As stated in the disclaimer at the beginning of this piece, Silvertongue has been removed from its online homes after being published on Amazon! So, the intent with this is to provide a refresher for anyone who might have touched on this story earlier but lost track, or be a foundation for anyone who wants to follow along with book 2 but never read book 1.
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Jon Christensen opens book 1 in the process of driving home from work, stopping by a fast food restaurant to pick up a meal at the request of his sister, Keira. While at the McDonald's, he's confronted by the cashier, who reacts strangely when Jon speaks and later orders him to "stop speaking gibberish."
Jon is caught off guard - but knows that he has an odd ability, a gift to speak anyone's native tongue. He's confused as to why the man was so upset and angered by this, but sits down to eat his meal before going home.
The cashier again confronts him outside the store when he leaves, though, this time with a knife. Jon finds himself dragged into the shadows and threatened, questioned as to when 'the rest of them' will arrive. Jon's confused, terrified replies are cut off by the sound of sirens and the sight of police cars speeding towards them.
The cashier flees into the woods around the store, leaving Jon behind. But Jon quickly realizes that the cops aren't cops at all, and more is at play. While one is questioning Jon, another gets a phone call - and then they attack Jon, searching his person for something.
When the search turns up fruitless, one of the cops pulls a gun on Jon. Before he can shoot, though, the cashier runs back out of the woods, charging the cops with a knife. Jon makes use of the distraction and runs, fleeing into the woods just like the cashier had. On the very edge of safety, he looks back, and sees the cashier get fatally shot by one of the cops.
Jon runs for cover, horrified and confused. Once in the safety of the forest, he tries to call for help, and finds his phone dead. He's left to wait, unsure if he's being followed, and debate his options.
When he stands, though, he hears a noise - and finds the cashier bearing down on him.
Completely taken aback, Jon protests as the man orders him to be silent. When Jon doesn't immediately obey, the cashier gags him and gives him a cell phone to type through. The cashier introduces himself as Aedan, and explains the 'cops' are chasing him. Their ringleader is introduced as Matt.
Aedan demands to see Jon's relic. Jon has no idea what he's talking about. Aedan goes on to question Jon about how he learned the 'old tongue' he was speaking when they met, and Jon tells Aedan about his language abilities.
Their conversation is interrupted by the sound of movement, and the sight of some of Matt's subordinates moving through the dark woods. Aedan and Jon split up to handle the new threat.
The fighting continues, moving from location to location as Jon and Aedan zero in on Matt's 'finder' - the woman tracking him. On the way, though, they learn that Matt, having found and searched Jon's car, considers him to be Aedan's ally, and now knows where he lives. One of Matt's subordinates (Jake) provides the information after being betrayed by his friend, and is turned loose by the two after spilling the beans.
Aedan and Jon seize the finder's truck, taking her hostage in the process, and drive for Jon's apartment. Jon discovers that his necklace is the 'relic' Aedan wanted to see - a sort of magical tool, providing powers and abilities in exchange for forever being bonded. One person, one relic. There is no way to undo the bond between a person and their relic, and being separated from a relic for too long causes their death through cracking and disintegration. A bonded human is referred to as a 'demi'.
Upon arrival, Jon sneaks around the back, climbing up to break in through a window, and finds Keira bound to a chair. He cuts her loose, putting her out the window to safety, but hears Aedan making a distraction with the captive finder out front.
Before Jon can follow after Keira, he hears someone else coming down the hallway. To keep her escape from being discovered, he turns to make a break for the front of the apartment. He nearly makes it - but is shot in the leg in the process, being taken by Matt.
With both sides having a hostage, the stakes have changed. Aedan and Matt square off in the parking lot, trading quips and references to a past friendship they shared. Eventually, a trade is agreed on, and Jon is turned loose.
In passing, though, the finder attacks Jon, trying to take his necklace from him. Chaos breaks out as the group resumes fighting.
Aedan is captured by Matt after Jon is taken down by the finder. Jon is left to watch as Aedan is tased and handcuffed, dragged towards a van. Matt finds Aedan's relic - a knife, ancient and hidden out of reach. The finder is killed in the struggle, with Jon's chances of survival looking thin. Before they can get him into the vehicle, Jake emerges from the woods, shooting him in the chest and neck.
