Jonas (Darkness #7)(35)

We didn’t have much choice, though. The best course of action now was to keep her close. Keep her where we could see her.

Stefan glanced at me, wariness bleeding through the link. I nodded slightly, letting him know I followed his thinking, before we took off again. Toward the middle of the corridor my magic fizzled and sparked. I pulled it back enough to lighten my perception—using heavy magic could be like stepping on a land mine for some traps. If you hit it and then pulled it away, the bomb went boom. Thankfully, Toa made me learn this the hard way. And the lesson had hurt. A lot.

I walked forward softly. Everyone else shadowed, trusting my lead. Toward the middle of the corridor, I once again felt. It was the only way I could decipher this lunatic’s spells. The normal twirly-swirly was there, making unraveling extremely time-consuming. The crude foundation was, indeed, an explosion. Also, a marker. When it went boom, it would alert the owner that someone was coming.

I let my balanced magic seep into his spell, changing certain characteristics, while extending my feelers beyond the door. Another trap waited. Luckily, the same one.

“Tim, can you smell anyone beyond the door? Bears are supposed to have one of the best olfactory systems, right?” I whispered as sweat beaded my brow. I cut my link from a couple more people. Energy was starting to be a factor.

Tim gave a deep huff as his large, shaggy body stepped even with me. He sniffed next to the wall, higher, and then to the ground. He swung his head from side to side.

“No, you can’t get a reading at all, or no, no one is there?”

He stared at me. This was the problem with shifters—communication outside of their crew was kind of a pain.

“Okay, so, two shakes for the first, one shake for the second…” I helped.

I got one shake. Fine.

Another minute had the spells giving a wonderful light show, and then springing into a tiny plant monster. “Why do I always make plant monsters?”

Charles stepped forward and slashed it to pieces. “Because of the inverted magic, remember?”

“But plant monsters? Why not a Carebear or something else?” I opened the door and quickly moved aside so Charles could take out mini-plant-monster number two.

“You are extraordinarily advanced for being able to work with Nathanial’s magic. But yet, you seem so naïve…” Emmy ducked through the corridor at Jonas’ beckoning.

“You can say it. I don’t know what I’m doing. Go ahead. I’m not offended.” I scowled as I followed the others, spreading out my magic in front of me. Everybody’s a critic.

“You should’ve been around when she was first learning,” Charles whispered with a smile.

I punched him. And it made me feel better that he grunted and rubbed his side.

“The nature of their fighting relationship takes some getting used to,” Jameson said in a soft voice.

Tim huffed.

We continued down the hall in near-silence. In fact, I got constant looks because I was the loudest one. Even Paulie had the absolute stealth down. Emmy, too. And how a giant bear, who nearly took up the corridor on his own, could be silent I had no idea. But none of this was making me look good.

“The final door is up here at the top of the stairs. It will open up into a large square room. He’ll have all his linked mages with him, probably.” Emmy chewed her lip. “I don’t know about the guards. I would assume some would be with him, but some should be guarding the door…”

Another trap lay in wait, this one much more advanced than the others. Still the same construction, though. These were all laid by Nathanial. “He doesn’t like delegating, huh?”

“He links and always works the majority of the important spells. He doesn’t trust others to do it.”

I could barely hear her whisper. Her body was starting to shake and her hands gripped her whips tightly. Worse, Jonas was getting very edgy. His thick cords of muscles were flexed up and down his body and his arms had come away from his sides. Signs that he was about to lose his shit. Charles took a step away.

“You know a lot about him,” Jameson said lightly. I wasn’t fooled. He sensed a trap.

Stefan blasted wariness and uncertainty through our link.

“I was kept as his prisoner. I know a great deal,” she said in a hush, trembling all over.

And she was treated abominably, I’d bet. My heart went out to the girl. Facing a tormentor took the greatest of courage. I hoped she had it, and didn’t, instead, cower and give us away. I didn’t want Jonas to have to lose the one woman he’d let himself love. Because there would never be another. Not for him. He wasn’t the type of guy to move on from deep anguish and torment. He owned his misery like a cloak, constantly overcoming it when it threatened to take him over. He didn’t move on all that easily.

Clearing my mind, because there was nothing I could do, I worked at that spell as I crept forward. I put my hand on Tim’s shoulder and moved him up with me. When I stopped, he did likewise. “Can you smell anyone?”

His big head nodded yes. And then he bristled.

“One nod per different smell,” Stefan murmured.

Ten nods. We had more people, but less magic workers. I knew it.

“I wonder if Cato is still active.” I focused on our link and tried to trace it to him. It was a partnership, so that didn’t work. But I did know he was alive. And that’s all I knew.