Page 18 of Ignited Spirits (Haunted Magic #3)

IZZY

“ A re they holding Dad at the council headquarters?” I ask once everyone’s through the portal.

Rhys has his elbows braced on the counter and his head in his hands, his dark hair hanging down. He looks up at my question in surprise, like he didn’t hear us arrive.

Scrubbing a hand over his face, he straightens to his full height. “Yep. In maximum security solitary confinement. ‘For his own safety.’”

“Bull-fucking-shit.” I let out a bitter laugh. “They just want to make him as miserable as possible.” That’s what the council’s best at—making everyone else miserable.

I walk around to give Rhys a side hug because he seems like he needs it. He squeezes me against him for a moment. Aiden slams into my other side and wraps his arms around both Rhys and me.

Letting out an oof at the collision, I try to turn to glare at Aiden, but I’m very firmly squished between my two massive older brothers. I wiggle around a bit, trying to get free, but don’t get very far.

Huffing, I resort to the only thing that ever works with Aiden and jam my fingers into his side. He giggles like a little kid and dances around to avoid my tickling, freeing me from his hold.

When I dart away, Aiden levels me with a look that promises retribution. I just give him a shit-eating grin, knowing he can’t touch me right now with my mates here.

Bishop steps up behind me and pulls me back against him, whether to offer me comfort or stop me from causing any more trouble, I don’t know.

“They’re also probably anticipating you attempting to break him out.

They can control all the variables when they have him alone, and it’s the perfect place to set a trap for what they really want—you. ”

“I figured we’d be walking into a trap, but I don’t see any other options right now, St. James.” My voice comes out almost as weary as I feel.

I really didn’t need another problem, on top of the whole Lua thing, but there’s nothing I can do about it now other than deal with it.

Packing away all the exhaustion, fear, and worries about whether I’m enough, I clear my mind so I can focus on what really matters—keeping the people I love safe.

“I don’t either,” Bishop reluctantly admits. “As much as I hate you being in the middle of it, I think it’s the right call, sweetheart.”

“It’s weird—you agreeing with me,” I mutter.

He snorts behind me. “I can argue if you’d prefer. I’m sure Luca would be happy to disagree, too, if that’s what you want.”

Luca snorts and opens his mouth, probably to disagree with me.

I shake my head vigorously. “Nope, I’m good.”

Once we all fall quiet, Rhys says, “We need to come up with a plan and move on this as quickly as we can. The longer they have Dad, the more time they have to lay a trap. And the longer you’re here, the more likely it is that they’ll find you.”

Aiden nods in agreement with him. “I think the first question is, how are we getting into council HQ? I think even Rhys and I are persona non grata right now.”

“We’ll open a rift.” It’s pretty handy being part cura . It feels like I have a cheat code for dealing with mages. The only problem is when they have cura magic on their side, too, like Doyle did. Then my fledgling magic isn’t much help.

“A what now?” Aiden asks.

I huff a laugh. “A rift, like the one you went through to get to Infernus. It’s an interdimensional portal that bypasses council security, since they don’t really know that another realm exists.”

“Sucks for them,” Aiden comments dryly.

“Indeed. But it’s great for us. Does anyone have a picture of where Dad’s being held?

To my knowledge, rifts require that the caster has seen the place.

So I need to know where we’re going.” I actually don’t know a ton about how my cura magic works.

Like with my spirit magic, I’m just making it up as I go.

Levi nods. “You’re correct. Depending on the specialty of magic, some curae can transport themselves to places they’ve never seen before. But that’s a very specific type of magic and not the same thing as opening a rift.”

“That’s so cool.” I grin at him. “Some other time, when the fate of my dad and the world aren’t hanging in the balance, you’ll need to teach me about all the different types of curae .”

“I’d love to,” Levi tells me with a soft smile.

“I think you’re just going to have to get us as close as you can,” Aiden chimes in, tearing my focus away from Levi. “Neither of us has pics of where they’re keeping Dad, because we haven’t been allowed to see him.”

“Okay. After we get there, what’s the plan? Open a can of whoop-ass on them? Hope they let us in? Kill them with kindness?” I ask.

“I vote for the killing them option. Murder makes everything more fun,” Archer chimes in with a smile.

Cain nods. “I second it.”

