The beast’s eyes glowed, fierce and red.

I crouched lower in the bushes, peering through the leaves and praying it couldn’t sense me. The creature was made of magic, not flesh and blood, so I actually had no freaking clue what it could sense. But better safe than sorry.

And hey, maybe it was like a T-Rex. If I didn’t move, I’d be okay.

“How’s it going?” Ana’s voice whispered out of the comms charm around my neck that the Protectorate had given me for this test.

“Not a great time, Ana.”

“Well, you’ve only got fourteen minutes left, so pick up the pace. The flag should be just beyond the portals.”

She was right. If I didn’t get that flag, I failed. I’d been training at the Undercover Protectorate Academy for two weeks, and I was determined not to blow my first real test. All I had to do was make it through the enchanted forest and retrieve the scrap of red cloth.

No big deal.

Except magical monsters kept jumping out at me, forcing me to use my shaky magical power.

I drew in a steady breath and called upon my gift. I was no longer using an amulet to help control my sonic boom—so this was all me. The magic thrashed around inside of me as I tried to get a grip on it.

The beast roared, great jaws opening wide to reveal gleaming white fangs. Its body was made of black smoke that smelled of sulphur and death.

I gagged.

A monster from hell.

It charged, massive claws digging up the dirt as it pounded toward me. I leapt up from behind the bush and hurled my magic, the sonic boom exploding out of me.

But the boom veered right, missing the monster entirely and blowing up a Scots pine.

Shit!

The monster was so close I could see the flickering fire in its eyes. I jumped, grabbed onto the tree branch above me, and scrambled onto the limb. Rough bark scraped at my leather pants. The creature leapt, jaws snapping right beneath my perch. I climbed onto the next branch, panting.

I clung to the tree, sweat forming on my skin. Below me, the four-legged smoke monster lunged, growling and snapping, its breath so bad that my eyes watered.

I had less than fourteen minutes to snag that flag and prove I wasn’t the disaster student some people believed I was.

And I was hiding in a tree.

Right—this wasn’t my greatest moment.

The Academy that trained initiates to join the Undercover Protectorate had turned out to be tougher than I’d thought. With my volatile magic, I spent most of my time training on my own, unable to join the main class.

To say that gave a girl a bit of a complex was an understatement.

Until I could get a handle on my magic, I was as likely to blow up my classmates as I was to complete whatever task I’d been assigned. I had a new power over water, but that couldn’t help me if there was no water around.

This challenge would allow me to advance to the next level, but that wasn’t looking good.

“What’s my time?” I asked Ana.

This exercise was meant to simulate a real-life op in which I had a guide on the outside. The Protectorate solved crimes and protected the vulnerable, so this was a common scenario.

“Twelve minutes, forty-five seconds,” Ana said. “You’ve got to kill that smoke monster, then get past the last challenge.”

Shit. This was going to be tight.

I called upon my sonic boom, dredging up the last of my magic. I hurled it at the beast. It collided with its smoky hide, but the blast was so weak the monster just snarled and growled louder.

Great. Just fabulous.

I was supposed to complete the test using my magic, but I clearly wasn’t going to manage it within the time.

And I couldn’t fail. Couldn’t quit. My magic might be crap, but I had other skills.

Better to break the rules and finish the job than to quit.

“You’re an ugly son of a witch, you know that?” I asked.

The creature just growled, a sound like metal gears grinding together. Its fangs glinted, making me shiver.

I drew my sword from the ether and prayed, “Please work.”

I leapt from the tree, my sword pointing downward. It stabbed into the smoke monster, sending a tingle of electric energy up my arms. Then the creature exploded in a blast of magic that smelled of dust and pine. It blew me onto my back.

The breath oofed out of me. Pain flared.

Aching, I scrambled to my feet.

Yeah. That would have been easier with magic.

Something sparkly caught my eye. I looked down at my shirt.

Silver glitter coated my front.

Damn it!

