At the Crossroads

Part Twelve (the last!) of "North of Midnight," a Spell Weaver novella.

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Where we left off: Alexandra and her friends succeeded in driving off the Arson-Dulai doppelganger and his allies. They may even be in full retreat.

There’s just one problem—Antonio is missing!

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“He can’t be more than a minute or two ahead of us,” said Khalid. “Alexandra, you can track him by his magic. We’ll follow you.”

“Some of us can’t just yet,” said Vanora, who must not have been fully recharged. “And those who can should retrieve their weapons first. It’s not quite dawn, and our adversaries might conceivably come back for anyone they saw isolated from the others.”

“On the other hand, we can’t let someone who is powerful, untrained, and possibly not fully in control of what he’s doing get too far away from us,” said Jimmie. “Alexandra, tell us which way to go.”

I tried to focus on my mental overhead view of the city. I hadn’t seen any sign of Antonio before, but I hadn’t been looking for him. Now that I was, I had no difficulty spotting exactly where he was.

The problem was that the location I’d found him was impossible.

“He’s clear over at the hotel,” I said. “How could he have gotten there?”

“Oh, no,” said Jimmie. “You know the saying, ‘Love has wings’?”

“He can fly?” asked Viviane.

“Well, he’s not the only one!” said Khalid. “Let’s get out of these tunnels!”

Viviane, Vanora, and Umbra still looked shaky, and Lucas was in his dance trance, pouring energy into them.

“Go,” said Vanora. “We’ll follow as soon as we can.”

Khalid raced off as if his own life depended on finding Antonio. Jimmie and I followed as best we could. At least, there was really only one way to go. but the tunnel had been dug hastily, and I kept tripping over rocks that projected up from the compacted dirt.

I expected us to come up inside the old house through which we’d been transported into the tunnel system, but instead, we exited on the other side of the cemetery. Khalid was already gone.

“He really can fly!” I said, noticing a fiery dot on my mental map that must have been him.

“He gets a little help from his dragon armor,” said Jimmie. “But yes, he can fly.”

I wanted to ask about dragon armor—but I wanted to find Antonio much, much more. “What’s the fastest way to follow him?”

“Run halfway across town or wait for Vanora or Viviane to be sufficiently charged to open a portal,” replied Jimmie, looking in the general direction Khalid must have flown. “I’m sorry to say that the ghosts, who I can sense nearby, watching us, don’t have enough physical presence to lift us into the air, much less propel us at decent flying speed.”

I didn’t want to wait for anyone, especially when I had no idea how long it would take for the ladies to be fully recharged. But I knew we’d never reach the hotel in time by running there.

“I can help,” said Umbra, who emerged from the tunnel looking shaky.

“Sure you’re up to it?” asked Jimmie.

“Shadow traveling doesn’t take much effort for someone like me. If we have to face vampires, though—”

“They haven’t come back,” I said, doing a quick check to be sure.

“All right then. Stay close.”

The cemetery was dark enough that Umbra didn’t have to search for a shadow. She pulled us through effortlessly, bringing us out on the west side of the hotel.

There was no sign of Antonio. Khalid lay on the ground, unconscious.

“What the hell!” said Jimmie, running to his fallen friend. While he made sure Khalid was all right, I checked to see where Antonio was.

My aerial view of the town didn’t do me much good—there was no sign of Antonio. I wasn’t as familiar with the surrounding area, but I did my best to widen my focus, taking in more of the land east of town.

My heart shuddered when I found Antonio again.

“He’s near the far end of Summerland,” I said to no one in particular. Jimmie was fretting over Khalid and wasn’t paying any attention to me. Though I wanted to keep all my focus on Antonio, I didn’t want any harm to come to Khalid. I walked in his direction to make sure he was all right.

Antonio was already three miles away in under five minutes. If he could do that consistently, he’d be flying at about thirty-six miles an hour. If we left right now, we might be able to catch up to him on I-101—assuming he continued to fly over the highway. But he had no particular reason to do that. He could change to a course we couldn’t follow so easily.

“He’ll be all right,” said Jimmie. “But don’t come any closer.”

“Why not?”

“It looks as if Antonio made him pass out through uh, I guess an overly intense arousal. The effects of that are still…visible.”

“Got it,” I said, turning my back. I couldn’t imagine someone being rendered unconscious in such a way, but regardless of the bizarre circumstances, the last thing I wanted to do was embarrass Khalid when he regained consciousness.

But with every passing second, Antonio was getting farther away. Even worse, the little blip of magic I could see on my mental aerial map was getting fainter. Apparently, I had a range, and he was pretty close to the far edge of it.

