Trimarked

by C. K. Sorens

  “Like at Celebration,” Devi agreed, and she unwrapped her arms. “Are you going to tell me what you need at any point?”

  “Oh, yes. A patrol discovered an odd parting of energy, like a path had been cut along just that ribbon of space. The spell had no obvious purpose and has been very slow to return to normalcy. We are assuming it wasn’t you?”

  “It was not.”

  “The scouts seemed uneasy about it, said there was something odd but couldn’t be specific. I can have anyone follow it, and will if you prefer. I hope you might be able to dissect it, figure out why it caused their discomfort.”

  Devi sucked in a deep breath. The coven didn’t ask for her help often. As nice as it was to be needed, their current request did not settle well in her bones.

  “You need someone to go right now?”

  “Yes. In case it dissipates.”

  “What do you think it is?”

  “I’m not sure,” Leona said. “Since it’s on our land, it likely rules out the Fae, but not necessarily. We need to understand the specifics of it before I ask them questions, anyway. They’ll deny it either way, and we won’t have any leverage unless we have proof. If it’s one of us, we need to know who can cast that type of spell and why they would do so without someone in the coven knowing about it.”

  Leona pursed her lips and looked behind her toward the door where evening beams of late sunshine painted the floor. “Perhaps you should take a few archers with you, though. It’s getting dark.”

  Devi grabbed her coat and followed her mom. Two scouts, Liam and Oriel, accompanied her through the forest. Witchflame levitated around their knees, bright enough to light their path and not so high as to blind them. The previous party left willow-the-wisp markers, small fires Devi extinguished on their way along the trail.

  Devi saw the disturbance first and stopped. Liam moved a few feet beyond her to check the path’s safety, then shuddered with contact and jumped back.

  “Found it,” he announced.

  “You can’t see it?” she asked.

  “You can?”

  Devi waved him off, stepped up to the anomaly and dipped her fingertips in.

  The edge was hot, the center cool, but not as cold as the night air around the rest of her body. The power didn’t flow as suggested, but more likely parted, then became stagnant in the middle.

  “A masking spell for unseen passage,” she said. Difficult, worrying magic.

  “What caused this?” Liam asked.

  “Who did it? Can you figure it out?” Oriel asked.

  “Not with the little evidence here.” Devi traced the gap with her eyes toward the human neighborhood, realized with a start that it took a sharp turn a few feet to her right, angled toward No Man’s Land.

  “You two will have to dip a few fingers and trace it that way.” She pointed to the left. “The path turns up here. I’ll follow that leg. If you find anything, send for the nearest scouting party to join you. If you lose it, head back to the Circle and report to the High Priestess.”

  “We should stick together.” Liam shuddered and Devi wondered with a half-smile if he was more concerned with sticking together, or in not having to touch the discomforting magic of the tracking spell.

  “You are not my guards. If you want to find out what caused this, we have to track it. The creator is likely on one of either end. As I’m not interested in staying up all night, splitting up is the best option. Now, go.”

  The scouts hesitated, argued with scowls and quick eye movements over who would be the guide. Oriel pulled rank with a deep frown, then the two moved out.

  Devi stepped through the cut with a shiver. The space had a weaker, though similar, repellant to No Man’s Land, and the exact reason she chose this path for herself. No Man’s Land was not her concern. What she didn’t need was anyone, particularly an unknown, discovering her hidden place of power.

  26

  Nicu

  “I warned you not to run into anything.”

  Chase ambled into the moonlit clearing. His hand fit into the pockets of his elongated sweater without the need to bend elbows. “Nicu, do you mind releasing my tracking hound?”

  Friends with Brandt, attached to Ember’s side when last seen, Nicu was not inclined to release Aaron. He was interested in his appearance with Chase, however.

  “He has ties to too many parts of this.”

  Chase frowned, his attention deliberately leveled at Nicu rather than on the boy he held.

  “As do we all, but in Aaron’s case, I’m thinking you might not have the entire story.”

