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Chapter Eighteen

AYO

Sneaking into the place I called home for most of my life is not something I ever thought I’d be doing. The problem is, I can’t just ask Nyoka for the family grimoires without him wanting to know why, and there’s too much risk that whoever did this would find out and realise we’re onto them.

I keep going over the reality that it has to be someone who regularly spends time in the manor.

Either someone who lives there—looking at you, Lola—or works there.

The task force is made up of the most powerful mages in the coven, for obvious reasons, which means any one of them has enough magical ability to be a suspect.

The ward around the coven estate is enormous and complex, so it takes several minutes for me to convince it that Ethan and the team are members of the coven and should be allowed through.

“Why is this ward making all the hair on my body stand on end?” Jet whispers as I work.

I keep my voice as quiet as I can. “They used five mages and eight witches to weave it. In order to make the patchwork into a usable ward, they grounded it in the soil. That means it vibrates at a frequency supes can pick up on.”

It’s really a collection of cobbled-together localised wards instead of the one large one my dad erected and maintained before that.

If they’d grounded it in rock instead of soil it would have been less sticky, but there’s no hiding the messy nature of its construction.

It was amateur hour at the ward building school when they constructed this thing, seriously.

“Why didn’t they just get you to do it once you became an adult?” Skye asks, standing barefoot in nothing but joggers, ready to shift as soon as the team are clear. “You could do a ward this size, right?

“It would take a few days, but yes. Unfortunately, my magic was unreliable before I started working with you guys. Nyoka didn’t want to depend on it.”

Literally everyone looks at me like I’m crazy.

“Your wards have never been unreliable,” Ethan points out.

“They’re the most seamless wards I’ve ever encountered,” Cal agrees.

I shrug, not sure what to say. “I’ve been building wards since I was four.”

I don’t know why my magic was temperamental before. I’m just relieved it’s stable now.

“Nyoka is an idiot,” Kit declares. “His loss, our gain.”

“Your fireballs alone are epic,” Jet says.

I’m unable to contain my smile. “Come through.”

By prior agreement, I cast night vision spells on myself, Kit, and Skye since we can’t see in the dark like the others can and we’re about to move away from the nearby street lights.

Skye’s face lights up. “This is just like military tech. Cheers, Ayo.”

Kit looks around in every direction. “More greyscale, less green, but yes. Thanks, Ayo.”

As soon as everyone is through the ward, Ethan signals for us all to move. Skye shoves down his joggers, shifts, and takes off into the warm night sky. Cal balls up the clothing and shoves it into a backpack he’s carrying.

I’ve brought us in through a remote part of the ward in case my adjustments didn’t work, so it takes us a while to get through the woods and then across the fields to the manor. The others are all silent, of course, so I cast a silencing spell on my trainers so my feet don’t make any noise.

We also have earpieces for contacting each other if necessary, but Ethan ordered radio silence unless there’s an emergency. There’s too much risk of giving ourselves away with even whispered updates.

As soon as the manor comes into view, we hide behind a low drystone wall to get a proper look so the team can check there are no lights on or other signs of life.

I already explained the layout of the estate and that the nearest outbuildings are all used as business premises of one sort or another, so at what-the-fuck o’clock in the morning we shouldn’t have to worry about anyone in any of those.

I don’t expect to encounter anyone in the manor, either.

With only five people living there full-time and one of those a baby, this should be a safe night to enter.

We might have had more trouble if the task force hadn’t already made an arrest, since they’ve probably been working the same long hours we have.

I startle a little when Skye swoops down and lands on Ethan’s shoulder, right next to me.

He doesn’t screech or make any other kind of movement, which seems to be a signal in and of itself, because Ethan makes a few hand movements I don’t understand.

Skye hops to Cal’s shoulder and they zip off towards the manor at blurred vamp speed, then head around the right side of the building.

Jet then sets off towards the left side of the manor, doing some sort of speed-walk low to the ground. Kit follows, then Ethan taps me and gestures for me to go next. I do the same as Jet and try not to feel like an idiot, imitating these former SAS soldiers.

