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  “Apparently, she’s been intubated several times over the last year.”

  “Which is why we shouldn’t do anything.”

  “I’m not disagreeing with you, but the situation being what it is, we need to follow her advanced directive.”

  “Even though it’s a lost cause?”

  “It might buy her another few months.” If her lungs were as bad as I thought they were, then it wasn’t likely to be any longer. It was part of the reason people with advanced lung disease—and people in the last few months of their life in general—were so expensive to provide care for. We did a terrible job planning for our inevitable demise.

  Eric Johnson took off, heading down the hallway, and as he did, I felt a strange tingling of cold. I had come to know this sense well. It was one that worried me, a sense of a chill rolling through me that warned me of magic being used near me. I had experienced enough magic in the ER to keep me on my toes, but I had thought the hospital was under constant surveillance by Barden.

  Weaving my way through the halls, I headed to the front desk. When I reached it, I found Jessica James sitting at the desk. She was young, in her twenties, and pretty. More than that, she was the one using magic.

  “You’re going to need to stop doing that,” I said to her.

  She twisted her blue dyed hair and pushed it behind her ear. “What’s that?”

  “What you’re doing,” I whispered, leaning over and glancing at the computer screen. She was doing some online shopping. Not just online shopping, but lingerie shopping. She was not going to be able to keep a job if she wasn’t careful. And knowing Barden as I did, I could imagine his irritation if she got herself fired. It had taken a lot of work for her to get this position in the first place, and for her to blow it so quickly would anger him.

  “I was just practicing,” she said.

  “I’m sure you were,” I said, smiling, “but if I can feel it, others might as well.”

  “There isn’t anyone else around.”

  “Not that we know of, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re watching us.”

  It was the thing worrying me the most. Matt Gillespie was still out there, and he was still angry with what had happened to him—and to John Adams. When would he make his next move? When would he attack?

  It had been three months since we’d stopped him, and three months since he’d disappeared. In that time, Barden had discovered no sign of him, but that didn’t mean he’d vanished from Minneapolis. With his training, it was possible Matt had simply gone silent.

  A part of me kept waiting for him to reappear and to attack, but it was also the reason I was so cautious with the use of magic. I didn’t want him to know when I was working in the emergency room. Though Barden had others surveilling me, working to keep me safe, I also didn’t want them to be using magic, knowing it would reveal too much.

  “I’ll keep it down,” she said.

  “Thanks.”

  “I still want to talk to you, sometime,” Jessica said.

  “I don’t know I have anything to tell you.”

  “Really? Everything you’ve been through? You’re kind of a legend among us.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Everything you’ve gone through and survived.” She said the last word a little too loud, and I cringed. I didn’t need anyone else wondering what I might have survived, and certainly didn’t want anyone questioning what I might’ve been through.

  “Why don’t we talk about it sometime when I’m not working.”

  Jessica shrugged and turned her attention back to the computer screen, and scrolled along the page, looking at more lingerie.

  “You might want to keep that shopping at home, too.”

  “What am I supposed to do?”

  “Your job.”

  “I am doing my job. There isn’t anyone here.”

  She pointed to the rest of the ER, and as she did, I realized she was right. There wasn’t anyone else around. The ER was pretty quiet today, which was rare, and I shouldn’t have been giving her too hard a time.

  A siren blared, and I tapped her desk. “See? There you go. Now there’s something coming.”

  She shook her head, and I turned away, heading back in the ER. A surge of magic occurred again, and this time I wasn’t as certain it came from Jessica. I gripped one of the spell coins, squeezing it in my hand, but that didn’t do anything to reassure me. With everything I had been through, there was no reassurance. There was always the threat that Matt Gillespie would appear, and if he did, I didn’t know if I would have enough strength to withstand him. Even with the coins I had—and my ability to trigger anything he might carry—I might not be able to survive.

  I let the incoming ambulance distract me, drawing away those thoughts, and I threw myself back into work.

  2

  When the doorbell rang, I set down my glass of wine, glancing over to the door. There were times when I was concerned about who might arrive, but not tonight. I had asked Brad to come over, and given the time we been spending together, I figured it would be him.

  When the door opened, I found Barden standing on the other side.

  “Barden.”

  “Is now not a good time, Dr. Stone?”

  “I guess I wasn’t really expecting you.”

  “I thought I would stop in and see how things were going with you.”

  “With work or with my training?”

  “A bit of both,” Barden said.

  “With work, I’ve been fine.”

  “I understand you’ve been a little unsettled.”

  “Who tells you that?”

  “You think the mages I’ve employed at the hospital are the only ones I have keeping an eye on you?”

  I glanced down the hall, looking to see if there was any sign of Brad, but he wasn’t there. At least, not yet. He believed Barden was my grandfather, and that was a lie I was happy to keep for now. Eventually, I figured I’d have to tell Brad more about Barden, but when that happened, I’d have to tell more about me, too, and I was reluctant to do so. I liked keeping those parts of me separate. With Brad, I was only Dr. Stone, his girlfriend, and I was able to live a relatively normal life. With Barden, I was a hedge mage who was training in the use of magic, who had helped him uncover the secret of using spell coins, and who had a specialty in triggering spells.

