Mage's End

Book 3: Mages of New York

by Sean Fletcher

Genres: YA Fantasy; YA Wizards & Witches; YA Contemporary; YA Mysteries & Thrillers; YA Werewolves & Shifters; young adult fantasy; ya fantasy; mages

Synopsis

The stunning final book in the *now complete* Mage’s Apprentice series!

With darkness on their doorstep, there’s nowhere left to run.

With the evil entity Maladias preparing to invade New York, Aspen—one of the last surviving Mages of the Council—is running out of options to stop him.

She needs allies. Fast.

But gathering enough strength to oppose Maladias means calling on help from the remaining Supernaturals—Supes that have become enemies of the Mages. Supes who hate each another almost as much as they hate Aspen.

Underground armies, lost apprentices, last-ditch efforts, it all leads to this. Unite or die. Sacrifice, or everything is lost. When the final battle comes, Aspen must discover just how much she’s willing to sacrifice to win.

If she doesn’t, it will spell the end of her world and everyone she loves.

All things come to a close in Mage’s End, the third and final book in the fast-paced young adult fantasy series. If you like snarky, fast-paced fantasies full of magical underdogs, mystery, and a slow burn enemies-to-lovers romance, this series is for you!

Release date: July 30, 2019

Publisher: Epic Worlds Publishing

Print pages: 302

Sample

Chapter One—The First Encounter

The place stank of death.

Tana brought a hand up to her nose, trying to block the stench of copper and flesh wafting through the air. Even without the sensitive nose of a half Vamp, she was sure it would smell just as bad.

She jumped as a door slammed behind her, the sound echoing through the back of the cathedral, repeating itself over and over until it finally gasped into silence. She narrowed her eyes to better see into the darkness. Nothing moved. Her enhanced hearing couldn’t pick up anyone breathing. She’d come in that way. Maybe the wind had shut it…

Tana forced herself to move again. She couldn’t risk lingering. As hidden by magic as the Mage’s Council of Prague was, something evil had found it. Something evil still lurked here.

“Hello?” Tana hissed, afraid to raise her voice. “Hello? Is anyone there? I’m a friend. I can help.”

Silence answered.

The cavernous atrium of the St. Vitus cathedral was clothed in moonlight leaking through the stained-glass windows, splashing across the exquisite marble floor. The spindly candelabras glinted gold. The shadowed shapes of stone saints huddled in small alcoves. Their figures made Tana shiver. The Mages of Prague should have been meeting here tonight. They always did. That was what Tana had been told.

But many things had changed since Maladias had arrived.

Tana tiptoed between the prayer benches, heading toward the altar. Her heart pounded in her ears. She bit her bottom lip so hard her sharpened fangs cut through the thin flesh.

“Anybody there?”

Maybe they couldn’t understand English? More likely they were in hiding. In all the places she’d traveled across Europe the past couple weeks, none had been left untouched by Maladias’ presence. Since entering their world through Edinburgh, he’d commenced to wipe out the Mages there, then systematically moved on to others. Amsterdam. Berlin. Paris, Rome. All gone. She’d hoped those in Prague hadn’t met the same fate.

It wasn’t just that Maladias was destroying the supernatural community. His presence was growing so powerful that even the Norms were beginning to notice. The usual charms and hexes that kept them ignorant weren’t working as well. And she knew why. Even powerful magic couldn’t disguise buildings collapsing without warning, or entire sections of cities where Supes used to live appearing ravaged overnight. Perhaps Norms couldn’t put a finger on what exactly was causing these things, but the growing fear was palpable in the air. In Edinburgh, the lack of the Court of the Arcane Arts had made the borough residents unruly. Dangerous, even. Tana hadn’t heard of many Norms disappearing yet, but with Maladias’ dark influence spreading it was only a matter of time.

They were all running out of time.

It wouldn’t be long until he’d absorbed enough power, gained enough strength after traveling over to their realm, to attempt an attack on New York City. Once that happened, Tana was sure he’d use the city as his base camp to complete his conquest of their world. Then there really would be nothing left worth fighting for, and no one who could fight against him.

She crept across the transept to the ambulatory, hoping beyond hope she’d find someone still alive. Two thick wooden doors had been set into the stone wall, tightly shut. Tana knocked. No answer. She knocked again, harder. Then she tried the handle, applying perhaps more pressure than necessary, until the old iron grip snapped off and the door creaked open.

Someone gave a frightened cry from inside. Bodies scuffled away from her as she stepped into the room. The sharp tang of magic crackled in the air as different colored spells were conjured in terrified palms.

