Clash of Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Amazon Book 3) Read online

  Clash of Magic

  Linsey Hall

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Thank You!

  Excerpt Of Death Valley Magic

  Author’s Note

  Acknowledgments

  About Linsey

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  The ghost hovered over my shoulder, his anxiety crawling across my skin like ants.

  “Are you sure you want to do this, Rowan?” whispered Florian, the spectral librarian. His old-fashioned English accent echoed in the dark corridors of the library. Tall shelves loomed overhead, stuffed full of old leather books that held all the secrets of the world.

  I turned slightly as I walked, giving the pale ghost a determined nod. He nodded back, as if trying to prove he was on board. But it just made his tall, curly wig wobble and the lace cravat at his throat tremble. Florian Bumbledomber was the night librarian, and he hadn’t changed his clothes since he’d died sometime in the eighteenth century.

  “I’m sure, Florian. I have to do this. We need to know what the Stryx are, and I’ve found nothing in the regular part of the library. You said yourself that this was the last place to look.” I shivered as a waft of cold air curled around my ankles. A pale dark mist floated over the wooden floor, and I had no idea how it had gotten there.

  There were two official libraries at the Undercover Protectorate. The normal one, with warm fireplaces and cushy chairs, and the ghost library that sat behind it, past a secret entrance. The ghost library was a massive ten-story space full of millions of books. To enter it, you had to contribute something to the collection. I’d already done that ten minutes ago, and now we were deep in the bowels of the ghost library, in a wing that I’d never entered before.

  “Well, you need to be careful.” Florian’s voice trembled. “The wraith who guards the dark collection demands a heavy price for access to his books.”

  “I’ll pay it.” I had to. I was hunting the two witches who had called themselves Stryx when I’d confronted them three days ago. I had no idea what that meant, but they had some kind of dark and deadly plan, and I needed to figure out what the heck it was.

  I turned left at a tall bookshelf, heading into the depths of the library by instinct. Florian had said that my information would be in the darkest and scariest part, and that wasn’t hard to identify. Since I had goose bumps on my skin and my heart was thundering, I figured I was on the right track.

  “You’re sure you don’t want to bring someone with you?” Florian asked.

  I nudged him with my arm in a friendly gesture, but my elbow passed right through him. “I brought you.”

  “Well, but, well…”

  “And my sisters are busy.” Bree and Ana were on a mission for Jude, the boss of their unit at the Undercover Protectorate. They’d be back soon, but I hadn’t wanted to wait. Between my classes at the Academy and my other research into the Stryx, this was my first free moment and I’d grabbed it.

  “We’re almost there.” Florian’s voice wavered.

  “You’re a ghost, Florian. Why are you nervous?”

  “You’ll see.”

  A gloomy corridor loomed in front of us. It was formed by two tall bookcases that stretched back into the library. Dark mist filled it, nearly obscuring the books stacked twenty feet high. This deep in the library, the books were gray with age and dust.

  “He doesn’t let us come down here to dust.” Florian’s voice was tinged with annoyance. “Bad for the books.”

  The library was a labyrinth of secrets and old paper, and this right here was the darkest bit of it. Cold rolled out from the corridor, creeping up my legs to my stomach and seeping through my clothes.

  I shivered and stepped toward the bookcases that formed the corridor.

  “Don’t!” Florian’s voice cracked out. “Go no farther. Wait for him.”

  I stopped abruptly, swallowing hard. Florian drifted to a stop next to me, his fear palpable. I blinked into the darkness, trying to draw out any details. A dark energy filled the air, prickling against my skin like the footsteps of little spiders.

  “I can’t believe the Undercover Protectorate has a place like this,” I whispered, a shiver crawling up my spine. “The magic is definitely dark.”

  “You seek dark knowledge,” Florian said. “The wraith who guards this place is bound by Arach’s magic, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous.”

  Arach was the dragon spirit who guarded the castle. I saw her rarely, but her power blew my socks off every time. If anyone could control the wraith, it was her. Which was good, because we were so far below the castle that no one would hear me scream.

  I shook away my fear and focused on the job. Fear would get me nowhere.

  The coldness increased and the dark magic swelled, stealing the breath from my throat. The hair on my arms stood on end, and it took everything I had not to spin around and leave.

  When the wraith drifted through the dark smoke filling the space between the bookshelves, I almost didn’t see him. Skeletal and gaunt, he was made of the smoke itself. Only his eyes had any color, and they burned a bright, cold blue.

  “What do you seek?” he hissed.

  I straightened my spine. “I seek two answers and hope to find them in your collection.”

  “There is a price.” The last syllable dragged on as if a snake had spoken the word.

  “What is it?”

  “A drop of blood. It must contain a bit of your energy. Your magic.”

  Next to me, Florian stiffened. “No. It is too dangerous.”

  “Of course it is,” the wraith said. “You must pay a great price for knowledge.”

