Wicked Magic

by Margot de Klerk

  “If you don’t like the smell, you’re going to have to find a different career, kid.” Adrian smirked.

  “He will not,” Dad declared. They both looked at him in surprise. “Nathan can hold his own with hunters twice his age. He will not be finding a different career.”

  “Wow,” Nathan said. Thankfully they reached the gate at that moment and he didn’t have to come up with anything more eloquent to say.

  Dad rolled the window down as the security guard came over. The light to one side of the gate was red. Nathan held his breath. They had to get through this gate to get back to Oxford.

  “Picking up a potential patient,” Dad said tersely. “Longhorn’s orders.”

  “Longhorn never mentioned any intakes today.” The security guard eyed Dad suspiciously.

  “Unexpected change of plans,” Dad said. “We’re in a hurry. Longhorn was supposed to tell you.”

  “Longhorn left half an hour ago,” the guard replied. Nathan glanced at Adrian in a panic. Adrian gestured for them to swap places, and Nathan managed to do an awkward shuffle to get onto Adrian’s other side.

  “We’re on a tight schedule,” Dad said. “I’ll have to send you the papers later.” He leaned back, and Adrian managed to catch the guard’s eyes. The man went a bit slack jawed, and then he turned and flagged his colleague. The light by the gate began flashing as the gates slowly slid open. Nathan’s heart was in his mouth.

  “Thank you,” Dad said tightly.

  “I’ll need to check your ID,” the guard said. Adrian caught his eye again, and then he tensed suddenly.

  “Fuck—”

  The guard whirled around, staggering. He’d broken the compulsion.

  “Stop! Close the gate! They’re not allowed out—”

  Quick as a flash, Adrian reached over Dad and out the window, grabbing the guy’s collar and slamming his head against the van door. He sagged to the ground.

  “GO!” Adrian yelled. Dad floored it, and they shot through the gate, metal scraping metal on both sides.

  As soon as they were out of sight of the gates, Dad rolled up the window.

  “That went well,” Adrian remarked.

  “Are you joking?” Nathan asked. “Seriously, is there anything you won’t joke about?”

  “What do you want me to say? That was a monumental fucking disaster and we’re all screwed? At least we’re out. Nate, lend me your phone.”

  In addition to the cracked screen, Nathan’s phone now sported a smear of an indeterminate substance. He wiped it uselessly on his equally dirty jacket and passed it over.

  “Kid, you really gotta get a new phone.”

  “Considering how many times I’ve gotten pummelled in the last few months, I’d probably just smash the new one, too.”

  Adrian sniggered. He punched in a number and put the phone to his ear.

  “Damien,” he said after a moment. Pause. Then: “Wow, thanks for the concern.”

  Nathan leaned his head against the window as Adrian summarised the situation in a few short sentences: “Hunter Council is working with witches against you, don’t trust anyone. Nathan broke me out of the hunter prison. We’re on our way back to town.”

  Adrian listened for a minute, and Nathan dearly wished he had enhanced hearing so that he could find out what Damien thought. Finally, Adrian said, “I’ll let you know as soon as we arrive.” Then he hung up.

  “Nate, do you know what today is?”

  “Tuesday fifteenth?”

  “It’s the day of the Council monthly meeting,” Adrian said grimly. “It starts at eleven-thirty.”

  Nathan glanced at the dashboard. Eleven-fifteen. “Crap.”

  “Damien’s not the only target,” Adrian said. “They’re after the entire Vampire Council.”

  “Crap,” Nathan repeated.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  BEING TRAPPED IN A small van with his father and his uncle was quite possibly the most awkward thing Nathan had ever done in his entire life. If he had been asked to imagine how awful it would be, his brain would probably have rebelled. There were no words to describe how badly he wanted out of that van.

  As they approached the turnoff to Oxford, Nathan called Monica. The phone rang a single time before connecting.

  “What the fuck? I called you like fifteen times!”

  “Hi, Monica,” Nathan said, “I’m still alive. How are you doing?”

  “Are you joking?”

  “Nope. The head of the Hunter Council is colluding with the Sahir.”

