image [https://i.imgur.com/jpOYNWV.png]

Colson

Isabelle was one hell of a driver. I was pretty sure she was insane, but one hell of a driver. The first time we’d come this way it had taken us roughly thirty minutes. This time it took us eighteen. If I hadn’t been able to draw on my Sigil in case we started tumbling, I might’ve said something, but I let it slide.

Ahh, to be young again.

Aurelia asked about Ethan a bunch, Isabelle perking up when she started up a conversation. It didn’t come as a surprise to me, he was an exciting new prospect and despite his cluelessness, he was a good-looking kid to boot.

I didn’t tell ‘em much, just the basics. How we met and the fight with the empousa. I didn’t like sharing info behind people’s backs. One of my many character flaws. They caught on pretty quickly.

“This is it, right?” Aurelia asked when we drove up to the property.

“Yep,” I confirmed.

We got outta the car and I fished my phone out of my battle jacket, shooting a quick message Ethan’s way.

“Gotcha” he replied, followed by an “ee-moh-gee” of a fist with its knuckles pointing towards me.

“Hey, Aurelia, what’s that mean?” I asked and showed her the message.

“It’s a ‘bro fist’, Colson. A virtual fist bump, you know?” she told me and laughed as she held out her knuckles towards me.

I bumped them lightly, “Huh, never knew that was a virtual thing too. Cool.”

Isabelle snorted.

“Can it, Snake Eyes,” I told her with mock severity.

I knew they probably hadn’t watched the 2009 action classic G.I. Joe movie, but I’d been pleasantly surprised before. Alright, maybe it wasn’t a classic, but it was decent enough for an over-the-top action flick.

“Who?” Aurelia questioned.

“It’s a character in a movie who’s taken a vow of— you know what, never mind,” I said and let out a sigh.

I missed Ethan already.

“You do have a bit of a reputation for being a dinosaur, you know that, right?” Aurelia asked as we walked to the farmhouse.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, I’m adorable.”

I was. It was too bad I was the only one who could see it. Well, maybe Ethan could as well. He was nice like that.

Heading towards the entrance on our way ‘round back, I realised that a cleanup crew hadn’t been out here yet and I frowned. That was weird. The sun was baking all day and even out here you could catch a whiff of the stench from inside.

“Sorry, that’s on us,” Aurelia nodded at the door as she spoke, “just like with the others we didn’t want the cleanup crew to potentially taint the scene. The E.I.S. has a surveillance drone circling the area and they sent us some aerial shots. That's why I wasn’t sure if this was it. But nobody’s been here since you guys left.”

That was fair, and I grunted my understanding. It was one of those manly grunts that could convey anything from affirmation to amusement, to anger, depending on the pitch. That was a lot of A’s. An A-grunt. I chuckled to myself. The girls gave me dubious looks.

We walked around the corner and headed toward the storm cellar. We’d left the doors open, which was just as well. The smell had almost overpowered me last time. Perks of having a sensitive nose.

Downstairs, the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling still illuminated the area and I could sense the rune ward humming slightly now that I knew it was there.

“This is nicely done,” Aurelia commented when she saw the working.

She was right, it was. As far as I knew, Tanner wasn't capable of something like this, which meant that whoever he was working with had a decent rune warder in their employ. A rare profession. Not many had the know-how or patience to learn the craft, let alone the skills to pull it off.

"Not a lot of aether to work with," she observed after a moment.

Right again. There was a faint trickle, but without being recharged, it would've run out of power in a day or two if there had still been people inside it.

"You think you can pull it off, Isabelle?" I asked her.

She wobbled her hand in the air. Only one way to find out.

