by K. F. Breene
A crew of mostly hippies and older women followed him like a flock. They tittered and looked around with wide eyes, many staring at that field as if their gazes would eventually penetrate the magical defenses. If Paulie got double-takes, the witches and warlocks (there were men now, too) got open-mouthed gawks. We had the largest collection of human magic-workers in the entire world. Seriously, the whole world—unless someone was hiding their humans, that was. Cato didn’t think so, though. We were an anomaly and often laughed at within the Council.
Of course, being that the Council was a broken-down wreck, and since my clan’s united status was producing a larger next generation as well as increasing our magical ranks, we cared not at all. And not only that, Toa said we were finding traits in magic they thought were long extinct. Tarot cards, crystal balls, palms and ghosts acted as a medium for many humans to foresee the future, or work intricate magic that bent the elements in different ways. Toa was setting up a residence within the Mansion so he could spend more time analyzing. He’d come up with some crazy things, mostly forgotten magical relics, working with the rudimentary magic the humans used.
“He hasn’t figured out the notes you gave him, obviously,” Charles said as we walked toward Cato.
My mouth turned into a thin line. I had hoped that giving Cato the directions over the phone that Emmy had given me would have opened some magical door and we’d arrive to a battle already in progress. Or at least with a gate we could storm. No such luck.
We wound between the cars and slowed as we neared Cato’s cluster. He looked up and met my eyes, as if he’d seen me coming even though he’d had his eyes closed. And he probably had, since I was always connected with magic. Just like him.
“Sasha, ah. Lovely to see you. Thank you for those notes. So very helpful.” The group around Cato split down the middle, opening a path for me to walk closer.
“Have you made any progress?” I asked, half-turning so I could watch Stefan organizing his men with Dominicous, who stood slightly removed from the waiting warriors.
“We’ve cleverly masked and then dismantled the spells. They are extremely intricate. The notes have been invaluable, though strangely cryptic.”
“I don’t think the person who gave me those works with magic. She’s half-human. I get the feeling—“
“Ah yes. Emmy, if I am not mistaken. She would be the only one with intimate knowledge of Nathanial’s spell-working—who has surely set all this up. He assumes, incorrectly, that humans cannot understand the working of magic. He would be more open around her. No one but him could have. Yes. Emmy has a rare and sought-after blood type. It is like a drug for those going into battle, I have heard. Nathanial guards her religiously, though his treatment of her…” Cato looked out over the cabbage field in thought. “I wonder how she was able to get his phone without being subdued immediately.”
“I get the feeling she’s into Jonas. Or using him to get out. He seems into her, at any rate. He thinks she has a tracking thing on her person.”
Cato nodded slowly as his eyes lost focus. He stared at me without actually staring at me for about thirty seconds. I shifted both in impatience and from being extremely uncomfortable. When his eyes honed back in, he gave me a slight smile. “One more down. Only two to go and then we can start working on the disillusionment charm.”
Impatience won out. “Are you serious? Holy crap, Cato, this is taking way too long. Jonas is in there.” I glanced around and caught sight of Delilah hobbling up the road. Her man was holding her hand and glaring at everyone around them. Birdie was right beside her with new ink on her arms, a dagger at her back, and dressed in a Karate gi that didn’t fit her huge bosom quite right.
“Let’s get this show on the road. I’ll get all the witches assembled. We’re either going to take these down or blow them up.” I made a circle in the air with my finger as I connected eyes with Paulie. He nodded and turned to the crowd of humans at his back. With only a head flick, he had them all walking to me with nervous smiles and wringing hands.
This was the first time most of them would see a real battle. I had a feeling they thought it was like watching Shakespeare in the park. I wasn’t planning on spoiling the horrible, shocking surprise of what it would actually be. I needed them here too badly.
“They’re like a pack of children,” someone said from Cato’s crew. I could see a few members of the Clutch, the mages to the Council members, shift uncomfortably. They were supposed to be backing Cato—thinking humans in their fold was a good idea. It didn’t seem like they were really on-board with that idea, though.
Didn’t matter. We’d prove them wrong. Hopefully.
“Delilah, how are you?” I asked, looking worriedly at the heavily-pregnant woman.
She smiled. Irritation ate away at her features, though. She was about ready to pop. “I’m fine if everyone would stop hovering over me. We have a four-wheel drive and know of the closest hospital. I’ll be fine.”
“Great. Paulie is bringing around your chair. We’ll sit you in the back. All we need is to get 90% through the spell, and then we’ll get you out of here, okay?”
“Fine, fine.” She waved her hand in impatience. “Let’s do this.”
She was so ready to be done with pregnancy. I knew exactly how she felt.
I ignored outraged murmurs from Cato’s crew regarding Delilah’s condition as I turned to the humans. Just as I was about to tell them to call the corners—they insisted I use that terminology so they could be a little different in their approach than Stefan’s people—Toa glided out from between two cars and stopped directly at my side. He glanced over the gathered humans and then honed his unblinking, blue stare on me.
“Sasha, I am having Dominicous and Stefan move everyone back from the line. We will have them duck behind a line of cars. With that in mind, the magic-workers should push back further into the field. This way, when you don’t immediately crack the spell, you can use your method.”
