Unexpected Magic

by Ann Macela

  “Let’s be safe,” Johanna said, and together they cast a pentagon big enough for them to line up facing Kendra’s.

  Kendra drew her blade and brought it up to a fifteen. “Ordinarily I’d shoot a beam like this.”

  Violet energy about an inch wide shot from the tip of her long sword, hit the walls of her pentagon—and passed right through them.

  “Oops! What was I thinking?” Kendra canceled her sword spell. “Of course my own beams are going to go through my own walls. That’s how they get out in the first place. Somebody else try it.”

  All three faced the pentagon and drew their blades. They shot level-fifteen beams similar to Kendra’s. Her walls dissipated them.

  “Okay, that’s our base line,” Clyde said.

  Saxt concentrated on redesigning his sword tip where energy exited. When he had it to his satisfaction, he said, “Let me go first. I’m at level thirteen to fourteen, and I tried for an eighth-of-an-inch opening.”

  He aimed and sent a beam at the pentagon. A thin violet line shot out of his sword. It struck the wall. Nothing happened. Saxt kept the energy flowing.

  “Is the beam doing anything?” Johanna asked.

  “Not that I can tell,” Kendra answered. “I felt it hit, but with no more effect than a large raindrop.”

  “I’ll up the power to fifteen,” Saxt said.

  When his continuous beam turned silver with violet streaks, the spot on the wall where it hit began to emit a faint violet smoke. He moved his tip to draw the point of contact down the wall as though drawing a line. Wisps of smoke followed the blade. After a few seconds, he cut the energy and sheathed his blade.

  Johanna squinted at the fortress. “I don’t see a real change to the wall. The line you drew looks like chalk on an old-fashioned blackboard.”

  “I felt that, sort of,” Kendra reported. “First like a mosquito bit me, then like I was being scratched with a not-very-sharp instrument.” She drew her fingernail across the back of her opposite hand. “Sort of like this. No real damage, though.”

  “Let me try,” Clyde said and brought his sword up to eighteen, his highest level. The gold-and-silver spear of light hit the fortress wall and shot right through it.

  “Ouch!,” Kendra cried and rubbed her center. “I felt that, right in my middle. Like a bee sting or a sharp jab with a needle.”

  Clyde cut his power immediately. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  “Can you take some more of this?” Johanna asked. “I’d like to try my fifteen against a fourteen wall.”

  “Anything for research,” Kendra said with a grimace. She brought the fortress level down to violet with silver streaks. “There you go.”

  “Thirteen first.” Johanna aimed her sword and sent a shot. Like Saxt’s first attempt, her beam touched the wall and had no effect. “Here comes fourteen.”

  The beam lost its indigo shades, blended into violet, and added a touch of silver. The spot began to smoke.

  “I can feel that,” Kendra said. “Bring it up to fifteen.”

  Johanna’s beam became more silver than violet.

  “Ouch,” Kendra said again as the smoke doubled. “It hurts, but don’t stop. Do what Saxt did.”

  When Johanna drew the point of the beam down the wall, it etched the surface. She cut her power and sheathed her blade. “Are you all right, Kendra?”

  “Yeah, though I’d rather not do that again. This time whatever was scratching was sharper, and it ‘dug in’ like a cat’s claws, right in my center. When you dragged the beam across the wall, it hurt more than Clyde’s single shot.”

  “I think your beam was slightly thinner than mine, Johanna, and it was a level higher than the wall,” Saxt said. “Clyde’s was three levels higher and cut right through. Looks like my family story was true.”

  “Speaking as the test bunny,” Kendra added, “a higher blade level and/or more power being applied, especially if the attacker can cut through the wall, is going to hurt like hell. Clyde’s was like a really sharp stab to my center. A big enough hit with enough power behind it, a real slash through the wall, and I’d be more than hurting, maybe even incapacitated—or worse.”

  A sense of relief washed over Saxt, and he turned to Johanna. “Excellent. Now you have a real weapon against Bellman. Tidal waves and other illusions might work once or twice, but if you can cut through his walls, the fight’s over. Thanks for helping us, Kendra.”

