"Obviously a byproduct of my teaching." He shivered. "Whew! What an adrenalin rush." Shelton flicked his staff back to compact form and slid it into a holster on his side.

"Those men have some serious battle mage training," Adam said. "Did you notice all the high-level Arcane attack forms they used?"

"I'd have to be blind to miss them," Shelton said, again wiping away sweat from his forehead. "I took battle mage training, but some of the forms they used were above my level of control."

"Forms?" I asked Shelton as the sky car bumped down atop the landing zone.

We stepped outside into the cool air and headed down the path toward Greek Row and the mansion.

"That's what we call them in battle mage training," Shelton said as we walked. "Just like kung-fu masters use forms."

"Like the crane kick?" I asked demonstrating by standing on one leg and then kicking with the other.

He rolled his eyes. "If you can pull off magic like you did today, maybe I'll show you a few forms."

"Shelton, he pulled off an arc with his bare hand," Adam said with wonder in his voice. "I can list on one hand the Arcanes I've seen do that."

"Angel magic," Shelton said again, as if he knew all about it. "They can use their hands as a focus."

"My hand would be a bloody stump if I tried that," Adam said. "Human flesh just isn't made to handle that kind of energy.

"Tell me about it," Shelton said.

"I have a stupid question," I said.

Shelton snorted. "Never heard one of those from you before."

I gave him a sideways glance. "Why does a staff make for a more powerful focus than a wand?"

"He hasn't learned that yet?" Adam said. "I thought you were teaching him."

"I kind of explained it," Shelton said, flicking away Adam's comment with the back of his hand. "Anyway, it has to do with complicated stuff you haven't learned, like runes and enchantments and design elements. It's tough fitting amplifiers on wands, and if you use arcane generators like I do, you can't fit them in wands without a lot of effort." He pulled out his staff, flicked it out to full length, and ran his finger along the designs, some of them Cyrinthian symbols, others odd designs I hadn't seen. "When you make your staff, you can enchant it all sorts of different ways. Some designs give you finer control, others are meant for raw power."

"That's why some of us have more than one staff," Adam said.

"And wands?" I asked.

"Wands are generally geared toward fine control," Shelton said.

"Are they always wood?"

He shrugged. "I've seen other materials, but wood won't heat up like branding iron while you're channeling through it like metal will."

"And stone is fragile," Adam added.

"What about diamond fiber?" I asked. "That stuff seems indestructible."

Shelton shook his head. "It won't conduct magic since it's made to resist magic."

When we arrived at the mansion, Elyssa, Bella, and Stacey sat huddled at the table, engaged in what looked like a super-serious discussion. Elyssa looked up at me, smiled. Her eyes widened as she saw the state of my clothes. In an instant, she stood in front of me, hands pulling away the charred shirt to inspect my wounds.

"Oh my god!" She ripped the shirt down the middle and gasped. Her eyes went to Shelton. "What happened?" she said, tone low and dangerous.

Shelton backed off, holding up his hands. "Darkwater didn't like us poking around in their business."

Bella already stood next to him, looking at his duster. "Did you call them names?"

"No," I said, responding before Shelton could. "They attacked for no reason."

Elyssa's lips curled back in a snarl. "Let's see how they like having the Templars all over their case."

"You know Arcane politics won't allow the Templars to do anything," Shelton said. "Especially since these people are working for the Conroys."

"Nobody has the right to attempt murder," Elyssa said in a low growl.

Shelton's eyes widened at her ferocity. "Look, we're fine. Justin here nearly charbroiled the bastards." He told them about my feat.

"Your angel side is emerging," Bella said, wonder in her eyes. "This is good. This is very good." She looked at me like a proud mother.

"Where's Meghan?" Adam asked.

"In town for supplies," Bella said.

"How very vexing," Stacey said, standing with a hand on her curved hip. "I would enjoy teaching those Arcanes some manners." She growled like a cat, an accurate description, given she was a felycan and could turn into various feline forms.

"We need to treat these wounds," Elyssa said, eyes softening as she inspected each cut and burn.

