Lost Magic

by Alexandria Clarke

  “Give it here,” Malia said, opening her palms for Morgan to lay the book upon. “Let’s see what I can find.”

  Malia’s violet magic wrapped around the book as she closed her eyes to focus. Her ability always floored me. If I saw the complete history of every object I laid my hands on, I’d go nuts from information overload. Malia’s capacity to control and process the amount of data she picked up every day was inspirational. When I was younger, I drew from Malia’s sense of stillness to quiet the voices in my own head.

  The violet lights began to take shape as Malia delved into the book’s past. It wasn’t a particularly popular textbook, so at first, we could only see the same dark shelf it had been sitting on for years. Then the lights shifted again, spreading from the ground upward and shooting branches outward to sketch the outline of a human figure. As it solidified and the face became recognizable, all four Summers sisters groaned.

  “Oh, no,” Malia said.

  “Oomph, good luck,” Karma added sarcastically.

  Laurel patted my shoulder with affection. “Just remember, Gwen. No matter what happens with the ritual, we love you.”

  I shrugged Lauren’s hand away and stepped out of the sisters’ circle to get a better look at the magical hologram of the woman. “Why are you all being weird? Who is she?”

  As we watched, the woman pulled Devastating Magical Choices off the shelf, checked the table of contents for the chapters she needed, then used a perforation spell—as Morgan guessed—to take the pages from the book. A sneer caught Morgan’s lip, pulling one side up like the jowls of a rabid dog.

  “Zenon,” Morgan said. “Zeus’s daughter.”

  “Did I hear you correctly? She’s whose daughter?”

  “It’s a hunch,” Karma answered for Morgan. “Zenon’s mother, Edel, had a thing for Greek mythology. She read every version of every story she could find. She talked nonstop about the gods and goddesses, and how she believed all witches were actually descendants of her favorite goddesses.”

  “Is she right?” I asked. “I mean, we don’t know anything about the ancient powers. We didn’t know it wasn’t ours until the yew tree burned.”

  “She could be right,” Morgan said. “In the otherworld, Dorothy Summers told me all the legends were true.”

  Karma waved Morgan to be quiet, eager to get on with the gossip. “Anyway, Edel left the coven for a while—”

  “Really?” I interrupted. “I thought Morgan was the first—”

  “I’m trying to tell a story!”

  “Sorry. Go on.”

  Karma gathered herself and continued. “For months, Edel kept going on about her own odyssey. She withdrew from the coven. Stopped going to parties and festivals. Then she disappeared one night.”

  My eyes widened of their own accord. “Then what happened?”

  “She came back later with three-month-old Zenon about a year later,” Karma said. “Never said a word about her supposed odyssey. Then the baby had lightning powers—”

  “And everybody figured out what happened,” Morgan finished hastily. “Can we move this along? Let’s not give Zenon any more reason to brag about herself. She’s insufferable enough as it is.”

  I studied Morgan’s annoyed expression. “Who’s going to tell me what Morgan’s history with Zenon is like?”

  Morgan’s sisters immediately burst into laughter, from Laurel’s stifled giggles to Karma’s all-out, unbridled guffaw. Morgan crossed her arms and turned away.

  “Morgan was the most troublesome of the four of us when we were children,” Malia explained. “She drove away countless babysitters. It got to a point where most of the coven refused to watch Morgan unless my mother offered a special spell in return. Zenon, on the other hand—”

  “Enjoyed abusing children,” Morgan huffed.

  “—used her lightning abilities to keep Morgan in line,” Malia finished, struggling not to join Karma and Laurel as they sniggered. “If Zenon was babysitting, you were bound to see Morgan get her butt zapped.”

  Laurel and Karma cracked up again. This time, Laurel joined in on Karma’s howls of laughter. Morgan smacked both of them with the back of her hand, but that only made them cackle harder.

  “I am emotionally and mentally scarred from those experiences,” Morgan claimed. “Zenon is a sadist. And a narcissist.”

  I examined the image of Zenon that Malia had crafted. “Why don’t I recognize her? I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before.”

  “You probably have,” Laurel said. “But not in human form.”