  “Will I continue to pay that price after I leave here?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Give me what I require. If you survive, you will have your information. And then you may leave, free.”

  I looked at Florian, who was somehow even paler than his normal ghostly form. “I’m going to do it.”

  He grimaced, but nodded. He knew how dangerous the Stryx were. How much I wanted to catch them.

  I turned back to the wraith, who loomed closer, excitement gleaming in his eyes. “How do we do this?”

  “Hold out your hand.” The wraith raised his own hand, and shiny black claws tipped each long finger. They were the only solid thing on him, given that the rest of him was made of mist.

  My arm trembled slightly as I raised my hand. Then I jerked it back. “Wait. I need to know that you have what I seek.”

  No way I was doing this if he didn’t.

  His irritation flowed off him, curdling in the air. “What do you seek?”

  “I want to know what Stryx are. I know they’re witches, but what kind? Where are they from? And I need a spell that will reveal a past vision shown by a Truth Teller.”

  Last week, I’d fought my ass off to win at a deadly obstacle course where a Truth Teller was the prize. The little charm would reveal anything you wanted to know. Unfortunately, the Stryx had beaten me to it. They’d had time to ask the Truth Teller their question, and the charm had shown them what they’d wanted to see.

  I needed to know what it had shown them, because I was one thousand percent sure that it had to do with some dark and dang
erous plan.

  The wraith hesitated, then nodded. “I should have something which will help you.”

  “Good.” Before I could back out, I thrust my hand forward.

  The wraith smiled broadly, dark fangs glinting in the dim light. He raised his obsidian claw and pricked my finger with it.

  Hot pain flared, greater than anything I’d ever felt. It streaked up my arm like fire, wrapping around my chest and reaching into my soul.

  Through dimming vision, I caught sight of blood welling from my fingertip. My energy seemed to flow out with the blood, making my knees weak. It was as if his claw were tipped in poison.

  “Such power,” the wraith murmured, his words twisting through the darkness that was beginning to close in on my vision. “Such strength.”

  “Rowan!” Florian’s voice broke through the haze of pain, and I blinked, trying desperately to stay conscious.

  But it was hard. The wraith’s dark magic seemed to be seeping into me, as if a connection had been formed.

  Through bleary vision, I watched the wraith lick a drop of my blood off his claw. The dark magic that resided deep inside me thumped, coming to life. It was as if it recognized the wraith and wanted to say hello.

  The wraith’s bright blue eyes flared. “There is darkness inside you.”

  “There isn’t.” The words sounded like I’d shoved them through gravel. But they were a lie. He was right. There was darkness inside me, an evil magic that I’d shoved down so deep it hadn’t seen the light in weeks. It was connected to the Stryx somehow, and it only made me more determined to stop them.

  “There is.” He reached out for more blood, and I yanked my hand back.

  “You’ve had enough.” It took everything I had to force down the dark magic that was welling inside me, drawn to the surface by the wraith. My body swayed forward against my will, reaching for him. Desire to get closer to him thudded within me.

  I sucked in a deep breath and focused on all the good things in my life. My sisters, Maximus, the Protectorate. I wanted to keep those things, and the only way to do that was to fight the darkness that writhed within me.

  Mind over matter.

  I shoved every ounce of darkness away, forcing it deep down inside of me. Slowly, the pain from the wraith’s magic faded as our connection broke. My vision cleared and my strength returned.

  The wraith looked less skeletal now. He’d fed off my magic and my energy, using my blood as a conduit.

  “I gave you what you wanted,” I snapped. “Where are my answers?”

  The wraith tried to glower, but his pleasure over what had just happened was too obvious. It flowed through the air, a sickly and dark energy that wrapped around me. I shivered and stepped closer to Florian.

  “I’ll be back.” The wraith turned and drifted away, disappearing into the mist that filled the space between the shelves.

  “Are you all right?” Florian asked.

  “Fine.”

  “It seemed like I might lose you for a second there.”

  The darkness within me had almost overtaken me, but I wouldn’t tell Florian that. “I was fine. Just shocked.”

  Tension thrummed across my skin as we waited for the wraith to return. When he did, he had two heavy-looking old books in his hands. I had no idea how a figure that was made of black mist was able to carry two solid books.

  He handed over the smaller one, which was still at least twelve inches across. “This will contain the answer to your first question.”

  I took the book, shivering at the feel of dark magic that resided within it. The book’s power prickled against my fingertips, making me feel like I was grabbing a cactus even though it was smooth, dusty leather.

  As soon as I pulled the book toward me, it flipped open, hovering in midair. I nearly jumped, stifling a gasp as the pages flipped open, one after another. Dust motes rose high.

  When the pages lay flat, I saw an illustration of a large bird.

  “It looks just like the witches when they transform,” I murmured, directing my words toward Florian.

  Above the illustration, the word Stryx was written in a curvy script. I read quickly, my gaze racing across the page as I tried to absorb the information. I didn’t know how long the wraith would give me, but his impatience was obvious as he tapped his ghostly foot.

