Page 74 of Faerie Gift

The various other spells were a pain in the ass to get through, frankly. Luckily, I had Melia as a mentor. She’d taught me ways of working around even the most complicated magic, and my study sessions with Mike made sure I got in extra practice time. I never claimed to be the best. But damn good? Yeah, I’d take it.

My first few tries didn’t go so well, and I ended up burning my palm, growing a tail, and losing an eyebrow. Not permanently, but enough to give me a zap of pain and have me seriously rethinking the direction of my life. The pain did not compare to going through the wall, I told myself, and pushed on, unraveling the defensive wards one by one.

Words of power left my lips as I unraveled and tore out chunks of my own magic along with them. I didn’t care. I sank every last bit of energy I possessed into breaking those shields. I worked. I pushed through. I sweated and strained.

After a few false starts, the last spell faded away and I reached out to take the Augundae Imperium, relief like a warm balm. Finally I’d made it.

About the size of a Rubik’s cube, the Augundae Imperium was made entirely of an amalgam of metals, mostly gold. Runes and symbols decorated the exterior. It looked like some chicobjet d’artand hardly like some ancient artifact. One would never have guessed the power it contained just seeing it across the room.

How is this thing part of some big prophecy?

There was no way for me to answer the question, and I wondered if anyone actually knew the answer.

The moment my palm came into contact with it, I was stunned. I recognized the sheer scope of magic contained within the metal. Sensed the deep well of potential. The waiting. Waiting for more power, more magic.More.

I drew the Augundae Imperium to me, knowing I stood at a crossroads because of what I’d done. I was stealing something ancient, something meant for a king. The king of the very land I was desperate to escape to, no less.

But I had what I’d come for. Now to deliver it to Barbara.

She’d left me a note with instructions on how to proceed once I succeeded. I’d found the piece of paper curled among my vials of potions on my bunk, and I didn’t know whether she had personally delivered it or got it through the castle wards to have it appear out of nowhere. I didn’t put any kind of sneaky behavior past her.

Keeping the Imperium close to my chest, ignoring the way my own energy radiated and pulsed from its nearness, I raised a hand and set a replica in place using cognitive manipulation.

Anyone who comes close will see the Augundae Imperium in place. They will have no doubts about what they see. If they reach out to touch it or take it, they will feel the replica there. A physical entity. Solid, unyielding. They will recognize no difference between the real artifact and the fake one.

A push, an intention. Letting my magic do my will.

I watched an identical box solidify in the same spot where I’d taken the original.

Not for the first time I felt a blanket of dread fall over me at the extent of my power. I wasgood. Better than I would have thought considering the lack of training for most of my life. The power of my mind made objects appear out of thin air simply because I believed they were there. And I wanted others to believe it, too.

No one should have this kind of power.

My shoulders sagged. It didn’t matter. I’d gotten what I came here for. And now I had a rendezvous with a witch. Hopefully my final encounter with her.

I knew from experience I couldn’t use my power to force the doors open—oddly enough—which would have been easier. But now I also knew I had the ability to cast a glamour over myself, my own version of an invisibility cloak. No way I wanted to go through the walls again. I wouldn’t survive.

I brought myself and the Imperium out through the door and this time it cost me little in terms of magic, no matter how the others said the artifact messed with their powers. With my shifter side working overtime to sustain me, I used it to cast the glamour. Now I didn’t care who I came into contact with in the hallway, they wouldn’t see me, wouldn’t smell me, wouldn’t sense me at all.

Staring down at the box cradled in my hand, I had a split second where I wondered if I should never have touched it in the first place. Wasn’t it supposed to draw magic to it? Syphoning, I believe was the word used. Was I risking the loss of my own magic just by possessing it?

Too late to turn backnow.

It was only a matter of time before I made it out of the exchange students’ quarters. In the open castle hallway, I kept the invisibility manipulation over me, my glamour still broken, striding down the spiral staircase toward the back door. Cutting through the grand ball room with the huge oil painting of Mike and his family. Their eyes bored judgmental holes in me.

Don’t look at me,okay?I’m doing what I have to do.

Mike would surely loathe me if he knew I’d stolen the Augundae Imperium. And the reason why…

Nope, I couldn’t worry about that. The secret would go to the grave with me.

Barbara waited for me in the woods outside of the school. The moonlight caressed my skin as I bolted for the forest line, faster than a normal Fae. It was the same forest I had never quite been able to make myself explore because it was too close to the outside wards for me to feel comfortable going there. Too close to the area where Kendrick and his wolves might prowl the line until they found a way to break through.

There, lingering just inside the wards like she didn’t even feel them, with her arms crossed over her chest and wearing a ratty pair of stained overalls, waited the witch. And despite the manipulation hiding me from others’ view, her eyes fell on me unerringly. She clucked her tongue.

“You’d better have my artifact,” she said by way of greeting.

The deep rasp of her smoker’s voice grated on my nerves. A weird reaction. Like I needed more to worry about right now.

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