Magicorum Box Set (Books 1-5)

19. Chapter Nineteen

19

Chapter Nineteen

Bryar Rose

Landing in Charles de Gaulle was a nightmare. Not the part about the plane actually touching down; that bit went pretty smoothly. No, I’m talking about how everyone was staring at me like I’m nuts for screaming NEVER at the top of my lungs.

Ugh.

After that, it took a while to get through customs, but that was my bad. The fake passport I grabbed wasn’t Elle’s best work. As fake names go, Brianna Rosacea sounds pretty false. In the end, I got through fine. Leave it to Elle. Her false docs will never let you down, even with a bogus-sounding name.

The real trouble came with finding a cab. Once I told them I wanted to go to Boucle-Roux, they’d speed talk in French and motion toward the door until I left. Finally, I found a guy who would do it. Which brings me to the present moment. Gustav has been driving me in circles for at least three hours. Boucle-Roux is right outside Paris. I checked the distance before I left for Europe. Doctor Google says I should have reached Boucle-Roux from the airport in about an hour.

So Gustav wants himself a big fare. Fine with me, so long as I arrive by midnight.

Which is about twenty minutes from now.

I lean forward and clear my throat. “Hello?”

“Eh?” Gustav is an old and balding dude who reminds me of a human-sized troll doll. He’s a lumpy dude with a large nose, bald head, and truly massive eyebrows.

Now, here’s where it would be handy to show Gustav my cell phone, complete with a handy map to Boucle-Roux. However, if I turn my cell on, it’s sure to blow up with calls from Elle and Knox. Leaving a fake note was hard enough. If I pick up the phone, I’ll totally crack and tell them where I really am.

Instead, I use my newly-found skills as a mime. “Boucle-Roux?” I pretend to be hoeing the ground, farmer style. “When?” I point to the non-existent watch on my wrist because, really, who uses a watch when you can just check your cell?

Gustav grumbles something that sounds like bleugh-bleugh-bleugh-stupide-bleugh-bleugh-bleugh-BLEUGH. Over the past three hours, Gustav has been crystal clear that he think visiting Boucle-Roux is a bad idea. Amazing what can be conveyed despite the language barrier.

I point to my wrist again. “When?”

Gustav pulls over to the side of the road. We’re in a deserted area of farms and a ton of sheep. The landscape around here changes in a heartbeat, by the way. One second, you’re in the middle of a big city and then—ZOOM—just two minutes later, it’s farmville.

Closing my eyes, I check in on my inner wolf. Sure, she slept for most of the plane ride. But that all ended when I flipped out. Charles de Gaulle wasn’t her favorite either. Once the cab hit the countryside, she konked out again.

“Are you awake?” I ask my inner animal.

There’s no response, unless you count snoring.

So my wolf is still asleep. Good.

I stare out the window at the darkened landscape. We’re surrounded by rolling hills dotted with sheep. A dirt road leads from the street to a large wooden farmhouse. Other than the sheep, me, and Gustav, there’s no one else around.

“Are we here?” I ask.

In response, Gustav points to a small wooden sign is stuck into the ground nearby. The words Boucle-Roux are written in cockeyed letters.

I pretend to write on my hand, which is the universal signal for ‘how much do I pay you?’ Gustav asks for a crazy amount of euros, which I hand over happily. Funny how when it comes to requesting money, Gustav is suddenly very familiar with English. Good thing Elle and I have deep bank accounts. As I hand over the cash, I check the digital clock on the dashboard.

Ten minutes before midnight.

I made it, just like WaterGirl asked.

Now I need to meet WaterGirl at the farmhouse and the Codex Mechanica is mine. All in all, things are going pretty well. Scooching my way closer to the door, I wave to Gustav. “Merci.”

Swinging about, Gustav wags his craggy pointer finger at me. This time, his French sounds a lot like “Bleugh-bleugh-bleugh-STUPIDE-bleugh. BLEUGH.”

“Thank you, I got the stupide part.”

I grip the door handle. Who cares if this seems like a dumb idea? In thirty minutes, my adventure will be that much closer to over. I’ll have the Codex Mechanica, the location of the fountain, and a lot more control over the entire situation. Not so stupide, in my opinion.

I twist the handle just as a low rumble shakes the night air.

Crud.

Thunder.

Nothing more happens, so I figure maybe that’s it, storm wise. Hoisting up my duffle, I leave the cab and step onto the side of the road.

A torrent of fat raindrops pelt my head because, of course, it’s going to rain.

Oh, well.

The faster I get to the farmhouse, the more quickly I’ll be out of the storm. As Gustav peels away, I hustle up the dirt road and quickly discover a fun fact: Wearing leather pants in the rain is a terrible idea.

