“Nothing good, I imagine,” Swann sighed.
“Nothing. At all. The books were gone. Things were such a mess I hadn’t realized it before, but maybe a dozen books are missing. I remember the letter K was in all Lorelei’s notes for her investigation— I thought that meant Keith, but it didn’t. Those notes are gone too. Don’t you see? Keith stole everything Lorelei had on Kasyan. It can’t be a coincidence. That’s the thread of meaning that Black Grass is pulling on—what Lorelei was supposed to be watching. If Black Grass is worshipping Kasyan, then Kasyan probably gave Keith the power to curse Lorelei. Don’t you think?”
Alexa had thought Swann would be impressed by her discovery, but instead her expression was brittle. “You promised me you would leave this to the Wardens.”
“But I can help. I actually . . . Lorelei sort of . . .” Alexa tried to press on. If Swann knew Alexa had Lorelei’s powers, then they’d have no reason not to work together. But as Alexa fumbled for words, Swann’s lips were grimly pursed, as if she was simply waiting for Alexa to finish so she could dismiss her. A puzzle piece clicked into place in Alexa’s brain. “But . . . you knew all this already,” she said slowly. “The Wardens have known Kasyan is in North Coast all along.”
A light flush bloomed in Swann’s pale cheeks. She shifted uncomfortably against the throw pillows. “Alexa, this is none of your concern. Kasyan is incredibly dangerous. You need to drop this.”
A flare of anger shot through Alexa’s chest. The Wardens had known exactly the danger Lorelei was in when they sent her to Black Grass, and now that the worst had happened, they hadn’t done a thing to fix it—at least nothing Alexa, the person who cared most about Lorelei in the world, could see, and nothing that was making her suffering any easier. The Wardens had used Lorelei, with no care for the price, and even if Lorelei had let them do it, that didn’t make it right. Alexa ground her teeth. She couldn’t believe she had nearly just told Swann that she’d inherited Lorelei’s powers. The Wardens didn’t deserve the gift Lorelei had passed to her. “What am I supposed to do instead—let Keith get away with it? Let Lorelei die?”
“We are taking steps that I cannot share with you. I know you don’t understand how the Wardens operate, but perhaps when this is all resolved you could apply to join and—”
“And do what? Put my name on a cult’s new-member waitlist and sit back while they knock off North Coast’s population one by one? I don’t need to join your dumb organization to do that. I bet you don’t even really want her to get better. Why hasn’t anyone come to help her yet, after everything Lorelei sacrificed for the Wardens?”
Swann’s fists were clenched and tense tendons corded her long neck. “The Solstice is an incredibly busy time for us. You have no idea how many flare-ups we’ve seen in California in the last few weeks. The Wardens are doing the best we can. I am doing the best I can. You know I care deeply for Lorelei.”
“You care deeply for her power,” Alexa spat. “That’s all the Wardens really want. You probably don’t even care about stopping Keith or Kasyan, not like Dan and Liss and me do.”
“The Wardens have kept the world safe from Kasyan for over a hundred fifty years.” Swann’s voice was cold and sharp. “Since what happened at Icaria, we have struggled to ensure that accurate information about Kasyan is almost impossible to come by, certainly nothing that could lead to his liberation. I will not stand by while you denigrate this organization because you and your little friends feel entitled to that knowledge. You are not entitled to it.”
“Kasyan ruined our lives,” Alexa said. “I think we’re entitled to know why.”
With that, the air seemed to go out of the room. Swann didn’t respond, but neither could she look directly at Alexa. “At least tell me what happened in Icaria,” Alexa said.
Swann tapped a fingernail against her teeth, the click-click-click counting off seconds until, Alexa assumed, Swann would tell her to leave. But finally, Swann spoke. “It was a gold-rush town, a few miles up the coast. Well, ‘town’ always was an overstatement. It’s abandoned now and has been for a very long time.”
Although Swann had relented, Alexa still couldn’t keep an edge of anger from her voice. “Is what Kasyan did there so much worse than what he’s done to Lorelei and Johnny?”
