Chapter 119

Charles

I looked at the faces of my Enforcers, their expressions a mix of determination and concern. We were up against an enemy that was ruthless, unpredictable, and utterly unbound by conventional rules and set against a ticking clock we couldn't even watch.

"Keep the pressure on the people from that list," I instructed firmly, my voice carrying the authority that came with my position. "I don't know if any of them have anything of use to say, but I want them interrogated. Don't make it cruel, but make it thorough... Mind magic is acceptable."

"It won't do any good," Ethan said from nearby. He looked paler than he had a few hours ago. Ill as if the compulsion was already draining his life.

Maybe it was.

"Why?"

"They're mostly decoys. He considers them all dispensable. My father put together the list."

Shit. Well, there went that potential.

"You know more about your father and Alpha Shadow than anyone. Is it a waste of time to keep them?"

He shook his head. "If my father thinks that they're still suspects, he won't get nervous. Alpha Shadow never cared one way or the other..." His expression turned grim. "If he has Eason... he'd probably already be blowing us up."

I set my jaw and looked back at the Enforcer Unit leader nearby.

"What are your thoughts?"

He shook his head. "The cameras led us toward the north side of the city, but our sweeps haven't turned up anything. Not even for magical traces."

"That should be impossible," I looked at Blake as she frowned. "Eason said he was sweating black right before he was taken. That's magical discharge, isn't it?

She winced. "It's... something, but I wouldn't call it discharge."

As I considered our next steps, I couldn't help but wonder how Grace was holding together. Was she burying her head in the sand again, or was she trying to come out of it? I didn't dare call her yet without something of use to say. She didn't need the added stress of the uncertainty, but I had to check in with her soon to give her something.

I got Seraphina on the line as Blake opened her seeking tablet. Her eyes started to glow.

"Tell me what you can about this ritual," I said, rolling out a map of Mooncrest. "I've been told a bit, but not enough to be sure that I'm right or what to look for."

"Your instincts are as good as always. It's definitely an elixir ritual," Seraphina said. "I've seen smaller-scale elixir rituals, but the ritual they're planning is bigger than anything that's been attempted. Given Mooncrest's size, they're going to try to create an Eternal Stone."

My stomach turned. "I thought that was a myth."

"You know how witches like our secrets," she said.

I shook my head. "Eason is only half lycan, unawakened. He's twenty-six. He can't have that much power."

"He... was half-lycan," Seraphina said. Blake gasped as if she understood.

"What the hell does that mean?" I asked, hoping that whatever she said wouldn't be as bad as I had a feeling that it was.

"I looked into his records from Selene," Seraphina said. "You said he was sweating black, Charles. That only happens in two ways: poison and...?"

I blinked. My head hurt as it dawned on me. Rebirth, more specifically, magical purging. I cursed. How could I have not seen it before? How could I have not put that together?

"He had a lycan shift, not a werewolf one," I said. "But Grace said he'd never shifted before... That should have been impossible..." I glanced at Ethan. "He's died before."

"He was in a hospital in Round Rock and was referred out to Selene when he passed out on campus a mere month after being there. They resuscitated him after an hour by ritual. The day before, he was in Logan, and he'd been in a magical explosion that was explained as a gas accident. The humans thought that it might have been poison."

"Eason's had a magical episode before and probably didn't even know... it explains why he was relatively fucking coherent after murdering those WSU intruders."

He'd already done it before.

"Son of a bitch," I growled. "The fever has been him... awakening the rest of his magic all this time?"

Black sweat was the last stage, when magic in the body was so concentrated it purged anything that could weaken the body, including the werewolf magic that was still inside him. He was basically being reborn, and I hadn't even realized it. His scent hadn't changed because he'd been awakening for years.

"The sweat was recent, maybe a day or two. He's been having a fever for much longer than that. I thought it was just him settling. How much time do we have until he's... ripe, so to speak, for a ritual of this size?"

"If Alpha Shadow has him? Maybe until the end of the week," Seraphina said. "He could speed up the process. If Kalen has him, who knows? Right now, his magic is going to prioritize keeping him healthy, using every injury as a chance to purge any lingering werewolf energy, replacing whatever is left of it. It might help to know how far back his witch ancestor is--"

"His grandmother," I said, thinking of Asher's wife. "I don't know if his mother had any magic."

