by John Conroe
“We gotta hide you, buddy. There’s a medium here and she’s picking up too much already,” I said, more to myself then from any idea that he could understand me. I’d been talking to him all along as I spelled him and operated him, and it had become a habit. He started to sit up but I stopped him with a touch. “Let’s just cover you really well and shield your energy.”
Funny thing was that as soon as I said that, he just sort of faded. Not physically, but energy wise. He just seemed to settle back into the rock pile and the animation went right out of him. I added more brush from the small stuff I had limbed off the logs, building up a mound of tree limbs and sticks that covered his manlike form. He was still just mud and wood, so he blended right in.
Then I grabbed my saw and splitting maul and hustled up the lawn toward the barn. I made it just inside and closed the door when I heard the back door of the restaurant opening and Levi’s deep voice.
Dropping the tools, I rushed past the stacks of wood, all the way to the back where my game course was laid out, a miniature landscape of hills, valleys, and plains. I slowed down only to properly let myself into the circle that both protected it and also contained my dragon. Once inside, I slowly raised the power of the circle as I concentrated on sending power into the particular wards that my aunt calls Don’t See Me. In the rafters above me, Draco rustled around, but I shushed him absently as I focused. He froze in place, his dark colors hiding him in the shadows.
The barn was old, the wooden walls worn and full of gaps and spaces. Outside, I could hear the visitors, my aunt, and Levi all talking as they walked out back toward the big rowan tree.
“Declan,” Darci called in a hushed voice.
“I’m here. Just give me a second,” I said, mentally tying off the strands of power I had fed into the barn’s wards. Then I carefully let myself back out of the circle just as the compact form of my aunt’s girlfriend stepped out of the wood stacks. She stopped at the edge of the circle, knowing not to try and enter it. Darci and Levi knew that we were witches, that we were hiding from dangerous people, knew that my mother had died in Boston, likely at the hands of those people. Both believed in our abilities but neither knew just how extensive they actually were.
“All set,” I said. She didn’t answer, instead looking at the game course. Then her eyes lifted, and she scanned the dark rafters till she spotted Draco’s still form.
“Do all witches have to go through this much work when other psychics show up?”
“You know they don’t,” I said. “Other witches have their circles to help protect them. We have a business to run and no circle.”
“I asked Ashling if she missed her circle and she swore a blue streak. Then she said she didn’t need a circle… She had you.”
Feelings welled up inside me and I was glad the barn was dark and dim. It took me a moment till I could safely speak. “We are kind of our own little circle. It’s just that there are people who would love to find us.”
“I know,” she said with a smile and a nod. Then she frowned. “You know, running a highly successful restaurant is hardly the way to hide… or at least I would have said it wasn’t the way to go. But I notice that no matter how many pictures are taken inside, not a single shot of you or your beautiful aunt ever makes it online or in print?”
“Funny, right?” I asked.
“Hmpff. I’d say it was a scary demonstration of skill and power,” Darci said. “I’ve spoken with reporters and reviewers. They have all these great photos while they’re here but after they leave, the ones of Ash all go to shit.”
“What do you mean, scary?” I asked, not liking the way this conversation was going. I could see the others through a gap in the wall. They were almost to the tree.
“How do you think I mean? Your aunt can find lost people in any weather condition or terrain, you can fix almost anything computer or electronic with just a touch, and then there is that dirtbag that kidnapped you,” she said, flicking out three of her fingers as she counted. Only she did it weird, using the littlest finger first, then the ring finger and finally her middle digit.
“Darci, you aren’t afraid of Aunt Ash, are you?” I asked, horrified.
She studied me with her cop face on, not saying anything, just waiting. But she had already taught me the interrogation game so I just waited her out.
Finally. “Should I be?”
“I don’t know… Should we be afraid of your guns or pepper spray or handcuffs?”
“Not at all the same,” she scoffed.