Swann shook her head. “That’s not even a question. Lorelei and Johnny are two people. Two is too many, but still. Icaria was a catastrophe.
“Kasyan manipulates desires by working on technicalities. He pushes things to extremes. We suspect that one, or more likely several, of the gold prospectors was desperate for a successful claim. Everyone back then wanted a bigger windfall than anyone else’s. One way to satisfy the conditions for that wish is for all the other claims to fail. Or the prospectors who’d claimed them to fail.” Swann pulled her kimono around her. “So they died: dozens of them at least, probably closer to two hundred. Their bodies became corrupted. Typical Kasyan. First the fingernails and tongues turned black. Then they were coughing up sticky black gobs. It came weeping from their eyes and noses in drips like crude oil. Teeth loosened, then fell out altogether, and black seeped from the sockets. In two or three weeks, they were dead. It made things worse that men kept showing up to stake claims even after the town had ceased to function.”
Alexa swallowed hard. “Kasyan did all that?”
Swann gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Well, a person’s insides don’t just liquefy unprovoked. Ultimately a Warden made it to Icaria to challenge Kasyan. He managed to put him somewhere he wouldn’t cause any trouble for a long time. Very bravely, I would add.”
“And if he hadn’t? Would the black stuff from Icaria have spread?”
“We don’t know. Kasyan is fickle. One thing I can say is that he has had nothing to do for the last century and a half other than nurse a grudge. If he’s released, North Coast will be a very dangerous place to be indeed. It could be Icaria all over again, or worse.”
“The Warden should have killed him.”
Swann arched a whitish brow at her. “This is what worries me, Alexa. You think Kasyan’s the kind of thing that can be killed.”
TWENTY
Alexa
Alexa caught up with Dan and Liss outside Fault Line Tattoo. They were watching one of those “North Coast characters,” Mad Mags, deliver a speech about patience in the general direction of the Pacific Ocean.
“You’d think she’d get tired of saying the same thing all the time,” Liss was saying. “Who does she think she’s waiting for?”
“Don’t be insensitive,” Dan scolded.
Liss swished her blond hair over one shoulder. “I am being sensitive. You think she’s not tired of it?”
“Sorry about Swann,” Alexa said. “Listen, what do you know about a ghost town called Icaria?”
Alexa was still relating the gruesome details of Icaria’s downfall when Liss had a route mapped out on her phone. Icaria was an hour and a half north, in Lost Coast State Park. “Then I’d say a two-hour hike from the highway, depending on the conditions,” Liss said.
Dan peered at Liss’s phone. “That might be an access road,” she said. The two of them were huddled together, shoulder to shoulder, and neither had thought to show Alexa the map or even thank her for what she’d told them. Don’t be disappointed, Alexa reminded herself. This was probably how it was supposed to be all along: Dan and Liss, together forever, and Alexa on her own.
“Icaria will be perfect for a spell,” Liss said.
Dan was still examining the map. “The vibes there are probably intense.”
“I’m sorry, the what now?” Alexa winced. “Vibes?”
“The magic-y feeling of a place?” Dan looked up at her. “I don’t really know how to explain it.”
Alexa did not need an explanation. A line in her mind had been tripped, triggering that knowledge she’d inherited from Lorelei. The girls were talking a
bout the fortunes of Icaria—the magical valence of a place, the weight of its past and future and its current auspices. Given what had happened in Icaria, it was clear its fortunes were powerful, but that power was the result of suffering, death, and betrayed hope. “Vibes” made it sound like Icaria was just a ghost town with good selfie lighting.
Alexa was beginning to see why Swann thought naive witches were exasperating.
“I get it,” Alexa said.
“We should leave early tomorrow. We don’t want to be out there after sundown,” Liss said. “So we should ask the Black Book for a spell tonight.”
“A spell for what?” Alexa asked.
