Page 29 of Magic Betrayed

NO TRESPASSING

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY

Eyes narrowed, he put one finger on the sign and moved it, twisting it forty-five degrees counterclockwise.

The lock clicked.

“We’re in,” he announced calmly. “Shall I say something terribly cliché and tell you to stay behind me?”

“Please do,” I grumbled. “It would give me an excellent excuse to kick you in the shins.”

“Would you prefer ladies first?”

“Thank you,” I said sweetly. “I would.”

I gripped the doorknob, twisted, and pulled.

The door swung open, but Callum grabbed me around the waist and tugged me backward, just as a series of pops sounded and about a dozen paintballs ricocheted off the concrete wall behind us.

Bright pink paintballs.

I turned to glare up at him. “Did you know that was going to happen?”

“Not exactly,” he hedged. “But I suspected there would be a few more traps than our hacker friend was admitting to.”

“Does he want to meet with us or not?”

“Probably testing our sincerity… and our desperation.”

That was fair. If we were law enforcement trying to set a trap, we might be rethinking our path forward. Heck, I was rethinking it too, but it wasn’t like I had options. Even if I got shot with a hundred paintballs, I needed the information the hacker could provide.

“Fine.” I glared at the now open door. “What’s the next obstacle?”

“Tripwires.” Callum peered into the darkened interior, his eyes glowing faintly as he scanned for threats. “But I don’t sense any.”

“Just tell me if that changes,” I requested grimly, and took my first step inside, a glowing ball of blue fae magic in my hand.

We found ourselves in the bowels of the apartment complex, surrounded by pipes and boilers and furnaces and who knew what else—a vast jumble of machinery that had once been needed to provide heat and water to the fourteen floors above us. Dust and rust were everywhere, but the floor was suspiciously clean, aside from an occasional pile of discarded boxes or crates. A few bundles of cords and wires ran past us into the dark, while somewhere ahead I could hear the steady drip, drip, drip of a leaking pipe.

“Cozy place,” I remarked, holding my light higher as I looked around. “Which way do we go?”

“Straight.” Callum’s eyes glowed brighter. “I still don’t see any wires, but let’s go slowly.”

I didn’t want to go slowly, but neither did I want to end up fried or impaled on exploding machinery, so I gritted my teeth and headed off down the narrow pathway ahead of us.

We’d gone about ten yards when I spotted a light up ahead—either a reflection of my magic or produced by some independent source. I narrowed my eyes, and sure enough, it was moving towards us, blinking in a regular pattern as it glided along the floor.

“Callum.”

He stepped up beside me, gaze intent on the approaching threat…

A puff of air ghosted against my cheek and I reacted, without much of a plan other than tonotbe standing in that space. I slammed into Callum, shoving him forward and sideways, where we bounced off a rusty metal tank, just as a sharppingsounded from a few feet behind us.

Where we’d been standing only a few moments before, a needle-tipped metal dart rolled along the floor and disappeared beneath an array of valves and dials.

“Sincerity and desperation, huh?” I almost snarled the words. “The tripwires were just a feint—to make sure you wouldn’t be watching for anything else.”

Callum’s grim expression suggested he might be almost as angry as I was.

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