“Oh, never mind.” My mom waved him away. “Are there some little shops we can visit?”
“Yes. And tasting rooms, too.” Mr. Tom gave them directions to the main drag, just three blocks over. There wasn’t much to this small town, something I’d grown to like. If only a slower pace went with it. That was probably too much to ask for in my situation, though.
When my parents had turned the corner, I started forward as Ulric said, “They must think we are absolutely wackadoo. A bunch of guys wearing capes all the time?” Ulric laughed. “How can they rationalize that?”
“A cape is the very least of the things they have been rationalizing. The very least,” I said, making it to the door. I lifted my hand to knock but the door swung open before I could, revealing a woman of indeterminate middle age with bright red-orange hair pulled up to the top of her head and strands of ringlets draping her face. Lipstick that matched her hair colored her plump, heart-shaped lips, and a wide nose adorned her thin face.
“Hello.” Dual-colored eyes, one green and one blue, surveyed me for a moment before sticking to Austin’s shoulders. “Alpha. What a pleasure.”
She stepped back, allowing me to enter, her gaze staying put.
The building might’ve been the shell of a house, but the inside had been redone, a large space off to the left supported by beams with tables dotting the way and bookshelves lining the walls. A counter sat at the far corner, a cash register perched on the edge and the rest of the surface covered in bins stacked high. Crystals and colored rocks and candles covered every available space, organized in their bins or placed on their shelves, the whole place awash with color. Incense burned from the back, the smoke curling into the air before spreading out into a heinous-smelling fog.
The right side of the space was divided into two wooden stalls, the doorway covered with a curtain. I imagined tarot or fortunetelling went on in there.
“Please, come on back.” Agnes’s smile was hazy and her gaze didn’t leave Austin’s shoulders until she had to physically turn and lead the way to the back.
Through a hallway with more tables littered with crystals, we finally reached a small office with a desk covered in papers, two chairs facing it, and way too many plants. It was clear she used the same elixir that she sold to Edgar, and I wondered if she had a fear of basajaun eating all of her hard work as well.
“Jacinta, isn’t it?” Agnes walked around the desk and took a seat before clasping her fingers together and resting them on the desk. Her gaze found Austin’s shoulders again, roaming from one to the other and dipping toward his pecs in between. “I helped you with a forgetful elixir, I believe.”
“Yes.” I sat down in one of the chairs. Austin stood behind me, allowing Niamh to take the chair next to me. Mr. Tom stood behind her and the others waited in the hall. “Hello.”
“Yes, hello. I hear you have the greatest crystals of all.” Her gaze finally broke from Austin’s shoulders. “Tell me about them.”
“Is this…” I crinkled my nose within the predatory stare. “Is this part of the fee, or…”
“Agnes, we haven’t time for that,” Austin said. Her eyes zipped to his shoulders again. It was like she didn’t know he had a head. “We need help with a potion.”
“Hmm. I can’t do many potions. I don’t have the power; you know that.”
“We’re hoping you can possibly break down what this particular potion might be so that Jessie can create a counter-spell,” Edgar said, leaning in the door. “Hello, by the way.”
“Hi, Edgar. Lovely to see you, as always.” Even though she continued to trace Austin’s shoulders with her eyes, I could somehow tell she shifted her focus to me. “Edgar is my best customer, especially lately. Isn’t that right, Edgar?”
“Ivy House is your best customer, actually,” Edgar said. Mr. Tom sniffed as though annoyed. I wondered how much Edgar was actually spending, and if Mr. Tom had to pay for him, too.
“So then.” Agnes smiled, and I didn’t know how Austin wasn’t weirded out by the attention he was getting. In fairness to her, though, he did have a great set of shoulders. “What sort of potion are we thinking about?”
I described what’d I’d seen and then Austin described the lack of traceability.
“Hmmm,” Agnes said, and looked at an old-school corded telephone at the corner of her desk. The styling might’ve come from the forties but quite a bit fancier, with cheaper-looking metal, a new product meant to look retro. “That is much too advanced for me. I bet my cousin’s friend would know. Hold on.”