  Kendra grinned. “Absolutely my pleasure. Thanks for the demo of the spinning ring. I’d better go home to see my parents. They don’t know I’m here either. I’m leaving tomorrow, and if you don’t tell me what happens on Saturday, I’m going to call you at very inconvenient hours of the night—especially inconvenient for soul mates.”

  Saxt glanced at Johanna, who shrugged. “She guessed.”

  “Nonsense,” Kendra retorted with a grin. “Acute observation.”

  After hugs all around, Kendra and Clyde took off in different directions, and Saxt followed Johanna to her office for her briefcase. She was about to hang her robe in the closet, when another aspect of defense occurred to him. To be on the safe side, he suggested, “Let’s take the robes with us.”

  “Why? I usually leave mine here.”

  “I don’t trust those guys around Phil. Even without his instigation, one of them might think to steal it. While not having one wouldn’t stop you from participating in the duel, you need—and I want you to have—all possible protection.”

  As he watched her gather the rest of her things, he hoped they had covered all the techniques they needed to practice. She had an excellent offense. Defense? Her fortress was a sturdy one. On the other hand, who knew what Bellman was really capable of?

  If that guy drew a blade, however, no matter what he and Johanna had agreed to about being Swords together, he was going to be in that fight.

  Of course, now that he thought about it, there was one way to, if not ensure victory, make it damn difficult for her to lose.

  And definitely a subject to discuss in private.

  “I’m ready,” Johanna said.

  So am I. All he said out loud was, “Let’s go.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Johanna knew, simply knew, Saxt was working on another of his “Falkner Plans” while they grocery-shopped and later ate supper. For one indication, he’d insisted they stock up on edibles like they were going to hibernate for the rest of the winter. For another, they hardly discussed either the practice with Kendra or the coming duel. Instead they talked—he talked—mostly about Defender and Sword business. She bided her time rather than force the issue and at supper simply laid out the deli meats and salads they’d chosen at the store. Sure enough …

  “The answer to giving you the best edge against Bellman is simple,” Saxt stated over dessert. “We mate and bond and raise our levels.”

  Johanna swallowed her bite of chocolate chip cookie and purposely gave him one of the looks she’d perfected with her students—one to clearly show her skepticism. “Simple, huh?”

  “Of course. You and I both recognize ourselves to be soul mates. We have a dangerous situation here. Why wait?” His gaze back started out guileless, then changed into totally hot and promising. Heat ran up and down her spine, and her darn center laughed at her refusal to agree instantly.

  She mentally told her body to calm down, the soul-mate imperative to back off, and her center to stop all the funny business. Her brain was the organ that counted right this minute.

  Why wait, indeed? Didn’t she have enough on her mind already? All they did these days was rush from one crisis to the next, one life-changing surprise after another. Phil’s challenge had sent Saxt’s last “what could go wrong” Falkner Plan up in smoke. Her hopes of slowing down the avalanche of necessary but crucial and urgent decisions for a few days had burned with it.

  Besides, she wanted, even needed, some courtship here. Where was the romance? Wasn’t she entitled to some? She stirred her coffee before pointing the spoon a
t him. “What happened to getting to know each other?”

  “We’re doing that. Making love is the perfect way.” He gave her a smile that vacillated between encouragement and persuasion, while his eyes glinted with plain, old-fashioned lust.

  His gaze made her center warm again, and she refused to acknowledge the heat. Instead, she used the tactic her students often tried—silence. Let him fill it.

  “When the path is clear, as it is here, I tend to take action,” he said after a few seconds of her no-comment. “Process the information, make a decision, and go with it. Just as you did accepting Bellman’s challenge. We’re alike in that. While I believe you will win, I don’t trust him. He’s the type to have an ace up his sleeve. Therefore, any advantage you can create works in your favor.”

  “Wham, bam, you’re a sixteen, go get ‘em, ma’am? We seal ourselves to each other in a hurry so I can win a duel? What is wrong with this picture?” She leaned closer, said each word with precision. “The duel with Phil is not a fight to the death. The first break in his shield walls, or mine, for that matter, and it’s over. He’s out of our hair.”