  “Why don’t you come in?” I said.

  “I don’t want to disrupt if you are expecting someone.”

  “Only Brad,” I said.

  “Ah. Dr. Roberts. How are things with the two of you going?”

  “Barden…”

  “You know I have a vested interest in ensuring your safety.”

  “Only because you think I’ll stop helping you with the spell coins. I’ve already told you I’ll help.”

  “I understand you will, Dr. Stone. And I have no doubt you will continue to show your incredible growth with magic.”

  “I don’t know that I would call it incredible.”

  “You have progressed rapidly in learning magic. I suspect you practice daily?”

  Several times a day, actually, but I only nodded. Given what I’d gone through, I thought it was beneficial for me to gain a greater capacity with magic, mostly so I didn’t end up getting overwhelmed by someone like Matt Gillespie again. If he confronted me again, I suspected he’d be better prepared than before, and it was likely he would be able to defeat me. In the magical world, that meant death.

  “I just want to make sure Dr. Roberts has been treating you well.”

  “You know, surprisingly, he’s been the best boyfriend I’ve ever had.”

  “Why is that surprising? I wouldn’t expect you to tolerate someone mistreating you.”

  “I wouldn’t tolerate it, but I’ve been around enough guys over the years I’ve begun to give up on finding someone who would treat me decently. But it’s more than that. I worry about what Kate will say when she returns.”

  “Dr. Michaels does not ca
re for him?”

  “Not at all,” I said, smiling to myself.

  “Interesting. I’ll make sure to warn you if there’s any sign of her.”

  “You do that, Barden.” It had been well over a year and a half since there had been any sign of Kate. I’d given up on thinking I’d see her again. In the time she’d been gone, her place in the fellowship had been given up. Some spoke of her still, and yet they made a point of avoiding talking to me about her, mostly because they knew how close the two of us were. Or had been.

  I no longer even knew how Kate was doing. When I had last felt any awareness of her, it had drifted through the strange bond which had formed between us, but either the bond had been severed, or my ability to detect how she was doing had faded. I still held out hope she was unharmed, but I had no proof.

  “Why are you here?”

  “Partly to make sure you haven’t seen anything to suggest Matt Gillespie has been hanging around the hospital.”

  “I think you would have known about that.”

  “With the number of operatives I have patrolling that area of the city, you would think so, but then again, he has proven himself to be most elusive.”

  “What’s the other part?”

  “Well, I need your help with something.”

  “I hope it’s not something which will lead me into closer contact with the organization.”

  “Nothing like that,” Barden said, waving his hand. “In fact, it will bring you into closer contact with the mage council.”

  “I didn’t think we wanted me in close contact with the mage council.”

  “Normally I would’ve said no, but I’ve been trying to convince them that hedge mages have more value than the mage council has traditionally placed upon them. If I can do so, then it’s possible they will begin to incorporate more training for hedge mages.”

  “Why me?”

  “Because you have shown a specific ability I suspect they will respond to. Plus, I have several others lined up who will help, but I want as many as possible who have a magical talent who can demonstrate their abilities to the mage council.”

  I didn’t like the idea of going before the mage council, though one of the members was Kate’s grandmother. It still didn’t change the fact that the mage council thought to rule over mages like myself. Since I was a hedge mage, and didn’t have much power of my own, it placed me in a position I didn’t care for. I didn’t like the idea of being the weakest one in the room.

  Barden knew all of this, and he knew how I felt about the mage council. The only mage council member I cared for at all was him. Well, I guess I didn’t mind Veran and Cynthia Michaels, but I didn’t have enough experience with them to know how they would react to my sudden appearance. It was possible they’d feel the same as the rest of the council, even though we’d fought together to try to stop Matt Gillespie and John Adams.

  “When do you need me for this?”

  “This weekend, if it works in your schedule.”

  “I suspect you already know it works in my schedule.”

  “Dr. Stone, it sounds almost as if you are accusing me of knowing your work schedule.”

  I arched a brow at him.

  Barden raised his hands. “Fine. I have used my contacts to ensure you have the time off. I figured it was best to know ahead of time, and then I could make sure you didn’t have any alternative plans.”

  “What if I did?”

  “Then I would respectfully request you reschedule them.”

  “It means that much to you?”

  “Unfortunately, it does.”

  I smiled at him. “If that’s so, Barden, then there’s nothing unfortunate about it.”

  Barden looked around the room, and I could see him casting an appraising gaze as he did. When it came to Barden, it was difficult to know what he thought as he looked at everything all around us. More likely than not, he was judging the fact that the apartment still looked as if Kate were going to return at any moment. And, if I were honest, there was a part of me that still expected her to return any moment, too.

