Better 'Ink Twice

by Rachel Rawlings

  “So,” Lars aimed his question at me. “When do you want to do this?”

  I reached for my phone to check the time but remembered it took a bath with me and was utterly useless. “Amber, how much time until the witching hour?”

  She looked at her phone. “About an hour.”

  Lars stroked his beard while he mulled it over. “What about sunrise? Gives us more time and the energy of new possibilities with the new day?”

  I didn’t waste a minute of the precious time we had to think it over. “You know I do my best warding by moonlight. Plus, I’m going to need the extra power boost that comes with the witching hour.”

  “Okay,” Amber clapped her hands together. “Let’s do this. Lars, go find a bucket. Adeline needs to wash off all that salt. We all do, but she’s first.” She dug through her bag and pulled out a tee-shirt with a faded café logo printed on it and a worn pair of jeans. “The jeans might be a little long, but it’s the best I could do.” She rooted in her bag one more time and retrieved a bundle of sage and two white and two black taper candles. “That should do it.”

  “You’re a regular Mary Poppins, aren’t you?” I teased.

  “It’s always good to be prepared.” She shooed me out of the snack area and into the bathroom while barking more orders at Lars. “But you’re on your own when it comes to the ward.”

  Except I wasn’t on my own— not really.

  The Goddess would be there. Like always. So, I put my faith in her, that she knew what she was doing because there was no going back. One ward, one unravel. That’s all any witch ever got. I don’t make the rules— just occasionally break them. But some rules aren’t meant to be broken no matter how much you want to. Especially those laid down by the Goddess. If things went according to plan, Nicholas would be a thing of beauty, a completion of the Goddess’s circle of life. If not? Well, at least it would be a quick death.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “What’s the point if having magic if we can’t heat the damned water first?” My teeth chattered as Amber poured another bucker of icy cold water over my head. The draft from the broken window above the paper towel holder mounted on the wall might as well have been an artic blast against my bare skin. Naked as the day I was dedicated to the Goddess, I stood in the middle of the bathroom, shivering as I waited for Amber to fill the bucket for the third and final time.

  “We’re lucky the city never shut off the meter and that we have running water at all.” Amber turned off the tap and hoisted the bucket from the sink. “It’s not like any of us have magic to spare.” Water sloshed onto the floor, sending a river of grime toward my feet. “Ready?”

  “Does it matter if I say no?” I braced for impact.

  “Not really.” Amber doused me in frigid water. “Now for the sage.” She struck a match and lit the smudge stick. After a quick pass over herself, she moved on to me, starting at my feet.

  “Hey, Amber?” Nicholas called her name from the hallow outside the ladies’ room. “Lars said something about a cleansing ritual?”

  “Oh my goddess.” Amber jumped up and did her best to shield me from Nicholas’s view as he shuffled into the bathroom.

  “He was busy setting something up for Adeline, I thought I’d just find you to see what’s going—” Nicholas’s eyes slammed shut. “Sorry. I didn’t see... Okay, that’s a lie. I saw everything but I didn’t mean—”

  “For the love of the Goddess, Nicholas. Keep your eyes closed.” Amber handed me the smudge stick and assured me she’d be right back. “Ah, keep them closed. I’ll help you out.” Amber took Nicholas by the elbow and led him out of the bathroom, muttering something about Lars being a dumbass on her way out.

  Not all witches dance naked every full moon. Some of us have no rhythm and prefer clothes. Guess which category I fell in? Face flushed with embarrassment, I did my best to get my head back in the ritual.

  A minute or two later, she returned, still complaining about Lars. “Lars couldn’t catch him before he made it to the bathroom? The guy moves at a zombie pace.” Amber took the smudge stick. “Might as well throw this in the garbage for all the good it’s going to do now. Energy’s all messed up.” After a few calming breaths, she waved the bundle of herbs in front of her face and cupped the smoke with her other hand to waft it over her head; realigning her sixth chakra and opening her third eye. “That’s better.”

