Mentored in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

My mind wandered, considering everything I’d learned here, trying to find a lesson that could be applied. A key that would loosen this spell and make it as easy to pull down as the fog must’ve been. As easy to pull down as the castle illusions. What had made them different…

“The dragon shape is clear now,” Cahal said, apparently our timekeeper.

“Lucifer is flying beside it, a separate entity,” Darius murmured.

“Super,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut, working and thinking, poring over everything. Plunging holes in the spell, working on its weaknesses, pointing the way for Penny and Emery to exploit any flaws, of which there were virtually none.

“Lucifer looks like he is rejoining the dragon,” Darius murmured.

I glanced back, heart speeding up. Lucifer changed shape mid-flight, turned, and lowered onto the dragon, the shift as seamless as a magnet clicking onto metal.

Beginner’s luck, my left foot. We’ve got work to do, Archion, I thought, not sure whether I was close enough to be heard. He didn’t answer.

“Shall I get on Coppelia and get in their way?” Cahal asked.

You are not enough, Archion said. Clearly he’d heard me just fine. I relayed what he’d said. I will go.

“Wait. Just wait a minute,” I said, working faster, pouring everything into it. “Wait, let’s see if we can—”

“Saphira wants to go with Archion to stall Lucifer and Tatsu,” Penny reported.

“We’re not making much headway.” Emery laid more spell. It barely ate away at the barrier. “We can’t work fast enough. We need more time. A lot more time.”

Let them go, Darius thought to me, clearly not wanting to usurp my authority here by saying it out loud. If you don’t, we have no chance.

“There must be a way,” I said, biting my lip, racing through every memory stored in my head. “There must be. How did he make it so strong and those other spells so…” I rolled over a thought, then backed up and analyzed it. The flower, hovering over my palm. The walls I’d created in the castle. The ice and fire magical blockades I’d put up at the doors of my chambers. I hadn’t anchored any of them. I’d done some pretty good, delicate weaves, but I hadn’t anchored a single one.

Mages’ spells, when not properly anchored, were weaker. They were much easier to tear down.

The illusions in the Realm were anchored to the ground, even in places that didn’t require it.

Anchoring gave strength.

I looked down at the base of the wall, way down into the very foundation of this place. Up at the top, it had been the same thing. He’d rooted this thing down into the floor and nailed it all around.

I spun, looking at the endless miles of desolate, sandy beach. Of the piers, only one in sight. The sky, covering the cave ceiling. None of those illusions were as finely wrought. They’d been slapped up, almost, just like many of the castle walls. They’d been good enough for the moment. He’d probably intended to repair everything once he came back to take down this wall.

“Tear it down.” I pulled at our surroundings—the bank, the docks—picking through the illusions easily, eroding them with holes and cracks and crevices. Destroying the base for the roots. “Take away the foundation, weaken the spell.”

Penny’s eyebrows pinched together, but Emery wasted no time. Magic flew from his hands immediately, helping me with the beach. Finally, Penny joined in with gusto, understanding what we were doing.

“Go get the ceiling,” Emery said, and he jerked his head at Archion.

I took a running leap onto Archion, my hovering ability kicking in, and up we went, climbing quickly. At the top, I yanked and tore at the spell, pulling it down. Roots hung down through the rock and dirt on the ceiling, little spiderwebs of life. Water pooled in areas. I watched a drop wobble on the end of a glistening rock and let go, falling to the ground far below.

I’d ponder how all of this was possible later.

Black wings beat at the sky, Tatsu so close. Lucifer on her back, looking straight at me.

“Oh crap, get to the ground, hurry!” I said, Archion diving immediately. I held on, willing him to go faster—willing myself to go faster. “Oh crap, oh crap.”

I landed in a rush and stumbled to the others, continuing to break through Lucifer’s magic work. The desolate ground pulled back to reveal weeds and dirt and sand, with clumps of clay holding moisture. The dying illusion raced toward the docks, and several emerged from the haze, and then all of them, the boats tied to their docks, the Boatmen looking our way. The turbulent sea was slowly exposed, rolling and racing past.

“Good, good. Hurry, guys, we have to hurry.” I cleared the rest of the illusion away and then refocused on the thick wall in front of us. “All you’ve got. The dragons can do the work after this. Fast as you can.”