Ritual of the Broken (Haunted Hearts)

Chapter 9

Chapter

Nine

O llie took a close-up photograph of the glowing symbol carved on Zach O’Brien’s bedroom wall. Zooming in because he had no desire to squeeze in on the filthy bed, he studied it closely on his phone. The symbol was complex for its size and resembled the types of markings seen in old grimoires and ancient texts.

“I’ve seen similar sigils, but I don’t know what this one means,” Ollie said, his voice tight.

Adrian’s brow furrowed. “Can you look it up?”

Ollie shot him a wry glance. “It’s not like we have a Google for magic. We’ll have to search for it in an arcane library.”

“Do you have one of those?” Adrian asked.

“You’ve watched too much Buffy . But there is a library we could go to.” A silence stretched between them, filled only with the distant sound of the city outside the window. Ollie thought about it, not really wanting to, but… Finally, he sighed. “Look, I know someone who might have some answers. Never thought I’d go to him for anything ever again, but here we are.”

Adrian’s brow creased, his nostrils flaring. “You’re nervous. Who is this person? Is he somebody dangerous?”

Ollie hesitated, the words catching in his throat. “No. Just an asshole,” Ollie said. “His name is Emmerich Goulding. He’s an expert in sigils and symbology, mostly as it relates to their connection to other planes. If anyone can figure out where this symbol came from, it’s probably him.” He paused again, looking anywhere but at Adrian and crossing his arms. “And he’s also my ex.”

The last part came out as a mumbled afterthought, and Adrian’s eyes widened. “Your ex?”

“Yes,” Ollie snapped, more sharply than he intended. “Does that matter?”

“No, no,” Adrian said, holding up his hands. “I just wasn’t expecting that.”

“Well, neither was I,” Ollie muttered, his voice softening. “But we don’t have a choice. We need to know what that symbol means, and Emmerich is our best shot.”

Back in the car, Ollie was silent as Adrian drove. He couldn’t help but play over the seven years he’d been with Emmerich, and how a breakup that happened a month ago was still so raw.

Adrian broke Ollie from his thoughts. “You smell like nerves,” Adrian said as they waited at a stoplight. “This Emmerich guy really did a number on you, huh?”

“He wasn’t exactly Prince Charming.”

“You’re being kind of hard on yourself if you ask me.” Adrian pulled the car into traffic and headed in the direction of downtown Chicago. “So your last relationship ended on bad terms. That’s no reason to be this ... jittery.”

Ollie’s hands clenched into fists in his lap. “You don’t know what he’s like,” Ollie said, his voice low and his gaze turned away. “He had a way of making me...” He paused, the memory of their countless fights causing him to clench his jaw shut. “I mean, he wasn’t always bad. We were together for seven years.”

“Do you do that often?” Adrian asked.

Ollie turned to Adrian. “Do what?”

“Make excuses for your exes?”

For a moment, Ollie’s mouth worked. “I do not do that.”

“You just did.”

“How did I make excuses for my ex?”

“You said he wasn’t always bad. Clearly, he was bad enough that you dumped him.”

Ollie turned to face the window again. “Well, it wasn’t exactly my choice. I mean, I probably would have arrived there eventually. The last six months or so were hell. But no, he’s the one who called it quits.”

“Now you just smell embarrassed,” Adrian said.

Ollie turned to him again. “Stop doing that. ”

“Doing what?”

“Smelling me. Or whatever it is you werewolves do.”

“It’s kind of hard to turn it off. And we’re cooped up in a car together.”

“Well, then crack a window.” Ollie pressed the button on his window and let it open just a crack. The air sounded in. But he turned back to Adrian again and had to raise his voice to speak. “What, you never been dumped before? Are all the... the chicks or whatever you grunt and growl with totally doe-eyed and happy with everything you have to offer?”

Adrian reached over to the console on his driver’s side door and pressed Ollie’s window closed again. “For starters, they’re guys, not chicks.”

That caused Ollie to stare.

Adrian glanced his way and met Ollie’s stare. “Don’t look so surprised. It’s a new century. There are lots of gay cops on the police force. I’m as gay as you are.”

Ollie didn’t know what to say, except he felt a small smile creep across his face. “Score one for our team,” Ollie muttered.

“What?”

He grinned large back to Adrian. “I said, glad to have you on the team.”