She lifted the receiver from the cradle before slipping a pink nail into the hole and pulling the dial around, a system that took ages. The number finally in, she pushed a little button behind the leg that was definitely a modern addition. Ringing erupted from a speaker somewhere in the base of the phone.
“Yeah,” a man answered in a gruff tone.
“Harlan, honey, it’s Agnes.”
“Hey,” he responded. “How are you?”
“Good, love. I’m sitting here with the new alpha of my town and the mistress of Ivy House…”
“No sh— Are you serious? The mistress of Ivy House? What’s she like? Have you seen her do any magic?”
“No, babe, though I’ll mention that you’re on speakerphone. Listen, I was wondering if you could help us out.” She relayed what we had gone over.
“The house can sense people, huh? Wow. That’s a trip.” He blew out a breath. “Hiding someone’s smell and tracks through an elixir is nothing. You know that.”
“Yes,” she replied, “but I can’t weave in invisibility. The gargoyle in the sky said the deer just disappeared.”
“You’ve got gargoyles, too? That town is starting to heat up. I might need to visit…”
“The new alpha is sitting right here,” she said, and her tone suggested he better zip the lip in case he pissed Austin off somehow.
“Got it,” the guy said. “How much do you trust the eyesight of that gargoyle? Because that is incredibly advanced potion making with a sh—sorry—buttload of power.”
“So you can weave all that together?” I asked, leaning forward.
The line went quiet for a moment. “Oh God, is that her?” he whispered. “Did the mistress of Ivy House just speak to me?”
“Hi, I’m Jacinta,” I said. “Jessie, if you want.”
The guy’s whispered voice increased in pitch. “Did she just ask me to call her a nickname?”
“How old is this lad?” Niamh asked exasperatedly.
“Mentally? Not very,” Agnes said with a smile.
The guy cleared his throat. “Yeah, so a powerful enough mage can…weave all of that together. He or she can create a potion of invisibility, though it doesn’t negate sound, usually. You won’t be able to smell them, or see their tracks, or see them, but very few people in the world can also cut out the sound. It’s one of those strange little magical phenomena.”
“What about disappearing from the house itself?” Agnes asked. “Or glowing?”
“Uhhmm…” The man paused. “No, that has to be something different. You know what, my buddy’s new girlfriend figures out spells. I bet she could help.”
After I’d thanked him, we were given the number for his buddy Donald, who then gave us the number of his new girlfriend. Once we were connected to her, the story was told yet again. The quickness and ease with which she made sense of everything had me wishing we’d called her first.
“A simple elixir for masking tracks and smell can be layered over virtually any spell or potion if the elixir is made with enough power,” the woman said, her voice quiet and reserved. “Given everything else you are saying, this mage has the power. I would guess that the elixir to disguise smell and tracks ran out at the point you were able to smell him, obviously, and he had to drink another. If you could see the…intruder at first, and then they disappeared when they drank another potion, I’d bet there are two potions and one elixir. There is the potion masking the
person’s signature from the house, which is layered with the elixir masking scent and footprints, and the potion for masking sight, scent, footprints and maybe smell, depending on the mage. Two potions and a high-powered elixir would be incredibly expensive to buy, and take a master at least a couple of days to make, though he or she could probably make a decent batch size with each. Maybe enough for four people.”
“Do you think you can figure out how to make any of those?” Austin asked.
“The elixir and invisibility, yes. Easily. That’s just a matter of looking it up. The first spell that made the deer glow… I’ll do some research. I can’t promise anything, but…”
Agnes beamed. “Fantastic! I have all the faith in you.”
“Listen,” the woman said. “A mage that can do all of this, or someone that can afford to buy these types of high-powered potions, is incredibly dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. You need to try to see your way out of their affairs as quickly as you can. You don’t want to get mixed up with anyone of this caliber.”