Talk about chafe.

In record speed, I reach the top of the hill and find a two story farmhouse. There are lights on inside, but all the windows are open. The front door is ajar as well. I step up onto the porch.

“Hello?” I ask. “Anyone here?”

The good news is that the porch is mostly covered. The whole place is built with weathered wood that is so warped, there are huge spaces between each slat. It’s like whoever built this place never heard of insulation. Still, it’s better than nothing. Even standing on the porch, I’m no longer getting pelted so badly by the rain. The air scents of green grass and sheep. It’s the second smell that awakens my wolf.

My inner animal stretches. “Where are we? Can I eat the sheep?”

“We’ve arrived at a place called Boucle-Roux,” I reply in my mind. “We need to meet WaterGirl here. Dinner can wait.” And we aren’t eating random sheep, although I don’t add in that part.

I set down my duffel and knock on the opened door. “WaterGirl? Are you in here?”

No reply.

I scan inside the house because, hey, if they didn’t want anyone to peeping around, they should have closed the door. The interior is French rustic. I’m talking rickety wooden furniture, faded drapes, and threadbare braided rugs. It’s a look that could be cool if it were shabby chic. Only here, it’s just shabby. Rain drips through holes in the floorboards and seeps through the walls. Great puddles form on the floor. No one even bothers to put out a bucket to catch the fall.

The place looks deserted, only it isn’t. A long wooden table sits against the far wall. Three bowls of stew have been laid out in a neat row. Wisps of steam curl up from the meals.

People definitely live here.

Cautiously, I step inside. “Hello? WaterGirl?”

My skin breaks out into gooseflesh. Nothing like being in the rain and then a drafty farmhouse to trigger your shiver reflex. My inner wolf perks up again. Rain always throws off her sense of smell.

“There’s something strange in this place,” grumbles my wolf.

“You’re not kidding,” I reply in my mind. “WaterGirl should be here by now.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Inside my soul, my wolf hops up onto her four paws. Her eyes gleam with golden light. “We must shift.”

“I’m not changing into wolf form in some stranger’s house.”

“Shift!” howls my wolf.

At that moment, the scent of foreign wolves becomes strong, along with the smell of burnt charcoal. Shifters are nearby. And whoever these wolves are, they are furious.

The wall to my right buckles. Windows shatter. Beams of wood snap apart like kindling. A wave of rain and wind pelt into the house. Tearing through the ruined wall, six massive werewolves leap into the room. All their eyes shine with golden magic. Low growls reverberate through their chests. Since their ears are back and teeth bared, there’s no question what these shifters are here to do.

Attack.

I make a quick assessment of the pack. Five of the weres have dark gray fur and lean bodies. All these wolves hang back in a semicircle around the largest of their number, a massive wolf with pale gray fur and extra-long fangs.

That one’s their alpha, no doubt.

Inside my soul, my wolf claws at the ground. “Make the change,” she urges. “These are six male wolves. I smell burnt charcoal on them. You know what that means—rage.”

My wolf is right. Enraged shifters won’t join a discussion about WaterGirl and ancient devices. They’ll kill first and ask questions later.

I take my wolf’s advice and shift.

Fast.

Energy and magic charge through my nervous system as my arms and legs transform into hefty limbs with massive claws. White fur erupts across my body. My fangs descend. My muscles flex and prepare to fight.

I become a wolf.

Moving in unison, the six weres leap at me. I lunge out of the way, sliding into the opposite wall. The weathered boards snap under my weight. The other wolves follow in a mad rush for the same wall.

I go low on my haunches, my back legs braced against the half-broken wall.

Bring on another mass attack. I’m ready.

The scent of rage grows stronger as the pack closes in. Once the alpha’s front claws scrape against my muzzle, I leap into the air and over the pack. The group of wolves can’t stop their momentum. All six of them slam into the same wall; it shatters.

We now have two busted walls and a very rickety farmhouse.

The sound of snapping wood fills the air. The corner posts on one side of the room buckle. The floorboards above my head sag.

Not long now before the whole place collapses. All around me, the weathered boards creak and shudder. Good. All I need is for the place to fall apart. It will be the perfect opportunity for me to counter attack.

“Fight with your heads boys,” growls the light gray wolf. “You watch sheep; you don’t act like them.”

This shocks me for three reasons. First, it’s a pretty rare shifter who can talk in their animal form. And second, this guy speaks English. Also unexpected. Third, he’s asking them not to just chase me around and slam into the walls anymore. That really throws a monkey wrench into my number one plan for winning this battle.

Crud.

The wolves fan out to encircle me, which really gets my adrenaline pumping. Elle and I watch our share of Jackie Chan movies. We always love it when twenty ninjas go after the hero at once. Jackie takes them all down in like thirty seconds, flat.

