The Spell Realm (The Sorcery Code #2)(33)

“I am truly sorry to interrupt such a lovely dance, but we must talk, now,” the Council Leader said, looking directly at Blaise.





Chapter 18: Gala





“Gala, run. It’s Ganir, from the Council,” Blaise told her, pushing her behind him. His face was tight with anger. “Teleport away if you can. He might be the first of many.” As he was speaking, he pulled out his Stone and several cards, beginning to write on them with incredible speed.

The old man stepped toward them. “I am here by myself and with only peaceful intentions,” he said, opening his hands to show that they were empty. He sounded genuine to her, but she could see that Blaise was not convinced.

Deciding to humor Blaise and, at the same time, do something she’d wanted to do for a while, Gala looked inside herself. Learning to do sorcery using the code had indeed changed things for her, enabling her to better understand how she had accidentally been doing magic before—and, more importantly, how she might be able to control it. This was her chance to try a simple spell. If it didn’t work, then she intended to do as Blaise asked.

The spell she had in mind was quite different from anything she’d seen before, but it seemed fairly intuitive to her. She would be here, but neither man would know it—and for that, she needed to bend all the light around her in the right way.

She focused on the mathematics of the task, pretending that she was about to cast a spell using one of the methods Blaise had taught her today. It was a sham, though; deep inside, she knew that she had a direct route to achieving her goal. Going through the training made her realize that she didn’t need the cumbersome spoken word or its slightly more elegant written cousin. In a way, something like the Interpreter Stone was already built into her mind, and she could now sense it.

She took a deep breath, letting her mind clear. This time it happened quicker than when she had practiced at the lake. Then she focused on what she was hoping to achieve, mentally running through the proper calculations. A second later, everything went dark, as though she’d lost her vision. For a moment, Gala panicked, sure that she’d done something wrong, but then she realized what happened.

She had done too thorough of a job of bending light. The inner workings of her eyes needed to reflect some light in order to see. To fix this problem, she needed to make her eyes exempt from this spell, but that would probably result in a strange visual of eyeballs floating in the air, defeating the purpose of the invisibility spell. Oh well, Gala decided, maybe she didn’t need to see—hearing should be enough.

“She teleported?” Ganir asked, his voice penetrating the cocoon of darkness that encased Gala. “Just like that?”

“How did you find me?” Blaise demanded in a hard voice. Gala flinched, startled by the bitter anger she heard there. She’d never heard Blaise speak like that before, not even at the lake when he confronted the hunters.

“I used a locator spell on you,” Ganir answered calmly. “I placed it on you during our last encounter. You know how those things are pretty much unnoticeable.”

“You must’ve embedded it in the pacifying spell,” Blaise said, his voice sounding strained. Gala thought that, mixed with anger, she could hear a slight undertone of admiration.

“Yes, of course I did.” Ganir’s voice sounded like he was smiling. “You always were bright, my son.”

“Don’t call me that.” Blaise’s voice turned hard again. “Why are you here? Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you on the spot.”

“Because I’m here to tell you something important.” Ganir paused, and Gala heard him take a deep breath. “The Council voted to move against you and your creation. They are preparing now, and it’s only a matter of time until they find you.”

Gala felt an unpleasant sensation that she identified as fear and resentment. Why couldn’t people leave her alone? She didn’t intend to harm anyone, not even those soldiers who’d attacked her before.

“Of course they’ll find me now,” Blaise said bitterly. “You’re here, aren’t you?”

“I have no intention of telling the Council anything,” Ganir said. “Isn’t it clear to you by now that I’m on your side?”

“Nothing is clear to me,” Blaise said harshly. “If you think I’m going to trust you this easily, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Blaise . . . there’s something you should know.” Ganir’s voice sounded heavy now. “I have strong reason to believe that the vote during Louie’s trial—and on many other occasions—may have been subverted.”

“Subverted? What are you talking about?”

“Can you tell me how you learned about the vote being unanimous? Who told you that the entire Council, except you, voted in favor of Louie’s execution?”

Blaise snorted. “You think I’m going to tell you my source?”

“Was it Jandison?” Ganir persisted. “Blaise, please, this is very important. I think Jandison has been manipulating the Council vote for years. Ever since you and I spoke about Louie’s trial and you told me you thought I voted to kill him—when I knew full well that I hadn’t—I have been deeply suspicious of the voting procedure. And then I got a letter, an anonymous letter claiming that the vote during Louie’s trial had been rigged.”