by Mel Todd
Huh, must be a water mage. I'm not complaining.
I sipped this time, trying to slow how fast it went down my throat, and wished I had a popsicle.
"At least ten. I got the feeling the first death with the ball was an experiment. He wanted to see if the sensation of blood on his hands was worth the mess. He loved it." Even saying the words made me nauseous, and I desperately needed something else to clear the bile from my throat. "Can I get a Coke, please?" There might have been a bit of desperation in that request but no one seemed offended.
"Sure. One minute," Rachel said before spinning away and out the door. She'd been pale too. Just how loud had my screams been?
"Well since he was killed in prison, I'm not sure it is worth reopening the case, but I'll make a note of what you said. I suspect you don't want to touch the ball again?"
My whole body flinched in an atavistic reaction. "You will need to kill me first." My tone was flat, uncompromising. There was nothing they could do to make me willingly go back into that nightmare. But on the bright side, something would now replace the nightmares of the ritual murderers. They had nothing on the sensation of blood running over my skin. I shuddered again, rubbing my shoulders. I needed a shower to try to clean feelings off of me.
"You know, you'll probably experience worse as a merlin," Alixant said, almost leering at me, but there wasn't really anything sexual about it.
"If so, you'll probably have a dead merlin because if I go through that too often, I'll suicide." It was a statement. Already I could feel the evilness of that coating my soul and I wanted to cry. But how much of that was from what I had experienced, and how much was from being unable to deny what I was? A mage. A merlin.
Lawrence looked at me, his head tilted. "You know, I bet if she hadn't kept up those two cloaks for so long, she would have been strong in psychic instead of pale." His comment was abstract, his eyes unfocused.
"If that was pale, I'd hate to see what she could have done as a strong." Fran kept her voice soft, but I still heard it and I looked at her. She was wan and looked at me with an expression she didn't have before. She must have noticed my gaze because she looked directly at me. "You're powerful. Even for a merlin, you are so strong. What you'll be able to do with training is, frankly, scary."
I blinked. She feared me. That idea, that concept made me sick again. I'd never wanted people to fear me. I just wanted a family. I looked around for Rachel now, even more desperate for carbonation to cleanse my throat. The burn now seemed attractive. She came back in the door, three bottles in her hand, regular and the two types of diet.
"Here. I didn't know which one you wanted."
"Regular please. I need the calories."
She nodded and handed it to me, and I could see it getting cold as she did. I twisted and poured, the sweet burn chasing away the bile and other things that had settled into my soul.
"So why didn't someone get rid of this curse thing, with all the stuff that happened around me?"
Alixant blinked at me, a furrow crossing his face, then it cleared. "Ah yes. I read your history. Really, I can't believe no merlin ever saw you. I know we're rare, but we aren't that rare."
"Shay saw me all the time, but he just muttered weird things."
He paused and looked at me, a frown I suspected I would see a lot on his face. "Shay who?"
"Sato O'Shaugnessy. He always glared at me, and muttered about probability lines, but never said I was magic. Even Sloan Steward said nothing."
"Oh figures. The one Merlin in regular contact with you and it has to be Shay." He snorted what could only be extreme disgust paced back and forth in the room.
Huh? What in the world does that mean?
"You know Shay?"
"Oh, most merlins tend to be aware of each other, at least in the same country. But yeah. Shay has the worst magic sense of anyone I've ever met. Personally, I suspect it's because his earth magic is so strong, everything he sees is tainted by the earth's fields. But no, he might have sensed magic around you but unless someone really looked, I doubt they would have realized you were creating your own cloak. Most Murphys only last long enough to be annoying. Yours was damn near permanent. I'm surprised it wasn't getting worse but I suspect those two spells, once you figure out the mechanics, will be things you can use like whips with very little offering required," he said in an off handed manner, as if my world hadn't just been going through whiplash reorientations.
"Well, I saw him pretty much almost daily for a while, then Sloan a few times. Neither of them said anything."
