“Yes.” Brandon looked up, his expression grave. “It could be catastrophic in the wrong hands.”
“Which means the Collectors would absolutely want to possess it. They won’t tolerate anyone with that kind of power outside their control. Just how catastrophic are we talking?”
Brandon’s blue eyes glowed. “Think earthquakes. Volcanoes. Tsunamis. And that’s just the beginning. Natural magic is tied to emotion, to instinct. To life itself. TheCodexcan amplify that connection exponentially because the wielder is tapping directly into the source. But there would be signs.”
“Like unexplained, off the charts magical surges?” Jason asked.
Something in Jason’s voice made Brandon put the book down and give Jason his full attention. “Yes, exactly like that.”
“That's what I was afraid of.” Jason's expression was grim. “Around the same time we started hearing about Collector activity, my contacts began reporting unusual pulses of wild, raw power.”
The pieces clicked together in Brandon's mind with horrifying clarity. His heart rate kicked up even as he kept his expression carefully blank. “Where?”
Jason’s expression was grave. “The Shenandoah Valley.”
“Muriel.” The name left Brandon's lips rougher than intended. He cleared his throat, forcing himself to focus. “You think they're tracking Muriel.”
“I think if there was a significant magical surge in the Shenandoah area—the kind that would result from an untrained elemental accessing something like theCodex—the Collectors would absolutely be investigating,” Jason said carefully. “And if that is the case, they won't stop until they find her.”
Brandon was already thinking, running through options, spells, protections. Magic stirred under his skin, responding to the threat to someone it recognized as important. Someone it wanted to protect.
“I sent her a book on earth magic recently. Maybe she’s been experimenting with some of the spells and that’s what’s showing up on the radar.” But even as he thought that, his gut rejected the idea.
“Perhaps,” Jason said skeptically. “What do you know of her family?”
“Not much,” Brandon admitted. “Jessie said Muriel’s mother died a few years ago.”
“How?”
Brandon frowned. “I don’t know.”
“What of her father?”
“Disappeared before she was even born.” Which explained—at least in part—why Muriel was so wary ofhim. Her own life experience had taught her that mages couldn’t be trusted.
“Hm,” Jason hummed, his expression turning thoughtful.
“What are you thinking?”
“Historically speaking, there is precedent for secret societies to closely guard knowledge until a successor is ready to assume the mantle. If thereisan ancient bloodline tasked with keeping theCodex, and if Muriel is a direct descendent of that bloodline, and if her mother died before she could pass on that knowledge?—”
“That’s a lot of ifs,” Brandon interrupted. But whatwas fate if not a series of interconnected ifs coming together for some preordained outcome? Historically, magical items had a way of resurfacing into the hands of the unprepared, often with disastrous consequences. If that was the case, Muriel could be in grave danger and not even know it.
“If there’s even a chance that theCodexhas resurfaced, we have to be proactive,” Jason said, echoing Brandon’s thoughts. “We can’t let the Magisterial Consilium get their hands on it.”
Or on Muriel, Brandon added silently, picturing her willowy frame and big, luminous eyes. He shuddered to think what they might do to her. “Agreed. How long do we have?”
“Hard to say. If the Collectors are still pinpointing the source of the surges, we might have a week. But once they're certain...” Jason didn't need to finish the sentence.
The next question was, how did they keep Muriel safe and keep theCodexout of the wrong hands?
“A cloaking spell,” Brandon said, thinking aloud. “One strong enough to mask her signature.”
“Can you do it?”
Brandon met his friend's eyes. “I can, yes. But it would require her cooperation. Given her history, she's going to be suspicious of any mage offering to cast spells on her.”
“Especially one she barely knows, no matter how much chemistry there is between you.”