“Mostly, it incites trouble. It stirs up something in the air that people feel on some wavelength. This store would likely have seen an increase in thievery, blunt and unsatisfied customers, perhaps even more products coming in destroyed or rotten. An individual person with this magic around them might notice more people being aggressive toward them. Small tasks become difficult and cumbersome, and motivation is hard to develop.”
I felt a lump in my throat as he spoke. “So how do I fix that?”
“Well…” I could tell he was thinking. “Seelie and Unseelie magic fades over time, but it takes decades. Magic can remove it, though.”
My heart sank. I had hoped whatever would fix it would be something I could do on my own, but I didn’t have magic outside of hellfire and my abilities as a reaper. “So, you can’t teach me?”
He sighed. “I could try. Humans don’t have an affinity for magic usually, but you’re clearly a different case.” He looked around us as we stood in the parking lot. “What do you feel?”
“What do I… what do you mean?” I blinked. I felt exhausted, frustrated, and angry. I felt the wind chill in the air. I felt a pit in my stomach. Somehow I didn’t think any of those were the answer he was looking for.
“In the Underworld, your power emanates from you in purple. It’s still here. It’s just not as magnified. In the air around you, power and energy, what do you feel?”
I sighed and closed my eyes to concentrate. I pictured my flames, and I could easily feel them surrounding me. From there, I tried to sense the air and space around me, and suddenly I felt like I hit a wall. I frowned. That must have been the magic he meant. “I found the-”
“Just keep going,” he assured me. I hated being cut off, but I continued to try to focus. Just as there were holes in one’s mind when they put up a barrier, there were holes in this as well. I pushed through them and found myself in the middle of the cold and uncomfortable magic. A shiver went down my spine.
“What do I do now?”
“If you’ve found the center of it, you attack it.”
“How do I do that?” I frowned.
“How would you attack anything else? How did you attack Minerva?”
“I can’t shoot fire at something that doesn’t exist-”
“You can,” he pressed. “Try it.”
I sighed and clenched my jaw in frustration as I visualized the center of the magic and the building. For a second, I pictured my hellfire, but it only took a moment for my mind to connect that to the burned down store in my vision. Images of the orange sky, ashes, and Lindsay’s body flashed before me, and I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick. I opened my eyes and turned away. “I can’t do that.”
I felt him glare at me, and his voice was cold as he responded. “Fine.”
There was silence as I looked across the parking lot to the people loading groceries into their cars, the businesses across the street cleaning windows, and the birds in the sky. The sky was blue… I kept my eyes on the blue sky, relishing the natural and beautiful color of it.
“There,” Kalian said after a while.
I turned to look at him. “What?”
“It’s done.”
I blinked and looked back at the store. It looked the exact same, but I could feel a difference in the air. The cold discomfort wasn’t there. “What did you do?”
“I did what you asked. I destroyed it. Only magic can dispel magic. In the Queen’s army, I became abundantly familiar with undoing fae magic when it didn’t serve her desires.”
I nodded slowly. “Thank you, Kalian.” He didn’t have to say what was on his mind. I already knew. I couldn’t force him to travel the entire world, undoing every spell every fae had placed on the people. I would need to do it myself. Somewhere else, I think I could manage. Just not here, and not with fire.
“You are welcome, Myrcedes,” he bowed once again. I was a little surprised to hear him use my name and respond so kindly when he seemed obviously annoyed with me, but I chalked it up to his training as an army General. When he straightened back up, I met his golden eyes and searched them. For a second, they seemed soft, but as we stared at one another, I watched his expression harden back to the sullen scowl he’d carried all day for no reason.
“You can return to the Moonstone Castle,” I said. “I need to meet with Daath and Syrion.”
“Very well,” he said simply. “Farewell.” Without another word, he left. I rolled my eyes. He could be incredibly cold. I made up my mind to return to Seattle soon, on my own. I would try to find more places like this one, with heavy concentrations of Seelie or Unseelie magic, and destroy them myself. He was an asset, but he was damn near the most condescending creature I’d ever met. I only wanted to ask him for help again if I had no other options.
Looking around the parking lot until I was sure no one could see me, I visualized the Kings of the Night and let the darkness swallow me, spitting me out in the House of Stars.
13
Myrcedes
Daath and Syrion looked up when I appeared in the study. The House of Stars had had a very quaint library with the moving ladders from old movies and a set of desks, organized in jarringly neat stacks of paper, maps, books, and office supplies. Eternity was more than enough time to develop good organizational habits, I guessed, but it was almost creepy how clean everything was while they were both in the middle of working at their desks.
“There you are, little owl,” Daath said sweetly, standing from his seat to give me a kiss. “We’ve been waiting.”
“I told you I would be here