A tense beat of silence filled the room. Austin’s hand rested on my shoulder.
I pushed the hair out of my face. “Too late now. I’ve accepted the magic. There is no going back.”
Twelve
I nearly fell through the door, I was so tired.
“She’s gonna get it done, don’t you worry, Jessie,” Niamh said, following me into the house. The others trailed behind us, except my parents, who had, thankfully, stayed downtown to shop and taste wine. “Ye know what, I never realized just how little I knew about her until this afternoon.”
“Just think, if you’d gotten better acquainted earlier, you could’ve had a friend all this time,” Ulric said.
“Not a hope,” she replied, the house almost sounding hollow without the noise from the TV spilling out of the sitting room. “She is much too chipper and sweet for me. All the smiles put me in a foul mood.”
“Your very existence puts you in a foul mood,” Mr. Tom said, straightening a painting in the hall.
“That is because I have to share that existence with ye, ya miserable old goat,” she replied. “Now pull yer socks up, unless ye want to be fired from another butler gig.”
He looked down at his feet. “I’ll kindly ask you to leave my socks out of it.” He paused. “You can’t even see them!”
“It means get ta work. That auld mammy is running circles around ya, boy. She’s handling the whole house with a smile, so she is. Jessie is probably rethinking having yer sad sack loafing around.”
“Oh my God, please don’t start at each other right now. I cannot handle it.” I rubbed my temples and stopped outside the front sitting room, the one we usually used to discuss business or just hang out. We had a ton of stuff to work through. Agnes’s contact was working on the potions, so that was out of our hands for the time being, but I had to work out guard schedules for the gargoyles within Ivy House, not to mention those staying in the hotel. Should we scatter them through the wood as lookouts? Edgar had been tasked with researching ways to circumvent Ivy House’s magic, since the house admitted to me last night before I went to bed that she did know of this issue from the past, but didn’t have a solution for me to fix it. She said she’d help Edgar in any way she could, but she didn’t have a recipe for a counter-spell. Talking that out was probably necessary, since information had to exist somewhere, or how did Elliot Graves know?
But at this particular moment in time? I just couldn’t be bothered. I was too exhausted.
“Mr. Tom, can you make me a snack or something?” I asked. “I’m going into my private sitting room.”
It hadn’t started out as a private sitting room, but it was small, in a seldom-traversed back corner of the house, and everyone left me alone when I used it. Within the last couple months, I’d started calling it what it had become.
“Of course, miss. I’ll be in directly. Would you like a snack for one, or…” He looked between Austin and me.
I wanted Austin’s company, if only because he had some immensely broad shoulders to lean on, as Agnes had clearly noticed, but I did not feel like putting myself out there to ask. Fatigue and frustration had a way of bringing out my vulnerability. I didn’t think leaders let their subordinates (the new gargoyles) see them cry on the cusp of battle, especially when it was over something as trivial as a guy not accepting an invite to join them for a sit and a think.
I shrugged and didn’t comment, starting off down the hall, my mind spinning.
“For three,” Austin said. “I’m hungry.”
My eyes teared up in relief. I was a mess right now. I needed sleep.
When I stepped into the sitting room, the comforting smell of books greeted me, the small bookcase at my back holding my favorite volumes and a bunch of books on my to-be-read list. The actual house library was a great place to read, but it didn’t offer the sense of comfort and seclusion this space did. I sighed as I sank into my favorite chair, the sun filtering in through the open window shades doing little to lighten my spirits.
Austin closed the door behind him before lowering into the chair opposite me. He propped his feet on the ottoman, crossed his ankles, and then entwined his fingers on his lap. His gaze drifted out the window to match mine, but he let the silence linger.
“Thanks,” I said softly, watching the leaves wiggle on a large oak. “I wanted quiet, but didn’t really want to be alone.”
“Understandable. Dealing with this situation is a lot, especially with your parents already here.
I filled my lungs to bursting and then let the breath out slowly, feeling my muscles relax a little with the exhale. Not enough, though.
