Ten minutes later, Nico found himself outside of Buffalo City Hall. Night blanketed the city, stars scattering the dark sky. It was hard to believe he had stood in this very spot only about a day earlier. That felt like a lifetime ago.

A few of the sentinels safeguarded Councilwoman Ulrich to her black SUV, giving Nico the stink eye despite his new station. Apparently, a former hedge mage giving the police of the magical world the runaround did not sit well with them.

Nico invested some gray energy into scanning all of the sentinels, divining their names and other bits of information. He didn’t know how many were in Balthazar’s pocket, and he would be an idiot not to prepare for the worst. Now that he had a better idea of what gray energy really was, there was no need to convert it into magic.

The information he received from Scanning his surroundings with gray energy was less than if he transformed it into magic. That fact disappointed Nico, but he expected it. The real power of gray energy, or what Gallahad referred to as the true magic, wasn’t the power it gave from its natural state, but when it was transformed properly. The nature of magic, after all, was change. Nico had spent years believing he understood what that phrase meant. Now, he realized he had only scratched the surface.

Unfortunately, Nico could not divine any information from Israel, Balthazar, and Councilwoman Ulrich. Nico’s divination had slipped off of Balthazar, as if the man was made of slick glass. When Measure tried to Scan Jeanette Ulrich, it felt as if his senses passed through her, as if she were a ghost. Trying to divine any information from Israel felt like jamming fingers against a mountain. Nico sensed if he pushed his senses any further with them, it would not end well for him. They were in a completely different league than him.

Councilwoman Ulrich shot Nico an annoyed look before getting in her SUV. The car drove off. Could she sense that he had tried to pierce her pranic barrier for information? None of the sentinels seemed to have noticed.

Nico felt odd that he was surrounded by so many sentinels, but none were chasing him or calling for his arrest. He’d spent more than a full day on the other side of the law, using every ability and wit he had to make sure he stayed alive. With no one no longer after him, it felt like he’d been spinning non-stop for a full day, and now felt the sudden vertigo of having stopped.

He pulled out his phone and texted Carmen that everything was fine. He was safe and he needed a ride home. She sent him a wall of text in response. Apparently, she returned to Fu’s for some hot chocolate and comfort, knowing that if any word got around to Nico, Fu would be the first to know. Nico replied that the only thing he wanted right now was a ride and a couch to crash on. She texted that she was on her way.

Nico winced at the realization he’d have to spend the night listening to Carmen’s three younger brothers yelling and arguing with each other in spanish. But he was sure that as soon as his head hit a pillow, nothing could wake him up. Sleep sounded so good, but he needed to do one last thing before Carmen arrived.

Israel walked over to Nico and offered his hand. Nico shook it. The paladin of the Hold of faith had the strongest grip Nico had ever felt, but it felt warm and comforting. Nico sensed a power radiating from Israel’s touch, like feeling the walls of a church full of people singing inside. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt before.

“You did well,” Israel complimented. “I had been meaning to meet with you before this. I’m sorry we hadn’t met in better circumstances.”

“Did you hear about me from Carmen?”

Israel pulled back his hand, studying Nico for a second before saying, “I heard about you from a dozen families who had no one to turn to when the gray dead showed up at their door. Our Hold’s resources are limited. It’s rare for magicians to help those less fortunate.”

“Oh, yeah,” Nico remembered, brushing his hair shyly. “I don’t know if Fu told you, but I didn’t help them out of the goodness of my heart. He gave me slips for the examination by keeping the gray dead population low in the city.”

“Words,” Israel waved dismissively. “Actions are what matter. Your actions proved what’s really in your heart. You’re welcome at the Friends of the Night People any time.”

“Thanks,” Nico offered.

He wanted to ask Israel a hundred questions about holds of faith and why they were different from other holds, but he restrained himself. Answers would come in time.

Israel turned, and walked over to his scooter. His large frame looked ridiculous in the tiny two wheeler. He put on his helmet and putt-putted away.

Nico double-checked his phone after it buzzed. He read a text from Carmen that said she was only a few minutes away. Perfect. That was plenty of time for him to take care of one last thing.

Balthazar Patel was being ushered to his own SUV by his sikh bodyguard, who Nico remembered as Ranjit. The driver window was down, and Quincy the drivo-mancer leaned out. He gave Nico a sly grin. “Hey, it’s the crazy guy! Glad you’re alive.”

Nico couldn’t help but return the grin. Although the driver worked for a manipulative son of a bitch, Quincy was alright in Nico’s book. “That was quite a performance you put on there.”

Quincy’s eyebrows lifted. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m just a driver.”

“Sure,” Nico replied dryly. He turned to Balthazar, who was about to step into the backseat, and added, “Your boss was the one who put on quite a show.”

