Stolen Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Huntress Book 3) (10 page)

CHAPTER SIX

I woke with a scream strangling in my throat, sweat dripping down my body. I thrashed in the covers, scrambling from the bed and thudding to the ground.

My breath heaved as my gaze darted around the room.

It was big. Filled with heavy wooden furniture and an oriental rug that looked expensive. Whimsical landscapes adorned warm brown walls. Sunlight gleamed through the windows.

Aidan’s house. I was in Aidan’s house.

I peeked over the edge of the bed, praying that Aidan wasn’t still there.

It was empty save for rumpled sheets.

I collapsed back onto the floor, trying to catch my breath.

I was going nuts. Clearly going nuts.

Between my magic and the nightmares, I was losing it. I sat there for several moments, trying to still my heart. I scrubbed a hand over my face, trying to rub the sleep from my eyes.

Cowering here on the floor wasn’t going to get anything useful done. Not to mention, it was embarrassing. And right now, there were a lot of useful things I needed to be doing. Checking on Dr. Garriso, finding out what was up with the museum, getting my act together in general.

I climbed to my feet, still woozy from adrenaline, and found the beautiful bathroom. White marble gleamed, a modern masterpiece that was entirely unlike the tiny bathroom in my own place. There were no toiletries on the counter save the soap and a package of unopened toothbrushes, so this was clearly not Aidan’s bathroom.

Damn. I’d have liked to have seen what his looked like.

I showered quickly, grateful that the healers had managed to close the wound on my arm. When I made my way back into the bedroom, I found my duffle bag on the chair. I hadn’t heard anyone come in, so it had to have already been there. One of my
deirfiúr
must have gone back to our places to get clothes.

I changed quickly into my usual jeans and black t-shirt, and pulled a brown leather jacket out of the bag. I had dozens, most stored in my trove because they were technically treasure as far as my FireSoul was concerned, but I’d pulled this one out and put it on my bed the other day. Del or Nix wouldn’t enter my trove without me. I wouldn’t have minded, but we’d somehow silently agreed that was poor etiquette.

Properly dressed, I made my way through the house, seeking the kitchen. Aidan’s Enchanter’s Bluff home was far different than his place in Ireland, which was more modern. This place was more traditional. Very nice, but not my style.
 

I kinda had a feeling it wasn’t Aidan’s style either. But I guessed if you owned more than one home, maybe it didn’t matter if they were all your style.
 

I followed the smell of coffee toward the kitchen, heading down an expansive wooden staircase and through a foyer to the brightly lit space where Aidan was serving coffee to Del and Nix.

They all glanced up at me.

“Feeling better?” Nix asked.

“Yeah.”

“Good. Because you passed right the hell out last night,” Del said. “Why didn’t you tell us you were losing so much blood?”

“Didn’t realize.” I sat at the counter bar next to them. Aidan pushed a cup of coffee toward me. I reached for the cream and sugar and started to mix.

My exhaustion might have had something to do with stealing the other FireSoul’s power, but I preferred not to think of that.

“How’s Dr. Garriso doing?” I asked.

“Awake,” Aidan said. “Still exhausted. But he said there are things he needs to tell us. We can go up in a moment.”

“Good. We probably need to get a move on this quick,” I said. “That portal changed a lot while we were inside it.”

“And it’s changed more,” Aidan said. “The guard I bribed before has been calling me with updates. The portal has expanded. More of the museum is frozen.”

Shit. “Any more people get stuck?”

“No. They’ve evacuated.”

The situation was bad enough to abandon ship?
 

Double shit.

Aidan turned and opened the oven to remove a foil-covered plate which he then put in front of me. He pulled off the foil to reveal bacon and eggs, still warm.
 

“Eat that. I’m going to go check on Dr. Garriso. We can talk to him when you’re done.”

I had a piece of bacon already in my mouth, my eyes nearly rolled back in my head at the taste of the fatty goodness. “Thanks.”

He left the room, so freaking handsome and competent and good that it was like he was my own Captain America.

