Amplifier 2: Chapter One, Part One

FYI. The Amplifier Series begins with The Amplifier Protocol (Amplifier 0). The excerpt below is rife with spoilers if you aren’t up to date.

Bonds and Broken Dreams (Amplifier 2) – Chp 1, Part 1

A faint hum of sorcerer magic prickled up my bare arms. I flipped over the back of the couch, grimoire still in hand, and peered through the front window. Despite the fact that the sun was out, the February air was still cold enough that the front section of the skirted patio was covered by the skiff of snow that had fallen overnight. Tires crunched on the gravel driveway, drawing my attention past the red-roofed barn. A black luxury SUV was slowly rolling toward the house, the driver having left the gate to the main road hanging open behind them. 

Not locals, then. 

That was ignorant, even rude. Especially in a rural area. Even I knew that, and I’d been raised to be a sociopath, confined for the first two decades of my life to a militarized magical compound.

The hum of sorcerer magic had made me think of Aiden, made me hope he’d returned unexpectedly. Just as I had each time one of his packages had been delivered since he left five months ago. At least I had finally learned to recognize the sound of the grocery delivery truck, so that I’d stopped springing hopefully to my feet every Tuesday afternoon. That had only taken a month. 

But unfortunately, though the two figures occupying the front seat of the SUV both appeared to have dark hair, their obvious hesitation over where to park made it clear I was about to be forced to interact with strangers.

Magically inclined strangers. Which was far more annoying than the occasional mundane who dropped by to ask a question about the farm stand or to introduce themselves. We’d been living in Lake Cowichan for over a year, but we were still considered newcomers.

I glanced over at the barn. The double front doors were closed, my Mustang safely sealed within. Since the temperature had started dropping to below freezing at night a few days earlier, Christopher had kept the barn closed up, concerned about the chicken eggs he was trying to hatch within.

In the thin layer of snow, I could clearly see two sets of prints leading from the back of the house around to the back of the barn. And for some reason, the evidence of Christopher and Paisley’s passing made me feel vulnerable. As did the fact that I’d felt the sorcerers’ magic from all the way down the drive. 

The house was set near the center of our two-hectare property, slightly closer to the main road at the north edge than the forested section that bordered the lake to the south. I picked up the tenor of magic from most Adepts easily — since I had to be able to feel magic in order to amplify or drain it. But distance, as well as the steel exterior of the SUV, should have dampened my range. That indicated that the uninvited visitors were powerful.

Still, if they’d come with ill intent, Christopher would have already seen it. The clairvoyant was almost impossible to block, especially since the number of Adepts who actually knew what sort of magic either of us wielded was an exceedingly short list.

I caught a glimpse of BC license plates as the SUV pulled up, parking with its driver’s-side door directly in line with the front path to the house. I stepped back from the window, grabbing my light-gray cardigan from the arm of the chair as I crossed into the front hall.

I shoved my disconcertion away as I tugged the lightly felted cashmere sleeves over my arms, then secured the top two buttons. I was more than a match for two sorcerers, even with my blades tucked away upstairs under my bed.

I paused, tugging my cotton socks off as I caught sight of the driver through the windowed front door. He’d paused to scan the property as he exited the SUV. The socks would be slippery on the varnished fir flooring if I had to move swiftly. I’d given in to the weather and opted for leggings under my calf-length dress. This far from the fire that Christopher kept constantly stoked, the wood floor was cool under my bare feet.

The first sorcerer looked achingly familiar, even in profile. Dark-navy suit, white dress shirt, no tie. Dark hair, medium-brown skin, just shy of six feet tall.

I tossed my rolled socks into the empty umbrella stand that Christopher had liberated from the attic and set in the corner by the front door, just in case we had any visitors during the rainy season. There hadn’t been any snow all winter so far, and according to the locals at the diner, the skiff we’d received the previous night was considered late in the season. And more was on its way.

Weather was a big deal in Canada, or at least in this tiny section of it. Christopher had taken the new cows we’d been free-ranging since the fall — an adult and two of her calves — over to the Wilsons’ farm so they could be indoors if the predicted snowstorm hit. Thankfully Paisley, who considered the cows her property, was preoccupied with the chicks that would be hatching imminently, so her protest over this temporary arrangement was short-lived.

I brushed away the feeling that I knew the sorcerer as I caught sight of his companion. Her long dark hair caught in a breeze that also stirred the winter-bare rose bushes lining the driveway. Her layered navy silk dress flared around her, revealing long legs and deeply golden-tanned skin.

She shivered, rubbing her arms and casting a disdainful gaze over the house. She wore dozens of multicolored bangles on each arm, and several different lengths and thicknesses of necklaces. Though I wasn’t sensitive to such magic, I didn’t doubt that the precious metal and gems of her jewelry thrummed with stored power.

The male sorcerer turned his attention to the front patio. I waited, tucked far enough down the hall that he wouldn’t catch sight of me until he climbed the stairs. Though I had no idea of his own magical sensitivity, of course. And my magic wasn’t something easily hidden away in pretty trinkets.

The female sorcerer said something to the driver, and he shook his head sharply. I couldn’t immediately catch the words through the single-paned glass. Then I realized they weren’t speaking English. Arabic, maybe?

The female’s tone turned argumentative but the male ignored her, climbing the stairs to the front patio.

I stepped up to the door. The sorcerer on the other side of the glass paused, hand raised to knock, locking his dark eyes to me through the window. His expression shifted, becoming speculative. Then he smiled tightly.

Though his skin was a shade or two darker, nose narrower, jaw slightly rounder, and his eyes were brown instead of blue — he looked like an older version of Aiden. A sorcerer of the Azar line was on my doorstep. Literally.

Which could have meant anything. Including that he was an emissary of the Collective.

Continue reading … July 23, 2019!!

– AMAZON – KOBO – APPLE BOOKS – B&N – SMASHWORDS –

Bonds and Broken Dreams by Meghan Ciana Doidge is the second novel in the Amplifier series, which is set in the Adept Universe along with the Dowser, the Oracle, and the Reconstructionist series.

Reading order of the Amplifier Series:

• The Amplifier Protocol (Amplifier 0)
• Close to Home (Amplifier 0.5) (currently bundled with Amplifier 0)
• Demons and DNA (Amplifier 1)
• Bonds and Broken Dreams (Amplifier 2)

RELEASES JULY 23, 2019 – PREORDER NOW AVAILABLE.

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