Sarah’s jaw dropped at this news.
Zoe smiled at her. “But, in their arrogance, Melanie and Morgan didn’t think that you would simply quit your job. It likely never occurred to either of them that staff employees are capable of higher-level thinking. Remember how Melanie got mad at me for ‘letting’ you call me by my first name instead of Dr. O’Brien?”
Sarah nodded, looking a bit dubious. “Yeah, what about it?”
“Well, she assumed that you would simply take whatever abuse they handed out in the office. You were working as a secretarial assistant therefore you must not be very bright, and you must really need the job.” Zoe smile wryly. “Otherwise, you’d be a faculty member, wouldn’t you?”
Sarah scowled and nodded. “Yeah, I can see her thinking that. Bitch.”
David looked at Zoe. “Without the student, and without Sarah, what happens to the coven’s plans for summoning a demon?”
“I think Mark was right a while back when he mentioned that during the summer a lot of homeless people camp out around the fountain. There are still people who camp there during the winter, especially if the weather isn’t so bad,” Zoe answered.
George frowned and looked as if he were about to add something to Zoe’s analysis, but he just sat back in his chair and nodded.
Kieran stared at her. “So, all we have to do, is get to the fountain earlier in the evening, clear out anybody hanging around, make sure they don’t come back, scream, call the cops, or start a fight, and then wait for the coven to show up and what? Knock them all out before they can start any rituals?”
“Sure,” Robyn responded. “Easy-peasy.”
Sarah frowned. “Do covens have leaders?” she asked Zoe.
“Yes. Usually the most powerful witch who has recruited the others. It’s considered to be her coven. Why?” Zoe responded.
“I think Susan Barker, the provost’s secretary, is the leader of the coven,” Sarah said.
They all stared at Sarah. “She has an attitude that just screams head bitch,” Sarah continued. “I’ve seen it before when you have an office of all women. I think she’s running the show, even though on the surface it doesn’t look like that. Plus, she has access to all kinds of information in that job.”
Zoe nodded. “We figured she was the leader, but this is more confirmation.” She smiled slightly at her own stereotyped faculty need for more information and glanced at George. Zoe might be a strong Elemental mage, but he was still her department chair. George and Simon were looking at each other.
“What do you think?” George asked the little man.
Simon frowned thoughtfully. The expression came off as slightly comic on his round, bespectacled face. To add to the picture, he bounced on his toes while thinking things over. I gotta ask Mark if he does that all the time. Zoe suppressed a giggle.
“I don’t see much room for anything more than what was suggested earlier. Show up and hope we can stop them,” Simon replied.
George winced. “That’s not much of a plan, but I can’t think of anything else either. If the rest of you know any other mages, please see if you can enlist their help. We’re going to need all the power we can get. The possibility of a rampaging demon concerns the whole city.”
Chapter Seventeen
The morning of the first day of winter break found Zoe pouring over medieval texts on the powers and habits of witches in the hopes of finding something she could use against the Summerfield coven. Her concentration was broken by the incoming message beep from her phone. She glanced at the phone and stiffened in shock. The caller ID indicated that Susan Barker was the one texting her. She sat frozen, staring at the phone afraid to pick it up as if doing so would allow the witch access to her thoughts or even to her soul. Moose and Flash, hearing the phone and then seeing her reaction jumped up onto the sofa next to her.
“What’s wrong?” asked Moose.
“It’s a text from the provost’s secretary. The coven leader. Why the hell is she texting me?” Zoe answered.
“Can you read the text without her knowing you did?” Flash asked.
“Yes, why?”
“Read it; see what’s going on, but don’t answer. She doesn’t know what you’re doing for this break. Then you can call Wardmaster or the Air mage and talk to them.” The cat jumped to the floor and started pacing, his tail lashing back and forth.
“What’s going on? Why are you so worried?” The obvious stress in the cats sent her heart rate soaring and her hands started shaking.
“I don’t like that the leader of the coven texted you. See what she wants.” Flash stopped pacing and began chewing nervously at his toes.
“Okay,” Zoe gingerly picked up the phone and scrolled to the text.
“Hi Zoe, just curious if you’re still in town. The provost has a couple of files for you and I told her I could drop them off if you were around. Let me know,” Zoe read out loud.
She looked at Moose and Flash. “You’re right, I don’t like it either. Campus is closed this week. What the hell is going on?”
Moose leapt off the sofa and headed for the back of the house. “Where are you going?” Zoe yelled after the running cat.
“Find others!” Moose’s voice came from the back of the kitchen.
Flash looked at Zoe. “Please use your power to put up more spell barriers around the house. Now. It’s probably best if they go around the block. She’s coming here no matter what you say.”
“Around the block? How do I do that? The same way Kieran and I did with the house?” Zoe’s voice rose in panic.
“I don’t know, but I know it can be done. You’re the mage!” Flash ended with a yowl.
Moose came trotting back from the kitchen. There was a leaf stuck to his tail, so he must have gone out the back window that Zoe was now leaving open so the cats could have easy contact with the other Watcher animals.