I clenched my fists so tightly that my fingernails bit into my palms. I had never felt so helpless—at least, not since my parents had died.

But I couldn’t cast a spell to hold Antonio in place. I couldn’t fly after him. I couldn’t do a damn thing except watch as the light that represented him in my mental image faded until it winked out completely, like a dead light bulb, somewhere near Carpinteria. He was already ten miles away.

“Khalid’s awake!” said Jimmie. Despite how distraught I was, I feigned what happiness I could.

I had the feeling that I’d be doing a lot of that—for a long time.

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About an hour after sunrise, the first of the out-of-town members of Vanora’s group, having figured out something was wrong, had returned.

If only they’d come back sooner! But I knew it wasn’t their fault. They’d had no reason to think anything was wrong until it was too late.

Having fought by the side of the group left in the city, I was invited to what amounted to a council of war at Awen. Vanora was absent, I was told doing damage control and weaving a suitable tale that would explain last night’s goings on. But the others I knew were all there, as were the two returned fellows—Tal Weaver and Stan Schoenbaum.

I’d heard references to Tal, who was pretty obviously the leader of the group, even though no one said that.

At first glance, he looked like a serious college student prepped for an interview of some kind—neatly combed brown hair, intense brown eyes that wouldn’t miss a detail. His clothes—school T-shirt and jeans—were far more casual than his vibe. I supposed his face was handsome, though I kept getting distracting glimpses of Antonio’s face, which I couldn’t help but find more appealing.

But looking at Tal with my magically opened eyes, I could see an aura of power around him that suggested he could have beaten the Arson-Dulai doppelganger much more easily than we did. His energy was bright and speckled with fire, and I could hear it—presumably with my magical senses—humming in a way that was almost musical.

Stan was equally serious, though his curly black hair looked a little less controlled than Tal’s. He was also less muscular, though his body was lean and hard. I thought I remembered hearing that he’d been nerdy in high school, but those days were clearly behind him. I supposed, given how much danger they were in on a regular basis, that all of them had to be as fit as possible.

He had no magic aura, but there was definitely something different about him. When I had a chance, I’d figure out what.

“Welcome,” said Tal, offering me a hand. “I’m sorry we’re meeting for the first time under such difficult circumstances.”

“Well, there’s not much we can do about that,” I said, taking his hand. His handshake was firm, but he wasn’t one of those guys who had to squeeze too hard to demonstrate their masculinity.

“There’s breakfast,” he said, pointing to a table at the side of the meeting room. The spread was so massive and so inviting that I wondered for a moment if it had been conjured up by magic. I’d never seen a bigger variety of pastries outside a bakery in my life. There were also pancakes, waffles, an array of fruits and vegetables for the health-conscious or Vegan, and a selection of eggs, bacon, sausage, and ham for the meat lovers.

“Uh, I’m not really hungry,” I said. Looking around, I noticed that no one else had taken a plate.

Tal nodded and gestured toward an empty chair. I would rather have been racing after Antonio, but I knew that wasn’t practical, so I sat.

“Before we discuss strategy, I want you all to know that I’ve locked up my experiment so that only Stan and I have access.” Tal’s voice had gone from friendly to stern in record time.

“It was the only way to save Antonio—” began Jimmie.

“I know,” replied Tal before Jimmie could finish. “Lucas briefed me. And I don’t blame any of you for doing what you did. But I hope our current situation underscores the fact that artificially activating someone’s magic can be dangerous, at least with the process we now have.”

Lucas, who had probably had his tongue-lashing earlier, met Tal’s eyes, but Jimmie and Khalid both looked down. Umbra didn’t react at all, as far as I could tell. But I doubted her assassin training would have been the best preparation for complex social situations.

Tal turned his attention back to me. “Alexandra, I know you’ve gone through a lot—more than anyone should have—but would you consider sticking around to help us find Antonio?”

I almost laughed. “Of course I will.”

Tal smiled, and the room lit up. I began to understand why he led this group.

“I was hoping you’d say that. I’m told you might be a sorcerer or a seer. Can you tell me more about your abilities?”

“Ever since my parents died, I’ve felt that I should do something, or that I shouldn’t. I guess I got a combination of warnings and…suggestions. That’s how I ended up here in the first place. After the…experiment, I can form a question in my mind and get specific information. For instance, I can see an overhead view of the town and identify where vampires are, or people with a certain kind of magic. I was tracking Antonio, but I lost him right around Carpinteria.”