“Oh really? Cops never go rogue and harm relatives and significant others? Would you want to place a bet? I can run a Google search in no time.”
“That’s just it. That’s an ordinary thing to fear. What you and she can do isn’t ordinary at all. It’s so not-ordinary that people are looking to find you and possibly kill you over it.”
“I don’t think you’re afraid of Ash at all,” I said. “But maybe you’re afraid of me?”
This time she grinned, and it was real. “Nah, not you, scamp. I’m the one that taught you before Soldier Boy showed up—don’t forget it.”
If she hadn’t been afraid, then why the third degree? Her own words came back to me from an offhand comment not all that long ago. “A good cop is always watching, questioning, alert to learn more than meets the eye.”
“You’re just trying to find stuff out,” I accused.
She studied me for a second, face blank. “Come on. Ashling will be wondering where we’re at.”
The look on my aunt’s face told me that was exactly the thought on her mind as she watched us approached the little group under the boughs of the rowan.
I gave her a little shake of my head and then pushed a smile on my face when Monica turned to us, all excited.
“This space is marvelous! So much clean, positive energy!”
“Nice, right?” I remarked.
My aunt was now looking at Darci, and when I shot a glance at the deputy, I saw her meeting Ashling’s hard gaze with one of her own.
Gatik was right up under the tree, looking at some kind of device that he was holding near the trunk.
“Ms. O’Carroll?” Monica asked.
“‘Tis jest Ashling, dear.”
“Ashling, would it be alright if Gat and I stopped back on when we’re done with our investigation? We promise not to bring anything with us; we’re very careful to shed anything that might try and hitch a ride. It’s just that the energy here is so purifying that I feel like it would replenish us.”
“Of course, Monica. And I doubt our plucky tree here would let anything negative hitch a ride, as you say,” my aunt said.
“Are there any buried electric lines out here?” Gatik asked.
“No sir. Jest rock and dirt.”
“I’m getting a really amazing EM reading off this tree,” he said, moving the box all around.
“Well, a storm is coming,” I said.
Everyone turned to me, eyebrows up.
I thought fast. “My teacher says this area has some iron deposits, and with an approaching thunderstorm, it could be getting charged up or something,” I said.
“Hmm. I’m not sure about that, but you’re right about the thunderstorm,” Gatik said. “Monica, we should get on the road. I’d like to be on scene when the weather gets to St. Albans.”
“Oh right!” she answered. “Thank you so much for sharing this spot and your special tree with us. We’ll stop for lunch tomorrow on our way back, if that’s okay?”
“It’s a business, dear,” my aunt said. “We want repeat customers.”
“Of course. Sorry; it’s just my guides are even more twittery out here,” she said with a little embarrassed laugh.
“Not to worry, dear,” Ash said, turning toward the buildings.
Within just a few minutes, we had them on their way, waving as they drove out of the parking lot.
Then my aunt turned to Darci. “What’s all this about then?”
Levi w
as hanging near me, staying quiet, but I’m pretty sure he’d felt the tension.
“I’m feeling a little in the dark,” Darci said. “And I need some light to find my way.”
“Oh, is that it? I told you when we started that there were things about us that ye shouldn’t know,” Aunt Ash said.
She had her tough face on, but I sensed something else. Something like expectation, or resignation. That was it. The same thing that happened to me whenever someone got too close and saw too much. She was steeling herself for pain, for heartbreak.
Instantly, I felt a wave of sympathy for my poor aunt. Saddled with a kid, hunted for years, having to forever hide herself from everyone. I knew how it felt, but it was all I knew. She’d had a whole village, a circle, even a bit of celebrity status. Now she had nothing and no one. Just me. The bastard product of rape, an aberration who leaked magic like a frigging sieve. And now Darci was going to break her heart.
My sympathy turned to anger and another part of me screamed out a warning. Control. Lock it away; don’t let it out. Darci might soon be the agent of my aunt’s pain but she didn’t deserve what my anger could do.