  “She’s a shapeshifter too,” Karma added. “She can change into a swan, an eagle, or a bull. Rare for witches to have two abilities, but I supposed if you’re the child of the most powerful Greek god—”

  “Where does she live?” I asked.

  “In the forest.” Morgan jerked her head toward the trees. “No one knows quite where, but Alberta’s run into her a couple of times. They must be close to each other.”

  I closed the book, and Zenon’s image disappeared with a snap. “I guess I’m heading to Alberta’s again. Thanks, ladies. I couldn’t do this without you. Let me know if you need help with the protection spells later.”

  “Oh, Gwen.” Morgan grinned sympathetically. “You’ll soon have your hands too full to help with any spell other than the ones needed to combat Zenon’s ego.”

  Karma clapped her hand over Morgan’s mouth. “Don’t listen to her. Play up to Zenon’s hubris. You won’t get anywhere acting unimpressed by her.”

  Alberta’s cabin was dark and empty. For once, there were no potions boiling on the stove, though I imagined the fridge was stocked full of finished ones. After the second time I knocked, the unwelcome mat opened up and attempted to swallow me. I leapt out of the way just in time. The mat closed with a loud “humph!”

  “Oh, sorry,” I snapped at it. “I guess I should have let you eat me.”

  The mat grumbled, and I let out an annoyed breath. I crafted a quick message spell. It worked a bit like email. Your message was preserved like a voice recording, and once you released it, it floated to the person it was intended for. We didn’t use them much in Yew Hollow because there was no way to detain a message spell. If a witch happened to be in the middle of the market and she received a message spell, the spell would repeat itself in front of everyone, mortals and magical beings alike.

  “Alberta, I’ve got a lead on my self task, but I need you to help find me the witch called Zenon,” I said. “Find me as soon as you get this.”

  I completed the spell, enclosing the message in a tiny ball of green light. I sent it off with a quick flick of my fingers, and it bounced off between the trees. I sat down to wait.

  A few minutes later, a ball of orange light returned to me. It alighted on my shoulder next to my ear and split open like Pac-Man. Alberta’s voice emanated from it.

  “Northeast of my house,” she whispered. Perhaps she had been in public when she received the message, for which I immediately felt guilty. “You’ll find a dark cave and a wild boar. Take the bow and arrow. She often needs persuading.”

  The ball of orange light popped like a bubble and disappeared.

  “What on earth—?” I pushed on my ears, wondering if I’d heard Alberta’s message correctly. “What bow and arrow?”

  A burst of orange magic momentarily blinded me as the unwelcome mat opened again with a loud vomiting sound. It retched like a cat until the weapon in question came flying out of the darkness within. The bow and arrow landed at my feet. The unwelcome mat coughed and sealed itself.

  I picked up the bow. It was not one of the modern weapons you might see in a sporting goods store. Instead, it was made of polished wood and animal hide, more suited for a noble prince as he rode with his hunting party and hounds. I had never take an archery lesson in my life, but I lifted the bow to where I thought it was meant to be held and experimentally pulled on the string. It took way more muscle than I expected.

  The arrows, like t
he bow, were made of natural products. The heads were crafted from carved stone. I nocked one and drew the string. My arms trembled as I closed one eye and took aim at a knob on a tree about fifty feet away. I released the string.

  The arrow flew wide of my target. I rolled my eyes and lowered the bow. “Thanks a lot, Alberta. I’m sure this will keep me safe.”

  For good measure, I looped the quiver of arrows over my back and hooked the bow over it. Though I had no hope of using it correctly, I wasn’t dumb enough to risk leaving it behind. I cast a compass spell, found northeast, and headed deeper into the forest.

  Northeast, it turned out, meant upward. My thighs burned as the slope of the land steepened and the trees grew thicker. I fought my way through the foliage, often climbing the trees to get higher up. On the upside, the canopy was so thick that barely any rain dripped through. A drop found the top of my head here and there, but I stayed dry for the most part.

  When I was dripping with sweat and all of my core muscles shook with the effort of such a hike, I finally came upon a flat plateau. I dropped to all fours and gasped for breath. The bow knocked me on the back of the head.

