Magic Rises

you.”
    “It’s not Margo’s fault that the medicine didn’t work. I just don’t want it to be Maddie. I want her to be okay. It’s like this is the cost.”
    “The cost of what?”
    “Of magic. Of being a shapeshifter. Like they’re strong and fast and somebody has to pay the price for that. But why her?”
    I wish I knew. I’d asked myself the exact same question when I found Voron dead, when I saw the ruin of Greg Feldman’s body, and when Julie lay in a hospital bed, so sedated her heart was barely beating. I wanted so much to spare Julie from that. It killed me that I couldn’t. I didn’t know why some people had tragedy after tragedy thrown at them, as if life were testing them, and others lived blissfully, untouched by grief.
    I told her the truth. “I don’t know. I think it’s because a child is the most precious thing we have. There is a price for everything, and it’s never something you can afford to give up. It’s always someone you love.”
    Julie stared at me. “Why?”
    “I don’t know. That’s the way it always is.”
    Julie drew back. “I don’t want it. If that’s the way it’s going to be, I don’t want to have any babies.”
    Life had finally scarred Julie deep enough. Now my kid had decided not to have children, not because she didn’t want to be a mother, but because she was too scared of the world into which she would be bringing her children. That was so screwed up. I wanted to stab something.
    Julie was looking at me, waiting for something.
    “Having children or not having them is your choice, Julie. Whether you do or don’t, Curran and I will love you anyway. You don’t ever have to worry that we’ll stop.”
    “Good, because I don’t want kids.”
    We fell silent.
    “You’re leaving,” she said.
    “Yes. Are you scared?”
    Julie shrugged. “You’re the alpha and you have to go.”
    “That’s right.”
    “And if anybody will get the medicine, it’s you. I understand.” Her voice was tiny. “Don’t die. Just don’t die, okay?”
    “I have no plans to die. I’m coming back with panacea and we’re getting Maddie out of the healing tank.”
    “I heard Jim talking,” Julie said quietly.
    Oh boy.
    “He said that it was a trap and you might not come back.”
    Thank you, Mr. Positive Peggy, we appreciate your vote of confidence. “Does the spy master know you’re spying on him?”
    “No. I’m very careful and he doesn’t look up very often.”
    Eventually I’d have to figure out what that meant. “It is a trap. The people who laid it think that we’re weak and stupid. I promise you that if they try to hurt us when we get there, they will deeply regret it. We’ll sail away with panacea, and they will still be figuring out why they’re sitting in a puddle of their own blood trying to hold on to their guts. You’ve seen me take on dangerous things before.”
    “You get hurt, Kate. A lot.”
    “But I survive and they don’t.” I hugged her with one arm. “Don’t worry. We’ve got this.”
    “Okay,” she said. “I just . . .”
    She clenched her hands together, staring straight ahead.
    “Yes?”
    “I have bad dreams.”
    So do I. “What do you dream about?”
    She turned to me, her eyes haunted. “Towers. I see them being built on the grass. They are terrible towers. I look at them and cry. And I see you, and you’re looking at me, and you’re calling me . . .”
    Oh no. Cold claws pricked my spine.
    Why would we have the same dream? It had to be magic. If my dream was the result of my magic or the result of Roland looking for me, it shouldn’t affect Julie. He couldn’t possibly know about Julie.
    The ritual. That was the most likely explanation. When I healed Julie, I’d mixed my blood with hers. Some of my magic had tainted her. Now we shared dreams. If we were lucky, this was just a by-product of my magic stretching itself while I dreamed. If we were unlucky, then Roland was trying to find me by broadcasting visions into my head, and Julie was picking up the signal.
    Damn it.
    It must’ve shown on my face, because Julie focused on me. “It means something, doesn’t it? What does it mean, Kate? I saw you. You were in my dream. Did you see me, too?”
    I didn’t want to have this conversation. Not here and not now. In fact, I didn’t want to have it at all.
    “Tell me, please! I have to know.”
    I wasn’t planning on going to my funeral, but one never plans to die. If something happened to me, Julie