A Shield of Glass (A Shade of Vampire #49)(39)

I was determined to counteract anything that the future threw at us, and protecting my friends and brother was the first and best action I could take, given the circumstances.

I’d gone through a dozen spells already, most of them as terrible and as deadly as the ones Draven had found in another volume. They spoke of horrific diseases, torture methods, and deadly curses. But then my fingers brushed over the word “hidden” on one of the last pages.

I stilled, rereading that page from top to bottom. Notes had been made in the margin in dark green ink, drawing arrows from specific words—ingredients for a spell—and suggesting they be replaced with other herbs and powders to increase efficiency and achieve the ultimate concealment.

“Oh, boy,” I gasped, as I realized what I was looking at.

After all the hours spent searching, I’d finally come across something that could be useful, but I needed Draven to look at it and confirm whether we’d found the right spell or not.

I jumped out of my chair, clutching the book and holding it tight against my chest as I rushed out of the archive hall and into Draven’s room, without even bothering to knock.

“Sorry, Draven, but I need to—”

I stilled, unable to take my eyes off him. He’d removed his shirt and boots, leaving only his dark brown calfskin trousers on. He sat by the window, brooding, his sand-colored hair falling loosely on both sides of his face and brushing against his shoulders. There was something so heartbreaking and yet so beautiful about him in that state; it sent my senses galloping as blood rushed to my head.

He looked at me through hooded eyes, and I could feel sadness pouring out of him.

“I need to show you something,” I said, willing myself to take a few steps forward. I reached him and handed him the spell book, opening it for him to read the formula I’d just found.

“What is this?” he asked before looking at it.

“Just read it. Tell me what you think.”

He sighed, then skimmed the text. His emotions shifted from their originally dark and gloomy state to something brighter, more energetic. Whatever it was I’d found, it seemed to have instilled some sense of hope in him.

His gray eyes met mine, a familiar twinkle confirming my initial assumptions. I was onto something good.

“Well?” I asked.

“This was taken out of a Seventieth Circle spell book. It was deemed too unstable in its current formula, and it was moved to a forbidden tome,” he said slowly. “It’s a concealment spell. It was meant to provide its wearer with invisibility, but one of the ingredients was thought to have severe side effects when combined with the others.”

“Okay, what about the notes in the margin, then?”

“That’s the interesting part,” he replied. “Someone reviewed the spell and suggested replacing certain ingredients with different herbs and powders, for it to be more effective. But it no longer acts as an invisibility spell. Rather, it conceals an individual from anyone trying to trace them, through blood rituals or otherwise. They’re visible, sure, but they can’t be pinpointed on a map.”

We stared at each other for a few moments, his gaze softening.

“Think it’ll work for Phoenix, Aida, and Vita?” I asked, my heart skipping a beat.

“There’s a cabinet at the far end of the archive hall,” Draven said. “There are herbs and powders and crystals there, kept as specimens for Druid practice sessions. We might find everything we need in there to see if it works or not.”

Without saying another word, we both went back into the archive hall and raided the cabinet he’d mentioned. We used the book for guidance and found everything there: red clay dust, black orchid stems, crystal powders, and yellow cobra oil, along with other herbs.

We brought the ingredients to the large table in the middle of the hall, and prepared the spell according to the instructions in the margin. The result was an orange-colored paste with a heavy, musky smell. The crystal powders in its composition glimmered gently under the candlelight.

“Okay, we’ve made it this far,” I said, suddenly energized. “Now what?”

“We get Aida and Phoenix in here,” he replied, the corner of his mouth twitching.

I nodded and went to fetch Aida and Phoenix. My brother was half asleep when I barged into his room. I pulled him out of bed despite his protests.

“I’ve been trying to fall asleep for a few hours now, and you’re not helping!” he groaned as his feet touched the floor.

“We found a spell to conceal you from Azazel,” I replied, and his face lit up.

He followed me as we went into Aida’s room. She was sleeping in Field’s arms, on top of the covers. The Hawk peeled his eyes open to find us gawking at them from the doorway.

“Okay, awkward,” I muttered. “But no time. We found a concealment spell for Aida and Phoenix. Come on!”

Field sat up with a deep breath and pulled Aida, who was still very much asleep, with him. It took him about a minute to get her to open her eyes. I felt sorry to do this to her, but her safety was paramount.

“She had visions, and then she went right into a state of deep sleep,” Field explained briefly as she finally opened her eyes, blinking several times before she could figure out where she was or what was happening.

“What’s going on?” she grumbled, close to falling asleep again.