Page 87 of Incoronate
“Have you attempted to cross it?” asked Dominic without meeting his eyes.
“Obviously,” said Caleb. He shrank back when Dominic shot him a warning look. “Right. Sorry.” He quickly looked at me and then back at the barrier.
Basically anywhere but at Dominic.
“As far as I can tell, it’s a typical containment barrier,” he explained, his hands disappearing back into the pockets of his letterman jacket. “It’s multi-layered and anchored at several nexus points throughout town. Each anchor point creates its own self-contained section of the barrier. They’re designed to work independently so if one fails, the others remain intact.”
I met his eyes, confusion clouding my own. “Meaning what?”
“Meaning each section operates on its own power loop. Think of them as load-bearing walls in a building. Take out one, and the others try to compensate. The whole network has to fail simultaneously for the barrier to collapse.”
“Great. So what are our chances here?” I asked, already knowing I wouldn’t like the answer.
“Without the original Caster, it’s basically impossible to bring them down through conventional means. The magic is self-sustaining at this point, feeding off the nexus points in a closed loop. We’re standing in front of one right now,” he added, gesturing with another flick of his chin. “I spent the last few hours mapping out the perimeter, trying to identify anchor locations. This is the closest one to the northern edge.”
“How do you know?” asked Trace, his blue eyes mapping the barrier as though he could see the nexus point if he just concentrated hard enough.
“The barrier’s magic is actually denser at each nexus point,” explained Caleb. “You can feel it if you know what you’re looking for.”
“Impossible to bring down through conventional means,” repeated Dominic, his tone catching with interest as he caught the qualifier. “Are you suggesting there may be an unconventional method to bring it down?”
“There’s a chance that if we can disrupt one of the anchor points hard enough, we might be able to collapse that section of the barrier,” said Caleb carefully. “It wouldn’t bring down the whole thing, but it might create an opening.”
“And how might one go about disrupting an anchor point?” asked Dominic.
Caleb’s mouth pressed into a thin line for a moment. “At this point, it’s still just a theory, but I read about something like this once in one of my family’s grimoires. It’s a technique called harmonic disruption.”
“Explain,” said Dominic.
“The concept is that every magical barrier has a specific frequency. A kind of signature vibration. The idea is that if you can match that frequency and then introduce a counter-frequency strong enough, you create interference. Enough interference, and the magic destabilizes.” His gaze flicked to me. “But it would require someone with enough raw power to not only match the barrier’s frequency but overload it. Someone who could channel that kind of energy without burning out.” He trailed off meaningfully.
“Are you saying you think I can do that?” I asked, stepping closer to where he’d indicated the barrier stood. I raised my hand as though reaching for something fragile. My fingertips met resistance before they met anything solid. It was hard to describe the sensation, but the closest equivalent was pushing against the surface tension of water, except the water pushed back.
The moment my palm flattened against it, light erupted across its surface. Bluish-white tendrils spread outward from the point of contact, illuminating the barrier in rippling waves. It was beautiful in a terrible sort of way, revealing itself only where I touched, showing me exactly how trapped we really were.
The magic vibrated against my skin, its frequency distinctly different from my own. I pressed harder, trying to force my hand through, but the barrier held firm. More light bloomed where I pushed, as though the magic was actively resisting the intrusion.
“I think you’re the only one who has a chance,” said Caleb, watching the light play across the invisible surface, his expression thoughtful.
“Okay.” I nodded, the matter settled. “Tell me what to do.”
“Not so fast, angel,” said Dominic from beside me. “We ought to gather some intelligence first. Exhaust all other avenues before we resort to using you as a battering ram.”
“Like what?” I asked, not seeing any other avenues on the table.
“Like confirming whether the barrier is blocking spatial manipulation as well as physical passage.” Dominic turned to Trace as I tried to mentally decipher what the hell he was talking about. “Starting with verifying whether Romeo here can port through it.”
Oh. That.
Trace grimaced, his gaze bouncing back and forth between Dominic and the barrier. “Is that…a good idea? What if I get stuck halfway through it?”
Dominic shrugged. “Then we’ll have learned something valuable.”
“That’s not funny,” I said, glaring at Dominic.
“I wasn’t trying to be, angel,” he said, though the corner of his mouth twitched as though he were working hard to suppress his amusement. “I’m simply stating the obvious.”
“Either way, I don’t like it.” I shook my head as Trace reached out and grabbed my hand, squeezing it gently. “Let’s just stick to the original battering ram plan. We don’t need to be taking any more risks than necessary.”
