“Agreed.”
Cade pulled a piece of glowing chalk from his pocket, then crouched and drew a large square on the stone. He stood, put the chalk back into his pocket, and withdrew a glowing orange vial of liquid.
“Step back.”
We did as he commanded, and he poured the potion over the chalk line. Light burst from the space, and a shimmery orange portal appeared.
“Whoa, cool,” Ana said.
“Indeed.” Cade stowed the empty glass vial in his pocket. “Leads straight to an alley in Edinburgh, which we’ve got guards patrolling.”
“Nice.” I grinned. “Hopefully we’ll settle this today and won’t have to use the portal, but it’s a nice backup.”
“This is just recon,” Cade said. “We’re going to play it safe until we have backup.”
I saluted, then turned to the hippokampoi. His scales glinted in the moonlight, and he looked at me with quizzical eyes.
“Ready?” I asked.
He snuffled. I took that to be a yes, and retracted my wings before I sat on the stone ledge. The hippokampoi swam closer. With my breath held, I slipped off the dock and landed on his back.
He was cold and wet beneath me, and my boots dangled in the chilly water. But I didn’t mind—not when I was riding a real, live hippokampoi.
I petted his green scales as Cade climbed on behind me, and Ana behind him.
“This is awesome,” Ana said.
“I know, right?” I gave a little shriek as the hippokampoi took off, much faster than I anticipated.
It zipped through the water toward the harbor exit, leaving a white wake behind it. Water dragged at my boots, and I clung to the hippokampoi’s small wings.
Mayhem flew beside us, barking excitedly, little blasts of fire emitting from her mouth.
The hippokampoi snuffled, as if shushing her. She zipped her lip.
At the exit of the harbor, the air shimmered with a faint golden glow. The hippokampoi swam right through, snuffling at the feel of the magic that prickled as we passed. The air was briefly golden and blinding, then we were in a new harbor.
Except, it was full of boats. Big, fat-bottomed vessels that floated, tugging at their lines as the wake from the hippokampoi jostled them.
“Holy crap,” Ana murmured. “A real Phoenician city.”
“Sort of.” The whole place glowed with a strange light, but it definitely looked like an intact Phoenician city. As if the magic had created a place that was a mirror of the ruins on the other side of the portal. But the air felt weird. Almost like jelly or something.
“It’s definitely a halfway realm,” Cade said. “Feel that in the air?”
“Yeah. I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I,” he said. “It takes great magic to keep a place like this going. Earthly realms and godly realms really exist. These places only exist through magic and spells.”
“Well, we’re going to find a way to break that spell,” I said as the hippokampoi swam up to an open space in the dock between two fat boats. Despite the many boats, the docks were empty due to the late hour. The moon had disappeared behind some clouds, giving us even more cover.
I scrambled off of him, Mayhem at my side.
“Thanks, friend,” I said.
The hippokampoi snuffled.
“We’ll need a ride out of here,” Ana said. “Will you wait? We won’t have ham, but we promise to bring you more sometime.”
Mayhem gave her a disapproving look.
“Not your ham, Mayhem,” I said. “But thank you for sharing.”
She nodded in what I assumed she thought was a regal manner. Actually, she almost pulled it off. If she hadn’t burped fire at that moment, she might have.
I’d have laughed, except the heavy magic that surrounded this place made me uneasy. Something in it felt almost familiar, but not in a good way.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s figure out what’s going on and how we can destroy this place.”
“How do we destroy a place like this?” Ana asked.
“No idea,” I said.
“We’ll find a way,” Cade said.
We hurried toward the long row of buildings that surrounded the harbor. They were completely intact, and I wondered what was inside.
Our footsteps were silent as we made our way past the warehouses. By the time we reached one of the main streets, my mind was buzzing. The magic here was really weird. So familiar.
Nope—I didn’t like it.
“Pretty empty,” Ana murmured.
I nodded, unable to hear or see any signs of life.
“It’s not fully inhabited,” Cade said. “Places like this rarely are. It’s a shadow of the other city because it’s easiest for the magic to build the stronghold waypoint after a model of something. But it’s not a working city.”
“There are people here, though.” I caught sight of a light shining from a building that was down one of the cross streets.
I took one last look to make sure the street was clear, then hurried across and headed down a narrower alley. Cade and Ana followed, Mayhem bringing up the rear.
Magic pulled at me, strong and fierce. “We need to find where that magic is coming from.”
“Agreed,” Cade said.
We hurried through the darkened corridor, careful to keep our footfalls silent. The sense of the strange magic grew stronger as we neared it, welcoming me and warning me away at the same time.
A moment later, we heard footsteps.
Shit.
The last thing we needed was guards on our tail. Especially if they had godly powers. Stealth was our best friend at this point.
I ducked into the nearest door, realizing at the last minute that there was someone inside.
The man looked up from the table at which he sat, his mouth dropping open. He wasn’t old—maybe in his forties—and he was built like a bear.
Before he could shout, I lunged for him, knocking him off his chair. We collided in a tangle of limbs on the ground, and I scrambled to hold my hands over his mouth.
Mayhem flew through the room, sniffing the books and scrolls that lined the wall. This guy was probably some sort of historian or accountant. Those people usually knew all kinds of good stuff.
Maybe this would work in our favor, after all.
Cade and Ana joined me, their eyes wide. The man thrashed beneath me, and I struggled to keep a grip on his mouth so he couldn’t shout. Cade hurried to my side and grabbed him, hauling him upright so he could slap a hand over his mouth.
The man reached up and smacked his fist against a silver charm around his neck. Magic flared briefly.
“Crap, I think he’s sounded an alarm,” I said.
Ana leaned out of the doorway. A second later, she groaned. “Yep. Twenty guys headed our way. And that woman is with them. The freakin’scary one you fought in the Fae realm.”
Chapter Twelve
My magic was too depleted to fight twenty. Especially if the oil-slicked woman was with them. She was just too powerful. Cade and Ana looked pretty beat too. And we were on their home turf. If we were going to win this, we needed the element of surprise.
And we’d just lost it.
My gaze shot to Cade.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said.
“Can you carry him?” I asked.