Ethan and Raj bring up the rear, and when we reach the side door that leads to the staircase to my old apartment, I’m surprised to find it locked. It never used to be, what with people always coming and going, but I do still have a key since I ended up moving out in such a rush.

I fish the key out of my pocket, unlock the door, and step aside so Jet, Kit, and Ethan can go in ahead of me. I gave the whole team the floorplan of the manor when we were preparing for this so they’re not reliant on me while we’re in here.

I’m hit with a surreal sense of longing as Jet and Kit disappear to the left at the end of the hallway.

Everything has been so hectic since I moved out that I’ve not really thought much about what I’ve been missing.

And while the memories hit me hard as we turn right and move through the building to Nyoka’s office, I realise how nice it’s been to live in a small neutral zone flat with Ethan.

Is it possible I was lonely here? I didn’t think so, not when there were always people around, but having a friendly, loving face around every morning and evening is something I haven’t experienced since Qadir died five years ago.

I shake off the weird, nostalgic self-reflection as soon as Raj, Ethan, and I reach Nyoka’s office. Nyoka never locks it; he doesn’t need to. If we open that door without me dealing with the ward, he’ll be down here in a flash.

I send out the royal blue swirls of my magic to confirm the ward structure is the same as I remember from all those times I waited outside here for a pre-arranged appointment with Nyoka, which he often didn’t show up for.

I startle when the ward isn’t what I’m expecting.

It’s been completely rebuilt and is now far more powerful.

Did Nyoka hire an outside sorcerer to do this? Maybe one from another city? Would he even consider that kind of risk to our coven’s security?

Regardless, I’m now dealing with a sorcerer-level security ward similar to the one I’ve installed at the Soldati Security office, and it’s going to take me a lot longer than I’d hoped to get through undetected. I sigh quietly and get to work.

I work on it for several excruciatingly long minutes while my boyfriend and his best friend keep watch. When they start sending me questioning glances, I throw up my hands in frustration.

I cast a quick privacy ward over the three of us to allow us to speak freely. It’s risky, because someone could detect it, but as long as we’re fast it should be okay. “Breaking a ward of this type undetected is going to take longer than I’m comfortable with.”

Ethan scowls at the door as if it’s personally offended him. “What are our options?”

“We could break it and risk detection,” I suggest. “Whoever cast it would need time to get in touch with Nyoka.”

Ethan immediately shakes his head. “Too risky.”

“Can you make it glitch for a few seconds?” Raj asks.

I bite my lower lip as I consider it. I hadn’t really thought of that as an option, because we’d need longer than that for the three of us to enter the office, but we don’t all need to go in, do we?

I give a sharp nod. “I can get you inside. Top left hand desk drawer. The giant bundle of keys. Be really fucking fast.”

They’re both much quicker than I am. It makes sense for me to stay out here.

Raj looks at Ethan, who gives him a sharp nod.

Raj grins and reaches for the door handle without making contact. “Tell me when.”

I furrow my brow as I concentrate, my moonstone tingling with the powerful flow of magic needed to make a ward of this nature glitch. “Now.”

Raj yanks open the door, darts inside, and retrieves the keys. He’s insanely quick as he rushes back through the doorway and closes the door behind him. Just in time—the ward snaps back into place.

I drop the privacy ward to minimise the chance of someone recognising my magic and giving away our position. We’re back to good old-fashioned stealth, although since minor spells should be okay, I cast a silencing spell on the keys.

Ethan gives a nod of approval and motions for us to get going.

He takes the lead again with Raj behind me.

We’re about halfway to the library when Ethan does some sort of hand gesture that has Raj pulling me against a closed door while Ethan flattens himself against the wall. Or tries to. My boyfriend is a big guy.

I cast a quick camouflage spell over us just in case. It’s the kind of spell that’s impossible to maintain while moving but works well on anything stationary. Right now, we’re still enough that it should be effective.

