“Do you feel that?” Lachlan nodded toward the castle door.
I turned my focus toward it. Magic rolled out from the castle, strong and fierce. It brought with it the sense of raw power, pushing and pulling against me like massive waves. I’d only felt it a few times before.
I gasped. “Arach!”
“The dragon spirit who started the Protectorate?”
“The same.” I picked up the pace. Something was really wrong if she was making an appearance.
I hurried toward the entry. The massive wooden doors swung open, and I raced through into the hall. The feel of Arach’s magic pulled me toward her office.
“This way.” I led Lachlan through the corridors until we reached the room where Arach most often appeared. The few times I’d been in here, I’d loved this room. The walls were at least thirty feet high, and each was covered in brilliantly colored paintings. A fireplace always flickered warmly in the hearth. I could spend days in there.
I stepped inside, my eyes going straight for Arach. She was unlike any woman I had ever seen—primarily because she wasn’t a woman at all. She was the spirit of a dragon in human form. Sort of human form.
She stood near the large fireplace, glowing with a pale white light. Her features were almost reptilian, and when she moved, she shimmered. As if she were only partially there. A ghost.
Long ago, when she’d been a flesh-and-blood dragon, she’d given her magic to help create this castle, and now she presided over it, guarding every generation of warriors and investigators and protectors who worked here. The Protectorate had been formed before the supernatural governments, a gift from the dragons meant to protect the other supernaturals who needed someone to fight on their side.
I loved their purpose and wanted so badly to be a part of it. To earn Arach’s respect and a place here. She appeared rarely, though. Only when the situation was truly dire.
This was truly dire.
“Finally, you’ve arrived.” Arach’s voice rang with power. Her gaze moved toward Lachlan, who stood at my side. “You’ve been creating dangerous magic again, I hear.”
“The world needs it, occasionally.”
She nodded, reluctantly agreeing. “I suppose if it has to be made, then you should be the one to do it.”
I shot Lachlan a surprised and impressed glance. Arach respected him.
Wowzers.
We had so much to tell her that I wondered where to start. But if she was here already, that meant the problem was probably worse than we realized.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “You only appear when things are totally up a creek.”
Her brows rose. “I assume you mean that we face a difficult challenge.”
“It’s as bad as we thought.” A feminine voice sounded from behind me, and I turned.
Jude, the leader of the PITs, and Hedy walked into the room, their expressions tight and their eyes worried. The lavender-haired Hedy was the resident witch and inventor and one of my favorite people here. She was in charge of research and development, which often resulted in some very cool magic. Her silver dress gleamed like water as she crossed the room toward us.
“What is going on?” Lachlan asked.
“All of the individuals competing to find your missing spell have lost control of their magic.”
I gasped.
“Including you, Lachlan,” Arach said. “I can see in your aura that it is repressed.”
“It is. But everyone’s is gone?”
“Almost.” Arach’s eyes darted briefly to me, but she said nothing.
Was I the almost? I’d gotten my magic to work briefly this morning. Lachlan’s hadn’t worked at all.
“It has to be connected to the ancientus spell,” I said. “Whoever stole it is worried that we’re getting close. He—or she—is trying to stop us.”
“I think that’s likely,” Jude said.
“They’ve repressed your magic, though,” Hedy said. “Not stolen it entirely. So there is still hope. But we must work quickly to save everyone.”
“Whoever stole the spell has evil plans for it,” Arach said. “They must want to bring back some kind of dark magic from the past. We cannot let them.”
The only way to do that was to recover the spell.
Fates, there was no turning back now.
Not that I’d ever planned to, but we were in serious trouble, and the only way out was forward.
If I had a tiny bit of my magic left, maybe my new seer ability could be used to find it. I needed to try, at least.
Everyone was talking now, debating theories and options. I slipped away, moving silently out the door and into the hall.
I was only a few steps from the room when Bree and Rowan hurried forward. Their gazes brightened when they saw me.
“You’re back!” Bree said. “Dressed weird, though.”
I looked down at the floral dress I was still wearing. “Borrowed it from a ghost. Did you just return?”
“Just now,” Rowan said.
“How’s your magic? Do you still have it?”
They both shook their heads.
“Mine’s gone,” Bree said.
“Mine’s same as ever.” Rowan grimaced. “Gone.”
I gave her a sympathetic look.
“How are you?” Bree asked.
“I don’t know.” I frowned. “I may not have lost my magic totally, but I have no control over it.”
“The transition?”
“I think so. My premonition power worked a bit when we were in the Paris sewers. It just showed up, guiding me. Never came when I called, though. But my shield is wonky.”
“Did you find anything in Paris? We struck out in London. Thought we were onto something, but it was a bust. Then our magic disappeared.”
“We almost had it,” I said. “But the thieves got away.”
“We should ask the FireSouls,” Bree said. “This is more difficult than I expected, but they could find it.”
“Apparently Jude already asked,” I said. “They’re busy with some emergency.”
“Damn.” Bree frowned. “That means two things are seriously wrong in the world right now.”
“Exactly,” I said. “But I want to head to the library to try to interpret the newest clue that we got. Maybe I can jog my premonition power. Want to come with—”
“Ana.” Arach’s powerful voice sounded from behind me.
I turned.
She drifted gracefully toward me, not so much walking as gliding.
“Arach. Did Lachlan fill you in?”
“Yes, he did. It sounds like you did well in Paris.”
“We failed.”
“But you got another clue.” Her gaze assessed me, seeming to pry into my soul. “All of the competitors will be given the new information, and the hunt will begin again.”
“New information?” Bree asked.
“It will all be explained at the meeting in the round room in thirty minutes.” She turned to me. “But you, Ana. Something is different about you.”
“Um.” I swallowed hard, hesitating briefly. It was still hard to just blurt it out after so many years of hiding. But my secret was safe with her. I sucked in a deep breath and spit it out. “I may be transitioning to Dragon God. But I have no control over my power. I’m a mess.”
She nodded. “I can see it in you. But your magic has not been fully repressed like everyone else’s. There’s still a light within you.”
“A light? Is that how my magic has always looked?”
“No. When you first came here, you looked like any other supernatural. You had your magical signature, but no light from within.”
“Do you think it could be my new gift of premonition?”
“Maybe.” Doubt flashed across her face. “But I’m not sure. I wouldn’t imagine it would manifest that way.”
“Do you know which pantheon my magic might be from?”
She shook her head. “Premonition, or this light power, could be from any of them.”
The light power had only made an appearance once before, more than a month ago, back when I’d been helping Bree and the sickness wraiths had attacked.
“I think the light is protecting you,” she said. “It looks like a healing light of some sort. It’s protecting you from the curse that is attacking everyone else.”