Witch Ascendant (Blackwood Supernatural Prison Book 4) Read online

  Witch Ascendant

  Blackwood Supernatural Prison #4

  Valia Lind

  Skazka Press

  Contents

  Witch Ascendant

  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

  Note from the Author

  What more from the land of Skazka?

  Do you love Beauty and the Beast?

  About the Author

  Also by Valia Lind

  Copyright © 2021 by Valia Lind

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover by Gombar Cover Designs

  Witch Ascendant

  Blackwood Supernatural Prison - Book Four

  Valia Lind

  All, everything that I understand, I understand only because of love.

  Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

  Chapter 1

  It's been two weeks since I've seen Eric. No one has heard from him or his father, and it's making everything I have to do so much harder. He wormed his way into my heart, and now all I do is worry about him.

  Well, him and the rest of the world.

  Tom and I have been making plans. The kind that take into consideration the fact that I'm going to have to go up against one of the most powerful men in the world, magical world included. The bracelet warms up on my wrist, and I glance down, giving it a little mental hug. The magic of the relic has been a constant companion. I cannot imagine saying goodbye to her, but I know the time will come when I'll have to let her go.

  "Hey, Letty," I say, walking up to the sleeping girl in the hospital bed. The task force has safe houses all over the world, and we're currently back in London. Letty has been fighting for her life, barely waking up ever since she was stabbed by a magical dagger. Tom has been doing research, trying to see if there's a magical cure. Nothing is working right now.

  "Just an update. Eric is still missing. I know I said I was going to keep bad news to myself, but I think you deserve to know. Blackwood is also in the wind. The prison is more locked down than ever. Tom and I are trying to come up with a plan for our next move, but we've got nothing but empty ideas. I'm sorry you're missing all the fun."

  I watch Letty's face for any signs of movement, but she's completely out. I'm not sure why I'm even having these conversations with her, except that I heard somewhere it's supposed to help patients recover faster. Letty and I have known each other for a very short period of time, but I feel a connection to her. It’s like we're meant to be friends.

  Now, I don't even know if we’ll get that chance—if she survives.

  After giving her hand a quick squeeze, I leave the room, heading toward Tom's office. He's had this hectic energy since Eric ran after his father, as if everything is Tom's fault and not the king's.

  "Can you talk to him?" Mitch asks the moment I step into Tom's office. The man is at the other side of the room, writing something on a white board.

  "What's he doing now?"

  "Writing spells."

  "What?" Marching over to Tom, I grab the dry erase marker from his hand while I swipe the writing off the board with my other.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Are you crazy?" I turn to him, holding the marker behind my back as he advances. My free hand conjures up a fireball that makes Tom stop in his tracks. "What were you thinking, writing spells on the board?"

  "I was only trying to come up with a tracking one we can use for the relic."

  "No, we talked about this. You may be a powerful witch, but your magic is weakened. You could make a mistake that sends us all into the dark age. Spell magic is not for the faint of heart."

  It's the speech I've given him before and one we've discussed in detail. While everyone requires spells to make magic work, not everyone can write them. Tom is a powerful witch in his own way, but he is not a spell maker. Writing spells incorrectly can have terrible results.

  Or you can be me and not require spells, which is still a new concept for me to wrap my mind around, but it’s something I need to think about later. Not while I’m trying to talk a man off a magical ledge.

  "I was being careful."

  "Not careful enough. Anyone walking by could've seen your board and unconsciously read it. Then where would we be?"

  We can't undo a spell if we don't even know what it is or how it reacts. Tom is not thinking logically. A part of me thinks his power of being able to affect minds is making him a little...unhinged. He's taking everything on himself, and I can't seem to help him. He feels responsible for those under his care. With Letty on the brink of death and Eric gone, he's down two of those people.

  "I have to do something," Tom says defeated, and I can understand that as well.

  "We are doing something. Did you get the blueprints I asked for?" I direct the last question to Mitch, and the big bear shifter grins.

  "Of course I did."

  "Perfect, then let's get started."

  Mitch rolls out the blueprints, weighing the corners down with items from Tom's desk. There are three different sets, and I study each carefully.

  "What are you looking for?" Mitch asks. Tom is still by the board, but his attention is on me now. He's moving slowly toward the desk, trying to see what's there.

  "Something about the relics hasn't been sitting right with me." Mitch makes a noise, and I glance up to give him a smirk. "Okay, a lot hasn't been sitting right with me when it comes to the relics, but I keep thinking about the places we found the pieces. They're not random, so there must be a pattern."