“Útočí! Rychle, než nás může dostat!”

“No! I’m a friend! Friend!” Tana said. “You can tru—”

She barely leapt aside as a spell blasted the wall beside her. More yelling followed, overtaken by a child crying. “I’m not Maladias!” Tana yelled.

The attack paused. Tana stayed crouching behind a table until she felt safe enough to peer over the lip.

Oh hex it all. The kids. Five of them, the oldest no more than eight, the youngest cowering behind the others, cheeks red and streaked with tears.

The oldest child stepped forward, spell still ready to cast. His eyes narrowed at her. “Who…are…you?” he asked in halting English. “You are not…bad?”

Tana kept her hands up as she slowly rose. “I’m not bad. I’m a friend. I—”

The stench of rotten flesh hit her anew, and Tana jerked her head toward the corner of the room. She nearly gasped. A man—one of the Mages, most likely—lay dead, caked in dried blood. It looked as though he’d bled out, probably in front of his students.

Tana swallowed a growing lump in her throat. She had to keep it together. This was not the time or place to grow squeamish. “Where are your other masters? Where are the other Mages?”

The boy’s face hardened, his eyes speaking of a horror he would never reveal.

“They are dead. Everybody is dead.”

The younger child sobbed louder before one of the girls managed to comfort him.

Tana’s spirits plummeted. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, letting that sink in. Another Council, gone. But at least here there were these few survivors. That was more than most. The children could have a place back at the Academy. A safe space. For now, at least—

Tana whipped back around toward the door as something moved in the cathedral’s atrium. She forced her breathing steady.

“I’m going to get you out of here,” she said, keeping her voice light. “I’ll take you somewhere safe.”

The older boy’s eyes narrowed. “Safe?” He said the word like he couldn’t believe it was possible. “Where?”

“New York City. Have you heard of it? It’s a great, big place, and a bunch of amazing people—other Supernaturals just like you—are there.”

She didn’t mention that the reason a bunch of Supes were there was because most were using it for sanctuary. Soon, New York would be the last magical stronghold left. “Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

The older boy looked back at the others. They chattered to each other in rapid-fire Czech. The older boy closed his hand around his spell, extinguishing it. “You will…take us to New York?”

Tana held up a small charm Lucien had given her to use whenever she needed to get back home: It was an ivory carving, white as bone, of one of the four winds. “I can get all of you there, one at a time. But there are too many charms in here. We need to leave the cathedral for it to work. Will you trust me?”

The older boy slowly nodded. The others followed suit.

Tana peeked out the door. She half expected to see Maladias creeping toward them—a long shadow on the ground, a disturbance of the light that signaled his twisted, dark magic—but the cathedral was empty. Only a single chandelier squeaked as it gently rocked high above them.

“This way,” Tana said. “Follow me and stay quiet.”

The children dutifully obeyed, falling into a line single-file behind her like a row of ducklings. Tana noticed that the few in the back were helping the crying one walk, encouraging him along as they slunk along the side of the nave. That was good. It meant resilience, something she hadn’t seen much of, even in adults. These kids would have a chance to recover and overcome what they’d seen here. If only she could get them out...

Something moved near the cathedral’s front doors. Tana froze, holding up a hand to stop the children. One of the girls whimpered. The older boy stood in line with Tana, face set, spell coming back to life in his hand.

“No!” Tana hissed, closing his hand. “No magic! It won’t be strong enough to work on him!”

“Not…strong?” The boy looked horrified. Perhaps he hadn’t understood all of what she’d said, but he’d gotten the gist of it.

Tana waved for them to stay behind, then slowly approached where she thought she’d seen movement. She told herself it could just be a late church-goer, perhaps someone coming to say their prayers. At two in the morning. In a locked cathedral.

She elongated her nails, holding them up and ready to strike. Taking a deep breath, she swung around the nearest pillar.

No one was there.

Tana jumped as one of the front doors creaked open, letting in a cool blast of night air. The chandelier overhead swung even more crazily. Tana caught the whiff of incense, tinged with another fresh bloom of flesh and blood.

One of the children screamed.

Tana whirled around, heart tightening in her chest as the children began to wail louder. She could see their vague forms where she’d left them in the dark, see them stumbling back from a shadowed figure that had manifested in their midst. The little boy who’d been crying sobbed harder as a pale hand reached from the darkness, wrapped around his throat, and dragged him into the shadows. His cries fell silent.

“NO!”