They rode in silence for an awkward second as Ollie felt his heart beat a little faster. He never thought he’d find any interest in a werewolf. Not that he spent a lot of time with werewolves, but he found himself giving Adrian a fresh look, one with the knowledge that it was within the realm of possibility to see what he had to offer beneath that leather jacket and button-down shirt that showed a teasingly small amount of chest hair between the collar. When Adrian glanced back his way, nostrils flaring, Ollie quickly turned back to watch the road.

“Should we break into a rendition of ‘We Are Family’?” Ollie asked to break the silence.

“No.”

Ollie started to hum.

“I said please don’t.” Adrian faced the road.

Finally, Ollie broke into the opening lyrics, and Adrian pressed the window open again to drown out Ollie’s singing. It ended with Ollie giggling and Adrian rolling his eyes as he closed the window again. Then, the car fell into another silence as Ollie found himself pleased with this sudden turn of events.

At first, he thought the detective would be a complete jerk. And he’d gone a long way earlier to proving that suspicion correct. If Ollie hadn’t felt so compelled to follow his vision, hanging out with a surly detective would be the last thing he would ever want to do. But now, maybe there was some hope.

“For the record,” Adrian said, “you don’t smell that bad.”

Ollie shifted in his seat and put an elbow on the center console of the car. The way his face tingled, he thought he might be blushing. “Coming from a werewolf, I’ll take that as a compliment.” Then Ollie had a thought. “For werewolves with a nose that powerful, it must really suck being around people with bad gas.”

Adrian rolled his eyes again but his face melted into a smirk. “Oh God. We were having a moment, and you just ruined it.”

“Seriously, though. What do you do in situations like that?”

“I’m not talking about this.” His face softened, and there was a mirthful twinkle in his eye. Adrian had a smile that changed his whole face. For the better, which was hard to do because even when he thought Adrian was an asshole, he had to admit the guy was hot.

Now that Ollie knew he was gay, he was even hotter than before. That smile did things to him.

“You’ll want to find a parking garage soon,” Ollie said when he saw where they were, not far from State Street in the Loop.

They found a parking garage on Monroe that showed vacancy, and they had to drive almost to the top to find an open space. It was a long ride down in an elevator with a family with two small children that hugged their father’s legs and shot both Adrian and Ollie wary stares. Ollie made a silly face at the little girl in a playful way, and that elicited a small smile before she ducked behind her dad’s legs again.

At street level, they emerged onto Monroe and walked the short distance to State Street. In a corner retail space on the other side of the street stood a fast-food restaurant named Magnificent Munch. It was odd because the Magnificent Mile was on Michigan Avenue and not State Street. But he went inside. It was a touristy hot spot, a place that served a menu of street food from around the world.

“What are we doing?” Adrian asked him as they worked their way through the crowd of people waiting in line at the counter and sitting down in the dining room.

“Just keep following.” Ollie glanced back at Adrian. “If you’re hungry, I recommend the Chapli kebabs. They’re amazing.”

“I’m fine,” Adrian said.

Ollie shrugged and continued. A hallway past the kitchens led to the bathrooms, and just beyond that, the space extended another ten feet or so to end at a blank wall. Magic tickled along Ollie’s skin as he stopped in front of it.

He spoke some words in an ancient tongue. The wall shimmered but appeared to remain, and Ollie stepped through it. On the other side, he waited for Adrian to follow him. But when he didn’t, Ollie stuck his head back through. “Come on. It won’t flay you on your first time.”

Adrian’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Ollie.

“Obviously, I’m just kidding. Come on.”

With a hesitant step, Adrian finally followed.

On the other side was an elegant room with plush chairs facing one another and statues of old, famous mages. It looked like a small hotel lobby without the concierge. At the far end stood a wide descending stairwell. Ollie continued on to the stairs and started down, with Adrian following.

The stairs went on for some distance and were lit by simple wall sconces. Through the walls, the rumble of the subway caused the stairs to vibrate beneath their feet. The bottom was bathed in the bright light of daylight.

“Stay close,” Ollie said to Adrian as they neared the bottom. “It’s easy to get lost in here.”

