Magical Midlife Meeting (Leveling Up 5)

Yes, I remembered him. A man in a poncy cape had tried to grab me, but Austin, Niamh, Mr. Tom, and Edgar had shown up and saved the day.

“You needed a push,” he said, as though reading my mind. “I was that push. Not just with the caped fool, of course. I sent people into Ivy House after you. I had them loiter on the property. You fulfilled your destiny and took the magic. You were always going to. I just helped you along.” He shrugged. “Next I put out a bid for someone to kidnap you and put you in that cave. I offered just enough to bring in some decent people. Some were cleverer than others, I must admit.” He paused for a moment. “I never intended to retrieve you. You were going to be in that cave as long as you needed to be in order to escape. That was the push. You needed to figure out how to fly. Turned out, it didn’t take you any time at all. That’s when I knew Ivy House had chosen well.”

He smiled again, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“No,” I said, remembering the pain I’d gone through, the pain Austin had gone through, trying to get out of that blasted cave.

“Moving along.” His lips tightened. “The issue with the competing forces—the one that came at you from the front of the house? Those sort of…barbarian people? What was up with them? I only got a glimpse as they traveled to your town, but hello, cosplay, am I right?” He rubbed his face. “They were ridiculous. That wasn’t in the cards, actually. I got wind of them heading out there to check you out, wanting to know your relationship to me. It was bound to happen. I had to scramble a little, but I figured it was time to get the basajaun active, and for you to start working on some of Ivy House’s key vulnerabilities. Also, you know, to meet an adversary who would give you a pause.” He rubbed his chin. “It took you a while to find that deer. That guy doesn’t even like flowers. Didn’t you stop to wonder why a man was eating flowers? Just because he changes into a deer, doesn’t mean he eats like a deer.”

Austin and I both tensed, and I exchanged a glance with him. Yes, we should’ve realized that. We hadn’t. Too much had been going on.

“What do you mean, get the basajaun active?” I said, adrenaline going through me. I knew Elliot had always been a step ahead, but not just how big that step really was.

“The basajaun was always meant to be part of your journey. Fun fact, my dear friend Burke, who has been sniffing around the tunnels for the past few days, had finally found the entrance to my residence. I’m not quite sure what he planned to do there. Hide under my bed and try to kill me in my sleep? Look for incriminating evidence? Check my browser history? We’ll never know. Unless he has hidden powers we don’t know about, he got squished in the fallout from the basajaun’s cave-in. I’m not sure if I should add him to my wall, though. Technically, he wasn’t my kill… Ah, sure, I might as well, as Niamh would say.”

“How did you…get him active? Did you tell him to help me in the cave?”

“Good Lord, no! That was a shock. But then, if he was destined to be part of your journey, it makes sense he’d feel an immediate rapport with you. No, I simply gave him a reason to join your fight. I told my man and his merry band of helpers to head over the basajaun’s mountain. The vision said it would anger him.” He spread his hands. “I wasn’t sure how at first, but now I realize it takes very little to anger him. So…”

“You sent shifters to die,” Austin said with a growl.

Elliot held up a finger. “No. I sent the deer shifter to keep an eye on you, and then to get your attention when those barbarians were sniffing around. That fool Marcos collected a bunch of passive shifters and drove them to you for a distraction. Good riddance, huh? I hoped you’d take him off my hands. I won’t ask where he’s buried.”

“You’re telling me that you had no hand in that?” I asked.

“I sent the mage with the directive to kidnap you using the potions that make Ivy House vulnerable. The rest was his creation. I don’t tend to micromanage. In that situation, I wish I had.”

“What if he’d kidnapped me?”

“Your alpha probably would’ve tracked him down and killed him horribly. Or the basajaun would’ve. If all else failed, I would’ve…figured something out along the way. I wasn’t too worried, though. You always rise to the occasion.”