Page 46 of Bombshell

It wouldn’t be the first time a lonely witch, wizard, or other magic user put out feelers into Port Haven to see if anyone was friendly. Most of us weren’t.

“Does that magic feel like any witch or wizard you’ve ever felt, Euphemia?” Alexander asked dryly as he turned in the direction of the call. “No,thatis the Source and its calling for a new Guardian.”

Letting my eyes flutter shut, another wave of cries filled the edges of my consciousness so vehemently that I nearly turned my feet in the direction of it and began walking. Instead, I shook the feeling away and focused on Alexander. “Why?”

“That’s a more complicated question and in order to help you understand why, I have to tell you where the Source came from and what it does for this town.”

Alexander waved a hand in the air and images began to flash before my eyes. “The Source is fae magic, Euphemia, as old as the Earth as we know it. It was formed as the core protection of Avalon—”

“The homeland of the fae.”

Alexander looked a bit annoyed at having been interrupted, but he nodded anyway. “Yes, the homeland of the fae before a civil war drove them from the shores of their homes and into the land of mortals. During this time, the Source which protected Avalon from the outside world was stolen and was missing for several millennia until nearly eight hundred years ago when it was found by Arsenio here in Port Haven—though it wasn’t known as Port Haven then. Arsenio eventually settled here andhelped the humans coming from the east build this place from the ground up and the Source created a barrier that protects this land from anyone wishing to harm its inhabitants.”

“A barrier,” I realized as I glanced up and squinted. High up in the sky the magical membrane that was woven into the very air above the bay shimmered in the overcast sunlight. “I thought you and the rest of the coven kept up the barrier.”

“That is what we wished for the town to believe, but no its the Source that maintains Port Haven’s safety.”

“Why not tell the people about it? Shouldn’t they know?”

He scoffed at that, sounding far too much like me when I did the same thing. “People and power don’t mix, Euphemia. If it were to get out that Port Haven was home to one of the most powerful, most ancient magics in this world there would be a bloodbath that no flimsy Accords or human government could even try to prevent. No, it’s better if it stays hidden.”

“So why is it coming up now? Why does it need a Guardian?”

And why does Arsenio want it to be me?I asked the last question silently to myself.

“It doesn’t need a Guardianper say… but it prefers one and the one it has had for almost two hundred years is approaching his time to leave this Earthly plane.”

I frowned. “You speak as if this Source is alive…”

Alexander shrugged. “I speak about it the way Arsenio speaks about it. I’ve never actually been near it. Only Arsenio and the Guardian have ever interacted with the Source.”

Even as he spoke my mind wandered off to all of the weird things happening around the bay over the past few months. “Does the Guardian dying have anything to do with the weird weather?”

Alexander’s eyes shifted away from mine, giving me my answer.

“And you’ve just let people panic for nothing when you can fix it?”

I thought about how stressed Dallan was about the change in the currents and the early spring. Arsenio was supposed to be the mayor of Port Haven but none of us had heard a peep about the odd climate from him. No, instead the man had spent most of his evenings wining and dining his rich friends, leaving the supernatural creatures that didn’t meet his standards to deal with it all on their own.

Alexander threw his hands up in frustration. “Wearetrying to fix it. By finding a new Guardian before the current one dies and the Source wreaks havoc on not just Port Haven, but the rest of the world.”

“Then why don’t you do it? You’re one of the most powerful wizards in the world. Can’t you become the new Guardian?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

“It’s not that simple. The current Guardian is a druid and a powerful one at that. Druids are more connected with the earth than any witch or wizard could ever hope to be and because the Source is of the earth, it will reject anyone that doesn’t live up to its standards.”

As he spoke, I started to make a connection between his words and the ones that Arsenio had thrown at him earlier in the library.

You’ve already wasted almost seventy years on this experiment.

“And because you couldn’t find someone who lived up to its standards…” I began slowly, my pulse roaring in my ears. “You decided to create one.”

I’d always wondered what possessed my father to seek out a tree nymph and try to create a child with her.

When I was little I’d had romantic notions about it—star-crossed lovers and all that—but now that all came crumbling down around me as Alexander stared at me dispassionately as the puzzle pieces fell into place.

“At first I went to visit the tree nymphs to try and understand their magic. Tree nymphs have some of the most potent, ancient magic in the known universe—the closest thing to the Source I could think of at the time,” Alexander began, his blue eyes far away as he now told his part of this fucked up story. “I met Elowyn there and she was supposed to be my liaison so I didn’t end up pissing off her sisters and accidentally get myself absorbed into a tree.”

I rolled my eyes at that. Tree nymphs didn’t have the ability to absorb anything, it was just a myth that they perpetuated to keep people out of their groves.

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