CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: UP THEN DOWN

~ Marie ~

Marie took several deep breaths as she tried to calm her frantically beating heart. It was just a nightmare. Nothing was happening right now. Her focus needed to be on what was coming up, not in the past. She took one final deep breath before she stood up. Marie scooped her watch off the floor and frowned. There was still plenty of time but it didn’t feel like enough. She needed to make sure she was ready for whatever happened. But first a shower and then some coffee.

A few pages were flipped before she stopped and read the passage. This wasn’t what she was looking for. Marie took a sip of her coffee as she flipped through the book on the counter. She was sure she had seen it when she was looking for the other flowers. A few more pages were checked before she found the flower she was looking for. Hydrangea. This was it. She compared the photo to the bottle. Marie tilted the bottle this way and that, as she examined the flowers within. There was some preservation magic on the bottle so the flowers were only slightly wilted. This made it easier to compare the two. Marie wanted to be sure that this was hydrangea before she gave this to him.

After what happened yesterday, she wanted to give Adrian a better form of protection. If chaos broke out tonight, she didn’t want him to be put in a situation where he could be taken hostage or severely wounded. This would only work a couple of times but hopefully that would be enough. Marie held the bottle in one hand as she poured the contents into the pouch she’d kept. A talisman was something she preferred since she knew the magic better but she didn’t have one handy right now. So instead she wrote the spell on the bag. Marie examined the bag for a moment. It should still work the same as long as the bag wasn’t damaged. Marie placed the pouch back on the counter.

She just needed to make a phone call but there wasn’t a working phone in the room. Marie had looked everywhere but hadn’t found one. Hopefully, the main house would have one or she would have to borrow someone’s cell phone. The call should still work on a cell phone but with the way the pack members acted, they wouldn’t be happy if she started applying magic to their items.

As she entered the kitchen, a few people turned to look at her. She glanced at her watch. She had caught the end of lunch. A pack member shoved a plate in her hands before going back and serving themselves. They left, leaving her alone in the kitchen. She looked down at the plate of steak with a side of baked potato. This wasn’t what she came for but she might as well eat. Marie sat down at the table and ate quickly. Peter came in as she was putting the plate away. He gave orders to several of the wolves standing around before turning to her.

“Good afternoon.” He gave her a smile but it didn’t reach his eyes. “How are things going?”

“I wanted to use a phone. Do you have one I can use privately?” Peter frowned before he nodded and led her back to his office. He took the phone from a side table and moved it over to where the sofas were.

“Anything new?”

“No.”

“Alright.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Once you’re done, you can just close the office behind you.” She nodded as he sighed and left, closing the door quietly behind him. Marie wrote a spell on the phone before she picked it up. This was the only way to reach other divisions within the Order. The Council themselves couldn’t be reached with a phone call but other divisions such as the Black Division could be.

“I’d like to speak to the Black Division.” They were a division within the Order that supported the Guardians, among other things. When a case involved several territories, they would take over the investigation. The rules they worked under were different and for them it would be easier to travel through multiple territories. With a case like this, the capture of the sorcerer wouldn’t end things. There wouldn’t be any more victims but the case wouldn’t be closed until everyone the sorcerer had sold was freed or recovered.

She was soon connected to the right department. Marie brought them up to speed. There wasn’t much they could do right now until they received evidence or she caught the sorcerer. Once her call was done, she hung up. Marie spent more magic erasing the earlier spell. No one should be able to use the other spell to contact the order but she wanted to make sure. The different spells should confuse anyone trying to figure out the original spell.

There was still plenty of time left but what could she do? Preparing for the sorcerer was difficult since there was no telling what they would do. Having eyes everywhere also made large scale preparation difficult. There must still be something she could do now.

Several pages left in the notebook still needed to be dispelled. After the case was over, she’d be handing it over to the Black Division. They could take their time unlocking the last pages. It was doubtful there was anything else in the notebook that could help her but she wouldn’t get a chance to see it later. Marie stood up and left the room, closing the door behind her. She didn’t see Peter on the way back to the room. He was probably getting ready for tonight. She sat down at the table and got comfortable before diving into the notebook.