Alixant threw his head back and groaned. "Those two. They both have almost non-existent magic sense. No wonder they never sparked to you. Anything they sensed, they would have thought someone just really hated you and had put the cloaks on. I'm not sure if you being in this entire situation is because of the Murphy, or the Lady."
"What are you going to do about her power? You know she's an emotional time bomb right now. And with her magic not being drained constantly she'll be very powerful. I bet she has subconsciously learned to power everything down to a molecule, unlike most of us. We tend to round to the nearest hundreds or thousands." Fran watched me as we talked but I had no clue what that meant. I suspected I would learn all of this one way or the other.
"I don't care. I need her. I don't care that she's untrained, I'll put in a waiver. She's working with me until we catch this maniac. With her skills, she'll be a natural for this."
"A natural? You realize she is going to over-offer, probably make more mistakes, and possibly corrupt evidence. You should wait until she gets trained and then ask for her," Fran protested, but I could tell her heart wasn't really in it.
"And how many people will be dead? If this idiot really is trying to rip open the planes, we might all be dead. No one is really sure what’s on the other side. Just because so far it has only been familiars that come through doesn't mean that’s all there is. Most rips are small, so nothing much larger than the size of a large dog has managed to get through. If it's ripped wide open, who knows what might come through. A dragon?"
I stared at him. "A dragon? Really?" The idea that he wasn't kidding made my blood chill and I took another swallow of Coke.
"Who knows? I know someone with a flying serpent, so that idea isn't so out of the realm."
"Elsba?" I spoke without thinking and he looked at me with a sharp hungry look.
"How do you know her?"
"I, uh, I met her when Sloan came into the coffee shop I worked at. He was talking to Shay."
"Of course. If you met Sloan you would have met Elsba, one of the rarest familiars I've ever seen. Your luck acting again."
"So, now what?" I didn't want the answer to that but I didn't see any other way to avoid it.
"Now you get marked. I take you to my team, get you embedded, and you help us track down this killer."
That sounded like so much that I wanted to sob.
"No." Fran spoke up, and I turned to look at her. She glared at Alixant, her face hard. "She gets her tattoo. That will take a while. Then she'll need to contact her work and let them know she's been drafted. We have specific forms for that." She said that more as an aside to me than anything. "Then she will go home and rest and try to adjust. You have her address. I doubt she'll run, but she needs some time to address all these changes."
"Fine, but I'll be there at seven-thirty tomorrow morning. You will help us before this gets worse."
"But it's Saturday," the protest slipped out. I was exhausted and had been looking forward to just a weekend with Jo, having some fun. Granted, I also thought I'd be dealing with the realization I was a hedgemage. Now I had a lot more to deal with.
He gave a look that should have made me quiver. But after that ball, I'm not sure anything would ever scare me again.
"What? And you think that this rogue mage is just going to take the next few days off? Twiddle his thumbs and give us time to catch up with whatever the hell he is planning?"
I just shrugged and curled up a bit tighter. All of this made me want to go home and just cry.
"Steven, enough. Finding out you’re a merlin after you've emerged and been a prepared for that verdict is overwhelming enough. She had no idea she was a mage and then you add in everything else she's been hit with today, I'd be in the corner sucking my thumb." Fran glared at him. "Go back to your team. Get them ready. They're going to have a hard enough time adjusting to a new person, much less a merlin with zero training. Think about it, Steven. She doesn't know anything. How to do offerings, what spells there are, how to use, and how to even sense the magic in her own body and you know how grumpy they are about starting people late. The odds are she won't get in until the winter term."
"Oh gods. I'm going to have to train her. She isn't going to know even the basics," he groaned and sank into the chair holding his head. "This is going to kill me. I'll be bald by the time this is all over."
"Even worse." Fran had a sweet maliciousness to her comment that made me feel better. "You'll have to help her unlearn everything she's been doing unconsciously all this time. All those internal things she doesn't even realize she’s doing. You'd better brush up on the basics because she's going to need them if you want her to be any good at all to you."