Tal nodded. “That part is consistent with being a sorcerer of some kind—seeking out information and finding answers in a linear way like that. That’s also why your ability to see diminishes with distance. But the warnings you had before suggest a certain potential as a seer. Either way, you’ve been touched by Antonio’s magic, which makes it likely you can track him. A strong enough connection makes distance less of an obstacle, once you learn how to use your abilities.”

“I’ll start right away,” I replied. “How soon can we leave once I find him?”

“Not immediately, I’m afraid,” said Viviane. “We need time to perfect a defense against Antonio’s love magic. As Khalid’s experience shows, Antonio has a way to twist it into an attack. Regular protection spells might not recognize it as such, though.”

Khalid blushed, but everyone made a point of not looking at him. If nothing else, this was a closely knit group.

It was the kind of group I might like to be part of.

“What exactly did Antonio do?” asked Stan.

“Unfortunately, something he shouldn’t know how to do,” said Viviane. “Excessive testosterone can lead to blood pressure shifts that might cause someone to faint. But Antonio doesn’t have the medical knowledge needed to manipulate hormone levels that way.”

“Then how did he?” asked Tal.

“I have no idea. We all know a large part of magic is intent. But you also need to have enough knowledge to implement that intent. If Antonio had typical mental magic, he might force someone to faint or fall asleep directly. But what he did calls for a more physical kind of magic, such as a healer might have, though in this case, the energy was misused.”

“You think he might be a healer?” asked Stan.

“I think I don’t have a clue,” said Viviane, rubbing her temples. “We know Antonio had already started developing love magic, but he obviously has something else now. The combination of the magic activation process, a faerie death curse, and vampire blood could have produced a kind of magic we haven’t seen before. Tal, you need to gather whatever information you can from the minds of the witnesses and conduct a full analysis before we do anything else. It would be dangerous to go up against Antonio without knowing how to defend ourselves against him.”

Tal nodded. “He didn’t have much control when he had very little power and was sane. Now that he has much more power and questionable sanity, there’s no way to tell what he might do.”

”Isn’t that all the more reason to find him as quickly as possible?” I asked. “I don’t know as much about magic society as any of you do, but isn’t he likely to be—oh, I don’t know. Conspicuous?”

“We’ve seen no evidence that he has any kind of concealment magic,” said Viviane. “So yes, he could be radiating power indiscriminately and attracting all kinds of attention, most of it unfavorable. The faeries are very sensitive about anyone acting in a way that might cause mortals to be more aware of magic.

“But,” added the Lady of the Lake, “We won’t be able to help Antonio if he fries all of our brains the moment he sees us.”

“He wouldn’t—” I began.

“You’ve only known him a few hours,” said Lucas. “And yeah, he was a decent guy from what I know of him. But he’s…not himself now. We can’t afford to make assumptions. The original Antonio would never have hurt Khalid—or run away from us, for that matter. He saved us from the invaders, but for some reason, he also regards us as a threat—or doesn’t know who we are at all.”

“We will find Antonio and help him,” said Tal, his voice more gentle than I had heard so far. “But we have to be smart about it.”

“And we have to arrange for the defense of Santa Brígida before you all run off after Antonio,” said Vanora, who had just stepped into the room. “We lost over forty security guards last night, as well as three police officers, and I’ve just been informed that a city council member didn’t obey the lockdown instructions and is also dead. Aside from raising all kinds of questions for which I have to wrap my answers in several layers of magic to make them plausible, these losses make us vulnerable. Some of you will have to stay here in case our enemies have another trick up their sleeve.”

Vanora looked almost more tired than she had after first being liberated from her doppelganger’s constant drain. I would have sympathized with her—if I hadn’t been so worried about Antonio.

“Perhaps a new batch of enemies will take advantage of our weakness,” said Umbra. “You can’t move an army of vampires around without someone noticing. How much more might an enemy have been capable of discerning—particularly while we were busy fending off an invasion.”

“Let’s not forget Janice,” said Khalid. “Somewhere, she’s a prisoner. What happens if the bad guys decide they don’t need her anymore?”

I gave myself credit for not screaming. Intellectually, I understood all the concerns, particularly the one about poor Janice. But emotionally, I wanted the whole group to follow me in pursuit of Antonio—not a day from now or an hour from now, but right this minute.

Did I love Antonio? I still wasn’t sure. I felt as if I did. That would have to be enough.

Somehow, I got through the rest of the meeting without screaming. But I cornered Tal right after.

“May I speak to you for a moment—alone?”