Dan and Liss exchanged a look that read: She doesn’t know what we know, she isn’t one of us. “There’s a procedure for finding a spell in the Black Book. You have to ask it in a particular way and it gives you the spell you need,” Dan said. “So we need to ask it for a spell to rescue Johnny.”
“And that’s something the Book would know?” There was something . . . off about that thing. Not that she’d seen it. She didn’t particularly want to. The point of books was that they were predictable—readable. They didn’t tease you with special access via ritualistic communication.
“Why wouldn’t it?” Liss said.
“Why would it? Asking the Book what to do isn’t the same as having a plan.” Alexa wondered if they had ever considered that before. “Which we could come up with.”
Dan’s eyes went wide. “We?”
“Am I not invited?”
“I mean,” Dan faltered, then shot a glance at Liss, who didn’t do anything particular in reply. “We can do this on our own.”
“Cool, thanks,” Alexa said. “I’m feeling super included.”
“I didn’t mean it like that! It’s just that this isn’t your problem.”
“You wanted my help and I’m giving it to you.” Alexa crossed her arms. “You made it my problem.”
“This isn’t some fantasy! It’s is actually dangerous,” Dan said. “We’re witches, and—”
“And you couldn’t even protect yourselves from half the shit you’ve called down,” Alexa snapped. “Swann’s right. It seems like being witches is what’s gotten you in trouble in the first place, so I can’t imagine I could do much worse.”
“Let her see the Black Book,” Liss said. “If you want a taste of magic, watch us ask it for the spell. We can decide about if you’re coming tomorrow after that. But I’m in favor. It’ll be safer if there’s three of us.”
“Yeah, because the last time we did that, one of us got abducted by a nightmare creature.” Dan dug her keys out of her backpack. “The Book’s at my house. I’ll meet you there.”
Dan
Dan yanked the shoebox out from under her bed. She watched Alexa notice the writing on the lid—DAN + LISS TOP SECRET—and her cheeks grew hot.
“Impressive security measures,” Alexa joked as they sat themselves in a circle on the carpet.
Liss eyed Alexa. “Don’t make me regret inviting you.”
“Come on, I was just—”
Dan set the Book on the floor between them. Alexa shifted uncomfortably, her eyes fixed on the Book.
“You were just . . . ?” Liss raised an eyebrow.
Alexa pulled her cardigan around her and crossed her arms. “Does it always feel this way?”
“What way?” Dan asked.
Alexa drew back from the Book as much as she could without actually leaving the circle. She adjusted her glasses. “Just a little nauseating. I mean, I was skeptical but yeah, that thing is magic.”
“Maybe you’re just having a reaction because you’re not a witch,” Dan suggested.
“We weren’t either the first time we used the Book,” Liss said. “Are we ready? I don’t want her puke gumming up the pages.”
Everything felt strange, having Alexa there. The energy in the room felt off-kilter, like they were three planets that would not align. Dan could hardly keep focused on the kind of spell they were looking for—a spell to rescue Johnny from Kasyan.
When Liss opened the Book, Alexa hissed out a tightly held breath. Dan turned her page—nothing—and then it was Liss again. Now, Alexa looked legitimately sick, her face wan and a little sweaty. It was gratifying, somehow, that Alexa was incompatible with magic. There was no way she’d want to come with them to Icaria now. Instead she’d be waiting back in Dogtown when they returned, keeping watch over a life that was normal, not terrifying, not ravaged by guilt.
Dan chose a page, then glanced back at Alexa, so it was Liss who realized it first.
“That’s it. That’s our spell.” Liss wore a satisfied grin.
Alexa glared at the page, her brow pulled tight. “No, it’s not.”
“Liss and I get a feeling when the spell is right. That’s how we know,” Dan said. “I don’t know how to explain—”
“Yeah, you can’t explain your feelings, I get it.” Alexa pushed herself up off the floor and sat on Dan’s bed, which was about as far as she could get from the Book without leaving the room. “But you can’t do that spell.”
“It looks complicated, but we’ve done much more difficult ones,” Liss said as she copied out the spell into her notebook. “Dan and I actually have a lot of experience with this stuff.”