Tana bounded forward, swiping at the figure’s head. It easily sidestepped, like liquid reforming in a glass, its form easily melting around her attack and then taking shape once more. The shadows around them teemed with movement, and Tana realized, with growing horror, that the darkness was coming alive. She could see inside it; see the eyes of the monsters hidden there, see their teeth, their thoughts to rip, shred, kill. The children were still screaming and Tana clamped her hands over her ears as their cries rose louder and louder. She couldn’t bear to hear them anymore! She couldn’t—

They fell silent.

Tana swung around. The figure stood alone in the center of the nave, watching her. The children were nowhere to be found. She nearly fell to her knees. First the Mages, now them. Consumed, as though they’d never been there at all.

The darkness continued creeping up on her from all sides. The figure grinned, showing off his yellow stained teeth.

“It looks as though I missed some the first time. And how delicious they were! But you…I don’t sense any magic like that from you. Were you here to try to stop me?”

The figure stepped into the light and Tana took a horrified step back.

“Xavier!”

They’d warned her about this. She’d heard stories from Edinburgh about a figure who was Maladias, but wore the body of Xavier, former Mage of the Council of Mages. Isak Uchida’s old master.

Xavier’s bald head was crisscrossed with wicked, pulpy scars, his permanent scowl appearing even more piercing now that his eyes glowed an inhuman gold; eyes that tried to pin her in place.

Tana gripped her magical charm harder. Lucien had given her enough for a few jumps back to New York. But she couldn’t use it if she couldn’t get outside; if she couldn’t get past Maladias.

Maladias raised both of Xavier’s hands and looked down at them. Wisps of magic dripped from the fingertips, hissing as they hit the floor.

“Yes, I suppose this form is the one you used to call Xavier. If you are one of this world’s attempts to stop me, I must confess I’m not impressed. For eons I have traveled between the planes, devouring what I wished, destroying those who opposed me. Though my body on this plane is less than ideal, it will be more than enough to take what I need.”

“We-we’re going to stop you.” Tana hated how her voice came out: cracked and scared. Like a little girl, not someone who could fight. “You won’t hurt anyone else. You won’t kill anyone else. We won’t let you.”

Maladias let out a high, cold laugh. “And how do you intend to do that? Will the Mages destroy me? Foolish girl, my Kings might not have killed all of them, but the Mages are weak now. Scattered to the four winds like used up husks. There is nothing they can do.”

His eyes turned to pitiless slits. “Perhaps…” he hissed, voice turning dangerously low, “perhaps it would be good to let you go. A messenger to warn any who dare try to cross my path.”

Tana took a step back, just as Maladias closed his fingers into a fist. Tana choked as the air was yanked from her lungs. Stars danced in her vision. “Or perhaps as the message.”

With the last bit of her strength, Tana managed to grip one of the pews beside her and launch it at him, her enhanced Vampee strength causing it to splinter as it hit. Maladias merely brushed the wood remnants aside, that eerie smile still on his lips.

“You still have some fight. Excellent.”

Tana ran.

She wasn’t sure if the cathedral had a side door but she sprinted toward the nearest nave regardless, hurling candlesticks and uprooting pews in a pathetic attempt to slow him down. But when she looked back, Maladias merely floated above it all, still smiling, like a parent amused at their child’s attempts to look strong.

A sob wrenched itself from Tana’s throat. She couldn’t die here! Aspen was waiting for her. Lucien was waiting for her. Isak, Nina, everyone else in New York. Her home. She couldn’t leave them, not like this.

Tana tried turning to attack once more, just as an enormous weight slammed into her from the side. She felt a rib snap, the bloom of pain overtaking any of her other senses as she careened across the cathedral, smashing into pews, toppling over tables before skidding to a stop. She heard Maladias’ laugh as she tried to pick herself up. The pain was so great she couldn’t think straight. If she’d been a Norm, she’d certainly be dead.

“New York will be next,” Maladias said, brushing aside the wreckage as he made his way toward her. “The final stronghold of this world’s magic. How I’ve longed to claim it as my own, and now it’s in my grasp.”

Tana glanced over her shoulder, fighting to keep her vision steady. She could almost thank Maladias. His last attack had knocked her near the front door. If she could get her broken body to cooperate it was only a dozen feet until freedom.

Maladias brushed another pew aside. Tana sucked in a large, agonizing breath, then pulled out the second charm Lucien had given her. The one he’d said was a pain in the butt to make; the one he’d made her promise she’d only use in emergencies.

