by A. Blythe
“I think I can make it work,” I said.
Pinky cast a sidelong glance at me. “You have plans?”
I wasn’t ready to tell her about Katrien. “Maybe. You’re not the only one with a life.”
“Good for you,” she said. “Tell Reed hi for me.”
I didn’t bother to correct her.
“You’ve been on fire with those yantoks,” Pinky said. “They’re totally your perfect weapons.”
We were in the warehouse the next day, squeezing our practice session into daylight hours to fit in with Pinky’s busy social calendar.
I ran an admiring hand down the length of the stick. “Your spells make a huge difference. I feel more like myself when I can use magic, even if it is yours.”
Pinky picked up a set of crescent knives and sliced through the air. “Maybe I need a signature weapon.”
“Your magic is your signature weapon,” I told her.
“But actual weapons are much cooler.”
I sheathed the yantoks and walked over to her, removing the crescent knives from her youthful hands. “Weapons are not cooler. They’re just a necessity to keep us from dying.”
“But you said you were always summoning weapons when you were an agent.”
“That’s because my magic is different from yours,” I said.
“Not all of it,” Pinky protested. “Djinn can do some of the same types of spells that we can do.”
“Still,” I said, playing around with the crescent knives. They were light and airy. “It’s different magic. Different process. Comes from a different source.”
“Do you ever worry that maybe you’ll never get your powers back?” Pinky asked.
That was a question I actively avoided.
“Of course she will.” Flynn sauntered into the warehouse and I burst into laughter.
“Did you get mugged by a peacock?” I asked. He wore tight, electric blue trousers with a multi-colored striped shirt. My eyes didn’t know where to focus.
“What?” He gave his outfit an innocent glance. “This look is very European. I would think that appeals to you.”
I pretended to give him serious consideration. “You’re missing the pink sweater looped around your neck.”
He snapped his fingers and a pink sweater appeared. “Better?”
“What does Tessa think of this new Flynn?” I asked.
He came over to inspect our pile of weapons. “She thinks it’s very sexy. Asked me to whisper sweet nothings in French while wearing sweet…”
“TMI, Flynn,” Pinky said in a bored voice. “Can we get back to weapons and magic? Alyse and I were having a deep conversation.”
“We were,” I agreed.
“I can be deep,” Flynn said.
I patted his chiseled cheek. “Sure you can.”
The sweater disappeared and he rolled up his sleeves. “What are we practicing today?”
“Pinky wants more weapons experience,” I told him. “But I don’t think it’s necessary when she has such powerful magic to tap into.”
“But what if she loses her magic like you did?” he countered. “You’re skilled in weapons because that’s how you used your magic. You summoned. Her spells are different. If she loses her powers, she won’t have that experience with weapons to fall back on.”
Damn. I hated when Flynn made sense.
“Okay, I see your point,” I said, relenting. “We’ll both use weapons.”
“No magic in mine, though,” Pinky said. “I want to learn how to use them without any magic. Like Flynn said, just in case.”
“I hear what you’re saying, Pinky, but you still have so much magic to learn. And the odds of you ending up in a situation like mine are slim. You spend most of your time between Center City and Villanova. You’re not running around the world pissing off powerful people.” Like I was.
In true teen fashion, Pinky started to sulk.
“There are no cuffs for mages,” I continued. “No one can cut off your powers in the same way.”
“There are spells,” Pinky began. “Or I can be knocked unconscious.”
I tapped my foot impatiently. “Well, a weapon isn’t really useful if you’re unconscious, is it?”
She folded her arms and looked away. “Whatever.”
“Anyone can teach you how to fire a gun,” I said. “That’s not why we do these sessions. I don’t want to waste time on the mundane. I’m not saying we can’t use weapons at all, I’m just saying we need to combine their use with your magic.”
That seemed to satisfy her. “So can I use a weapon now?”
