Last Dragon Standing (Heartstrikers #5)(9)
“Nothing can fly,” the general said angrily. “I’ve been on the horn with our air base in Canada since six this morning. They can’t get anything within fifty miles of the DFZ due to the magical interference. Planes, jets, helicopters—they’re all useless. Even the satellites can’t see through the glare of magic rising off this place, and that’s a problem, because without eyes, we can’t see what Algonquin’s doing.”
“So send one of the Mortal Spirits,” Chelsie suggested. “They’re clearly not having a problem, and we need information.”
“I’ve tried,” Myron said. “But I’m afraid my spirit is not in the correct mindset to… that is, with the current environment…”
“He can’t ask them because they’re high out of their minds,” Amelia finished. “They’re so drunk on magic right now, they don’t know which way is up, the lucky bastards.”
Chelsie gave her sister a flat look. “I’m surprised you’re not out there with them.”
“I would be if I could,” Amelia said, her voice pained. “Alas, like Raven, I’m too much of a hybrid to actually enjoy the current situation. If I went out there, I’d be squished as flat as the rest of you. Not exactly a useful scout.”
Myron turned to Marci. “I was hoping you’d have more luck with Ghost. He’s been in magic like this before, and he seems more disciplined. Whenever I ask her to help, the DFZ just laughs and tells me to come out and play.”
Marci understood the importance of what he was asking, but interrupting Ghost’s pure joy felt wrong to her. This was an emergency, though, so she reached out reluctantly with a mental hand to tug on her connection to the Empty Wind. The moment she touched it, a flood of happiness washed her under. Ghost’s hands followed, clutching her mind and tugging on her to come out and bathe in the glorious magic with him. It was so intoxicating, she actually stood up before she realized what she was doing.
“I don’t think he’s doing any better than the DFZ,” she said, gently prying herself out of her spirit’s delirious grip as she sat back down. “But the fallout has to be almost over. What time is it?”
“Noon,” General Jackson replied.
Marci blinked. She’d known she’d lost track of time in Julius’s room, but she didn’t think they’d been in there that long. They hadn’t even gotten to the house until eight last night, which meant… “We’ve been experiencing magical fallout at the visible level for sixteen hours?”
“I told you it was severe,” the general said. “But all these worries are secondary to the threat of the Nameless End.”
“You refer to the thing from beyond the planes,” the Qilin said, his perfect face worried. “The devourer of worlds Amelia was telling us about earlier.”
“One of the devourers,” Amelia corrected. “There are as many Nameless Ends as there are endings. I’m not sure which specific flavor of destruction Algonquin’s hooked up with, but if he was crafty and patient enough to get this much of himself into a healthy plane, he’s not going to stop until he gets the rest. According to Raven, Algonquin was the only one holding him back. Now that she’s freaked out, I have a feeling we’re going to discover exactly what sort of end we’re up against.”
“I fear the worst,” Raven said sadly. “Algonquin would never barter with something that couldn’t get her the total new beginning she needs to return this world to the spirits. If the Nameless End plays her fair, he’ll scrub every living creature off the face of our plane. If he’s playing her for a fool, which is what I suspect, he’ll eat her and use her vessel as a platform to eat everything else, leaving our reality an empty husk.”
“Then we have to stop him,” Marci said. “I know Nameless Ends are serious business, but the fact that we’re here having this conversation proves that he hasn’t gotten enough of himself inside our plane to start the carnage yet. If the only thing he’s eaten so far is Algonquin, then we’re still sitting pretty. She might have been the biggest spirit around sixty years ago, but she’s nothing these days. I mean, look at us.” She waved her hand across all the fantastic, beautiful, stupidly magical creatures sitting at the table. “We’re packing a lot of firepower, some of us literally. If it’s all of us versus Algonquin-plus-one, that’s not even a contest.”
“Assuming we can fight it,” Emily said. “We’re still talking about a being who lives in the void between worlds. We don’t know what it’s made of or how it works. We don’t even know if we can hurt it.”
“Actually, I think Marci’s onto something,” Amelia said, tapping her sharp nails on the table. “As strong as Nameless Ends can be, this one’s still an interloper. The Nameless Ends are scavengers. They prey on the weaknesses of dying planes, not healthy ones. The only reason this one was able to get inside at all is because he tricked Algonquin into letting him use her as a foothold. You can’t kill a Nameless End because they’re forces of the universe, but if we can find a way to dislodge him from Algonquin, we’ll destroy his anchor to this world. Once that’s gone, the natural defenses of our otherwise healthy plane should be able to force him back out with no further help from us.”