“I found a squirrel and told him about your text. He’s off to find the others. Have you set stronger spell barriers around the house and block yet?” he asked.
“I don’t know exactly how to do that!” Zoe half-yelled. “I’ll have to ask somebody.” She was still staring at her phone as if she could get more information from the text.
“Call someone and call them now!” Both cats were pacing, tails lashing in agitation.
“Okay!” Zoe hit the first speed dial icon she saw.
Kieran answered after two rings. “Hi, Zoe. What’s up?”
“Oh, hi,” Zoe found herself suddenly tongue-tied. “Um…I need some help with making the house barriers stronger and extending them around my block. Can you help me? Like now?”
God. He’s so going to think I’m lame and desperate.
“More barriers? Now? Did something happen?” Kieran sounded worried.
“Not yet, but there’s a strong possibility that something will, and soon, and I need to be prepared.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.” Kieran hung up. Zoe stared at the phone and despite the circumstances danced a giddy little jig in the living room.
“Well?” Moose slowed his pacing enough to look at her. “Is somebody coming over to help you?”
“Yes. Kieran is. The Water mage.”
Ten minutes later there was a knock at her door. He must be a fast walker!
“Make sure it’s him!” Moose said as Zoe moved toward the front door.
Zoe stared at the cat, her hand on the door knob. “What do you mean?”
“It could be somebody using a glamour spell to look like Kieran, so you’ll open the door,” Moose never stopped his pacing.
“Okay, okay!” The cat’s stress was contagious.
Making use of the peephole her mother had insisted she install as a young woman living alone, she saw Kieran standing on her porch breathing a little heavily. She switched to her magesight and simultaneously pushed at the air around him looking for any anomalies that would indicate this was not Kieran. I didn’t know I could do that!
> Not seeing or feeling anything out of the ordinary, she opened the door. Moose and Flash sauntered out and began rubbing and sniffing at Kieran’s legs. Zoe was grateful for the paranoid tendencies of cats as they completed their own detailed inspection. Kieran bent down to give each cat a scratch behind the ears, and their friendly response indicated that he was indeed the real Kieran.
He looked at her as he straightened up and came into the house. “What happened? You sounded really stressed on the phone.”
“I got a text from Susan Barker,” Zoe showed him her phone. As he read the text, Kieran’s eyebrows rose.
“What does she really want?” he asked somewhat rhetorically.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t like it, and these guys practically went ballistic and insisted I increase the spell barrier and call somebody to help me put it around the whole block,” Zoe indicated the cats. “But I’m not sure how I do that. I mean, I know what we did for just my house and what I did for those students we found in the basement. But can I do that for a whole block?” Damn she sounded pretty lame for a powerful Elemental mage.
“Sure. I can show you again how I do it with the Air, and you can use with whatever Element you are most comfortable with. Remember, you’re an Elemental mage which means you have the power to weave two or more Elements together, like Air and Water, and make an even stronger barrier and one that can stretch to cover as much as you want or need it to.”
Kieran looked around. “Do you have a back yard? Or someplace more private outside than your front porch, where I can show you how?”
“I actually do have a small patio out back behind the kitchen.” Zoe led the way through the living room and into the kitchen to the back door. She stepped out of the back door, and glanced around, checking for neighbors despite the chilly morning. They were the only people hanging out in the back.
“This will work,” Kieran came out behind her. “Okay. So, remember focus on the water that is in the air; it’s kind of a damp day, so there’s a lot of it. I’ll start building a shield.”
Zoe shifted over to her magesight and watched as Kieran worked. She located the strings of infinitesimally small pearls that hung in the air all around. Water droplets collected on her hand as she moved it through the strings of pearls hanging in front of her. She started to feel more confident as she repeated the steps that built her original house shield. Kieran wove the strings of pearls together and created a shiny semi-transparent blanket extending from the top of his head to about his knees. The blanket was a version of the helmets she had created over the heads of the bewitched students. Zoe took a deep breath and her stress receded. She did know how to do this, she just had to calm down, focus, and quit wasting time on dithering around.
Turning back to the pearlescent strings in front of her, she began weaving them together. As she did that, she saw Air moving around and through her blanket of Water. Shifting her focus, she grasped the threads of air and wove them into the gaps in her blanket of Water, almost like mortar between bricks.
Kieran looked over at her. “You remember this, so just take it…” his voice trailed off. “Damn. You’re good! I was about to ask if you could copy that and you’ve gone ahead and built a bunker! Awesome! Good job adding in air.”
Zoe flushed and glanced at him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to jump ahead; once I calmed down, I remembered what we did over Thanksgiving and it seemed pretty straight forward. Did I screw something up?”
“No, no. It’s great! I’m just surprised at how fast you picked it up. You almost didn’t think about it, just did it. You have a LOT of power in case you hadn’t realized that yet.” Kieran didn’t seem put off by her small demonstration of power, but rather genuinely excited for her. Zoe was simultaneously embarrassed and happy.
“Hey, something just occurred to me,” Kieran added. “We’re in the city; is there anything that resembles dirt in the air? Can you manipulate that and add it to your barrier?”