It was clear a lot of people wanted to bend Tal’s ear about something, but he looked at me for a second, turned to them, and said, “Give us a minute, please.”

Vanora scowled a little, but all of them walked out of the room, closing the door behind them. Tal looked at me expectantly.

“May I assume I’m free to go?” I asked.

He raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I’m leaving to find Antonio right now. I want to know if any of you will try to stop me.”

Tal looked hurt. “Do you really think so little of us? If you want to leave, we won’t stop you.”

I couldn’t help thinking about how Vanora had cut off the exits to Santa Brígida in order to keep me trapped until she figured out who I was. But she had more of an end-justifies-the-mean vibe than Tal did.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I want to help you, but…but I can’t wait. Something tells me Antonio will need me as soon as possible—far sooner than you guys will complete your planning.”

“Since you have some seer abilities, you could well be right,” said Tal slowly. “But I think something else is troubling you besides the danger to Antonio. Maybe I could help you with that before you go.”

That was a suspiciously better reaction than I had expected. But Tal was the kind of person that made me want to trust him. And I couldn’t think of a solid reason not to tell him what was going on in my head.

“I love Antonio—I think. But with all the magic involved—”

“You can’t be sure,” Tal finished for me. I’m all too familiar with that problem. I was under a love spell once and had no idea. But given Antonio’ relative lack of control, his magic will have left traces.

“Anyway, I have some skill at mindreading. With your permission, I can do a quick, tightly targeted dive. I should be able to distinguish magic from your true feelings.”

Was this too good to be true? What would prevent Tal from trying to control me once he was in my mind? On the other hand, if he were telling the truth, he could make life a little easier for me.

“Go ahead,” I said, though without any great enthusiasm.

“Since you are magically aware, you may feel this,” said Tal. “Stay relaxed, and do not attempt to resist.”

If anything, that made me more nervous, but I tried to keep from tensing up as I felt an alien presence in my mind. Tal moved slowly, and his mental probe felt warm, which helped.

After about a minute, I felt him withdraw.

“Well?”

“I’d recognize true love anywhere,” said Tal. “From what I can tell, Antonio caught your eye in the first place because of magic, but your love for him is real.”

I felt myself relax. Tal hadn’t tried to control my mind, and if he wanted me not to go after Antonio, he could have told me my love wasn’t real.

Tal closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. “I just told Vanora to take a moment and find you a spare weapon. Your usual stake may not be enough.”

“I couldn’t—” I began.

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about Antonio,” said Tal. “There’s no telling what you’ll run into, what sort of…creatures may be drawn to Antonio’s power—and what their agendas might be. I know you have experience fighting vampires, but you’ve already met other foes that aren’t so easily defeated.

“You’ll also be pleased to know that Antonio’s cousin, Carlos, has just arrived. He’s going to insist that he accompany you.”

“But what about the danger?” I asked. “I have to do this—but risking my own life is different from risking someone else’s.”

“It’s not a perfect situation,” said Tal slowly. “But aside from you, Carlos is the one person Antonio is most likely to recognize, least likely to attack. And Carlos can handle himself in a fight. His sword is faerie forged and causes anyone who’s wounded with it to drown. Magical adversaries can fight the effect, but it takes most of their energy. That approach is no good against vampires, but it works well against most living opponents.”

Someone knocked loudly at the door.

“Come,” said Tal, and an immediately recognizable Carlos walked in.

He was a little shorter than Antonio but much more muscular. Their facial resemblance was more like brothers than cousins.

Carlos looked grim, but he smiled when he saw me and shook my hand vigorously.

“I don’t want—” I began.

“Don’t worry about me,” said Carlos. “If you weren’t here, I’d be going after Antonio, anyway. This way, we can watch each other’s backs.”

Tal’s support and Carlos’s obvious enthusiasm were too much for me in my current, sleep-deprived condition. I started crying the way I hadn’t since my parents had been killed. Carlos held me until I got control of myself. Being wrapped in his arms made me think of what it would be like to be wrapped in Antonio’s.

As I gently pulled away from Antonio, I noticed Vanora standing nearby, glaring at me. How long had I been sobbing in his arms.

“You know this isn’t a good idea, right?” she asked.

“She and Carlos will go, anyway,” said Tal. “Better they go with whatever help we can provide than without it. What did you find?”

“All I have is a generic faerie blade,” she said, holding up a long sword and scabbard.

“I’ve never used a sword,” I said.

“If an accomplished swordsman attacks, leave him to Carlos,” said Vanora as if it would be easy for me to tell who was experienced just by looking. “The blade is far lighter than human steel, hard to break, stays sharp, and cuts through most mundane substances like butter.”