I soon hear Lola’s voice getting closer.

“… doesn’t care. I’m well aware we didn’t follow normal operating procedures but I triple-checked.

Every single aspect was within the bounds of BSG law and the parameters of the task force…

” Lola seems to be listening to whoever she’s talking to as she walks past the corridor we’re in, mage-light in the hand she’s not holding her phone with, as she heads towards the kitchens.

“Are you honestly surprised?… Well then deal with it! That’s what… ”

Her voice fades to the point I can’t hear her anymore and I let out the breath I was holding. As soon as Ethan signals for us to move, I drop the camouflage spell and hurry after him.

The manor library is eerie with night vision.

The usually mahogany shelves become black, the rows upon rows of ancient books bound in varying colours of leather with elaborate gold decorations turn shades of grey, and the small, high windows are dark voids to the moonless night.

It’s not my first time in here while everyone else is sleeping, but it never fails to impress on me the necessity of silence.

Ethan gestures me forward. I don’t think anyone outside of the coven has ever entered the library before, but only the Muroyi family have ever seen the next area. Even so, I don’t hesitate. I trust these men with my life and my secrets.

I walk around a protruding section of wall that splits the library mostly in half and head straight to the furthest corner.

Crouching down, I locate the book on the second-to-bottom shelf, three from the left, and press it in.

The action is definitely smoother than I remember it being, but the last time I did this was a few months after Mum and Dad died, so I’m a lot bigger now.

Or it could be that someone has been accessing this space regularly.

Who could have seen Nyoka do it? Lola, definitely.

One of the task force, possibly. Right now, my money is on Lola.

She doesn’t like a lot of people—basically anyone she considers beneath her—and absolutely loathes me.

She wouldn’t have hesitated to attack me in that alley behind Love Bites.

Admittedly, I don’t know what her motivation could be, but that’s something I can talk through with Ethan and the team later. First, we need to borrow the grimoires and determine whether my theory, or memory, is correct.

Both Ethan’s and Raj’s eyes glow with their animals as the wall in front of me slides backwards a foot, then to the side, recessing into the wall and revealing a short, windowless stone corridor.

I usher them in, then once inside I press a low stone in one of the walls which houses a hidden mechanism that slides the bookcase wall closed behind us.

“This space is warded. We’re safe to talk.” The ward here is unusual in that it’s embedded into the stone of the room and corridor, not tied to a living magic-user. All I have to do is feed it a little power while we’re in here and it’ll alert me to any outside danger.

“This is awesome,” Raj breathes. “I’ve always wanted to live somewhere with a secret room. Jet is going to be so jealous he missed this.”

I kept this part secret from them until now, only telling them the grimoires are in a section of the library that needs a key to access, not where exactly.

Ethan smirks. “This is seriously cool. But you don’t have to rub it in that we got to do this and Jet didn’t.”

Raj looks at him like he’s crazy as he hands me the keys. “Of course I do.”

I shake my head as I search for the right key on Nyoka’s keyring and head for the door at the end of the corridor. “You two need to just fuck already.”

Raj makes a retching sound. “Incest is not my kink.”

I know they’re not related by blood, so it’s cute that he sees Jet as a brother. I decide there’s no harm in winding Raj up a bit as I locate the right key, put it in the lock, and turn it. “I thought that’s what all these pranks were building up to. A bit of hate sex? No?”

Raj looks horrified. “No. Just… no. Absolutely not.”

I try not to snicker. “Okay, cross all your fingers and toes that the grimoire we need isn’t missing.”

I open the door and step inside a very familiar room decorated in vibrant red and gold. My magic flares as I pass through a ward that definitely didn’t used to be here. I immediately spin and hold up a hand to stop Ethan or Raj from crossing the threshold. “Shit, don’t move. A ward’s been added.”

How did I not sense it before I passed through it? Fuck. If I’ve set off this ward and ruined everything, I’ll never forgive myself.