"It could be coming on sooner than you think."

I shook my head. "Finding Eason is the priority. I have people on it. I'll push harder. What can you tell me about the ritual setup? Could Mooncrest actually handle it, or would they have had to plant something here?"

"City Hall has witch protections, so no. They could expand the bones, so to speak, but that's the work of a few hours. The prep work of placing the explosives and drawing a ritual circle big enough for all of Mooncrest is the problem. They've likely already set it up."

Blake nodded in agreement, her face etched with concern. "I agree, but where and how would they not be detected? With all of the patrols..."

"The sewers," I said softly. "Seraphina, you said that Mooncrest was expanded, but there was a cave system here before, right?"

"Yes."

Who knew how big or if it had been connected to the sewer system? This might be a question for Grace or the pack historian if they had one.

"When we find Eason," I growled. "I'm shipping his ass back to Selene for thorough training. I can't believe they let him go."

"I don't think they knew," Seraphina said. "Though I got the impression that they expected him to come back soon."

"Probably when the visa expired..." I scoffed and pulled out my phone. "Blake, continue your analysis and work with Seraphina to identify potential entry sites and the shape of this. We need to find the anchor points and destroy them and the bomb sites."

My phone started to ring with a call from Grace.

"Hey," I said. "I was just thinking about calling you."

"You found something?" Grace asked, her voice hopeful.

"Not yet, but there's been some clarity to the situation. How are you holding up?"

"Not," she said. "But I found something in the office. It was in a safe that belonged to my mother. It looks like a big piece of stone. It's not heavy, but it's been chiming."

My heart raced as I listened to Grace's description of the tablet.

"Chiming?"

"I don't know how it's doing this, but I was hoping that it was something that could help."

"What else can you tell me about it?"

"Wait... It's doing something. There are lines appearing on it... And there are dots. Four of them. Only one of them is moving..."

My heart lurched. "What kind of stone? Light? Dark?"

"It's a weird shiny purple, I guess."

"It's a witch's seeking tablet," I said, waving Blake over to me. "Are there any marks on it? Writing that you can read? Anything?"

I put Grace on speaker. "There's some sort of writing on it, but I can't read it... I never, uhm, took magical transcription."

"That's alright," I said. "They're used for large-scale magical security measures. You said one of the dots was moving. What about the other three?"

"They're all clustered together...Actually, the lines look a bit like City Hall."

"Get me a picture, and I can try and link the spell," Blake said.

"I need you to take a picture of the side where there is writing," I said, feeling relief and hope rush through me.

The picture came through, and I could almost laugh at the surge of hope.

"Your mother was a hell of a woman," I said incredulously. "It's keyed to the Wolfe bloodline. That moving dot has to be Ethan."

Grace gasped. "But, it's moved off the tablet. I can't see it anymore."

Blake typed quickly and shook her head. "No go. It's got an obscuring element to it."

"Shit. Listen, Grace, I need you to operate the tablet. I'll walk you through it."

"Take it in both hands and focus on what you want to see. The tablet's lines should either shift or shrink to show you where Eason is headed."

I waited, listening for her. I heard her growling with frustration, and then she gasped.

"It's moving! The lines aren't complete, but... But it looks like they're heading west. They're driving through the city, but I can’t figure out what route they're taking."

"Can you give me a landmark that might be nearby?" I looked over at the Enforcers, who were pouring over another set of maps. "Get ready to roll. Get armed."

Ethan's eyes were wide as he leaned against the binds.

"I think--wait! Eason's dot is turning red."

Shit. Were they starting the ritual already, or was Kalen there about to kill him?

"Where is it right now?" I asked, grabbing my gear and hustling out after the rest of the unit that was coming with me.

"Heading toward the warehouses on the west side near the hilled side of Mooncrest. It's mostly undeveloped."

"I need you to stay on the line, Grace, you understand?" I said. "Right now, you're the only one who knows exactly where Eason is."