Evidence that I hadn’t used magic to take out the challenge. Evidence that I might not be cut out for this at all—not the way things were going lately, anyway. The little demon of doubt clawed at my mind.

Even if I managed to retrieve the flag, this was going to be a walk of shame.

“Almost there?” Ana asked.

“Yep!” I spun, memory of the forest directing me toward the middle, where the portals were located.

I’d done several tests here over the last couple weeks—enough that I’d learned the lay of the land within this enchanted glen. Fairy lights floated amongst the gnarled old trees, lighting my way toward the portals in the center. Magic of a hundred varieties sparked on the air. This place was full of supernatural beasts—some who would help you, some who would hurt you.

I sure as heck knew which ones I liked best.

I sprinted through the forest, avoiding the roots that would trip me up.

“Seven minutes!” Ana said. “Get that flag now, because it’ll take six minutes to get back to the checkpoint.”

Shit, shit, shit.

I sprinted harder, finally catching sight of the clearing with the three portals. A flash of red caught my eye. I looked up. The flag hung high in a tree.

I could do this.

I raced into the clearing, eyes on the prize.

But something else caught my gaze.

The abandoned portal glowed with a sickly, dark light. This clearing in the forest housed three portals—one to Edinburgh, one to Magic’s Bend, and a final one to the Fae realm. According to Cade—the irresistibly sexy Celtic war god whom I hadn’t seen in weeks—the portal to the Fae realm had been shut hundreds of years ago.

But it looked different now. No longer the dull gray of a closed portal.

Instead, black light spread out from the portal, creeping across the ground like veins of inky oil.

I stumbled to a halt, my senses hit by the dark magic that flowed from the portal. It stank of rotten eggs and felt like spiders crawling on my skin.

I shuddered

This was wrong.

Even the scary smoke monster hadn’t had dark magic that felt like this. It’d looked evil, but it’d been created by the Protectorate trainers, so the magic hadn’t actually been dark.

But this magic was evil.

And it was within the walls of the castle, in the heart of the Protectorate.

Hesitant, I stepped closer, reaching with my senses to feel it out.

What the hell was happening?

The normally gray surface of the portal now gleamed like black oil. I was only twenty feet from it, and the stench was enough to make my eyes water.

My breath grew shallow as I studied it, my heart pounding.

Something pressed out of the oily surface, like a figure stretching out a sheet of black latex. It reached for me, hissing.

My heart leapt into my throat, and I stumbled backward.

Holy fates!

“Breeee Blackwood.” The sibilant tones snaked through me, chilling my skin. “Come to meeee.”

“What are you?” My voice shook. I stiffened, raising my sword.

“Coooome.” It disappeared, sinking back into the portal, which still gleamed shiny and black.

Holy fates.

My breath heaved as I inspected the portal, careful to keep my distance.

What the hell was happening? The Undercover Protectorate was supposed to be safe. This was not safe.

“Bree? Where are you?” Ana’s voice made me jump.

“Here.” My voice wasn’t as strong as it should be. I’d faced down monsters for ten years, fearlessly fighting my way across Death Valley. I’d seen the worst of the worst.

Or so I’d thought.

Because this? This scared me. The magic felt dark and evil. Like a nightmare that bound you in iron shackles and wouldn’t let go.

“You better be headed back,” Ana said. “Time’s almost up.”

“Right.” I shook my head, completely ignored the flag, and gave the portal one last, hard look. It was still shiny and black, and the inky veins crept out from it, snaking across the ground. They extended out about five feet across the forest floor.

Oh man, this is bad.

I turned and ran, sprinting through the forest, a vision of the portal blaring in my mind. My lungs burned as I jumped over roots and dodged around trees. By the time the trees thinned at the edge of the forest, my heart felt like it would explode.

I stumbled onto the main lawn of the compound. In the center, a castle rose tall, a sprawling stone structure that looked like it was straight out of a crazy fairy tale. I had to get there, had to warn someone. Warn Cade.