  “Well, fuck.”

  “Maybe you should tell me what’s happening on your end,” Nathan said. The adrenaline had worn off, and he felt exhausted again.

  “Do you want the good news or the bad news?”

  Nathan pressed his forehead against the window. “Bad.”

  “We didn’t get up to the Rymes place in time. Cathy panicked and rushed out, and now the Sahir have her too.”

  “Crap.” Nathan groaned. Adults, honestly. “Emma?”

  “Your Aunt pulled some strings and fetched her from school. She’s safe.”

  “Good. Great.”

  “Now you.”

  “Right, well Adrian is with me. Dad’s driving us back to Oxford. We’re about to turn off the M40. Where should we meet you?”

  He heard indistinct conversation from the other end, before Monica said, “I managed to get a lock on someone. Remember the mage I put the tracker on? He’s finally left the Witch Council inner sanctum. We’re watching him through a scrying bowl.”

  “It’s probably a trap,” Nathan said.

  “I know, but it’s the best lead we have.”

  Nathan sighed. “Okay, where are you now?”

  “Headington. I’m about to head out and meet Aodhán so we can follow this guy.” Monica said.

  “Fine, text me when you have more details.” Nathan checked the road signs. “I think we’re at least twenty minutes out still.”

  “We’ll wait for you,” Monica said. “Nate… you know what today is, right?”

  “The Council meeting,” Nathan said, “I know. But I can only solve one problem at a time.”

  “Alright, I’ll keep you updated.”

  They were approaching Oxford when Dad started in a strained voice, “Adrian… I just wanted to say…”

  “Save it, Ben,” Adrian said coolly. “I don’t need your condemnation or your forgiveness. I wonder what you would have done if it had been you. I wonder whether you would have made a different choice.”

  Dad winced at those words.

  “There’s no way of knowing, though,” Adrian said.

  “You should have died.”

  “If I weren’t here, Nathan might be dead now, too,” Adrian said. “Of course, there’s no way of knowing that, either. But it’s a possibility.”

  “I want what’s best for my son,” Dad said.

  “Funny enough, that’s what I want too,” Adrian replied. “It might be the only thing we agree on.”

  Dad was silent for a long time. Nathan leant his head on the window and dozed. He was so tired. His phone buzzed.

  Monica: Meet you at Westgate parking lot

  Nathan relayed the message to his father, who grunted an agreement. They were about five minutes out when Dad said, “A truce. I will work with you until the Sahir have been removed from the city… for Nathan’s sake.”

  “Fine,” Adrian said.

  They pulled into a space on the top floor of the parking lot behind the Westgate Centre and piled out. It was a relief to get fresh air after the stench that had filled the van.

  Nathan looked around the grungy structure. Cars were scattered about, but it wasn’t too busy in the middle of a workday. The next building over was the Westgate shopping mall. It was partially closed and scheduled to be demolished and redeveloped in the summer.

  “What the hell would the Sahir want in here?”

  “Hell if I know,” Adrian said. “There’s Monica.”


  Sure enough, Monica jogged out of the stairwell, accompanied by Nathan’s mother and Aodhán. They made an odd group. When Monica reached them, she wrinkled her nose.

  “Okay, I was going to hug you, but… no.”

  “I forgive you,” Nathan said. “I wouldn’t hug me either.”

  “Just… why?” Monica asked.

  “It’s a long story,” Adrian said.

  Nathan’s mum did hug him, which was thoroughly embarrassing, but at least she shared the embarrassment around by hugging his dad, too. She eyed Adrian warily.

  “Ben, why is he here?”

  “We’re working with him for now.” Dad sighed. “The hunters need to clean house. We can worry about Nathan’s misdemeanours later.”

  Mum took that in her stride with her usual pragmatism. “Alright, where do we start?”

  Everyone turned to look at Monica.

  “They’re below the parking lot,” she explained.

  “What the hell?” Adrian asked. “There isn’t a basement level.”

  “That’s what the tracking spell says,” Monica said. “That’s all I know.”

