A new power rose from beside me.
I opened my eyes, and my consciousness returned to the physical world.
Elaine stared at me, eyes wide as magic radiated from her in waves of red, gold, and green. Raw, untamed power, the mark of an untrained, burgeoning mage reacting to the power surge from our battle.
I blinked in surprise. I hadn’t expected she had magic of her own, and I certainly hadn’t considered that she might be blooded.
My assault on the unknown wizard slipped and he sent power surging into Elaine. She cried out in pain and lost her feet. I moved to catch her, but she collapsed onto the marble and across the bronze inlay, breaking the circle. As the rest of the Order realized something was wrong, I fell to the floor at Elaine’s side and scooped her into my lap. When I placed two fingers under her chin to check for a pulse, I found it far weaker than I hoped. Fledglings couldn’t withstand such an assault for long.
Mathers reached us first and knelt beside us. “What happened?”
“Give us some air.” Neither of us needed air, but we did need space.
Another of the Order approached, his hood thrown back to reveal a large gray beard. “She needs a doctor’s hand, sir. Let me see her,” he said, trying to move me aside.
“No doctor can cure what ails her at the moment, now please,” I waved him away. “Give. Us. Some. Air.” I infused will into the words this time, making them a magical command. The gathered crowd backed away.
In the confusion, I lost my hold on the web of power. I reached for it again only to find it gone. Instead, I put my hand to Elaine’s brow, and dove into her spirit. My enemy had dropped all his influence, except upon Elaine. The unknown wizard hammered at her consciousness. I didn’t think he wanted to kill her, but I couldn’t afford to underestimate what he might attempt to save himself.
To sever the connection, I threw up a ward, but he countered my shield as soon as it came up and again with my second casting. I tried a different ward, weaving the magic into a new pattern this time. It stuck, and my enemy’s attacks battered against it to no avail and his connection to Elaine deteriorated.
Elaine convulsed in my arms. I laid a hand upon her chest, probing for the cause with my magic.
Electricity.
The wizard’s magic made the natural energies of her body run rampant.
I pulsed soothing energy into her system, trying to calm the tempest, but it never ceased. The stronger healing magic I needed required opening the gate of water.
But I’d never been able to hold open three gates without the standard rituals.
I reached for it anyway. When it wrenched open, something inside me snapped. All three open gates crashed shut, and the sudden absence of their power left me reeling.
Aleister, the door! Vex shouted.
I looked up.
The whole Order gathered around us.
Save one.
He stood by the door, his face shadowed by his hood. When he saw me watching him, he turned and slipped through the doors.
Leave him, Vex said. I grit my teeth.
But—
Elaine will die. Leave. Him.
“Damn it all to bloody hell.” I gathered Elaine into my arms and struggled to my feet. I didn’t have the means to end her suffering here. I needed to get her back to my house.
I just hoped to make it in time.
12
Elaine Simpson
She wakes, Vex said, as the kettle whistled on the stove.
Sure enough, a groan from my second bedroom announced Elaine’s return to consciousness. I quieted the kettle and prepared a tray for my guest, then made my way down the hall to the bedroom.
Elaine thrashed against the heavy blankets and cracked open her eyes as I set the tray on the bedside table. “Where am I?” she rasped.
“Relax.” I imparted will into the words, infusing them with a bit of calm as I sat in the little chair next to the bed. “You are safe in my flat on Chancery Lane. I brought you here after you collapsed at the initiation rite.”
“What happened?” she asked, relaxing back into the pillows “I feel like a horse kicked me. Repeatedly.”
“Seizures will do that to you. Especially magical ones.”
Elaine’s eyes widened with fear. She had willingly revealed that she knew of the supernatural, yet me knowing she possessed magical abilities frightened her. How curious. Why hide it when she openly associated herself with the magical? And she must have been hiding it all her life. Blooded mages like us come into our powers young, and the untrained rarely survive into adulthood. The longer I knew her, the more mysterious she became.
“You know?” she whispered, suddenly guarded.
“I do,” I said calmly, lifting the teapot and pouring her a cup. “How do you like it?”
She hesitated at the sudden change of subject. After a moment she grudgingly said, “Cream, no sugar.”
“A woman after my own heart.” I smiled and poured a splash of cream into her cup, stirred it a bit, then handed it to her. As I set about making my own cup, I said, “There was another spellcaster present at the rite. Your magic reacted to our battle, and he attacked you. I believe he counted on my intervention to save you as the perfect distraction to make his escape.”
“Did you see him?” she said, her face hard.
“I never saw his face or found him amongst the circle. While I tended you, his power disappeared.” I set my cup on the tray. “This magician matched me spell for spell. His willingness to do whatever necessary to achieve his ends concerns me.”
She nodded, then fell silent, staring into her cup as if she might