I had to throw her a bone or we’d never get anywhere. “Fine. We’ll quickly run through the basics. Flynn’s good at that, aren’t you?” I handed him a stiletto. “Show her the best offensive and defensive uses for this. I’ll critique.”
“Want to admire my form, do you?” He smacked his tight, electric blue ass. “Can’t say I blame you.”
I rolled my eyes. “There are definitely pros and cons to this arrangement.”
Pinky took the weapon from his hand. “I should slash with this, right?” She moved the stiletto in a frenzied manner, causing Flynn and I to jump back.
Gods and stars. I pressed my palm to my forehead. “You’re not a Berserker. Here, let me show you.” I retrieved the long, slender blade from her. “This is designed for stabbing and thrusting.” I showed her the best way to grip it. “Hold it this way, so if an opponent knocks your fingers or your wrist, you have a better chance of holding on.”
Flynn pushed me aside. “Stop micromanaging, Mother. Throw the baby bird out of the nest and watch her fly.”
Pinky glanced up at the sunlight that filtered in through the small window of the warehouse. “I wish we could practice outdoors for a change. It’s so dreary in here. And it smells like mildew.”
I followed her gaze to the beam of sunlight. It was a perfect autumn day. “I have an idea.”
Flynn’s nostrils flared. “That can’t be good.”
I ignored him. Years of practice made it easy. “My idea means everybody gets what they want out of today’s session.”
Flynn smirked. “Everybody?”
I groaned. “Let’s go.”
“Go where?” Pinky asked.
“Forbidden Drive,” I replied and headed for the exit.
“People will see us,” Pinky said. “We’ll freak them out.”
I turned and looked at her. “No, we won’t. That’s going to be part of your training today. You’re good at cloaking, right?”
Pinky straightened. “Totally.”
“So you’ll cloak us and we’ll practice at the same time.”
She scrunched her nose. “But I’m not just cloaking myself. It takes a lot of focus to cloak a whole area. How am I supposed to use weapons on top of that?”
“You’ll figure it out, baby bird. Let’s fly.”
I knew what she was worried about. During the Colony Games, she overexerted herself and ended up in a coma. But that was exactly the reason I wanted her to work on her multitasking skills. She had the potential to do incredible magic without straining herself. She just had to practice.
Flynn gave me an approving smile as we left the warehouse and ventured into the great outdoors.
Forbidden Drive is the nickname for Wissahickon Valley Park. The name is more ominous than the reason—cars are banned so it’s a rural retreat from the city for hikers and cyclists.
Flynn grumbled all the way there because he had to sit in the back of Pinky’s white Range Rover.
“The backseat twice in one week? I could have just met you there,” he complained. “It’s not my fault neither of you can bend the light.”
“Pipe down back there,” I said, craning my neck to glare at him. “You’re lucky we invited you.”
He grinned. “Don’t fool yourself, darling. You need me for these little lessons.”
It was true, to a degree. Flynn still had a full access pass to djinn powers an
d they were necessary for training.
“Newsflash. You’re not the only djinni in my life.”
“Yes, but Mix and Farah are useless for this kind of thing and you know it. Otherwise, they’d be here instead of me.”
“Actually, they wouldn’t be here because they both have jobs,” I said. “Unlike some people.” How Flynn made his money…Well, I didn’t want to know.
Flynn snorted. “I have plenty of jobs. I just don’t have to turn up in an office wearing a polo shirt and khakis. Thank the gods.”
We arrived at the park and Pinky expertly maneuvered her big-ass SUV into the narrow space. There were quite a few cars in the parking lot for a weekday morning, probably due to the dry weather.
“Fresh air and a change of scenery will do us all some good,” I said.
“So what’s the plan?” Flynn asked, rubbing his hands together. “Do we want to set a bear loose in the woods?” As a Jann, Flynn could shift into any number of mammals, but he preferred big and bad. The bigger and badder, the better.
Pinky scrunched her nose. “Is he going to attack me in the woods?”