“You good, lad?” my aunt asked me. She’d felt the tremors, the leaks of power.
“Ah, not to interrupt, but what in Hells is that!” Levi said, pointing down the hill toward the forest.
Robbie was marching toward us and now that I had snapped out of my emotion storm, I could feel his footsteps pounding against the ground.
“Um, that’s on me,” I said, knowing I had just toppled the worst set of dominoes possible. I ran, dodging Ash’s grab, and slipped by Darci, who belatedly tried to stop me.
Levi caught me, however, still thirty yards from my avatar. I ignored his hands, not even attempting an escape. “Robbie, stop!”
The giant mud form landed one more step and froze.
“What have ye done, boy?”
“Um, well, I was having trouble hauling wood and we don’t have a tractor, so I made Robbie. He’s just a giant dirt dude,” I said.
“He’s not even close to that, boy,” Ashling said as she and Darci caught up with us.
“He looks like a golem,” Levi said.
There was the smallest tremor in his voice, but he also sounded excited. I dropped my body weight toward the ground, simultaneously levering forward, ending up in a forward roll. Jumping up, I stepped forward toward my magic robot and then spun around.
“He’s like Draco is all,” I said.
My aunt moved immediately to me, staring at the seven-foot giant. I had only molded the barest of faces on him, just a pair of eye spots filled with pieces of quartz and a rock for a nose.
As my aunt got close, Darci followed. Immediately, Robbie straightened and turned toward them, almost seeming to come to attention. Ashling looked at me, then back at the giant. She reached a finger out and touched his torso, immediately sucking in a breath.
“Oh lad, he’s more like Draco than ye know,” she said, concerned.
“Well, maybe a little, but he’s just my helper,” I said.
She looked back at Robbie, then looked at Darci and Levi, once more at Robbie, and finally back at me. The wheels of thought were turning rapidly. “Put this… thing somewhere it won’t be seen.”
“Robbie, go back to the rock pile please,” I said. He turned my way, paused for a moment, and then turned, lumbering back toward the woods.
Ten minutes later, we were all inside, sitting around our table.
“Okay, what do ye want to know?” Aunt Ash said, looking at Darci but glancing at Levi.
“I don’t know where to even start,” Darci sputtered. She never sputtered.
“Was that a golem?” Levi asked.
“I don’t believe so. I’m not an expert on Hebrew magic systems, but I think both the giant and the dragon are something much different.”
“You don’t know what they are?” Darci objected. “Your nephew made them and you don’t know what they are?”
“In truth I do not,” Ashling said. “I have some suspicions, but it will take some time to test them out.”
Darci just gaped at her. Levi was frowning.
“So here it be, then,” Ashling said, visibly bracing herself. “We’re not your ordinary witches.”
“No shit,” Levi said. “This is stuff straight out of legend.”
Darci just nodded, seemingly unable to speak.
“My sister, Maeve and meself, were the cream of the Irish crop, so to speak. Witches breed for power, ye know. We were the result of five centuries of the careful blending of lines of witches. And as ye know, we were betrayed by our circle leader, Macha. Auctioned off to the highest bidders, traded to an old and powerful Croatian circle. But our future husbands could not control their selves. We were… assaulted.”
“Raped, Aunt Ash. The word is rape,” I said.
“Quiet, you,” she said, one finger pointing in my face. I shut up.
“We fled here. Declan was the only positive thing to come out of the whole mess,” she said. “Despite his wise mouth.”
“Warlocks are supposed to be weak,” Levi said.
“First, don’t be calling him a warlock. ‘Tis a nasty name for a nasty witch. Second, Declan is, frankly, brilliant. Too brilliant fer his own good. And he’s not weak.”
“What is he then?” Darci asked.
“A gift from the goddess. His mother was the most powerful Earth and Fire witch to come out of Ireland… until now. He crafts instinctively, creating spells that have no business working, yet somehow do. Those two creations of his are unique. As far as I know, the witching world has never seen their like.”
