Siphon Magic

by Alicia Fabel

  “I gave you my cloaking charm.” Vera grabbed the rock wall to stay upright. “You’re safe. I won’t let you go out there and die.” Vera tapped her charm, now resting against Gage’s chest. “Tuck that under your shirt.”

  “Vera,” started Kale.

  “This is my decision. I didn’t get to decide what I did when you…” Vera closed her eyes, trying to block out her new memory. “But I do now.”

  Kale clenched his jaw and didn’t say a word. She’d made sure he couldn’t object, in the most effective way she could. Stars help me, she’s right. He’d have to figure out a way to keep her alive without the charm.

  “You wore a cloak?” Gage looked at Vera wide-eyed. “What are you?”

  “No idea. If you figure it out, let me know,” Vera said lightly.

  She wobbled. Kale scooped her up before she hit the ground. Mitch and the Maiden were upon them. If Kale had to run, he would, but for Vera’s sake, he hoped he wouldn’t have to. Although Kale had healed her, Vera’s body needed as much rest as if she’d healed naturally. Running from a siphon-hunting mob would not be ideal.

  “How am I supposed to keep you safe now?” Kale asked Vera quietly.

  “Maybe you can’t.” Vera blinked long. “I’m not human anymore. So as long as I don’t slurp from someone else’s slushy I’ll be fine, right?”

  “As long as nothing unlucky happens,” Kale said.

  “I’m always unlucky.”

  “That’s why I’m very worried right now,” Kale said seriously.

  Vera didn’t respond. She was asleep.

  Vera knocked on Liah’s door. Kale had tried getting Vera to go back to sleep but she’d refused. There was no way she could sleep, knowing that Liah could be Earth’s threadbearer. The woman could be all that stood between a maniacal witch and the destruction of Vera’s people. And Liah was in danger so sleep would wait. Seeing Vera’s determination, Kale had stepped aside without further discussion. So far, the topic of Kale’s memories had not come up, for which Vera was glad. While Kale had always been brutally honest about his past, seeing it had been an entirely different thing. Not even being thrown out of her own realm had made Vera feel so completely unbalanced. The world had just tipped beneath her feet.

  On top of that, guilt for how Vera had unfairly judged the world gnawed at her. She’d been willing to condemn the world for banishing her people and throwing away the key. Her self-righteous anger was dampened now, though. All it had taken was the smallest glimpse of the atrocities her people had committed. Vera was ashamed of the monster she carried within her. Siphons had not wanted respect and rights, they’d wanted to torture the world, to make it bleed. They’d enjoyed doing it too. Siphons happily became monsters, relishing the bloodshed and violation of the people who’d repressed them. For the first time, Vera understood why the world felt the only option was to lock siphons away for good. It wasn’t hard to understand why, even after all these centuries, a witch might decide to unleash a horde on the people who’d caused so much destruction. Or possibly want to drop their realm from the world altogether.

  Vera knocked again, louder, wondering if Liah was asleep. The woman was not supposed to leave her apartment so she should be there. When the betrayer came for Liah, Kale and Vera would be waiting for her. While Vera no longer wanted her people unleashed upon the world, she also didn’t think they deserved extermination. Once they stopped the witch and wiped out the horde, Vera would go back home, enroll in school, and live her life as she’d planned. She’d forget about Summartir, the meadow, and all things magic. She’d leave the world in peace from her and her kind.

  “Let me try,” Kale said.

  Vera stepped aside. Kale knocked loudly, then jiggled the doorknob. It was locked.

  “Liah,” Kale called, but there was no response. “Something is wrong. She should’ve answered by now.”

  Kale threw his shoulder and hip into the door. The frame cracked. One more time and the door fell open. Vera followed Kale inside. They passed the sitting area, taking the hallway to the right. The first open door led to a small room with two empty cradles. Kale crashed through the door at the end of the hall. Liah lay on the bed, choking on vomit and foam. One of Liah’s arms hung off the bed, fingers stained purple from the berries that lay scattered across the floor. Kale rolled Liah onto her side and used a blanket to wipe her face, before removing the soiled material.

  “She’s tried to kill herself,” Kale said. “Those are belladonna berries.”

