Improbable Ally (Magical Arts Academy Book 4) Read online

  Then, just when I thought I couldn’t continue the charade any longer and I’d have to lash out and strike her or something, she turned to face Priscilla.

  My knees buckled at the relief, but I managed to keep it together.

  “What did you learn? How many of them have magic?”

  “Just the blonde girl and boy, and they’re untrained. The darker-haired ones have only just been recruited, and they don’t come from a magical background.”

  We hadn’t told Priscilla anything about our background. Was she improvising? Or was her brother sharing information with her?

  “None of them have any magic to concern you,” Priscilla said, and I wholeheartedly agreed with that statement, regretfully so.

  Miranda snorted. “Well, that much was obvious even before your compulsion. There are few sorcerers in this world who can do anything to me.”

  Immediately I wondered whether that was the truth or she exaggerated. I hoped she was boasting, that would be much better for our chances of escape, however meager they were.

  “What did they tell you about this new academy?”

  “It’s located at Arianne and Gustave’s Acquaine estate. Mordecai is there too. And they’re recruiting both more teachers and students.”

  “And your brother? Is he there?”

  “They didn’t say he was.”

  So she was protecting her brother. That boded well for us. If some of Priscilla’s actions were honorable, there was a greater chance that the rest of them would be too.

  “Who else is there?” Miranda pressed.

  “That’s all. They’ve been having trouble getting new staff there with our forces intercepting their every move.”

  Miranda grinned, and I worked to suppress the shiver that wanted to run down my body in response. “We’re doing quite a good job of keeping them contained, aren’t we?”

  “It would seem so.”

  “What else did they say? How many students are there?”

  “Just these you see here. Also, Arianne’s granddaughter Clara is there with her husband Marcelo.”

  Traitor. She hadn’t needed to add that about Clara and Marcelo. Wasn’t she going to allow us to keep any of our secrets? She was taking the bit Walt told her and adding to it.

  Oh. The SMS was already aware of Clara and Marcelo. They’d ridden out on Humbert as a distraction. So Priscilla was giving Miranda information she likely already possessed....

  At least she hadn’t mentioned Brave or Gertrude, even though they’d been on the roof when the SMS attacked. Miranda might already know about them too, but Priscilla wasn’t chancing it. She wasn’t mentioning the array of magical creatures housed at the estate either.

  I moderated my breathing, doing everything I could to subdue my natural reactions and not draw attention to myself. I wanted desperately to look to Nando, to see how he was doing, but we were all doing a good job of impersonating statues.

  Miranda turned back toward us, walking the length of the line we formed. “So they have neither magic nor particularly valuable information. You’re sure you’ve gotten every piece of value from them that you could?”

  Priscilla took a step closer to her, I hoped to draw her attention from us. “I’m certain.”

  Miranda walked back across our line again, halting in front of me. She got so close to me that her hair tickled my cheeks. A wave of nausea rose within me with fury, but thankfully I was able to suppress every other reaction to her proximity.

  She stepped back, and I thanked everything I could think of that she had.

  “Then I guess there’s no more reason to keep them alive.” What! “They can be of use in one more way though. They’ll be fine test subjects for my new spell potion. It’s strong enough to take down the entire community within the Acquaine estate, I’m sure of it, since I created it from scratch. But a wise witch always tests her magic before using it in battle.”

  Miranda smiled with depraved satisfaction. “Keep them compelled until I return. Since you unbound them, I don’t want to take any chances, though if they don’t have magic to speak of, it shouldn’t be a problem. Still, I’d hate to risk the test subjects. I can’t wait to see how the potion works.”

  “Of course. I’ll keep them here until you return. Will you be long?” Priscilla’s question sounded innocent, but I understood she was trying to figure out how much time we had before our death was guaranteed.

  “Not long at all. It’s all ready. I just need to stir and pour it.” Miranda looked at me, then Nando, then down the line at Marie and Walt. “How fun.”

  With that, she covered the open space of the cellar quickly, made fast work of the stairs, and was gone.

  I wanted nothing more than to collapse in relief.

  But I wouldn’t. We were in a fight for our life, and time and odds were pitted against us.

  Chapter 11

  Priscilla’s measured, slow voice was no longer. She barked out quick, furious commands. “Listen to the spell closely. I don’t know if it will work for you. Every spell can be different for each person, but it’s all we have. Listen closely. The second I’m finished, you’ll be repeating it.”

  She didn’t wait for our acquiescence, and I realized she was truly our ally.

  I need to be somewhere I’m not.

  With this power, I can go anywhere.

  Open a portal to deliver us,

  within the walls of the Magical Arts Academy.

  “It’s not perfect, but it will have to do.”

  I had a million buts running through my mind. But I’ve never performed a spell before. But I don’t have magic. But I don’t know how to portal. I forced the protests from my mind, and trained my focus on the spell. Buts definitely had no chance of getting us out of here.

