by J L Collins
“Your loss!” she laughed as she took off to disappear into the crowd on the dance floor.
“Dru has more energy than the rest of us put together, I’m afraid,” Natalia admitted, looking over at me.
Alina trailed a finger along Natalia’s jaw and nodded. “My sister is quite the spectacle. Then again, we all have our quirks,” she said with that same sly smile from before.
I quickly looked away, surprised when Natalia turned her head and they passionately kissed. I really, really hadn’t been expecting that.
Okay, so maybe they weren’t related after all. To my left, Gallows stretched and yowled, slinking down to the floor. “I need some fresh air. Too many humans for my taste tonight. Care to join me?”
I quickly nodded and hopped up without another word. I could see that the other two were preoccupied, so I took off after the cat, thankful for the distraction.
The fresh air was more like biting air than anything as we made our way outside into the night. Gallows had suddenly acquired a set of short boots and a black sweater that looked like my Nan had crocheted it.
He led me over to the side of the building, down an alley and back behind the club where there were a few tables and a couple of tall standing heaters on a large cement patio. A handful of people were chatting and laughing at one of the tables, leaving plenty of space for the two of us.
“I apologize for my friends,” he said, hopping up onto the table.
I shook my head. “There’s no need to apologize. I don’t mind at all, I was just… I’m not a huge fan of PDA. Especially you know, right next to my face.” Despite the frigid temperature, my skin still went warm.
“It doesn’t bother you? The vampires? Some people are put off by it.”
“Well some people are complete idiots, but that will probably never change,” I said fiercely. “I just thought maybe they were sisters or cousins or something. I didn’t realize they were a couple.”
“Oh, they’re not. That is the vampire way. They’re not exactly monogamous. It’s a whole long story that really isn’t my place to say.”
Guess I needed to add vampires to the research list.
I looked up at the sky, surprised to see a clear night. “It’s not so bad here with the heater nearby.”
“How did you get here, Indie Warren?”
The warm and cozy thought of the heater immediately disappeared. I slowly looked back down at Gallows. He regarded me with that same solemn stare.
I knew exactly what he was asking. “In my truck. I told you the truth before, in the Special Council building. I have nothing to hide about how I got here. If I had known I would end up stuck here… or that I would find out I’m secretly a witch after all this time… I would not have driven up the side of this mountain. Believe me.”
He was quiet for a moment, clearly mulling over my answer. Staring at the glowing orange of the heater, he nodded. “I do.” When he turned back to me he sat up straight. “I know a good person when I see one. We familiars have powers that not even your kind can understand. And I sense that you’re not only telling the truth, but that you are here for a reason. You just don’t know it yet.”
I understood what he was doing. Gallows was throwing me a lifeboat. “I, uh. Thank you. Thank you for saying that.” I didn’t necessarily agree with the fate of me showing up here, but I’d take it over being judged unfairly.
18
Gone Full Sherlock
After not getting back until much later last night, I was in major need of some breakfast and coffee.
The coffee was already brewing in the pot when I pushed open the door. “Yes,” I whispered to myself while pouring my first cup. I yawned as I sat down at the table.
And then I nearly upended the whole stupid mug over myself when a rolled-up newspaper dropped onto the table in front of me.
“What the!?” I sputtered, freezing before the coffee could spill over the rim. “Ash!”
He was already pouring himself a cup, leaning against the kitchen counter. “Sorry about that. I just wanted you to see that.”
Seriously? I almost received third degree burns because he wanted to show me a freaking newspaper? “Are you nuts?”
He rolled his eyes. “Hardly. I said sorry, didn’t I? Look—that’s the Charming Springs Gazette. Do you see who the editor is?”
I set my mug down. “This is ridiculous,” I muttered, unrolling the paper. I searched the headline and sure enough, right underneath was the editor’s name. “Beatrice Wimberly. Well, I guess they’re in need of a new editor then,” I said. It wasn’t my fault I was grumpy.
“Exactly. Beatrice ran the Gazette. There are a few others that work there but it was mainly her. Verity mentioned to me that they’re looking for a new suitable editor to take her place. It would help curb the rumor mill some if there was a streamlined way for news to get out, especially given everything that’s gone on lately.”
I knew I must have looked completely lost—I was. “Okay,” I said slowly. “So what?”
He came to sit on the other side of the table, for once wearing a normal-looking plain black t-shirt. “You’re a writer.”
“Nope. No, no, no, no. Uh-uh. I’m a professor—an assistant professor, anyway. I deal with creative writing, not journalism.”
He stared at me. “Writing is writing. And if you’re good enough to be an assistant professor, then you’re good enough to take over a small town newspaper. Not to mention your novel. It’s good—you have the skill to do this.”
I wasn’t sure where in the world Ash got this cockamamie idea from, but it was way too early to deal with something this absurd. “It’s not even nine o’clock. If we have to discuss make-believe, can it at least wait until after I’ve finished my coffee? That you nearly scalded me with?” I paused, the rest of his words hitting me all at once. “Wait, wait, wait. How do you know what my novel’s like? I haven’t shown it to anyone.”
