Page 18 of Dark Reckoning
“Right now, nothing, as you have no powers,” I said.
Xavier looked at me but didn't say anything. He may not have liked what I said, but it was the truth. I mean, what could he do?
“Just stay here in the tower. It's protected. Stay safe,” Adrian said.
“Fine. But if you need me...”
Adrian hugged him. “I know. You have my back.” He walked into our special room to gather the grimoire and whatever items we were going to need to make the barrier spell.
I turned to Nadia. “I want you to stay here with Jewel, Shi will come with us. But I need you here to make sure nothing happens.
“You can count on me,” Nadia said.
“Sage!” I heard Adrian scream my name and I ran to him, I arrived so fast, he yelped when he saw me. Everyone else came in behind me and we all looked at Adrian.
“Are you okay?” I asked, looking him over.
He had his hand over his chest and was breathing hard, but he nodded. “I'm sorry to yell like that, but I was caught off guard.” He pointed at the grimoire sitting in our safe.
“What the hell?” I pulled the grimoire from the safe and it was definitely bigger and heavier. I opened it up to see that over a hundred pages had been added.
“It has even more spells than before. Is this because we merged with the Council?” Adrian asked.
“It has to be now that we can draw on their power. He did say that their own grimoires contained spells after they'd merged. Shit, we need to look at this before we leave just to see what's new,” I said.
“Is that the only thing that was alarming?” Xavier asked.
Adrian looked at him and walked over to his friend, patting his shoulder. “Yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare everyone. It's just... I so wasn't expecting to see that our grimoire had changed that drastically.”
“But is that a good thing?” Xavier asked.
“Yeah, at least, that's how I see it,” Adrian replied.
While my baby was talking to his friend, I flipped through the book and saw a brand-new barrier spell that required both Adrian and me to construct. “Hey, baby, look at this.”
Adrian came back over to me and looked at the page I pointed at. “That's one powerful ass spell,” he said after reading it several times.
I nodded. “We need to put this on our own home before we leave.”
“I'll get the ingredients and make sure to bring enough for Salino,” Adrian said, then he walked away to start gathering what we'd need to protect our own home before we left for Salino's.
I took the grimoire and walked into the living room and began to move furniture out of the way to make space for the sigil we needed to draw.
“What are you doing?” Shi asked even as she and Nadia moved the sectional sofa aside.
“Making room to draw the sigil we'll need to lock in the magic of the barrier,” I answered.
“Shouldn't you do that in the basement or on the roof or something, so you don't ruin the floor?” Nadia asked.
I shook my head. “The spell requires the blood of the owner and to be placed in the abode of the owner. It's true that I own this entire building, but I don't live in every location in it. Some are public access. It has to be where I lay my head. It's that specific, that intimate. It will need both Adrian and my blood to construct." I said Adrian's because he was the other mage working the spell, which needed the blood of the casters.
Speaking of my man, he came out of the room carrying a heavy duffle bag and he sat it on the floor beside me and huffed. “Okay, I got everything we'll need for this spell and the one we currently have on this place. Just in case Salino wants us to spell other locations. We don't have enough Dobinger Ash for all of that. But the spell we have on our home now should be good enough to protect any location from these things,” Adrian said.
“So why are you making a stronger barrier?” Xavier asked, and I could tell he was genuinely curious, not critical.
“Because it’s the best in our book. And if you're living here, I won't settle for anything less than the best,” Adrian said.
“Makes sense. Like what do you look like putting the best barrier on Salino's home, but not your own,” Jewel stated.