  “Should I get a healer?” asked Vera.

  “They can’t save her now. It’s too late,” Kale said.

  “Can you save her?” Vera asked.

  “No.” Kale sat on the bed beside the dying witch.

  “Yes, you can,” Vera argued.

  “She already doesn’t want to live.” Kale ran a hand through his hair. “How can I save her only to bring her mind more torment?”

  “But what about the thread. And her son.”

  “I’ll protect the Maiden. The sure-threads will hold, your realm will be safe.” Kale’s voice broke. “Whatever you saw today, I promise there’s worse. If you’d seen the worst, you would not be standing beside me now. I cannot do that to Liah. It would destroy her.”

  Vera’s heart fell. “Kale, you once found sisters hiding under a bed during an unnatural attack on their village. Do you remember that? A baby girl and an older girl.”

  “The older girl asked for the baby to be spared in exchange for her own life.”

  “I saw what happened to the older girl. How I… You threw her to one of those monsters without a second thought.” Tears fell down Vera’s cheeks. “What happened to the baby?”

  Kale stared silently at Liah, who convulsed.

  “What happened to her?” Vera’s voice rose. She fell to her knees to look up into Kale’s eyes.

  “I squeezed her neck until she blacked out. Until her bulging eyes fell closed. Then I shoved her into a flour sack and gave her to the first creature I found—a dragon.”

  “Save my son too,” Liah gurgled.

  “Your son will be safe,” Kale promised.

  “No—" Liah gagged and gasped for breath.

  “We’ll make sure he’s safe.” Vera placed her hand on Liah’s forehead. “She’s so warm.”

  Kale frowned and placed his hand on Liah’s cheek. “She’s cold to the touch.”

  “No, she’s burning up.” Vera touched Liah with her other hand to be sure.

  Heat spread up Vera’s arm. Sweat beaded Vera’s brow. As soon as Vera pulled back, the warmth was gone, and Vera shivered from the loss of heat. Kale reached out and touched Vera’s hair. Surprised, Vera jerked away, and Kale lowered his hand.

  “Did you fall asleep beside me after I was poisoned?” Kale asked suddenly.

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Vera blushed.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Kale said. “Try resting your forehead against Liah’s. Trust me, okay?”

  Vera hesitated before raising to her knees and leaning forward to press her forehead to Liah’s. She felt silly. As soon as their skin met, it felt like the room was a sauna. Sweat beaded across Vera’s skin. She started to pull away from Liah, but Kale urged her to wait. Using a clean blanket, Kale wiped away the sweat as it formed. Vera felt drowsy. Her eyes dipped closed.

  “Whoa, that’s enough,” Kale said, catching Vera as she slid away.

  Slipping an arm under Vera’s knees and one behind her head, Kale swept Vera into his lap, cradling her to his chest. Vera yawned and blinked sleepily, too tired to protest. Liah placed a hand on her forehead and pushed herself into a semi-seated position.

  “Well, I think that answers some questions we’ve had,” mused Kale. “Look at that, Liah’s hands are clear now too. I’m going to take a wild guess and say your secret has something to do with the unusual Monroe men.”

  Liah’s eyes widened. “I was going to tell you. You already know?”

  “Yeah, Gag
e saved me from an octopus-alligator. Octogator.” Vera giggled. “But then I saved him too. He used magic, but I used a stick. A slug-stick.” Vera looked up at Kale and giggled again. “I feel funny.”

  “You’ll feel better after you’ve slept it off,” Kale said with a sad smile.

  “I have to find my son.” Liah struggled to get untangled from the bedding then swayed and held the sides of her head.

  “The poison is gone, but the damage it caused is still there,” Kale said. “You need to rest and heal. I’ll bring you your son later.”

  “You don’t understand,” Liah wailed. “The fox will get him. If you know about the Monroe witches, so does the fox.”

  “Liah, is your son a witch?” asked Kale.

  “He has my magic now. I knew the fox would come for me.”

  “We’ll make sure the fox doesn’t come,” Kale said.

  “The fox is already here,” Liah insisted. “She shoved the berries down my throat. I didn’t care because I don’t have what she wants.”

