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“As you noted, our sorceress has a habit of doing the unexpected.”
“Meaning we need to get those people out of there before we go in and explore.” I squinted up at him. “Could you apply a bit of mental pressure, and get them to leave?”
He studied the house for a moment; then his gaze met mine again. “Done. They are all currently heading for the beach. Security screens will remain down.”
“Excellent.” I headed down the long driveway and entered the house. It was open plan in design, all white walls, rich wood, and a beautiful glass staircase. The rear of the house was all windows, providing a sweeping view of the beach and the boats dotting the bay beyond it. “Stunning” didn’t even begin to describe the place and the view.
But we weren’t here for either of those things. I walked around the house, downstairs and up, looking for anything that seemed out of place or strange. There was nothing—not even the slightest whiff of magic. Not until we got into the triple garage, anyway.
I stood in the middle of the vast space, trying to pin down the vague sensation, and, after a moment, spun on my heel and headed for the far corner. Though the outside wall of the place looked solid, electricity nipped at my skin, the sensation not unlike the bite of ants. Something was here.
I glanced at Azriel. “Can you feel anything?”
He shook his head. “But Valdis says there is some kind of doorway present.”
Is, Amaya said. Old, but not dark like others.
“Meaning it hasn’t been created by our dark sorceress?”
“Or,” Azriel said, “it was created early in her career, before she took the darker path.”
“But this house isn’t that old.”
“No, but perhaps there was a previous dwelling here, and what you feel is little more than a remnant of the magic that protects whatever might still be left of it.”
“Maybe.” I hadn’t thought to ask Uncle Rhoan about the history of the place, and I should have, given Lauren’s penchant for passing on properties to one of her other aliases. I squatted and swept a hand across the pristine concrete. Energy skittered across my fingertips, the feel slightly sharper than before, but definitely not dirty or dark. I glanced up at Azriel. “She’s shown a liking for hiding things underground—do you think it’s possible that she’s got another bolt-hole here?”
“There is only one way to find out.”
He drew Valdis. I rose and stepped out of the way. “Just do a small hole. One that’s just big enough to look through. We don’t want the kids staying here falling through anything.”
He nodded. Flames flared from Valdis’s tip, then split and raced left and right, until they’d formed a circle barely bigger than a small fist. Gray smoke began to billow and the concrete dust teased my nose, making me sneeze. Deeper and deeper the flames bored into the concrete, until suddenly they were through and the concrete ring dropped into a deeper darkness. The flames clung to its side, providing us with shadowed glimpses of what lay below.
I knelt down and peered into the small hole, but Valdis’s flames weren’t bright enough to lift the darkness all that much. But the air smelled foul and there didn’t appear to be any sort of magical surprise waiting for us, as there had been last time.
I looked at Azriel. “Can you sense anything?”
He shook his head. “I do not believe hell creatures wait below.”
“Right, then, I’m going in.” I raised an eyebrow, waiting for a useless automatic rebuttal, but he surprised me.
“Be careful,” he said. “And if you do not wish your clothes destroyed, it might be wise to strip first.
”
“Ha! I knew there was a reason you didn’t object to me going down there. You just want to see me naked.”
“Of course. Even if I prefer the song of your soul and your energy, I have been wearing this form long enough now that I’ve gained a human male’s appreciation of the female form.” Amusement briefly creased the corners of his eyes, but it faded as he added, tone a touch more serious, “And I would stop you from going down there if I thought there was any danger, or if I actually had some location markers that would allow me to go down there instead.”
I rose, stripped, and handed him my clothes. Then, drawing Amaya, I ignored his appreciative glance and the heat it stirred and called to the Aedh. The energy came thick and fast, and in a very short space of time, I was little more than particles. I slipped through the hole and down into the darkness. Magic tingled through my being, but its touch was old and distant and didn’t particularly feel threatening. If there was a spell here, then it was an old one—maybe one that had lost its strength over time.
The darkness was so impregnable I couldn’t see anything beyond the puddle of Valdis’s flames. I moved around, trying to get some sense of the place. It was only a small chamber by Lauren’s standards, and there didn’t appear to be any other chambers leading off it.
I moved back to the beacon that was Valdis and, taking a mental breath and warning Amaya to be ready, called to the Aedh once more. A heartbeat later, I was flesh again. Dizziness swept me, but the traditional blinding headache that used to always come with re-forming was little more than a muted, ignorable ache. I was definitely getting better at this whole energy-to-flesh thing.
Nothing, Amaya grumbled. Shame that.
Only to your bloodthirsty little self, I said, amused.