  Nicu tilted his head, a silent demand for answers. Edan shifted beside him, breath pushed through his nose. So it was not Chase’s knowledge alone. At least he did not have to trade Aaron for intel.

  “The Child can manipulate the barrier,” Edan said. “She pushed Brandt through last night after he attacked her.”

  Which is why Edan hadn’t shared the information before. Here was the answer to a question Nicu had meant to ask hours ago after seeing her bruises, before he’d gotten sidetracked by Wist. The hybrid girl had taken care of Brandt herself in a way that did not allow Nicu to follow up.

  Nicu released Aaron.

  “Branna, attach to the human.”

  She melted out into view. Aaron jumped, then clenched his fists in an effort to control himself while Branna stepped next to and slightly behind him, as if she’d become his shadow.

  “Nice trick,” Chase responded to the female Fae. “Is that something I can learn?”

  “Wizards are too colorful to blend in,” Branna taunted, self-satisfaction curled on her lips.

  “There’s a compliment in there somewhere, but I’m more interested in what got Aaron off the hook.”

  “He knows I couldn’t have brought Brandt back.” Aaron rolled his shoulders, discomfort in the lines of his curved spine. He bounced on his toes, then winced and put a hand to the side of his jeans, dark and stiff with dried blood. Nicu scrutinized each movement, but only learned someone had injured the human. Words, then.

  “Why are you with Chase?”

  Aaron flinched away from Nicu’s question, took it for the attack it was.

  “I couldn’t fight Brandt by myself, so I went to Chase.”

  There was more, a piece of information at the edge of observation.

  “You have seen him?” Nicu asked.

  “Yeah, and got stabbed in the leg for the trouble.”

  Nicu’s blood chilled, stilled his movement and slowed his thoughts.

  Stabbed. The impression of being cut open. The tear in the barrier.

  “Look,” Aaron continued. “I didn’t know what he was about. I’m here to help Ember so if we could drop the debate and get to the part where we find her that would be—”

  Nicu crowded Aaron against the nearest tree. Branna ghosted beside him, always the same distance from Aaron. Nicu tested for and tasted magic, jerked the lines of the power to him.

  “For fade’s sake!” Aaron shouted.

  “Nicu, what are you—” Chase approached, but Edan stopped the Halfer.

  “Silence,” Nicu commanded, and searched the magic.

  A weakening charm on Aaron’s chest pulsed with his heartbeat and seemed to be supporting the human’s depleted energy. It was Witch magic that had nothing to do with what Nicu looked for. He focus on the wound at Aaron’s thigh, dug beneath the layers of Chase’s healing without undoing the Work, shifted through the fibers.

  Steel and blood.

  Nicu fixed onto Aaron’s angry gaze.

  “Why are you here?”

  “I am trying to help Ember.” Each word concise in sincerity.

  Nicu pressured Aaron with a forward tilt of his brow.

  “Not your intent,” he growled. “Your location.”

  Clarity smoothed the lines on Aaron’s face. Satisfied he had made his point, Nicu allowed Aaron room to move. The human ruffled a hand through his curls, his focus cautious.

 
“This is where we found her.” He pointed at the ground where Nicu had already determined the hybrid had rested. “Ember was there.”

  “We. You and Brandt.”

  Aaron’s hands flew up, defensive.

  “I swear I was not helping him.”

  “He had the knife with him.” Nicu said, having determined Aaron was not an accomplice, but a source.

  Aaron hesitated, and Nicu breathed through impatience.

  “Yeah, he stabbed me right over there.”

  Nicu turned, pulled his sleeve above his elbow and called forth the harnessing power of his Living Ink. He located the blood on the ground, captured and crushed a handful of the debris, let his tattoos rub against the magic they found within.

  He stood, threw the leaves as he’d thrown the traces of Ember’s power. Nicu used force of will to harness the bits into being, mindful not to lose them to the negative space. The cloud zipped around the clearing, mimicking Brandt’s movements, then stopped at the edge of No Man’s Land toward the Circle.