  “She? The fox is a woman?” asked Kale

  Liah placed both hands over her mouth, and then whispered between her fingers, “I was not supposed to tell you that. The fox will be angry.”

  “Are you a threadbearer, Liah?” asked Kale

  “Not anymore.”

  “Who has your son, Liah? I’ll go get him.” Kale rose with Vera in his arms.

  “He’s with Calla. They were going to feed the chickens. My little boy loves feeding the chickens.”

  “Go. Leave me here with Liah,” said Vera.

  “I can’t leave you,” argued Kale.

  “Well, I can’t go. Those green swirls are making me dizzy.” Vera tracked the green swirls floating in front of her with her eyes.

  “She can rest here,” said Liah. “I’ll watch over her. I do not wish her harm.”

  “Truth,” Vera slurred.

  Kale lowered Vera to the bed. She curled up contentedly.

  “Lock the bedroom door. I broke your front door.” Kale strode from the room, and Liah did as instructed.

  “You aren’t crazy, are you?” asked Vera.

  “It depends on who you ask,” answered Liah.

  “I thought you were crazy. You talk nonsense.”

  “When you have to be careful not to speak the wrong words because things are listening for those words, what you say does sound like nonsense.”

  “I told Gage about puppies,” Vera said. “But I didn’t tell him about kitties.”

  “Now you sound crazy like me.”

  “Kale would be angry. He’s always angry. But I’m angry at him too.”

  “You should not be angry with him.”

  “I am angry with him.” Vera lifted a hand to trace a line of violet light that came to play with the green.

  “That story about the little girl he gave to a dragon, I know that story,” said Liah. “Do you want me to tell it to you my way?”

  “I already know it. I don’t like that story.” Vera turned her back on the witch.

  “I’m going to tell you anyway.” Liah was as stubborn as Vera. “A very long time ago, there was a little girl who lived in a sorcerer’s village. The little girl’s father was very sick. She had to feed him and buy him medicine, so she worked the only way a little girl could. Soon her father was dead anyway, and the little girl had a tiny girl of her own. The world was becoming a scary place then. The little mother used to climb into the hills and pray that someone would take her tiny girl away and give her a better life. A dragon lived in those hills, you see. He’d listen to the little mother. Finally, the evil came to the little girl’s village. The little mother begged mercy from an unlikely place—the most feared man in all the world. When he could’ve turned his back, the man let the little mother sacrifice herself to save her baby. The man took the baby into the hills and gave her to the dragon. The dragon saw the man’s goodness. It was buried deep inside, never snuffed out. If a fire could survive in that man through all that he’d seen and done, the dragon knew there might be hope for the world after all.”

  “The dragon flew the baby girl to the home of a past lover, a witch in Summartir Kingdom. When it was time to unravel the world, the witch found the man who’d saved the baby. He became the Guardian. The only man whose fire was strong enough to be tied to the meadow. The world was almost completely destroyed by then, but what little remained after all those evil years, survived because of him. The tiny girl was not tiny anymore. She stayed in Summartir and had a tiny boy. She learned to care for the chickens and serve the triads well. That family is my family. The Monroes.”

  “Kale saved the baby.” Vera like that story better. “But everyone is scared of him.”

  “He’s a scary man,” said Liah.

  “I don’t think he’s scary. I think he’s a jerk.”

  “Yes,” laughed Liah. “I noticed. Just remember that under the Guardian’s hard demeanor burns the fire of a man who helped save the world. The same fire the dragon saw. It’s buried, but not as deep as it once was. I think you’re good for him.”

  The apartment door crashed open. Liah turned to place herself between the bedroom door and Vera. The doorknob twisted. The lock did not stop it. When the door opened, Maiden stood on the other side.

  “Kalesius said I’d find you together,” said Maiden.

  “They will stop you,” Liah spat.

  Black mist gathered around Maiden’s fingers, dripping to the floor. The tendrils stretched up and snapped around Liah’s mouth and nose. It wrapped around each of Liah’s limbs and yanked her to her hands and knees. Liah didn’t struggle. The crazy witch looked defiantly up at the High Maiden.

  “What are you doing?” Vera tried to stand, but the room lurched, throwing her off her feet. “You shouldn’t do that to her.”

