A Wicked Magic

by Sasha Laurens

  Domino’s ears twitched. What Black Book?

  “It’s supposedly a magician’s diary. They ask it for a spell to do a certain thing, and it gives them . . . something.” Alexa collapsed onto the couch, took off her glasses, and scrubbed a hand over her face.

  Just thinking of the Book now, she could practically feel the cold wave of nausea that overcame her when she first saw it. It was more than unpleasantness: the Book was undoubtedly the emanation of some power, and in Dan’s bedroom it had directed that power toward Alexa, sending out tendrils that she could feel examining her. Those tendrils had not liked what they found. She and the Black Book were like poles of a magnet, repelling each other.

  The Book was easy to distrust, but Dan and Liss had come to a different conclusion. They took its spells at face value, because the spells always worked. They hadn’t realized that wasn’t a good thing when working meant disappearing Johnny or burning down all of North Coast or worse.

  Alexa rubbed her temples. “Naive witches,” she groaned. “They’re going to get themselves killed.”

  You won’t let them.

  Alexa shoved her glasses back on so she could properly glare at Domino. “Of course I won’t—I can’t. But how am I supposed to stop them? Liss said she needs one good reason and she won’t do the spell, but what can I say? Like, ‘Hi guys, I’m actually a witch too and here’s a crash course in equinoctial versus solstitial spells?”

  Do you want to do that? Not the lecture part, the first part.

  Alexa let her head fall back against the couch. She knew Domino was staring at her with those sage-green eyes, waiting for an answer to his totally normal and not at all soul-crushing question, which was definitely not bringing tears to her eyes. The cat, like most cats, had only two modes: aggressively hissy or calmly reserved. But sometimes, Alexa wished he could be just a little affectionate when she needed it.

  As if he’d read her mind—he definitely had—Domino crawled into her lap. Just the weight of him there was comforting. He nuzzled her cheek, wiping away the tears that slipped through her lashes.

  Then why can’t you tell them?

  Because they would never believe her—although they had witnessed unbelievable things. Because she had bigger concerns, like how the Wardens hadn’t sent anyone to care for Lorelei or how she would exact her revenge against Keith and Kasyan—although Dan and Liss wanted to destroy Kasyan too. Because once she had that revenge she would leave North Coast, even if she would miss it painfully—although if Dan and Liss fell victim to a miscast spell, there would be nothing left here to miss.

  “Dan and Liss have enough problems.” Alexa spoke deliberately. “They don’t need to get involved in mine, and I don’t need them to. I’ve been handling things on my own my whole life. This is no different.”

  It was a reminder she needed herself to hear, and it was true. At least part of it was true.

  Alexa pictured herself, a tiny girl, standing before a huge black mass, a pale face with long sharp teeth and a gaze that could wither whatever it landed upon. Swann had said he couldn’t be killed. That would make facing him extremely challenging.

  And terrifying.

  And possibly fatal.

  But it had been done before. A Warden had trapped Kasyan to protect North Coast.

  Suddenly, Alexa sat up, forcing Domino to squirm off her lap.

  “Does Lorelei have a history of the Wardens anywhere? A record of who they are and what they worked on?”

  Alexa followed Domino as he padded toward Lorelei’s bedroom.

  Dan

  Dan was running: her heels striking the dark pavement, the heavy mist of the fog beading on her skin. Rickey’s luscious voice soared through her headphones and carved the pit of sadness inside her a little bit deeper. Her legs ached with each stride, but she tried to focus on that steady rhythm, one foot in front of the other. She’d run two miles down the coast road before turning back for home, wishing that dumb repetition would dull out her thoughts.

  It hadn’t.

  Dan couldn’t stop thinking about Alexa.

  Dan was sick with the feeling that had been building since they stepped foot in Swann’s, that had overcome her when she saw Alexa recoil from the Book: Alexa needed to be kept separate from the part of her life tainted by magic.

