Jonas (Darkness #7)(25)

“Sasha, I am having Dominicous and Stefan move everyone back from the line. We will have them duck behind a line of cars. With that in mind, the magic-workers should push back further into the field. This way, when you don’t immediately crack the spell, you can use your method.”

My method. Blowing up the spells with my inverted magic. It was another reason having human magic was awesome—no one fortified against us because no one worked with humans. Toa was the leading creator of spells I couldn’t just blow away, and that was only because he was tired of me cheating. This Nathanial character wouldn’t have thought of it—not with how he viewed humans.

Cheat to win.

“Call the corners, everyone,” I commanded as I turned and jogged to the open field.

The witches gathered in a tight horde behind me. Delilah was carried back farther still before her man ran off muttering about moving the car closer. With our mill-in-flocking nature, and the wide eyes and twittering, we were proving how naïve we were to all this. We made Cato’s crew look like the military.

Soon that wouldn’t matter, though.

I felt the stirring of the elements around me. Like atoms starting to heat up, the swirls of elements raced around excitedly, riding the currents as people drew in power. Toa moved right to my side, his magic ready to link when I was ready. When the witches were ready.

“I thought I was supposed to link with Cato this time,” I said in a hush so as not to distract the witches and warlocks. Most of the humans still needed to focus to do this. They’d come a long way in a short amount of time, but they still had a long way to go.

Toa turned his stare to Paulie on my other side, then to Charles in front of me. Finally to all the humans at my back. “You will when we start to battle. For now, as the white more familiar with your… style, I will aid as well as monitor. I will be masking your efforts until your frustration level takes your level-headedness away. Then we will need to plan how you take down their defense.”

“Because if I don’t do it right, they’ll know we’re here?” I felt the swell of power behind me. The arms of magic reached, ready to link. I connected with each of them, over thirty in all. Since I only needed their energy, the size of the link didn’t matter. That’s why Cato and my magic was awesome for this type of thing—limitless power and easy linking, as long as we had the energy to back us.

“Precisely. It would be best to dismantle the traps. After that, faster is better.” Toa connected with me and half-staggered. Charles stepped closer and put a hand out to steady him. “They have grown in power, as a whole.”

“Yeah. Master Bert has become really good with humans. Who would’ve known? Okay.” I blasted my magic out toward the empty field, and then slowed down. I let the magic descend gently, like a soft mist. Immediately I felt these strange, jagged areas out toward the front. If they were physical, they’d be like clusters of spikes, ready to stick someone who came too close. In addition, there were little feelers. Weird little additions to the spell like tripwires. They were woven tightly within the spell. The whole thing looked like an abstract, beautiful torture device.

I now saw what took so long.

“So… this is intense.” I let my magic drift into the cracks and seams, looking at the construction. Finer than any spider’s web, and infinitely more sticky; if I didn’t work the inverted spell just right, the original spell would go boom and spray everyone with sharp, magical spikes. Worse still, it would immediately alert everyone in the invisible complex that we were here.

“Yup. This guy is way out of my league. Delilah?” I didn’t bother glancing back. I could feel her working within my magical touch in that strange way she did.

“I would love to study this. It’s… unlike anything I have ever seen,” I heard from about thirty feet behind me.

“That’s not saying much,” Charles muttered. “It’s not like she’s been doing this for very long.”

“Not helping.” I rubbed at my brow. “Toa?”

“It took Cato and the Clutch an hour to dismantle the other two. The disillusionment spell is bound to be ten times as intricate. As I understand it, we don’t have that kind of time.”

“Blow this shit up and let’s get in there.” Paulie’s gruff voice had a few warriors looking back.

“We’ve been working on the disillusionment charm,” Cato said from beside his crew. “Subtly, of course. Just little tweaks and breaks. Getting it ready. If you would be so kind as to sink your human magic in the various pitfalls we have created, as you get a hold of the trap spells, and then apply your adverse magic, I think it will set off the implosion. That is how you are often able to blow things up, if what Toa has said is true. That is why working with human power to create spells is the strongest magic known to the world. There is not this imbalance—“

“I get it, I get it,” I said distractedly.

“What disrespect!” someone gasped.

It was true, but that guy would talk all day if I let him. We didn’t have the time.

“Set it up, Sasha,” Toa urged in a low but calm voice.

I really missed Jonas. I really needed him beside me to say, “Nothing to it, human. Let your balls fly and blow this bitch!”

Keeping him in mind, I did as Cato said. I surrounded the traps with my magic and lingered on the detonators. I then led Delilah to the larger structure of magic, a giant spell that covered the whole empty lot like framework. Spells in spells, weaving and winding and swirling around each other. The detail on this spell was so breathtaking, so intense, I just had to stop for a minute and take it in. I wanted to get a feel for it. To let the current, the flow of the spell just… shake hands with my magic for a moment. Just taunt me with what was so far above my expertise I couldn’t even be jealous.