Midnight Truth (Shifter Island #4) - Leia Stone Page 0,72

took several deep breaths. There were no hot spring pools or crystals here to help me, but I’d managed to spirit walk without either in the past. Not to mention I was now a full-fledged freaking high mage of spirit. I could feel the power just under my skin, like a live wire, waiting to be called on.

And thanks to Gramps, I had the bag of soul stones in my pocket, so those were safe.

Thinking of my spirit test and how I’d gone into the school library and spied on the high mages, I smiled. I just needed two things: first, to relax enough to spirit walk, and second, to know where to find the blood mage queen.

With its inaccessible location, I figured High Mage Island would be the likeliest place for the blood mages’ base camp versus Alpha Island. Plus, Kian already had a castle there, and he was clearly in with them. As I inhaled, I visualized all the castles I’d seen when I did my initiation tests…

I could almost hear Grandpa’s voice telling me that when you can raise the dead, they give you the nicest castle.

On my next exhale, I let my spirit slip from my body. I opened my eyes to find that I was now in my grandfather’s study—the room where he’d rummaged through his desk, looking for a crystal to help me get to the spirit realm. The room that’d been Honor’s bachelor pad. The room that was now spotlessly clean and organized, all the way down to the bins clearly marked as spirit crystals.

Crap.

Talk about top priority. The blood mages attacked only a few hours ago, and their first order of business was to organize Gramps’ office? What would Blood mages want with spirit crystals? Could they use them? Or was it Kian who wanted them?

My mind spun.

Too bad I didn’t have Gramps or anyone to ask … I nearly facepalmed myself—again!

“Zia?” I whispered in my ghostly form, wishing she’d appear. Hadn’t Gramps said that one of the perks of being the high mage of spirit was that our ancestors could travel back to the realms of the living and help us? Especially considering I was carrying their soul stones on my person right now.

A blur of movement flashed to my right, and I grinned. Dressed in a retro 1950s dress with fishnet stockings stood Zia.

Wow.

She faced me, her eyes wide and her lips in an O.

“What happened?” she asked in a whisper. “Did you clean up Geoff’s office?”

I shook my head. “Blood mages did … I think. Geoff’s … with my mom now in the Realm of the Dead.”

She nodded. “I can sense the spirit master magic in you. When did he pass?”

“A few hours ago.”

I told her everything, and she listened as her facial expressions ranged from anger to sadness.

“You need to call the rest of your ancestors,” she said. “If the blood mages have spirit crystals, there’s a fairly good chance they’ll see your spirit form. At least, if there are six of us, we can serve as a distraction.”

My blood ran cold at that. I didn’t even have blood in this form, so that was saying a lot.

“Can they harm us?” I asked.

Zia shook her head, but her answer was hardly reassuring. “Probably not.”

“Probably not?” I countered. “What does that mean?”

Her contemplative expression morphed into a grimace. “It will depend on what spirit crystals they have and whether or not they know how to use them.”

Fan-freakin’-tastic.

A few minutes later, the rest of my ancestor-guides were with me—spirit me—and I stared at Raiden with a sense of dread.

“You want me to make spirit illusions?” I asked him after picking my jaw up off the floor. “Of all of us?”

“Yes,” he said, drawing out his one syllable until it felt like an entire speech.

“The more the better,” Than added. “We want lots of confusion. You’re the high mage of spirit now, so it’s well within your power.”

Yeah … I was sure a lot of things were within my power, but that didn’t mean I knew how to do them!

I shook my head. “I understand the need for a distraction, but there’s no way I’ll be able to concentrate on anything if I’m trying to manage a billion illusions.”

“She’s right,” Zia said. “But don’t bother making illusions of all of us. Just make a bunch of Than.” She pointed at him and shook her head. “He’s dressed like a ninja again, and for once, it looks like it’s to our benefit.