Kirin removes a Tarot card from his pack and places it on the ground before us, right in the center of the chamber. “The Seven of Swords sometimes suggests hiding or obscuring, as well as seeking or revealing that which is hidden or obscured. If we can tap into that magick together, maybe it can help us narrow down the search area.”
“Brilliant idea.” I stand before him. “What do you need me to do?”
“I’ll say the spell. When I take your hands, I want you to close your eyes and focus all your energy on finding the sword—the one from your nightmares. Picture it, just as you’ve seen it in your visions. Imagine yourself holding it again—feel the texture and shape as your fingers wrap around the grip, the weight of it as you hold it in your hand. Hear the sound it makes as it cuts through the air. Feel the power coursing through your veins.”
“Got it.”
I close my eyes, and Kirin takes my hands, his touch warm and comforting, a familiar anchor in an otherwise baffling mystery. I do as he asks, focusing my memory and will on the sword from my visions, pouring all of my desire into finding it.
Kirin recites his spell three times:
Magick of air, magick of mind
You know what we seek, so help us to find
Protection we offer, guidance we ask
Let that which was hidden be unmasked
As the final verse fades into silence, a soft, otherworldly breeze stirs my hair, and the ground begins to rumble.
“Stevie, look!”
I open my eyes and glance down to see a stone pedestal rising from the ground between us, pulsing with silver-blue light. The top is smooth and unbroken but for a deep groove carved down the middle, nearly bisecting it. Suddenly my right hand begins to tingle, my palm feeling the exact shape and weight of the sword handle.
The channel glows inside, brighter than the rest. I see now that it’s the perfect size and shape for a sword. As I run my hand along the groove, my witchfire ignites on its own, brighter and stronger than I’ve ever seen it before.
“Holy balls,” I breathe.
“Was it like this at the Cauldron?”
“For Ani, I think. I could feel the presence of the magick, but it affected him a lot more strongly. This is… new for me.” I pull my hand back, and the witchfire and pedestal magick both fade, leaving us in darkness.
I call up my witchfire again, a pale imitation of the magick I felt only seconds ago.
Kirin peers into the groove. “There’s nothing there.”
“Not anymore. But I think the swordwashere. I can feel it’s energy—almost like a memory.”
“Like it was moved?”
“Maybe? The connection is still so strong, though. If this is what Ani felt at the Cauldron, then we’redefinitelyon to something. I don’t know what it means yet, but I do know we’re getting closer. I can feel it.”
“We need those spells, Stevie. If they’re the key to revealing the location of the objects, that’s our best bet for finding them before the Dark Arcana.”
“But we don’t have the books, and Phaines has essentially vanished into the mist.”
“Then there’s only one thing to do.” Kirin glances up at me, his eyes wild with excitement. “We need to make ourownBook of Shadow and Mists.”
Thirty-Three
STEVIE
Thanks to my Dirty Dancing day with Kirin, complete with flying bicycles, levitating rocks, an owl sighting, a brutal fight, a sweet embrace, a Princess chase, and an epic Lara Croft-style discovery, I don’t make it back to campus in time for my Tarot Divination and Spellcraft class. Rather than dwell on it, I decide to let Kirin fill the guys in on our discovery while I meet the girls for happy hour and a little retail therapy at Promenade.
Yes, we’ve got spells to recreate and ancient magickal objects to discover and attackers to thwart and dark armies to fight, but sometimes even a badass warrior witch needs a night off with some good friends, a few martinis, and a new pair of shoes.
Okay,threenew pairs, but still.