But in reality? That’s incredibly hard to do. I try to keep them all in my line of vision, but that just ends up with me twisting about in circles.

I’m panting now. This is really bad.

“Close in slowly, boys,” says the Alpha.

The wolves keep circling me in ever smaller loops. This isn’t going to end well for me unless I do something quickly. Leaning back on my haunches, I prepare to try another leap over their heads.

And that’s when the roof decides to fall in.

Ceiling beams snap. Floorboards collapse. Someone’s massive sleigh bed falls right onto my back. Ouch. A ceiling beam slams onto the back of my head. White-hot hurt explodes behind my eyes. Dizzy with pain, I try to get up, but some of the wolves have jumped onto the massive piece of furniture that’s across my back. Plus, that massive beam isn’t giving an inch. With all my strength, I twist and writhe.

Nothing helps.

My wolf, who’d been pretty quiet through the battle, decides that now is a good time to give strategic advice.

“Shift back into human form,” urges my inner animal. “They won’t expect it.”

“Neither will my spine,” I reply in my mind. “Or the back of my skull.”

The Alpha strides into my line of vision. “Good thing we were warned about you.” His eyes flare with golden light. “No one comes to steal our flock. You hear?”

I buck even harder, but it doesn’t help. I’m pinned down tightly. Plus, twisting about, only makes the ceiling beam press harder onto the back of my head. I can’t even open my jaw enough to speak.

The Alpha strides closer. “I hate to make an example of you, considering how you’re a woman and all, but a deal’s a deal.” Leaping forward, he sinks his teeth into the tender flesh of my neck. The copper tang of blood fills my senses.

My inner wolf howls with agony and terror.

This is where I die. No, please no.

Outside the ruined farmhouse, the storm grows more fierce. Fresh bolts of lightning strike around the grounds, casting flickering shadows around the room. From the corner of my eye, I see what looks like a huge black wolf leap through the ruined wall, his massive form highlighted by a bolt of lightning.

Knox is here.

Fast as a heartbeat, Knox tears into the wolves that are pinning me down. One by one, the shifters are flung off my back. After that, my mate clamps down onto the Alpha’s neck, tearing him away from me as well.

My inner wolf howls with glee. “Our mate is here! He saved us!!!”

I’d howl as well, if I didn’t have so much blood loss to worry about.

With the wolves off me, Knox kicks away the beam and mattress. He leans in and checks out my neck. “Bry, are you okay?”

Before I can answer, the other wolves race toward us, ready to counterattack.

In response, Knox’s entire body shines with golden light and magic. “Enough!” he cries. Waves of Alpha energy radiate off him, making the entire room tremble. Floorboards creak. Broken bits of glass jingle in their shattered frames. The air shimmers with waves of power. As Knox’s Alpha energy reaches the other wolves, they all freeze in place.

“I’ll say this one last time,” growls Knox. “Back off my mate or I will kill you.” A final burst of Alpha power shimmies through the air. After that, Knox releases his magic. My mate’s fur returns to its regular shade of black.

For a long moment, there is only the rain, lightning, and no one moving. Then the other Alpha tilts his head. “Knox, is that you? We haven’t seen you since we all hunted Denarii together.” The Alpha shakes his head again. “That can’t be you.”

Knox scrapes at the floorboards with his front claws. “You know another huge black wolf who can kick all your asses in thirty seconds or less?”

“Damn,” says the Alpha. “And this shifter here…is she really your mate?”

Knox growls out one more word: “Yes.” He turns to me. “Are you all right?”

I force myself back onto my legs. “I’m feeling better. Good to see you, though.”

Knox leans in and checks my neck again. “It’s almost healed. Bo here isn’t a very efficient killer, thankfully.” Knox shoots an angry look at the Alpha.

Bo’s tail goes under his legs. “She was coming here after our sheep.”

“And who told you that?” snarls Knox.

Bo’s ears go flat against his head. “That would be…”

“Let me guess,” growls Knox. “Ty.”

“That’s right.”

It’s been a day for shocking news, but this one still floors me. I focus on Knox. “Do you mean Ty, as in your ex-girlfriend?”

Knox nods. “My guess? She engineered this whole thing so I’d have to pay attention to her. Ty called me in New York and said you were about to be attacked at Boucle-Roux.”

“She told me she has the Codex Mechanica,” I say.

Knox’s eyes narrow. “She probably does. Ty loves to collect rare stuff.”

Bo crouches down onto the floor. I have to hand it to the guy, when he goes for a grovel, he’s all in. “Look, Knox. We didn’t know she was your mate. Ty called us and told us a fierce warrior was after our sheep. She even said the scents would be misleading. In exchange for the information, we promised to take care of her.”