The next thing I knew, three women were doting over me while the other two men stood idly by in the den. Elyssa pulled out a chair and grabbed wet cloths to wash my wounds while Bella applied one of Meghan's healing salves. Stacey cooed, seeming to enjoy the exercise.

Within minutes, I was bandaged up and feeling much better, especially since the salves assisted my supernatural healing. I made a mental note to avoid magical damage in the future, if at all possible.

Fat chance of that.

"We're devising a plan to raid the Darkwater facilities," Stacey said. "Ah, it reminds me of the fun Bella and I used to have."

"What do you want us to do?" I asked, indicating myself and the other guys.

"This is our mission," Elyssa said. "No boys allowed."

"It will be quick and covert," Stacey added with a smug grin. "Not loud and messy like you lot."

"Not our fault," Shelton said, enjoying some attention from Bella as she looked at his bruises.

"You're still going to need some hacking tools to break into their systems," Adam said. "Just so happens I can help with that." He glanced at me. "I'll need all the specifics you're looking for."

"Information about the arch control rooms and the Alabaster Arch is important," I said. "But the most important thing is finding out where my Mom is being held."

"You think Darkwater has access to that information?" Adam said.

"It's a long shot, but if the Conroys own them, it makes sense they'd use them for containing powerful people."

"They're most likely keeping her close," Elyssa said.

Meaning Mom and Ivy were probably both in the last place any sane person would want to invade. "Yeah. At the Conroy residence."

Chapter 10

"What?" Shelton said, eyes wide. "You want to charge into the lion's den? We don't have the power to fight Jeremiah Conroy, much less your sister."

"I hope we won't have to fight Ivy," I said. "If anything, I hope she'll help us free my mother." Meeting Elyssa's eyes, I said, "There's a slim chance Darkwater knows where the Conroys live. But I happen to know a person who's found plenty of people who didn't want to be found." At this, I turned my gaze to Shelton. "So, how about we use those mad skills of yours to find the Conroys?"

Shelton worked his jaw for a moment, as if chewing a particularly rancid mouthful of tough beef. "Well, it would be a challenge. If nothing else, we could find them, maybe home in on your mom."

"My primary concern is how, exactly, one goes about breaking a person out of an astral prison," Bella said. "I have never encountered one."

"How exactly does an astral prison work?" I asked.

"Traps a person in between here and another reality," Shelton said.

"Do they still have to eat?"

He gave a slow nod. "But you don't pop someone as powerful as your mom in and out of the astral prison just to feed her." He chuckled. "There ain't no food slot. I'd bet good money they put her under a sleeping spell to slow her metabolism so she doesn't have to eat often. I'd also wager they haven't fed her much soul essence to keep her weak."

I hated to think of Mom slowly wasting away, caught between the walls of two dimensions.

Meghan walked in carrying bags. Adam crossed the room and relieved her burden. "Thanks," she said, and locked eyes on my bandaged form. "What in the world happened?"

We brought her up to speed while she checked the handiwork of Elyssa and the others. My wounds were mostly healed, pink skin already replacing the cuts and burns.

"To answer your question about a preservation spell, a person could go months without sustenance if the spell is powerful." She chewed on her lower lip. "If Daelissa had a hand in it, there's no telling. Plus, angel physiology is very hardy. Your mother might go even longer."

"We need to figure out how to crack the prison," I said. "Ivy might be able to help."

"Your sister might have played nice the last time we saw her," Shelton said, "but that's no guarantee she'll be happy to help you with this."

I shrugged. "Couldn't hurt to ask."

Shelton barked a laugh. "I disagree. It could hurt a lot."

Everyone started speaking at once, mostly about just how stable my little sister was after years of brainwashing by the Conroys.

I waved them off. "Hold on, people. Let's find my mother and Ivy first, and figure out the prison problem afterward." I looked at Shelton. "You with me?"

He groaned. "Fine. I'll track them down. But no promises on the jailbreak."

"That's all I ask," I said.

"You ask an awful lot," he said, scrunching his forehead.

"I'm in," Adam said. "I've studied spell decryption in my spare time, so maybe we could use the same kind of scanning spell we used to open a hole in the shield around the Cyrinthian Rune. It's at least worth a shot."