Page 1 of From the Edge

Chapter One

Ted gathered with the others behind the new palace, and she said, “We have got to stop meeting like this.”

The mages, djinn, and elves were all standing around.

Lucia looked around. “So how do we do this? I think I know how to set it up, but getting her here will be difficult.”

The others looked around as the roar of an engine split the air.

A motorcycle growled right up to the gathering, and when the kickstand was down, the helmet came off, and a cascade of black hair with thick streaks of purple and crimson went down her back.

“So, finally, you guys are here for a summoning, huh? I can bring her here, but we are going to have to be fast. I charged up all night for this, so let’s not waste it.”

Mik looked amazed at the woman who literally had energy bands moving around her as if she were a planet with rings. “Not that I am not impressed, but who are you?”

“Oh, me? I am a witch. I can control power like you mages, but the earth doesn’t give it. I have to use alternate means. Now let’s find Mell and get her somewhere safe. She’s invisible and inaudible for two.”

Ted gasped. “You know her?”

“She was my roommate out of university, and one day, she disappeared. I went looking and found her, but she was guarded. I couldn’t get close. Her visible self was gone with the initial draining curse, and she couldn’t speak, but she could write stuff on a whiteboard. She tried digital stuff but shorted it out.”

The woman grinned. “So let’s do a summoning. She’s a little far out for a simple call.”

Mik said, “You will help to break the curse?”

“No, this energy is just to bring her here safely. Oh, and I brought her a cloak ‘cuz she’s coming back naked.” She got some folded fabric from her motorcycle.

Lucia blinked. “Yorwell gave me a circle. Will that be a start?”

The woman grinned. “Absolutely. Draw that bitch, and I will get Mell here.”

“How do you know what to do?”

“I have been using gathered energy to visit her for years. I have to sneak past her guard, and I am not very sneaky, but I have managed. It wasn’t until you all started making such a racket that I had hope.” She grinned, her features turning beautiful. “So I am not one to waste an emotion, so let’s put the hope to good use.”

Lucia asked Regis for a good spot for the protective circle, and with some focus, she sent energy out to draw the pattern in the turf.

It didn’t light up.

Lucia frowned. “Did I do it wrong?”

The newcomer said, “No, it isn’t your thing. Now someone hold this cloak and let me do my thing.”

She handed the cloak off to Ted, and Ted held it. This wasn’t her job. That was still coming.

* * * *

Rowan stepped forward and charged the portal that the mage had designed. The power that she had spent all night collecting flared and snapped into a barrier that would keep the contents safe and whole.

She latched onto Mell’s location and said, “Incoming!”

There was a distant roar, and Rowan poured the sexual energy of forty alphas watching strippers into the circle, and she felt the moment that Mell landed. Rowan held her hand out, and the dark-skinned mage handed over the cloak. She wrapped the cloak around her friend, and the glyphs she had paid through the nose for brought Mell into view. She was transparent, but she was there.

Mell looked at her with wide eyes, smiled, and hugged her hard. When they parted, Rowan said, “These ladies are going to break the curse band. Are you up to be seen and heard again?”

Mell smiled and nodded.

“How long until he finds you?”