Aedan dies, his body collapsing into dust. Jon is suddenly important again, with Aedan out of the picture and the finder dead. But Matt's subordinate, sent to retrive Jake, returns with Keira instead.
When Matt turns on Keira, seeing her as a more pliable hostage than Jon, Jon snaps. He unearths new powers prior unused - and commands Matt and the others, ordering them to release him and Keira. They obey.
Aedan reemerges from the shadows, whole and unhurt again, and between Aedan and Jon, short work is made of Matt's crew. Overcome by exhaustion and strain, Jon passes out.
The weeks that follow are chaotic. Jon is taken to a hospital by Keira, left to heal and mend. Aedan stops by the aparment briefly to explain their situation in full. As a lone demi, without allies or gifted friends, Jon is a vulnerable rogue. Using his powers makes him vulnerable, as others can track his magic. He advises Jon to stay hidden before giving him his phone number and vanishing.
Jon is startled, then, when Jake shows up on his doorstep. The demi, gifted with sleep magic, offers Jon the remainder of Matt's funds for their mission, and apologizes for his involvement. Before he can leave, Jon stops him, and offers a partnership instead.
Together, Jon and Jake venture towards the outskirts of town, to where an old finder lives. Matt's crew had consulted with him upon entering the area, and Jon and Jake might be able to strike a simliar bargain.
Jon meets Greyson, a passive finder living in a run-down, redneck house out by himself. After some back and forth, Greyson admits that his long life and long-standing bond with his relic has made his powers quite strong. Putting Jon in his place, Greyson reveals that he's been aware of Jon's existence as a demi for years, and chose to keep the boy safe rather than sell his identity to relic-hunters.
The trio reaches a working arrangement. But before leaving, Greyson tells Jon that the next time they visit, he'd like to meet the other demi in their crew. Initially confused about what he means, Jon soon realizes that Keira and Aedan were hard at work while he was distracted.
His supicions are confirmed when he confronts Keira and finds her in possession of the glasses from Matt's finder. Jon and Keira have to come to terms with her decision to join their ranks, a decision which makes them substantially more visible to anyone passing by, but which also adds her strength to their own.
Soon after, Greyson contacts Jon and alerts him that other demis are in the area, passing by to the south. His message is cryptic, and he leaves the decision of what to do to Jon. Jon and the others are torn between remaining secretive and confronting what could be a threat while they have the element of surprise.
They decide to go scope out the situation - and upon arriving at a distant motel, are attacked by the other demis before they can talk. Keira and Jake are wounded, but together they manage to kill their opponents. On one of them, a demi trying to flee, Jon finds two spare relics whose owners are nowhere in sight.
The relics are soon identified as belonging to Loren and Brendon, who were being held inside the motel room. The pair are quickly freed and reunited with their relics, and while they're initially distrustful of Jon's crew, they agree to come back to Jon's recently-purchased house to regroup.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
With the introduction of the pair, Jon is forced to learn more about the ugly side of their world, to discover how relics are bought and sold, sometimes along with the person they're bonded to. As demis with non-offensive abilities, Loren (dream-bringing) and Brendon (weather prediction) were perfectly vulnerable to being captured and resold.
The two are offered their freedom, but have nowhere left to turn. They agree to join Jon's crew permanently, after passing a lie-detection test from Jon.
Shortly after, Jon discovers a tent on their property - and Aedan inside, sleeping. All around him were goodies stolen from Jon's house. He rouses the immortal demi, dragging him inside to explain himself, but notes that Aedan looks more than a little ragged and run-down.
After sleeping and eating, Aedan admits that he's in a rough place. Jon's exposing him to Matt's crew put him out of a job, and with other demis chasing him around on a regular basis, he had no good way of finding another. Jon realizes that without any sort of income or money, Aedan was likely at the onset of starvation, with winter building around them. Jon offers him a trade - food and a warm place to sleep, whenever he needs it, in exchange for information and actual answers about Aedan's situation.
