by D. N. Hoxa
I always knew my mother had secrets, but I could never imagine she’d keep something like this hidden from me. I wasn’t sure what to feel and trying to get my mind off this led me nowhere.
Every time I stopped at a red light, I checked all around me to see if someone was following. I borrowed a hat from Amelia, one that covered my ears and half my forehead. Except for the eyes, I looked my usual self again, driving back home.
But I wasn’t going home. I was on my way to Harlem and to Julian Walker.
After all that talk with Amelia about not enough magic power, it was obvious I needed to return to him. It could have very well been a huge mistake, but Julian promised me power if I made sure nothing happened to him. He promised me a lot of power, which was exactly what I needed. Not just for the time it took Amelia to prepare for the spell, but it was Plan B if she was right and the spell failed. If I had a lot of power, I could just keep a disguise on forever, even if I didn’t go back to the way I was. It was the perfect solution, and I was almost glad I’d delivered that stupid package now.
I was no fool. I knew that a thousand things could go wrong, but I was willing to take the risk. It was much better than sitting around my aunt’s house, paranoid, waiting for the ECU and Finn’s Agents to find me and kill us both.
For a second, I wondered what Finn would think if he saw me now. If Dylan saw me. Shivers washed down my back, and I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind. Nobody was going to see me, and nobody was going to know. I made sure of that when I went back and killed Johnny Darling.
I arrived in Harlem fifteen minutes past three. A busy time of day and I could hide well in the crowd. Still feeling naked without my gun, I made it a priority to have Julian order one for me as soon as I spoke to him, and we made the deal. I was going to protect him against anyone who wanted him dead, and in return, he was going to give me power.
Everything about the building looked exactly the same as it had been three days ago. God, just three days. It felt more like three years. With complete confidence, I walked out of the elevator and hurried to his door.
The smile died on my lips when I got there because the door was slightly ajar. Not a good sign.
My heart began to hammer against my chest as I took out two knives and put half a focus on my beads. I pressed my back against the wall right next to the door and listened closely for any sound.
Nothing.
It didn’t sound like anybody was in there and sniffing around the hallway a few times gave no wet wood or menthol smell away. Running right back where I came from before anything else happened was the reasonable thing to do. I did not need any more heat on me, not while I looked the way I did.
But I needed Julian, if he wasn’t dead already. So with a deep breath, I ordered my beads forward, and they pushed the door open.
Nobody came running to it when it slammed against the wall. That was a good sign, but I was still cautious as I took a peek inside. Nothing looked out of place in there. The living room was just as empty as it had been the first and last time I was there. The kitchen just as new. Not a single glass on the sink.
Holding my breath, I stepped inside and sniffed. No smell. I took another step and ordered my beads to shut the door. If somebody was in there, I wouldn’t want them running out.
With my knives in hand, I slowly stepped into the living room. No sign of violence anywhere. The place looked completely deserted.
“Julian?” I called, loud enough for him to hear me anywhere in the apartment if he was there.
There was no answer. Maybe he was in his laboratory and he’d just forgotten to close the door. Unlikely, but what else could I do except go check?
The door in the middle that led to his laboratory was slightly opened, too. I knew without a doubt that I wouldn’t find him there, but when I finally was able to see inside, I was shocked.
“My God,” I whispered as my eyes took in the chaos. Everything in there was broken. The place looked worse than my apartment. Whoever had been in there was even more thorough than Alexandra. Not one thing that I could see was whole. Pieces of wood and glass and even metal covered the floor. There was blood on the table, which was bent in the middle as if something really heavy had fallen on it. Julian’s jacket was on the floor, under pieces of glass. But there was no Julian.
Cursing under my breath, I almost screamed in anger. I’d been too late. The ECU had already found him, and if he wasn’t dead yet, he would be, very soon. I’d wasted half a day to come here, unless…unless I could find him.
A small stone holster was around my hips. It was brown, so it obviously wasn’t mine. I borrowed that, too, from Amelia. In it, I had two of Finn’s stone bombs and a finding bomb. It wasn’t a strong spell by any means because Finn would never spend too much on them, but I had Julian’s blood and he was a Blood witch. I had a part of his magic right there and even a weak finding spell could do wonders with that.
Excited, I dropped to my knees with my finding stone in hand, not even pissed off that I’d have to use my magic to activate it. Julian’s blood had spread into a very thin layer. It was dry but hard to tell how long ago it spilled because it was pretty cold in there. I licked my finger, then rubbed it on a splatter of blood in a circular motion until it melted enough to stick to my skin. Wiping the blood on the small stone in front of me, I sent a surge of energy to it to activate it. If the blood worked and the target was close enough, it would show me the location of the stone and the location of the target.
A second later, the small stone exploded into a thousand tiny pieces that looked like sand. They formed a circle as big as my head in front of me, and in that circle, two red lights appeared. The light that was supposed to be Julian was at the very edge of the circle, going west. The only way to find out exactly how far away he was, I was going to have to move west, then activate the spell again.