  “Ow!”

  I cast the bow aside and rubbed the bump. With a quick healing spell, I stopped the bruise from swelling, but when I tried another spell to draw drinking water from the ground, I could barely produce a handful. The intense hike had taken too much of my energy. I leaned against a tree trunk, stretched out my legs, and waited for my heart rate to level out. With a few minutes’ rest, I could call on my craft again. Unfortunately, I was not permitted those few minutes.

  A monstrous roar echoed through the clearing. I grabbed the bow and stumbled to my feet. As I clumsily loaded an arrow, something huge emerged from the shadows. I’d somehow missed the entrance to the cave, right across from where I’d been sitting.

  An enormous boar emerged into a ray of light that managed to penetrate the thick trees. My jaw dropped. I’d never seen an animal as large as this one. It easily matched my height and weighed ten times more, but the most frightening aspect of the boar were its razor-sharp tusks. As it huffed and pawed the ground, I couldn’t take my eyes off its natural weapons.

  “I’m looking for Zenon, the daughter of Zeus,” I announced to the animal, unaware if it would understand me. An animal that massive was definitely enhanced by magic. There was a chance it spoke English. “I mean you no harm.”

  The boar charged. I screamed and dodged out of the way. Apparently, the boar did not understand English. Unable to change its direction as quickly as I could, it rammed its tusks into the tree I’d so recently been sitting against. It shook its head, flinging loose bark, and turned around to face me again.

  “Please!” I shouted, brandishing the bow. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  The boar charged again. I dove out of the way and rolled to my feet, all with the bow in my grasp. As the boar righted itself, I let an arrow fly. It lit up with Alberta’s orange arrow and embedded itself in the boar’s right flank.

  “Of course they’re enchanted,” I muttered.

  The boar roared in pain. It sprinted toward me again. This time, I couldn’t get out of the way in time. I turned sideways and slipped between the boa’rs tusks. Though I didn’t get speared through the abdomen, the boar’s enormous skull pounded against my rib cage and knocked the breath out of me. I fell to the ground between the boar’s front legs.

  With clenched teeth, I raised the bow and drew another arrow. The point of the arrow rested right against the boar’s heart. It froze when it felt it there.

  “I don’t want to do it,” I said. “Please don’t make me fire.”

  The boar drew away, tilting its head to the side to get a better look at me. With one enormous hoof, it pawed at my shoulder. My aura flared in reaction, and the boar backed up. Purple fire sprung out of nowhere and licked the boar’s hooves. It climbed up the animal’s body, spreading like wildfire through its fur until it was entirely engulfed. I shielded my eyes against the glare but watched as the boar changed shape. When the purple fire faded, a woman stood in the boar’s place.

  She was easily six feet tall and as muscularly built as the animal before her. Her long, platinum-blonde hair swung all the way down to her waist. She wore a crown of golden leaves on her head and a long white robe that collected twigs and dirt in its long hem. She spun around to examine her human self, and when she was satisfied, she reached up to the sky and drew a bolt of lightning to the ground. It struck near my feet with a thunderous boom.

  “You have called upon the daughter of Zeus,” Zenon announced, holding the lightning bolt in her hand like an ancient staff. “Pray tell, what is your dilemma?”

  “I come for your wisdom, Zenon.” Personally, I found Zenon’s presentation to be a little much, but I stuck to Karma’s advice. “I require knowledge only you possess.”

  “Of the Greek gods?”

  “Of a book.” I shakily clambered to my feet. “Devastating Magical Choices that Changed the World. Does that sound familiar?”

  “I know nothing of this book,” Zenon boomed. “Take your quest elsewhere.”

  She glimmered with purple fire again, but I threw myself at her feet and grabbed hold of her long robes. “Please, daughter of Zeus. I’m but a lowly witch in dire need of your guidance. If you could take pity upon—ugh, screw it. I can’t do this.” I rolled back my groveling act and stood up straight to face Zenon. “I know it was you that pulled the pages out of the book. Malia saw you do it.”

