“Plus, Alden doesn’t know about Makani,” Naomi added. “We’ve been lying low, not telling many people about him.”

“But Alden does know about Alex,” Sera pointed out. “And he doesn’t want her.”

“The Dragon Born share certain abilities, but each of us is also unique,” Makani told her. “It may be there is something special about you that Alden wants, some magic only you possess.”

“I don’t have any special magic different from Alex’s. She’s more powerful, or at least she’s learned to access more power. She can break magic better. I can sniff magic a bit better. But not much better than she can.”

“I do not know,” Makani said. “But it’s clear the Grim Reaper has plans for you.”

“Don’t I feel lucky.”

“You can fight him,” he told her. “The Dragon Born have a strong will.”

“You’re stubborn, he means,” said Naomi.

“It’s a useful quality in a mage,” he said.

Naomi winked at him. “It helps you get what you want.”

A slow smile curled his lips as his eyes stared at her, burning with gold fire. “Indeed.”

As he continued to stare at Naomi, Sera felt a surge of magic between them, a wild spark of attraction. But there was also something more. Beneath that tough, princely, warrior exterior, Makani had a soft spot for Naomi. He respected her. And Naomi cared about him too. Sera had rarely seen her friend with the same man for more than a few weeks. She’d definitely never seen her with the same guy for months. There was something between them, something special.

Makani finally turned to Sera. “Tell me about your last encounter with Alden.”

“We went to stop the Magic Council from summoning demons,” she said. “They thought they could control the demons and use them to take out Alden. I broke the spell, sending the demons back to hell before they could emerge. But I got sucked in too, brought into the core of hell. Naomi helped me find the way out. By the time I got back, though, Alden was gone. He took Kai. That was nearly a month ago.”

It made her sick to think about how long Kai had been Alden’s prisoner. She piled on a generous helping of anger to bury the pain.

“The Magic Council was onto something with their plan to use the underworld against Alden,” Makani told her.

Sera’s mouth dropped in outrage. It was awhile before she could speak again. “I can’t believe you want to summon a demon.”

“No, not summon a demon, but that’s not the only way to get to the spirit realm,” he said. “Naomi can make an opening, then you have to bring Alden through. Inside the spirit realm, he will be cut off from the outside world. Alden won’t be able to draw on his devoted followers’ magic. And the connection cannot regrow until he returns to the real world. He will have only his own magic to power him. Which is certainly very formidable, but you will have a fighting chance.”

“Just remember that earth-based magic is weak in the spirit realm,” Naomi said.

“Yes. I experienced that firsthand.”

“You will be weak there, but Alden will be weaker,” Makani said. “Our magic is more resistant to the effects of the spirit realm than his is. And you can break his magic to further weaken him.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“It won’t be easy, but at least it’s not impossible,” he told her. “If you kill Alden in the core of the spirit realm, he will be dead for good. No one will be able to resurrect him. Just be warned. The same goes for you. If he kills you there, you will be dead. Forever.”

Sera looked at Tony, who had just walked up with Dal and Callum. “We have a plan.”

He nodded. “Yes, we finally do.”

“Then let’s go kill ourselves a Grim Reaper,” she declared.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Death Valley

IT WAS SEVERAL hours before they got word from Tony’s scouts that there really was a base in Death Valley. How appropriate a location for the Grim Reaper’s headquarters.

Sera looked out across the desert. It was early in the morning, just before sunrise. The air was still and cool, but past the high metal fences that surrounded Alden’s hideout, his patrols were highly alert. And there were just so many of them. It was a good thing Cutler and the other knights had come along. Their job was to break through the gates and keep the guards outside busy while Sera’s team snuck inside the squat building that looked like a turtleshell.

The sun brushed the horizon, its rising rays streaking the sky royal blue and pink, casting a purple light over the honeycomb of salt crust on the ground. The salt itself glistened, millions of silver sparkles. It bounced back any magic in the area, serving as a natural barrier. There was a huge concentration of magic here, more than should have been possible to hide, but Alden was deviously clever. He was using the magic-reflecting properties of salt to hide in plain sight. It was no wonder that Sera hadn’t been able to find him or Kai.

But Alden’s magic was growing with each person he converted to his cause. Even now, the salt was barely keeping his magic contained. His magic was leaking out, dripping slowly across the salt. He wouldn’t have been able to hide much longer. Sera had this sinking feeling that he’d led them here, that they’d only found him at the place and time he intended.

A car sped across the desert, zooming toward the base. Cutler and the other knights. Magic and magic-powered explosives from Riley’s lab slammed against the metal-woven barrier, blowing holes into it. Cutler stood at the back of the car, his hands raised in the air. Metal screeched and groaned as his telekinetic magic pulled up larger sections of the fences and tossed them at Alden’s minions, trapping them under the metal webs. All the while, things were exploding in every direction. The knights’ car stopped, and they all poured out, forming a circle. Then they unleashed hell on Alden’s army.