Walking around the ward, she analysed the runes and nodded to herself, taking notes on her phone. Periodically lifting the tarp, she also tried to get an outline of what was under near the cages. When she was done, she got out a piece of white chalk and started writing runes of her own on the outside edge of the circle.

image [https://i.imgur.com/3IVEPQV.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/WpSB5vj.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/w1CzEpd.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/F5bc3eO.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/3IVEPQV.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/u00hCxW.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/gMUMGVz.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/w1CzEpd.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/TRNbgAq.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/gMUMGVz.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/Riq0sWg.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/SWmObM8.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/yuoNiFX.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/hadMZlA.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/w1CzEpd.png] image [https://i.imgur.com/F5bc3eO.png]

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The runes for release, track and show were jotted down in trios, in a deft and meticulous hand and two of my brain cells started rubbing together furiously trying to figure out what she had planned.

After a good five minutes or so, she gestured for me to stand on the edge of the ward. Then Aurelia was guided to another point a bit away from me, Isabelle finally placing herself in a third position. Standing just outside the circle, near the top of every third point of the nine-pointed star, we were equidistantly placed in a triangle.

"Isabelle will fill it up and guide the flow with her affinity and skill, Colson. If she's about to run dry, she'll point to me and if we don't have enough aether between us, I'll point to you. In that case, all you'll need to do is supplement the ritual until it's either done or it fails," Aurelia instructed. "And we'd appreciate it if you don't share her abilities with others."

"Cross my heart and hope to die," I said seriously.

"Good. And no talking during the ritual," she added.

She took out her phone and held it horizontally, ready to record.

A-grunting in affirmation, I replied, "Yeah, I got it. I've been around the block a few times."

I wasn't a dab hand at performing rituals because my skillset didn't allow for it, but I'd done my best energizer bunny impersonation before. Not talking was the hardest part.

Isabelle gave us a thumbs up and a pair of raised eyebrows in an "are you ready?" gesture, and we both nodded at her. She brought out a small needle and poked a finger, letting a drop of blood fall and hit the edge of the circle, forming a link between herself and the ward. Then she spoke for the first time, drawing heavily on her Sigil, guiding her aether to the floor.

My phone beeped and Aurelia shot me an annoyed look. Should've silenced it. Oops. I shot her a sheepish smile. I'd check it when we were done.

Isabelle kept going, undeterred. The words rang loud and clear in a lovely soprano, her aether overlapping with the ward quickly. I felt my eyes widen in surprise when her steady repetition of the words took on a cadence of chanting. I didn't know what I'd been expecting but it wasn't this.

The girl was a Speaker. A rare passive ability that imbued her words with power and intent. Now it made sense that she normally didn't talk. A small draw of aether, a tiny mistake, and she risked affecting her surroundings with her words. When she got older, stronger and had more control, she would probably be able to converse again without putting people around her at risk.

I vaguely recognised the language as one of the classical ones. Tamil, I think it was. Something about seeking guidance from the surrounding spirits to show us those who had wronged us. A Speaker's ability and a spiritual affinity were an even rarer combination and I could physically feel her words echoing through the air. My respect went out to whoever had mentored her, being able to find and teach her the language that best augmented her ability at such a young age.

Isabelle pointed at Aurelia and it brought me out of my musings. She looked tired but kept her chant up. The rune ward was brimming with power. She hadn't filled the ward itself—to avoid contaminating what little aether remained—but layered it on top of the working. It was clever as all get out and I was impressed.

While Aurelia started to siphon off energy, I entered the path of the ruler, drew on my Sigil and primed it for use. As usual, the feeling of completion, of being whole, filled me and I took a deep breath in satisfaction. I couldn't wait for the kid to be able to do this. Despite it being many years in the past, I could still vividly recall the first time I'd drawn on my foundation.

The runes Isabelle had chalked out on the ground started glowing faintly, one by one. As the runes lit up, small bluegreen orbs with trailing tails started flitting around us all, visible to the naked eye. Wisps. Nature spirits. They weren’t exactly rare, but they were hard to command, finnicky and playful, at the best of times. I think my jaw may have slackened a little.

The Wisps spun around us quicker and quicker, finally coalescing in the middle of the ward and taking command of the foreign aether inside it.