Ash’s sharp jaw flexed as he opened and quickly closed his mouth. His eyes darted to the table. “I brought you lunch one day and you weren’t in the room. Your computer screen…I only saw a glimpse, but I was curious. I took a minute to read. Like I said, it was good. You have a knack for—”
“I cannot believe you just invaded my little bit of privacy like that. And you’re admitting it like it’s not even a big deal!” I shouted. How in the world was I supposed to get anything done if he was sneaking behind my back and going through my stuff?
“Hey! Cut me some slack please. I didn’t mean to. All right, maybe I did. It wasn’t my finest moment, I’ll admit. But I’m not wrong. You’re a good writer and the Gazette needs someone like you. Think about it. You’d be doing the Special Council a big favor by taking up the position. At least temporarily while we’re trying to figure things out still.”
I was five seconds away from dumping my hot coffee in his lap. I was never one for taking compliments, but it was hard to feel appreciated and violated all at once. “I’m not interested. Not in the newspaper, not in a job here, not in your lame excuses. I have work to get to, anyway.”
Ash groaned and hung his head. “Okay, I messed this all up. I’m sorry, all right? I shouldn’t have read your writing. But I mean it—this could be a good thing for you,” he said, pushing the paper back toward me. “Maybe once you’ve gone full Sherlock and cracked the case you’ll want a hobby or two until we can get you out of Charming Springs.”
So he knows we’re still looking for the murderer. I guess I wasn’t exactly being secretive about it. I watched him from the corner of my eye. Why was he picking this hill to die on?
“I don’t know a thing about journalism, which is not the same as creative writing. One’s fact, one’s fiction. One’s utterly boring, the other one pays my bills. Or paid, anyway. Plus, I think I have enough going on with trying to juggle two different types of magic lessons. And obviously the murder investigation. I hate that you read my unedited stuff. No one gets to see it. But for what it’s worth… th
ank you.”
The look in Ash’s eyes caught me off guard and I bit my lip, flustered. No, taking compliments was not my thing at all.
“What do you get out of it? You’re pushing awfully hard for me to take up this job,” I finally said, tracing my finger along the rim of my mug.
“Nothing. But there’s a restlessness to you. I know it because I’m the same. And while I can admire your newfound detective skills, I think a real purpose here would help you not drown in your thoughts. You must have a lot of them, with your situation here.”
I didn’t like the absolute honesty that rang in his voice. It left me unnerved. “Maybe you’re right. I need to keep busy, but like I said, I don’t have a problem with that.”
“I also want the Special Council off your back. The more they’re in your debt, the better your chances are for them to leave you alone.” Ash got back up and holding his cup, nodded to the paper. “It’s just something to think about. Speaking of keeping busy, I have a century-old journal to thumb through.” He turned and walked toward the steps to the basement, leaving me to my own thoughts.
It was a ridiculous idea, to be sure. I didn’t know any more about being a newspaper editor than I did about being a witch. Correction, I knew some more about being a witch thanks to Fatima’s lessons. So why would I even bother with the Gazette?
On the other hand… if I was stuck here for very much longer, and it was looking more and more like that would be the case, I would need some way to take care of myself. I’m not about to become some kind of charity case.
And it wouldn’t hurt to have the Special Council feel indebted to me instead of wary of me. It was leverage at the very least.
I sighed. I’d have to think on it later. First, I needed to worry about the fact that a real killer was still on the loose in town. And they weren’t afraid to make me look bad.
19
Lazy Magic
The circle of candles around me flickered. Kneeling in the middle of them, it was my job to send the flames upward higher and higher, but it was way easier to accidentally combine the candle flames over my head, thereby becoming a complete danger to myself and my surroundings. Smokey the Bear would not have been proud.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you might have a little too much enthusiasm for fire power,” Fatima said from a somewhat safe distance. She swiped her hand in the air and the flames went out, leaving trailing wisps of smoke rising about the candles.
I stepped around them, feeling the magic of the protection spell she’d cast around it pull away from me. “How can I go from practically non-existent earth powers to turning into Hades? I don’t get it.”
Fatima put me through my paces with a new test for both powers each day I came by to practice for the past week, and each day I did hardly any better than the day before.
Moving on, we went inside the cottage to ‘play in the sandbox’ as she liked to call it. There was a square box of sand on the floor that was just big enough for me to stand inside of, and after I took off my heavy boots and cleaned and dried my feet in respect to Fatima, I did exactly that.
She pulled a chair around to sit in front of me. “This is one of the easier tasks I’ve found for you to try out. Instead of pushing out you’ll need to pull in your concentration and energy. Does that make sense?”
“Not at all, but let’s just roll with it. Okay, now what am I trying to do here?”
She explained the mechanics of using sand as camouflage to protect me from detection. I had no idea how this would be of any use to me considering Charming Springs resembled a snow globe and not the desert, but I supposed anything would be better than nothing.
