The Prof Croft Series: Books 0-4 (Prof Croft Box Sets Book 1) Brad Magnarella (ink book reader txt) 📖

“Yes, during the war and for long after,” Connell said. “That was why, while we used Elder magic from here to push back against Lich’s efforts, your grandfather remained in the world. He devoted his life to finding the artifact that would destroy Lich’s glass pendant and deny Dhuul access to the world.”

I thought about the business trips Grandpa would frequently take, allegedly for purposes of insurance.

“I assume he never found it?” I said.

“That’s what we’d like to ask you,” Connell replied.

“Me?”

“There was no description of the Banebrand in the archives,” Arianna said. “Only what it was designed to do. Your grandfather was able to detect and retrieve many artifacts over the centuries, but discovering their true purposes was another challenge. He spent his final years going over and over what he’d amassed. But after Lich sealed us in the Refuge, we lost contact with your grandfather. Though he had taken possession of a familiar, our contact to that creature’s realm became hazy and indistinct. Not like the line we later established to Tabitha.”

I thought about the chilling voice I’d heard in Grandpa’s trunk the time I’d snuck into his study.

“Did he ever say anything to you?” Connell asked.

“Say anything?” I let out an involuntary laugh. “I can probably count the number of actual conversations we had on two hands, and they had nothing to do with magic or magical artifacts.” Looking back, I got the impression he’d wanted to steer me as far from the subject of magic as possible. Probably to keep me off Lich’s radar. “And then he died unexpectedly,” I finished.

Something flickered in Connell’s eyes.

I stiffened. “Wait, it was unexpected, right?”

“We believe it was premeditated,” Connell said.

A chill crawled down my spine. “You mean someone killed him too?” How hard would it have been to manifest a bee in the face of an oncoming driver at the moment Grandpa stepped into the street? Not hard at all. It was something even a junior magic-user could have managed.

“We believe your grandfather killed himself.”

“What? Why?”

“Probably because Lich was closing in,” Arianna said. “For centuries your grandfather’s advantage was Lich’s single-minded obsession with bringing Dhuul into the world and growing his own power. When your grandfather convinced him he could no longer contribute to the Order, Lich’s interest in him faded. It was how your grandfather was able to work unnoticed for so long. It was also how he kept your mother’s presence a secret. He waited until she was much older to train her to control her magic, just as he had planned to do with you. Eve was the one who insisted on acting as the courier between our realms so your grandfather could concentrate on locating the artifact. Not long after, and unbeknownst to us, Lich deduced the source of the magic that was frustrating his efforts to open the portal. He waited for the next passage into the Refuge, when the membrane would be weakest. That happened to be your mother’s. He entered behind her, killing her and several magic-users before we were able to destroy his form. Once reconstituted, Lich set his power obsession aside long enough to look around. He discovered someone had been gathering magical artifacts in secret.”

“And Lich started searching for him,” I said, remembering the visitor Arnaud had spoken of, the man who had come asking about artifacts stolen during the war against the Inquisition.

“Your grandfather persisted in his work for as long as he could,” Connell said, “but when Lich got too close… You see, Lich would have performed a mind flaying, something your grandfather couldn’t have resisted. Any and all information would have passed to Lich. That your grandfather ended his life before that could happen suggests he was protecting something.”

“Maybe just me,” I offered.

“Maybe,” Connell agreed. “But he might also have found the artifact and begun his search for Lich’s glass pendant. Did he say anything to you, anything at all? Think hard now.”

“No,” I replied, “but I do know where he was storing the artifacts.” I told them what Arnaud had shared about Grandpa making periodic visits to Port Gurney and about the basement-level vault in the bar.

Connell nodded. “He moved the artifacts several times during his time in New York. After Lich sealed us in, your grandfather tried to tell us of a new location through his familiar, but as Arianna said, the connection was poor. And the communication only operated in one direction, so we had no way to tell him we never received the information. Very good, Everson.”

“Well, before we get ahead of ourselves, Arnaud’s blood slaves broke into the vault and cleaned it out. Arnaud had a few magical items in his armory, but I turned those all over to Chicory.” Which probably explained Lich’s present confidence, I thought, wanting to kick myself.

“It’s worth investigating, anyway,” Connell said.

“But … can’t you just manifest this Banebrand weapon?” I asked. “You know, think it into being.”

“We can manifest objects,” Arianna explained, “but we must supply the magic. And the kind of magic of which we’re speaking came about through a collective effort by the Elders. It is beyond us.”

I glanced around the table of magic-users. Expecting to be met by the stern, judgmental faces I had long associated with the Order, I was surprised to find expressions of acceptance—even despite that I had destroyed the Elder book and allowed Lich into their realm twice.

You’re one of us, they seemed to be saying. Our struggle is mutual.

My gaze returned to Arianna and Connell. “If there’s a way to keep my return to the world from allowing Lich back in,” I said, “I’ll go to the vault and see what I can find. There were some items at the safe house, too. I can bring everything back here for you to examine.”

Arianna looked at Connell, who nodded. “Lich is waiting for us at the pit to Dhuul,” he said. “The passage back should be safe, but you’ll still need to be careful. The world