  “I think Bellman hopes for a different outcome.”

  “So, if he somehow beats me, we give him an apology, and he can start a team—assuming anybody will join him.” She waved off the idea. “Big whoop. He still won’t be pestering us to be part of our team or for me to duel him.”

  Saxt shook his head. “Johanna, Phil’s not going after only the team and all that other garbage he mentioned.” He pointed his finger at her. “He’s after you.”

  “I know he’s angry with me. Over the past few days, I’ve told him off several times, and in front of witnesses. He wants to impress me with his ‘greater power,’ put me in my place. So what?”

  He mimicked her precise speech pattern when he answered, “Bellman doesn’t simply want to teach you a lesson. He wants you. For his mate.”

  “His mate? Me?” She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, but nothing came out. She swallowed and tried again. “That doesn’t make sense. He knows we aren’t mates. How could we be? I had Billy. After he died, Phil and I hardly saw each other. When we did, we certainly weren’t attracted to each other.”

  “Not on your side, perhaps. Have you ever encouraged him, even the slightest bit, gone out with him, even out of pity?”

  “Encouragement? No. Never. I’ve never gone out with him for so much as a cup of coffee. Even platonically. Even in a group. On the contrary, I’ve avoided him as much as possible ever since I met him as a teenager. He’s never been attractive to me in any way. Quite the opposite.” She made a face and shuddered. “Yuck.”

  Saxt must have thought he was right, because he kept pressing. “Has he ever given you an indication that he was attracted to you? A request, an invitation? Even to discuss some point of spell-casting?”

  “No … oh …” She held up her hand in a wait-a-minute gesture. What about that time when …? She shut her eyes for better recall, then wished she hadn’t as memories collided in her head. When she opened them again, she groaned. “Phil did ask me out once, before Billy and I were together. I was a sophomore in high school, and he was a senior. I said no.”

  Johanna took a deep breath before continuing. She really wished she didn’t have to remember. Even memories involving Phil were becoming more and more repulsive.

  “In the past seventeen years, he has asked me out. For dinner. Maybe four or five times, tops. He always had that ‘I’m doing you a favor by offering’ attitude and a few sexual innuendos. Like a couple of other men, he must have thought I’d jump at the chance to have sex with him—poor deprived woman that I am. I always turned him down. He hasn’t asked again in a couple of years, at least.”

  She frowned at Saxt. What he was suggesting still didn’t make sense. “A dinner invitation is not exactly being ‘after me’ as a mate. Sex is one thing. The idea he wants me as a mate takes the entire situation into another realm. Talk about weird!”

  Running a hand through her hair, she tried to marshal her thoughts. “The soul-mate phenomenon does not allow for one person to be strongly attracted to another who is not his or her mate. No unrequited love. It’s two people and enormous mutual attraction or nothing. Why are you certain Phil wants me for a mate? How on earth can he even imagine that I’d return the sentiment? Especially after the last few days?”

  “I’m sure because of the way he looks at you. Concentrated. Possessive. Hungry. Like he wants to eat you up. Like every other male watching his mate that I’ve ever witnessed. He’s obsessed. I doubt he thinks in terms of failure. He wants you, he’ll have you, and of course you’ll agree.” Saxt spread his arms wide as if Phil’s crazy notion was the simplest idea in the world to understand. “He knows, like it’s a proven fact, that you’ll come to your senses about him one of these days. Then I appeared. My being on the scene made him realize he has a rival. He’s out to ‘prove’ himself the better man.”

  She thought about other men she’d seen with their mates and realized she’d witnessed what Saxt was describing. The idea of a rivalry boggled her mind, though. “How? How does he know you’re his rival? It’s one leap to a conclusion for Kendra to recognize our situation. She knows me so well. But Phil?”

  “Remember, he’s been watching you for years. Jake and Clyde saw it in us, why not Phil? The demands and revelations of the new ring method, my challenge of him on two levels—professionally for hogging energy and personally for winning you—must have added to his frustration over his lack of a team, his general unpopularity, and his thwarted ambition. The results? He’s decided to fight for you, literally.”