My method. Blowing up the spells with my inverted magic. It was another reason having human magic was awesome—no one fortified against us because no one worked with humans. Toa was the leading creator of spells I couldn’t just blow away, and that was only because he was tired of me cheating. This Nathanial character wouldn’t have thought of it—not with how he viewed humans.
Cheat to win.
“Call the corners, everyone,” I commanded as I turned and jogged to the open field.
The witches gathered in a tight horde behind me. Delilah was carried back farther still before her man ran off muttering about moving the car closer. With our mill-in-flocking nature, and the wide eyes and twittering, we were proving how naïve we were to all this. We made Cato’s crew look like the military.
Soon that wouldn’t matter, though.
I felt the stirring of the elements around me. Like atoms starting to heat up, the swirls of elements raced around excitedly, riding the currents as people drew in power. Toa moved right to my side, his magic ready to link when I was ready. When the witches were ready.
“I thought I was supposed to link with Cato this time,” I said in a hush so as not to distract the witches and warlocks. Most of the humans still needed to focus to do this. They’d come a long way in a short amount of time, but they still had a long way to go.
Toa turned his stare to Paulie on my other side, then to Charles in front of me. Finally to all the humans at my back. “You will when we start to battle. For now, as the white more familiar with your… style, I will aid as well as monitor. I will be masking your efforts until your frustration level takes your level-headedness away. Then we will need to plan how you take down their defense.”
“Because if I don’t do it right, they’ll know we’re here?” I felt the swell of power behind me. The arms of magic reached, ready to link. I connected with each of them, over thirty in all. Since I only needed their energy, the size of the link didn’t matter. That’s why Cato and my magic was awesome for this type of thing—limitles
s power and easy linking, as long as we had the energy to back us.
“Precisely. It would be best to dismantle the traps. After that, faster is better.” Toa connected with me and half-staggered. Charles stepped closer and put a hand out to steady him. “They have grown in power, as a whole.”
“Yeah. Master Bert has become really good with humans. Who would’ve known? Okay.” I blasted my magic out toward the empty field, and then slowed down. I let the magic descend gently, like a soft mist. Immediately I felt these strange, jagged areas out toward the front. If they were physical, they’d be like clusters of spikes, ready to stick someone who came too close. In addition, there were little feelers. Weird little additions to the spell like tripwires. They were woven tightly within the spell. The whole thing looked like an abstract, beautiful torture device.
I now saw what took so long.
“So… this is intense.” I let my magic drift into the cracks and seams, looking at the construction. Finer than any spider’s web, and infinitely more sticky; if I didn’t work the inverted spell just right, the original spell would go boom and spray everyone with sharp, magical spikes. Worse still, it would immediately alert everyone in the invisible complex that we were here.
“Yup. This guy is way out of my league. Delilah?” I didn’t bother glancing back. I could feel her working within my magical touch in that strange way she did.
“I would love to study this. It’s… unlike anything I have ever seen,” I heard from about thirty feet behind me.
“That’s not saying much,” Charles muttered. “It’s not like she’s been doing this for very long.”
“Not helping.” I rubbed at my brow. “Toa?”
“It took Cato and the Clutch an hour to dismantle the other two. The disillusionment spell is bound to be ten times as intricate. As I understand it, we don’t have that kind of time.”
“Blow this shit up and let’s get in there.” Paulie’s gruff voice had a few warriors looking back.
“We’ve been working on the disillusionment charm,” Cato said from beside his crew. “Subtly, of course. Just little tweaks and breaks. Getting it ready. If you would be so kind as to sink your human magic in the various pitfalls we have created, as you get a hold of the trap spells, and then apply your adverse magic, I think it will set off the implosion. That is how you are often able to blow things up, if what Toa has said is true. That is why working with human power to create spells is the strongest magic known to the world. There is not this imbalance—“
“I get it, I get it,” I said distractedly.
“What disrespect!” someone gasped.
It was true, but that guy would talk all day if I let him. We didn’t have the time.
“Set it up, Sasha,” Toa urged in a low but calm voice.
I really missed Jonas. I really needed him beside me to say, “Nothing to it, human. Let your balls fly and blow this bitch!”
Keeping him in mind, I did as Cato said. I surrounded the traps with my magic and lingered on the detonators. I then led Delilah to the larger structure of magic, a giant spell that covered the whole empty lot like framework. Spells in spells, weaving and winding and swirling around each other. The detail on this spell was so breathtaking, so intense, I just had to stop for a minute and take it in. I wanted to get a feel for it. To let the current, the flow of the spell just… shake hands with my magic for a moment. Just taunt me with what was so far above my expertise I couldn’t even be jealous.
But I could work toward it. Oh yes. Someday.
With Delilah’s help, I let the magic sift inside the cracks. I found the pitfalls and pockmarks Cato had created and planted windings of pure fire. Once done, I nearly pulled out. What I’d planted would work, I was sure of it, but it would come blasting back out at us. That was no good. Plus, I wanted to stay with this spell just a bit longer. I wanted to understand it. To feel it. To internalize it and revel in the mastery of it.