Tana figured this qualified.

With trembling hands, she thrust it out toward Maladias. The sudden blast of light that shot from it left her partially blinded. The spell slammed into Maladias’ chest, but Tana didn’t wait to see its effect. She hurled herself toward the cathedral door, glancing back only once to see if he was still after her.

Maladias stood exactly where he had before, completely untouched. He looked at his hands, then down at his unmarred chest. His entire body flickered, so fast Tana thought she’d imagined it. She nearly stopped, just to make sure. It happened again. One moment, Maladias was there, the next he vanished, only to reappear a moment later.

“Impossible,” she heard him murmur.

Tana hit the doors, pushing as hard as her bruised arms would allow. She could feel Maladias’ gaze snap back to her, feel the pressure drop as he approached.

“You will not escape me. No one escapes me—”

With a cry of fear, Tana gave one last, monumental shove, practically breaking the door off its hinges as she threw herself through it and into the crisp night air. She reached for the teleportation charm dangling around her neck. Her mouth formed the words to work the spell at the same time she heard Maladias’ cruel voice utter a spell of his own. A tug pulled at her gut just as piercing pain sliced into her back.

Her world went black.

 

 

Chapter Two—An Inconvenient Truce

“You don’t have to do this.”

Aspen looked over at Isak, keeping pace beside her as they walked down the bejeweled corridor. His brooding scowl made the black, claw-like tattoos running from his left forehead down to his shoulder stretch tighter than normal. “I mean, even Lucien said you don’t have to. You don’t need to be here.”

“Ah… are you pouting?” Aspen said, voice teasing despite the uncomfortable clench in her chest. “For little ol’ me?”

Isak furiously brushed away the black hair slashing across his eyes. If Aspen hadn’t been so worried about where they were headed, she’d have definitely thought it was hot.

“Aspen…this is serious.”

He was pouting.

 “We both know I don’t have to,” Aspen said. “But I want to. You know as well as I do that this is the best chance for help we have right now.”

“But not our only one.”

“But our best,” Aspen repeated. “And I want to be here for it.”

Isak let out a frustrated sigh, but he didn’t argue. Aspen wouldn’t have listened to him if he did. If what they were doing went south fast she’d never forgive herself for not having been here to help protect him and the others.

Ahead of them strode Lucien and Nina. Lucien’s body was bedecked in one of his usual robes, his honey-gold hair swept elegantly back, his expression as aloof and unflustered as always. His pale skin was in sharp contrast to Nina’s caramel-brown; her severely tied hair bun contrasted with his free locks. Nina’s forearms were inked with mehndi tattoos, her wrists missing her usual folding scythe knives.

They’d been forced to leave their weapons at the door. Aspen already missed the familiar weight of the Dakri knife she usually kept tucked beneath her oversized leather jacket. She brushed her silver hair out of her eyes as they slowed at the entrance to the next chamber. It was flanked by a Fae guard on either side. Unlike the cherub-like creatures Aspen had had the misfortune of encountering her first time in the Night Court, these Fae were human-like, over six feet tall and almost physically flawless. The air around them glistened with glamour. They stood so rigid Aspen could almost mistake them for marble statues.

The Fae gave Aspen’s group a cursory glance for any final weapons (as though they’d forgotten all of them could use magic) then pushed the doors open and let them inside.

The grand hall of the Night Court gave a new meaning to extravagance. Thousands of glittering crystals pirouetted in the dark midair overhead, throwing lighted reflections of winged dancers across the balconies ringing the walls. A light, tinkling breeze carried a scent of roses and something…something Aspen couldn’t place, but which rested on the tip of her tongue and lingered, sweet as honey. A high throne sat at the opposite end of the hall, a table big enough for four placed before it.

And on the throne…Segur, Queen of the Unseelie Fae.

Aspen’s steps faltered. No. She had to keep moving. She’d told herself a dozen times she wouldn’t react like this. Segur could undoubtedly sniff out weakness, and in the Night Court of the Unseelie Fae, weakness was quickly, violently snuffed out. Even still, seeing the Queen again had briefly taken Aspen back to that time not so long ago when she’d been trapped deep beneath the earth—a dark place so different from this bright, glittering world. She couldn’t help remembering Segur’s face, leering as she tortured Aspen, trying to coax Aspen’s latent Null powers into manifesting so Segur could use her as a weapon. And she’d succeeded. Just not in the way she’d expected.

Aspen tried moving forward, but her feet were locked in place. She felt Isak’s warm hand on her back. His concerned eyes repeated, You don’t have to do this.

