For Love or Magic

by Lucy March

  Something was going to have to be done. Hell if I knew what, though.

  I felt a warm hand at the base of my back and turned to see Desmond behind me. Silently, he took my hand and led me through the hallway, into Liv’s kitchen. He settled me down on one of the chairs at the Formica table, and then went about fixing coffee.

  “I am enough of a realist to know that asking you to get some sleep will do no good,” he said, “so it would make me feel better if I could at least make you something to eat.”

  “What about you?” I said. “You’ve got to be just as exhausted as I am.”

  “I’m British,” he shot back dryly. “We don’t tire. Toast?”

  I wasn’t hungry, but I nodded. He seemed to need something to do, and I could take a few bites of toast without throwing up. Probably.

  “I keep running it through my head,” I said. “What is it about the wild magic that makes me immune? And how can we give that to everyone else?”

  Desmond sighed. “It could be anything. Without trials and controls, we can’t possibly test for anything.” He popped bread in the toaster and went to get a mug from the cabinet. “Cream? Sugar?”

  “Black,” I said. “To go with my mood.”

  Desmond put a cup of coffee in front of me, and I rose up and took a sip. My stomach didn’t want anything, but I knew he needed to feed me, so I let him. I raised my head and looked at him. “How are you?”

  He looked away, and headed toward the toaster. “Me? I’m fine.”

  I got up and followed him. “It happened? Your magic?”

  Desmond’s entire body stiffened, and I had the answer to my question. He turned to face me. “You can’t worry about me, Eliot.”

  “Of course I’m going to worry about you, you idiot.” I touched my hand to his face. “What kind of magic is it? Creative, perception, source?”

  “Perception,” he said. “I briefly made Amber’s room look like a forest. It was just for a moment and controlled, and no one else saw, so let’s just let it go for now.”

  “Perception is the best one to have,” I said. “It requires the least amount of magical energy. But still. You took a potion, right?”

  Desmond didn’t respond until the toaster popped, at which point he said, “Oh, look. Toast.”

  “Desmond—”

  “I’m not having any ill effects.” Desmond made himself busy with the toast. “I’m not light-headed, nothing has happened out of my control, and I haven’t used my magic since the initial event.” He picked up the paper plate with the toast on it and guided me back to the kitchen table. “Don’t worry. I’m monitoring the situation.”

  “Yes, but you realize that they all need you, right? It’s like that thing on the plane, put the oxygen mask on yourself first? We can’t help these people without you.”

  Desmond shrugged. “Stacy is quite capable—”

  I grabbed his hand. “I can’t do it without you.” I stared down at our hands, fingers intertwined, and my mind went blank with panic. “If anything happens to you, I won’t be able to do anything. You’re my rock. I’m leaning on you, and if you—”

  “Shhhh.” He pulled me up into his arms and held me. “I’m fine. I promise you, if I start to show symptoms, I will take a potion. But we have too few to use them indiscriminately. I just need you to trust me.” He pulled back and put his hands on either side of my face. “Can you do that?”

  Before I could form a verbal answer, I felt it in my bones. Yes. And at first, it shocked me. I had loved men before. I loved my father. I had loved Judd. But I’d never trusted anyone, not until now. Not until Desmond. I never even noticed how easy it had been to share everything of myself with him. I’d never had that with Judd, even on our best days.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  He gave me a surprised look. “For what?”

  “For telling me that stupid story about your Kentucky upbringing,” I said. “For believing me when I told you I wasn’t in league with my father. For bringing that stupid picture of Judd back to me. For telling me my dog was deaf. For being … I don’t know. For being you, you big idiot.”

  He smiled. “Are we making our touching confessions now? I apologize. I haven’t prepared any remarks.”

  “God, you really do get more British when things get intense, don’t you?”

  He laughed. Our eyes met, and the world seemed to calm around us. I could hear a gentle breeze, and … crickets?

  I glanced around, and we were no longer in Liv’s kitchen. Well, we were, I knew we were, but it didn’t look like Liv’s kitchen. Dancing lights zipped around us; not fireflies, but fairies. Below us, the floor appeared to be moss, and above us, the ceiling had turned into a canopy of tree leaves, with twinkling stars peeking through.