  There was very little written about them, but what I saw made my blood chill. “They’re ancient Greek witches who can turn into birds. The last time anyone saw one was thousands of years ago.”

  “Greek?” Florian asked. “Like you?”

  I swallowed hard and nodded. I wasn’t Greek by birth, though I likely had some ancestors who had been. But I was the Greek DragonGod, a supernatural gifted with the powers of the Greek gods.

  “We really are connected,” I said. “No way they rise to power at the same time I do and there’s not a connection.”

  I’d already known there was a connection, but it was somehow even scarier to see it written. To have it confirmed.

  “That’s enough.” The wraith jerked the book back.

  I bit my tongue. I’d read everything there was, so no need to snap at him and lose access to that second book. That was what I really wanted to see anyway.

  The wraith passed over the heavy leather book. It was a grimoire—an ancient spell book filled with dark and dangerous magic. I didn’t even need to touch it. The thing just hovered in the air in front of my chest. Golden scrollwork on the leather cover gleamed in the low light.

  “Think of what you want and touch the cover,” the wraith said.

  As I carefully pressed my fingertips to the edge of the leather cover, I imagined a spell that would recreate what the Truth Teller had shown the Stryx. Like a revealing spell that turned back time, or something.

  The cover flew open, snapping against my fingertips, and the pages began to flip so fast that they were a blur. They settled open on a page with a long list of ingredients.

  Shit.

  No way I could memorize all that. And if the wraith was as big a jerk as I thought he was—there was a one hundred percent chance of that—he wouldn’t give me long with it. I glanced up, catching sight of his fangy smile.

  Yep, this jerk was going to yank this book back soon.

  Quickly, I shoved my hand in my pocket and yanked out my cell phone. It was new, and I didn’t carry it often, but I’d had it on me today, thank fates. I clicked the main button on the phone twice to pull up the camera function, then raised it and snapped a quick picture.

  “What are you doing?” the wraith hissed.

  I snapped another picture for good measure, right before he yanked back the book. Dark magic swelled on the air, piercing my skin like wasp stings. I flinched hard.

  Next to me, Florian shouted in pain.

  The wraith opened his mouth wide, his fangs appearing sharp. A shriek burst from him, tearing through my head and making it ring. He raised his hands, claws pointed toward me.

  Yep, I’d overstayed my welcome.

  I spun on my heel and ran, sprinting through the dark library with Florian at my side. The wraith’s shrieks echoed around us, shooting pain through my head. Something warm and wet trickled down my neck.

  I touched it and raised my fingers up to look.

  Blood. From my ears.

  I shoved the cell phone back in my pocket and covered my ears as we sprinted. The black mist that surrounded us grew thicker and colder, rising up to my thighs. Suddenly, it was harder to run, as if I were trying to beat my way through a snowbank.

  I slowed, my muscles burning.

  “Keep going!” Florian shouted from up ahead. As a ghost, he didn’t have nearly the trouble I did.

  I turned to look back, catching sight of the wraith raising his hands. Behind me, bookshelves creaked, then tumbled over, collapsing inward. Heavy volumes fell from the shelves, plunging toward the ground.

  Oh shit!

  They were going to be damaged.

  Crap, I didn’t want th
at.

  When the books neared the ground, they stopped abruptly, floating in midair. Then they moved, hurtling toward me.

  Oh, double shit!

  I turned and ran, trying to outrun the heavy volumes that charged toward me. There were hundreds of them, and if they reached me, they’d crush me.

  The fog dragged at my legs, making every muscle burn, but I pushed harder. My breath heaved as I raced past the bookshelves.

  A heavy book hit me in the back, and I nearly stumbled forward. Another hit me on the arm, then one on the thigh. Pain flared each time, the beginning of a deep bruise.

  We were coming up to a long row of tables stretching toward the wide, sweeping staircase that led to the exit. I neared the first table and leapt, then scrambled up onto the heavy wooden surface. It was above the low-lying fog that pulled at my legs. Up here, I could run faster.

  I sprinted ahead as the books raced after me, sparing a brief glance behind me and spotting hundreds of volumes chasing me.

  My heart thundered hard. They formed a solid wall, and they were nearly to me.

  I turned back and sprinted as fast as I could.

  “Hurry!” Florian shouted. He waved me on from up ahead, his eyes bright and his wig askew.

  I leapt from table to table, the cold mist grabbing for my feet.

  “Nearly there!” Florian turned and sprinted up the stairs to the main part of the ghost library.

  Lungs heaving and muscles burning, I joined him, leaping onto the wide staircase and following him up. I took the stairs three at a time, moving faster than I ever had in my life. We reached the next level and I turned.

  The books had stopped at the bottom, hovering menacingly in the air.

  Panting, Florian propped his hands on his knees. “They can’t come here. The rest of the ghost library is out of the wraith’s control.”