The landing was a tiled floor that opened into a vast atrium. Sunlight streamed through glass skylights that extended the width of the ceiling. The walls were lined with tall arches that stood before entrances to shops, restaurants, and cafes. Tall trees grew in the center of the space, creating miniature forests with pathways between them. Birds of all sorts and colors flitted through the branches. Along the outer walls, multi-story windows looked out onto a vast summer meadow filled with grass and flowers and dense forests in the distance. Mountains lined the horizon.

There were multiple levels, four of them that showed various storefronts and entrances. People—other mages—walked through the space, some in a hurry, others sitting in the cafes, reading everything from electronic tablets to books that appeared centuries old. Others sat and talked or stood in groups.

“Is this a mall?” Adrian asked.

“Kind of,” Ollie said as he walked, threading his way through the crowd. “These are the Aetherium Forums of the Synod in Chicago. A lot of the gathering places of mages look like this.”

A confused expression shadowed over Adrian’s features.

“What, were you expecting it to look like a castle interior or some kind of tower?”

Adrian shrugged. “I guess.”

“Well, it’s a new age for us mages,” Ollie said.

Adrian paused in front of one of the large windows. Outside of the window in the grassy meadow, a group of deer led by a great stag meandered across. It paused and lifted its great-antlered head to peer in their direction. “Where are we exactly?”

Ollie stopped next to him. “Still beneath Chicago. The windows are enchanted. Some say they look out into a parallel dimension. Others say it’s just an illusion. I think it’s the latter, but it’s a cool illusion. It keeps us from feeling cooped up below ground.”

As they continued through the atrium, the sizzle of magic sounded from somewhere close. Ollie caught the sound of a growl in Adrian’s throat and stopped to put a hand on his arm. “Relax, tough guy. It’s just the dueling grounds.”

They drew closer to a circular space in the middle of the atrium where a large group gathered. The dueling space was sunken so that from where he and Adrian stood, they could see two mages standing beneath a shimmering protective dome. One was a tall man who appeared in his early fifties, wearing just his shirtsleeves, and the other appeared ancient. Ollie guessed the older man must be at least six centuries old, but it was hard to tell with mages.

The younger man worked spells with an assured expression on his face and shot them in rapid succession at the older mage. The older mage simply remained where he was, barely making any movement to deflect the magic hurtling toward him. But each spell failed to meet its target, turning the younger man’s face more sour with each spell cast.

Ollie shook his head. “Looks like somebody mouthed off to an archmage. This won’t end well.”

“Which one’s the archmage?” Adrian asked.

“Do I really have to point him out?”

Just then, the old mage held up his hand, and the younger man stopped casting before the current bolt he formed even got off. The younger mage froze, his body twitching. Finally, the archmage moved closer, and the younger man’s body changed, starting at his feet and legs and then moving higher. Slowly, he became stone, his mouth held open in a silent scream. Once it reached the younger man’s head, all movement ceased.

Adrian tensed and stepped forward. “Did he just kill that man?”

Ollie put a hand on Adrian’s forearm to keep him from doing anything stupid. “Calm down, detective.”

Adrian gave him a hard look.

“Once the barrier drops, the magic is negated,” Ollie said. “Nothing is ever permanent in the dueling space. At least not in the public ones, anyway. Private dueling spaces, though...” Ollie continued walking as the barrier disappeared, bringing the younger mage to his knees as he gasped for air.

As they continued on, Ollie couldn’t help but notice that Adrian appeared tense. He studied him. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Adrian stared straight forward, his mouth tight.

Maybe this was a mistake. Ollie wanted to reach out and touch him again, but he looked too jumpy. “We’re almost there,” he said, finally.

Their destination was at a cross in the giant atrium where the space extended even farther in either direction. Not far from where they were, light refracted and danced over the floor. The Aetherium Forums extended out into the waters of Lake Michigan, the force of the lake kept at bay by powerful magic. But Ollie veered off toward one of the wide arches where a columned entrance stood, the sign above it reading, “Archives.”

Ollie stopped. He stared at the entrance a moment.

“What is it?” Adrian asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Ollie sighed. “Just psyching myself up, is all.”

This time, Ollie was surprised by a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look up at Adrian. “Relax. He’s an ex. He has no power over you anymore.”

Oddly enough, the hand on his shoulder and the presence of the big werewolf standing next to him were reassuring. He gave a quick nod, walked to the large carved wooden doors and pulled one open.