Aedan reluctantly agrees - after getting himself very, very drunk - and tells Jon about his past. Aedan grew up in Ireland, a thousand or more years past, with magic still very much alive. The creation of relics, though, coincided with the steady decline of magic. Mages theorized that magic was fading because it was being packed into objects, but no one would stop making them. Once magic dwindled far enough that creating relics became impossible, those who still wanted to get their hands on power came up with creative alternatives.
Taken in a raid, Aedan was sold to one such mage, who sacrified him along with many other slaves, with the intent of creating a new relic out of their blood and lives. Unfortunately for the mage, though, Aedan's mother was a hedgewitch, and he knew enough basic runes and spellwork to alter the spell. When his throat was cut with the nascent relic, he bonded with it rather than the mage - and became a demi.
The relic, responding to his wishes of safety in that moment, allows him to 'respawn' at the moment of his death, teleporting a short distance and returning him to how he was at the moment he bonded with the knife. Knife in hand, he fled the compound, not looking back.
Aedan then reveals to Jon and Keira that in the end, he's searching for a way to de-bond with his relic, achieving a true and permanent death.
They're left to mull over the discovery. Aedan vanishes that night, leaving behind a note in which he promises to send Jon demis strong enough to help protect their crew. He also warns Jon that he'll be indebted to Aedan for the help, and that Jon should take care to never become corrupt like Matt was. Finally, he tells Jon about the 'prime' crews in the area, dominant packs of organized demis, and warns him that it's likely some of them will confront Jon's crew over their apparent claim of territory.
Loren and Brendon begin to settle into the crew. The whole lot of them travel to a nearby forest for war-games, practicing their abilities and using them in coordination. On their way home, though, Jon is contacted by Greyson, warning him that two demis are approaching.
Jon and his friends hurry home, and are greeted that evening by a man and a teenager showing up in their driveway. The pair are introduced as Tyler and Kai Morgan. After some initial confusion by Jon, they admit that they were sent by Aedan, and that Aedan gave Kai his relic in exchange for their aid defending the house. Tyler identifies his powers as being sound-based, while Kai has fire. After passing Jon's lie-detection tests, they're accepted into the crew.
Before long, tensions begin to build. Jon finds Brendon behind the house, angry at the presence of the new arrivals. He warns Jon that Kai will burn the house down, and eventually snaps, telling Jon that if he isn't wanted, he'll leave.
Confused, Jon tries to settle Brendon down, but the weather-demi stalks off instead. Loren finds Jon, explaining to him privately that Brendon's crew viewed him as dead weight. Without any useful abilities that could contribute to their success, they sold him to the markets in exchange for a relic more useful. Horrified, Jon reassures Loren that no one has any intentions of backstabbing Brendon. Together, they come up with a plan to have Keira and her detail-sensing glasses help Brendon learn more about his own powers.
Again, they're alerted to more demis in the region by Greyson, who's beginning to grow annoyed at the constant traffic. This time, a whole vanload of demis shows up, led by a man named Glenn and identifying themselves as being sent by Aedan. A man and woman are watching Jon, with the man becoming visibly distressed. When Jon begins taking the demis aside one by one, testing their statements for lies, the woman volunteers to go first.
She introduces herself as Amber and her friend as Nox, once they're in private, and tells Jon that Glenn is lying to them. She claims that Glenn is there under false pretenses, and that their real goal is to capture Jon and deliver him to a woman named 'Anke'. She admits that Nox and her are mercenaries, hired by Glenn to accompany his crew. They have no real allegiance to him, and she realized that their mission was doomed upon seeing Jon's crew and learning about his powers.
Before Jon can question her further, Glenn interrupts their meeting - and upon touching Jon's shoulder, Jon finds himself at peace with the situation. He accompanies Glenn and Amber back to the others, declaring everything fine and good and the demis welcome. Keira and the others protest, but he follows Glenn towards their van.
Seeing Nox and remembering his name weakens Glenn's hold on him, though, and Jon soon remembers the truth. When Glenn tries to drug him, he manages to knock the syringe loose, taking only a partial dose. The yard erupts into chaos. When the fight clears, Jon's crew has taken Glenn, Amber, and Nox captive. A call to Aedan reveals that he never sent them - and Aedan requests that they hold all three there for him.