  The bracelet on my wrist warms up, as if she's encouraging me to go on. Every single day our bond grows stronger. I can almost anticipate her thoughts now, which is strange and exciting at the same time.

  "Look here." I point to where we found the bracelet in the Winter Palace. We weren't really even looking for it when the bracelet revealed itself to us. Well, to me.

  "There's no way you would've found it if the relic didn't want you to."

  I turn at Tom's words as he takes a step toward the desk. His eyes seem clearer now, as if this is a place where he can direct his energy.

  "There weren’t any indications for the relic. We were going off old intel and new magic. In reality, we would've walked right past the bracelet—"

  "If she didn't want me to find her," I finish, looking down at the pretty braided design. The bracelet has become a trusted companion, and what I said about the relics comes back now. They have to choose to bind to an individual.

  "So, the bracelet chose me. But that doesn't change the fact that the king wants the relics. They won't choose to bind to him, right? Does that mean we shouldn't be concerned?"

  The bracelet flares up, clearly not liking that logic.

  "No, I think the king can trick the relics, just like he's tricked many others."

  I haven't told anyone but Mitch
my suspicions on who I think the king is, and I'd like to keep it that way for a little while longer. I need more solid proof than some words that may have been misspoken. I don't think that is the case, but I know I have to make an infallible argument.

  "What does this tell us?" Mitch asks now, as I move the blueprints around. Good question. Maybe nothing. But the nagging feeling inside me doesn't go away as I study the sketched out floor plans. These are scaled down a lot to fit on a single sheet for each floor, but it gives me a general idea.

  "Wait, look at this." I rearrange the papers again, this time stacking them on top of each other. Once stacked, I walk over to the other side of the desk.

  "Here, come hold this." I give one side to Tom and the other to Mitch. They watch me, confused, as I walk over to the desk and grab a lamp. I place it under the papers, turning it on.

  "Look at that." I smile. The places the relics have been found line up, but not in the way I expected.

  "They're at the corners," Mitch says, and I nod.

  "We found the bracelet here." I point upward. "That makes it north. The necklace was in the fountain here, which makes it west. The relic at the prison—"

  "It would've been at the center," Tom finishes. Eric and I never made it that far.

  "But if there are eight, wouldn't this be just a coincidence?" Mitch asks. I shake my head, somehow sure of the answer.

  "I think they make a circle around the main piece," I point out the areas, "with the bigger pieces at the four corners. It's almost like—"

  "What?"

  "The sun."

  The bracelet definitely likes that description. My mind jumps in a million different directions as I try to piece together all the information I have learned thus far. I especially take into consideration all the research I've done in the last two weeks while trying to keep my mind off Eric.

  "There's one thing about the relics that has always stood out to me. The way they fit together."

  My mind goes back to the visions the bracelet has shown me, of it being made, of the full set of the relics.

  "It's not battle armor; we've said that from the beginning."

  "What are you thinking?" Tom asks. I look up to find Mitch and Tom's attention entirely on me. Last year, I wouldn't have imagined I'd be standing here, part of a secret task force, trying to bring down a great evil most of the world has no knowledge about and having people looking at me to lead. When I thought I would become a Protector, I was prepared to follow someone’s lead for the rest of my life. That’s how it works. I would’ve received an assignment, and I would've done my best to be good at it. But now, I'm the one leading. It feels strange, in a way, but also right somehow.

  "The way it fits together, the placement, the sun...all of these things point to one place we haven't looked yet."

  "Which is?"

  "Egypt."

  Chapter 2

  "You're really doing this?"

  I look up to find Mitch in the doorway. He leans against it, filling up the space completely, arms crossed. I spent the last few hours reading up on everything I could find about Egypt. This feels like the right move.

  "You told me yourself Blackwood has a house there. Why would he if this wasn't part of his search for the relics? He knows something."

  "And you're hoping Eric is there."

  "Do you blame me?" I meet Mitch's gaze straight on, and after a moment, the bear shifter looks away. He's just as frustrated about the whole situation as I am. Well, more actually. He has a longer history with Eric than I do.

  "I don't. You know that. It just seems reckless to go across the world on a hunch."

  I put the knives I just sheathed down on the bed and turn to face Mitch fully.

  "Hunches are all we have right now. The king has gone to ground, Blackwood is gone, Eric is gone. Tom..." I take a deep breath. "Tom is taking responsibility for all of this, but he's not the one who snuck into the prison and then didn't even find the relic."

  "Are you sure it was there?"

  "I'm sure. I felt her." Anyone else would think I'm crazy for saying that, but Mitch understands. He's been my sounding board since everything went down. I haven't held anything back from him.