“Only if he catches you,” I said. “And then you’ll kick his furry ass.”
Pinky didn’t appear convinced. “What about weapons? You said I could practice with weapons.”
“Yes, but a weapon doesn’t have to be what you carry around in a holster. Get creative. See what’s around you that can be used as a weapon.”
“Let me get this straight,” Pinky said, jutting out her narrow hip. “You want me to cloak the bear that’s chasing me while finding a way to defend myself at the same time?”
“Flynn’s a djinni,” I reminded her. “It’s not a matter of if he catches you, it’s when and whether you’ll be ready when he does.”
Flynn cracked his knuckles. “In the real world, you’re not going to be fighting bears. Real bears are easy. You’re going to be up against djinn who can change shape and surprise the hell out of you.”
“Right,” Pinky muttered. “This is so not how we do things at the Enclave.”
I folded my arms. “If you’d rather sit in a bunker and teach mages less powerful than you how to pull off a simple glamour, that’s up to you.”
Pinky shot me a death glare. “You know I don’t.” She turned to Flynn. “Don’t kill me, okay?”
“Flynn’s not a Ghul. He doesn’t suffer from bloodlust,” I said in an attempt to reassure her. “He’s more interested in acquiring information he can use than dropping the death hammer.”
“That’s true,” Flynn said. “I was never particularly keen on killing. I just like to play.”
“Yes,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “I remember.”
We walked together to Forbidden Drive, where we would have access to more rugged trails and terrain. I didn’t want to make this too easy for her. She needed to stretch her talents if she expected to improve. Throwing her into a natural and unfamiliar landscape would be a good challenge for her.
“What are you going to do?” Pinky asked me.
I set the timer on my phone. “I’m going to be right next to you. You’ll have thirty minutes to keep Flynn from mauling me.” Since I moved at a human’s pace and had no magic, it wouldn’t require much effort to play a victim.
Pinky blinked. “What? I thought he was chasing me. Now I have to worry about you too?”
I shrugged. “Welcome to my world. We’ll get a head start. Pretend we’re hikers who catch the eye of an evil djinni. I’m an innocent human and you need to protect us both.”
Flynn sighed dramatically. “Role playing with Alyse. My nostalgia is in full force.” A sly grin spread across his face. “What happens if I win?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“We need to raise the stakes,” he explained. “I’m obviously not going to maul you, as fun as that would be. So what’s in it for me if I manage to outwit Princess Pinky?”
I folded my arms. “What do you want?”
He cocked his eyebrow. “What do I always want?”
Good grief. Did his libido never rest? “I think Tessa might object.”
“Just dinner then,” he said. “You and me. That little Italian place with the bud vases.”
I cursed inwardly. “Deal.” I jabbed my index finger into Pinky’s chest. “My sanity is on the line. Don’t screw it up.”
We followed the gravel road and passed the Valley Green Inn, a historic building that now served as a restaurant. Wissahickon Creek rambled alongside us as cyclists whizzed by. At the moment, we looked like three friends out for a nature walk.
“Give us a five minute start,” I told Flynn.
Pinky and I climbed a steeply wooded path and headed deeper into the woodland. Trees twisted around us and their colorful leaves formed a mosaic on the ground. Three hawks circled overhead. In the distance, I heard the whacking sound of a woodpecker.
“OMG, it’s adorable.” Pinky dropped to her knees to admire the gray and yellow shell of the box turtle that crawled across the ground next to us.
“Pinky, focus.” I snapped my fingers. “We really don’t have time to commune with nature. You need to focus on your cloaking spell and think about how you’re going to protect us.”
She squeezed her eyes closed and began to murmur a chant.
“You can’t close your eyes, Pinky. We need to keep walking while you do the spell.”
“Is this like doing homework while you watch TV?” she asked. “Because I can totally do that.”
Not really. “Sure it is.”
