Page 38 of Double Mager

The light shone brighter, almost blinding in the darkness of the portal passage. I shielded my face, the radiance searing into my eyeballs, just as I saw a hand reach through the widening gap. Before I squeezed my eyes shut, I glimpsed wicked red fingernails and the crimson sleeve of an ornate robe.

Lady Paralumen.

The light exploded so violently, like high beams pointed straight at my face, as if the sun itself had appeared in the tunnel. Morrow and Houston shouted in pain. Xavi yelped, then cried out, his voice trailing farther and farther.

She was taking him.

I gritted my teeth, stumbling forward even as the light pierced my eyelids. I forced my eyes open. In the white-hot blaze I could barely see the silhouette of Paralumen clutching Xavi’s face in her hands, like a dragon’s talons about to crush a man’s skull.

Those same hands had ripped open an entrance to the Black Market’s tunnel. However powerful Paralumen was before, she was so much stronger now. I stumbled toward them aimlessly. Xavi needed my help.

“Get away from him, you witch!”

With apologies to actual witches, because I recognized that Paralumen was something so much worse. A sorceress, a goddess, a pain in the ass. The blinding light abated, leaving only the blistering gap in the tunnel that Paralumen had ripped open with her bare hands. With her bare hands. What was worse than a class Alpha threat? Did Occultech’s threat designations even go that high?

She released Xavi’s face before I could even get to her, pale pink filaments of magic trailing from her fingers as she broke contact. Horror wrenched in my belly. This was similar to the spell she’d used to hex me, maybe a modified version of the magic she’d used to take over Morrow’s mind. Which meant that —

“Scatter!” I shouted, backpedaling away from Xavi when I saw the petal-pink glow of charm magic in his eyes.

Paralumen drifted back and away, retreating through the tear in the portal tunnel. I searched her eyes for the same pink light of her charm magic, to find the triumphant sneer that no doubt curled her lips. But I saw nothing, only a blank, glassy expression, her eyes dull. It seemed too familiar, reminding me of the entranced faces of the mundanes who’d worn Loki’s charms.

And not a single gloating word uttered, either. Nor any words used to cast her spell that had so quickly dominated Xavi’s mind — silent casting, something most commonly associated with extremely skilled spellcasters. Wherever Paralumen had been hiding, whatever she’d been up to, it was clear that her power had grown by leaps and bounds.

Xavi hissed a spell word under his breath and stalked toward me, Paralumen’s magic fully taking root in his brain. The tips of his fingers blazed bright with lethal magic. I’d seen him enchant his acrylic nails in drag before, his spell making them powerful enough to rip through magical barriers, even through the warded, hardened defenses that separated his family’s precious backroom library from the rest of the world. I gulped, nearly tangling my legs as I stumbled backward, looking over my shoulder at the others for signs of a spell — any spell — to copy.

The coil of rope whizzing past my head took me by surprise. Even as it unfurled to its full length, the end doubled back on itself, tying a knot like an intelligent, autonomous tentacle, forming a lasso. Houston’s enchanted rope looped cleanly over Xavi’s body, tightening as it reached his midsection to trap his arms. He bared his teeth and snarled, wriggling like a badger as he maneuvered one glowing hand into position, then slashed the lasso into fibers.

“Oh, fuck,” Houston muttered, dropping his ruined rope. “Didn’t think I could be more attracted.”

“This is no time to go perving over my best friend. Do something. Just don’t hurt him.”

Houston reached for the guns holstered at his hips, the six-six-six shooters he’d kept from his time at Jackal & Ashby. I clapped my hands over his.

“You can’t just shoot him! I said not to hurt him, didn’t I?”

“Hexed bullets, remember? They’ll wear him down, but they won’t hurt him.”

It still didn’t feel right for Houston to open fire on the guy he was dating. There was just something unsettling about a guy pointing a gun at my closest friend in the world.

Morrow patted down his jacket, searching frantically through his bandolier for a scroll that might help. I stared at him pleadingly, praying for him to pipe in with some bright idea to save the day, some spell I could copy to help restrain Xavi without maiming him.

“All I’ve got is firepower and a bunch of shields,” Morrow said. “I thought we were just visiting the Black Market. Wasn’t expecting this.”

Xavi was only several feet away now, a globe of arcane light gathering and spinning in the palm of his hand. I’d missed his incantation, but I wasn’t about to copy his spell and throw it back at him, anyway. I’d seen what his offensive magic could do.

Xavi brought his hand to his lips and blew a kiss. The globe of magic drifted past his fingers, picking up in size and speed as it hovered through the space between us.

“Shields, then!” I yelled. “Holy shit, Morrow, please hurry!”

He whipped out the right scroll, lips moving at lightning speed as he read out the words to the shielding spell. I snatched phrases and gestures out of the air, duplicating the force field as Xavi’s spell zoomed closer and closer.

Light flashed as Morrow’s force field sealed shut over the three of us, a glassy clank reverberating through my teeth. I hurled out my copy to form a second layer, the dome of force seeming so fragile and thin compared to the barrier Morrow had erected.

His shielding spells were only designed for personal defense, which meant that he was stretching this spell thin by casting it over me and Houston, too. My copy was definitely more delicate than the original, but it would have to be enough.

Xavi’s orb of magic approached fast, as big and as bright as the moon. I gripped Houston’s shoulder with one hand and grasped Morrow’s hand in the other, bracing for impact.

The spell struck with all the force of a bomb blast, shattering both of our shield layers on impact. I cried out as fragments of the barrier rained down over our heads, the shards dissipating in thin air. My eyeballs ached against the light of the orb, but as my vision swam into focus I caught a glimpse of Xavi’s glowering face.