“Excellent.” Aidan handed over his card, and she pulled a phone out of her dress pocket. It had one of those little swipey things on it, and within a minute she’d taken his payment and handed over the glass ball.
She looked at me. “You’ll use that glass ball to find the link to the Magica you seek. It will jumpstart your own tracking ability. Just hold it close and do what you normally would when you are seeking.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
“It should be. Good doing business with you. Please come back soon.” She waved—more of a finger wiggle than anything else.
“We’re dismissed,” I muttered to Aidan.
“Exactly,” Mordaca said. “I need my beauty sleep.”
“Thanks for your help,” Aidan said.
I followed him out of the room and through the dim foyer. We let ourselves out onto the bright street. The sunlight just made this part of Darklane look even dingier.
“That wasn’t so bad,” I said as we walked to his car.
“Speak for yourself. I just paid for a midsize car, and all I got was this glass ball.”
“Worth it, though.” Even if I’d had to come up with the cash, I’d have found a way. We really needed to get that scroll.
“Very much so.”
We climbed into his car. I reached out for the ball. “Let’s do this thing. I want to know where those bastards are.”
Aidan handed it over. The ball was cool and heavy in my hand. I held it close to my chest and focused on my memory of the man who’d stolen the scroll. Mordaca’s magic twined with mine. Hers smelled musky and felt dark. Though it made my skin prickle, it didn’t feel evil like some people’s magic. It smelled like cigar smoke and tasted like whiskey.
After a moment, the familiar string wrapped around my waist, pulling me. Our prey was close. A sense of the location bloomed within me, clear as glass.
I sucked in a breath.
“They’re at Ancient Magic,” I gasped.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The drive to Ancient Magic felt like it took forever. Aidan drove like a demon, breaking at least five traffic laws. By the time he pulled up beside my shop, I was vibrating with tension.
The car screeched to a halt at the curb. I flung the door open and leapt out. Ancient Magic’s door was shattered, jagged pieces of glass protruding like teeth. Within, figures fought, wrestling on the ground and throwing magic in bursts of smoke.
Shadow demons. An icicle of fear pierced my heart, sending cold streaking through me. They had found us.
I drew my copper-hilt knives and burst into the shop.
There were at least five demons fighting Nix, Claire, and Connor. Even Del was there, wielding her short sword like a master against the same man from the tomb in Norway. He was the only non-demon assailant, but he was strong. He threw blasts of flame at Del that she repelled with her enchanted sword. Blade and shield in one, it was her first choice of weapon.
How had he found us? Fear sunk its claws into my back. My magic surged within me, a tidal wave of power that threatened to overwhelm my control and burst out of me in a horrifying show of force. I could blast them all away, but I couldn’t keep my magic from hurting my deirfiúr as well. Or Connor and Claire, who fought two huge demons in the back corner.
Nix grappled with two in front of the counter. Behind her, a demon ransacked the shelves. In quick succession, I threw both of my copper-hilt daggers. They plunged into his back, near where I hoped his heart would be.
The demon turned and growled. Damn. Despite the blades in his back, he was still standing. He was at least as strong as the demon at the temple of Murreagh. Not all shadow demons seemed to be that strong, but perhaps he was old.
He raised a huge gray hand and threw a blast of smoky magic at me. I dove left as the searing streak of smoke plowed into the window behind me. It shattered, throwing glass everywhere. Pain pierced my back in a hundred little places.
Damn! I climbed to my feet, my back burning, as Aidan launched himself past me at the demon who’d attacked me. He was in his human form because the shop was too small for him to fight as a griffon, but he was fierce. His fists were a blur, which was lucky, because his brand of magic was so destructive that he’d have to fight with fists if he didn’t want to destroy the building he was in.
I leapt over debris in the middle of the shop, my heart aching at the sight of all the broken replicas, and joined Nix in fighting the two demons that attacked her. She’d been fine when I’d first burst into the store, fighting the demons off with her usual skill, but one had gotten in a solid hit to her middle that had her wheezing.
We each took one demon—like a double date, but way more violent. The punch I threw at my demon glanced off his face. My knuckles burned. This was why I hated hand-to-hand.
I ducked down and grabbed a jagged piece of shattered pottery. It was shaped roughly like a dagger, and I plunged it into the demon’s chest and then kneed him between the legs, hoping I was getting a ball shot. As he collapsed, I caught sight of Aidan charging the man who’d fought Del.
She was sprawled on the ground, her dark hair spread out in a crimson wave. The attacking Magica flung out his hand and sent a jet of ice at Aidan. The jagged blue wave of ice plowed him to the ground.
Oh, man, I wished I could use my power to blast him back. The bastard so deserved it. None of us wanted to destroy Ancient Magic, so we didn’t use our powers. But this guy didn’t care.
The man jumped over the counter. I ran for him. Before I got there, he reached under the counter and grabbed a box, then threw something to the ground. A silvery cloud burst up around him and he disappeared.