Page 1 of Shadowed Spirits

CHAPTER 1

IZZY

“Oh, shit,” I blurt as the room erupts with my classmates shouting over one another at the news that I’m a spirit mage.

But I can’t focus on them right now, because I’m desperately trying to think of a way out of this. Flashes of the council chamber—my family and mates handcuffed, and our executions—overlay the current scene of the six goons glaring at me like I personally murdered their puppy. It feels like I have to breathe past glass lodged in my lungs as I try not to have a full-blown panic attack.

How does the council even know I’m a spirit mage? Even if I were under arrest for breaking in on Friday, I never cast any spells and certainly didn’t talk to any ghosts while at the council building.

“Get up and keep your hands where I can see them!” the largest council guard barks, snapping me out of my panicked thoughts.

I stare at him with wide eyes, still not really understanding how this is happening. When he takes a menacing step toward me, I slowly get out of my seat with my hands up. I canabsolutely still use my magic with my hands in the air, but whatever floats his little council lackey boat, I guess.

The guard fishes magic-dampening cuffs out of his pocket as he strides toward me. I swallow nervously as I eye the restraints from all my nightmares. If I don’t do something soon, I’m going to lose the option of solving this with magic.

As I’m staring down the council minion like he’s a grotesque monster straight from a horror film, a portal flickers into existence over his shoulder. When I spot Levi’s signature red flames, I wilt in relief. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see a portal in my entire life. I’m sure Levi already has a plan, his even temperament making him calm and focused under pressure. Unlike me, apparently.

When Levi steps through the portal with Aggie in tow, one of the council goons opens his mouth, probably to tell Levi he can’t be there. But he doesn’t get far before the entire room is blanketed with a black mist, except around Levi, Aggie, and me. When the mist lifts, everyone else is frozen. The roar of my classmates talking cuts off abruptly, leaving the room unnaturally still and silent.

Aggie’s mouth is open in shock as she stares around the room. She slowly edges away from Levi to stand behind me, using me as a shield. “I’m renaming tall, dark, and scary to tall, terrifying, and scary because that’s horrifying, kid,” she whispers behind me.

I would laugh at her antics if I weren’t so busy gaping at my peers suspended in time, not moving or even breathing. That’s… not possible. Stopping time isn’t something magic can do. All magic is capable of is what’s naturally possible, like traveling to a new place, seeing something in the distance, or setting things on fire. Stopping time is sure as hell not part of the natural order.

“Man, that’s so unfair. Why do I get weird magic that lets me see ghosts, and you can control the space-time continuum?” Igripe, much preferring to focus on that than the looming threat to everyone I care about. Don’t get me wrong—I’m super glad Levi can do his weirdfrom another realmmagic, especially right now. But I totally got the short end of the stick.

Levi barks out a laugh as he strides confidently toward me. His towering, muscle-packed frame, jet-black hair, and bloodred eyes make him look every inch of the otherworldly being he is. “I’m not controlling the ‘space-time continuum.’ Time is moving normally, even in this classroom. However, the occupants of this room are in a temporary suspended animation.”

“Whatever you call it, it’s still cool as fuck, and I’m jealous. But how, exactly, does this solve the problem?” When time unfreezes, my classmates will still know that I’m a spirit mage, and my family will be in danger. My magic whispers seductively how much fun it would be to end my peers, professor, and the council goons. It would be fun, but, unfortunately, it wouldn’t solve much. And I’d have thirty plus bodies to deal with.

When Levi reaches me, he pulls me into an almost desperate hug. One of his hands tunnels into my hair as the other presses against my lower back. I sink into his warm comfort, shaken up by my almost arrest more than I want to admit. After a long moment of holding me, Levi pulls back and gives me a lingering kiss on the top of my hair.

He stares down at me, his eyes swirling between red and black as he tries to get his emotions under control. “It doesn’t. Erasing their memories will, at least temporarily. That will buy us a few hours as we deal with whoever ordered your arrest.”

“And how are we going to figure that out?”

Levi flashes me a sharklike grin. “We’ll ask the guards.”

He spins on his heel and stalks toward the lead henchman, who was itching to slap magic-dampening cuffs on me. Taking the restraints from the goon, Levi carelessly wrenches the man’s arms behind him and secures them with the cuffs. He kicks thehenchman’s legs out from under him and lets his knees crack against the unforgiving tile. Levi also encases the guy in his magic that glows a deep red.

That doesn’t look comfortable. I don’t really feel bad for him, because he would definitely enjoy hurting me, all because I have a type of magic that was banned to benefit the council. While they say outlawing spirit mages was to protect all other mages, that’s a lie. The average spirit mage doesn’t hurt anyone. Instead, our real crime is being more powerful than the council members. Since they can’t control us once we grow into our magic, the council aims to kill us before we can.

“What? What’s going on?” the goon asks once Levi unfreezes him, his panicked gaze darting frantically around the room. His jaw drops when he notices everyone frozen around him, and he starts struggling against Levi’s magic that’s holding him in place. Unfortunately for him, it doesn’t work.

Sucks to suck, my dude.

Levi slowly circles the man without answering his question. “Who ordered Izzy’s arrest?”

The man scoffs before giving me a glare so hate filled, shivers crawl up my spine. “Spirit mages deserve to die for what they’ve done, so I’m not telling you anything.”

I bet the guy can’t name a single thing I’ve ever done to hurt anyone he knows. That’s one of the reasons I hate the council lackeys. They follow whatever the council says without pausing to think about it.

Levi gives him a predatory smile. “I was hoping you would say that.” Before the goon can ask what he meant, a black mist encases him. It’s quiet for a moment before the guy starts screaming and thrashing around. I watch with morbid fascination until the screaming quiets and the mist dissipates. The man lifelessly slumps to the ground.

Wandering closer, I curiously nudge the henchman with the toe of my shoe. He doesn’t react. “Is he dead?”

“No, little raven, he isn’t dead.” Levi’s lips kick up slightly when he sees my small pout. “But I did find out who ordered your arrest.”

My eyebrows raise in surprise, and a tiny flare of hope burns in my chest. If we know who ordered it, maybe Levi can remove their memories of it completely. Although, that simple of a solution seems too good to be true. “Really? How? And who was it?”

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