“Are they dangerous?” Darci asked.
“Of course they be dangerous. All Craft is dangerous, and those are a level beyond even the circles of my homeland. But so is a car, a gun, a chainsaw.”
“Why was that thing charging us?”
“He wasn’t charging,” I said. Darci gave me a clear look of disbelief. “I think Robbie felt me get upset and he was coming to help.”
“You were upset?” Darci demanded, making it clear who she thought had cause.
“You were… you are… about to hurt my aunt.”
“So you think. And that’s reason to sic your attack… monster on me,” Darci said.
“I didn’t sic anything on you. I got mad. Every time someone finds out about us, they run.”
“Run? Do I look like a runner to you?” Darci demanded. She’s compact and muscular, not really runner material. “Did I run when you fried that pervert?”
“No.”
“No is right. So why would I run now?”
“Because it’s worse than you think. I’m worse than you think.”
She folded her arms over her chest and settled her feet shoulder’s width apart. “Really? Show me.”
I glanced at my aunt. She held my gaze for a moment while the wheels spun, then nodded.
“Take it outside to the barn, lad. That medium isn’t far enough away yet,” she said.
“Would distance make any difference if her spirit guides are the ones who alerted her?” Levi asked.
“The guides are banjaxed by our wards and that lovely old tree,” my aunt said, “but she’s sensitive enough to pick up on real power.”
They all followed me outside and then into the barn.
I let myself into the warded circle around my Wytchwar space, then realized I didn’t really know where to start. Aunt Ash came to my rescue.
“Show them the bloody dragon first,” she suggested.
“We’ve seen it,” Darci said, unimpressed.
“No dear, ye thought ye’d seen it. That was Declan moving it about like an electric robot.”
I shook my head at her description but held my tongue. Instead, I called up to the rafters.
“Draco, come here please,” I said. Above us came the rustle of his wings, then suddenly he was swooping down in a graceful arc to land on my arm. Awake and alert, he stretc
hed his head out to butt me with his nose on my cheek. Had he used the top of his head, I’d have been cut by the very horns I had crafted on. Thankfully he’d learned quickly not to do that.
“It’s like he’s alive,” Levi said. “How are you doing that?” he directed that question at me.
“I’m not doing anything. This is how Draco normally is. He runs himself. Now watch. Draco, hide.”
He unfurled his wings and leapt from my arm, like a hawk or falcon might. As he swirled up into the darkness overhead, I immediately pushed myself into one of my dirt dudes, then after a moment’s thought, activated a second avatar and slaved it to the first. Then I started them running out across the game course.
“Turn it all on, lad,” Ash said.
Still running the dudes, I knelt down and touched the ground. Instantly it started moving, the mini mountain range shifting its peaks and valleys, the dry riverbed suddenly flowing with water that came down from the hills and into the lakebed. Above, a tiny set of clouds began to form ten feet over the course.
“How’s it doing that?” Levi asked. “What’s powering it?”
“He is,” my aunt said in a soft voice. “Now watch.”
Suddenly a dark form burst through the fledgling cloud bank, arrowing straight at the two dirt dudes who were just summiting one of the newly reformed peaks.
I directed the lead dude to dive into the valley below, the second one copying his motions. A burst of intense fire shot out from the dragon, catching the second avatar in midair, enveloping him in heat so intense that my audience had to lift arms to protect their faces.
“My bad,” I said as I used another tendril of power to capture the heat and recycle it into my reserves. The two dudes hit the ground, the first rolling and leaping upright, the second one bursting apart into clumps of blackened clay.
“Where did all that heat go?” Levi asked.
“Declan is recycling it, putting it back into himself to replenish that what he’s using. Okay, enough of that, lad. Show them something else.”
I pulled out of my remaining avatar as Draco landed on the mountain peak and peered down into the valley. Once the dude went inactive, the little dragon lost interest and began preening his wings.