A couple of hours passed as she focused on the notebook. Marie sighed as she leaned back and stretched. She had finally finished dispeling all the magic in the notebook. The last pages were the same as everything else. More cities, more sales. This person had been busy. The Black Division would take several months, at the very least, to locate all of the people within the notebook. None of the other cities were located in her territory. Marie frowned as she looked around the room. What should she do now? The notebook didn’t keep her as busy as she’d hoped.

Marie stared at the pile of books in front of her. Read? Nothing specific to research. She didn’t know what the sorcerer would do. Beyond their brand of magic, the only things she had seen so far were ice shards and smoke but that didn’t mean that was all the sorcerer could do. If only she had more information. It was difficult to prepare with so little. Marie thought back to everything she’d seen.

They wouldn’t resort to controlled animals in this kind of situation. A spell controlled animal wouldn’t stand a chance against them. With how much the wolves valued pack, it would be a safer bet to get them to fight each other. But it didn’t give her much to go on. She couldn’t dispel the mind control until she got her hands on the bottle of blood and any barrier she placed on the other wolves might be used against them. What else could she do?

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The sorcerer had another garden ready after the house was destroyed. It was possible that they had another garden somewhere else. It might be worth it to go over the area again and see if she can find it. It would give her something to do until it was time and if she was lucky, she might find the sorcerer and finish this case off before Adrian even woke up.

She stood up and stepped back from the table. Marie teleported over to Leon’s for a quick check. Since the sorcerer’s magic had been in the area, she wanted to make sure that the sorcerer hadn’t come back. Marie stretched her senses out. There was no magic in the area besides what was used on the fence. The next location—

“Would you like to come in for some coffee?” Marie spun around and found Leon standing a few feet away. “My coffee pales in comparison to Adrian’s but I can still make a good cup of coffee.” The man smiled. Did he see her teleport over? Marie pressed her lips together. She should’ve teleported further out and walked. Teleporting was starting to become a habit to her. She shook her head.

“I’m just passing through. Thank you for the offer.” He nodded. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. Adrian trusted him but that didn’t mean she should.

“Safe travels.” Leon turned and disappeared back through the magic fence. Marie walked away. If he hadn’t seen her teleport in, then she didn’t want him to see her teleport out. She glanced his way one more time before she walked deeper into the forest.

After she walked for about ten minutes, she looked around at her surroundings. She should be far enough away. There didn’t appear to be anyone in the area either. The only magic she sensed was the fence but it was on the very edge of her senses. Marie teleported to the area where the poison had been. She carefully examined the area. There were several places where talismans had been attached. Scorch marks in the shape of rectangles were left behind on the wood.

Since she couldn’t feel any magic in the area, she chose a direction at random and walked. It was unlikely the sorcerer would have a garden near the house anymore. She had gone back there too many times. If they had another one, it would be in an entirely different area.

It took about fifteen minutes of walking aimlessly before she noticed a clearing filled with flowers. The bright colors could be seen all the way here. Marie stretched her senses out again. No magic was detected. It didn’t mean that there weren't any traps. She cautiously creeped closer. Marie stopped a few feet away from the edge. The clearing was smaller than the one she found yesterday. In the center of the clearing was a small bird bath surrounded by flowers.

Since she still didn’t sense any magic, she knelt beside a few of the flowers to study them. There were only about five different varieties of flowers here. She only recognized three of the flowers growing here. The rest she didn’t recognize but it wasn’t important since she’d be getting rid of the entire garden soon. It didn’t look like any of the flowers had been taken and there were no traces of any of them being dug up. Marie walked through the garden, checking here and there for any sign that the sorcerer had been in the area recently. She walked back towards the edge when she felt magic activate.

Above her!