His soft-spoken words are at odds with his vote for violence. I know Archer said Cain is bloodthirsty and unhinged, but I’ve never seen that side of him. I wonder if a full-on battle with the council will finally bring it out.

Rhys and Bishop both sigh at Archer and Cain at the same time.

I can’t help the slightly hysterical giggle that slips out at the two of them. Everyone looks at me in surprise and concern, and I wave them off. I’m not the one they need to worry about. Dad is.

Since Bishop is behind me, I look at Rhys. “Since you aren’t a fan of killing them all, what’s your plan once we break in?”

“Stealth. Get as far as we can without anyone realizing it. We can subdue any guards that notice us, but there’s no reason for this to turn into a bloodbath.” Rhys, much less enthused about the possibility of a conflict than Archer and Cain, flattens his mouth into a grim line.

“We might not have a choice,” I admit quietly.

Rhys closes his eyes in resignation before opening them and letting me see the fear swirling in them. “I know.”

Stepping out of Bishop’s arms, I walk over to Rhys. I brace my hands on the counter in front of him, mirroring his posture. “You don’t have to be part of this, Rhys. It’s my fault that Dad’s locked up. It’s up to me to get him out. This doesn’t have to be your fight.”

He scoffs. “Of course I’m coming with you, Iz.

And I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about something happening to you, Aiden, Dad, Bishop, or even the rest of your mates.

I don’t like the odds, and I’m not confident we’re all going to make it out.

I want to minimize the opportunity for a conflict and increase our odds of survival. ”

“We faced worse odds when my magic accidentally on purpose took out Doyle, and we all made it through that alive. Have some faith, Rhys. Besides, we’re Gallaghers. Overpowering other mages is what we do best.”

Huffing a laugh, Rhys gives me a half smile. “That’s true. Our family members are assholes, but I guess it works in our favor this time. Is everyone ready to go? I’d love to pull resources from Elemental for this, but I think that’s too risky.”

I look around at my mates.

Everyone nods, and Luca says, “I think we’re all ready. Might as well go now while we have some element of surprise. I agree that pulling in outsiders is risky. I’d use some of the pack, but I don’t know how much help they’ll be if we’re trying to get in and out.”

I guess we’re doing this, then.

“Do you want me to open a rift, or do you want to?” I ask Levi.

Levi pushes the long sleeves of the shirt he changed into before heading back to this realm up to his elbows, like he’s preparing to get his hands dirty. “Save your magic. I’ll open it.”

“I have a lot of magic, for your information. Way more than the average mage.” I’m mildly offended at him acting like I have such limited magic reserves. I know I’m not a full cura , but I still have a ton of power.

He smiles at me indulgently. “I know, little raven. You have more magic than I do, but your magic is also more useful than mine. It makes more sense to save yours for when we need it.”

“Oh.” I blush and duck my head, unsure what to say to the compliment. Luckily, I don’t have time to dwell on it as Levi opens a rift.

I start toward the interdimensional portal when I’m snagged around the waist and yanked to a stop. Turning in Luca’s arms, I glare up at him. He just gives me an infuriating smirk. “You’re not going through first.”

“Like hell I’m not,” I grit out. “I’m the most powerful out of everyone here, other than Levi and maybe Cain, once he gets the whole hellhound thing figured out. It absolutely makes sense for me to go through first.”

“I don’t care if it makes sense,” Luca rasps as he lowers his forehead to rest against mine. “I care that you’re my world, and I’m not letting you walk into a trap alone. Just let Levi go through first, then you can go, okay?”

I soften against him, unable to be mad when I know how much he cares. “Fine,” I grumble. I may not like it, but I do know how to compromise.

Luca grins at me before leaning down to give me a hard and fast kiss that leaves me a little dazed.

I shake it off and start toward the rift again. Once Levi walks through, I follow closely behind.

I don’t know what I expect to encounter when I walk out, but it isn’t silence. Alarms blaring, guards shouting, and people running around frantically would be more like it. But the dead quiet makes me even more certain we’re walking into a trap.

Looking around at the gold-veined marble, drab gray walls, and lack of any framed portraits or gold chandeliers, I assume we’re in the right place. The council doesn’t decorate the prison wing as ostentatiously as they do the rest of the place, not caring what inmates think of them.