Balthazar was halfway into the backseat, when he stopped and turned around. He peered over the door, his crescent shaped glasses glinting in the moonlight. The air was suddenly filled with the scent of a fresh garden.

“Congratulations on obtaining a Hold,” Balthazar said evenly. “You are one of the youngest in history to have obtained one.”

“Didn’t expect you to be a gracious loser,” Nico stated.

Balthazar smirked. “Losing implies a game, and if there is one thing I do not, is play games, despite your Hawaiin mentor's claims.”

“Then what do you call the four magicians who were sacrificed for the spell ritual?” Nico shot back. His anger for their deaths did not vanish when he took away Pullman’s magic.

Balthazar tilted his head to the side, as if not comprehending the nature of Nico’s question. “Ah, you mean the four young magicians of notable schools who willingly collaborated with the convicted criminal, Perry Pullman? The four magicians who knowingly help Pullman create a ritual large enough to swallow half a city? You mean those four? You should get your facts before you throw them around needlessly in the air.”

Nico let his anger simmer at the bottom of his stomach. One day it would boil. But not today. He promised himself that justice would come for their deaths. It would not happen right away, but the first step started with confronting the man who orchestrated everything.

A young woman’s head popped up behind the open door. Sameera groaned, tugging at Balthazar’s suit. “Daddy, can we get going? I still have some studying to do before I go to bed.”

She turned her head, blinked at Nico, and smiled cheerily. “Oh, hey! I didn’t expect to –”

“You can stop the act,” Nico said, cutting her off.

“What are you–”

“Twelve percent,” Nico pushed. “That’s my estimation for the chances of a powerful Holder’s daughter not knowing any form of magic to protect her from haunts. Maybe you lacked the initial power. I did. But a man with resources like that? I’m sure there are magical potions or methods to boost someone’s base magical power.”

Sameera froze, eyes darting to the man she called her father. Balthazar’s expression was unreadable.

“I reduced that twelve percent to five percent after I factored in the insane idea that you had a bodyguard as capable as Ranjit, but somehow managed to slip away,” Nico added. “Then five percent to zero percent for the chances of the daughter of a crime lord meeting with the one hedge mage in the city who specializes in dealing with haunts.”

“Walking around with a bodyguard isn’t good for my social status,” Sameera retorted. Her smile wavered, and her bubbly mask cracked.

“You can stop now,” Balthazar commanded. His voice was soft, but it seemed to shake the air.

Sameera’s mask sloughed off her almond-shaped face like old skin off a snake. She was still beautiful, but it was a sharper beauty. Her dark brown eyes gleamed hungrily, and her bubbly voice took on a darker, more sultry tone. “You were right, father. He’s smart.”

Nico sighed, glad he exposed the lie. “You’re really his daughter, aren’t you? But why didn’t I sense any magic in you?”

Sameera rolled her eyes. “If you think magic is the only power in this world, maybe my father overestimated you. Be seeing you, Nico. Don’t forget to call.”

She gave him a wink that absolutely did not give Nico butterflies. Having the hots for a criminal mastermind’s daughter sat on the very bottom of the list of decisions a smart person would make. Still, Nico gulped.

“Anything else?” Balthazar asked. “Like my daughter said, it’s getting late.”

Nico wanted to ask him what game he was playing at, what the Holder’s end game really was, why Balthazar had both sent Yuri to protect Nico and pushed the sentinels to believe that Nico was the one who killed the four magicians. Instead, he looked to Ranjit, who stood vaguely between them, as any good bodyguard would.

Ranjit wore a khara, a metal band for the warrior caste. He had used it to summon lightning at Nico during their first encounter. Looking back at that fight, Nico was now certain the guard had pulled his punches. It was all a show to get Nico back in Balthazar’s apartment.

That same khara was what alerted Nico to the probability that Yuri worked for Balthazar. Yuri had referred to his teacher ‘thundering him with his bracelet.’ Nico had corrected the Russian, believing Yuri had simply misspoken and meant, ‘hit me with his belt.”

Nico nodded to the sikh. “He died honorably, saving my life. He never once broke his geas, even at the end.”

Ranjit’s jaw clenched, and his eyes grew glossy. Silence passed between them, and he swallowed hard before nodding silently.

Nico reached into his pocket and pulled out the leaf-shaped pendant. He tossed it to Ranjit. “Give that to Illyana.”

The sikh bodyguard caught it deftly and pocketed it. Balthazar’s face betrayed no emotion or thought.

Nico stepped forward. Despite the obvious respect Ranjit had for Nico in that moment, he positioned himself in front of his master, his bracelet crackling with power.