“Is he for real?” Del asked. She waved her hand around the kitchen. “Like, this rich and nice and cool and makes good breakfasts and everything?”

I swallowed the bacon. “Yeah, I think so. He said he’s not great at cooking other meals, but apparently he can do breakfast.”

Nix swiped a hand over her brow. “Whew. Glad he’s not perfect.”

“Whatever. He’s a freaking unicorn and you know it,” Del said.

“Yeah.” I shoveled the eggs into my mouth. When I’d polished off most of the plate, I met Nix’s and Del’s gazes.

“You sleep okay?” Nix asked. “You still look pretty beat.”

“Jeez, thanks.” I scowled, then pointed at my eyes. “I happen to like storing my luggage beneath my eyes, actually.”

Nix laughed.

“But you’re right,” I said, my light mood fading. “I didn’t sleep great. I had another nightmare.”

Interest flickered in their eyes. My nightmares had started about a month ago, ever since the Monster had reappeared in our lives. They were our only source of information about our past since our own memories were blacked out.

“Yeah?” Del said.

“Yeah. The Monster is a FireSoul.”

Nix’s coffee cup clunked to the counter. “For real?”

“Then why is he enslaving them?” Del asked.

“Doesn’t want to do the dirty work, I guess.” Though he had no problem doing the dirty work of stealing other people’s powers. He’d been so like me when he’d done it, too. Such joy on his face. He’d wanted that power so badly. Again like me. But he’d been cold and controlled about it. Like I wanted to become.

My throat started to close up, my skin prickling, but I forced the feeling back.

Being cold and controlled about it was good. That was what I had to become. Aidan was right. I could fight this. I didn’t have to become addicted to the power. It was my choice.

“So what happened in the dream?” Del asked.

I told them about how we’d escaped, about how the Monster had stolen the guard’s power. My voice broke on the last part, about how he’d liked it so much.

Nix rubbed my shoulder. “What’s wrong, hon? You’ve been so weird the last week.”

I sucked in a ragged breath. How could I tell them? They didn’t have anything like this problem. They didn’t embrace their FireSoul selves at all. I felt more like the Monster than like them.

“Come on, ‘fess up,” Del said.

I met their gazes. Something loosened inside of me. They were my
deirfiúr
. They’d have my back. They’d
always
have my back.

“I’m afraid I’m changing,” I said. I told them about the power, my need to steal it. About how I was getting better and gaining more control. Telling them about the Illusionist who’d been at the waypoint was harder, but I managed.

“But I still liked taking power,” I said. “Stealing the Illusionist’s power felt so good. That’s sick.”

“Duh, it felt good,” Del said. “You beat the bad guy. He was going to leave Dr. Garriso to die in the desert and drag you off to make you a slave to the Monster. It’s going to feel good when you beat someone like that.”

“Yeah,” Nix said. “You’re not freaking Superman, all noble and shit. Able to take down the bad guys and not feel any dirty human emotions like victory.”

“Hmmm.” I guess they had a point, though I still felt off about it all. “I definitely am no Superman.”

“Totally not,” Del said. “You’re plenty noble in your own way, but you’re also really freaking human. You’re just going to have to get over that.”

Del knew I liked to hear it straight, and I was grateful.

“Thanks, guys.” I reached out and squeezed both their hands. “I guess I’m just going kinda crazy with all these changes. After not using magic for so long and now having so much of it…”

“Not to mention the Monster coming for us. That’ll make anyone nuts,” Nix said.

“Yeah,” I said. “Between him and those demons coming to P & P, it’s like a noose is tightening around our necks. No matter where we turn, there are threats. And they’re all connected—they have to be. But I have no idea how.”

“I don’t know either,” Del said. “But we can start by figuring out what’s going on at the museum. Let’s go talk to Dr. Garriso.”

“Hang on,” I said. “There was one last thing about the dream. When we ran out of the house, it was into a desert. Rolling sand hills and everything.”

“Like the waypoint,” Nix said.