Isabelle was reaching a crescendo, her pitch climbing to new heights and the Wisps formed a vague foggy white shape. It started walking around the room, faint and blurry, and solidified gradually in tandem with the last runes activating.

Aurelia pointed at me and I let my aether flow into the ritual. Unsure of how much output to provide, I was surprised when the working latched on to me and I felt it leech power at a steady pace. Isabelle had put a limiter in place as well. That made it easier. Aurelia held up her phone with shaky hands and recorded when the spiritual shape eventually formed fully and a humanoid figure presented itself.

The spiritual imprint was retracing its steps, painting the ward circle and runes with careful precision. An image of the past, like a limited recording running on a loop, the imprint repeated its movements continually. Looking closer, it almost broke my focus when I recognised the shape. Not an it. A him. I knew who he was.

Suddenly the ritual stopped pulling at me and the imprint dispersed, Isabelle cut herself off and what little aether had remained in the ward was used up. It hadn't used a fraction of my reserves, being almost complete before it was my turn.

Isabelle fell on her ass, shaking all over. No wonder, completely draining your Sigil took a lot out of you. Aurelia echoed her movement a second later.

"Phew. Glad we brought you along, Colson," she said and smiled a brittle smile, "got it all recorded so we can review our findings."

"No need," I told them and they looked at me. "I know who it is."

Isabelle raised her eyebrows and Aurelia asked who it was.

"Markus Ingvarsson," I told them. "The Icelandic."

Their brows furrowed. They didn't recognise the name.

Kids these days.

"He's a strong Holder. Been around for a long time. Skilled rune warder who'll work for the highest bidder. He'll never do anything illegal himself, but he doesn't care what his magic's used for as long as he's paid well. The Board's been trying to catch him on a technicality for years, but he always manages to stay within the rules," I explained.

"But if he's the one we saw he has to be the one who was topping off the ward. Wouldn't that mean he's complicit?" Aurelia asked, puzzled.

I didn't think so. He was talented as hell and used his own ward designs to complement and strengthen existing and known workings. Nobody had been able to successfully copy them yet.

"Not necessarily, no," I told them and shook my head, "we couldn't lift the tarp completely because of the bolted-down cages. If we removed them we'd run the risk of ruining the ward and scattering the aether, but I expect that in the centre there's a fractal design. It lets him imbue his work with a hell of a lot of power, perhaps over several days, which means it could've been running for weeks, maybe months. He wouldn't be caught dead in this room if he knew people were being held captive down here."

"Do you know him?"

"I've worked with him a couple of times. The Board's not above hiring him for his skills, despite his lack of morals."

Drawing on my Sigil I augmented my body and went over to the cages. I ripped them effortlessly from the ground and placed them alongside the back wall, gesturing for the girls to get up so I could rip off the tarp.

In the dead centre of the ward was a large symbol painted with dozens of points and wavy lines that formed a perfectly symmetrical flowery design. Well, almost symmetrical. It was cracked a little because I'd removed the cages from their bolts and I was glad we'd been careful. I could've recognised his handiwork anywhere, but with a video of the imprint, we had proof he'd been here at least.

I took a deep breath and addressed Aurelia.

"Can you send the video you recorded to my phone please?"

"Of course, give me your ParaWeb handle and I'll send it through the app."

I told her what it was and a moment later my phone dinged. About to review the footage, I saw that Ethan had been the one to send me a text earlier. I knew the kid would miss me at some point. Opening the message, a lump formed in my throat.

“Tanner’s here. Kidnapping. Help.”

"Isabelle, Aurelia, finish up here. I need to go," I told them in a cold voice, pocketing my phone.

Before they had a chance to ask questions I entered my meditation and drew fully on my Sigil. The girls recoiled slightly and I bolted out of the room. If I maxed out I could be back at Jasper's in three or four minutes with enough left in the tank to deliver a smackdown.

The landscape blurred past me and I ran as fast as I could. I just hoped I wasn't too late.