  “Say the words and picture a break in place. Imagine that what you see here opens up to the Magical Arts Academy. Hold in your mind the image of where you want to go, and no matter what happens, you keep holding it. If any of you manage to open a portal, don’t hesitate. Everyone else run through it first, the person holding the portal goes last, because it will collapse the moment you’re through it. And no matter what happens, what you see or hear, you mustn’t let the image go.”

  I wanted to ask what would happen if we did, but there wasn’t time. I didn’t figure I’d like her answer anyway.

  Priscilla must have noticed our hesitation, because she added, in forced calm tones, “It isn’t difficult. Trust in yourselves and in your magic. Don’t allow yourselves to doubt, not even for a second. There’s nothing that kills magic more readily than doubt. Have unwavering faith. Speak your spell. Imagine the location in the academy you need to travel to, and hold it with a death grip.”

  A death grip? I could do without the additional reminder of what would happen if we failed. No pressure, right?

  “Now. Go.”

  Like, now go?

  The others started speaking, and I scrambled to the same. Don’t think. Just do it.

  I took a single deep breath and launched into my first ever spell, only to discover that I didn’t actually remember its exact words. No matter. I had to keep moving forward, whatever happened. I recited the spell as best I could, holding onto unwavering faith. I can do this. I must have magic, if not Mordecai wouldn’t have said the runes had chosen me. I have magic. I can do this.

  Then my lips were moving, and I barreled right along.

  I need to be somewhere that isn’t here.

  With my magic, I can go there.

  Open a portal to take me and my friends,

  to the Magical Arts Academy.

  I squeezed my eyes shut as hard as I could and pictured the gardens of the Acquaine estate. I saw the vibrant greens of the grass and shrubbery, the darker greens of the tree leaves, and the flowers that dotted it all in bright colors. I smelled the scent of the flowers in bloom, and felt the fresh breeze against my skin. I tilted my face upward to the warm sunshine and smiled.

  For a moment, I forg
ot that I was actually in a dank dungeon instead of the gardens. When I remembered, I struggled to hold my vision, but I managed it. I opened my eyes.

  Oh. A gush of relief escaped my lips. Thank goodness. One of the others had managed to open the portal.

  It blazed right in front of us like a miracle—like a dream that would deliver us from our nightmare. It was all bright, pulsing lights and hypnotizing swirls, inviting us inward.

  I took a step toward it, heeding Priscilla’s warning not to hesitate, but to move right to it.

  She held out a hand to stop me just as I heard Miranda’s footsteps closing in on us. In the next few seconds she’d open the door to us, and then all would be lost.

  I resumed my progress toward the portal as Marie stepped through it. She was there one moment, gone the next, vanishing before my eyes.

  Priscilla pressed a firm hand against my chest. “No, you have to go last.”

  “What? No I don’t. This isn’t me.”

  Her eyes flashed toward the door at the top of the stairs and I realized Miranda must have walked through it. Priscilla pegged me in her intent gaze again. “You’re the one holding the portal open. Remember, you go last, and you hold the image of your destination with all your might until you’re all through.”

  I saw Walt run through the portal.

  “What about you?” I asked, because dread had started to settle into me already. My instincts were telling me that Priscilla wasn’t coming with us.

  “There isn’t time. I have to hold her off. You go. Tell my brother I love him.”

  The pressure from her hand vanished as her body shrank and transformed into the body of a bat right before my eyes. Then she was off, flying toward the stairs, where Miranda was screaming at her minions to come.

  I wanted to help Priscilla, but I knew what she wanted of me—no, what she expected of me. The others were counting on me. I had no idea how I’d done it, but I had to keep doing it.

  Nando reached for my hand and stepped through the portal, pulling me along right behind him.

  My last impressions of the dank witch’s dungeon were the high-pitched squeals of a bat. Then all I could think, and all I could manage, was to extend the impressions of the sunshiny, happy garden of Acquaine.

  I struggled to feel the breeze and warmth against my skin as the world and any connection I had to the earth was yanked out from under me.

  I tumbled and spun, my insides churning, until all that was left was one, tremulous thought. The Magical Arts Academy.

  Then even that was gone.

  Questionable Rescue - Book 5

  Continue Isadora’s adventures in book 5 of the Magical Arts Academy.

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  Acknowledgments

  I’d write no matter what, because telling stories is my passion, but the following people make creating worlds (and life) a joy. I’m eternally grateful for the support of my beloved, James, my mother, Elsa, and my three daughters, Catia, Sonia, and Nadia. They’ve always believed in me, even before I published a single word. They help me see the magic in the world around me, and more importantly, within.

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  Read more by Lucía Ashta

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  About the author

  Lucía Ashta, a former attorney and architect, is an Argentinian-American author who lives in Sedona with her beloved and three daughters. She published her first story (about an unusual Cockatoo) at the age of eight, and she’s been at it ever since.

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  Lucía on the web:

  LuciaAshta.com

  [email protected]