Inside, the noise of the forums melted away instantly. This was the Archives of the Synod, all sound kept at bay by wards carved throughout the interior.

The sight of the front desk gave Ollie another reason to groan. Sitting behind it was a mage he knew, Morwen Solanich, a close friend of Emmerich. When the hell did she start working there? They’d been friendly, if not friends, when he and Emmerich were together. They’d hung out, gone to dinner a few times, and had her and whoever she was with at the time in her revolving door of a love life over for dinner. They were never close, but they still talked and were cordial. But then things soured after Emmerich started acting weird. As soon as her gaze found Ollie, he thought about turning right around and going back out the way they came. But he didn’t. Instead, he approached the desk and stood across from Morwen.

“Oliver Hartley.” Her eyes narrowed. “I’m surprised you had the guts to show your face here again.” She took in Adrian standing next to him, her gaze narrowing. The whisper of magic touched Ollie’s skin, and Morwen lifted her chin. “And with a lycanthrope, no less.”

Adrian put a meaty elbow on the desk. With his other hand, he pulled his badge free. “We’re here on official Chicago PD business,” Adrian said before Ollie could stop him.

Morwen tittered. “With the mortal police. My, how far you’ve fallen, Oliver Hartley. ”

Adrian was about to say more when Ollie stepped in front of him. He gave Adrian a quick look to say he had this, then he turned back to Morwen. “We’re here to see Emmerich, Morwen. Think you can slither down off your perch long enough to let him know we’re here?”

Her mouth slid into a smirk. “I’m afraid he’s busy. We can probably pencil you in for… never. How’s that s?—”

But Ollie cut her off. “Still doing Emmerich’s bidding, I see. It’s amazing how such loyalty can slip so far into subservience. Now, be a dear and tell him we’re here to see him.”

Morwen’s lip curled as she leveled her gaze at Ollie. She began making the preparations for a spell.

Beside him, Adrian’s hands bunched into fists, but Ollie put a hand out to reassure him and keep him from doing anything stupid in the middle of the Synod Archives. Still, a growl erupted from his throat.

“He’s moving up in the Synod since he freed himself from your clutches,” Morwen said. “He’s even had more meetings with Darius Vale.” Morwen seemed too pleased to spill this bit of tea. It made Ollie bristle even more.

“Just tell him we’re here. I have a feeling he’ll want to see us.”

“And Emmerich’s dating again,” Morwen said as she worked the magic. Ollie recognized the motions for a sending. “Did he tell you?”

“Good for him,” Ollie said in a dry tone.

Morwen finished the spell, and it formed a little sphere in front of her. She whispered into it, and as quickly as it appeared, the sphere disappeared again. “He’s dating a Sagewarden now. Quite the step up, if I do say so myself. We went on a double date last night to Sakura Zen. You know, that new Michelin-starred place that opened up on Oak Street? Honestly, I’d say Emmerich has never been happier.”

“Oh, Morwen, I’m sure he is.” He faced her. “It’s hard to say if you’re happy or not, though. You’ve always did have that severe case of resting bitch face.” He glanced at Adrian, who still looked like he might go furry and rip Morwen to slivers. For a moment, Ollie entertained that image. But instead, he gave Adrian a little elbow. “Let me ask you, Adrian. Have you ever seen anyone as pitiful looking as this one?”

Adrian took a moment to snap out of his barely contained rage, and he glanced at Ollie. He shrugged. “There were some street hookers I arrested on the West Side when I first started as a patrol officer.” He bobbed his head side to side like weighing something as he studied Morwen. “I’d say it’s pretty close between them.”

Morwen’s eyes narrowed, clearly unamused. But before she could say anything else, a sphere popped in next to Ollie. “Come on down. You know where it’s at,” the message said so that everyone could hear.

Ollie smirked at Morwen. “Guess that means we’re allowed through. Go dive into a wood chipper, Morwen,” Ollie said as he walked past her desk.

“Swim in acid, Ollie,” Morwen said .

Once they were out of earshot, Ollie glanced to Adrian. “Isn’t she lovely?”

“I don’t like mages,” Adrian said. But then, he seemed to catch himself. He glanced back at Ollie. “Well, most mages, anyway.”

Ollie couldn’t help but grin. “I’ll take that,” he said. That comment was almost worth putting up with Morwen.