Lingering, I let a piece of myself sink in deep. Sink down to the fiber where even Delilah couldn’t go and just hang out for a moment. I let my mind drift, then, thinking of Jonas. Thinking of the best ways to get him out of there. To tear the place apart. To really stick it to these assholes who had come to America to raise hell.
I started shedding spells and ideas of spells and things that might work. I let my magic creep along the floor. I felt the foundations of the building through the cracks and let my magic crawl up through it. I felt people, then, hanging around inside. Standing guard. I felt their magic and their swords. I felt their confidence in their assurance that they were hidden and protected. I felt their vulnerability.
I let fire creep along the floor with me and all around the walls. I planted demons in the dirt and ghosts in the halls, items that would erupt or spin or fog. I planted distractions like Toa had shown me and fire bombs along the roof to let in the sunlight and momentarily blind them.
When I was done, and somewhat at peace and tranquil with the magic running through me, I felt the hitchhiker. An earth-shatteringly strong white power rode my coattails, tweaking my spells and glossing my attempts. He turned a crude idea into a shining example. He turned a distraction into a crippling pitfall. Cato was taking my ideas and applying his experience to make them better.
“Micro-manager,” I said with a huffed smile as I disengaged my mind while leaving all my work behind.
I opened my eyes and then gasped. Cato was standing right in front of me, staring at my face. He wore a serene expression of pride. “You are a marvel, Sasha. What must your life have been that you can so aptly feel your way through dire situations? You have displayed a mastery well beyond your years. You and Stefan will take my place, someday. No one will stand in your way.”
“Okay, but about the space issue. When you are an inch from my face, it makes me a little uncomfortable…”
“I wasn’t about to stop him, Sasha. I’m afraid of what he would do to me,” Charles muttered.
Cato’s eyes crinkled in mirth. “We will talk about moving you to the Council after this is done. Where are your shifters?”
“Get Delilah out of here,” I said behind me as I stepped around Cato. My foot slid off a cabbage plant. My balance jolted off center, having me staggering to the right. Paulie put a hand to my shoulder as Charles put a hand on my head, steadying me.
“My head, Charles?” I said as I regained my footing.
“Well? He had your shoulder. I would’ve grabbed your boob if you weren’t all hopped up on magic.”
“Yeah, right.” Paulie chuckled as we threaded between huge bodies to the center of the street. I found Stefan and Dominicous talking with a few other scary men, who must’ve been the battle commanders, behind a large van. Tim was standing with him in nothing but a pair of sweats. Ann was to his right in a muumuu. I couldn’t help but smile as she turned to me.
“Hi, Ann!” I gave her a hug. “Fancy seeing you here.”
With effort, the corners of her lips dipped down into a grimace. Her eyebrows fluttered like a vaudeville act until they finally furrowed into a comical-looking grimace. “I’m supposed to be serious.”
“Oh. Sorry.” I grimaced back at her. “Better?”
Her eyes sparkled and a smile threatened to break free again.
“Sasha, what is the situation?” Dominicous asked with a firm voice.
I turned to a wall of muscle and glowing tattoos. Every single commander had flares of burnished gold. These six people were packing power. Except for Tim, who turned into a huge, angry bear that could swipe heads off with nasty five-inch claws.
I gulped and inched away. I wanted to go back with the mages again.
“Where are we with magic?” Stefan asked. His comforting presence pulsing through the link again.
“We’re going to try and implode their spells. It’s all set up.” I turned to Tim. “Get your people furry and in place.”
“That’s my job, Sasha,” Dominicous said quietly. Even though his face was grim, I could see
a sparkling of pride in his eyes. Also a warning.
I gulped again. I hated it when these guys were territorial. It was like walking in on a pride of lions when they were feasting on a kill.
I ticked the air. “Yes. Right. Okay. Then we just need the go-ahead that you are all in position and we’ll blow this place. They’ll be stunned. Hopefully. Their first line of defense probably won’t know what the hell is going on. In addition, I’ve—we’ve—left some spells that should create some fierce holes in their building. You shouldn’t have any problem getting in. You should also have the element of surprise. It seems like, to me, they were really confident in their disguise.”
Dominicous nodded and turned to Stefan. He said, “My guys are good to go.” Dominicous looked at the others and got the same answer. He focused on Tim. “You can change as you will. They’ll send out their shifters, first. I have intel that they don’t have many. And we captured the one they valued the most highly. The rest aren’t much more than second-rate citizens. They won’t fight that hard. In fact, don’t be surprised if they take off and hook up with you later. Our faction has overstepped a great many prejudices of late. We are the first in the world to scale these walls. You might have some joiners.”
Dominicous glanced at me. “What cover will you provide us?”
“Um.” I couldn’t help a shrug as I glanced behind me at Toa.
It was Cato who answered from about five feet away. Mage June, his mage, was right beside him. “We will overshadow your advance with spells, of course. I have reason to believe Sasha will lead the assault with me providing the necessary touches to ensure your safety and the enemy’s demise, where applicable.”
“Are we going in?” I asked Cato.