Magic As We Make It (Book 1 COMPLETE)

Chapter 12

Florlupea was a town in the middle of the forest next to Lake Lepsavari. It mainly exported lumber to the region and would be an otherwise unremarkable place if it weren't home to the Temple of the Eternal Sect, a subversive branch of the dominant faith that worshiped immortality.

The werewolves had forgone holding Amelia in a cage in favor of simply carrying her over someone's back like a sack of potatoes. As they emerged from the forest's edge, she looked up and saw a beautiful castle covered in morning glories. They rounded the side where a small chapel with ash smears across its white stone facade jutted out from the moist earth. Stained glass windows decorated the upper levels like eyes looking out at the lake below. The front doors, made of heavy black wood, slowly creaked open as the group approached, revealing a tall female figure with dark reddish brown hair and a long white robe tied with rope at the waist. She smiled.

"You've come early," the robed woman said. "Do you remember me, Amelia?"

"What?" Amelia retorted.

"It seems you don't." The woman rolled up her left sleeve to reveal a massive, ugly scar that ran the length of her forearm. "How about now?"

Amelia's eyes widened as she stared at the scar. The werewolves threw her down on the muddy ground and she looked up at the woman in bewilderment and awe. "Breighanne?"

The woman clapped her hands gleefully. "You got it! It's been a while, hasn't it? Primary school?"

"But you disappeared!"

Breighanne's face twisted with wrath before she leaped forward and grabbed Amelia's face. She sneered down at her captive and growled, "You left me!"

"It was dark. We got separated. It's not my fault I—"

"You decided to enter the woods. You got us lost. But only you were found."

"We were kids."

"We were children. That's exactly my point. I was a child—so how come the search was immediately called off after you'd been found?"

"I don't—"

"But you do know. It's because of who you are, what you are. Your family wanted you, only you. No one cared about me." She panted as she backed up, her outburst having exhausted her, and recomposed herself into a smile. "Anyway. I haven't finished setting up. I suppose I'll get some blood for later, though."

It took a day for the mana analyzer to compile its results. For MacIntyre, they were excruciating. Judas watched the liaison officer pace back and forth in their operations room with a thin smile. "Concerned?" the snake asked.

MacIntyre looked up and said, "I don't know what to expect. That makes me uneasy."

"Relax. You've been so tightly wound up since you got here—have you even slept?"

"A little."

"What good is a guard dog that hasn't slept?"

The operator stepped between them before a fight broke out, forcing a smile. "I have the results," she said and handed MacIntyre a folder of paper.

"Why give it to him when he can't even read the thing?" Judas said and grabbed it. He quickly scanned the files, a smile growing on his face as he did so. "Interesting. There were trace amounts of someone else's mana at the scene."

"What does that mean?" MacIntyre asked.

Judas looked at him and sighed. "Of course, it means another magus is involved. With trace amounts this small, likely there was some sort of enchanted object—ah, here. Sleep magic. They put her to sleep with this, and then simply carried her away."