Page 49 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
As soon as I had the thought, my hand touched a brass candle holder, and I felt a surge of magic fly toward me. With a gasp, I yanked the candle holder closer to examine it.
“Holy shit, did you feel that?” I asked the room.
Miles shook his head. “No.”
Lyric said, “I felt a small surge of magic.” They came closer to me. “Huh. It’s definitely stronger in this area. We gotta be close then.”
It didn’t take long for me to realize the brass candle holder wasn’t what I was looking for. There wasn’t an ounce of magic in it.
So I went back to the shelf I’d found it on. The strength of the magic I felt was undeniable. And it was definitely coming from this area.
The three of us checked everything on that shelving unit with no luck.
“I think… I think it’s coming from behind the shelf,” I said. “It feels the strongest in the back area of the shelf, so maybe it’s behind it?”
“I think you’re right,” Lyric said.
Miles shrugged. “I can feel something, sort of, but I’m not great at feeling out magic. I… I haven’t had a lot of practice with other magic types.”
“That’s okay. That’s what you have Lyr and me for.”
He sent me a small smile.
The two of them didn’t hesitate to help me move the shelf out of the way. It was a little tricky with both of them keeping one hand on me, but we managed.
Miles let out a long whistle. “Well, I think we found the culprit.”
I stepped to the side of the shelf, sticking close to Miles, and got a good look at what he was staring at.
In the middle of the concrete wall, there was a large circular metal seal. It almost looked like a gigantic coin in the wall, if a coin was twelve inches in diameter. There was a strange symbol in the center that sort of reminded me of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, although I doubted that was what it was. I stepped closer and noticed writing in a strange language all the way around the outside of the seal.
I’d never seen or even heard of anything like this before, but it was hella powerful magic.
It gave me the creeps, and I had the feeling if I could read the writing around it, I’d be even more creeped out than I already was.
The worst part of it, though, was how it made me feel.
I was a null, magic couldn’t harm me, but even I could feel something almost slimy-like crawling over my skin and trying to find its way in. Slimy and dark and gross and evil.
I hated it, I hated the feeling, and I hated that it had to be affecting both Lyric and Miles even worse than it was me.
So before either of them could protest, I released both of them and quickly reached out to put my palm on the seal.
The evil, heavy, slimy magic died out instantaneously.
Miles took a deep breath and glanced around, taking everything in with a smile. He seemed relieved and happy.
“Wow, you did it. You broke the magic. It doesn’t feel so heavy in here anymore.”
Lyric nodded and walked over to give Miles a quick side-hug—why? I had no idea, but Miles smiled, so that was good. My nullness must’ve still been in effect so he didn’t feel anything from them.
“He’s right,” they said. “The air’s lighter, and I can’t feel that evil magic anymore.”
My shoulders sagged. “Good. That’s a relief.”
I pulled my hand away from the seal, and the heaviness came back with a vengeance. The sudden change took my breath away, and I was knocked backward a few steps. I staggered, and my head got all fuzzy, and by the time I shook it away, Lyric and Miles were at each other’s throats.
Miles was towering over Lyric even though he was only three inches taller than them, and Lyric was pushing on his chest, looking like they were about to throw a punch or maybe even strangle my guy-I-wanted-to-date.