“Exactly,” I said. “No one builds a mansion in the Sahara. I don’t even think it’s possible. Which leaves the waypoint. I can’t say for certain that’s where it was, but the similarity is too much to ignore.”

“We were just at the Monster’s headquarters. Is that what you’re saying?” Del’s voice quavered.

“Or at least nearby, in the world where he lives.” He was the only person I couldn’t find with my dragon sense. I’d seen him a week ago, but when he’d disappeared, I’d lost any connection to him. Like he’d left Earth entirely, which hadn’t made sense at the time.
 

“I’d never thought of him being at a waypoint,” I said. “But that’s mostly because I didn’t realize they existed.”

“Don’t feel bad. I thought they were a myth,” Del said. “Even though I’d read about them.”

“Well, now we know. So let’s go find out more,” I said.

It didn’t take long to find Dr. Garriso, ensconced in a kingly bed on the second floor. He looked frail but chipper, like the experience couldn’t keep his spirit down even if he might be under the weather for a while because of it.

Aidan sat beside the bed in a big chair. The windows behind him revealed an ocean view. The sea was iron gray today.

I glanced back at Dr. Garriso and asked, “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” Dr. Garriso’s voice was scratchy. “Thank you for rescuing me.”

“Couldn’t just leave you there, could I?” I sat at the foot of the bed. Nix and Del crowded beside me.

He smiled. “I did learn some rather, ah, interesting things while I was there.”

“That’s what Aidan said.”

“The demons were never at the museum to steal something. They were at the museum to steal the museum.”

“The museum?”

“Yes. The portal is a Massiva Domina portal. An old kind of magic. It will absorb the entire museum and transport it to the waypoint.”

My breath whooshed out of me. “What?”

“The
entire
museum?” Nix said. “They’re stealing the
entire
museum?”

“That’s insane,” Del said.

“But true,” Dr. Garriso said. “I heard someone while I was at the waypoint. I don’t know who. The walls between worlds are thin there. I do not think they realize that I heard them. Or even knew I was there.”

“You didn’t see who it was?”
 

“No,” Dr. Garriso said. “Though his magic felt dark.”

“That’s the truth,” Del said.

I’d bet money it was the Monster.
 

“The waypoint is many places at once,” Dr. Garriso said. “Whoever wants the museum is using the waypoint as their base.”

“They’re not just collecting buildings, right?” I asked. “They want something that’s in the museum.”

“I don’t know,” Dr. Garriso said. “But I agree, it’s safe to assume they are after an artifact. Since they couldn’t remove it from the museum, they are taking the museum.”

Ballsy.
 

“Could they be after the chalice?” I asked. My stomach dropped. “Shit. We left it at the museum. I was in such a panic over you—and I never imagined they could steal the whole museum—that I left it in your office.”

“There are many valuable and dangerous artifacts at the museum,” Dr. Garriso said. “Though they may be after the chalice. It’s safe there as long as you stop the portal before it takes the museum.

“What is the chalice?” I asked.

“It has the power of Immortality. True immortality. No trauma or time could kill the person who drinks from the cup. But only the greatest evil can drink.”

I swallowed hard. We’d never be able to get rid of him if he drank from the cup. “True immortality? That’s a myth.”

Dr. Garriso’s expression became grave. “Not anymore.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Ready?” Aidan asked.

“As I’ll ever be.” We stood at the edge of the library where we’d parked the car before. Mid-morning sun blazed down, too warm for my leather jacket. Thirty minutes ago, we’d left Dr. Garriso with Nix and Del and come to the museum.
 

Aidan glanced at his watch. “They should be there now.”

I nodded. He’d made arrangements to meet with the Order of the Magica to discuss the portal and what we’d learned. Since I didn’t want to be anywhere near them, I would sneak into Dr. Garriso’s office to retrieve the chalice.

“All right. I’ll meet you back here when you’re done.” I tucked the silver charm that hung around his neck beneath his shirt. “Remember to touch the charm to turn it on.”