Yes, she did. And they both knew it. They were running out of time. And out of options.

“Queen Segur,” Lucien said, giving a shallow bow. “You’re looking spectacular as always. Is it a new moisturizer, perhaps?”

Segur’s face curled up in a cruel smile, making her flawless skin glisten almost like diamonds. “I think any way I look would be much better than our last meeting, Mage Lucien.”

“You mean the last time when you kidnapped my apprentice and tortured her before I managed to intervene?” Lucien said, unabashed. “I agree, I think we’re both feeling much better since that incident. I trust you’ve recovered since then?”

Segur’s slender fingers twitched toward her delicate neck, where Aspen could almost imagine the imprint of Lucien’s fingers where he’d choked her. “Oh yes. More than I’m sure you know. But let’s not have a repeat, shall we?”

Segur flicked her hand. A great boom echoed through the hall as dozens of Fae soldiers stepped out of the shadows of the balcony, spears held casually in their hands. Aspen swallowed her sudden spike of fear as she tried to get an exact number. She lost count after twenty. Way more than she was sure four magic users could take on. At least not without someone getting seriously hurt.

Segur’s grin widened. She gestured to the table. “Please. Have a seat and fill me in on this… amusing offer of yours.”

Aspen sat, trying to keep as many of the soldiers in her sight as possible. In the face of so many potential enemies, the magic bubbling beneath her skin itched to be used. Her familiar, Loki, a shadow dancer that helped her control it, gave a soothing purr from where he lay hidden beneath the nape of her neck.

“You know what’s going on in New York,” Nina started. “I’m sure you keep up to date on current events.”

Segur leaned back in her throne. “The happenings in those other boroughs don’t usually affect me, if that’s what you’re getting at, Mage Nina. Or should it be ‘Mage’ at all? From what I hear, the Council is down to just you four. The Kings of Maladias saw to that. I wonder…What would the other Supes think if they knew their only supposed salvation sat in one place, lined up nice and neat before my throne?”

The guards shuffled closer to the edges of the balcony. Aspen slowed her breathing, uncurling one hand beneath the table. She began to conjure the barest whisper of a spell.

“So you’ve heard about the Kings,” Nina went on, unperturbed. “Which means you know about Maladias. Then you also know he’s going to make his way to New York. Soon. We’re guessing it won’t be more than a week.”

“I’ll make this easier for you: What do I care of the other boroughs’ disputes?” Segur said.

“If they fall you fall!” Aspen burst out. “You can’t hide in here behind your magic forever. Maladias is way stronger than that. He’ll break it down and—”

Isak lay a calming hand on her thigh. “What Mage Aspen is trying to say is that you can only stay hidden for so long. Even the Fae can’t evade Maladias.”

“I highly doubt that,” Segur said.

“Queen Segur,” Lucien said. “This might just be a silly assumption, but you wouldn’t happen to be thinking of allying with Maladias, would you?”

The air in the room stiffened. Segur’s eyes, for just the barest moment, flickered to Lucien. There was a fury behind them. “I am not. Why would you propose such a thing, Mage Lucien?”

“Oh, just a thought. If we’re speaking candidly, the Unseelie Fae haven’t always been the most…cooperative with the other Supes in the past. You seek power, and Maladias’ entire purpose here on Earth is to steal our magic for himself. In that way I’d say your goals align. And…” Lucien gave her a charming grin. “Again, forgive my candidness, but the Unseelie Fae did always consider themselves to be better than everyone else.”

Segur let out a tinkling laugh that sent goosebumps racing down Aspen’s arms. “And what do the other supernatural beings know of the power of the Fae? We, whose magic is older than time itself, whose abilities defy their comprehension?”

“The Council has allowed the Fae to stay in New York, as long as they follow the law—”

“The Council is gone!” Segur was on her feet, the train of her dress rising behind her like a scorpion’s stinger. “Mage Simshar is dead, he who was a half-Fae undesirable, who was overtaken by the King. He was weak. We are not. You dare come in here and call for help, when you have nothing to offer me in return, when the Mages are dead and you have no power to back up your words? It’s pathetic.”

Aspen half stood as the guards’ spears tilted down toward them. Isak tensed beside her. Nina worried her bottom lip, looking beyond pissed that she’d agreed to leave her knives behind.

“Well, if you didn’t want to help, you could have said it in a nicer way,” Lucien said, brushing the hem of his robe aside and crossing his legs. “You’re very dramatic, you know that?”