  Maiden tipped her head. “My, my, Vera. You have changed since I first met you. I wish I’d realized sooner that you were cloaked. It made things very complicated for me.” Maiden reached up and pulled off one glove, finger by finger, to reveal a palm covered in brands shaped like Cassie’s bloodstone. Maiden pointed to one of the marks. “That one was supposed to go to you. Not to fear, though, I’ll give you the next one, now that your siphon is uncaged.”

  “How do you know what I am?” Vera swayed.

  “The Crone cursed the gate so siphons could not get through,” Maiden explained. “To stop me from getting my hands on another one. I was very grateful for the Guardian pulling you through, except you didn’t feel like a siphon. I thought he must be wrong about the gate attacking you, but he wasn’t, was he?”

  Liah convulsed as the Maiden’s mist cut off her air. Vera crawled across the floor and tried to pull Liah from the mist but she couldn’t.

  “Stop. Please,” Vera begged.

  Maiden did not listen. Vera wrapped her hands around a tendril of magic. A piece pulled away and sank into Vera’s hands. It slunk up her arms like roaches skittering beneath her skin. Panicking, Vera snatched the mist and flung it away. It smacked against the Maiden, and the High Witch absorbed it. Maiden’s eyes widened at Vera. Liah stopped struggling. Her body stilled, her eyes stared blankly ahead as the mist retreated. Maiden’s smile grew sharper then turned brittle.

  “I’d really thought she was one of the final threadbearers.” Maiden sighed coldly. “But it’s not all a waste, I have you now. You’re even more useful than I realized. Not even the Guardian can save you from our laws now that you’ve murdered a witch.”

  “But I didn’t,” Vera protested.

  “That’s not what it will seem like. A word of warning, if you mention that you’re a siphon, the Monroes will kill you outright. So I’d keep that to yourself. And don’t say a word against me, or I’ll show them what you are myself. They won’t believe a siphon over me.”

  The Maiden’s mist spiraled up Vera’s arms and legs and sank into her skin. The last of the effects of Liah’s poison dissipated. Vera’s head cleared. Maiden snatched the bloodstone fro
m the floor near Liah’s open mouth.

  “No,” cried the Maiden dramatically. “The outsider killed Liah!” Maiden winked at Vera. Tugging her glove back on, Maiden yelled until a mob of Monroe men and women rushed into the apartment. Witches gathered at the front. Maiden made a show of holding Vera off with her magic, but the witch wasn’t actually using a drop of magic against her. It wasn’t necessary. She had Vera trapped.

  Mitch shoved his way through the crowd.

  “I came to visit Liah, and that girl was strangling her.” Maiden held the bloodstone up to show the Monroes as proof.

  “Did you kill Liah?” Mitch asked Vera.

  Vera pinched her lips together, staring at Liah’s lifeless hand.

  “The bloodstone will find her,” said one of the witches who had healed Mitch.

  Immediately, the women in the room hummed as one. The Maiden began to murmur the words that would supposedly send the stone to the murderer. Vera knew that would not happen this time. The burning of the brand on Vera’s hand confirmed it. There was no way to ignore the searing pain. Vera clutched her hand to her chest and screamed. Mitch’s shoulders slumped as he looked between the Maiden and Vera. He turned to leave the room, not needing to see the rest to know the stone had found its mark in Vera. When the chanting subsided, hate-filled faces surrounded Vera. Only Kale bursting into the room held them off.

  “What is happening here?” Kale demanded. “Vera?”

  The Monroes parted, leaving the Guardian a path to Vera. Kale walked forward, and they filled back in behind him. Standing in front of Vera, Kale looked over Liah’s body. His eyes dipped to Vera’s scarred hand.

  “You are convicted of murdering a witch,” Kale said darkly.

  Vera glanced at Maiden, and then nodded.

  “Stand,” Kale commanded Vera.

  “She deserves to face the triads for her crimes,” said Maiden to Kale. “Not a quick execution.”

  Vera’s heart dropped. She hadn’t even thought of that. She’d become a threat to an outside realm. Kale had the responsibility of killing her for that. Vera quaked as Kale stared her down, deliberating her fate. Then his face softened, and he rolled his eyes in exasperation.