"Merlin's ass, really?" He stood and glared at me. "Hell, I find the missing Spirit merlin damn near a decade after the emergence was felt, and rather than having a solitary intelligent, educated mage, I get a powerful idiot that doesn't know a damn thing. I swear, if this maniac kills any more people because you didn't bother to get yourself tested a decade ago, I'll see you're in service the rest of your life." He growled out the final words and stalked to the door. "Be ready tomorrow. I don't have any more time to spare on idiots."
The walls shook he slammed the door so hard. I blinked rapidly trying not to cry. I still felt bruised and raw from that blasted ball. I couldn't understand how I could have emerged as a pre-teen and I still wasn't sure what all the consequences were.
"Ignore him. He takes his job a little too seriously sometimes," Lawrence said. "We need to get you tattooed and then finish with the paperwork. It will be okay. People have been emerging for almost two hundred years, and the first six or seven decades everyone was self-taught. I'm sure you'll do fine."
He didn't sound sure. He sounded wary and worried, and that didn't help my sense of stability at all.
"I have to?" I knew I did, but the second that tattoo was on my skin, it was all over.
"Yep. I'm afraid so. You can't leave without the mark. Settle back. It doesn't hurt that much. We spread lidocaine onto the skin and Tracy here is damn good." Fran gestured at the woman—older than me, maybe mid-thirties I guessed. She looked more than a bit freaked out at everything that had happened.
But she stepped forward, a reassuring smile on her face. "Obviously Spirit will be the top tattoo, but do you have any preference as to how they are laid out?" I shook my head, having never thought about it. I couldn't even begin to figure out what the options were or how it should look.
"Okay, want me to do it in a way that is flattering and fits your face?" I nodded. Words were too much effort. I didn't think I'd ever been as lonely and scared as I was right at that moment. "It'll look great. Any color preferences? Since you have three you can have up to six colors." She looked down at the paper that Fran had handed her, listing my strong and pale affinities.
That much I could answer easily. "Dark burgundy or ruby red, emerald green, royal blue, and gold."
Tracy pulled the hair back from my face, clipping it back so it wouldn't be in the way. "I think I can work with that. I'm a pretty good artist, if you let me have a bit of freedom with it."
I knew I should challenge her, ask to see a portfolio, go back and forth about something that would be on my face for the rest of my life. Instead, I just nodded wearily.
"Whatever. Do what you want."
Conscious of everyone still looking at me and the questions in their eyes, I ran away the only way I could. I closed my eyes and watched my dreams burn in my mind’s eye.
Chapter 16
Ronin. Taken from the Japanese tradition of a samurai without a master, they have reached urban legend status in modern America. Most of Europe refers to these mages who haven't registered with the OMO as Hoods, though whether they are referencing Robin Hood or meaning they often wear hoods to disguise themselves is unknown. They are often portrayed as misunderstood heroes, those with powers too great to trust others with, or damaged in some way. The truth? Every person is different, and every story has a different truth. But being hunted for not registering is rarely like the stories for the mage who is hunted down. ~ History of Magic
Alixant and Dr. Rendel had left as Tracy started in on my shackle. The tattoo didn't really hurt, but it did sting. A tattoo on your face was much more difficult than on your hip. But when she finished and I looked in the mirror, I couldn't complain. Well I could, but not about her work or artistry. All mage tattoos are the same three symbols, Spirit, Chaos, Pattern. Merlins get all three, but they can place them how they want. In school, kids would have contests about where to place them on their faces and the color combinations they'd use.
I never bothered to even think about it because I knew I wouldn't be a mage. Silly me.
