Page 6 of A Soul’s Awakening

A bulky ogre who must have been George loomed behind Leon, casting a shadow over him. He was cracking his knuckles and itching for a fight, but Leon knew his limits. Without his magic, he’d never win in a battle of strength.

“Fine. But give me the potion first.” He brushed his hands down his coat as if to smooth the wrinkles and dust away from the floor.

Brie crossed her arms and narrowed her gaze. “What potion?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. The Syndicate keeps tabs on all magic that comes in and out of this city. I know you got your hands on some Slip. You put drops of it in your alcohol, don’t you? Slows down their ability to get drunk so they keep purchasing more drinks. Pretty clever, but I don’t think your patrons would appreciate hearing that you’re drugging them. Thankfully, I’m willing to look the other way if you give me a bottle. Think of it as doing the Syndicate a favor. If I don’t knock this guy out, he’ll cause more trouble.”

The woman grumbled, her slightly pointed ears twitching at Leon’s words knowing she had no choice but to listen. She reached behind the bar, grabbed a jar, and tossed it to Leon.

A shimmering green magic swirled inside, something halfway between liquid and solid. He uncorked the bottle, and blew it directly into my face. Almost instantly, I collapsed onto the floor as time seemed to stop around me. Solid shapes turned into hazy blurs, nearby voices nothing but warbled sounds. I clutched my chest, reaching for my magic to neutralize whatever this was, but remembered I no longer had access to it.

“Don’t worry,” Leon patted my shoulder. “Its effects will wear off in an hour or two. Now let’s get going.”

“You still owe me for the damage!” Brie called out as we stepped through the door.

Leon waved his hand at her. “Put it on the Syndicate’s tab.”

Even through the haze clouding my head, my thoughts kept circling back to that mysterious woman. She had attitude, sure, but more than that, she’d had the nerve to stand up to Leon. A rift warden. Someone who could end her life without consequence.

That alone made little sense. But the part I couldn’t let go …

What was another living human doing in the underworld?

4

“What exactly is it you think you’ll get from me?” I grumbled. By now my thoughts were swimming and I was barely holding them together. “I’ll never give you Ren!”

Leon scoffed. “You won’t have to. If he’s still alive, he won’t let you rot at the hands of the Syndicate and he’ll come crawling here to rescue you. But it’ll take a while for word to travel. By the time he gets here, he’ll be too late.”

My steps faltered as we stopped in front of a building. At first glance, there was nothing remarkable about it. It sat wedged between a business office and a clinic, just three stories of concrete and dark, trimmed windows that reflected only shadow. There was no sign, no guards, no indications of life at all from inside the building.

“We’re here.”

A laugh slipped out of me.

“What’s wrong with you?” Leon sniffed.

“It’s just …” I trailed off as I stared at the concrete structure through my hazy vision. “Is this the Syndicate’s headquarters? This dumpy little building?” I glanced at Leon, waiting for him to smack me over the head. “For an evil organization hell-bent on controlling magic, I expected a little more … flair. You know, creaky gates, towering spires, maybe some dramatic lighting.”

“It doesn’t need to look dangerous to be dangerous.” With an exaggerated eye roll, Leon yanked on my arm and tugged me up the short flight of stairs into the building. Despite the jest, I knew Leon was right. We only lingered in the lobby long enough to glimpse a receptionist with a blank stare and a practiced smile, but she was more than a pretty face. There was a quiet strength about her, the kind that didn’t announce itself but radiated from every controlled movement.

Leon and I stepped inside an elevator, and I was a bit surprised when we started descending … seven floors. We exited into a maze of corridors, doorways leading to unknown rooms in the deepest part of this damp underground. Faint cries echoed from behind a closed door, ringing louder as it opened, and a man with a clipboard slipped out and passed by us. The Syndicate’s true heart wasn’t the office upstairs; it was a maze of laboratories and holding cells, each one designed to extract, contain, and break.

With a sense of familiarity, Leon stopped in front of a nondescript door. His expression was calm but deliberate, as if he were about to walk into a room where even the walls demanded obedience. My stomach tightened as he turned the handle.

What first came into view was a man sitting behind a large wooden desk, his presence impossible to ignore. Pure white hair framed his face, and the faint points of his ears hinted at fae lineage. His tailored light gray suit, crisp and immaculate, stood out sharply against the shadows that clung to the corners of the office.

He put down the paper he was reading and glanced at us. If Leon was alarmed him by barging into his office, he didn’t show it. “Can I help you with something?”

Leon stiffened his shoulders and pushed me in front of him. The sudden movement had me spinning and falling to the carpet with a soft thud. “I have something you’ve been looking for. Does the name Theodore Kingston ring a bell to you?”

“Oh?” The man’s piercing gray eyes flickered with flecks of blue. He stood up from his desk, walking around it to approach me. Leon stepped in between me and the fae man, blocking him from reaching me.

Leon pulled the amber bottle of my magic out of his pocket and gave it to Alistair. “This is a death potion he created. You think he’s balanced? Look at how his magic is corrupting him. Imagine if he turns to creating an endless supply of these? He needs to be stopped now. Give him to me. Make him my puppet like you did with Orren and I’ll make sure that never happens.”

I ground my teeth together. I would never plan to use that potion on anyone, living or ghost, but of course that’s probably not what it looked like to Alistair.

“Give him to you?” the man scoffed, a sharp edge cutting through the calm in his voice. He eyed the bottle with mischievous curiosity. “And why would I do that? This man is a gold mine for the Syndicate, both his body and his magic.”