Page 106 of Magic Claimed
“Has the march started yet?”
“Yes.”
My stomach clenched and my heart began to pound, butthat’s all the information they were willing to give me before they each grabbed an arm and escorted me out of the room.
Wherever we were, it appeared that the building had once been a hospital of some kind. Long-abandoned—by the looks of the peeling paint and the cracks in the stained floor tiles—but partially remodeled by Blake and his team. Along with the doors, the lighting was new, and the security cameras I could see at each end of the hall were definitely from sometime this decade.
I peered into several rooms as we passed, but they looked much like mine. Perhaps exam rooms, offices, or patient rooms in a treatment ward. All the windows appeared to be boarded up, and nowhere did I see computers, files, or any kind of printed material. No medical supplies, clothing, or bedding. No signs or personal belongings.
Nothing to point me to a location.
We took two flights of stairs up, then went through a set of double doors, down a wider hallway with rooms on each side. There were probably fifty to sixty people coming and going, most of them dressed in similar dark clothing, but all with a sense of intensity and purpose. There was tension in the air, as if they were preparing for something, and I wished I didn’t know what that something was.
After a sharp right turn, our way was blocked by another set of doors, this one with two guards and a keypad on the door. My escort typed in a code, then waited for the door to unlock before pulling me through and into a space that could only be the promised control room.
If this had once been a hospital, we were likely looking at arecord-keeping or administrative space of some kind. Wires ran everywhere, and at the U-shaped desk on the far side of the room, a half-dozen people wearing headsets tapped away at computers or held sharply worded conversations. On the left side of the room was a platform—empty except for what looked like a doormat with something printed on it.
A bank of screens hung on the wall to my right, each of them showing a different view of city streets, crowds, buildings… all too familiar, but for the seething masses of people crowding those streets.
It was downtown Oklahoma City, and the march was clearly already in progress, playing out across those screens like a movie, but one that was completely, terrifyingly real.
From what I could see, the bulk of it currently appeared to be taking place on Broadway, between Automobile Alley and the Convention Center. There was no sound, but I could see the waving signs, the intense, fervent expressions, and the mouths open in angry shouts.
Standing in front of the screens, looking like an average office worker at the end of a long day, Blake stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the events play out. He wore dress pants with a shirt and tie, but the tie was loosened and his jacket was off. A vicious burn scar ran down the side of his neck, but his hair was neat and his posture relaxed. Literally nothing about him screamed “psychopathic murderer about to start a war.”
“Ah, finally.” He turned from his contemplation of the monitors to regard me with a look of relief. “You’re here. That means we can begin.”
“Begin what, exactly?”
“Begin building a new world, of course,” Blake said, as calmly as if he were suggesting having eggs for breakfast or going out for a drink. “In a few moments, I’ll be taking my team to Oklahoma City to start the operation. I need to ensure that we’ll meet with minimal resistance, so I’ll be sending a picture to every one of your friends that I can reach.”
“A picture of what?”
The words were barely out of my mouth before I was forcibly placed in a chair, my hands bound behind me, my feet in front of me, and tape placed over my mouth again.
“Of you, Raine,” Blake said softly, lifting his phone and snapping a picture of me looking helpless and frightened, with two of Blake’s goons in the background.
We’d known this might happen, but that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it. Considering that Blake had managed to get ahold of my cell number, I assumed he would also have found a way to reach Faris. And through Heather, he would already have contact information for at least Callum, Ryker, and Kira.
I knew what this would do to them, so even though he couldn’t hear me, I silently begged Callum to hold on.
“There.” Blake lowered his phone and smiled at me. “Now we’ll be off, and you… You’ll get a front-row seat to everything I’ve been planning.”
A front-row seat—as he prepared to destroy my city, murder defenseless humans, and kill my friends.
And just as he’d promised, all I could do was watch as he clutched his gem and called up a gateway on that empty platform. The doormat must be his anchor, and when he saw mewatching, Blake smiled and picked it up to show me what was written on it.
Beware of Dragon…
It was Callum’s.
Blake was using an anchor that would lead him straight to The Assemblage.
Right into the heart of our home and our defenses.
When I realized what he’d done, I started to struggle against my bonds, but Blake only laughed.
“Can you finally see it now? I’ve been ahead of you every step of the way.”