He was the first person who popped to mind, even though I hadn’t seen him since our disastrous kiss a couple weeks ago. As usual, I’d made a move I shouldn’t have.

But he wasn’t here. Jude was the closest.

Loud cheers drew my eyes away from the castle.

Ana stood with Caro, the platinum-haired water sprite-demon hybrid who was our closest friend here. Next to them stood our other friends, Ali and Haris, the Djinns. Their dark hair gleamed in the summer sunlight. They’d all come to cheer me on in my last test. Now, they clapped and hollered.

I’d made it within the time limit.

I wished I had a red flag to give them instead of the news from the forest.

Jude, the head of the Paranormal Investigative Team and the one in charge of this test, looked up from her stopwatch, her star-blue eyes sparkling against her dark skin. They swept over me.

She frowned, no doubt realizing that I didn’t carry the flag.

I jogged toward them, my mind racing.

“What’s wrong?” Ana demanded. Her green eyes sharpened, glinting with worry. “Something’s wrong.”

She knew me so well.

“There’s something wrong with the forest.” I leaned over, panting from my run.

“Wrong? What’s wrong?” Jude’s voice was razor-edged. Alert.

I liked that she immediately took me seriously.

I caught my breath and straightened. “The portal to the Fae realm—the closed one? There’s something wrong with it. It looks like an oil slick. And something tried to come out of it, but couldn’t manage.”

“Oil slick?” Caro asked.

“Never seen that before.” Ali scrubbed a hand over his face, brow wrinkling with worry.

“Come.” Jude snapped into work mode. “We’ll have a debriefing. I want Hedy to hear this.”

She took off toward the castle, her stride long and quick. She pulled a phone from her pocket, no doubt to call Hedy. I glanced at my friends, whose creased brows and worried eyes mirrored my own feelings.

None of them looked like they had any idea, but hopefully Hedy might. She was in charge of Research and Development here at the Undercover Protectorate. In my two short weeks here, I’d gotten to know everyone a bit better, and I really liked the clever witch.

I liked everything about this place, actually. Friends, a castle, security, and safety. There was even a cool pub called the Whisky and Warlock where we’d go to celebrate the end of a test.

Instead, we had something really freaking creepy to deal with.

“So, you have no idea what you saw?” Ana asked as we strode across the wide, green lawn toward the enormous castle.

“Not a clue, but it was scary as hell.”

“Nothing should be able to get in here without our permission,” Caro said. “Yet the thing almost succeeded?”

“Yeah.” They’d increased security on the walls ever since the break-in two weeks ago. The intruder who’d been hunting Ana and me had made it in because he’d convinced a Protectorate employee to let him past the walls, but that couldn’t happen anymore with the new and improved spells.

Except something was going on.

“Hopefully it’s just a malfunction,” Haris said.

“Hopefully.” But I seriously doubted it.

We reached the castle courtyard, and the large wooden doors swung open to permit us entrance.

The massive entry hall was pure chaos. The Pugs of Destruction rampaged in a wide circle, their ghostly forms bowling over two trainees carrying tall piles of books. Glittering lights floated near the ceiling as if tiny fairies had infested the castle.

“Enough!” Jude roared.

The pugs stopped, turning their black eyes toward Jude, then darted off down the hall to the left. The fairy lights stilled, then disappeared up into the stone ceiling.

“A nuisance, they are,” Jude muttered as she led us up the huge sweeping staircase and down the wide hall toward her office.

The five of us were silent as we followed her into the large room. The whole place was covered in maps. Not an inch of wall showed. Even the ceiling was painted with one massive mural of the world. It smelled of old paper and spices, something Jude had said preserved the paper of her precious maps.

“You can sit,” Jude said.

A huge desk sat on one side of the office with a large table on the other side. Jude went to a shelf full of rolled-up maps while the rest of us found seats at the table. Hedy breezed through the door, her long blue dress fluttering behind her as her silver and lavender hair glinted in the light. She looked like a mythical version of a fairy witch.

