The Rising Stones (Ihale Book 1)

had found she was surprisingly easy to ignore. Whatever was causing the magic was moving closer, quickly.
The magic hit him like a punch. Heln pulled back his senses, but not before he sensed the wrongness of the magic, the way it pulsed and skittered across his mind. He imagined a shield forming between him and whatever it was, pain streaming behind his eyes and the taste of metal blooming on his tongue.
Magic had always felt like a living thing to him, vibrant and colorful in his mind, even when he couldn't physically see it.
This magic felt dead, like all of the vitality was gone and it was simple, moving parts.
Bel's illumination bubble flickered, sending shadows over her face.
"It's coming." Heln's words couldn't convey how serious he knew it was. He couldn't hear anything and without his senses extended he had no idea how close the magic was or even what direction it was coming from.
"That's ominous." Bel clearly hadn't noticed the stutter in her own magic and she was smiling a bit, proving she hadn't understood the seriousness. "You done now? I get it, I won't drag you down any more shortcuts. You are no fun at all, by the way, next year I'm not bringing you—"
Heln grabbed her wrist and ran.
It was clear they weren't going to get very far. Bel moved with natural grace. Heln did not, but neither of them were immune to tripping over exposed tree roots in the dark. He heard heavy footsteps behind them and grabbed the shield necklace he was wearing, nudging the tiniest amount of magic to activate it.
A dome that looked like a giant glowing soap bubble expanded around them, swirls of incandescence blurring and stretching the outside world before turning opaque. Something hit it from behind and the entire dome was shunted forward.
"What in Eleti's name was that?" Bel screeched, gripping Heln's arm too tightly.
"It's not an anchored shield—"
"That is not what I meant!"
The dome scraped forward and the back wall knocked Bel into Heln, sending them both toppling over. Bel's illumination bubble disintegrated in a shower of sparks.
A hand, too large to be Ihalin, pressed against the dome and slid slowly down it with a sound like nails on glass. Bel clapped her hands over her more sensitive ears.
Heln sat up, spitting Bel's ponytail out of his mouth. "Come on, we have to go."
"What?"
"We. Have. To. Go." Dammit, would she get that he really wasn't joking this time? The dome was inching forward again. There was very little that could get past it, but without an anchor they could be tossed around by anything strong enough to pick up a scrawny low Ihalin.
His mind was more than happy to list the amount of things that could toss him around. He wasn't sure they could even run fast enough with the shield covering them before it gave out and they got thrown around without it.
A bright flash of blue rocked the shield and the hand disappeared. At first Heln thought it was the light show, but a moment later someone actually knocked on the outside of the shield, making Bel squeak. They scrambled to their feet, looking at each other. Whatever the hand belonged to hadn't knocked on the shield and he had no idea where it went. Maybe they had run off? He didn't want to take the shield down just to find out, but the pendant was getting hot in his hand. He wouldn't have a choice in a few more minutes.
"What do we do?" Heln whispered.
"Not die?" Bel suggested.
With that intelligent argument aiding their predicament, Heln released the shield script, the dome turning into a stream of magic that slipped back into the pendant, leaving it smoking slightly. At best, he had maybe a few more minutes left, but that would be it.
They both flinched when it dissipated, but there was only a girl wearing a guard cape standing over a pile of dirt, holding a bright blue illumination bubble that painted the scene in strange shades, casting skeletal shadows from the trees around them. She narrowed her eyes at Bel.
"Oh, it's you."
Bel glared right back. "QuelArhyssa, in the increasingly underwhelming flesh."
"DoVanBellamy. 'Trespassers in the Grove causing a disturbance.' I should have known it was you." She used the exact same tone. She spared a glance at Heln. "And your… brother."
"Half-brother," Bel corrected her like it was automatic.
Heln would have felt offended, but he also made sure everyone knew that Bel was his half-sister.
Heln was still trying to peer through the deep shadows between the trees when he recognized the Guard Trainee. Rhyss was the daughter of the dean and great granddaughter of the founder of the Eleti Academy of the Magical Arts where they all went to school. Her mother used to be Captain of the Grove Guard, and anyone who had ever been within fifteen feet of Rhyss knew she wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps.
She was in the same year as Bel and since their own father was head of the Department of Magical Artifacts for the City Enforcers, they had clashed more than once a week, and that was just since Heln started attending classes.
Maybe whoever had caused the magic had run off to avoid a debate on jurisdiction between the two departments. He honestly wouldn't blame them at all.
"On guard duty or do you just like following me around?" Bel gave her the smile that had more edge to it than Rhyss's Guard issued dagger. "I can't blame you, honestly. Or are you following Heln around?"
"I'm right here," Heln said, distractedly. He wasn't particularly interested in Bel's supposed lifetime of rivalry with her classmate.
"Honestly, I'd rather follow him around." Rhyss shrugged a bit. "So, what was that thing?"
She gestured to a pile of loose earth. Part of a tree root stuck out of it at a haphazard angle.
"It looks like a pile of dirt," Bel said after a moment of inspection.
"I would really rather not bring you in to make my