A Book of Spirits and Thieves

Valoria’s guards stood as silently as statues, watching and waiting for orders. Two more stood on either side of Barnabas, who was still on his knees on the frost-covered ground.

“You are Eva’s son,” Valoria said to Maddox. “A mutation of her magic runs through your veins and infuses your spirit. That magic is what I need to accomplish this monumental task.”

He shook his head. “But I don’t know how.”

Valoria reached out with one hand and clutched his throat.

“You don’t have to know anything, my sweet nephew,” she said. “I will do it for you.”

Coldness washed over him, and then a painful tearing sensation shuddered through his very flesh. He gasped and tried to pull away from her grip, but he couldn’t move.

“Shh, be still,” Valoria hissed. “This won’t take long.”

He began to shiver, as if the goddess were draining all of his mortal warmth. When she finally let go of him, Maddox dropped to his knees. A layer of shadows coated Valoria’s hand, as if she’d dipped it in black honey.

“I may not be able to absorb your magic, but I can wield it.”

All Maddox could do was stare at her, his power of speech currently useless to him. There was now something missing from inside him, leaving nothing but an empty, bottomless hole.

Valoria went to the stone wheel, her right hand still dripping with Maddox’s shadowy magic, her left hand holding the book. She pressed her palm against the wheel, glanced down at the page, and began to read aloud. The language felt like a golden melody, an enchanted whisper, which released sparks of energy and power into the air with every enigmatic syllable spoken.

Maddox’s stolen magic began to flow from Valoria and spread across the wheel, swirling and entwining the nooks and crannies of the stone surface. The shadows kept heaving and expanding until the entire wheel was cloaked by them, and was transformed to what looked like a swirling black hole.

Valoria laughed. “It won’t be long now. Maddox, my sweet, perhaps I shall reward you for this. I may need you again in the future, after all.”

Suddenly, all the guards gasped in unison and then crumpled to the ground.

Valoria’s insidious grin fell at the sight. “Was that you, child?”

“No,” Maddox replied, stunned, as he searched the area for the answer.

Becca’s surprised gaze swept over the fallen guards. “Then how on earth—?” she whispered.

Sienna stood nearby, her arms out to her sides. “Apologies, Your Radiance, but this crusade ends now.”

Valoria cocked her head. “Sienna. You did this? I’m impressed. You must be more powerful than I thought.”

“Don’t flatter me. I didn’t do it alone.”

“That’s right,” said a familiar voice. Maddox turned around to see Camilla, walking toward them from the cottage. “I helped.”

Valoria raised a brow. “I thought this vile woman was dead.”

Barnabas laughed, then struggled to crawl over and cut his ropes on a fallen guard’s sword. “Imagine that. Mere witches, fooling a goddess as powerful as you.”

Valoria stiffened, and the book fell from her hands, tumbling to the ground in a flutter of delicate pages. Bands of translucent, airy swirls wrapped themselves around her shoulders, waist, and knees, trapping her arms at her sides. “Yes, with your puny powers combined, your air magic is quite impressive.”

Barnabas approached her. “Just to enlighten you, Your Radiance, this has been our plan for a long time. Sienna gave up two years of her life to work her way into your good graces and earn your trust. But, like you said, without that magic dagger of yours, you can’t be sure of anyone’s loyalty, can you?”

The goddess’s lips thinned. “And what do you mean to do with me now?”

“That’s the beauty of it, Valoria. Without your determination to open this gateway with Maddox’s magic, we couldn’t have done any of this. You yourself have given us the means to rid ourselves and Mytica of you, once and for all. From this point forward, you are exiled. You’ll never find a way back here. You are now free to spend eternity searching for your thief friend and that dagger you’re so desperate for.”

She shook her head. “Barnabas, you can’t do this. You can’t simply shove me through a gateway and have me disappear!”

He laughed again. “Oh, I believe I can.”

He clutched her shoulders and fixed a wild-eyed, victorious stare on her. Then, pushing back on his haunches to harness more strength, he shoved her backward.

She didn’t budge an inch.

A slow smile snaked across her face. “Didn’t you hear me? I said you can’t do it.”

And with her words, the earth beneath Barnabas’s feet swiftly turned to mud, and he immediately sank down into it to his waist. He fought to free himself, but he was in too deep.

He continued to sink farther, now just a little at a time. The more he struggled, the faster the enchanted mud drew him downward.