  “Desmond,” I breathed, my heart starting to pound.

  “Don’t worry. It’s not out of control. I feel fine.” He held his hand up between us, and I could see orange ropes of smoky light dancing around his fingertips. “I just wanted a moment … something special … just us…”

  He took my face in his hands and kissed me, at first soft and sweet, and then with more urgency. We both knew this might be the last moment we had, just the two of us, and even with things left unsaid and half said, it was perfect.

  When we pulled back, the kitchen was a kitchen again, with the exception of one tiny little fairy, glowing orange and flying around us, which disappeared a moment later.

  I smiled up at Desmond and touched his face. “You’re a big idiot.”

  He kissed my nose, then turned me toward the table and patted my behind. “Eat your toast.”

  *

  Two hours later, on the brink of sunrise, Tobias carried Liv through the front door. Her arms were draped around his neck, and at first it looked like maybe she had just fallen asleep at the end of what must have been an exhausting night searching the town for wayward magicals, but once I saw the look on Tobias’s face, I knew there was more to it than that. The yellow magical sparks that zipped around the tips of Liv’s fingers were lazy and sputtering, like a light that’s about to go out for good. Desmond and I followed Tobias up the stairs to Liv’s room, where he put her on the bed and sat next to her, holding her hand.

  “She just collapsed. She wasn’t even using her magic. It was so quick.”

  Desmond and I exchanged looks. It was time.

  “I’ll go get my bag,” Desmond said, rushing out and heading to Amber’s room, where all the supplies were at the moment. I touched Tobias’s shoulder.

  “Desmond has potions that can help,” I said, hoping that they would work as well on Liv as they had on Amber, but we hadn’t tried it on a natural magical yet, so who the hell knew? “It’ll be okay.”

  “I know what happened in Lott’s Cove,” Tobias said, his voice monotone as he watched Liv. “Everyone in ASF knew. When your father got here, I received an assignment to keep an eye on him. I wouldn’t have left Liv, and ASF wouldn’t have taken me out of town, not when they had a sleeper agent right here. I must have found out something—”

  “Which is why Emerson kidnapped you.” Of course he had. Of course he had. And I had known it, deep down, I knew he’d been the one to take Tobias. I just hadn’t wanted to believe it, because I wanted my father to be a decent man. So I let my guard down, and now the whole town was paying the price because I wanted my daddy back.

  Desmond walked in and sat on the edge of Liv’s bed, all business. He pulled a hypodermic needle from his bag and pulled the plastic cap off.

  “She’s out,” I said to Tobias. “The only way to administer the potion…”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  I patted Tobias’s arm. He looked pale and sick, but I didn’t want to say anything to him. He was obviously so worried about Liv, and until he collapsed, too, there was no point in fretting over him.

  I followed Tobias’s anxious stare and watched Desmond, who was ably flicking the hypodermic needle, getting the bubbles out to prepare it for in
jection. It was amazing, how strong he looked, even in the soft blue of the waxing daylight. Most of the people who’d come in had an ashen look to them, which could be attributed to the shock. Suddenly realizing you had magical powers tended to take the wind out of the sails of a normal person. But Desmond looked so strong, his color was good, his …

  I blinked, really watching Desmond. He had night magic, and he’d used it, twice, with total control, and no ill effects. Given that, and the fact that he’d been up all night, shouldn’t he look worse?

  “Oh my god,” I breathed, my heart racing as the realization hit.

  Desmond turned to look at me, worry in his eyes. “Eliot.”

  “Step back,” I said, and moved to Liv’s side. Her hands were clammy and cold, despite it being summer, despite the blankets that covered her. Her incredible power had advanced the effects. This was where everyone in town was headed … Addie, Grace, Nick and Peach and the baby … unless …

  “Eliot!” Desmond shouted as I threw my magic through Liv, putting everything I had into it, wanting to see how far my power coupled with hers might take us. Blue sparks exploded through the room, as much a result of Liv’s power as mine, and my ears sort of hollowed out, and all I could hear was a loud ringing. I felt the impact of a forceful slam into my back before I realized I’d been thrown across the room, and my consciousness dipped to black as my breath flew out of me.

