Drawing on my medical training from Winterbourne Academy, I kindled will. “Dissipa,” I muttered. Instantly, the pressure in her head decreased. After I cast a basic healing and vitality spell, Elaine’s eyes fluttered open.
“What happened?” she asked, jerking out of my grasp to scramble to her feet. “Where’s Jones?”
“Dead.” I gestured at the body behind me.
Her eyes snapped to him, then back to me. “You don’t seem happy,” Elaine said, her eyes narrowed in confusion.
I sighed. “A long story, but I promise to fill you in when I can. For now, we broke his spell, and we need to see to his victims.”
Elaine nodded, though obviously unsatisfied. She held out her hand and helped me to my feet. We left Jones’s body and returned to the temple where we found members of the Order lying exactly where my spell threw them. Mathers seemed to be the only one conscious, and he sat on the altar, staunching a nosebleed with his robes. He hopped off when we entered and crossed the room to meet us.
“What happened?” he asked, his words garbled. “I heard the explosions.”
“We finished it.” That won a smile and a clap on the back from the big man.
“And Jones?”
“Dead,” I said without inflection.
“Good.” He pulled us both in for a celebratory hug. “That madman deserved death. Look what he did here. Imagine what he could have done with the Book.”
Victory aside, my own mood remained stoic. Elaine studied me but I shook my head. Not here, not now. Mathers didn’t need to know more. Not yet.
“The others need our attention.” Elaine extracted herself from Mathers’s embrace.
“Of course,” he said. “And what should we tell them?”
“It’s best they don’t know what happened. When they wake, they won’t remember a thing. We’ll tell them Jones poisoned the wine, that he made a mistake and drank it himself,” I reached up and placed a finger on his nose, whispering a quick spell to stop his nose bleed.
“Thank you,” Mathers said when I finished. “What should I do?”
“We need water and bandages,” I said, starting toward the closest of the Order still lying prone upon the floor. “Magic can only do so much, after all.”
Mathers hurried to look for what I requested. In truth, I just wanted him out of the way while I erased the memories of this many unblooded.
I walked Elaine through the simple healing spells and set her to work. Even with her inexperience, she could cast them with ease. I kept Mathers running for unnecessary supplies or superfluous tasks, and a couple of hours later, we had everyone on their feet. Mathers supported the story that Jones poisoned the wine, and when we left, the membership could discuss nothing but the obviousness of Jones’s guilt. After all, everyone thought him odd, even for the Order.
With the temple cleared, Elaine and I thanked Mathers for his help and left. I planned to dispose of Jones’s body myself, but Mathers insisted he’d take care of it. “I possess the connections to make the job easy,” he said, shooing us out of the temple. “You’ve already saved the country tonight. Go. Sleep. You’ve earned it.”
We made our way back to my flat. At the turn, Elaine left to continue home with the promise to return bright and early so I could share everything I held back. She hugged me, which I didn’t expect, kissed my cheek, and whispered her thanks.
“For what?” I asked when she stepped away.
“For protecting me. You warded me when he attacked, and you kept him from killing me. You saved me,” she said with the most beautiful smile. Without another word, she turned and walked down Fleet Street.
I stood there a moment, watching her go, my hand on the spot where she kissed my cheek.
“I think I’m in trouble,” I murmured into the blowing wind.
Deep inside my psyche, Vex chuckled as we watched her leave. Train her, Aleister. She will make an amazing magician, and a staunch ally.
“I know.”
I trudged through the snow until I reached my flat. Inside, I shrugged out of my coat and left it in a heap on the floor. Vex’s power had long since faded leaving me more drained than ever before in my life. Bone weary, I dragged myself into my sitting room.
Julian Baker sat in my favorite chair, immaculately dressed as always, smoking a pipe and drinking my brandy in front of a fire roaring in the hearth. His hair was cut short and red as a merlot. How he got away with such unnatural colors, I’d never know. A single strip of beard graced his chin, waxed to a shine and reaching down his chest. Of course he showed up after all was done. I always seemed to do the heavy lifting.
I shambled past him, refusing to acknowledge his presence, and collapsed onto the couch.
“You look like hell,” Julian said, his teeth clenched around his pipe.
“I feel like it, too.” I said, covering my eyes with the back of my arm. “Why the hell didn’t you come when I sent for you?”
“My apologies, Aleister. The Archmage made an unexpected return and ordered me to ignore your call,” he said, anger in his voice.
I lifted my hand from my eyes and sat up. “Why would he do that?”
“What reasoning has he for any of the decisions made recently?” Julian replied with a scowl. “I discovered something else as well. The Archmage learned of Jones’s intentions months ago.”
A cold chill raced through me. “And he informed no one. Launched no investigation. Do you think Wells wanted the Book brought to London? Did he intend to use its power for himself?”
“I can think of no other reason to ignore such a thing. Nor to send our agents from the city. We need to look into this, and we must be cautious.”
Concern flickered in Julian’s eyes, and I smiled despite myself. We, he’d said. He annoyed the hell out of me,