Nico spoke calmly, but made sure his voice was clear and certain. “Stay away from me and mine. Whatever games or machinations you pull, I’ll break them. You may have manipulated everything, but I came out on top. You’re dealing with a Holder now.”

Balthazar studied Nico for a moment, then chuckled. “The mouse imitates the lion’s roar in fear of the tiger. But let me impart to you one last seed of wisdom. The fight has already begun, and you are ill-prepared. Hedge magician, Holder, or whatever you claim to be, you are a mouse in a field of tigers.”

“I will beat you,” Nico said confidently. “I took Pullman’s power from him. I’ll do worse to you.”

Balthazar nodded appreciatively. “That was well done, and I admit, something I did not foresee. But the next time you come to my den, you won’t be there for a fight. You’ll be begging me for my help.”

The air suddenly swelled with the scent of rich lavender. Nico blinked, and realized he had suddenly lost ten seconds worth of his memory. Quincy’s car was already driving off down the street with Ranjit, Sameera, and Balthazar inside.

Carmen’s car pulled up. Nico got in the passenger side. They hugged for a long moment before she put the car in gear and started driving to her family’s house. Apparently, Fu had filled her in on everything except the fact Nico now owned a Hold. He’d tell her in the morning.

After a few minutes of silence on the road, she said, “You could move out of the city, maybe somewhere warmer. I heard Raleigh is nice.”

It was Carmen’s way of telling him that even though he made it out of this mess, she was still worried about him living here. Nico hid his smile by looking out the window, watching the city buildings blurr by when they got on the expressway. His friend was concerned for him, and that thought alone gave him strength.

What she said had passed through Nico’s mind a couple times. He’d grown up in Buffalo, and never lived outside the city. The winters here were harsh. Here, Balthazar’s influence was strong enough to manipulate the sentinels of the Coalition, and who knew what else.

“The smart decision is to move,” Nico said.

Carmen frowned. “You say that like you’re not going to.”

“Fu said Balthazar has several Holds across the world. I messed up his plans, and he might take that personally,” Nico explained. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be truly safe.”

“Pullman, and even brought him into the Coalition. You proved your innocence.” Carmen insisted. “Can’t they protect you?”

Nico shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. Besides, I think there might be something else at play here.”

Carmen fumed in silence for another minute. “It’s not fair.”

Nico studied the worry and anger and indignation marring his friend’s face. Her grip on the wheel was so tight, her knuckles grew white.

He pulled up the golden window that congratulated him on becoming the Holder of Gallahad’s tower. Inside that golden window was vague power he had sensed earlier, but was afraid to access in front of the other Holders. The power was still mostly a mystery to him, but he sensed a little of what it could do.

Nico had planned on exploring it more on his own, studying its limitations. But now, he had basically just told his best friend that he would have to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life. He needed to assure her that things would be alright. “Can you take me back to my apartment?”

Carmen frowned. “Why? It’s blown up to bits. The Coalition threw up a cover story in the paper about a gas leak.”

“I need to show you something,” Nico said.

“Dude, I’m exhausted.”

“Trust me. Please.”

Carmen gave him a half-annoyed and half-reluctant look, but she turned on the exit leading back to his place.

Ten minutes later, they were at what was once his apartment. He got out and said, “Come on.”

Carmen groaned, turning off the car’s engine, and followed him out. The front door was blown to bits. Yellow police tape was tied up everywhere, all the way up to the sidewalk.

Nico summoned the gold window again, and let it envelope him. Knowledge filled him, but not quite information like words in a book. It was more instinctual, like feeling he had done this countless times before.

He gave Carmen a grin. “You don’t need to worry about me anymore.”

His hand reached out to his apartment, and envisioned the tower he had spent his entire birthday in. He overlapped the image of his new Hold on to his apartment.

“Nico, what–” Carmen began, then sucked in a breath.

Every chunk of stone and piece of splintered wood of Nico’s home formed together. They moved back into the shape of his front porch and door until Nico’s apartment looked like it had just a few days before. It was like watching a movie of an explosion, but backwards.

A new window appeared.

[You have chosen the current physical manifestation of your Hold of Magic. Days remaining until you may choose a new location: 30.]

Nico turned to a stunned Carmen, her jaw slack. He walked up to his porch, ducking under the police tape. “Come on,” he said.

Carmen silently followed him, a complete loss for words.

He opened the door. Inside was the treasure room. The grey knight stood in the center of the treasure room, holding its gigantic jagged sword, kneeling at his presence. When it spoke, it's dark voice bellowed through both the tower and in Nico’s mind. “Welcome, master.”

Behind the grey knight were piles of gold enough to fund a small nation.

“Yeah,” Nico smiled. “I think I’m gonna be okay.”

END OF BOOK 1