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Chapter 213
Dral and Bain twisted their heads around and gave her quick “hellos,” then turned back to keep watch on their surroundings.
Leesa pulled one hand from around Rave’s neck and placed her palm on his cheek.
“You’re still not very warm,” she said. “My magic has not returned to full strength, either.” She looked at Balin. “Has anyone figured out how long this might last?” she asked him.
Balin shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. All we can do is wait.”
Leesa frowned. “I don’t like waiting—not when it means you all have to stay so far away.”
She finally unwrapped her l
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Leesa's Advent Chapter 214
By the time Leesa arrived back at her dorm, it was nearly seven-thirty. She had stayed with Rave right up until sunset, when the volkaanes had to leave and head back to wherever they were hiding. She had reluctantly kissed Rave goodbye and then watched him and his companions disappear into the darkening woods. Having gone all day without eating—and not really missing it because she was having so much fun—she stopped for a fast-food burger along the highway on the way home. That, plus some rush-hour traffic outside Springfield and in northern Connecticut had delayed her return.Glad to finally be done with her driving, she eased the Focus to the curb a short way down the block from her dorm, planning to return the car to the rental agency tomorrow after class. Tonight, she was going to be busy trying to make up for missing three of her classes.The day had been well worth skipping class, though. She had gotten to spend more than ten hours straight with Rave,
Leesa's Advent Chapter 215
After Cali left to return to her room, Leesa plopped back down onto her bed. They hadn’t found too many more details about the attack in Romania, but what Leesa had read was enough. Thoughts about her schoolwork were temporarily forgotten. Even practicing her magic had been shoved onto the back burners of her mind.She needed to talk to Dominic—not only about the Necromancer’s latest attack, but also about the weakening of magic in this section of Connecticut. The problem was how to contact someone who was on the run and who didn’t have a phone or email address. She couldn’t just wait until Dominic contacted her—she had no idea when he might be returning to Middletown, or when he might call next.Her room was too quiet. The stillness seemed to amplify the futility of her thinking
Leesa's Advent Chapter 216
Leesa’s eyes were glued to the window as she rode the train southwest from New Haven toward New York City. This was her first time ever aboard a train, and while it wasn’t as amazing as her first plane ride—had that really only been seven months ago?—it was still pretty fun. They rumbled through the heart of several cities and skirted the edges of suburban towns. Occasionally, the train passed though open or wooden areas. A couple of times, she even got a glimpse of boats docked in crowded marinas or of the blue-grey waters of Long Island Sound.It was nearly ten o’clock Monday morning, and the train was barely half full, allowing Leesa easy access to a window seat. The earlier trains were much more crowded, she knew from her research, filled with commuters heading into New York for work. Since she didn’t need to be in Grand Central Station until noon, she had been able to take a slightly later train. This one would get her there at eleven-
Leesa's Advent Chapter 217
Dominic reached into his back pocket and pulled out his magic wallet. He glanced around the subway car to make sure no one was watching. None of their fellow passengers appeared to be showing any interest in a couple they probably guessed to be father and daughter—they were all lost in their own private worlds, faces stuck behind newspapers or listening to music with their eyes closed.Even so, Dominic turned his body sideways and held the wallet between him and Leesa before sticking his hand inside. Leesa watched, no longer surprised but still amazed, as Dominic’s arm disappeared into the wallet halfway up to his elbow. When he withdrew it, he was holding a beautiful rectangular box slightly smaller than his hand and no more than two inches deep. The box looked like it had been carved from ivory, with engraved silver plates reinforcing each of its eight corners. A ninth piece of silver joined the top of the box to the bottom. From its position, Leesa thought it w
Leesa's Advent Chapter 218
Leesa blinked, not sure she had heard Dominic correctly. “What do you mean, I have to activate it?” she asked. “How? Why? I don’t understand.” Before Dominic could answer, the train pulled into another station and lurched to a stop, the seventh or eighth such stop since they had boarded this train. “I’ll tell you in a moment,” he said. “But first, it’s time for us to change trains again.” Leesa didn’t really want to wait for his answer, but she had no choice. The doors slid open and they exited the car. At least they didn’t have to go above ground to make the transfer this time. They simply hurried across a wide, dimly lit platform and boarded an identical looking train getting ready to head in the opposite direction. Once again, they managed to find a seat that afforded them at least a little bit of privacy. “Now, to answer your question,” Dominic said after they sat back down. “The avatar is activated simply by opening the box, but the box c
Leesa's Advent Chapter 219
Leesa’s brain was a jumble of thoughts and emotions as she rode the train back toward New Haven. Unlike her earlier ride into the city, she paid little attention to the scenery flashing by her window. She had way too much on her mind right now.An hour or so ago, she and Dominic had changed subway trains one more time, ending up in Penn Station instead of Grand Central to avoid any chance of backtracking and running into his pursuers. While not as impressive and ornate as Grand Central, Penn Station was even busier and more crowded. On the final train, Dominic had showed her how to open the box to activate his avatar. It was amazingly simple. All she had to do was place her finger on the silver square and send any kind of magic into it. She could use the illumination spell, the energy beam, even the plant growing spell. Anything would do. Since the vibrations of her magic were the same as Dominic’s, the box would open to the magic and the avatar would be activated
Leesa's Advent Chapter 220
Tuesday morning, the witch Jenna paced back and forth across the wooden floor of the living room in her small, secluded home. All her life, she’d had a thirst for gathering knowledge of all kinds, a quest made easier by her shape-shifting abilities, which allowed her to observe things unnoticed, and by her ability to put herself into other people’s minds, which allowed her to learn things even without being physically present. Most of the time, she simply filed the information away in her head, never using it for any specific purpose.Sometimes, though, her accumulated knowledge proved valuable, like when she had followed Leesa home and later used the information to visit her and ask whether her magic had also been weakened. That had proved useful indeed, taking a load off Jenna’s mind by reassuring her that the weakening was not an attack directed at her. It was a perfect example of how you never knew what information might one day prove useful.But
Leesa's Advent Chapter 221
Jenna had the cabdriver drop her off at Gillette Castle, a normal enough destination. The strange looking hilltop castle looked like it had been constructed out of papier-mâché, but was actually made out of thousands of stones gathered from the local hills. It had been built for an eccentric actor early in the twentieth century and was now the centerpiece of a state park whose other main attraction was its spectacular views of the Connecticut River. The vampire caverns were hidden in the forest a mile or so north the park. She would walk the rest of the way.The air was chill, with the sun hidden behind a thick layer of gray clouds that had moved in since the morning, but the cold seldom bothered her. She skirted the edge of the park surrounding the castle and headed north into the trees.She had learned the location of the vampire lair the same way she learned many things—by carefully watching the world below her in the guise of an owl. Years ago, s
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