Spells of Mist and Spirit by Sarah Piper

Author:Sarah Piper [Piper, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Two Gnomes Media

Seventeen

STEVIE

I have no idea where we are.

The mist is gone, and the sun-dappled meadow before us is a beautiful spring day come to life. Trees bloom in shades of white and pale pink. A brook runs along one side, murmuring softly over the rocks. Overhead, birds flutter and sing, chasing one another through the warm, floral-scented breeze.

It would almost be perfect.

Almost… if not for the several dozen dark mages standing in formation, hoods drawn low, hands crackling with magick as malicious as their false grins.

From the front of the line, one of the mages steps forward and lowers his hood.

William Eastman.

My heart drops right into my stomach.

If he’s here, who’s back on campus? Does his presence at the caves mean Casey and the others were able to sneak into the Academy undetected? Or did he catch them and—

“Playtime is over, little Arcana slaves,” he sneers. “Hand over the Star and the artifacts and we’ll grant the rest of you a quick death.”

All three of my mages step in front of me.

“Or,” Baz says, “we’ll keep her and the artifacts, torture you for sport, and leave you for the buzzards.”

“You forgot the skull-bashing, pissing-on-the-bones part,” Kirin mutters to Baz, just loud enough for Eastman to hear.

“Either way, they’re going to suffer,” Baz says.

“Suffer doesn’t even come close to describing it,” Doc says.

The ferocious heat of their energy crashes through me, so powerful it almost brings me to my knees. Pushing my way through it, I step out from behind their wall of overprotective man-muscle and raise my Sword, pointing it right at Agent Seen-Some-Shit.

“Sorry, dickhead,” I say. “I really, really like this thing. So no, you can’t have it. Or me, for that matter. Care to make a better offer?”

Eastman doesn’t laugh maniacally or sling back a sharp retort. He merely shakes his head and sighs, as if he’s greatly disappointed in our response.

Did he seriously think we’d just give up so easily? That the guys would just hand me over?

“It didn’t have to be this way,” he says matter-of-factly. Behind him, the hands of his mages still crackle with magick, sparks of black and indigo racing over their skin. I get the sense they’re charging up for something, but other than our demise, I can’t imagine what else they’re planning.

“I was searching for a way to eradicate magick,” Eastman says, “not its unfortunate practitioners.”

“You say that as if you’re not one of us,” I say. “All of you. You’re nothing but hypocrites.”

“Oh, I’m very much one of you, Starla Milan. As are all the mages marching with me today. Our absolution will come through the purging of magick from this realm, if absolution comes at all. And if it doesn’t? Well, that’s the great sacrifice one must be prepared to make when undertaking such important work.”

A dark, bitter laugh erupts from Kirin’s mouth. “You think you can kill and torture witches and mages—living, breathing human beings—and bypass your one-way trip to hell?”

“That remains to be seen, doesn’t it?”

“You won’t survive to see your grand vision come to fruition, traitor,” I hiss.

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