Page 31 of Triumph of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic #6)

Blue-silver light blinded me, and a buzzing jolt coursed through my entire body as the ground disappeared from under my feet. I fell, flailing in terror for long seconds, as if I’d leaped into a pit instead of through a portal. My sword flew out of my grip.

Finally, I landed hard on my side on grassy earth, momentum sending me bumping and rolling across it, my body battered until I came to a stop. Somewhere behind me, the brilliant light faded, replaced by a soft silver—moonlight flowing down from a clear night sky.

The strong scents of flowers as well as grass flooded my nostrils.

“Ouch,” Duncan murmured from a few feet away. He’d come to a stop against a huge mossy log. “I might have activated the security system as well as opening the doorway.”

Bolin groaned from another direction. Grass spread for hundreds of yards in all directions except one.

There, a vast garden stretched away, pathways meandering among plantings, fountains, and statues of winged creatures that I wanted to call fairies, though they had animal faces more reminiscent of gargoyles. This was what I’d seen in my vision.

I looked back in the direction we’d come. There was no sign of an archway or portal on this side, but the Space Needle rose in the distance, visible over a forested area beyond the grass. The rest of the city had disappeared.

“Uhm, okay.” I rose to hands and knees and peered around, hoping my sword had come through with me.

“Are we… still in Seattle?” Bolin had also fallen but pushed himself to his feet. He touched his chest. Was the potion still guiding him toward Jasmine?

“I’ve no idea,” I said.

Was this some kind of alternate dimension? Did such things exist?

“Maybe we should have done more research before you waved your magnet over that frog house, Duncan,” I added.

Ah-ha. My sword lay in the grass. I plucked it up, having a feeling I would need it.

“With enemies barreling down on us?” Duncan rose to his feet and faced in the direction we’d come from, probably reminded that those enemies might follow us through the archway. They had to know about this place.

But there remained no sign of the portal. If they appeared, it would be out of nowhere.

“I hope there’s another way back,” I said.

“Maybe you wave a magnet over another frog house.” Duncan patted his pack.

“We’d better get out of here in case?—”

“She’s that way.” Bolin pointed and headed toward one of the paths leading into the garden.

“Okay, then.” I walked after him, waving for Duncan to follow.

He continued to eye the spot where we’d appeared. Expecting Lykos and those men to pop out at any moment?

They had been right behind us. Likely, they were waiting for the rest of whatever patrol had been put on duty to keep an eye out for us. Then, they could all come through together. With rifles . What was my sword supposed to do against those?

“Do you want me to stay here?” Duncan asked. “And?—”

“No,” I interrupted. “I’d pine terribly if you weren’t at my side.”

“Worried I’ll get myself in trouble, eh?”

“Vastly.” I walked back and gripped his hand to make sure he didn’t intend to stay behind and buy us time while he risked his life.

Besides, we might face something more dangerous here. I would need Duncan.

Determined to find Jasmine before the potion wore off, Bolin was already dozens of yards ahead of us.

So many of the garden beds had towering stalks and flowering bushes that rose well over our heads that it would be easy to lose track of him, and something told me we wouldn’t have cell reception to send texts here.

Duncan and I jogged to catch up with Bolin, the night air crisp and cool on our skin as a breeze swept through, rustling the plants.

When we started down a path that traveled between beds of what looked like bamboo, the length of the green shoots covered in purple flowers, I paused to look behind us.

Just before we rounded a bend that would take the area out of view, an arch-shaped blue-silver light flared. The portal was activating again.

“They’re coming through.” I wondered how many men would arrive. For that matter, how many enemies were already here in this place? Hiding and waiting for us?

Duncan touched his hand to the small of my back, guiding me around the bend so that our enemies wouldn’t see us as soon as they came through. Since Lykos would have no trouble tracking us by scent, did it matter?

Maybe not, but I let Duncan guide me away. Bolin was speed-walking, and I didn’t want to lose him. Thanks to all the planters, raised beds, fountains, statues, and numerous paths meandering among them, the place was a maze.

“Have you ever heard of anywhere like this?” I asked Duncan, waving toward the distant Space Needle still visible between gaps in the plants.

“Oh, yes. There are artifacts that create pocket realms within our own world, and I’ve heard that powerful potions can allow people to access existing ones that are always there.”

