“Hi, Thundering.” Enfield waved at the creature. It rumbled something back.
“You know his name?” Fran asked.
“Sure. Some of them talk. That’s Thundering of Boulders Down a Mountainside.”
“What’s he doing with the wall?”
“That I can’t work out. Some things don’t translate well between their language and ours. Some don’t translate well between their ways of thinking and ours. Others they don’t like to talk about. Somewhere in all of that lies the reason why they wander around these tunnels, banging on walls and listening to the stones.”
“They listen?”
“Haven’t you noticed? There’s this moment after the knocking where they lean their heads in and go still. They’re listening.”
“Huh.” Fran turned back to her work. “You learn something new every day.”
She needed power to charge the crystals, so she poured in some energy from the buzz bug. As she did so, the glow faded from her skin, which returned to its normal appearance.
“That’s worked well.” Enfield looked at a small display attached to their construction. “Wherever the buzz bugs get their power from, it meshes with what we’re trying to achieve.”
“Shame we can’t get them to work with us.”
“Maybe we can, but we haven’t worked out how yet.”
With a squawk and a flap of wings, a crow flew into the room and landed on the framework in front of Fran.
“What’s up?” she asked. “Did you get bored with waiting for me in the forest?”
The crow jerked its head and pointed a wing toward the doorway. It squawked again.
“Trouble’s coming?” Fran asked.
The crow nodded.
“What sort?” Enfield asked. “More buzz bugs? Some eldritch creature from the depths of the mines?”
“Worse,” Fran said, seeing how the crow was flapping its wing. “Winslow.”
Sure enough, the leader of the Evermores strode in. His hair was getting wilder while they lived out here away from civilization, dark brown hairs and a growing number of gray standing out in a wild halo around his head. A wildness in his eyes was at odds with the calm he was usually so careful to maintain.
“Have you come to see how we’re getting on with moving the Source?” Fran asked. “I’m afraid it might take a while yet. There are still so many complexities to deal with, the interactions between the containment field, the Source itself, the transport portal…”
“Enough lies,” Winslow snapped. “I know what you two are up to.”
“What do you mean?” Fran tried her best to look innocent, but she’d never been the world’s best liar, and if truth be told, she was okay with that.
“I mean that I know why you’re no closer to moving the Source back to Earth. You’re not trying to.”
“What makes you think that?” Enfield asked.
“Apart from your complete lack of progress?” Winslow sneered. “I would have thought that was enough in itself.”
“Technology takes time,” Fran said. “Especially when it’s a whole new sort of magitech, working with powers that no one has ever combined before.”
“I’m not an idiot, Fran Berryman.” Winslow glared at her. “Do not treat me like one.”
“What do you think we’re doing?” Enfield asked.
“Exactly what I told you not to do: making a power generator to replace the Source as a way of empowering kemanas.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Aside from the obvious duplicity of the pair of you? I have talked with the rock people.”
Rumbling had finished tapping the wall and was walking toward the door. He paused and turned his head toward Winslow, then went out.
“You’re not the only one who can communicate with them, Enfield,” Winslow continued. “It is a poor reflection of your arrogance that you have been working on that assumption.”
“So you sent them to spy on us?” Fran asked angrily.
“No, I simply asked what they had seen and heard as I tried to keep track of what is happening in our community, for the good of you all. Things that meant nothing to the rocks meant much more to me.”
Fran and Enfield looked at each other. What could they do now except tell the truth and deal with what followed?
“You’re right,” Fran said. “We’re not working on moving the Source, on keeping him captive and locking him up again back on Earth, just so you can power the kemanas.”
“Just to power the kemanas?” Winslow’s laugh didn’t sound amused. It was angry and bitter, his calm entirely fallen away. “Just? Those kemanas power every magical on Earth. Millions rely on them for their powers, which they use to defend themselves, hide from threats, earn a living, and feed their families. You would take that all from them because you’ve taken a whim to let this thing free?”
He gestured at the Source, which flinched at the fury of the motion.
“We’re not endangering anyone,” Fran said. “We’re building another origin point for the magic, one that can work without making anyone a captive forever. We already tested a prototype at a kemana, and it worked.”
“So your defense against your plan to break the rules is that you broke them already? I don’t think you understand how serious this is.”
“Oh, we do.” Enfield stood straight despite his leg. Tension made that side of his body tremble. “We know how serious it is to imprison one innocent person for the good of the rest. What a terrible precedent that sets for all of us. Who will you lock up next? How far will you go to preserve the status quo?”
“Innocent?” That ugly laugh sounded again. “That creature is not innocent. It is destruction embodied. It is pure power wrapped in an instinct to fight. You saw what happened when we confronted it before, the way it responded. If you let it go, you are unleashing violence upon the world.”
“It responded to us with violence because we brought violence,” Enfield said. “Every time, we turned up wielding weapons and magic, threatening to lock it up forever. How would you have responded in its place?”
“I am not the one that roams the world tearing kemanas apart.”
“Kemanas made of magic stolen from it.” Enfield shook his head. “I won’t be part of that anymore.”
“You are an infant, barely a hundred and fifty years old, and she…” Winslow gestured at Fran. “She is barely a glimmer of a bad idea from a mismatched mating.”
“Hey!” Fran snapped. “That’s my parents you’re talking about and my life.”
“You are both too young to make decisions this important. You will listen to your elders and leaders. You will do as you are told. You will stop this wasteful experiment and make a way to transport this thing to Earth.”
“No.” Enfield folded his arms.
“I am your leader.”
“No.” Enfield took three slow steps forward. Fran saw how much effort it took him without his walking stick, and she wondered whether Winslow understood how serious this had become. “We’re Evermores. We don’t have rules, don’t have leaders, elected or inherited or picked by skills. We have elders, who we listen to out of respect, but if they lose that respect, we’re not bound to pretend it’s still there. We are not bound to obedience.”
Winslow trembled with fury, words apparently beyond him. Enfield returned to his seat and carefully lowered himself into it. Under the table, he stretched out his leg, but he kept his eyes fixed on the elder Evermore.
“I have decided to make a substitute power source,” Enfield said. “Are you going to try to stop me by force?”
“You think the others will stand for this?” Winslow glared at him. “That they will allow you to risk everything we have spent centuries preserving?”
“I don’t know,” Enfield admitted. “A lot of them still obey you, but many listen to me too. I don’t think I could get them to disobey you, but that’s different from having them accept my disobedience. Whatever they say, whatever they do, I’m going to do the right thing.”
He picked up a wire and fed it into the device.
Winslow turned his glare onto Fran.
“This is your fault,” he hissed. “You’ve brought your father’s belligerence into our community, disturbing the peace we had.”
“It’s not always a bad thing for people to fight back,” Fran said. “Not when they’re fighting for what’s right.”
“As if Woodrow cares about right and wrong.”
“I’m not my father, and thanks to my mother, I’m an Evermore. I belong here, and as much through my actions as my identity, I’ve earned the right to help decide his fate.” Fran pointed at the Source. “Like Enfield said, if you can get the others to stop us, go for it, but I don’t think that will happen. In the meantime, I’m getting back to work. If you want a way to transport the Source, maybe you could try making one yourself.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“Too bad for you.” Fran sat and picked up a crystal. “Now, where does this go?”
“There.” Enfield pointed at a place on the device’s folding frame. “I’ve set up the wiring for it.”
“Thanks.”
“You will both regret this.” Winslow stormed out of the room.
