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Within moments, Carter, the language expert of the unit, joined the session.

Painstakingly, Zeke repeated the few words that he could hear of the conversation.

He had to go back and repeat a few things to get the pronunciation just right, but Carter worked with him, coaxing out a snippet of a conversation that made sense.

Carter had already been good at languages before they met the ancient djinn at the Tower of Babel, but the gift he had been given allowed him to understand any language, any dialect, whether the language was still in use or had been dead for centuries.

Right now, he was able to identify a dialect of Chinese that was used in a mountainous region. The origins of the language didn’t matter so much as what the men had been saying. Even from just the small amount of conversation Zeke could catch, a few things were clear.

First, the men were mercenaries, though going by their uniforms and the tattoos on their skin that Zeke described, it was believed they had been part of the so-called Blood Wolves— a Special Operations unit located in the northeast of China. The men likely had skills and experience.

Second, their conversation also hinted that they had at least a rudimentary understanding of shifters.

Zeke could see that they were loading their magazines with silver ammunition, and they shared a joke about poisoning two-legged animals.

At least, that was the closest translation Carter could come up with for the terms they used.

So it was clear that they knew about shifters and the effect silver had on their systems.

And third, they seemed to know more about magic than Zeke’s unit had until recently.

He heard them talking about the mage they were working for and how they would not like to mess with her.

Just as the small piece of aluminum was tossed away, Zeke heard half of a sentence describing how one man had seen her drain the life out of an enemy.

It sounded as if he admired her strength and lethal abilities. Zeke felt only disgust.

When they’d finished picking over the snippet of conversation Zeke had been able to pick up from that otherwise innocuous object, Hal summarized what they had learned from it.

“So, now we know we’re dealing with at least three Chinese mercenaries, allied with evil.

” Hal shook his head. “The People’s Republic doesn’t lose a lot of its Special Operators to the soldier of fortune lifestyle, generally speaking.

And, according to the discussions I’ve had with our new base commander, the rest of the world is pretty much as in the dark about magic and shifters as we were.

Although, culturally, some people are predisposed to accept the existence of such things more easily.

Still, Commander Kincaid insists that shifters all over the world do their utmost to keep the secret of their existence from regular society. ”

Everyone looked over at Liam and the master chief, who both nodded their agreement, but didn’t say anything more on the subject.

“There is the potential that these mercenaries either have some kind of magic of their own or were recruited by the Veinfucus or some local sect with similar goals. Lynn has been telling me about the different flavors of magic and the different groups of followers of each kind that she knows about,” Rick put in, looking over at her.

“And there are probably more evil-leaning sects that even my grandmother doesn’t know about,” Lynn agreed.

Hal nodded. “All right. On to the next item.”

This time, a single paperclip was put in front of Zeke.

He saw the image of a young woman in some kind of conference room with a row of New York State Civil Procedure books lined up behind her on a bookshelf.

He got the impression it was a law office, and she had handled the paperclip while putting it on a set of documents that had somehow found its way onto the estate.

He couldn’t discern much more than that, so they moved on to the next item.

And then the next. And then the one after that.

Other than identifying how they had arrived on the estate, none of the objects were of much help in telling them anything new.

Then, Lynn turned over that final piece she had segregated from the others.

Zeke could see it was a shiny piece of what looked like obsidian as it was placed before him.

It wasn’t a complete piece. Rather, it looked like a shard that had been broken off something bigger.

It had a sharp edge and crush points along its side.

Regardless of the damage, it gleamed with an oil slick-like sheen common to the volcanic glass variety known as rainbow obsidian.

Normally an innocuous stone, sometimes used in jewelry, this particular piece made Zeke uneasy. The jagged shard sat on the table like it was daring him to touch it.

“This one reads as enchanted in some way,” Lynn cautioned. “It’s obviously damaged, which could negate whatever spell had been put on it, but just tread carefully.”

Zeke stared at the sliver of enchanted stone, its surface faintly pulsing with residual magic. It didn’t look like much, but neither had that lamp. Still, if there was a chance it could give them more information, Zeke had to pursue it.

Zeke flexed his fingers. Drawing a steadying breath, he reached out and pressed his fingertip to the shard. The reaction was immediate.

A violent surge of energy tore through him, sharper than anything he’d felt before.

His vision blurred as a flood of fragmented images assaulted his mind.

Flashes of shadowy castle corridors, a woman’s distorted laughter, blood on cold stone.

The overwhelming sensation of drowning in darkness.

He tried to pull back, but the magic clung to him like barbed wire.

Pain lanced through his skull, and with a grunt, Zeke threw himself backward, pushing his chair back from the table a good foot and a half. At least he’d managed to break the connection.

“What did you see?” Hal asked as everyone watched him carefully, the mood in the room alert and concerned.

Zeke dragged a hand through his hair, frustration simmering beneath the fading ache in his head.

“Too much—and not enough. The images were scrambled, chaotic. Stone corridors and blood. A woman cackling in a sinister way. It was pretty intense. My head is still ringing, and it caused a lot of pain in my skull like my brain was about to explode.”

“Dark magic. I’m sorry, Zeke. I thought the damage to the stone would be enough to cancel out whatever had ensorcelled the blade.” Lynn exhaled sharply, enclosing the shard in a cotton bag. Zeke rolled his shoulders, ignoring the lingering throb in his skull.

“Blade?” Zeke asked, curious.

“It’s just a guess, but your reaction sort of confirms it.

Some forms of witchcraft use a ceremonial blade called an athame.

Most of the time, it’s just a simple knife, and it’s used symbolically to cut ties with the past or with something that no longer serves the magic user.