  Zenon held on to her godly composure for a few seconds. Then she broke down with a sneer. “That little gremlin. Doesn’t she mind her own business?”

  “I asked her to show me,” I told Zenon. “So what gives? Why did you tear out all the information on that wish demon? What did the pages say?”

  Zenon’s lightning bolt flashed as she slammed the end of it into the ground. I didn’t flinch.

  “That’s not gonna work on me,” I told her. “Thunderstorms were one of my favorite things as a child. They don’t scare me. Morgan Summers, however, scares the crap out of me, and I know she’s chomping at the bit to get a little vengeance from all the times you zapped her with your ability.”

  Zenon’s impervious expression dropped into annoyance. “I can still zap Morgan Summers if I wanted to.”

  “You could,” I said. “At your own risk. Now that she’s coven leader, it’s not the same game it used to be, right?”

  Zenon threw the lightning bolt straight into the air. With a purple flash, it vanished. “Fine. I stole the pages from the book. What now? Did Morgan send you to smack the back of my hand and tell me I’m a bad witch?”

  “No.” I blinked to get rid of the floaters Zenon’s bright magic had caused in my vision. “I’m here because you summoned the wish demon and sent it to Pilar Mendez, the mortal mayor of Yew Hollow.”

  Zenon chuckled and clicked her tongue. “Is that what she told you? Silly humans. They can never quite own up to their bad deeds.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I never summoned the wish demon,” Zenon informed me. “That particular demon can only be summoned by mortals.”

  “But you must have given her the information.”

  “Oh, yes,” Zenon admitted freely. “I did indeed.”

  I stared at her in disbelief. “What the hell, Zenon? Why would you do that?”

  The lithe woman shrugged and shook the dirt from the end of her robe. “She asked for a miracle, and I gave her one. It’s my familial duty.”

  “Are you really Zeus’s daughter?” I demanded. “Or did you make that up to gain respect you should have earned?”

  Zenon’s eyes flashed white, as if lightning lived in her retinas. “Do not question my parentage, little one, or you will be sorry.”

  “Tell me what you did to Pilar.”

  Her eyes returned to their normal gray color. “Pilar sought me out. I have no idea how she heard of me, though from the moment I met her, she
seemed to have a magical instinct to her. My guess is she’s a dud.”

  “Dud” was a rude term for a woman who had been born into a coven but developed no magical powers. In witch culture, giving birth to a baby girl without the craft was considered a curse. The child was usually handed over to a non-magic family to be raised as a mortal instead. Though these women couldn’t perform magic, they often had the ability to sense magic around them.

  “Anyway, she asked me for a way to conquer Yew Hollow,” Zenon went on. “I saw no reason to decline her plea. The information in those pages afforded Pilar with what she needed to accomplish her task.”

  “You unleashed a demon,” I reminded her. “One that requires payment. It’s already started wrecking Yew Hollow to get to Pilar. How do we get rid of it?”

  Zenon examined her nails, painted matte white. “I haven’t the faintest idea. I didn’t read the pages. You’ll have to get them from Pilar.”

  “Pilar has them?”

  “Of course,” she replied. “Do you think I’d keep the evidence of a crime?”

  “I have no idea what you’d do,” I grumbled. “You can’t help me at all, can you?”

  She swept her long hair over one shoulder, wafting the scent of vanilla across the clearing. “I can help you, little one. For a price.”

  “How about you help me for free considering the entire town is at stake now?”

  “Nothing’s free,” Zenon said. “Or haven’t you learned that already?”

  “You can sever the bond between Pilar and the demon,” I shot back. “The magic has to come from somewhere, and you were the one to give Pilar the summoning ritual. I bet anything she used your craft to do it.”

  Zenon pointedly look away from me.

  “Sever the bond,” I ordered.

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that, little one,” Zenon said. “You see, if Pilar can’t defeat the wish demon on her own, Yew Hollow will go back to being the horrid dump it was before she became mayor.”

  “Yew Hollow was not a dump.”

  “I guess you weren’t looking close enough. Now, leave this place and only return if you are invited. Don’t hold your breath though.”