Page 109 of Heart of Mischief

Now Mason whispered, “What are you doing?”

“Shush,” said Charlie, keeping her eyes closed. “I’m reaching out to the magical current inside me.”

“Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?”

“You’re just jealous that you can’t do it.”

Mason grumbled something unintelligible.

Exhaling, Charlie focused inward. Her brother might be right about her chances of success. It was over 150 miles to Silver Shores, and she’d never even transported herself 150feet. Not to mention that she wouldn’t just be transporting herself, but three other bodies as well: Mason, Elias, and Henry.

Maybe she was insane for believing she could do this. Maybe they’d accidentally end up in Hong Kong or on a deserted islandin the middle of the Atlantic or as a pair of severed torsos because she’d only managed to transport half of them. But she had to try.

So, she did exactly what Elias had taught her to do: she blocked out all the doubt, all the insecurity, all of the ways that she might fail… and listened only to her magic.

It was there as always, rushing through her like a directionless wind. One with no beginning or end. A push in every direction, all at once. She had used these currents to lift herself into the air. She’d used them to bring her objects that weren’t there before. She’d flung the currents forward like stones and stacked them up like shields and even turned them into a river of energy so strong that it sent a monster soaring fifty feet through the air.

Of those skills, instinct told Charlie that conjuring objects was the most applicable to what she wanted to do. After all, what was teleportation if not conjuring a human body? Instead of bringing an object to herself, she’d be pushingherselfto a different location.

Herself plus three others.

Charlie pressed the hand not holding the dödssten on Elias’s chest—which, to her immense relief, was still rising and falling with shallow, steady breaths.

Alive. Still alive.

She was going to keep it that way.

“Okay,” she said. “Henry, up onto my shoulder. Mason, grab on to my arm with both hands. You both need to be touching me if this is going to work.”

They did as she instructed, Henry skittering up her body and wrapping his short arms around her neck while Mason closed his hands tightly around her forearm.

“Good. Now, whatever you do,do notlet go. Okay? No matter how freaky things get. I am your anchor. Understand?”

“Yes,” said Mason.

Henry sent aYESset on a backdrop of magenta nervousness.

“Okay.” She blew out a long breath of air. “Here we go.”

First, Charlie pictured where they were: a torn-up clearing bathed in moonlight. Then, she pictured where she wanted to go: the cave under the beach. She pictured the tunnels that led there, the puzzle you had to solve to get inside, the smooth walls and ceiling lit with pale green light, the smooth stone floor, the platform at its center. The divot in the platform that was their key to entering Helheim. She pictured it with as much detail as she could, even imagining the things that surrounded it: the fence the Vikings had sliced up that the city mended in less than a day, the churning lake, the forest filled with spirits. That was where they needed to go. That was where the currents had to take them.

Finally, when she felt as if she couldn’t make the image any clearer in her mind, she dove into the river of magic, pulling Elias, Mason, and Henry in with her.

For a brief moment, Charlie felt as if she actuallyhadplunged them into a river. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t see. She opened her eyes, but there was only darkness, only empty space. Her ears filled with an awful roaring sound, as if she were standing next to a jet engine.

Then, as soon as it began, it was over.

The roaring silenced. Breath rushed into her lungs. And when she opened her eyes, she found herself staring around at the familiar sight of the sandy coast of Lake Michigan. They’d landed just inside the repaired fence, a few hundred feet from the entrance to the cave.

Not the cave itself, but close enough.

And they were all there—her, Mason, Henry, and Elias.

It worked.

It actually worked!

Charlie shot up from the ground and punched the air, letting out an elatedwhoop.