  Alexa, who was good and true and solid. It already felt like magic, how Alexa cared when Dan was down and managed to text her precisely when she couldn’t be alone with her thoughts anymore. Sometimes, before she fell asleep, Dan would tell Alexa she was going to bed and Alexa would say she was too and Dan would text good night and Alexa would text it back, and then, with her throat tight and her lip held between her teeth, Dan would write Thanks, before she turned out the light. But then she’d turn it back on to see if Alexa had written back.

  Alexa made her want to stop cutting.

  She hadn’t actually stopped, but that was beside the point. Dan was waiting for a moment when stopping would just happen to her. There had to be a time when the darkness would leave her altogether. Just like that, cutting would be in the past, just like once Johnny was saved it would be like she never made that wish. She could really be the person she was always pretending to be: someone good, who didn’t hurt herself or anyone else deliberately.

  But she had been waiting for that moment for so long. What if it never came? Could she carry on like this forever? Pretending was exhausting. She’d spent so long doing it that she was starting to wonder if it was a solution at all.

  Rickey’s voice snarled something angry and beautiful in Dan’s ears as she ran down the hill that curved into Dogtown, the little town’s lights growing closer.

  Worse, none of it was fair to Alexa. Alexa always tried to be a good friend—truly tried, which had never even really occurred to Dan before Alexa—but that didn’t make any of this her responsibility. She wasn’t the answer to any of Dan’s problems. She was more than that.

  Dan would not let Alexa get hurt by all this. Alexa deserved to live in a world where she could read the fantasy books she loved without worrying that they were actually nonfiction. If anything happened to Alexa in Icaria, Dan knew she’d drive herself crazy trying to make it right, the same way Liss had with Johnny.

  Dan rounded the final turn into Dogtown. Ahead, the first house had its outside light on. Dan pulled out her headphones and walked up Alexa’s driveway.

  * * *

  —

  Alexa slipped out onto the porch and closed the door behind her. “What are you doing here?”

  There was something about the house that felt unfamiliar from Dan’s other visits. It definitely smelled like the garbage hadn’t been taken out anytime recently.

  “I was on a run, and I—” Dan fumbled at the way Alexa was looking at her—like an intruder. “Are you busy? I can go.”

  “No,” Alexa crossed her arms. “Lorelei’s sleeping off a cold. We can talk out here.”

  Dan noticed the planks of the porch were buckled and one of the supports broken nearly in half. “The wood’s rotted,” Alexa said. She didn’t invite Dan to sit. “What’s up?”

  “The Dogtown Solstice Parade’s on Sunday. My mom wants me to work at a table selling her pottery, but there’s usually a good view of the parade. Do you want to come?”

  “Parades aren’t really my thing.”

  “It’s just been a while since we hung out,” Dan said.

  Alexa eyed her. “The last time we hung out, you ran off screaming while my car got destroyed.”

  “I told you, it was Johnny. I had to go after him.” Dan shivered and crossed her arms as the sweat on her running gear cooled.

  “I know.” Alexa adjusted her glasses. “But an apology would have been nice.”

  “I did apologize.”

  “You said you didn’t have a choice. It’s not the same thing.”
r />   “Okay, I really am sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” Dan bit her lip. She was sorry, but she didn’t see what else she should have done.

  “You didn’t even ask if I was okay. You just forgot about me. Do you have any idea how it feels to be alone like that?”

  Dan opened her mouth to say that she absolutely did, but the fraying in Alexa’s voice made her doubt herself. Lorelei hadn’t answered the phone that night, Dan remembered. Dan had called her mom because she’d been tired of waiting. She’d never doubted that her mom would come.

  “I should have been there for you. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “That’s not true either, Dan.” Alexa’s voice was small. She wouldn’t look at Dan. “You were thinking about all this stuff with Liss. Like once she’s back in your life, I don’t matter anymore.”