Without a look behind, I ran out the door. All I could hope for was that he wasn’t dead already, but if he was with the ECU, we were both screwed. There was no way I could break through all of their defenses on my own to get to him, but for now, I was keeping my spirits high. It was too early to make assumptions, anyway.
I didn’t have time to look around and see if someone was after me when I left the building. I just ran west a couple of blocks, then stopped to check the spell again. It was careless of me to not even try to hide from humans or anyone else who could be watching, but the thought that I might lose Julian and the power he promised me overran everything else in my head. He came first; everything else could wait.
The stone exploded in front of me again, and the red lights showed that I was moving in the right direction. My heart raced as I ran fast without looking back. A million things crossed my mind at once and the fear that I might not get powerful enough to wear a disguise kept growing—and that’s even without thinking about the part where I was a fairy. I activated the finding stone two more times to make sure I was on the right path. The closer my light got to Julian’s, the faster I ran out of breath.
I had no idea in which part of Harlem I was when I stopped in front of a restaurant to check the stone again. Julian was close, the stone lights said, and if the street hadn’t been so crowded, I should have been able to see him.
Too many people around. I was going to have to activate the stone again. It was a good plan, except it wasn’t going to work. To my horror, the dust that circled in front of me never turned to stone again. Instead, it just fell to the ground. The finding spell had ended.
“Goddamn it!” I hissed at the dust in front of my feet, needing to hurt someone or something so badly. How was I going to find Julian now?
By looking, a lazy voice in my head said. I almost rolled my eyes at myself, but that voice was right. If I stood there and wasted time getting angry, chances were I was just putting more distance between myself and Julian. Not very smart, so I let go of the anger with a loud sigh, and I ran forward again. He had to be around there somewhere. All I needed to do w
as find him.
Easier said than done, though. I ran around the streets like a damn headless chicken, trying to look on all four sides at once, nearly tripping and breaking my face three times in the process. Every cell in my body was focused, my head conveniently reminding me of the day I met Julian and how he looked. I could never forget a face like his.
After four blocks west, I stopped to catch my breath. No Julian. Tears of anger filled my eyes, but I refused to let them spill. I wasn’t giving up just yet. Feeling more desperate by the second, I ran back the way I came, a bit slower this time, to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. I was well aware that he could have already left that part of the city, but there was no way I could know that without a finding stone. I almost considered going back to Lower Manhattan to buy another, but that would cost me too much time.
When I made it back right where the finding spell had ended, I was completely stripped of hope. Julian was nowhere.
Just my luck. I rested against the wall of the building behind me, all the muscles in my body aching, and I tried to come up with options. If I couldn’t find Julian, there surely had to be some other way to grow my powers. Because if Amelia’s reverse spell failed like she said it would, that was my only chance. I would not stay a fairy. I’d do anything it took, anything at all, but I would not accept this.
Unfortunately for me, minutes later, I came up empty-handed. Nothing I’d ever heard of could work as a power enhancement. Magic is difficult. Some even said you lost a part of your soul each time you conjured or stirred a spell. It took from you and you gave to it willingly, whether it was physical or mental strength. That was why some of the most powerful witches had ended up insane. Alone. Never understood. The trick was, my mother said, to never let magic get to your head. But magic was already in each witch’s head. We were born with it, then we took it from our families. The best we could do was train our powers to be more specific, more focused, but that was it. You either had a lot of power, or you didn’t. If you simply didn’t, nothing could change that.
Except maybe dragon blood.
I hadn’t believed Julian at first, but desperation and hopelessness will do strange things to you. Now that I looked like a damn fairy—and we’re not even going to talk about my actually being a fairy—I was willing to believe in everything if it meant I could undo this. Change it, or at the very least hide it.
But now, what I believed in didn’t really matter. Julian had disappeared, and without Finn’s stones and his resources, there was no way I was going to find him.
Defeated, I took in a deep breath, and I started to walk back to my truck. Now, there was nothing I could do but find a place to hide near Amelia’s house in Bloomsburg, and wait. Wait to see if my life was ruined forever, or if I could get it back.
I almost wished that whoever was still after me, found me. Put an end to it all. I looked around the many faces, certain that I wouldn’t even be afraid if I saw a familiar face looking at me, but I didn’t. Instead, I saw a familiar suit.
With one foot on the sidewalk, the other on the street, I stopped moving. The werewolves that had come at me with their guns the day I delivered that package to Julian were something I’d never forget, either. Their expensive suits were hard to miss in the sea of people around me. Three of them were walking forward, their back turned to me, a contrast to the rest of the people. Their guns were in their hands, too, and if someone saw them, they said nothing. I rushed my steps, my eyes stuck to the back of the head of the werewolf in the middle to make sure I wouldn’t lose sight of them. Adrenaline pumped my blood and made me forget all about my tired muscles.
A moment later, the three werewolves started to run.
“Shit,” I hissed as I charged after them, my knives already in my hands. There was only one explanation for why they would be there in Harlem of all places. They were after Julian.
I turned the corner of a street, running as fast as my legs would let me, when I realized I couldn’t see the werewolves anymore. Panic set in fast. I stopped in my tracks. Breathing heavily, I looked around me, but they weren’t there. It was impossible for them to have run fast enough to disappear like that!