  She shuddered. “That’s downright medieval. And stupid. He’s going to prove himself and win me by making me submit to him? Then I’ll leave you for him? That’s worse than Neanderthal. How can he even dream of coming between mates? What does he think will happen if he tries—you’ll challenge him under the other provision in that old law? And everybody challenges everybody else until Fergus and Kendra settle all disputes with their blades? Oh, puh-lease.”

  “Regardless of Phil’s true intentions, you still need to fight this duel,” Saxt said doggedly. “No matter how much I’d like to take your place, I can’t fight it for you. Which brings us back to my original idea. We mate and raise your level.”

  She was certainly learning two characteristics of her new soul mate—he was holding true to his word to deal with the reality of her being a Sword, and he didn’t give up easily. She didn’t either. “And that brings us back to my original question. What happened to getting to know each other?”

  “All right.” Saxt sat back and spread his arms wide. “How do we accomplish that goal? You know we’re physically compatible. You know, as I do, in our hearts, we’re mates. What will settle your mind about us?”

  Well, that threw the question to her, didn’t it? She knew he was genuinely worried, and she didn’t trust Phil either. Mating was such a gigantic step, however. What would settle her mind? The answer came down to one piece of information—the “something else” she hadn’t been able to identify. “I’ve told you about Billy. It’s time you told me about Madeline and Robby.”

  Oh, shit. Saxt stared at Johanna. Madeline and Robby. He should hit himself in the head for not seeing that one coming. Of course she’d want to hear the story. He’d been working so hard keeping that particular subject out of his mind that he’d ignored its importance and her need to know. Although he hoped he hadn’t flinched at the question, after her next statement he was sure he had.

  “Or, if you don’t want to,” she continued when he sat silent, “I would appreciate knowing why not.”

  Of course, he didn’t want to. Of course, he had no choice. As much as he hated thinking about the crash, she deserved to know, had to know to understand him. Soul mates had to trust each other, and part of that trust was built on communication, sharing the bad times and the good. He’d found that to be true with Maddy. It was probably do
ubly true with Johanna. Hadn’t she told him about Billy when he asked?

  He wouldn’t be in the pentagon with her facing Phil. Therefore, mating and the accompanying level increase was the only way he could help protect her. He wasn’t given to premonitions, but he highly suspected that Bellman was going to try an illegal tactic or “let” himself be forced into one. Saxt’s explanation to her about Phil’s ultimate goal had raised his own anxiety to a level he’d never experienced before. To put it more succinctly, Saxt had scared the shit out of himself.

  Bellman was serious and a real threat. Whatever Saxt had to do to protect her, he’d do. Even relive that horrible night. He’d be damned if he was going to lose another soul mate!

  Partly to delay the ordeal a few minutes longer, partly to prepare himself and his emotions, he rose from the table. “Let’s clean up here and sit in the living room. I’m not reneging on our agreement to tell each other about our losses, I promise. I simply need a couple of minutes to organize my thoughts.”

  “All right,” was all she said when she stood. Determination stuck out all over her. So did a not-quite-masked apprehension. And perhaps a carefully hidden vulnerability. Was she as nervous about hearing the story as he was about telling it?

  They cleared the dishes and adjourned to the living room where the lights above the pictures and the lamps at each end of the couch shone with a cozy glow. He started a fire while she brought in glasses of water and a box of tissues. They sat on opposite ends of the couch. Johanna’s face showed her curiosity—and a strengthened anxiety as well. Yeah, she was worried about what he was going to say.

  Face the facts. It’s time to bring your loss out in the open, too. No matter the pain to yourself. Your soul mate needs to hear your story. Where to begin … Saxt rolled his suddenly stiff shoulders, cleared his throat, and started talking.

  “I knew Maddy—her full name was Madeline Elizabeth Rollins—from our basic magic training as pre-teenagers. The soul-mate phenomenon didn’t hit us until college when she was a senior and I was in the first year of my MBA. Like you and Billy, it was instant everything. We married in July after she graduated. While I finished my degree, she taught kindergarten. She was a level six with talents in early childhood education and no Defender talents whatsoever. She expected to work in that field after we had children, but first we wanted to start a family.”