Magical Midlife Madness (Leveling Up 1)

Niamh swooshed down from the air, sending them rolling out of the way. One stayed stuck to her horn, which was not a good look. She beat her great wings and flew farther right before dipping down again. A body flew up in her wake.

Austin did not slow for those rushing us. He did not alter course. He ran at them, speed and lumbering power. Once close enough, he batted them away with his front paw, almost a lazy effort. The enemy flew to the side, his head now on sideways, his body crumpling to the ground. Two more were trampled, and when I looked back, I saw that they did not get up, probably gouged by Austin’s six-inch-long claws.

Mr. Tom swooped down beside us, ripping into an enemy before grabbing another and flinging him screaming to the side.

My stomach swam. The house beckoned, screaming warnings about the strangers inside. Begging me to come to its aid.

Everyone had an agenda, and I guessed I was buying into this one.

Near the back door of the house, Austin swiped someone out of the way and dove onto his stomach. I jumped off, landed on my feet like I was born to this—then tumbled and skidded on my face. I might not be fast or be able to run for a long time just yet, but I was damned good at falling, bruising, and then getting back up.

With me off his back, Austin rose up to his hind legs, his size now dwarfing everyone. His roar shook my bones. Adrenaline coursed through my blood. And then he launched into action, ripping through enemy bodies like they were paper. Batting them away like flies.

A few foolish souls stopped running to cower at Austin, and Niamh swooped down at them, smashing with her sparkly golden hooves and piercing with her beautiful crystalline horn. Edgar dashed in behind her, clamping onto one person, stunning them, and then grabbing someone else, not so great at fighting but very good at a vampire’s equivalent of sucker punching. Mr. Tom held up his end of the bargain, as well, but I remembered their ages.

I remembered they couldn’t last forever, and there were still many more enemies to conquer and expel.Twenty-NineThe back door should’ve been locked, but the handle turned easily in my palm. I pulled it open and slipped inside, locking it behind me. The solid pulse of the house greeted me, deep and pure, vibrating through my body like a second heart.

Danger echoed down the hall to my left—no sound or voices, just a presence. To my right, the wallpaper crawled, outlining a pattern. A door. The handle was as clear as day, a little button and a thick groove.

Moments later, I stepped into a secret space and closed the door behind me, the soft click of the door comforting. I hadn’t found this particular passageway in the last couple of days, but I remembered it. I remembered scrubbing the cobwebs from my face and telling Diana, “Just a little farther. I think it’s just a little farther.”

“What is?” she’d asked.

“Just a little farther.”

Pressure built against my back, and lightly sucked at my front. I started forward, hoping my friends were okay. Knowing the dozen people loitering inside the house would probably go out and help. Knowing that at some point, the effort would be too great for my aging friends. Austin Steele couldn’t do it alone.

Faster.

I could almost hear the whisper. The urgency. But like before, it wasn’t a voice, per se, more of a feeling. The house speaking.

I slowed as I neared the end of the passageway, feeling the pressure change. Feeling that gentle suction—stronger with every step—urging me to slip into a little alcove I couldn’t see. One I remembered from the past.

In the past, I had been quite a bit smaller.

I turned sideways and ducked, hoping to hell I didn’t get stuck.

The floor sloped downward quickly. The walls jutted outward, the tunnel getting wider, wood turning to stone, stone turning to rock. The jagged edges scraped my arms. The rough floor tried to catch my feet. Still I pushed on, feeling that pressure behind me, pushing. Feeling the pulse ahead, pulling, urging me to take what it was ready to freely give.

“Okay, but here’s the thing.” I held out a finger as I ducked through the last little bit of tunnel and into a cavern made of rock and stone. The ceiling curved over me in a roughly hewn arch. A wrought iron light fixture dangled from a thick chain directly above a rock outcropping. Within it glowed a blue orb, the same sort that lit all of the house’s secret passages.

Large crystals in a plethora of colors rose from within the rock, almost crawling out like a rose bush. The blue orb above me throbbed, and refracted light from the crystals pulsed and danced across the walls in an abundance of color.