Page 104 of Changeling
“Nate,” Jim said slow and calculating, “we can’t just walk away now. Whatever they’re doing in there we’re talking about some seriously bad mojo. I can feel it.”
“I feel it too,” Sasha nodded. “Like pure dark power on overdrive.”
“All the more reason to go,” Nathan said. “Jim, this gathering, ritual, whatever they’re doing in there is big enough that it threw off your radar and you only sensed about half of them. This could go from bad to worse real fast. We need to wait. Maybe…stake the place out and follow a few of them when they leave. We can track the others again later.”
“Nathan, the only reason my radar was thrown off is because I’ve been spending extra energy shielding us so they won’t sense us coming. I’m not going to need to do that once we drop in. I can handle that many, I know I can. I’m not saying it’ll be easy. But if we leave now we might never find this many in one place again.”
“Hang on a minute…” Sasha said. He peered through the window again. “Look at all the runes they’ve drawn. I recognize some of them. I think it’s some kind of channeling ritual.” He glanced back at the brothers with raised eyebrows.
Nathan and Jim peered closer as well, trying not to be too conspicuous even though that didn’t seem to matter since the sidhe were all looking to the leader in the middle.
“Seems like…they’re focusing all that dark energy on the one guy…” Nathan said, feeling more than ever that it would be best if they high-tailed it out of there. “Why put all their eggs in one basket, though? That one sidhe goes down it’s a waste of almost thirty others if they’re out of power.”
Sasha huffed. “Assuming it would even be possible to take that one guy down. They’re making a sidhe super soldier in there, Nathan. And I’ll give you one guess as to why.” Sasha turned his piercing blue gaze none too subtly onto Jim. “Word travels fast, Jim. They must know we’re after them. They’re probably thinking preemptive strike here. We gotta stop ‘em.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait,” Nathan jumped in. “We don’t know if our guess is right and we sure don’t know if the purpose is to send some super sidhe after Jim. If we’re gonna do this then we better have one damn good plan. One wrong move and we are toast. Period.”
At least that bit of sense appeared to make an impression on Jim and Sasha. They both seemed to step back a minute to think very carefully about how they should proceed. Nathan did as well but every possibility he came up with seemed even more crazy and suicidal.
“Well…there’s something new I’ve been meaning to try. Sasha?” Jim looked to the incubus as he dropped down off the haystack. “Can I test something on you?”
Sasha dropped down beside Jim. “Sure.”
“Hey wait,” Nathan called, jumping to the ground after them while Jim raised an arm towards Sasha without so much as a word of explanation, “what are you—” There was a sudden flash of red light that forced Nathan to shield his eyes. He felt panic swell in his throat. But when he dropped his arm he saw that Sasha was perfectly fine.
Except that he was bound inside a runic trap that was written in manifested red glowing light on the grass. To do something like that without actually drawing the symbols required immense arcane power. It wasn’t something someone just did with a wave of their hand.
“It’ll take less energy to cast a couple dozen of those than to try holding all of the sidhe in place with TK,” Jim said, as if what he had done was nothing special. “If it works. Sasha?”
Sasha nodded, not seeming bothered that Jim had basically caged him. The incubus walked towards the edge of the trap. Like with any normal runic trap it prevented Sasha from moving further than the area the symbols covered.
“Awesome, Jim,” Sasha grinned. “You’re learning so fast.”
Maybe too fast, Nathan thought, but his brother looked so sincerely proud and sure of himself, not frightened or hesitant like he used to be.
With another wave of Jim’s hand, the red light faded and Sasha was free to move again. “Let’s go,” Jim said. He wore a tight smile but his gaze was steady.
Nathan looked back at Jim and gave his brother a firm nod. “You sure you can hold all of them with those red light traps of yours?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay. Well in case a couple slip free while you’re working your mojo…I got an idea.”
The fun part would be dropping in from the old skylight-like window on top of the roof.
Sasha was able to fly both of them up there, the wood creaking unhappily under their weight, and then once they were ready and Jim swore he knew what he was doing, the elder Grier jumped into the hole, landing unharmed and easily right on top of the platform next to the center sidhe. Snarls and something like roars erupted from the dark fae, only that center man remaining still and docile.
Jim was fast, Nathan had to give him that, because before the first of the sidhe had even thought to rush him, he had already thrown out his right arm with that same flash of red light. Over two dozen glowing runic traps formed, capturing all of the sidhe in an instant, including Mr. Super Soldier. Jim closed his eyes, raised up both hands, and concentrated.
As the process of banishing the many sidhe began, Sasha dove down through the skylight after Jim with Nathan safely in his arms. They landed just below the platform in front of Jim, and Sasha set Nathan on his feet. The incubus couldn’t risk getting caught in one of the many runic traps. His job was to stay by Jim and make sure none of the sidhe reached him should they escape. It was up to Nathan to make sure none of them got out of the building since he was the only one who could move freely throughout the room. For now they merely watched—scanning for any flickering traps. Nathan clutched his shotgun in preparation.
As Nathan had feared, the gathered and concentrated power of the sidhe was more than Jim had dealt with before. A quick glance showed sweat beading on his forehead and a deeply furrowed brow. He was having trouble holding all of the traps while trying to banish the sidhe back into the Veil at the same time.
“He looking a little strained to you?” Nathan asked the still incubus-looking Sasha.
Sasha bit his lip, his fangs pulling at the skin, but said nothing.
A louder howl erupted from somewhere near the back row of sidhe and Sasha’s wings shot out behind him, tense and ready, his claws curled as a low growl began in his throat. Nathan turned towards the sound as well and saw it. One of the outer traps was flickering.
