“Surprise!” I yelled as I threw a casing. It hit between the two and roared to life, crackling and sputtering acid. One of the mages jerked away and screamed, the thing in his hand falling to the ground. Whatever it was started clawing up him, freezing his leg in place as it did so.

The other mage already had a casing broken and ready, and he shot a hex toward me. I dropped like a stone, hitting the ground and rolling to the side. The spell splatted against the back wall and ballooned into a bubble before freezing solid.

So, they’d not only expected me, they were trying to capture me.

Fat chance.

I flung out a capsule filled with black powder—I didn’t just fight with magic. It hit the man and fell uselessly to the ground. He laughed like a moron and dug in his pocket. I threw two more spells, aimed at their feet.

“Women can’t do magic,” his pal said, cackling. They were both loony-tunes.

The first had another spell out. He crushed it between his fingers, a slick smile on his face. He thought he was really good at this magicking stuff, I could tell.

The house started to rumble. The walls shook.

Crap, maybe he was right.

Like a dart, green shot out from between his fingers. Unfazed, I quickly cut it out of the air and waited for what came next. The structure around me screamed. Fissure lines cut through the paint on the walls.

The two spells I’d rolled released, purposefully delayed. Flames spurted out, lashing the more active mage’s legs with heat. It ignited the black powder, which exploded. His feet flew out from under him as the house roared around us.

Heart in my throat—the power was way greater than this dopey pair should be capable of—I ran out of the hole I’d created in the wall. I had to get Callie and Dizzy to safety before I came back and figured out how to beat this surge of power. There had to be someone else pulling the magical strings.

Bricks ground into each other.

“Get clear,” Callie shouted from somewhere behind the hedge.

“You get clear,” I yelled back, running at them. “Get out of here. I’ll handle it.”

A groan sounded right before an enormous crash. The walls blew out the side of the house, and part of it flattened, like a giant hand had swatted it down.

I dove behind the hedge. Bricks flew over and rolled along the ground. I belatedly realized that a wall of magic buffered the hedge, keeping the bricks from shooting through it.

I saw two pairs of lit-up green goggles fifteen feet away—the Bankses. Like usual, they were arguing about something.

“Are you guys okay?” I asked, army-crawling to them.

“Are you okay?” they replied, speaking together.

“Yeah. Thanks for the magical wall.” I drew up next to them but didn’t rise off my belly. “Duck. Get your head down.”

“I told him you’d get clear,” Callie said.

“It was too close. We should’ve told her we were using that one,” Dizzy replied angrily.

“We didn’t even know we were going to use it; how could we have told her?” Callie said.

I peeked up over the greenery, surveying the ruined residence. That was when what they were saying sank in. Well, that and the fact that the house had been flattened right where the mages were standing.

“You guys did this?” I asked, more than a little in awe. I’d never seen anything like it, not on such a large scale.

Callie’s head came around, her state-of-the-art, badass goggles not matching the pink velvet sweats—she’d refused to change, wanting to be comfortable in the battle. “Of course. Now hurry, make sure we got everyone.” She turned back to Dizzy. “We gave them far too much warning.”

“It’s ten square feet of a house!”

“Still, we should—”

I didn’t wait around. I hopped up and ran around the non-flattened area, feeling clunky spells meant to either keep people out or warn of intruders. On the other side, I ran past a shed, waiting for something to surge out after me. Nothing happened. Further on, at the rear portion of the flattened area, I spied two legs sticking out of the rubble. He’d been at a back door, or maybe he’d been trying to get free. Either way, he hadn’t made it out.

Good news for me.

Back around the intact area, I put away my sword and snatched out my gun before kicking in a side door. I ducked in, ready to shoot. It was the master bedroom, with a messy bed and dresser. Lived in, but no one was there at present. A quick check under the bed and in the closet cemented that. I checked the bathroom next, and the room next to it. All empty.

House locked down, it was time to see if there were garden tools in that shed, or a mage fighting a demon for control of his body.

Gun in my left hand and sword in my right, I advanced slowly, feeling a pulse of magic. Filthy and violent residual magic lingered within a defensive spell, hinting at the dark deeds that had been done in the shed.

Taking a deep breath, because I had a feeling I knew what awaited me, I put my blade to the spell. I recognized the particular currents as the powerful mage’s. I had no way of knowing for sure, but I’d bet this was all him, without the help of a demon. It was far weaker, for one, and more controlled. The spell work didn’t seem as erratic as the stronger spells.

“What do you have?” Callie came around the house slowly, with her hands out like feelers. Dizzy was right beside her, studying the ground.

“Not as much power in this spell.” I finished slicing through. “You know what would be great? If you guys could design a sword that sucks in the power from the spell and stores that. Is that possible?”

Dizzy’s head snapped up. He looked at his wife.

“I have no idea,” she said.

“How is this the first time that has occurred to you?” I muttered, grabbing the rusty handle.

“Most people can’t use swords like that, remember?” Dizzy said. “But…it’s the same principle. Kind of.”

“Maybe it could work with her magic,” Callie said, looking at Dizzy.

“Here we go.” I opened the door slowly, waiting for something horrible to jump out at me. The air was still and stuffy, flavored with a sweet stench. I took a step forward, feeling the clenching of my body that meant something dead and gross was about to enter my world.

Red splatters cut repeatedly across a white chalk line, forming a circle that took up most of the floor space. Within the circle, figures and lines spelled out a complex spell I’d seen in many books. Though the characters lining the edges were different than I remembered, the idea was the same. On one side, nearest the door, there were three more characters just outside the circle. I’d always thought of that as a doorway. My mark was definitely toying with possession, and he’d done it here with a three- or four-level demon. Such a demon was, in essence, middle tier when it came to power, which meant it would give the mage a pretty hefty bump.

At the other end of the shed lay a mangled carcass crawling with maggots. Blood had once oozed from under it, but it had since congealed into a dark, syrupy mess.

“That is super gross.” After identifying the animal as a calf, I snapped a picture of the circle with my phone and stepped outside for a breath of fresh air.

“Is it safe?” Callie asked, peering into the shed.

“You have the power to flatten a house, and you’re asking me if it’s safe?” I chuckled and cleared out of the way.

“Just a small portion of a house, actually.” Dizzy stood near the door of the shed. “That spell took us a couple months of power storage. This is an entirely different situation. We can’t sense power, magic, or spells like you can. You are so much fun to explore with. If it weren’t for the danger, I’d love to glue myself by your side. You know what we should do? We should create a magical obstacle course and walk with you as you work your way through it. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?”

“Is it safe?” Callie asked again, louder.

“It’s safe, but there’s a carcass in the corner.” I vaguely pointed, trying to scrub the image from my mind. Death was one thing, but a twisted body and splintered bones covered in maggots was entirely different.

A moment later they were discussing the circle and the type of incantations used, commenting on the power and ability of the demon the mage had summoned. I’d catalogued most of that and was now thinking about Darius. Dizzy was certain he would turn up at their house looking for me. Dizzy had left a magical note in Latin, something he said Darius would be able to decode, telling him where we’d gone.