  “That’s not fair. I have to—”

  “Forget about me until this magic stuff is over? You think I’ll be here forever, waiting for you when you’re done with Liss. You know, she’s really not as bad as you made her sound.”

  “No, that’s not it at all.” Dan clutched her headphones. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I really am sorry that I did. I’m trying to do the right thing, but I don’t always know what it is.”

  “I know that,” Alexa said in a way that still didn’t feel like forgiveness.

  “Please don’t come to Icaria tomorrow,” Dan asked. “I know you want to and Liss said it was okay, but you should stay as far away from all this magic stuff as you can. It sounded cool to me at first too but now . . . if I could erase all of that, I would. I don’t want you to feel like you have to get involved in this for us.”

  Alexa scowled. “I’m already involved.”

  “I’m saying this for your own good,” Dan pleaded.

  “How do you know what’s good for me? I told you I have my own reasons for wanting to go.”

  “This isn’t for tourists,” Dan said. “Magic is dangerous.”

  “I know,” Alexa snapped. “I wish I didn’t.”

  A chill shivered up Dan’s spine as a look of genuine fear shattered Alexa’s composure. “You’re serious,” Dan said.

  “From Lorelei’s stories and that kind of thing. That’s what I mean.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Dan whispered.

  “Whatever.” Alexa nearly managed to sound dismissive, but there was something lonesome and exhausted in it instead. She looked back at the house, arms crossed. “We’re going to wake up Lorelei. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Dan pushed her hair back and unwound her headphones. “Okay,” she forced herself to say. If Alexa wanted her to go, she’d be gone. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow she was leaving Alexa all over again—alone, exactly what Alexa said she didn’t want to be.

  Alexa

  Dan was walking away. Good. Good. It was dangerous to have her at the house, so close to Lorelei, to Domino, to the fragile wreck of her life.

  It was good that she was going because Alexa had almost told her everything. She could practically taste the words—how badly she wanted to say them, how tired she was of the special isolation that misery stranded you in.

  Almost telling Dan and watching her walk away made it all worse somehow. She couldn’t be mad at Dan for not understanding, for not helping, when Alexa had never given her the chance.

  Dan’s sneakers crunched on the gravel as she queued up a song for the walk home.

  Alexa gripped the porch railing.

  She was strong enough. She could hold it together, alone.

  Dan turned back.

  “Do you really want me to go?”

  The evening air seemed to freeze around them. Alexa felt herself splinter.

  “No,” she choked out. “There’s something I need to tell you. About Lorelei.”

  * * *

  —

  “I don’t understand,” Dan said, sitting beside Alexa on the porch steps. “You mean she’s— Is she dead?”

  “It’s complicated. The curse stopped before it killed her, but she’s not exactly alive,” Alexa managed. The air stung with the smell of a candle snuffed out, and Alexa wondered if this was the magical scent of a witch giving up completely. She faced Dan. “You can’t tell anyone about this—anyone.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Promise me you won’t.” Alexa’s breathing was coming in shallow bursts. “Without Lorelei, I’ll have to go back to Arizona and I can’t do that. I can’t—”

  “I promise, Alexa. You can trust me.”

  Dan put her hand on Alexa’s back and just like that, Alexa wasn’t holding it together anymore. Hot tears rolled down her face, and she couldn’t stop herself from gasping, “Why did this have to happen? After everything else, why this? Living up here with Lorelei was the first time I’ve been happy in ever. You don’t know what it’s like. You have parents who love you and I—”

  “You’re not going back.” Dan interrupted her with such firmness that Alexa didn’t need to say any more. Dan pulled her into a hug, and Alexa let herself collapse against Dan’s shoulder, her tears mingling with the sweat still drying on Dan’s skin. “I won’t let you. I don’t know what you did to Liss in the last two days, but she would never let you and she gets her way. North Coast is your home. You belong here, with us.” Dan pulled back and met Alexa’s eyes. “This is where you’re going to stay.”