I remembered the damp viscous stuff on the wrought-iron archway. Had Abrams sprayed that on to convert someone’s garden into a portal?

“These pocket realms are, however, rare,” Duncan continued, “and I’d not heard of any on this continent.

They’re more frequent in the places where civilization existed in the times of stronger magic, back before it faded and those born with the ability to harness it and create artifacts grew fewer and fewer.

On one of my treasure hunts in the Middle East, I once found an artifact that allowed me to visit a desert pocket realm.

I almost died of thirst before finding a way back. ”

“So, they can be dangerous.”

“Oh, certainly. Those who made them often left behind magical guardians.” Duncan lifted a finger, then paused to clamber to the top of a fountain with a statue of what looked like a thorn-covered bear spitting water from its broad snout.

From a perch on its back, Duncan looked behind us and also in the direction we were heading.

I didn’t stop, not wanting to lose Bolin, who was not inclined to wait for us, but I did notice that Duncan’s gaze snagged on the way behind us longer than on the way ahead.

“What did you see?” I asked when he rejoined me.

“There’s a warehouse without any windows up ahead. It looks industrial and like it belongs in Seattle by the docks rather than in this realm, but it’s surrounded by plants and birds from here. Wherever here is.”

“And what’s behind us?”

“Lykos and some men are coming.”

“More than the two men we saw earlier?”

“Yes.”

“That’s what I was worried about.”

We caught up to Bolin as he turned around a corner, pumping his arms in what looked like frustration that he couldn’t go straight. Jasmine was probably in the warehouse Duncan had seen, but spiky green cactus-like plants barring the way kept us from taking a direct route.

Bolin started jogging toward a four-way intersection that offered an option to continue in the right direction. Before we reached it, an eight-legged metallic bug skittered into view. It rotated toward us, showing two glowing dots for eyes and a circular orifice for a mouth.

I groaned. “Not those guys again.”

“Those aren’t the magical guardians I had in mind,” Duncan said.

“They must be Abrams’s specialty.”

“Since they’re mechanical rather than alchemical, that’s a touch surprising, but maybe he unearthed a stockpile of them someplace.”

“Those vapors they spit are plenty alchemical.” I well remembered the gaseous substance that could waft from their mouth-like orifices.

During our previous encounter, the vapors had almost knocked out Duncan and me.

Had we succumbed and continued to be exposed to the tainted air, they might have killed us.

In the intersection, another bug joined the first.

Duncan caught Bolin by the arm to keep him from charging toward it.

“They’re not that large.” Bolin pulled one of his spherical Orbs of Entanglement out of his pocket and fingered the vials on his bandolier.

“They exhale toxic gas,” I told him.

“Fortunately, we came prepared,” Duncan said.

“We did?” I grimaced as two more bugs skittered into view. Outside, the poisonous gas should dissipate more quickly, but I still wasn’t eager to get close.

A questioning grunt from the path behind us suggested we might not have any choice. I could sense Lykos back there as well as magical weapons. The brute squad was getting close. Herding us.

Duncan tugged off his backpack and pulled out a nicer and newer version of the gas mask I kept in the leasing office. He handed it to me and drew out another one.

“I’m afraid I only brought two though,” he said.

Bolin chopped his arm in an impatient motion. “I’m fine.”

He chucked his sphere toward the center of the intersection. The Orb of Entanglement landed between the bugs, steaming as it lost cohesion and spread into what I well knew was a sticky puddle.

Not waiting to see how the mechanical constructs reacted, Bolin ran toward the intersection. He skirted the puddle to go around a cement planter marking the corner.

The bugs hissed out purple vapor, a cloud forming in the air above them. Though we were outside, the breeze had died down, and the stuff lingered.

I tugged the mask over my head, tightened the straps, and strode forward with Duncan. A glance back made me jump. Our wolf friend had appeared on the path behind us.

Eyes intent, Lykos watched us for a moment before looking back the way he’d come. He lifted his snout and howled.

“You might have to confront him,” I said as Duncan and I ran around the corner after Bolin. My face was hot under the mask, the canister weighing down my jaw, but I trusted its filter would keep the air from poisoning us. Just in case, I held my breath.

“I’m going to confront Abrams ,” Duncan said, his voice muffled by his mask.

I didn’t know if we would be able to reach Abrams without facing off against Lykos and the men.