Aspen held her breath, watching Segur, who looked as though she wanted nothing more than to blast Lucien right off his seat. Then she broke out in another smile. It didn’t make Aspen feel any better.

“I wonder…have you requested the same help from my sister?”

“The Seelie Fae of the Day Court aren’t around right now,” Isak said.

Segur nodded like she’d already known that. “Oh yes, the cold of winter drives the Day Court back to their warm holes, doesn’t it? They find a new plane of existence, a world far from here, to hibernate until the storm has subsided.”

Segur snapped her fingers. The crystals overhead drew together, melding with one another until they created a single pane of near-invisible glass. But instead of showing the hall’s ceiling, the other side revealed the topside of Central Park. A bitter wind bit through the trees, making them shiver. Aspen squinted, swearing she saw the barest hint of a snow flurry.

Segur drew a fingernail across her chin, musing. “How interesting it is that my sister leaves now, when you’re in your hour of greatest need.”

“We’re not here to place blame,” Nina said. “We just want to know if you can help us. Some of the other boroughs have agreed—”

“I’ve told you, I’m not the other boroughs,” Segur snarled. “You think uniting them will help? I know what your real goal is, Mages, oh yes. You put so much trust in unity and common good, but where has that been since the Council has crumbled?”

Aspen swallowed a growing lump in her throat. Lucien had been worried about this. Most of the other magical boroughs had grown unruly since the Mages’ deaths. Some had stopped listening to their authority altogether. Old Supe disputes and turf wars had started back up again—the orcs encroaching on dwarven territory, the ghouls feeding outside of their allotted time. There simply wasn’t enough manpower to quell them all. It was as if Maladias’ dark influence was spreading here, even before he’d arrived.

“We need to work together if we’re going to have any hope of our lives going back to the way they were,” Lucien said.

“I know what we have now’s not perfect,” Aspen admitted. “But it’s better than nothing.”

“You’ve already lost, you just don’t know it,” Segur said. She gently lowered herself back into her throne. “No, I will not help you. What you’re trying to do is stupid at best.”

“I heard you can travel to other planes,” Lucien said. “Is that true?”

Aspen glanced over at him. Well that was a sudden change of tack.

Darkness began leaking from the edges of Segur’s dress, pooling at her feet. It seemed the cold from the surface had come below as the temperature in the room plummeted. “Your questions go too far. I will not help you. I do not fear you any more, Mages. You’ve lost all your power.”

Nina’s chair scraped as she stood. “Then I think we’re done here.”

Aspen and the others quickly stood along with her, but Segur rose as well, making Aspen pause, bristling. The Queen of the Unseelie Fae looked from Aspen, to Isak, to Nina, until they rested on Lucien. Aspen could see an internal battle waging on her perfect, flawless face. Nobody spoke. Aspen shifted from foot to foot, growing more uncomfortable as the seconds passed, wishing something, anything, would break the stalemate.

“We’ll let ourselves out,” Lucien finally said.

“Will you?” Segur said.

Lucien’s smile didn’t falter. “Please consider our plea for assistance. Your Court is in bigger danger than you think.”

Segur’s eyebrows rose, but before she could snarl a retort, Lucien swept on his heels, cloak flapping, and strode toward the door they’d entered, the balcony guards’ spear-tips following them the entire way. Aspen expected at any moment to hear the hiss of spears flying through the air, but the next second Lucien was out the door and out of immediate danger.

“Our turn,” Isak muttered.

Aspen took a deep breath and followed him across the hall and out. She could feel Segur’s hateful eyes burning a hole in her back the entire way.

                                                            ***

“Well…That didn’t go exactly how I planned,” Lucien said.

Aspen let out a derisive snort. Her heart was still doing jumping jacks in her chest. Her skin tingled from the remnants of Fae magic, or perhaps from where she’d imagined their spears’ tips piercing her flesh.

“No kidding. Who would have thought Segur wouldn’t listen to reason?”

“We knew she wouldn’t,” Nina said, pulling them to a stop on the corner of 82^nd and Amsterdam. She shook her head, as though mentally berating herself. “I screwed up. I showed my hand in there: we really are running out of options, but I shouldn’t have let on how badly we needed her.” She clenched her fists. “It was stupid!”

“Easy…” Lucien said, pulling her into a side hug and planting a kiss on her forehead. Aspen noticed his hand was shaking, but he quickly hid it within the folds of Nina’s shirt. “You did just fine. You all did,” he added, giving Aspen a proud nod. “I know how hard that must have been for you in there. You handled yourself well.”