She'd taken the colors I'd requested and used them to great effect on my pale skin. I usually kept red highlights in my hair and washed with a henna to give my dark brown hair a tint of red. I could tan, but I rarely did. I never had time to seek out the sun, even in Georgia. The artist had gone with that, placing the Spirit symbol, with dark burgundy outlines, right above the corner of my right brow. The Relativity section she had filled in with bright emerald green that looked festive next to the burgundy. The two weak sections for Psychic and Soul she'd done in a shading of green that started with the vivid emerald but as the section spiraled to the center, it faded to almost nothing. My next symbol, Chaos, sat on my temple and the edge of my cheekbone. This one she'd interlaced with the spirit, making it look like a part of it with the same dark burgundy but the filling for Time she'd done in royal blue, dark and vibrant - a spark of joy on my cheekbone. The final one for Pattern curved down a bit, landing on the edge of my jaw. This one was subtler with the outline being in a softer shade of the burgundy, closer to a rose, and she did a pretty hash pattern of the blue and green overlapping but softening and fading towards the center. Then, outlining each of the symbols was a tracery of gold that sparkled as I moved my head.
Staring in the mirror, I admitted it was stunning and I would have admired it on anyone else. On me, I didn't recognize myself and even touching the red skin, it seared more with emotions than physical pain.
"Here's your balm for this. It will heal fast and the gold is processed to be hypoallergenic, so you shouldn't have any issues. While you keep normal tats covered, these are too annoying to try, so smear heavily and don't sleep on that side for the next couple nights."
I took the heavy jar she handed me, still staring at my reflection. "Is that real gold?"
"Yes. We have the top end stuff available for all mages, and the metals help pull people's attention. If your health records indicate metal allergies, we even have gemstone ink."
I blinked, almost interested. She saw my reaction and smiled kindly. That kind smile meant a lot. "Later, if you want, you can get it enhanced with gems, even insets. I left it so putting a few emeralds, sapphires, or diamond chips along here would make it stunning." Tracy lifted her hand tracing out the designs of the tattoos but not touching my skin. "Always leave your options open."
That got a bitter laugh out of me. "I tried. I really did. It seems to have been wasted effort." I sagged and turned back to Fran, the only one still left. She was reading a book this time but I could tell she was paying more attention to me than anything she read. "Is there a way I can get a ride back to Ruby EMS? I need to get my stuff and talk to my coworkers." I looked at my phone, just going on nine p.m., so odds were
most of the people I worked with would be gone. I didn't know if that made me happy or not.
"Sure. My shift is about over, so give me a minute and I'll give you a ride."
I nodded and hesitantly headed towards the door Rachel had popped in and out of, half expecting someone to scream 'She's Escaping!' No one did and I walked down a short hallway towards the door marked 'Exit' and found myself in the little area where Rachel had taken all my info. It seemed like an eternity ago. She still sat there at the desk and looked up as I walked in.
"Hey, how you doing?"
I shrugged, no idea how to answer that, much less to a stranger. "Any chance I can get another one of those icy cold Cokes?"
Rachel smiled a sympathetic smile and nodded. "Sure." She got up and pulled one from the cupboard. They had all manner of sodas, waters, even some beer and wine in there. As she handed it to me, I could see the condensation appearing on it.
"Isn't that a waste of offering?" I didn't mean to pry, but now stuff like this mattered.
"Nah. Doesn't even take half a single strand of hair. I've been doing that trick for a long time and it barely costs anything." She shrugged as I took it. "You learn how to manage and use your skills. But really," she paused and glanced at my hair, "let your hair grow. You'll need it as you learn."
"It doesn't grow," I whined, glad for something more normal to talk about. "I've had it this length for three years, and I've barely trimmed." I saw Fran walk into the room out of the corner of my eye as I spoke to Rachel.
"You know, you're probably the reason why," Fran remarked looking at me with an expression that was becoming all too familiar. I really wasn't a fan of the "ooh interesting science experiment" look, but they all seemed to have it.
"What? Like I decided I didn't want long hair?" I mean, I didn't really want hair like Jo's, but being able to get different hair styles would have been nice.
"No. That came out wrong. I bet your cloaks were eating every bit of extra hair and that made it look like it didn't grow. But you had to put in new highlights?"