I started to walk forward slowly, eyes wide, searching.
“Fucking assholes,” someone said from ahead of me, loud enough to be heard over the noise of the city. A human was standing in front of a restaurant not four feet away from me, dusting off his pants as if he’d just fallen. I charged forward again, my heart racing.
The restaurant was small, with a couple of tables in front of it, right on the sidewalk, its windows spotless. Through them, I saw a shoulder dressed in a black jacket a second before it disappeared. Without hesitation, I ran into the restaurant and straight for the door on the right where I’d seen the werewolf disappear. I pushed it open with all my strength and found myself in a kitchen. Three people were in there, backs against the wall while food cooked on their stoves. The smell was strong enough to make me want to throw up. The men looked positively terrified as they looked at me, and that’s how I knew the werewolves had been there. The only other door in the kitchen was at the end of it, and that’s where I went. The lock was broken and behind it was the storage room. All kinds of things were neatly placed on the floor and on the small shelf at the corner. The door on the other side was open.
I stopped running and took in a deep breath. Slowly, I walked forward, my fingers tight around my knives and my beads ready to attack at the first sign of danger. I expected one of the werewolves to jump in front of me any second now, but they didn’t. The backdoor led outside to an alley. Someone in it was fighting.
The hat I had on was soaking in my sweat and my forehead itched like mad, but taking it off wasn’t an option. It wasn’t going to help keep me focused, but I didn’t have time to think of something else. I stepped outside soundlessly, and my eyes quickly scanned the view in front of me.
Julian Walker stood alone at the end of the alley, a thick concrete wall behind him. Four of the suited werewolves were around him, one on the ground, probably dead. They shot at Julian, though you could barely hear it from the silencers, but the bullets never made it through his shield.
By what I’d seen from the werewolves so far, they operated in groups of three. Five were there, which meant another was coming— or four. Julian was covered in blood, and when one of the werewolves charged forward aiming for him with his fist rather than his gun, Julian fell back.
I ran forward, not bothering to keep silent anymore.
The werewolf closest to me had his arm up and was shooting at Julian the same time his colleague attacked him with his fists. I buried one of my knives right between his shoulder blades before any of them knew what was happening. The werewolf turned fast, his arm swinging. His elbow almost connected with my face, but I squatted down and jumped back up at the same second. My beads were already on his face. He had no idea what was happening so it was easy to grab the gun from his hand and shoot him right between his eyes.
Someone shot at me, too. The bullet buried itself deep inside my arm. Pain spread like wildfire toward my torso, and I squatted again before raising the dead werewolf’s gun again and shooting without aim.
The bullet caught the werewolf shooting at me in the thigh and his leg gave. It gave me enough time to stand up. Before he could pull the trigger again, I sent my beads for his wrist and fingers. As the werewolf pulled his hand back and the gun fell to the ground, I was surprised all over again at my beads’ new strength.
By that time, one of his two remaining colleagues who had been fighting off Julian aimed his gun at my head. I barely had time to run. Bullets chased me all the way to Julian, who now had his back against the wall, his bloody hands shaking. There was no time for hellos. As soon as I was close enough to him, I conjured my shield.
Sparks everywhere. Eyes wide, I watched as my shield held bullet after bullet and still stood strong. I’d witnessed Ralph going at it with his claws, which were much stronger than bullets,
but it was still a shock to realize just what my magic could do. The two werewolves stood in front of us, guns aiming at our heads, shooting like they would never run out of bullets. It was only a matter of time before more arrived. I’d already thought of an escape plan. All I needed was a little time.
The gun was in my hand but to fire it, I’d have to let go of my shield. Bullets, apparently, couldn’t even break through it, now. But my beads could.
Mother said that the beads worked best when controlled with my fingers. It had been so useless to even try before. I’d just used my mind to float them around, but now, I raised my left arm and straightened my fingers. It was going to only get worse if others arrived, so it was worth a shot.
It felt weird at first to unleash the beads with a wave of my hands. I aimed them at the werewolves’ Adam apples. Two went for one, and three for the other. My fingers moved back and forth as fast as I could make them, and the beads never stopped. The werewolves stepped back, sounds of choking coming out of their lips. A second of silence—no gunshots.
I put my shield down, my gun already raised. I fired once, twice…two more dead bodies hit the ground.
The beads came rushing around my fingers again before I grabbed Julian by the arm and pulled him forward. There was a bullet in his leg. He could barely stand upright, but he had to. He knew as well as I did that every second was precious.
The emergency stairs to the building on the other side of the restaurant were close enough to reach. Going back to the streets wouldn’t be wise because it was probably crawling with suited ECU werewolves. We had to escape from the inside.
Julian didn’t say a word when I pushed him towards the stairs and up. He moved slowly, too slowly, but it was better than my having to carry him. I climbed right behind him and pushed him to move farther up. With an exhausted sigh, he did. Every other second, I looked down at the alley and the back door of the restaurant. By the time we made it to the third floor, nobody was there.