Isak clasped Aspen’s hand as the light changed and they crossed with the rest of the crowd. “I never doubted.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Aspen said. “I did enough doubting for both of us.”

He let out a deep chuckle, before glancing somewhat worriedly up at the sky. He’d been doing that a lot lately. They all had. With the protective wards around New York practically destroyed, Aspen half expected to see Maladias come soaring in at any moment. As it was, the sky the past week had been a continuous slate gray, clouds thick and churning. The news said it was an errant weather system. Aspen wished that were true.

For the moment, she tried to bury her worry in the surrounding hum and thrum of city life, soaking up the sights and sounds of a New York alive during mid-day rush hour. Per usual, Lucien and his robe received more than a few curious—sometimes outright aggressive—stares. But most people kept to themselves. Cars honked and screeched. Conversations dipped in and out of her hearing. Despite the hidden, growing chaos around them, life among the Norm world of New York droned on and Aspen let herself be carried along with it.

“Ah, here we go. Perfect!”

They stopped in front of a bagel shop. Lucien pulled out some cash and handed it to Isak. “I’m sure we’re starving. Why don’t you all go buy us a little snack and I’ll get in touch with the Academy and let them know we’re coming.”

Nina nodded. Isak reluctantly took the money and, after giving him a somewhat curious look, followed her inside.

“Go ahead,” Lucien said, giving Aspen a blinding grin. She wasn’t buying it. Over the past few months she’d grown pretty good at reading the subtleties in people’s emotions, even someone as inscrutable as Lucien, who always seemed able to hide what he was truly feeling behind a bright smile and joke.

“Aspen, why don’t you go—”

“The Academy doesn’t need to know you’re coming. Since Philus died you’ve practically become their headmaster.”

“Nonsense! That’s just a formality until we can find a replacem—”

“What’s really up?”

“Nothing’s up!”

“You’re lying.”

There it was: the barest crack in his façade. “Lucien,” Aspen went on in a gentler tone. “Come on, you know you can tell me. Heck, you can tell any of us. Nina especially. She’ll kill you if she finds you’re keeping something from her.”

Lucien chuckled. “I suppose she will.” But he didn’t go on, and he didn’t explain. He didn’t need to; Aspen had been having the same nagging thoughts.

“It’s worse than we thought, isn’t it?” she said quietly.

“Much worse,” Lucien agreed, sighing. “The Necropolis has pretty much cut off all contact to us and any other borough. New Salem and the Coven have closed their doors. The giants and ogres of Brindle’s Spire, well…”

“They’re the giants and ogres,” Aspen finished. That was an answer unto itself.

“And now the Court,” Lucien finished. “And Segur’s right, we should have asked the Queen of the Seelie Fae when we had the chance. But now that she’s gone…” His shoulders dropped just a fraction of an inch. “We’re running low on allies.”

“You asked Segur something back there…” Aspen said. “She said the Seelie Fae can travel to another plane, and you wanted to know if she could do that too. Why?”

Lucien shrugged. “I was curious to see if it was possible. Despite being sister Fae, the Day and Night Courts don’t always share the same types of abilities. I wanted to get a feel for the extent of her powers.”

Another thought, a darker thought, rose to Aspen’s lips. “You think we should be worried about her, don’t you? About her allying with Maladias, I mean.”

Lucien didn’t say anything, but that was answer enough. In that moment, the once-comforting metal and glass walls of skyscrapers and streetlights surrounding her didn’t feel so safe. Instead of a metal fortress protecting them it felt like they were closing in, becoming more of a cage. Maladias was one thing. He was clearly the enemy, an outsider. Aspen knew what he wanted, and that, she supposed, was somewhat comforting.

But she had no clue what Segur, or any of the other boroughs, wanted should they decide to turn on them. The Supes that had once been relatively peaceful were transforming her home into a den of wolves.

“It’s not all that bad,” Lucien said, as though reading her mind. “Not yet. But there’s something else, something that’s got me thinking…I’ll need to check the Academy library.”

“For what?”

Lucien was quiet for a moment. He glanced around as though they might be overheard, though there was nobody there except for a businessman talking loudly on his phone. “There have been…rumors of something. Something I think that might, might, give us a little advantage.”

Aspen leaned in closer. Lucien paused, as though building up to a dramatic reveal. “I saw it in the Academy archives, something called a Stone Army. Have you heard of it?”

