The Spell Realm (The Sorcery Code #2)(56)

Her getting up interrupted his recollections. Opening his eyes, he saw a naked Gala stealthily heading for the door.

“Where are you going?” he asked drowsily, propping himself up on one elbow.

She gave him a slightly guilty look. “You should sleep some more,” she said, and he caught a strange note of tension in her voice. “I’ll be back soon.”

“You’re going out there naked?” He sat up, realizing that something was amiss.

She paused, then looked down, as though just realizing that she wasn’t wearing clothes. A second later, she was wearing a simple white dress. Then, without saying another word to Blaise, she slipped out the door.

Blaise jumped out of bed and swiftly pulled on his own clothes. He had a very bad feeling about this.

As he approached the door, he felt something strange. Some spell just hit him, he realized, feeling a slight buzz in his head. He wasn’t sure what it was, other than it was some sort of mental magic.

Rushing toward the door, he suddenly stopped when he reached the doorway. It was as if a block had formed, not letting him get through. His body felt heavy and unwieldy, outside of his control. Someone—most likely Gala—had cast a spell that prevented him from going outside. She must’ve done it to protect him from whatever was out there—a protection that he did not need or want.

Furious, Blaise tried to leave again and again, only to be met with the same results. He simply couldn’t take a step beyond the room; his mind refused to let him.

And then he heard the first loud noise. The house shook from the impact, and he almost lost his footing. His stomach clenched with a mix of debilitating fear and rage. Whatever the danger was, Gala was facing it on her own, while he was stuck in the room like some helpless acolyte.

Turning, Blaise cast a frantic glance around the room, searching for his Stone. It was nowhere to be seen. He hadn’t brought it with him into the bedroom last evening. Cursing under his breath, he hurried to the window, desperate to see what was happening. The tinted glass made everything appear hazy. His frustration growing, Blaise grabbed the nearest nightstand and smashed it against the window, shattering the glass into bits.

Now he could see outside. His vision was still sharper than usual from the enhancement spell he’d used during the storm, and as he peered into the canyon, a flash of colorful light in the distance caught his gaze. Frowning, Blaise tried to figure out what it was, and at that moment, he saw a familiar figure on the other side of the canyon.

It was Moriner, one of the Council members.

The Council had found them—and Gala was facing them on her own, having locked him in this room for his own protection.

Fury and dread coiled in his chest, making Blaise feel like he was suffocating. He needed to get out of the house, and he needed to do it now.

Approaching the bedroom door again, Blaise tried to clear his mind in an effort to get rid of whatever mental block Gala had placed in his way. Don’t think about it, just walk out, he told himself, stepping toward the doorway.

It didn’t work. He had a sense of pushing against a physical barrier—a barrier that was as impenetrable as any wall.

Seething, Blaise began to pace, occasionally pausing to glance outside.

Suddenly, he had an idea. Gala had prevented him from walking out, but had she thought far enough to prevent him from teleporting out? Looking outside, he tried to calculate the distance. This spell would be dangerous, particularly since he was going to have to do it the old-fashioned verbal way. If Gala hadn’t been in trouble, he wouldn’t have risked it.

Inhaling deeply, he forced himself to concentrate on remembering the complex arcane code necessary to implement the spell. He’d had it memorized before, for voting purposes on the Council, and now he was glad of that fact.

Once he had done some preliminary calculations, he began reciting the spell. He wished he had hours to triple-check everything, but there was no time for such caution. He had to act now.

As he was getting to the end of the spell, just as he was about to say the coordinates, his tongue froze. Blaise nearly growled in frustration. Gala’s spell must have been thorough enough to account for the teleporting possibility.

An even louder sound came from the outside, causing his chest to tighten with fear. Were the mountains breaking apart?

Grimly determined, Blaise tried the teleportation spell again. This time he changed the coordinates from a spot just outside the house to inside the downstairs hallway.

It worked without a hitch. Just as he finished the Interpreter litany, Blaise found himself downstairs.

His intuition had been right: Gala’s spell was not nuanced enough to prevent him from teleporting within the house.

Without much hope, he ran to the front door. Opening it, he tried to step outside, but the same force as before halted him in the doorway. He was still condemned to be inside after all—but at least now he had access to his Stone and much greater visibility into what was happening in the canyon.

And what was happening was his worst nightmare.





Chapter 40: Gala





As Gala exited the house, she assessed the situation at hand. While the canyon itself appeared empty, she was able to spot a few small figures at the top, positioned strategically all around the canyon walls.

They were surrounded by the Council.

Gala’s heartbeat accelerated. She had to lead them away from the house—and from Blaise—as fast as she could.