Anya Bast - Witch Heart

"Over the last year, ever since Thomas was in Eudae and we were trying so hard to get him back, I've been amassing texts. Lots of them are ancient, books of legend and myth that the world thinks are just legend and myth. Many obscure religious texts. Among the books I've been procuring, there's one called the Dai Codex. In it, I found references to elium. What it is. How it works."

"How to get it out of me?" Metallic desperation coated the back of her tongue at the question.

He didn't answer for a moment. "I'm still working on that one, Claire."

She closed her eyes in defeat.

"But we do know more about elium, so we're getting closer."

She opened her eyes. "It's a weapon. I know that much. Adam reached in and sort of… tasted it and it's made of elemental Eudae."

"Demon magick."

"Yes."

"It is a weapon. Claire, you're carrying a magickal weapon big enough to destroy all the magick on Earth and probably Eudae, too, if it's used toward that end. It can kill, as well, render death to thousands if employed with that aim."

She touched the bone between her breasts — over the seat of her magick — with shaking fingertips. On some level, she'd already known that. The heaviness of it weighed her down inside. Death. Destruction. All hiding within her. Resonating like a tuning fork to the energies of the Atrika.

Like to like.

"It's the equivalent of a super-charged EMP blast," he continued. "Only in this case it would render all elemental magick hit by it null. It would also affect all the elements within the strike radius in a negative way — earth, air, water, and fire. The world would be plunged into utter chaos if the elium was ever fully deployed."

"You make it sound like I'm carrying a nuclear bomb."

"You are. Essentially for witches and daaeman, you are carrying a nuclear bomb. I expect that the Ytrayi probably used the elium as a threat against the Atrika. Rue probably carried it himself. But Rue probably also understood that while the Ytrayi wouldn't use the elium as anything other than a way to press the Atrika into certain behavior, the Atrika wouldn't hesitate to deploy it in order to wrest control of Eudae from their enemies."

"So when they broke into the palace, he panicked and passed it to me."

There was a long pause that made Claire's stomach tighten.

"A normal witch — a normal aeamon —wouldn't be able to carry the elium, Claire. I wonder how much of his tweaking of your magick over the years was in preparation for just such an event." He drew a long, slow breath. "I also wonder if he imbued you knowing that no one, not even the Atrika, would be able to extract it."

Her hand tightened on the phone. Had Rue done that? Had he planned since the day he'd made her handmaiden at the tender age of eight to give her the elium in the case of an Atrika uprising? Had he allowed her to sleep next to him all those years with such cold-hearted intentions?

"You said you're still working on finding out if you can get it out of me." Her voice was barely a whisper.

"I am. Claire, lam. Everything I just said, it's a theory. Not proven. I just don't feel like I can keep you in the dark about the possibilities in play."

"I appreciate that."

"I am doing all I can to discover a way to take the elium out of you. Until we make progress on that front, you might be able to use the elium against the Atrika."

She shook her head, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Every time I touch it, it makes me sick."

"Let Adam help you."

She frowned. "What?"

"You said he tasted the elium. That's one of his special skills. We all have them, nuances in our magick. One of Adam's is being able to touch other people's power, make small adjustments, and do healings. If you work with him, he might be able to help you acclimate your magick to the elium and get past the sickness. Once you do that, I have no doubt that with your strength, you'll be able to tap and use it."

"Okay, say Adam helps me past the sickness and I can pull threads of the elium, what if I pull too much? What if I nuke the world?"

Pause. Then, he said, "Yeah, don't do that."

She laughed. She couldn't help it. It was the stress, maybe. It bubbled out of her irrationally until tears streamed down her face. It probably didn't do a lot to reinforce Micah's faith in her.

"Look, Claire, I don't know you. However, judging by how I'm told Rue shaped your power over the years, I'm betting you have both the control and the ability to do fine work with the elium. You're probably the only witch on earth who does."

She sobered. "We'd better hope so."

"Yes, because the elium may be the only real weapon you have against the demons hunting you. Also, you should start now. No time to lose."

Nothing like putting a countdown clock on trying to control an alien power that could destroy the world.

Claire drew a steadying breath. "Thank you for calling, Micah."

"It was my pleasure to talk to you, Claire. We'll meet soon at the Coven, I'm sure of it."

Claire wished she could be as certain.

Adam sat cross-legged on the bed facing Claire, her palms resting lightly on his. She closed her eyes and opened herself to him, allowing him to thread a bit of his power through her.

Beyond the room, Theo kept watch. The Atrika could show up at any time, but Adam tried hard not put any additional pressure on Claire to perform. She needed to be relaxed to accomplish this.

When Adam had touched the elium at the house in Crocus Hill, he'd noticed that it was wildly off balance with her normal power. He couldn't do more than brush the elium, but he might be able to regulate Claire's natural magick into alignment with it. That might take away the cause of her sickness and allow her to work with the demon magick.

Theoretically, anyway.

"Okay, Claire, I'm going in."

Her body stiffened and her hands jerked on his almost imperceptibly.

He stroked his thumb across her palm and endeavored to make his voice soothing. "Hey, baby, it's all right. Just take it easy."

She drew a breath and relaxed a little.

"There you go. Now close your eyes and let me in."

Her eyes drifted shut and he drew a tendril of power from the center of his chest. It was easier to find a way into her this time than it had been before. Somehow, someway, she was more open to him now.

Adam found the seat of her magick and was surprised — for the second time — at its strength and vitality. Claire had been a powerful earth witch before Rue had tinkered with her. Now she was the bionic woman of magick. He found the core of that strength and enveloped it with his own power, steadying it.

She tapped the elium, very lightly. The tap resonated outward like a tuning fork, vibrating against his power through the tendrils the elium had wrapped around Claire's seat. He held on tight to her power and felt her magick cringe at the resonating vibration of the elium down the length of those tendrils.

The level of her magick was so out of balance with the elium that it made it back away, sensing a threat within her. That was his theory, anyway.

Using his fire magick, he nudged her seat, forcing her power to swell and defend itself. It worked. His natural healing instincts coming to the fore, every time Claire touched the elium, he adjusted her power using various tricky methods.

Her hands tightened on his. Adam opened his eyes and saw that she was grimacing. "Claire?"

"You're helping, Adam. You are. Normally, I would be passed out by now. But—" She drew a shaky breath. Her face was pale and her forehead glinted with a fine sheen of perspiration.

Panic rose in his throat. "Stop, Claire. Release any hold you have on the elium right now."