“I’m just…” My eyes teared up again. “I’m freaking tired, Austin.” A tear escaped, and I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand. “I’m tired of this crap. If Elliot wants a piece of me, why doesn’t he just show up and meet me face to face? Or attack the house or something? I hate all this stealth and secrecy. It’s exhausting. I still don’t even know how to work most of my magic. I am absolutely zero threat to someone like that, and whatever the proprietor of this house might’ve been to the magical world back in the day, it’s not like that anymore. I’m a nobody with a weird, half-formed crew, no clue about politics, and no desire to do anything but hang out in this town and live in peace. Why doesn’t he just go away? I can’t help him. In fact, you know what? I’m going to write him a letter to tell him exactly that. Quit bothering me—I cannot help you.”
More tears dripped down, and I batted them away furiously, annoyed that I was breaking down. Frustrated that I felt so helpless.
“The one thing I had going for me was Ivy House’s protective magic,” I continued, sobs threatening, “and now Graves—or someone—has found a way around it. And maybe I could work the defenses myself and do okay, but against two groups? Or even one spread-out group? I have to see the enemy to use the defenses, and if there are too many, I won’t be able to. No matter how vigilant you and the others are, you can’t be here all the time. I’m wide open. Now that he knows he can get someone onto my land without anyone noticing, what’s to stop him from sending a mage? He won’t send a weak one this time.” I wiped away more tears, fear rolling through me. “I’m not strong enough for this, Austin.”
He rose from his chair, crossed the small space, lifted me into his arms, then returned to his spot and sat back down with me in his lap like I was a child. I didn’t resist. Couldn’t. The sobs bubbled up and overflowed, racking my body, pouring out all of my uncertainty and helplessness and exhaustion. He wrapped his strong arms around me and held me close, my face buried in his neck.
Finally, when the sobs died down and his neck was wet with my tears, he spoke.
“You are more than just this house.” His voice vibrated through his chest in a low hum. “You are insightful, an incredibly fast learner, and already amazing with your magic after such a short period of time. What you’ve learned in months dwarfs what most magical people learn in years
. Most importantly, you are courageous. When you were kidnapped a few months ago, you didn’t sit down and wait to be rescued. You kept calm and made a friend of the basajaun, one of the most dangerous creatures in our world. You did that, not Ivy House. The mages figured out a way to cut you off from the house, yet you still triumphed. You are incredible all by yourself, Jess. Ivy House chose you because it knew it would be safe with you, not the other way around.”
I shook my head, pushing away a little. “I wouldn’t have been able to escape those mages without Ivy House, and I wouldn’t have been able to escape that cage without you.”
“Because you’re still learning. Every student relies on their teachers. It’s the way things should be. And that brings me to my second point. Ivy House isn’t the only defense you have. You have me. Through me, you have this town. I’m still in the planning stages, but when I’m done, Ivy House will be your keep within my castle. I’ll pack my territory with so much power that even Elliot Graves will think twice about going through me to get to you.
“Until then, you have a fearless crew, and we would all lay down our lives to see you safe. As soon as Agnes’s uncle’s drinking buddy’s cousin’s girlfriend or whoever”—he paused for my laugh—“lands on the type of spell the deer used, or even an idea of how it works, you and Edgar will figure out how to tear it down. I have every faith that this is in your wheelhouse. It’s just another challenge to help you grow. We all need a spur in the side sometimes, and I think this is yours.” He ran his fingers across my temple before tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “When you do find a way to counter that potion, you can wait to use it until his people get good and close to Ivy House, assuming he sends more of them. Then you can tear away their protections and let Ivy House deal with them in the most gruesome ways she conjures up. You can let her have vengeance. Instead of a letter to Elliot, you can send a head.”
I widened my eyes. “Wow. That devolved into unspeakable violence quickly.”
His smile was slight and his eyes were full of warmth. “Welcome to the magical world, where there are penalties for bullying.”
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