  Alexa was too exhausted not to believe her, for now at least. She let herself live in that fantasy a little longer: friends who would protect her, in a place she loved, Domino nuzzling her ankle.

  * * *

  —

  Alexa decided they needed to tell Liss—witch-gang and all that—and once she arrived, the girls stood around Lorelei’s bed. Lorelei’s dark eyes were the only part of her that still looked somewhat like her old self, even if they were still and the corners were crusted with dried pus. Her flesh was mushy and brown, seeping various yellowish liquids, splitting at the seams. With other humans in the room, Lorelei looked much, much deader than Alexa had thought.

  “Remind me never to get cursed,” Liss mumbled as they went back into the living room, away from the stench.

  “Keith Levandowski did this,” Alexa said. “The leader of Black Grass.”

  “Why would he want to kill Lorelei?” Dan asked. “She was one of them.”

  “Not exactly. She was only posing as seeker,” Alexa began. “She was doing an investigation into Black Grass when she was—when it happened. She told me it was for a magazine, but actually she was in this sort of magical FBI called the Wardens. I think Keith must have found out and punished her for it.”

  Liss held up a Black Grass pamphlet with Keith’s smirking face. “You’re telling me this guy did that?”

  “Not alone. It was Kasyan’s power working through Keith, I think. I’ve been trying to figure out what’s going on. That’s why I was up there last night when you did your spell. I was spying on Black Grass, with Domino.”

  “Your cat?” Dan asked.

  “He’s not just a cat. He’s a familiar.” Alexa took a deep breath and shoved her glasses up her nose. “He was Lorelei’s and now he’s mine.”

  “Only witches have familiars,” Liss said slowly.

  Alexa nearly lost her nerve. No matter what Dan promised, life demonstrated over and over again that people could not be trusted. Kim always said that betraying your fellow man was a basic human activity, just like eating and sleeping.

  There would always be a part of her fighting to keep them at a distance, but right now, she could resolve not to let that part win. It was a strength she’d won incrementally, first when Lorelei took her in, and then when they came up to North Coast and she met Dan, and now Liss, who was somehow just as bad as Dan had said she was without really being bad at all. None of them were perfect, but they were trying. />
  Alexa took a deep breath. “You’re naive witches, but that’s not the only kind. Witches who inherit their power from another witch inherit their familiars too. When Lorelei was dying, she gave me hers.”

  Dan’s eyes grew wide. “You’re a witch?”

  Alexa nodded. “All it takes is a gift from a witch on her deathbed. Lorelei gave me this necklace that she always wore. But she—she managed to live, I guess.”

  “Did she leave you her Black Book?” Liss asked. “How do you know what you’re doing?”

  “When you become a witch by inheritance, it comes with, um, a certain level of knowledge. I know a lot of what the witches who came before me knew. And it’s . . . kind of a lot.” Alexa said.

  “Like you’ve taken AP Witchcraft and we’re still in entry level,” Dan said.

  Alexa smiled. “Basically. If Lore had a Book, Keith probably stole it. He broke into our house not too long after what happened. He took everything we had on Kasyan too.”

  Liss was still fiddling with the Black Grass pamphlet. “We need to know whatever the deal is that Keith has struck with Kasyan.”

  “I don’t know how they’re working together, but I might I know why,” Alexa said. “I think Keith is trying to set Kasyan free.”

  * * *

  —

  Alexa’s dining room table was spread with information about Black Grass: a mix of official promotional materials and Lorelei’s remaining notes. Everyone agreed that it was a definite point in favor of Alexa’s theory that Keith had left untouched all of Lorelei’s research on his organization and taken only things related to Kasyan.

  “Black Grass’s Center opened on May first this year,” Alexa said.

  “Keith bought the land in March,” Liss added. “I remember my parents talking about it. A big Silicon Valley guy buying a chunk of land in North Coast. People noticed. He built the whole place up with his own money virtually overnight.”