  I came to in Desmond’s arms, sputtering for air, and he pushed my hair back from my face, gently. I grabbed his hands, needing to get to my feet, and he helped me, holding me up as my wobbly knees tried to stabilize. Tobias was sitting on the bed next to Liv, who was pushing herself up on her elbows. She looked a little stunned, but even in the weak morning light, I could see that her color was better.

  “What was that?” she said, putting her hand to her head.

  “Wild magic.” I looked at Desmond. “You’re fine. You’ve gotten your power, used it twice, had everything under control. Not so much as a wobble. What’s different about you?”

  His face cleared in understanding. “You ran your magic through me.”

  “It’s got to be some kind of inoculation or something,” I said. “Maybe … maybe whatever my father’s been able to do with the electricity only does half the job. If I run power through everyone…”

  I laughed with the thrill of realization, but Desmond wasn’t smiling.

  “What?”

  He and Tobias shared a look. “You just ran it through Liv, and you can barely walk.”

  “Psssht. I’m fine.” I waved my hand in the air dismissively, hoping he wouldn’t see that it was still shaking. My knees still felt a little wobbly, too, but I didn’t care.

  There was a knock on the door. We all ignored it, but a moment later it opened anyway, and Amber stumbled in.

  “What the fuck just happened in here? There was blue light all over the house.” She looked down at the old metal doorknob. “And where the hell did Liv get these doorknobs?”

  I glanced at the doorknob. It was shaped like a potion flask. I shot a questioning look at Tobias, and he shrugged.

  “The blue light,” Desmond said softly. “It was all over the room.”

  “Liv’s magic,” I said, looking at Desmond. “It must have … amplified it or something.”

  Amber’s color was good, and as tough as her night had been, she seemed strong. I stepped away from Desmond. My knees were still a little wobbly, but they held me up. “Amber, how are you feeling?”

  She gave me a wary look. “Fine. But you don’t look so good.”

  “Eliot,” I heard Desmond say behind me, but I pushed out into the hallway, using the walls as support as I made my way down the stairs and into the living room. People were up and milling about, most of them looking confused, but all of them with good color, none looking weak and pallid the way that Amber and Liv had, the way that my mother had.

  It was the wild magic. I wasn’t a danger to this community; I was the only one who could save it.

  Desmond stepped down beside me, his hand going protectively around my waist. I glanced at the front doorknob; it was normal.

  “I don’t think it went much past the house,” I said, “but I want to go check on Nick and Peach next door.”

  “I’ll go with you,” he said, but I put my hand on his arm to stop him.

  “Liv is still weak,” I said. “And if anyone else from town starts presenting symptoms now that day magic will be hitting, people are going to need to know where to find you.” I smiled up at him and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll just be next door.”

  He nodded, but I could feel his eyes watching me as I headed toward the door, so I willed my gait to be steady and strong, and only allowed my knees to buckle a bit after I’d shut the door behind me.

  Chapter 15

  “Oh my god,” Peach said as she poured coffee for me and Nick. “I can’t believe you fuckers didn’t wake us up!”

  “Sleeping was safest, for both of you and the baby,” I said. “If you both have night magic—and based on the fact that I just gave you both pretty upsetting news and there have been no sparks, that’s what I’m guessing—then you shouldn’t have any adverse effects until tonight. And I’m hoping that I’ll have this whole thing resolved by tonight.” I looked at Peach, who was standing with her hand pressed against her lower back. “You okay?”