I watched her out of the corner of my eye as she worked on the cloaking spell. “I don’t know how much area to include,” she said.
“Just do a quarter mile,” I advised. “Once he finds us, we won’t be able to get very far. Neither of us can move faster than a djinni.”
Pinky smiled. “But we can move faster than an unconscious djinni.”
I liked the way her mind worked. “I fully support that idea.”
I knew when the five minutes were up without checking the phone. For better or worse, I had a sixth sense when it came to Flynn.
We’d left the obvious trails and were climbing over boulders and fallen trees. If he came after us in bear form, he’d easily track our scent. A bear can detect our smell from twenty miles away and Flynn was much closer than that. The best thing we could do was make the terrain difficult for him. Of course, he could easily shift out of bear form when it no longer suited him, but we’d take our chances.
“He’s coming,” I whispered.
I felt Pinky tense beside me.
“Don’t let the fear in,” I said. “Be confident. Tell yourself you can do this. Keep cloaking us and decide on your next three moves.”
Her head jerked toward me. “Three?”
“The next move, a contingency move, and a follow-up move.”
“That’s too much thinking.” She glanced around us helplessly. “How am I supposed to get creative? I don’t even see a decent branch on the ground to use as a weapon.”
“Think bigger,” I said. “Why would you use a branch like a normal person? You’re not a normal person. You’re a mage, Pinky. Think like one.”
A seven hundred pound grizzly bear came flying over the boulder in front of us, surprising even me. I expected him to attack from behind. As I’d hoped, his form worked to our advantage since he was too large and unwieldy to manage the terrain.
“Choose a spell,” I said.
Flynn the Bear loomed in front of us, snarling and angry. While I didn’t love the proximity of his bear breath, what I really wanted to avoid was a dinner date. Which meant that Pinky needed to step up her game.
The sound of laughter froze us in our tracks. I turned around to see two hikers on the nearby trail, carrying backpacks and bottled waters. Now was not the best time to discover that Pinky’s cloaking spell was deficient.
“Do you think they can see us?” Pinky whispered.
“Not if you performed t
he spell correctly.”
My heart beat in my chest as they came closer. Flynn’s bear form remained perfectly still, which was impressive considering he had two paws on the boulder and two on the ground.
The hikers passed within view of a giant grizzly and two young women without a sidelong glance.
Pinky focused on the boulder and shifted it enough to unbalance the bear. It wasn’t going to buy us time, though, and that was what we needed right now.
“Pinky,” I said, losing patience.
A large paw swiped at us, narrowly missing my face.
“Watch it, Flynn!” I yelled. “I don’t get to change my face anymore, remember?” Not while I had my cuffs on.
The swipe got Pinky’s attention. Her hand shot out and she shouted, “Wall!”
Wall? I didn’t understand until the bear’s head rammed into something hard and invisible between us.
“How far does it extend?” I asked, resisting the urge to smile as the bear wobbled slightly.
“No clue.” She grabbed my hand and we fled in the opposite direction.
I felt like we were in a horror movie. Two ingénues running scared through the darkening forest while being pursued by a serial killer. I hoped we didn’t fall into that cliché where one of us—
“Shit,” I said, and slammed to the ground. I glanced back at the rock protruding from the forest floor.
“Get up,” Pinky urged.
When no grizzly appeared behind us in hot pursuit, I knew that Flynn had changed tactics.
“He’s back in djinni form,” I warned her. “Use your senses.”
There was no point in wasting our energy by running. If Flynn had shifted out of bear form, we needed to act smarter, not faster.
“I don’t know where he is,” Pinky said, whirling around in a panic.
I grabbed her by the shoulders and held her still. “Focus. You’re telling yourself you can’t find him before you’ve even tried.”
“You said it yourself,” Pinky complained. “My magic is different from yours. I can’t sense him the way you can. Not here.”
“You don’t get to choose when and where you fight,” I said. “You need to learn how to apply the skills you have to any situation you find yourself in.”