  Amber proceeded to trace the outline of my body with the smudge stick. After which she held the bundle of herbs down by my feet and walked slow circles around me, occasionally raising her hand as she passed until it was level with my head and I was engulfed in a cloud of cleansing smoke. With a prayer to the Goddess, she closed the ritual and handed me the pile of loaned clothes and went to fetch Nicholas. I threw on the clothes she gave me as fast as I could, barely slipping on my boots before she came back with him in tow.

  “I’ll just go find Lars.” I felt the blush creep back into my face as I passed Nicholas on the way out of the bathroom. “See if there’s anything he needs help with before we start.”

  Nicholas blushed as well. He looked like he was about to say something as he reached to take my hand. Less than an inch separated us before Amber threatened to hex us if we ruined all her hard work by contaminating each other before the unraveling.

  “I’ll see you out there.” Awkward tension abated, thanks to Amber’s outburst and chastising, I smiled at Nicholas, who offered a tender smile in return before joining Amber for his cleansing ritual. I went off in search of Lars and a menial task to keep my mind occupied before I attempted the largest spell of my entire life.

  Lars kept me busy checking and rechecking his perimeter wards. The fifteen or so minutes it took for Amber to finish with Nicholas went by in a blink. I was just finishing my last round of checks when they came out of the bathroom. The clothes, borrowed from Lars, hung off his athletic frame. The weight loss from his time in the campus cells was even more pronounced with the oversized shirt and jeans— something I hoped would change once the reversal was complete. If I was right, undoing the ward would flush Nicholas with magic and as a bonus, heal his wounds.

  It was time to test my theory.

  The alarm on Amber’s phone signaled the witching hour. I took the taper candles and placed them on the glossy surface of the bowling lane. I lit the black candle first to dispel negativity, followed by red to bring in new energy. A blue candle for healing and psychic energy was next. The silver candle representing the Goddess was last. Opting for a more ceremonial approach, I welcomed everyone to the ritual and invited Nicholas to join me. He knelt beside me on the foul line and waited for further instructions— that made two of us. Having never performed an unraveling before, I sort of made it up as I went.

  I turned Nicholas to face the spot where the bowling pins would have been and removed his shirt. The ward hidden beneath his Goddess mark called to me— Grim’s work called to me. Warding was structured. Sure, the tattoos we created were art, but that wasn’t the magic. It wasn’t the process. There was a certain way to do things. Each warder had their own signature inks or tweaks on the technique but there was a universal way to do it. The same could be said for a reversal.

  And then there was the Adeline way.

  We weren’t going for traditional. It was more a fly by the seat of your pants and pray to the Goddess you don’t royally screw it up. I placed my palm on the symbol of the Goddess tattooed at Nicholas’s dedication and listened to the magic hum beneath the surface of his skin. I opened my third eye and followed the magical vibrations until I reached the end of a silver cord wrapped tight around a mass of metaphysical energy inside of Nicholas— the binding. With a gentle tug, I unraveled the first of many layers of cording.

  Grim was nothing if not thorough. Any job worth doing is worth doing right. It was as if he was there talking to me.

  With little sleep, food, and water, I’d barely given my body the time it needed to heal. The cleansing ritual washed away any salt resi
due which meant my magic was recharging, just not as fast as I was draining it. Even with the power boost from the witching hour, I was fading fast and I still had several layers to go. I kept pulling at the cords, unraveling each until I found its end. By the time I reached the ninth string, my body ached and my muscles twitched, every inch of me was drenched with sweat. I wasn’t sure if I was going to throw up or pass out— possibly both.

  The last cord unraveled and sent the ball of bound magic spinning like a top. Except the top kept growing. With each turn, it grew in girth until it swelled to fill every corner of Nicholas’s frame. His gaunt complexion and hollow frame were gone. The runner’s physique he had when we first met filled out with more pronounced, chiseled muscles. Unraveling, as I suspected, altered his physical as well as his metaphysical state.