  Hands clenched at his side, Nicu burned, turned his frustration to Chase who wavered for the first time that evening.

  “I need Devi.”

  “Words I bet you wish I’d never heard.” Devi sauntered through the forest, witchflame in hand. She jolted to a stop behind the floating mass of bloodied leaves before curling her lip and circling around it.

  “By the way, Chase, how does he know you can contact me?” she asked with sweet venom.

  Nicu did not allow the Halfer to answer. “Why are you here?”

  Devi’s hard stare lingered on Chase. He remained silent, long arms in low pockets, eyes on everyone except for Devi. Nicu noticed the flash in Devi’s eyes the moment she decided to deal with him later.

  “For someone who just asked for me, you don’t seem happy with my arrival. I suppose your grumpiness comes from the fact that you lost your ward.”

  She spoke as if he’d misplaced something trivial, a barb meant to highlight the incompetence she imagined in him. A distraction. Nicu closed his eyes against the chaos of emotions, opened them with the control of his mind.

  “What information do you have?”

  “About Ember? Your losing her was just a guess. You should hide your feelings better if you want to keep secrets like that.”

  Devi sent a wind through the offending debris. Nicu stalked forward with a low rumble, warning against her casual use of magic against his own.

  “Relax. You won’t find her that way.”

  “Where?”

  Devi pursed her lips. “That’s not very polite.”

  “A trade, then.” His words flew sharply off his tongue. “You followed a negative energy trail to get here, one cut into being.”

  The Witch angled her body toward him, witchflame raised for illumination.

  “How do you know this?”

  Because he did not have time, Nicu answered.

  “Those fragments you brashly disbursed were not keyed to the girl but to the object hiding her and her assailant from you. A spelled knife. So I ask again. Where?”

  “I get the blade.” Devi’s brazen negotiation reflected she understood the need to be quick, yet it caused Nicu to pause. Even in moments of urgency, agreements should always be handled with care.

  “Under the same conditions as your research.” He twisted a forearm, a physical indication that he referred to Ink. “And with disclosure of full knowledge.”

  Devi wavered, hesitant to promise something of unknown value. It was not long before she accepted the terms.

  “The path’s trajectory led toward the End of the World.”

  Nicu turned to find Aaron and Chase gone. Branna would be with them, assigned as a shadow. The negotiation delayed him, but no matter.

  “Edan, permit Devi to attach herself to you.”

  “When did you learn so much about Witch magic?” Devi demanded, even as she prepared to cast the spell that would allow her to use Edan’s speed as her own.

  Nicu did not have time to answer. He left her behind.

  27

  Susan

  Was that pounding in her head or from someone knocking?

  Susan Lee sat up, blinked until she realized her house was dark and nothing was wrong with her sight.

  “Ember?”

  Soft, familiar night sounds convinced Susan there’d been no noise. She pulled the blanket up over her nose and sighed.

  Up again, she stared at the door. It shook under the weight of a heavy fist. Her fingers trembled with something more than cold.

  It was closing in on winter, but not too close since Ember hadn’t hung the blankets yet.

  But why was someone at her door? Why wasn’t Ember rushing out to answer it, to put her small body between the outside world and Susan’s wreckage? What was she supposed to do with the noise?

  The person banged again. They weren’t going away. Susan could ask them to come back when Ember got home. Make the pounding stop until Ember took care of it.

  Susan struggled against the frigid temperature. She wrapped her long, warm afghan around her shoulders and shuffled in rubber soled house slippers she’d forgotten to take off earlier.

  Good thing. Now her feet wouldn’t get cold.

  “Hello?” she called through the door, hoping she didn’t have to open it.

  A burst of new knocks sent Susan shuffling backward in surprise. What was going on?

  Sharp fear parted Susan’s cloudy mind. Ember was not here. Someone banged on her door. She remembered somebody told her Ember might be in trouble.