“What’s this about a problem in the forest?” she asked.

“Bree saw something.” Jude approached and rolled a map out on the table. It was sparse, with little detail. Just squiggly lines that indicated a sea and a forest and possibly some buildings, but nothing was recognizable.

Jude pinned me with her gaze. “Tell us what you saw.”

I looked up from the map, meeting the curious gazes of my friends and colleagues. “A black oily substance covered the portal.” I explained everything I’d seen, down to the feeling of the dark magic and the creature that had tried to come out of it. “And it told me to come to it. It called to me.”

“Called to you?” Jude frowned.

“Yeah.” I swallowed hard. “By name.”

Hedy leaned back in her chair, face creased. “That’s unheard of. No one has used that portal in centuries, ever since the Fae closed it.”

Ana leaned forward. “Why did they close it?”

“We have no idea,” Jude said. “Our portals are always locked so that only Protectorate members may use them. But for centuries, we had access to the Fae land. We could enter, and a guide would escort us. But then one day, we couldn’t get through the portal. They closed it.”

“But we have no idea why,” Hedy said. “The records are sparse, but we don’t think anyone ever knew.”

Jude pointed to the map. “There’s a whole realm beyond that portal, though it’s not well mapped. The Fae never let us wander unattended. Too dangerous, they said.”

“Do you know why they closed the portal?” I asked.

“No,” Jude said. “The records are sparse, but we don’t think anyone ever knew.”

“Why didn’t you investigate?” Ana asked. “Could you not open the portal?”

“There is magic that could force it open,” Hedy said. “A key. Though we don’t possess that.”

“It wouldn’t matter if we did have it,” Jude said. “We signed a treaty with the Fae. That portal was invitation only. Once it closed, they rescinded the invitation. To force it open would invite war.”

“So if we need to go in and investigate, it could be a problem,” I said.

“If it comes to that, yes,” Jude said. “But if that portal is a true threat, we may need to go in anyway.”

Hedy stood. “But I’d like to go check the magic for myself. This can’t be good. Depending upon what we find, we’ll alert the other heads of the department and decide what to do.”

I nodded, liking that plan, and stood to join her.

There was no single boss of the Undercover Protectorate, as I’d learned. Caro had given Ana and me a complete rundown of operations. Arach, the dragon spirit, was the closest thing to one, but she only showed up in case of emergency. Instead, the five leaders of the different divisions made decisions as a group.

“I don’t like this,” Caro muttered, her sea-colored eyes dark with worry.

She wasn’t the only one. The stress of the other Protectorate members hung heavy in the air. This kind of thing was clearly unusual. Their stronghold was never breached…and this was the second attempt in two weeks.

* * *

It didn’t take us long to return to the forest. Ana, Caro, Ali, Haris, and I hurried along behind Jude and Hedy. The silence was tense, with even the forest animals keeping quiet. We’d had to make a stop at Hedy’s workshop to gather some of her tools, and by the time we were back in the forest, my nerves were frayed.

Would the creepy figure try to come out of the portal again? To speak to me?

“It really talked to you?” Ana whispered.

“Yeah.” And fates, I hoped it talked to someone else next time.

As we followed the path between the gnarled old trees, the fairy lights seemed to sparkle brighter, darting around.

“Fairy lights are anxious,” Caro said.

“Something feels very wrong,” Haris murmured. He rubbed his sweatshirt-clad arms and looked around nervously.

“Seconded,” Ali said.

I’d never seen the guys go anywhere without tossing a ball between them or kicking their hacky sack as they walked. But now, they were as alert as if we were going into battle. Bodies tense and magic thrumming on the air. Their forms flickered in and out of existence, as if they were holding their invisibility close, ready to deploy it.

Seeing the powerful Djinn nervous ratcheted up my own sense of doom.

“We’re nearly there,” Jude said.

The rotten egg stink was starting to hit me, making my eyes water. “You guys smell that?”

They all sniffed, their noses wrinkling.