  The whole situation with the relics has always been a strange experience for me. When I was wrongfully accused and sent to Blackwood Supernatural Prison, I thought my life was basically over. Sure, in the back of my mind, I planned for revenge. I trained every day to get stronger and faster, because in a place where magic is repressed, I knew I needed to take care of myself physically. And I knew that one day I would get out and I would take down the people responsible for killing Kelsey and blaming me for it.

  What I didn't imagine is Kelsey being alive or in cahoots with the king himself.

  She ended up the villain of this story. I don't think I'll ever come to terms with the fact that she was my best friend, and I didn't even know her. But I also need to realize that she didn't want me to know her. Maybe when we were younger things were different. But the moment she allowed herself to be corrupted by the promises the king made, everything changed.

  I would like to think that I could've helped her if I knew. But I'm also not naïve enough to think I have control over anyone or anything for that matter. The only thing I can do now is not live in the past and make sure I do everything in my power to see that there is a future.

  "The relics need me," I say to Mitch now. He nods in understanding. "You don't have to come."

  "Of course I'm coming." He huffs like I've offended him. "You and I are in this together. We need to make sure our friends are safe, and I will do what I can to help you."

  I give him a small smile, amazed how in such a short time he’s become such a good friend. But I guess that's the way of the world. It's not about the length of a friendship, it's about how souls mesh together. And the task force, it's my place in this world. I know it now.

  Mitch is part of my crew, my people. I don't want to let him down any more than I don't want to let down my parents. Or the rest of the world.

  "So, what's our plan exactly?" Mitch asks as I turn back to the array of knives on my bed. Magic is still my biggest weapon but having extra insurance never hurt anyone.

  "We portal into the general area of Cairo. I think our first stop should be the museum, just to cover our bases on that front. Then, we’ll head to the Blackwood compound and do some recon to see if we can find anything out. Blackwood is our strongest link to the king. And if he's in hiding, he'll go wherever the relic possibly is the strongest. At least, that's what I'd do if I was him."

  It's not exactly the most fun, thinking like a villain, but I know logic doesn't always play a part in these things. I have to be open to options I wouldn't normally consider. That is why I say what I say next.

  "There's a possibility that we find absolutely nothing there or that it's a trap. At this point, I would just assume any place Blackwood owns is a trap, just to be on the safe side."

  "How do you want to proceed then?"

  "I'm going to use the relic's magic," I say, putting the belt back on with the sheathed knife at the lower part of my back. The other knife goes in my boot. Once upon a time, Kelsey would've loved these boots with the secret sheath for a knife. But that's another life and one I should really stop thinking about.

  "Tom would advise against that."

  "Tom isn't the one tasked with the responsibility of protecting the relics the same way I am," I reply, facing Mitch once more. "Every single time we tried to do this without the help of the relic, we failed. Even in the prison...Mitch, I could've gotten the relic. I could've! But I didn't use the bracelet's magic soon enough and then we ran out of time."

  "Do you really think the relic provides the magic for the prison?"

  "It's the only explanation I can think of."

  We leave my room behind, heading back toward Tom's office. This compound is very similar to the one that was destroyed in Russia, and there are agents training on the lower floors. T
here are two portal keepers here besides Letty. I already said my “see-you-later” to her. I refuse to say goodbye. I'm going to fix this.

  "Eric told me the prison is a living entity, much like the relics are. The power the prison displays is unlike anything else in the supernatural world. So, if the Blackwood magic line and the relic are crossed, it can attest to the kind of power it portrays."

  "You've been digging into books, huh?" Mitch smiles, and I know what he's thinking. Eric's favorite pastime, when he's not running through the woods in his wolf form, is research. I've been practicing my skills lately. All of last week was spent with my nose in a book.

  "I like to learn about what I'm up against. It only makes sense."

  We reach Tom's office then. When we step inside, a guy a few years older than me is standing beside him. They turn toward us together, and I realize he must be the portal keeper.

  "Are you sure about this?" Tom asks. I don't hesitate.

  "Absolutely. Send me to Egypt."

  When we step through the portal, heat hits us in the face at once. I almost forget to take a breath and then I'm surrounded by it.

  "Okay, remind me to never travel to a desert ever again." Mitch coughs and I grin. Coming from the super humid London to the desert is a drastic difference.

  And it's not like we're even in the middle of nowhere. We got portaled to a rooftop in Cairo. I glance around, giving our surroundings a quick study. The Nile River is to my right, and I walk closer to the edge to look out over the scenery.