  “I miss her,” Barden said.

  “What was that?”

  He took a deep breath, and he continued to look around him. “It’s Dr. Michaels. I try not to think about her, but every so often I allow myself to do so. I miss her. It’s been too long since I’ve seen her and had the opportunity to speak to her, and I can’t help but worry about what she might be going through.”

  “I thought you said you had somebody working with her.”

  “I do, but Darvish hasn’t returned with Dr. Michaels.”

  I knew Darvish, and I hadn’t realized he was the one who had been off with Kate. I suppose I should have expected Barden to put somebody with her. As far as I knew, Darvish was one of the most capable of Barden’s people, and when it came to working with—and protecting—Kate, I had little doubt Barden would send his most capable.

  There was another reason I shouldn’t have been surprised Barden had sent Darvish. Part of it would come from knowing that wherever Kate was, Barden would want a report, and he would need someone trustworthy enough to do so.

  “Have you talked to Veran and Cynthia about that?”

  “I think they blame me to a certain extent for her disappearance,” Barden said.

  “But she went off because she needed to.”

  “You don’t have to remind me,” Barden said, smiling. “By the time she left, I don’t know that anyone would have been able to keep her from doing what she wanted. She had gained far too much power.”

  “I still don’t understand what power she has. Is she a full mage like you?”

  “Kate is something other than a mage. She has abilities which are unique in many regards, not the least of which is where her power comes from.”

  “Where does her power come from?”

  “She is connected to death.”

  I frowned, watching Barden, thinking he had to be messing with me. We had never spent any time talking about Kate—partly that was because Barden wanted to keep her safe, but partly because I hadn’t inquired.

  “You remember what it was like when she pulled you back?” Barden asked.

  I touched my stomach, thinking back to that day. I had been abducted by Kate’s mother, a woman I hadn’t known, though we had encountered her along the street, and had barely survived the attack. When she dragged me off, taking me across the lake, I remembered the terror that had worked through me. It had been a horrific experience. Part of that night remained vague and difficult for me to remember, but the one thing I did remember was getting stabbed in the stomach, and the way I’d nearly died. “I don’t remember a lot about what it was like,” I said.

  “Maybe that’s for the best,” Barden said. “But the reason she was able to save you that day is not because of her mage abilities—I don’t know of any mage who has the ability to call someone back from death. What she was able to do is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, or anything I’ve even heard being possible. It shouldn’t have been, and yet Kate was able to do it. Not just once, but repeatedly. She saved Darvish, which tied her to him in a certain way. And since then, when we were trying to stop her mother, when we had to cross the Veil, she discovered even more power.”

  “Why are you telling me this now?”

  “Because I don’t know what transition Kate will have gone through over the last few months. I thought we would see her again by now and that regardless of what else she has encountered and survived, she would still return to us. In this case, the fact she hasn’t makes me worry that she won’t.”

  “Is it possible she can’t?”

  “I suppose it’s possible, and equally possible is the fact she doesn’t want to return.”

  “Why wouldn’t she want to return?”

  “It’s not because of anything we’ve done,” Barden said. “More likely, it’s a matter of her trying to understand her powers. She has to connect to them and gain a full understanding of ho
w they work. It’s equally possible she’s found a reason for her to even exist.”

  “That sounds kind of morbid,” I said.

  “I don’t mean it to be, but the fact she has even developed those abilities, that the power of death has returned, suggests something more than a simple explanation.”

  “You think there’s some purpose for her?”

  “It’s not a matter of me believing in fate or anything, but I do wonder if there is a purpose to her being. Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about the magical world on the other side of the Veil to be able to answer with any certainty. The only people who might be able to answer are on the other side of the Veil, and I don’t have the necessary connections to them.”

  “Why does there need to be an explanation?”

  “Her power is far more than I would expect to have originated on this side of the Veil, and yet, this side is where she did originate. So it leaves me wondering if there is something more than what we know.”

  Barden was suggesting there might be a connection to the other side of the Veil, but as far as I knew about that power, there was a reason for the distinctions. The power on the other side of the Veil was far greater than anything we could withstand on this side. Even the most powerful mage would struggle with the fae and other creatures over there. There were demons, but there were other creatures which existed there as well. Because of that, it was best—and safest—for us to remain separate.

  “Have you found anything suggesting we need to be concerned?”

  “Other than Dr. Michaels herself?” Barden looked around the condo again before turning his gaze upon me. “I haven’t seen anything yet, Dr. Stone, but I fear we have yet to know. Time on the other side of the Veil moves differently than it does here, as I believe we have discussed before. Unfortunately, it is difficult for us to know how much time is passing there, and it’s difficult for me to know if that matters.”

  “It’s not only that time runs differently on the other side of the Veil, Barden. From what you and others have told me, many others on the other side live an incredibly long time. It’s possible that with their long life, they don’t view things the same way as we do.”