“A light smell of something off?” Hedy asked from up ahead on the path.

“A light smell?” I shook my head. “No way. Really strong, like rotten eggs.”

“It may be getting stronger,” Jude said.

She didn’t sound convinced. They didn’t smell it as strongly as I did.

I hurried along the path, closing the gap between me and Jude and Hedy, who led the group. We were near the clearing, close enough that I could see the black gleam of the polluted portal.

I pointed. “There, see?”

Were the black veins of dark magic even farther out now? Spreading?

We approached, stopping about twenty feet away. The portal gleamed an oily black, but the creature wasn’t there.

“It looks darker,” Hedy said. “The gray is nearly black?”

“Nearly?” I looked at her, shocked. “It’s black as an oil spill. And the smell.”

I nearly gagged just standing here.

“It’s stronger now, yes.” Jude’s nose wrinkled. “It could be dark magic. It’s quite rank.”

“It’s definitely dark.” I turned to Ana. “You see it, right?”

A doubtful expression wrinkled her brow. “I see what they see. Dark gray. And a bit of a smell. But nothing like what you describe.”

I looked at the others, confusion clouding my mind. Caro looked like she wanted to see it, but she didn’t. Neither did Ali and Haris.

“We’re not saying you’re wrong,” Caro said. “Just that you may be capable of seeing something we’re not.”

Ah, hell. If my newly developing powers involved seeing horrible dark magic that talked to me like a creepy stalker, that was not good.

“I’m going to test it,” Hedy said. “We take all threats seriously, especially since the break-in two weeks ago.”

“Is the creature here now? The one that spoke to you?” Jude’s hand hovered near the long dagger at her waist. She might not see it, but she did believe me. Thank fates.

“No. It only appeared briefly, then disappeared.”

Jude turned to Hedy, who was digging around in the big bag she’d brought along. “How long will this take you?”

“An hour or two.” She pulled out her long wand. “The magic is faint. It’ll take a while to identify what is happening.”

Jude nodded. “You do that. When you’re done, we’ll convene the council.” Jude looked at me and Ana. “And don’t the two of you have training to be at?”

My mouth dropped open. “What about this?”

“Hedy has it under control. But you are still trainees. And today is the day that tutors are assigned.” Her gaze dropped to my shirt, which I only now realized was covered in glitter. “And you, Bree, clearly need your tutor.”

My cheeks burned at the same time a groan of frustration nearly escaped me. I choked it back.

When Ana and I had signed up for this gig, Caro had warned us that training would be a bitch.

And boy, had she been right.

I’d spent all morning fighting monsters in the forest, but that still left time for training in the afternoon. With a tutor.

Which I was so not going to like.

I was starting to think maybe I wasn’t made of the right stuff, after all. I was a badass out in the desert, but those conditions were perfect for me. This place made me question myself in ways I never had.

“We’ve brought in a specialist to help you with your specific powers,” Jude said, “since it’s the sonic boom that is giving you the most trouble, Bree. And Ana, there will be one for your power as well.”

She was right. My sonic boom—the magic I’d relied on for so long—was going totally haywire. A couple weeks ago, I’d developed a power over water that was much easier to control. Why I was having trouble with the sonic boom was anyone’s guess. But I needed to learn to control it if I was going to find a place here.

I nodded. “Will you tell me what you find here?”

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of Jude’s lips. “When you’re done training.” Her gaze fell on the rest of them. “Don’t you all have something to be doing? Cases to solve?”

Caro, Ali, and Haris all jumped, then turned and hightailed it through the woods.

Ana and I followed them, sticking close together on the forest path. She was training just as hard as I was, but her goal was to expand her protective shield magic and to learn long-range weapons.

We were settling in pretty nicely at the Protectorate, even though it was totally different than our old life back in Death Valley Junction. Our days were full of training and our nights full of hanging out with Caro, Ali, and Haris—sometimes at the Whisky and Warlock in Edinburgh and other nights in our apartments.