Marie looked up to see a bird in the air above her. There was something white clutched in its beak. The bird opened its mouth and the paper fluttered towards her. Halfway to her, the paper stopped in midair as another magic signal went off. Marie put her hands out and felt the barrier that had popped up around the clearing. It was more complicated than the barrier that had been around the house but it wouldn’t be a problem for her. The scent of flowers grew stronger. She coughed before she immediately held her breath.

Earlier, two signals must have gone off but she’d mistakenly thought it was just one. More magic went off and this time smoke came out of the base of the bird bath. Tsk. She didn’t want to use this but she couldn’t stay in here any longer. Better to leave and deal with any problems that come up. Marie wrote out a spell and set fire to the garden. She teleported to the other side and leaned against a tree for a moment. Too much of the scent had been inhaled. Marie watched as the garden was completely destroyed before she disabled the barrier.

More magic was felt and she looked around. The bird was flying away but the magic wasn’t too far away. They were clearly toying with her. The magic signal wasn’t moving quickly. They wanted her to follow them. Marie pressed her lips together. She still needed to go even though it was a trap.

Another magic signal popped up for just a moment. Over that way! Marie rushed forward, trying to be careful of the roots and rocks beneath her feet. She nearly tripped over a root but she pushed against a nearby tree to regain her balance before continuing. Branches pulled at her clothes and scratched her arms but she was almost there. Another signal went off to her right.

Marie changed course and ran towards the new direction. Again another signal went off. She spun around. Icicles shot out of the talisman. Marie placed a quick barrier on herself as she staggered back. Her barrier took the attack head on and cracked. Marie didn’t get a chance to catch her breath as another talisman activated to her left. More ice shards came at her. She stepped back planning to use a tree to shield her when her footing collapsed underneath her.

She reached out blindly, trying to grab something, anything. Her hands just met empty air. Her body hung in the air for a moment before she fell backwards.

Then gravity returned with a vengeance as she hit the side of the hill. Her body rolled, picking up speed as it went. Branches clawed at her face and arms as she hit several rocks along the way. She tried to grab onto anything in her path to stop her descent but it didn’t make a difference. Marie continued to roll down the hill. Her stop was sudden as her body slammed against a large rock, hitting her back and head against it.

“Looks like you had a little fall.” Several people laughed as she tried to sit up. Her head throbbed in time with her heart. She tried to stand up but the ground spun and she had to cover her mouth to keep from throwing up. Marie reached out and grabbed the nearest tree.

Her body slid down the rough bark. She leaned against the tree as she slowly breathed through her mouth. I’m fine. I’m fine. She repeated the phrase in her mind in the hopes of taking her mind off the nausea.

“Feeling bad? We can help with that.” A hand grabbed her arm and yanked her away from the tree. She couldn’t catch her balance and collided with something hard. It was the chest of the blond haired werewolf. He held onto her shoulders as he leaned forward. She pushed her body away from him but his grip was firm. She couldn’t get away. The man breathed on her face as he spoke. “It’s too early for that vampire to help you and I heard that coward left.”

“Good thing he did or we would have beaten him during the Rite.”

“Damn straight.” The blond haired man let her go and she fell backward. Marie landed hard on her hands. A flash of pain went through her right wrist just as her nausea surged forward again. Marie put her hand up to her mouth and waited for the sensation to pass. “Now what should we do with her?” One of the wolves grabbed her arm and jerked her up into a standing position. Another wave of nausea washed over her.

“Where did your fight go, Miss Guardian?” The three of them laughed. She was tired of getting dragged around. Her eyes changed to orange as she gathered lightning in her hand. She grabbed the wrist of the wolf who was holding her and shocked him. He yelped as he dropped her. “She shocked me!” She fell down, landing on her hurt wrist. Marie hissed in pain before she grit her teeth and pushed herself into a sitting position. She staggered to her feet then turned to face them. The black haired man held his wrist as he snarled at her. The three of them surrounded her, careful to keep a certain distance away. Her head and wrist were pounding. The ground was moving under her feet, making it hard to stay upright.

All she wanted was to be left alone so she could heal herself. She gathered more lightning as they growled at her. If they wouldn’t leave her alone then she’d make them leave her alone.