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“Well, fortunately, I can at least shut this one down now.”

“Oh?”

“It’s not as charged and I can axe the portal’s connection from here. I will need the big work case.”

“I’ll fetch it for you.”

“Thank you.” I didn’t dare move from this spot in case someone came in here and got too close.

He doubled back down the stairs and I was able to turn, find Borrowman coming back up them. “How’s the poor guy?”

“In shock, but relieved to be finally free. Paramedics have him. Jon cleared him real quick for me, the guy was obviously not a willing participant.”

“I doubt anyone would voluntarily host a dead man’s soul.”

“Ha, yeah, can’t think of many people willing to do that.” Borrowman peeked over my shoulder. “That looks like the other one.”

“It is, but I can dismantle this one. Give me about an hour.”

“I’ll leave it to you, I’ve got other things to handle.”

I heard someone calling for him downstairs, let him go. I’d need to follow up with him later, tell him he couldn’t keep any part of this power bank for evidence, it was too volatile to even sit in an evidence locker. I was grateful I’d packed lead foil and iron boxes, just in case.

Otherwise, I’d be very much fucked.

I knew I was a master and all, but was it wrong of me to want to call my master and ask him to metaphorically hold my hand as I dealt with this madness?

9

The case was hardly wrapped up with Powell and company being in custody, of course. I still had to undo all of his mess. The next morning, I went back to the hospital, undoing portals one by one until my eyes crossed. Lachlan was kept up-to-date via texts, and relayed information to me as he got it, but what it sounded like was the police had this well in hand. I focused on my part of the job.

I returned to Jon and Donovan’s house that night, ate a delicious dinner—truly, Jon was a good cook— rested, slept, and then went right back at it the next morning. Rinse and repeat for five days.

Being a chaos magician sounded glamorous and all up until people realized some of my work was like this—repetitive, time sensitive, and very finicky. I’d love to blast the power bank to smithereens, but I didn’t dare. It would be akin to setting off a nuclear bomb.

When I finally had the last portal undone, the coma patient back to rights, I blew out a long breath of relief. Thank fucking god. I felt so done in, I didn’t even want to think about portals for the next decade.

You’d think that would be easily done, but unfortunately, there were more portals on Earth than you’d imagine. More than I wanted to imagine, anyway.

Lachlan slid an arm around my waist, letting me lean against him, which I truly appreciated. I was physically worn out at this point. Having to lean over someone’s bed at that forty degree angle was murder on my back after five damn days.

“Leannan, otsukare,” he murmured against my forehead.

The mix of languages made me smile. He was really serious about learning something of Japanese. (I think he was mostly doing it to understand my rants when things go wrong.)

“Otsukare,” I returned, meaning it. He’d worked just as hard as I had. “And I need a massage.”

“I’ll give you one,” he promised, already pulling me gently towards the door. “For now, one stop, then you can finish dismantling the whole thing.”

I had no idea what he meant for a moment but then realized the obvious. Groaning, I protested, “Must I go to the station now?”

“Would you rather have it hang overhead, then?”

Man had a good point. Capitulating, I sighed and finished packing my tools back into my suitcase. The focusing crystal alone had to be very carefully put into its Styrofoam as I didn’t need those sharp points crumbling. It would destroy the focus. You’d think stone wouldn’t be so easily impacted by hauling it around, but alas. Experience taught me otherwise.

Lachlan grabbed suitcase to tow, and I stepped out of the room ahead of him, only to find the hospital director hovering at the nurses station. The second she spied me, she hustled closer. Poor woman was wearing herself thin monitoring me, so it was a relief for both of us when I said, “I’m done. That was the last of them. I expect this patient to recover fine.”

Hand over her heart, she breathed out. “Thank you so much. I’ll submit a payment once I receive your invoice.”