“We need to talk about this and not as wolves,” says Knox. With that, he starts to change back into his human form. His bones realign and fur retracts. Within a few seconds, there’s an awful lot of naked butt standing in front of my wolfy self right now. And I can’t help but notice that Knox is looking totally recovered from the last time I saw him in New York. Back then, he’d lost all his muscle tone. In fact, my mate could hardly stand by himself.

But now? Knox seems fully recovered, judging by the quality of his glutes. And there’s his ripped back too, let’s not forget that part. Oh, and great legs. Plus, his arms look pretty buff again. Heck, even his toes look better.

Knox glances over his shoulder. Grinning, he rakes his hand through his mop of wet black hair. “Like the view?”

I mock-pant a little. “Woof.”

Knox strides over to a wooden chest by the wall, opens it up and pulls out a pair of jeans and a black T. He pulls them on and looks to the other wolves. “Get changed, guys.”

At this point, I realize that I should probably shift back as well. Within a few seconds, I’m back to my human form. Happily, my unshreddable outfit is once again in place. And somehow magically cleaned in the process as well. The fae may be crazy, but they make good clothing.

The moment my shift is over, Knox pulls me into a hug. “I’ve been so worried, Bry.”

“I’m sorry. This was something I had to do.” I lean into his embrace. “Besides, I was making you sick.”

Knox leans back and cups my face in his hands. “Something is making me weaker, Bry. But it’s not you. Never you.”

Across the room, someone clears their throat. Knox and I look up to see six very buff guys in overalls standing around a ruined farmhouse. Knox slides his arm around my waist. “Bry, I’d like you meet Beauregard Roux and his people.”

My eyes widen. “Oh, I get it. Your fairy tale template is Bo Peep.”

Bo nods. “I don’t lose my sheep, by the way. If you leave them alone, they don’t come home. Other weres have them for dinner.”

One of the other guys raises his hand. “We’re vegetarians. After spending years going after the Denarii, you lose your taste for red meat.”

Knox looks around the place. “I’d say sorry your house got ruined, but you attacked my mate.”

“It’s all right,” says Bo. He even has curly blonde hair like his namesake. “Been meaning to rebuild anyway. This place was always a dump.”

“We live mostly in the wild with our flock,” adds the guy who made the vegetarian comment before. I decide to call him Chatty Cathy since it goes with the Bo Peep theme somehow.

“Hey,” says Bo. “Maybe your warlock friend can come over and conjure us up a house?” He scans the room, like Alec is hiding under a floorboard. “Where is your buddy, anyway? Isn’t he always with you?” Bo hitches his thumbs into the sides of his overalls. “Although, I guess if your mate travels alone, maybe Alec does too now.”

For the record, I’ve been a very patient person about being attacked and having my neck chomped on. But getting critiqued for travelling alone? That is just one step too far. I round on Bo. “Look here, buddy. I came to Europe to save all of magic for everybody, you guys included. You don’t even know what that means, but it’s a big deal and an even bigger pain in my neck. Want to know why I came here alone? I’m not a big fan of people who drag those they care about into trouble, just because they can. I could get this job done on my own and keep my mate safe, so that’s what I did. Because unlike some people in this room, I don’t think like a sheep and do things just because that’s what someone told me to do.” I toss my hair over my shoulder. “Plus, I hope your stupid crappy house burns down.”

Not sure why I added that last part in, but it sure felt good.

Bo’s mouth hangs open for at least twenty seconds. “I can see why she’s your mate.”

“She’s also right about the magic stuff,” says Knox. “We need to go see Ty. You got a bike or a car I can borrow?”

“Let’s check out the old barn,” says Bo. “There might be something in there.”

In the end, Bo gives us his old Fiat to drive, which is more like a golf cart with doors, but it’s still better than nothing. We get in and start up the engine. I’m surprised there’s even an engine, really. I half expect for us to peddle the thing forward, Flintstones style.

I squirm in the frayed pleather seat. “Look, I can’t imagine what you think about how I took off—”

“You don’t have to say another word, Bry. Everything was explained back there with Bo. I understand why you tried to do this alone. I also get why you don’t want to put Elle and Alec in this either. But I’m here now. There’s no way I’m leaving your side, yeah?”

A weight I didn’t know I was carrying seems to lift off my bones. “Yeah.”

“Good.” Knox puts the car in gear and takes off down the dirt road. “I know the way to Ty’s. You get some sleep.”

“I’m not sleepy.” That’s what I say, but the moment the words leave my lips, my eyelids instantly feel super heavy. I fall asleep within five minutes flat.

At least, I don’t have any nightmares of the Void.