  Completely and utterly exhausted, I collapsed on the floor next to him. Nicholas turned to look at me with bewilderment in his eyes. His brows furrowed, a puzzled expression on his face as if he was trying to remember who I was. In a flash, his confusion switched to anger. The rush of magic he’d never used or learned to control threw him into emotional turmoil. His hand clamped down on my neck, squeezing until I could hardly breathe. I smacked and clawed at his hand and wrist— despite the increasing weakness— to pry his fingers away from my throat.

  Lars and Amber jumped into action, trying to pull him off me but the two of them were no match for the powerful witch I’d unleashed. Nicholas batted them away as easily as swatting a fly. They slid back, crashing into the seating area for the next lane. Both were slumped over, lifeless like two rag dolls.

  Nicholas never took his eyes off me. He watched with piqued interest as my eyelids fluttered open and closed. Darkness danced along the edges of my vision before swallowing it whole. My eyes closed for the last time. It peaceful in the dark. So quiet and warm; like residual heat from the embers of a fire. The air smelled like ash and charred earth but it wasn’t the smell of destruction.

  But instead, rebirth.

  I felt the Goddess’s presence. So close. Divine whispers in my ear; the tinkle of a thousand tiny charms. It was exactly what she intended.

  And it was the last thing I remembered.

  Chapter Twenty

  Wake up. Wake up, Adeline. There is work yet to be done. You’ll have plenty of time to rest when it is finished.

  The melodious wind chimes were replaced with a throbbing clang that left psychedelic flashes of color in my vision. There were voices in the distance. Too far away to discern who they were but my heart was convinced I knew them. Two men. A woman. The bright colors began to take shape. Fuzzy outlines at first but the lines became increasingly crisp as I drifted back into consciousness. Lars and Amber hovered over me with concern in their eyes.

  But neither compared to Nicholas.

  Deep sadness marred his handsome features. I wanted to reach out and smooth away the worry lines along his furrowed brow; to tell him I was fine. Unfortunately, comforting Nicholas would have to wait. My body and brain weren’t a hundred percent on the same page.

  “How long...” My voice was raspy and it was difficult to talk. I cleared my throat. Huge mistake. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes.

  Nicholas moved to wipe them away but Lars shoved his hand away. Amber retrieved a pale pink handkerchief from her pocket, chastising Lars as she gingerly dabbed the corners of my eyes. The exchange was interesting if not expected. Of course, Lars would blame Nicholas for hurting me. It didn’t matter that he had no control over himself or the situation once I unraveled the ward.

  I tried to hold Lars’s hand. Instead, I sort of slapped him on the wrist. He seemed a little concerned over my sloppy movements but I was just relieved my appendages were getting on board with my brain.

  “How long was I out?” I kept my voice at a whisper and managed to ask the entire question that time.

  “An hour, give or take.” Amber placed a damp paper towel on my forehead. “Glad to have you back.” She reached for a jar on the floor by her knee.

  I shook my head. “Not the salve.” I rasped. “Anything but that.”

  Lars smiled like he understood but reached for the jar anyway. “Sorry, Del. We don’t have time to do this the old-fashioned way. You’re just going to have to smell like the ass-end of a swamp.”

  “I don’t want to smell like the ass-end of anything.” I tried to sit up. All three of them moved in unison to stop me. “My throat feels better. I sound better, right?” My throat was on fire and I sounded like I smoked three cartons a day for thirty years.

  I wasn’t fooling anyone. Not even myself.

  “Sorry, kid.” Lars slathered my throat with a heavy coat of salve. “Breathe through your mouth.”

  “Easy for you,” I gagged. “To say.”

  “The smell goes away after a few minutes.” Nicholas tucked a few strands of hair behind my ear.

  “Now that I’m on the receiving end of Amber’s healing regiments, I feel I owe you an apology.” I laughed and regretted it immediately. The salve’s odor assaulted my taste buds and I feared they may never recover.

  Nicholas’s mouth upturned in a half-hearted smile. “At least your sense of humor is intact.”

  “The rest of me is intact, too, Nicholas.” I tried to sit up again and as much as it pained me to admit, thanks to Amber’s smelly salve, I was able to. “See, all better.”