Zoe nodded and looked at the air around her. There were particles hanging there as well. She pushed out tentatively with her Earth magic and found that a small portion of the particles responded. Oh, gross! I’m breathing that in? Ick!
Focusing on the particles that responded to her, she added them to her barrier as well. “Did it work?” Kieran asked. “I can see the water clearly, but the other Elements are a bit fuzzy for me. Your barrier does look different than mine.”
“I think so.” Zoe looked at her barrier. “I’ve added air and dirt to the water. I think that makes it stronger, thicker, whatever. How can we test it?”
“We can’t really,” Kieran said. “But mages have used these types of spell barriers or shields for ages from what I know. A lot depends on the strength of the mage who builds the barrier, and the strength of the attack and attacker. You’re very strong from what I can see, so I’m guessing your barrier will be fine.”
Zoe studied her blanket of air and water. “I guess I should put it around the house at least.”
Kieran nodded. “Yeah. Try expanding it so it covers your block. I wouldn’t be surprised if your neighbors are attacked in an attempt to get to you.”
That was an alarming thought. Zoe hadn’t taken into account that the witches might go after her neighbors if they couldn’t get to her. She had only barely considered that she could be attacked. That was a bit shortsighted on her part. Clearly, she had to up her game.
Standing in her tiny backyard, Zoe shifted her attention to the whole block. This was a bigger area than she had manipulated before. She visualized the barrier reaching just beyond the last houses on the east and west ends of the street, then pictured it stretching north and south to include the houses across the street as well as the ones that backed up to her side of the street. Her magesight showed her an opaque dome covering the street and houses. She repeated the process and added another layer to it. Hopefully it would be enough protection for her and her neighbors. When she shifted back to regular sight for a moment, she couldn’t see the barrier. Good. Hopefully, none of the witches could see it either.
As she finished pushing and pulling the barrier into place, she let out the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. Looking again at Kieran she said, “Okay, I think that’s got it. Hopefully this works.”
He smiled at her and gestured at the back door. “Well, then, after you.”
They walked back into the house and into the living room. Moose and Flash looked at them. “Well? Did you get it? Did you create a barrier?” demanded Moose.
“Yes, I did, and it covers the whole block. You can calm down now,” said Zoe.
Flash looked at Kieran. “Thanks for helping her. She’s got a lot of power but not a lot of information.”
“I know,” Kieran reassured the cat. “But we’re trained in teaching and learning guys, so I know she’ll figure it out.”
Zoe gave the three of them a slightly offended look. “If you guys are finished talking about me, we do have some other issues to deal with.”
Kieran laughed. “Okay. Do you need any help?”
“Well, brainstorming is always better with more people. If you want to stick around, we could order a pizza and…”
WHOOOMPF. CRAAACCCKKK.
The muffled explosion, accompanied by a loud crackling sound, almost like a strong, direct lightning strike, came from outside. The sound was the same as what hit Mark and David’s house. Only this time a pulsing, sickly greenish glow filled the air above the house. The walls of Zoe’s house shifted and vibrated as if it was exhaling.
The cats leapt about three feet into the air and came down with their fur standing straight out. “Attack!” screamed Moose while Flash let out an incoherent yowl. They scrambled under the sofa. Zoe jumped and fell against Kieran. He wrapped his arms around her as they both struggled to stay on their feet.
The pulsating glow and vibrations lasted for about thirty seconds and slowly died out. The green glow faded from the sky and the house heaved once more
, settling back on its proper foundation. Zoe looked at Kieran in alarm. Her heart was pounding, and she was panting as if she had just run five miles.
“Holy shit! I guess I got that bigger barrier up just in time!”
“No kidding!” gasped Kieran. He was breathing heavily too. “How long has it been since you got that text from Susan Barker?”
Zoe became conscious of how close they were standing and moved a step away from Kieran, breaking the circle of his arms around her. Standing with him like that made it difficult to think straight for some reason.
“A hour or so, I think. Why?” she answered once she regained coherent thought.
“Well, I think that was a test to see if she could figure out where you were. Obviously, if you had answered and said you were home, she would have likely just come by and killed you. If you’re not home and she blows up the house, she at least gets the cats, and sends you a message. If you’re just not answering texts, but you are likely home working, she gets you. Even with this outcome it’s a win-win for the coven; she’s hoping she scared you or killed you.”
“Kill me?! Why would they want to kill me? Or the cats?” Zoe yelped.
She took a deep breath and forcibly stopped herself from screeching in fear. Kieran was right, this was an attempt to kill her. Screaming wasn’t going to change that. Time to put on my big girl pants and deal with this reality…whatever it is.
She turned to Kieran. “Seriously though. Why me? I thought the attack at Mark and David’s was directed at Mark. Why not attack George? I know that the provost and president don’t like him. Why come after me directly?”
Kieran shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe they’re not coming after you directly as much as they are coming after George indirectly. If they hurt or kill you, maybe they can get him to act without thinking.” Kieran was taking this awfully casually.
Zoe stared at him. That possibility had never occurred to her either. “Is this sort of thing normal? For being a mage I mean, fighting battles to the death over magical issues?”
Academic Magic Page 18