Page 49 of Shadow's End

“Definitely not.” I rubbed my fingers together. Though the flash hadn’t burned me, a slight residue remained, and my psi senses stirred. While I couldn’t be absolutely certain, that residue felt more like Maelle than Marie. Which might not mean anything, given one was the fledgling of the other, but still … I glanced up as Monty came back. “Anything?”

“Yeah, they said not to touch the thing.”

His voice was dry, and I gave him a lopsided smile. “Technically, I didn’t.”

“Technicalities often don’t matter when dealing with this sort of shit. Ashworth’s on his way with the appropriate tools to disarm it.”

“Meaning he’s come across them before?”

“Once, apparently. I described the image that appears on it, though, and he wasn’t familiar with that type of demon. Eli’s going to do a search to see what we might be dealing with.”

I frowned. “We’re not dealing with it, though. It was sent back to wherever it was summoned from.”

“That’s what we’re presuming, but not necessarily the case.”

“Huh.” I pushed to my feet. “Did he say if he needed us all here? Because I have to go talk to Maelle.”

“Is that really a good move?” Aiden said, rising with me. “If those are her people inside that house, she’s going to be in a foul mood.”

“I doubt her mood could get any fouler, given what is happening with Roger.”

“Then wait for either Monty or Ashworth to go with?—”

“Monty won’t be allowed inside,” I cut in. “And if shediddecide to attack me in there, it’d take him too long to break through the magic protecting her place to be of any use.”

“That’s presuming Icouldbreak through in any meaningful amount of time,” he said. “And to be honest, it’s likely that she’s ramped up the protections since we were last there. I suspect it’d take a concerted effort by all of us to break in. By the time we did, Maelle would be gone.”

Aiden’s frown deepened. “I still don’t think it’s a wise move.”

I leaned toward him and dropped a kiss on his cheek. “Whatever else Maelle is, she’s not a fool. She may want to taste the wild magic in my blood, but right now she needs me to help her eradicate Marie and her crew. She won’t do anything until after this fight is done.”

He grunted, not sounding in the least convinced. But he dragged his keys out of his pocket and held them out to me. “Let me know when you’re going in and safely out.”

“Will do. And I’m not going in there alone—Belle is with me mentally, remember.”

“I remember.”

And still wasn’t comforted.

With a quick grin, I dropped another kiss on his cheek, then turned and headed back down the hill, climbing through the fence before making my way around to Aiden’s truck. After carefully reversing out, I drove out of the property and back into town. Once at Maelle’s, I parked the truck and then reached down for the pack, pulling the silk-wrapped ring from the side pocket and tucking it into my jean shorts. I might yet need to find Roger, but instinct was twitching, and I wasn’t about to gainsay her.

As I climbed out of the truck, a soft but luminous glimmer caught my eye.

Wild magic.Katie’swild magic, rather than the older wellspring’s. And it struck me then that I really hadn’t seen many threads from her wellspring over the last few days, and that was extremely unusual given she was usually right on top of anything bad happening in the reservation.

I held out a hand, and it wrapped around my wrist. While it was totally possible for me to contact Katie—or vice versa—without using the wild magic, we both tended to default to its use simply because it eased the drain on our strength.

Everything okay?I asked.

The old wellspring’s influence spreads. The Fenna have been in contact with me. Us.

I blinked, even as unease stirred. Not for me, not even for the reservation, but for her. She and Gabe had sacrificed everything to become the newer wellspring’s guardians, and it would really suck if, in an effort to protect the O’Connor compound and my daughter, I’d jeopardized their position.

What did they want?

To judge me. To judge my … suitability, I suppose.

They’d judged me, too, and while it now appeared I hadn’t been totally rejected, I also hadn’t been fully accepted. But Katie was in a totally different situation. She existed because of the wellspring—because her soul had been basically fused to it.

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