  “It is possible they have gained access to the friary beneath this site,” Aodhán said suddenly.

  “A friary?” Dad asked. “What would the witches want with that?”

  “The friary would have no relevance whatsoever,” Aodhán said, “Except in so much as they will shortly be excavating the ruins. However, the friary was built on an old druid site. This would be of great interest to them as a power source. It was commonly used for human sacrifice.”

  He led them over to one of the outer walls of the parking lot, and they looked down on what had once been a public parking lot below them and was now an excavation site.

  “Oh, brilliant,” Monica groaned.

  “Just our luck,” Nathan said. “Okay, how do we get there?”

  Aodhán spread his hands in his version of a shrug. “The site was long believed lost, which is why Jeremiah chose not to share knowledge of it with anyone.”

  “Better and better,” Adrian said. “You suppose Jeremiah knows how to get there?”

  “Likely, but we cannot reach him,” Aodhán said. “The Council meeting has begun; he will not be able to contact us until it concludes.”

  Nathan had walked through the Westgate Centre a thousand times in his life and could vouch for the fact that it was about as unmagical as they came. So much for his second sight. But thinking that, an idea occurred to him.

  “Monica, where exactly are they?”

  “Roughly beneath where we are right now, why?”

  “Because that has to be where the entrance is,” he said. “And I’m guessing that someone told them how to get in there, one of the Council members, probably a witch. So that would mean we’re looking for a high-level illusion which is hiding the entrance.”

  “Like the Witch Council,” Monica said. “Brilliant. Nate, give me your hands.”

  Nathan reached his hands out. Monica made a face. “What is that?”

  “We had a run in with feral vampires,” Nathan said. “You probably don’t want to know.”

  “Yuck. The things I do for you.” She screwed her eyes shut and clamped her hands around his wrists to channel him. Nathan felt her magic rising within him. She chanted rapidly, and he felt the spell spread out, only for it to hit a wall.

  “It’s here,” Monica said in confusion, “But something’s blocking it.”

  “You could try the druid words of power,” Aodhán said. “It is likely that the illusion is using the site itself as a power source.”

  Monica frowned and began mumbling in yet another language, but they were still being blocked.

  “We should go downstairs,” Nathan said. “Get as close as we can.”

  “There is another thing we can try,” Aodhán said. “The druids cannot be barred from their own sacred sites; the magic would recognise them.”

  “You mean you could find it?” Adrian asked.

  “I am no longer a druid,” Aodhán said. “One cannot be both vampire and human. However, any human can, in theory, tap into the powers. Your nephew happens to have a particular aptitude.”

  “Do I?” Nathan asked.

  “He means these.” Monica dangled her oak-ward in his face. “Come on, whatever we’re doing, we’re not doing it up here.”

  They descended what felt like a million stairs. Downstairs, the car park was fuller, and they got several weird looks from shoppers. An old woman getting out of her car peered suspiciously at them. “Move along!” Monica snapped. The woman muttered something rude under her breath and hurried off.

  “Right,” Monica said, turning to Aodhán, “do your stuff.”

  “It is not I who must perform.” Aodhán turned to Nathan. “Normally this would take years to learn, but I shall endeavour to condense it into five minutes. The druid beliefs were based on the principle that there is a physical energy running through every living thing on the planet. This is the magic of life, and it is based on the four elements. Yours is earth, yes?”

  Nathan nodded.

  “You will find it easiest to tap into the energy of the earth, plants, and trees,” Aodhán said. “I suggest closing your eyes. You must sense the streams of energy and find the points where they connect to your own energy.”

  That was frustratingly vague. Nathan sagged against the wall. “You know, you’d think I’d be less tired after sleeping for three days.” He sighed. “I don’t suppose you could give me a bit more of a hint of what I’m looking for?”

  Aodhán pointed to Monica’s amulet. “The same energy that runs through this.”

  Nathan frowned and studied the amulet. Beneath Monica’s magical signature was the energy of the ward itself. After a few seconds he found it. It glinted gold, the same colour as all protective amulets.

  Nathan closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. Immediately, he opened them again.