The magic I’d been trying to externalize was a lot easier to manage when I kept it where it was. Sand swirled around my feet when I meditated on it instead of commanding it. Fatima called it neutralization, which was basically just a fancy term for my magic being better behaved when I wasn’t trying to force it to do anything.
I laughed. “So you’re telling me my magic is lazy?”
She cracked a smile. “For lack of a better word. Here, let’s try to bring it in now. The energy is laced along every inch of you and you want to bring it in as tightly as possible. Think of it as trying to crumple up a ball out of a sheet of aluminum foil.”
Surprisingly that was easier than pushing magic out, and I imagined peeling back the magic from my fingertips and pressuring it into some kind of shape in the very middle of me. It budged at least, and as it did so did the sand at my feet. It swirled up and over the tops of them, slowly winding around my ankles. It was like being lightly sandblasted, and not at all comfortable. Somewhere in the back of my mind I had to wonder who in their right mind would do this on purpose.
I tugged the magic harder, this time is resisted more and I found myself mentally battling it to move. With the sand still swirling up my legs to cover them, I attempted to summon it with my fingers.
“No! Not like that. Hold still. Let it work,” Fatima said.
“Ugh!” The sand decided it had enough and dropped all at once back to my feet. All of my energy flattened back out, taking my breath along with it. I gasped and tried to clear my mind. I was okay. I was fine.
It took me a minute or two to compose myself. “When will I get to move on to the other magic?” I huffed, bent over trying to catch my breath. On top of getting my elemental powers under control, there was still the whole history of magic to teach me, not to mention the other magics Fatima had knowledge of. If I was going to embrace my witchiness, I was going to do it properly.
At least once Goldie and I figured out who killed Beatrice.
Fatima clapped me on the back and helped me stand up. “You’re like Rocky, you know that? Taking all those hits and then bouncing back up for more. Don’t get so ahead of yourself. It doesn’t make any sense to work on any of the other stuff until you know how your magic performs. Then the rest of it will make more sense to you. But… we can go over some of the history soon. Soon,” she repeated. I pursed my lips. It didn’t matter that I had a history of overwhelming myself with biting off more than I could chew (hello, double majors!) This was magic. Of course I wanted to know everything I could about it.
We sat down at the table after I shoved my feet back into my boots, and Fatima called forth the runes inscribed on the tabletop. They glowed bright gold and then neon red.
“What was that about?” I asked as they faded out.
“I wanted to consult the runes with a particular question in mind.”
I waited but she said nothing. “Um. Did you get an answer?”
A frown worked its way across Fatima’s heart-shaped face. “I did but I’m not sure how I’m supposed to take it. I asked if it were possible for you to have dominion over the other two elements.”
“And?”
“I need to test it and find out.”
“Divination seems to be a cryptic friend,” I muttered. I could understand bits of magic but that was one area I had no faith in. “And what do you mean dominion over the other two? You don’t think I can control all of them, do you?”
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it. If I had two then why not all four? But considering I could barely control the ones I had, it would be more of a curse than anything to have access to the four elements and not be able to use them like everyone else.
“You’re already the exception, Indie. Why not shoot for an anomaly?”
The air test was first. I was supposed to send a paper airplane zooming around the cottage, but despite its perfect aerodynamics thanks to my excellent paper plane-folding prowess, it only zoomed right into the fireplace.
We tried working a different angle with the sandbox—this time the aim was to send the sand swirling around in a mini sandstorm. But the sand had other plans. My earth power was not to be outdone, and the sand exploded out of the box and all over everything within a few feet’s radius. I apologized to Fatima nearly a dozen times for that one whil
e we worked to clean it all up.
“See? No air power. So probably no water power either. Truth be told, I’m not fond of water. It freaks me out,” I said, dumping the sand from the dust bin back into the box.
“Can you swim?”
I held out my hand. “So-so. I can swim on top of water. But I suck at diving more than a couple of feet under the surface. I have this weird fear of drowning.”
“Then you’re doing better than me. I cannot, and like you, I’m terrified of drowning. But that has nothing to do with the potential for your power. In fact… it might even help you overcome that fear,” she said, jutting her chin in the direction of the table. “Let’s try this.”
We sat at the table with a vase full of water in between us. The goal was for me to change the state of the water—solidify it into ice or evaporate it into steam.
For the most part the water just sat there, ignoring my pull of the energy. I imagined tiny bubbles shooting up from the bottom like carbonation in soda, willing the water to move in some way. I knew it was ridiculous, but I couldn’t help but hope that I could get through to it somehow. Something about gaining the ability to manipulate water would make me feel less trapped by all the snow.
The frustration rose up in me though, distracting me from what I was doing. “This isn’t working,” I groaned, shaking my head. “This is completely pointless.”
Fatima tapped the side of the vase. “No it’s not. Look closer.”
I did and my eyes went wide as the surface of the water began to bubble carefully, as if I were heating up a pot of water. They started slow at first, but I homed in on the bubbles, willing more of them upward.
“Come on, come on…” I clasped my hands around the vase. What had Prince said? Water is our friend? I pushed my frustration aside and imagined the water being patient with me as I figured it out.