But some of the people pursuing darker paths—those using blood magic—will use their athames to spill blood and take lives.

It’s an evil practice studied only by the worst of the worst. I think this piece of obsidian was part of an athame that somehow got crushed or broken so that this shard came off it.

” Lynn put the object away, and Zeke breathed a bit easier.

“That puts the ceremonial knife on the estate,” Rick pointed out.

“Confirming another link to evil in that place,” Lynn agreed.

“But I’d really like to know who it belonged to and how it was broken,” Rick said, making notes.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ll be able to tell you that,” Zeke admitted, still feeling a little overwhelmed by the overload to his gift caused by the shard.

“No problem,” Rick assured him. “It’s good enough to have the further link.

“You should be proud of yourself, Zeke,” Lynn said with a small grin.

“Your abilities are getting stronger with each session. When we first started working together to assess your gift, you probably would’ve passed out from that contact.

Not only did you pull yourself out of it this time, but even though you might have a little headache, you’re still conscious and talking to us.

I’d say this is a big win for you. You’re becoming the master of your abilities, rather than the other way around. ”

Huh . Zeke thought about her words for a moment, liking what she’d said.

He hadn’t enjoyed passing out from using his gift as he had quite a few times in the beginning.

It impaired him in his job, and he knew he would never be approved to go back out into the field if it kept happening.

This was a good sign. If he had control over his gift, he might be able to go back to work as soon as the unit was cleared of the threat and able to get back out there and fight the good fight. Lynn was right. Things were looking up.

Later that day, Hal called another emergency meeting of the entire unit after he got back from consultation with Lester Kinkaid, the lion shifter who was in command of the base. Zeke wasn’t surprised by the urgency in Hal’s words when he told them about the mission.

“Our resident foreseers can’t help us on this one,” Hal announced once the meeting started. He looked at Jeeves, who shrugged, looking a bit embarrassed.

“Rose and I have talked this over with Lynn and it’s likely that someone over on that estate is using magic to actively block our visions. I wasn’t even sure that was possible, but Lynn says it is something that some powerful mages can do,” Jeeves explained, still looking sheepish.

“Which only confirms that someone over there is up to no good,” Hal took over again.

“We’re going before first light,” he told them in no uncertain terms. “We want to be on the estate just before dawn. If they’re assembling an army over there to assault this island, we’re going to go on the offense and stop them before they have time to get all their ducks in a row. ”

Zeke liked that plan. He saw from the expressions on the faces all around that the other guys did too. They’d been sitting around on the island for far too long without seeing any action. It was one thing to train, but at some point, a guy had to use his training or lose his edge.

“Wil, I want you to lay the groundwork with some subtle fog, then ramp it up as we move in. Doable?” Hal asked their weather expert.

Wil, who had been nicknamed Thor by some of the unit for his ability to control the weather and send lightning bolts down to smite his enemies, nodded. “Can do, sir.”

Hal nodded back. “We’ll have a large contingent of shifters with us.

This is a joint operation, but we’re all going to be using our new specialties to one degree or another.

Wil goes in with the advance group, made up of shifters and led by Lieutenant Kinkaid.

Wil, I want you to liaise with Liam and be our point of contact. ”

Wil looked pleased as Hal handed out a few more specific assignments to the other guys. Finally, he made his way around to Zeke.

“Zeke, I’m assigning you to stick with Celine and her grandfather. I know they want to be in on the take-down, but I want you to try to hold them back, if you can.”

“Sir, I’ll try, but I don’t think I can stop the master chief from doing anything he pleases,” Zeke objected as politely as he could.

Was Hal serious? Or did he just not know the shifters in question well enough?

Zeke suspected it was the latter, and it was his duty to fill in his commander about what he knew.

“I understand the challenge,” Hal replied. “I’m hoping his desire to protect his granddaughter will override his need for vengeance.”

“Sir, it’s not just the master chief. Celine has spoken to me about wanting to be in on the kill and that it’s her right under shifter law.

I don’t pretend to know what that entails exactly, but you should know that the other shifters will probably not only allow them to be present when the mage is brought to justice, but might encourage one or both of them to be the ones to deliver the kill shot.

” Zeke felt as if he couldn’t make it any plainer.

He’d informed his commander of what he knew.

Now, it would be up to Hal to use that information or ignore it at his own peril.

Hal grimaced. “I see. I’ll keep that in mind, but I can hope that whoever takes out the mage does it quickly and with as little fuss as possible.

Her skills are great, according to all the evidence we have so far.

I don’t want to drag it out any longer than we have to and give her a chance to potentially do even more harm. ”

They went on to plan the rest of the mission, and then, Hal dismissed them all to prepare. They were going to leave well before dawn, so they had to get their gear prepped and manage some sleep before showtime.

In the middle of all that, they were going to have dinner with some of the shifter troops that would be going on the mission with them the next day.

Liam Kinkaid brought over a couple of platoons of his soldiers, and they filled the cafeteria.

The kitchen was churning out even more food than usual, and Zeke noted extra bodies at work in the industrial kitchen whenever the doors swung open and he could get a glance inside.

After they all ate together and got to know each other a little better, the master chief and his granddaughter came out to join them for dessert.

It was good to encourage a little camaraderie before they all faced the enemy together the next day, though Zeke would have enjoyed spending more time alone with Celine.

He couldn’t be greedy, though. The rest of his friends needed to get to know her so they could all help protect her, if needed, the next day.

The group lingered over dessert and spent a lot longer in the cafeteria than they usually did, talking quietly with their new friends and comrades.

Eventually, the unit migrated to their common room, farther down the hall on the ground floor, where they would pick up any gear they didn’t already have in their personal kit, and prep for action tomorrow.