  “Okay, it’s kind of nerve-wracking that everyone’s staring at me. Can you guys talk amongst yourselves, or something?”

  Monica let out a huff, then grabbed Nathan’s parents by the arms. “If you let me channel you, I can try my spell again.”

  Dad looked disgruntled, but Mum nodded reluctantly. They moved off, and Nathan shut his eyes again. He took a deep breath and tried to centre himself. It was the same technique which Grey had taught him years ago, when he’d been learning to block his magical sight, except that this time he was trying to see more, not less.

  He opened his eyes, but nothing had changed.

  “It’s not working.”

  “If you can produce functioning wards, you can do this,” Aodhán said matter-of-factly. “It is merely a matter of self-belief.”

  “If that’s the case, we could be here a while,” Adrian said.

  “Oh, fuck you.” Nathan turned away, shutting his eyes and taking another deep breath. Anger was good. Anger focused him and made him determined. He would crack this. He had to. Cynthia’s life depended on him figuring this out.

  An idea occurred to Nathan. He vaulted over the low wall separating the parking lot from outside and marched over to the nearest tree. Pressing his fingers to the bark, he focused on the feeling. It was rough, it was alive. It had energy, somewhere. Nathan just had to find it. He had to feel the energy, to see it.

  He had to believe.

  He opened his eyes once more, and there it was. Reddish-gold lines running through everything. The tree was powerful; its energy filled it up. The grass beneath his feet was not thriving. Tiny trickles of energy ran between the stems. Nathan looked at his own hands and was surprised by the energy he saw there. He hadn’t realised how… alive he looked.

  He turned back to Adrian and Aodhán.

  “I see it.”

  “Good,” Aodhán said. “Now you must find the spot where that magic is flowing to. Witch magic is perverse; it draws magic out of living things. Follow the flow and you will find the magic.”

  N
athan wasn’t really interested in the ethics of witch magic versus druid magic. He clambered back into the parking lot and studied the air around him. It was easier here. In a man-made structure, almost everything was dead. Only the people and the ground had energy. The red-gold streams in the ground were all flowing to a point: the stairwell.

  Nathan walked over there, waving his parents and Monica over. “It’s in here.”

  Adrian threw the door open, and sure enough, all of the energy was streaming to one point, forming a wall which blocked off the empty space beside the flight of stairs up to the first floor. There was no staircase going down because there was no basement level, or so Nathan had thought.

  Nathan stepped through the wall, and there the staircase was. Unlike the utilitarian concrete of the rest of the building, this one was hewn from rough stone. Nathan descended it and heard the others following him.

  “Holy fuck,” Adrian said, “you actually found it.”

  Nathan smirked to himself. “It’s all about self-belief, Adrian.”

  “Oh, shut up, you brat.”

  The stairs went about two storeys down into the ground, before they levelled out into a hallway that was lined with flickering torches. By unspoken agreement, Nathan led the way. The hallway extended for about fifty metres and ended in a cast iron double door, which was covered in strange symbols.

  “Anyone know what it says?” Adrian asked.

  “This is not druid work,” Aodhán said, running a hand over the metalwork. “It is too modern.”

  “I don’t recognise the runes.” Monica glanced at Nathan. “Nate?”

  “Me either,” Nathan replied. “But based on our present luck… it probably says, ‘beware all who enter here, thou shalt be cursed for all eternity’.”

  “That’s no joking matter,” Dad said sternly, but Monica and Adrian were both sniggering. That was a win. Monica almost never laughed at Nathan’s jokes.

  “It’s the only way in,” Nathan said. “And opening these doors is not going to be subtle, so…”

  “Battle time,” Adrian said with an almost feral grin. “Perfect.” He threw open the doors. Metal grated against stone, but it was no match for the strength of a vampire. Beyond the doors was a large chamber. It was at least ten metres long, and the centrepiece was the stump and roots of an absolutely enormous tree. An oak tree, Nathan knew without asking. He could see the energy in the room, and it all converged on that tree stump. The stump was ancient. Nathan could feel it in his bones.