Page 40 of Shadow's End

Trepidation stepped into my soul, but the dream pulled me on.

Up ahead, the mage fire pulsed, its deep purple glow staining the trees once more, curling the leaves with its force. It seemed to dance from tree to tree, briefly reminding me of the way flames leapt.

It is what comes, instinct whispered, though whether it was mage fire or real, it wasn’t saying.

As before, I left the trees and came out into the clearing.

As before, Roger lay between me and Marie. This time, there were only three stakes. I guess there was no need to pin what remained of his right leg.

Instinct twitched again. I narrowed my gaze and studied his heavily bandaged knee stump. Perhaps it was my imagination, but the rest of his legdidappear to be present, even if in a ghostly form.

Only it was different—more muscular.

Which made absolutely no sense.

“You may be wondering why I called you here again.” Marie’s melodious voice held just a hint of amusement. “And perhaps even how.”

“Given I’ve changed location and you cannot possibly have gotten through the wild magic that protects the café so easily—not without me being forewarned—I would hazard a guess that this is some form of lucid dreaming or astral projection. As to how…” I shrugged. “While I would like to know, I’m thinking you won’t tell me simply because you have no desire for me to prevent future occurrences.”

“Oh, while it is true you are physically safe in your fortress, little witch, you could never prevent these meetings. Those who play with darkness can sometimes get leashed by it, however innocuous it might have seemed at the time.”

I frowned. “I don’t understand?—”

“Oh, I think you do. Or at least, you will if you cast your mind back to a certain spell you once performed. One that involved several drops of your own blood?”

Ah,fuck.

I closed my eyes and scrubbed a hand across eyes that didn’t physically exist in this plane. I’d known at the time how dangerous that spell was. Had even been warned in a note Nell—Belle’s grandmother—had left in an unfinished book calledSpells from Uncertain Times.

I foresee a need for this in the distant future,it had said, but be wary of its use, dear witchling. The spell lies in the gray zone; it will not draw the ire of the council but it will make you more susceptible to the darker forces of this world.

I’d understood the danger of using a blood spell even without that warning and had accepted the danger it represented in order to protect Belle. I just hadn’t understood the implications within that warning. Hadn’t understood that, by performing that spell, I’d opened my spirit or astral being or whatever this was to being called into thepresenceof darker entities.

Marie laughed. “I can see from your expression that you have indeed remembered.”

“Yes, and I take comfort in the fact that while you can call me, you cannot control me.”

The fact that I’d moved against her will in our first meeting, utterly surprising her, suggested her control was at best partial rather than complete.

For now,that annoying inner voice whispered again.But that could so easily change…

I shivered and flexed my fingers, trying to ease the wave of trepidation. As usual, it failed.

“In some respects, you are right,” Marie drawled. “But also, very wrong.”

“I see that you and Maelle share another trait—you both love avoiding straight answers.”

She laughed. “Why would I want to provide you with any real information when it is far more satisfying to see your confusion and taste the delicious acceleration of your heart?”

Did that mean she was as much an energy vampire as a blood one? Was that the danger these astral meetings presented? I didn’t know, but I seriously needed to find out, and fast. “And yet you do provide real information when it suits you. So why did you call me here, Marie?”

“Perhaps I am simply charmed by your sparkling personality and scintillating conversation, and wish to hear more.”

“And perhaps you wish to distract me from events happening elsewhere.”

“Perhaps.” Her smile flashed, all white teeth and sharp canines. “And perhaps I wish to emphasize the warning given to you yesterday, but in terms you may respect a little more. Place yourself in the middle of this fight, and I will destroy all that you hold dear. The fire that surrounds us is not real in this plane, but it could so easily become so in yours.”

And with that, I was cast back into my body.

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