  She rushed forward, yanked on the door and pressed herself onto the threshold, breath held.

  No one on the stoop.

  Susan’s fingers curled into the crocheted gaps of her wool blanket. Her wide eyes tried to translate shadows into truth down the hill and to either side of her house. Empty.

  Maybe Ember slept, and the noise had been an illusion in a broken mind. Susan retreated by inches. The fear she’d felt still monitored her movements, her heart not ready to close up if her daughter was in danger.

  “It’s time.”

  Susan’s gasp burst so deep, her stomach cramped on the frost-tinged air. This voice haunted her nightmares and didn't belong in the waking world. She slammed the door on it.

  “Ember,” she tried again, her forehead pressed against the metal surface. She listened for any sign of movement from the closet where Ember slept, a room that barely worked now that she’d grown up, but had made perfect sense for a baby.

  Perhaps that’s why she hadn’t come. She was a newborn tucked away in the crate Susan had scrounged, swaddled in an old sweater against the night. That would be why the blankets weren’t on the walls yet, because Ember wasn’t old enough to hang them.

  The nightmare voice crawled through Susan’s brain, taking hold in the depths. Her arm wrapped around her middle. Was it big? Still fat with child? Is that why she’d heard him? Had every moment she believed she’d been away from him been the dream? Now she was awake, and he was ready to take her?

  Tears filled Susan’s hollowed cheeks. Her knees struck the floor with the weight of fear, and the heaviness of memories.

  }|{

  Another contraction ignited across Susan’s belly, tightened every stretch of skin, reached around to twist into a knot at the base of her spine. She couldn’t breathe, each function frozen with the clenching of her womb as if a hot ember tried to burn through her.

  Susan sat on a dirty couch in the middle of the abandoned maintenance unit dressed in a polyester maxi dress not meant for pregnancy, and stretched to its limits.

  She’d been here for weeks, rarely left except to steal food from the Witches’ gardens when the moon shone bright enough to help find her way. The moment her family had found out she was pregnant with a Wizard’s baby, they’d beat her until she fled the house. They had tossed her things out of her second-story window. She collected those at night, handfuls at a time, until they realized what she was doi
ng and burned the rest before she claimed it.

  The contraction eased. Her tears redoubled. She tried not to reflect on where she was, tried not to imagine having to give birth in this filth.

  There was nowhere to go. Other girls had gotten pregnant by mages. Some were protected by their family, some kicked out like her. Some kept the child. Sometimes the infant disappeared. Susan knew - hoped - they were in Trifecta somewhere, but she’d never been able to find where.

  The door burst open. She squeezed her eyes shut, didn’t want to see him, or to acknowledge the shadow in her mind. She pulled her knees up, hid her belly from him.

  “It’s time.”

  A Wizard. Someone she didn’t trust but had been forced to rely on when he’d been the only person to offer help. Disgust of the mages kept her away at the beginning. Desperation led her to agree. Now he hauled her up without care and ordered her through the door, out into the blinding sunshine.

  He had a way of moving through space that shortened any distance. Susan fought the wave of dizziness with each step. Nausea rolled in between the monstrous cramping. His frustration burned through her every time a contraction made them stop. His breath was a curse when her water broke and soaked her skirt.

  “Susan!” The shout suggested he’d called her name a few times. He shifted her so her head fell back, but she kept her gaze low, stared at his thin lips. “Are you listening?”

  She hummed her awareness.

  “This part you will have to do on your own, do you understand?”

  “W-what? How could I—”

  “We need all three powers to help break the curse. You are going to visit the third. And I have to leave.”

  “You’re abandoning me with this!”

  “What did you expect?”

  “For you to destroy the barrier! For the mages to go home! For everything to be normal again!”

  “I see patience is not your virtue.” He forced her feet to move as he shifted her from his body and sent a curled lip glare at the damp spot she’d left on his coat. “Find some.”