“It’s not that it’s complicated, it’s just—wrong.”
“See, this is why I don’t think you should come tomorrow,” Dan said. “It’s one thing to be curious about magic, but what we’re involved with right now isn’t entry level. We can’t risk you getting upset in the middle of the incantation or something.”
“I’m coming with you.” Alexa’s voice was cold. “But if you do that spell tomorrow, you’ll get yourselves killed.”
“This is ridiculous. What else are we supposed to do?” Liss asked.
“Doing nothing would be better.”
Liss shot Dan a look. “I thought we were clear that Project Rescue Johnny was about not doing nothing?”
“If that’s how you feel, then don’t come,” Dan said.
“Maybe you shouldn’t go either!”
“We don’t have a choice—you do,” Dan argued. “You don’t need to get involved in all this. You can just go home and pretend none of this ever happened.
Alexa pushed herself off the bed and grabbed her bag. “Make up your mind, Dan. Do you need me or not?”
Dan flinched as Alexa slammed the door behind her.
Alexa
Alexa heard the front door open and shut as she walked to her car, but she didn’t look back.
“Dan, I don’t want to talk about this—”
“I’ll let her know.”
Alexa turned to see Liss standing behind her, her face a shadow under the light of her hair. She was fiddling with her fingers again.
“What’s wrong with the spell?” Liss asked.
“You tell me. You’re the expert.”
“I know it might look like I have a death wish. Actually, I don’t. I need Johnny back. Dan does too. We’re too close to slow down now. Give me a good reason not to do that spell tomorrow and we won’t. But until then, it’s all we have, and I don’t care that it isn’t particularly safe.”
Alexa’s hand was bunched into a fist around her car keys so tightly the metal bit into her skin. “Give me the night to think about it.”
Liss nodded. “I’ll be at your place by eight thirty tomorrow.”
“Fine.”
Liss did not turn and walk away. Instead, she crossed her arms against the dampness of the fog and cleared her throat. “How are you?”
“What do you mean, how am I?”
“Like how are you doing, what is the state of your affairs, are you about to go jump off a cliff?”
“Don’t worry about me.” Alexa’s voice was flat. “I know you
think this spell stuff is freaky, but I can handle myself around some pretty fucked-up things.”
“Yeah, I got that,” Liss answered. “That’s not what I meant. Something’s going on with you. You look like you haven’t slept in a week—or showered. You obviously aren’t talking to Dan about it, and you clearly have no other friends. So I’m asking.”
“Nothing,” Alexa tucked her hair behind her ears. She hadn’t realized how greasy it was. “Everything’s fine.”
“Liar,” Liss said simply.
Alexa opened her mouth to deny it, but closed it again. To her horror, the prickle of oncoming tears stung her eyes. She was not going to cry in front of the Lizard. “Why do you care?”
Liss rolled her eyes. “Because caring about you is such an incomprehensible thing for someone to do?” Alexa could do nothing but swallow hard against that, and Liss hastily added, “I meant that rhetorically. I just care, okay? The whole point of witch-gang is that we stick together.”
“I’m not—”
“Whatever.” Liss gave her a pointed look. “Tomorrow, eight thirty.”
“I’ll be ready.”
Alexa
Alexa paced in her living room, navigating around sneakers and dirty dishes and broken records and unstuffed pillows she’d never cleaned up from Keith’s rampage.
Domino surveyed her from his perch on the back of the couch. And why exactly are you going to Icaria?
“Kasyan’s been there—or at least used his power there, so the fortunes will be good for any magic related to him. But the spell Dan and Liss want to do there is all wrong. It uses an equinoctial structure.” Domino seemed to smirk at her, insofar as a cat could. Alexa turned on her heel to look at him. “Yes, that was witch-knowledge. But the important thing is, you can’t do an equinoctial spell the day before Winter Solstice without something going seriously wrong. Those spells are for the Equinoxes—it’s in the name! Of course, that creepy Black Book didn’t include that detail.”
A Wicked Magic Page 24