“I…don’t think so,” Aspen said. She racked her brain for any old memory that had to do with something like that. “An army? Here? That sounds like more than a little advantage.”

“It could be all myth and superstition.” Lucien flashed her a grin. “But like most myths, it might mean nothing, or…it might mean everything.”

“But what does that—”

“Here’s your bagel.” Isak emerged from the shop with Nina in tow. “And my time as errand boy is up.”

Aspen waited expectantly for Lucien to finish answering her, but he was already back to his normal cheery self. He took his bagel from Nina and downed it in a couple swift bites.

“Aspen?” Isak said. He held hers out. Reluctantly, Aspen pulled herself away from Lucien.

“Thanks,” she said, holding out her hand expectantly. With a mischievous gleam in his eye, Isak instead stuffed the bagel into her mouth.

“I—Isak!”

His laugh echoed down the street.

***

Lucien double-checked no one was paying them any attention before crossing the Lincoln Center’s courtyard and going around the back to a blank brick wall. He found the symbol for the Academy of Magic—a triangle with a single peering eye, a crescent moon hanging over its right side—and placed his hand over it. The symbol flared to life and the bricks shifted aside, allowing them to step inside the Academy’s entry hall.

“Mage Lucien!”

They hadn’t made it halfway down the hall before one of the Academy students—Nick or Noah or something like that (Aspen always had trouble remembering their names)—came rushing around the corner, huffing and puffing. “I’m—so glad—you’re back. There’s something—”

Lucien put a hand up. “Let me stop you there, Noah. First, any news of Tana?”

Noah faltered, caught off guard. “Uh, no, sir, not yet. I asked about her, but nobody who’s been over to any of the European Councils have seen any sign of her.”

The familiar bite of worry crept back into Aspen’s mind. She knew Tana had insisted she go off alone to try to rally any remaining Supes while they stayed behind to defend New York. But Aspen still chided herself for not saying something more. For not insisting she go with her.

“They haven’t seen her at all?” Lucien clarified.

“No sir, I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay, Lucien,” Nina said, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “You know Tana can take care of herself.”

“She’s only been gone a week or so,” Isak added.

“But she hasn’t checked in the last couple days,” Lucien said. He gently brushed off Nina’s hand. “I told her to check in every day. With Maladias still out there…”

Noah was staring at him, wide-eyed. Lucien sighed before straightening up and putting on another grin. “It’s all right. Please let me know as soon as you hear anything.”

“Of—of course, but there’s something else…”

“There’s always something else,” Lucien said, starting to walk once more toward the main hall, forcing Noah to practically jog to keep up. “Let me guess; the orcs put in another request for Mage Aspen to listen to their turf disputes?”

 “Absolutely not,” Aspen said.

“It’s not that, sir,” Noah said.

“Has the pixie guild come back with new demands?”

“I talked with them yesterday,” Nina said. She grimaced. “Little suckers tried to bite me.”

“That’s…not it either, sir,” Noah said.

“Then please tell me you’ve stumbled across a lost stockpile of magic that will allow us to re-summon the wards around the city,” Lucien said.

“That would be nice, but…no, sir, it’s actually…”

Aspen entered the entrance hall and screeched to a halt.

The normally wide hall looked even more massive without the usual clusters of students crossing to their classes, as they should have been doing around this time. The large-paned windows at the far end cast sunlight down into the center of the marble floor, onto where three figures stood, waiting. All of them turned when the group walked in.

“You have visitors,” Noah finished. “They say…they say they were Mage Xavier’s apprentices.”

Aspen’s jaw dropped. One of the figures—the girl—lip pierced, half her head shaved, fishnet gloves running up her arms—snapped a wad of bubble gum in her mouth. Her eyes narrowed on Aspen. One of the boys, his skin dark as night, with golden paint ringing his eyes, gave an approving nod toward them. The other appeared to be swallowed by a hoodie, his tight jeans making his legs look like strings of spaghetti.

“’Bout time you got here,” the girl said.

“Oh hex it all,” Isak gasped. It was a gasp that sounded less surprised, and more as though the three people in front of him were confirming something he already suspected.

“Wait, you know them?” Aspen said.

Isak could only gape at them while she gaped at him. Xavier’s apprentices? Never once, in all their talks, had he mentioned anything like that.

Golden paint boy, Abram, stepped forward. “Isak…We heard what happened to Xavier. We heard he’s dead.”

“Dead and gone!” The girl cackled. She summoned a spell as skinny jeans did the same, the air crackling with magic. “And that means you’re next!”