Amber and Nox are separated from their relics, but left otherwise free. Glenn is bound and drugged, kept more secure for Aedan. Amber protests their treatment, considering they warned Jon and aided in the fight, but has no real way of fighting back.
Jon and the others spend a bit of time with Amber and Nox, growing closer. Nox tells Jon that Amber saved him a few years back, attacking a convoy he was held by to free another demi. When Jon sees Amber in pain, feeling the separation from her relic, he relents and allows them proper access to their magic, while still monitoring them.
When Aedan arrives, he questions first Nox and then Glenn. He's quite concerned by the news that Anke was involved, and wants to know more about their hiring. All that they know is that Glenn was promised power and fortune if he could capture and deliver Jon to her, preferrably alive.
Reluctantly, Aedan is forced to let the matter go when he announces that he was returning to them anyway - with a prime crew on his heels. Shortly after, Jon gets a phone call from an unknown man, identifying himself as Noah and wanting to meet.
Jon and Jake go to meet Noah, who identifies himself as the leader of the marketeers, a crew based out of Toronto. When Jon's crew freed Loren and Brendon, they did so by attacking a group of hunters on their way to deliver the merchandise to them - and they don't appreciate the interference.
Noah offers Jon the opportunity to safeguard his crew by being absorbed into the marketeers. They'd be a branch of the powerful, international organization. In doing so, however, Jon would be required to travel to their headquarters to serve as a representative - and tool - and the merchandise they stole would have to be returned. Recognizing the 'merchandise' Noah references as his two crew members, Jon reacts poorly, and the conversation breaks down.
Noah enspells Jon and Jake, leaving them as exhausted, frozen statues in the restaurant they met at while he and his assistant steal Jon's car and leave. After a few minutes, Aedan bursts into the restaurant, slapping some sense back into the pair.
They return to the house, finding it under attack. The trio have to search for the straggling members of their crew, scattered around the property alone and in pairs. They find Keira and Tyler at the house itself. Amber is nearby, off in the woods, and directs them to help Nox, who is being chased. Aedan is mortally wounded in the fighting, and Jon is forced to shoot him, knowing that he'll respawn whole and healthy. With the group a little more reunited, they circle back, attacking Noah's force head-on.
They fight. Kai is quickly wounded, attacked by a fire mage whose skill far outweighs his own. The rest of the group rack up injuries one after another. But Nox directs Jon to the group standing around Noah's vans - and Jon realizes that Noah's crew is tiring, too. They've taken more casualties than they wanted, and the costs have been too high. With a few parting blows, they start to withdraw.
Not without one last parting blow, though - before their eyes, one of Noah's demis teleports to Keira, snatching her away as she stands separated from the rest. Jon and Aedan make a break for the van, but have no chance of catching it as they begin driving. Amber leaps in front of it instead, eating up the van's momentum and destroying the vehicle's engine.
Jon catches Amber as she collapses. Aedan pulls Keira from the back of the van - and Noah's crew begins to scatter.
Quickly, though, Jon looks around and notices that his car isn't there, and Noah never showed up. Aedan, Jake, and Jon return to their car, driving for Greyson's house. They know it's the last possible place Noah might have attacked.
Sure enough, when they arrive, they find their finder's property aflame. The front door is open, and Noah is inside. They spot Jon - and Jon spots Greyson's body on the floor, bloody and still. Drawing on his abilities, Jon attacks Noah, fighting him to a standstill.
In the end, though, he's interrupted by a gunshot, and a strange man striding into the scene. Introducing himself as Carl, the newcomer sends Noah's crew packing and sets a healer to working on Greyson.
Quickly, Carl is identified as the leader of the southern crews in Detroit. He had a debt to Greyson, and couldn't sit by and let the old man die. They also didn't look kindly on the way Noah chose to settle his differences with a new crew.
Jon and his friends return to their home after being lectured about the need for secrecy, and their foolishness in thinking their problems would end by killing the marketeer's leader. Carl leaves behind a healer, Hannah, who will continue to try and heal the comatose Greyson.
With Noah sent packing, at least for the moment, and Anke still just a distant threat, Jon's crew enjoys a brief respite.