So far, we liked it. A lot.

But if we didn’t pass our tests—which were more of the fighting variety than the #2 pencil variety—we wouldn’t get to join. So we worked our butts off.

I hadn’t seen Cade, which was both a blessing and a curse, but all in all, everything had been going pretty smooth until now.

“Are you doing all right?” Ana asked.

“Yeah. Freaked out, but I’ll be fine.” I glanced at her. “You really didn’t see the black oil slick over the portal?”

“No. Just that it looked a little different.”

Damn. Worry nagged me as we walked in silence across the lawn.

We approached the main door of the castle, which loomed overhead, towers reaching for the sky. Mullioned windows glittered in the sunlight, and statues of gargoyles peered down at us. The massive wooden doors swung open, and we entered, hesitating once we reached the middle of the foyer.

“I think we’re supposed to meet in the training room on the second level,” Ana said. “Do you know who your new trainer is?”

“No. Schedule didn’t say.” At the beginning of each week, we received a list of training and tests we’d have to pass. This one had included a meeting on the second floor where we each hooked up with a trainer.

“Do you think they’ll be able to help with your sonic boom?” Her gaze dropped to my shirt, where the glitter of shame still sparkled.

“I sure hope so.” Because my magic was just as bonkers as ever, despite all the work I’d done here to improve. I could manipulate water when it was nearby, but controlling my sonic boom was nearly impossible. I lowered my voice so only she could hear. “If our magic is supposed to be from dragons, as Arach and our mother said, shouldn’t I have more control? Be better than this?”

A sad expression crossed Ana’s face, and she shrugged. “I have no idea.” She looked at her hands, as if inspecting them for the magic she usually threw out. “I sure as heck don’t feel like I have the magic of dragons. All I can do is create a protective shield.”

I squeezed her shoulder. Ana loathed the fact she had defensive magic in an offensive world. “At least you have control of it.”

“For now. But I’ll go through my change, too. And then I’ll be in your spot.”

“We’ll get through it. Together.” My gaze caught on a man who walked into the foyer behind Ana. He carried a massive stack of books. An idea flared. I met Ana’s gaze. “There’s got to be an enormous library here. What do you say we check it out after training? See if we can figure out anything about our magic.”

She grinned. “I like how you think.”

“We’re here, aren’t we? They’ve got more resources that we could never imagine. Let’s use them.”

She held up her fist for a bump. I bopped it with my own and grinned.

“Great idea, nerd,” she said.

“Love you, double-nerd. Now, let’s go.” I saluted, then turned and took the left sweeping staircase and ran up two at a time, Ana at my side.

We raced by an older man who tutted at us.

“Sorry,” I muttered, then turned left, making my way down the wide stone corridor.

Once again, I was struck by the history and grandeur of the place. A few people passed me, but only two shot me suspicious looks. Not bad. Two was an improvement.

We found the second story training room and stopped at the door. I glanced at Ana and winked, then pushed it open to reveal a large room with a vaulted ceiling and large windows at the end.

Three other trainees—two guys and one girl, turned to look at us—suspicion in their gazes. They’d entered the Academy shortly before us—it was a bit like a magical version of that FBI academy. But we hadn’t mixed with them much, given that my weird powers kept me away from most of the class.

“Hey, Ana,” the girl said, looking through me.

I scowled. Not like I was going to throw my sonic boom at her and blow her up.

“Hey, Lacey,” Ana said.

My gaze caught on a group of five figures at the far end of the room, silhouetted against the bright glass. They stood in a circle speaking, but one stood out from the others.

He looked familiar—at least his size. Then his power hit me. The scent of a storm at sea, the sound of clashing swords and the taste of fresh apples.

My stomach dropped as heat curled low inside me. My skin prickled with awareness, and a light sense of panic suffused my mind.

The five figures disbanded and approached. As they neared, I got a feel for each of their signatures, but it was Cade’s who stood out to me.

Cade. The sexy Celtic war god.