Glancing to the right, I see the main council HQ entrance where the building splits off into three wings. We’re not that far away from the people milling about, so we need to keep it quiet if we’re going to be as stealthy as Rhys wants.

Once everyone is through the rift, Levi lets it close silently.

I’m surprised when Cerberus appears next to us, looking a little worn out.

You okay? I ask in my mind to avoid drawing any attention.

“Yeah! We just led Lua around a bunch of different realms. She was too slow to catch us, so we had a lot of fun!”

Cer sighs heavily in my mind. “It was not fun, but we did successfully lead her away from you and your mates. Lua is distracted in one of the less friendly realms currently.”

My curiosity is piqued at the mention of more realms and what a “less friendly” world looks like, but that’ll have to wait for later. I’m just relieved that Lua’s occupied, at least for now, and my familiaris is safe.

Thanks, guys. We’ve gotta break my dad out of prison. You’re free to come with us, but I understand if you need to rest after leading Lua on a wild-goose chase.

“We will come with you, sagana . As your familiaris , we’ll always be by your side when it’s dangerous,” Bear tells me.

My lips tip up at them always having my back.

Not wanting to waste any more time, I start walking toward the imposing steel door at the other end of the corridor.

My mates and brothers are silent as they follow us.

Our shoes softly clicking against the gaudy marble is the only sound our grim procession makes.

When we reach the door, I hold in my groan when I see how high-tech the lock is, with a biometric scanner, key card reader, and pin pad.

Really? Is all of that necessary?

Apparently the council thinks so.

“Any chance you can break into that?” I ask Aiden.

He shakes his head. “My computer’s at Elemental. I can’t really do much without any tech. Sorry.”

“You’re good. Guess we’ll have to see if my magic works against it.” I don’t know how spirit magic will be useful to get through a door, but I’ll try.

Before I can direct my magic, Levi says, “I think Cain’s magic would work better. If he can conjure his hellfire, he can melt through the metal door, which might raise fewer alarms than tampering with the lock.”

I turn to look at Cain. “How’s dealing with your hellhound powers going?”

Chuckling softly, he shrugs. “Haven’t had time to explore them. There’s a first time for everything, so I’m happy to try.”

“Okay. No pressure, though. We have a ton of other magic we can use if it doesn’t work.” I don’t have many other ideas of what to do, but I’m not going to tell him that. He doesn’t need the pressure.

Cain flashes me a small smile. “Thank you, angel.”

As he faces the door, Cain’s eyes glow the same bright red as they did when Hades provoked him. He seems to grow taller and wider as black wispy flames swirl around him. Some of those flames reach out and touch the door, but nothing happens.

I deflate. Cain must not have enough of a handle on his magic to burn through the metal yet.

I open my mouth to tell him that we’ll figure out another way when black and indigo solid flames spread down Cain’s arms to his legs and start creeping across the floor. The white marble instantly melts when the flames touch it.

I gasp as I watch his flames crawl up the metal slowly, completely melting through the foot-thick door in each spot before moving upward. Once they reach high enough for all of us to fit under, the flames move glacially sideways and then down before burning a trail back to Cain.

The thick metal door falls to the floor. Only Levi’s quick thinking to cushion it with magic keeps it from clattering when it falls and drawing the kind of attention we don’t want.

The flames slither over Cain’s clothes and skin, leaving absolutely no damage behind. Once his flames are back around his arms, Cain’s eyes fade to their normal green, and he shrinks to his—still massive—normal size. His mouth parts in surprise when he surveys the carnage left behind by his flames.

“It worked.” Cain sounds a little shell-shocked, and I have to fight the urge to giggle. He’s incredibly adorable for the trained killer Archer insists he is.

“Yep. Fantastic work, quiet boy.” I grin at him, and he returns it with a small one of his own.

Already anticipating the argument over me going first, I wait until Levi carefully picks his way through the still-molten metal where the center of the door used to be. Then I follow him, letting my cura magic pool in my hands so I’m ready for whatever we find.

Surprisingly, the hallway isn’t crawling with guards. Although, as soon as I step through and look up, a council goon rounds the corner. He doesn’t immediately notice Levi or me, giving me time to sling my magic at him.

I don’t put any thought or intention into it, other than he can’t know that we’re here.

Instead of doing something sane, like knocking him unconscious, my magic takes the most extreme route and turns him into dust as soon as it slams into him.