  “Gotta stand,” she said, stretching. “If I sit, the kid kneads my bladder like bread dough, and if I pee one more time this morning, I’m gonna have to kill someone.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, speaking as much to the tremendous wriggling bulge as to Peach. “I should have trusted my instincts with my father and known he was gonna try this again. I don’t know what effect any of this might have on the baby…”

  “Pffft,” Peach said, giving a dismissive wave. “Honey, I’ve been an obstetrics nurse for ten years. There are women who run every kind of risk known to man. They drink coffee, they don’t exercise, they fall from ladders. I mean stupid, stupid stuff. And most of the time, the babies are fine. There are others who do everything right, I mean everything, and the baby still doesn’t…” She gave a sad smile and patted her stomach. “It’s all a crapshoot. Life is risk. We do the best we can, we throw back a shot of Jack Daniel’s when we need it, and we move forward. It’ll be what it’ll be.”

  I smiled up at her, then looked at Nick. “I can see why you fell for this one.”

  “Yeah,” Nick said, looking proudly at his wife. “Most people think it’s because she’s so pretty. But I would have married this one if she looked like a foot.”

  I laughed. I really liked these two, and knowing that I was doing what I was doing to save them, and their baby, would make it all a lot easier.

  I looked at Peach. “I need your help this morning. I need a list of everyone who’s been touched by magic in this town. The longer they’ve had it in their systems, the better.”

  Peach nodded, looking at Nick and then back at me. “Yeah. Why?”

  “I have something I need to do,” I said, “and I’m gonna need … amplifiers. Not you, because you’re pregnant and…”

  Peach opened her mouth to talk, so I spoke louder.

  “… and I won’t be able to do what I have to do if you’re there. You’ll distract me. I can’t have it.”

  Peach closed her mouth and gave me a nod of grudging acceptance.

  I went on. “Liv is down for the day, and Tobias is doing something else for me. But the rest of them…” I looked at Nick. “How quickly can you get them all to the town square? At the same place where the fireworks went off last night?”

  Nick shrugged. “I don’t know. An hour, maybe. I can round ’em all up in my truck.”

  Peach eyed Nick again, a worried expression on her face, but when she spoke, she spoke to me. “Why do you need those people?”

  “They’ve all had magic before,” I said. “They’ll have the most residual power, and I just need a little extra to d
o what I have to do. That core group will give us the most bang for our buck.”

  She pulled Nick’s hand instinctively over her belly. “Is it gonna hurt them?”

  “No,” I said, truthfully. “At least, not if things work the way I think they’re going to.”

  She lowered the hand holding Nick’s and eyed me. “What about you?”

  I smiled and pushed up from the table. “Make the calls, okay? Tell them it’s really, really important. Oh, and tell them to remove all of their jewelry. Amber had a piercing this morning that…” I sighed. “You know what, just tell them no metal. Safety precaution.”

  Nick stood up. “I’ll bring ’em to the square,” he said. “One hour.”

  “Thanks.” I started toward the door, turning back for a quick wave before I left. “It was really nice, you know, meeting you guys.”

  “Wait.” Peach waddled over to me and pulled me into her arms for one last hug, then released me and stuck a warning finger in my face. “Whatever it is you’re planning, you better come back or I’m gonna kick your ass from here to Albuquerque.”

  “Got it,” I said, and left.

  *

  I couldn’t go back to Liv’s without making what I was about to do harder on both Desmond and myself, so I headed out into town, walking without really thinking where I was going, keeping an eye on my watch so I’d know when I had to make it back to the town square. I called Liv’s house and got Tobias on the phone and asked him to keep Desmond busy, to physically trap him at Liv’s if he had to. I couldn’t deal with Desmond right now. I couldn’t even think about him. I had to stay focused.

  So I thought about other things. Nothing important. Nothing that mattered. I didn’t have the strength to think about my endangered friends, or my missing father, or my dead husband. I thought about putting a raised garden bed in front of the house, resurrecting my lawn, maybe painting the exterior of my house. I imagined all the changes I would make, spending money in my head that I didn’t have, but it didn’t matter. None of it was going to happen anyway, because by that afternoon, I figured I would most likely be dead. The magic I’d run through everyone in Liv’s house had taken a chunk out of me; my hands were still shaking, and I’d thrown up twice since leaving Peach’s house. I couldn’t imagine getting magic through the whole town, even with all the help Peach was assembling, and living to tell the tale.