Page 12 of Whispers of the Magical Forest

"That was one time!" Fiona protested.

"I have incident reports suggesting otherwise," Gadross replied dryly. "Is your sensitivity to death magic picking up anything useful?" He asked Violet.

Her head jerked and she shook her head. “I don’t have a sensitivityto that.”

Gadross’s sigh sounded as if he was suffering greatly. “The phoenix in you does. It might be diluted but you should be able to pick up on more than others.”

“Oh. I had no idea,” Violet admitted. “I’ll give it a try.” She closed her eyes and went to work. She opened her eyes a few silent minutes later. "I can’t pick up a whole lot, but they are definitely creating shades and building toward something big. The energy patterns remind me of what happens before a major magical convergence."

"Like the one that nearly destroyed London a hundred years before?" Gadross asked.

"I’m not sure. I wasn’t alive then. My gut says it’s going to be bigger," she replied. "This isn't just about creating shades. They're trying to create something worse."

Gadross pulled out his phone. We were all fighting against the increasing interference. "I'm calling in every available agent. If this is heading where I think it is, we're going to need all the help we can get."

Fiona yelped and pulled the business card from her pocket. It had suddenly burst into purple flames. We watched as new text appeared: "The gathering begins. The vessels are prepared. At midnight, the old ways return."

"Well," Fiona said with forced cheerfulness, "at least we know when everything's going to go to hell. Saves us having to guess."

"We need to move," Violet said, already heading for Fiona's car. "Those coordinates point to a network of old wine cellars in the South Downs. It'll take us at least an hour to get there, and that's assuming the weather doesn't get worse."

"It'll get worse," I said grimly. The metallic taste in my mouth was getting stronger. "Whatever they're doing, it's affecting the natural order of things. Magic this dark and corrupted has consequences."

"Aislinn’s right about that," Gadross said as he straightened his already impeccable tie. "You three head for the coordinates. I'll coordinate with my team here and meet you there. And please, try to be subtle for once."

"Us? Subtle?" Fiona grinned as she twirled her car keys. "Have you met us?"

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Gadross admitted ruefully.

As we headed for the car, I sent a quick text to Argies before my phone died completely.We might be late. Found some bodies. Investigating possible apocalyptic shade ritual. Don't let Kalli have pizza for breakfast.

His reply came just before Fiona took off down the road.Again? Be careful. Love you. PS: Too late on the pizza.

I smiled despite everything. Sometimes, it was the little bits of normalcy that kept you grounded when everything else was going mad. Even if that normalcy involved our daughter having pizza for breakfast while her parents dealt with magical mayhem.

The snow was falling harder now. Although, it wasn't natural snow anymore. Each flake carried traces of that corrupted magic. They were also forming patterns in the air. It was difficult to get a good look at them, but I thought they were the same binding symbols we'd seen on the bodies.

"Fi," I said as I broke the silence, "remember when you said at least it wasn't demons this time?"

"Yeah?" She looked up at me in the rearview mirror.

I grimaced and put a hand over my upset stomach. "I think we might be dealing with something worse."

"How much worse are we talking?" Fiona asked. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel as she navigated through the increasingly treacherous weather. "Because I distinctly remember the last demon encounter involved actual hellfire and things trying to eat us."

"At least demons play by rules," I said as I triedto ignore how the temperature in the car was dropping despite the heater running full blast. "Ancient, twisted rules, yeah, but they dictate their behavior. Whoever's doing this is trying to break the fundamental laws of death itself. You don't mess with those without consequences. They’ve got to have some serious magical chompers."

“Or a big set of brass balls,” Fiona countered.

"Lovely," Violet muttered from the passenger seat. "Just what I wanted to hear. Any other cheerful observations?"

A ghostly whisper brushed past my ears, carrying echoes of screams that hadn't happened yet. "Yeah," I said grimly. "The killing is going to continue.”

"Bloody hell," Fiona swore.

The wind howled as if it was mocking us. It also carried with it the promise of chaos to come. Just another normal day in the life of the Backside of Forty crew. At least we had that bottle of Winter's Embrace for after. Assuming, of course, we survived whatever was waiting for us in those ancient wine cellars.

Fiona's car struggled through the worsening weather. The windscreen wipers were working overtime against the magical snow. It was determined to form unsettling runes all around us, even as it was swept away. Did the perpetrator know we were coming? My gut twisted into knots. We would be driving into a trap if that was the case.

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