“Won’t it be too conspicuous to wear?”

“It’s enchanted to be invisible unless you want it to be seen,” said Tal. “Carlos is wearing one. So am I. If you realize that, you should be able to see them.”

Sure enough, both Carlos and Tal had scabbards belted to their waists. Sword hilts projected from both scabbards.

“Ordinary people can’t see them, of course,” said Vanora.

“What about armor?” asked Carlos.

“Don’t tell me,” I said. “You’re wearing armor.”

“Look at me closely,” said Carlos.

His ordinary clothing rippled, and suddenly, he was wearing what looked like leather armor. But it had a moving image across the chest—Carlos swimming through a seascape of coral reefs, surrounded by a school of colorful fish.

“What…what the hell!”

“Custom made by Govannon, the Welsh faerie smith,” said Carlos, grinning proudly. “I was a swimmer in high school, hence the aquatic theme. The material itself is dragon skin. It’s light and flexible but extremely hard to penetrate.”

“Sadly, I don’t have any spare dragon armor,” said Vanora, not sounding sad at all. “Not even generic stuff.”

“Stand behind me if we meet someone with serious firepower,” said Carlos.

“That’s…not ideal,” said Tal. “Are you sure there’s nothing available?”

“Not on such short notice,” said Vanora, glaring at me again. But behind that glare, I saw pain. She probably knew the security guards who’d been slaughtered.

“I did have these…experiments lying around,” said Vanora, holding up what looked like two silver amulets. Their glow told me they had some kind of magic.

“The magic look like…Khalid’s arrows,” I said.

“Good eye,” replied Vanora. “I’ve been trying to repurpose some of Khalid’s arrow heads for protection. Normally, the blessings within them are released when the arrow hits a target. It took weeks of work to get them to radiate their blessings from inside one of these amulets. Though the effect isn’t nearly as powerful as what an arrow strike produces, you will get some protection from each blessing—hearth fire, sun, love, divine grace. It’s better than nothing, anyway. And the fact that one of the blessings is from Eros might reduce the impact of Antonio’s love magic.

She handed one to me and gave the other to Antonio. “Try not to lose these.”

“Yes, Mom,” said Carlos, smirking. To my surprise, Vanora laughed, and for a moment, she seemed more relaxed.

I knew what it was like to not laugh for long periods. That common ground made me feel a grudging appreciation for Vanora. We’d both suffered. We’d both developed a hard shell. But beneath that, perhaps we were still the same people.

“Our network isn’t strong enough to work over long distances,” said Tal. “The best we might be able to do is exchange short messages. So call in often. As soon as we can, we’ll send more people to join you.”

Carlos nodded. “Don’t worry. We’ll keep you informed. Oh, any chance I can get one of those Winn Industries gold cards—you know, for travel expenses.”

“I can take care of us with my trust fund,” I said. “Unless you’re one of those guys whose hung up on always having to pay.”

“Are you kidding?” said Carlos. “I’m happy to let a woman take care of me.”

“In that case, let’s go,” I said.

It took us a few minutes to say our goodbyes, after which Carlos led me to his car.

“I’ll drive,” he said. “You stay focused on tracking Antonio. It’ll probably take your full attention to pick up his trail. Don’t look so glum. From what I understand, magical flight, especially at high speed, takes up lots of energy. Antonio would have exhausted himself quickly. He’s probably closer than you think.”

He patted me on the back and opened the passenger door on his dark blue Ford Fusion. He was like Antonio is so many ways that it almost hurt to be near him.

Then again, I didn’t really know Antonio all that well. I prayed I’d have the opportunity to know him better.

As soon as he started the engine, a love ballad blared out of the speakers. He quickly turned off the radio with an apologetic glance my way.

“I’m not glass,” I said, trying to smile and not quite making it. “A sad love song won’t break me.”

Of course, I’d already been broken many times, but I’d never stayed broken. I’d just glued myself back together and kept going.

If we couldn’t find Antonio, or if something had happened to him, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to put my pieces back together again. But I tried not to think that, focusing instead on where Antonio was. As we pulled onto the highway, I had no difficulty visualizing the area east of us. But there was no trace of Antonio’s magic, at least not that I could detect.

It was a good thing that Carlos was driving. I might easily have lost control of the car when the inhuman sounding voice started whispering in my ear.

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This concludes North of Midnight, but as you can probably tell, there will be a sequel. In the meantime, a different serial will premier next week.

“North of Midnight” is related to the Spell Weaver series.