  “I... If anyone should be apologizing—”

  “No, Nicholas.” I gave Lars the side-eye while I spoke. “I didn’t know what I was doing any more than you knew how to control that much magic after it was unraveled.”

  “This is the first and last unraveling on your schedule.” Lars’s expression softened— a little. “You scared the hell out of me.”

  “I know.” I stopped short of apologizing. I knew exactly what Lars went through. It wasn’t that long ago I thought he was dead. But I’d make the same choice again if I had to. My stomach rumbled. “I’m starving and I would kill for a coffee.”

  “I can help with one of those.” Amber reached into her bag and pulled out another protein bar and a bottle of water. “It’s not coffee,” she shrugged “but it’s better for hydration anyway.”

  “Coffee has water in it.” I teased, winking as I took the water and meal replacement bar. If I was lucky, it was the last meal I’d replace with one of them. Unlikely, but a girl could dream, right?

  A set of headlights shined through the rear window. Deja vu.

  “Looks like this place was burned after all,” I whispered to Lars.

  We hurried to turn off the flashlights and two battery-operated lanterns before our visitors got out of the car. One door slammed shut and then the other, just as two more cars pulled in. When She said I still had work to do, I thought She’d at least wait until I was on my feet— as in literally on my feet. I hadn’t so much as stood up yet and there were Magistrate men storming our hideout?

  Amber scurried around, shoving as many of her supplies into her bag as possible, careful to stay low and out of window view. Lars scooped me up and headed for the old manager’s office where another emergency exit was located. I’d say this constituted an emergency. Nicholas started off in the opposite direction.

  “Where’s he going?” I murmured, tapping Lars on the shoulder. “Nicholas is—”

  Lars set me on my feet. “Wait here.” He charged after Nicholas but he was too late to stop the death magic taking over.

  Nicholas stood with his hands at his sides, head tucked against his chest as he waited for the footmen to storm the building. The air around him crackled with energy. Dense fog pooled at his feet, rolling out to cover the bowling alley floor like a scene in a horror movie. The scene where the bad guy shows up and everyone starts running.

  Except this was Nicholas and I wasn’t running out on him again.

  I crouched down, using the pool of fog as cover and waited. The footmen stormed the main entrance, fanning out in tactical formation. They moved in, shout
ing orders for Nicholas to get on his knees, hands behind his back, thumbs interlocked. He remained motionless, ignoring their commands. I knew the magic that lay beneath his skin. I’d unleashed it. Nicholas was baiting them.

  Lars knelt down beside me but made sure he was still positioned in front of Amber. “If they don’t know how dangerous he’s become, they don’t deserve to be footmen.”

  “They don’t deserve to die, either.” I started to crawl forward but Lars grabbed a hold of the back of my jeans and held me in place.

  One of the footmen, familiar with the Marks family— Vincent in particular— starting mouthing off. A slew of profanity-laced insults that eventually included his mother, certain to rile even the most passive person.

  “I recant my previous statement.” I shook my head. “That guy... He’s got it coming to him.”

  Lars smirked but managed to keep his laughter contained. “Look.” He pointed toward Nicholas, shifting slightly so Amber could see around him.

  We all watched in mesmerized horror as Nicholas drew on his newfound powers and unleashed a staggering amount of death magic. He raised his hand, a churning orb of blacks and greens hovering above his palm. Nicholas didn’t say anything but he certainly made a show of closing his hand into a fist, one finger at a time until the orb was snuffed out. The footmen collapsed. All of them. Half a dozen highly trained witch guards. Without a fight.

  Amber sighed. “Well, that was anticlimactic.”

  Lars held out his hand, tugging her beside him when she took it. “It was awesome.”

  “If not a little terrifying.” I scooted back when Nicholas turned around, the same green and black swirl in his eyes. “Maybe I should have read up on exactly what Nicholas was before unraveling the ward.”

  “Too late now.” Amber’s nonchalant response did not match the quiver of fear in her lip or slight tremble in her hands.

  Lars stood up, palms upturned in a placating gesture. “Hey, Nicholas. You okay?” He took two steps forward, hesitating when Nicholas didn’t respond.