by Harry Nix
5
Alex barely got his hands up in time to block the stapler flying from the desk towards his face. There was a burst of pain and an audible snap as one of his fingers broke. He swore and cast healing flame to repair the broken bone.
It had been three days since the attack at Roma’s shop and Alex had spent the time locked away in the tiny dusty office that they’d discovered in the back corner of the factory. He was using it as a quiet place he could practice his spell writing and study.
More than ever he felt the need to improve and fast. Matilda had finally recovered but it had been slow. The damage to the bones of her legs was severe, and Alex knew it was just pure luck that he hadn’t been hit by the spell. They hadn't had enough money to buy any magical defense rings, but it was weighing heavily on Alex's mind that he wanted every werewolf to have several of them. He'd owned one once, but now, of course, it was lost in the village, destroyed in the attack, and, apparently, they were quite rare and also highly expensive.
After the attack, Alex had locked himself away, studying the new rings that Roma had bought and going over his own spells and Juno's as well. He'd been trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to break down the telekinesis spell to extract what was useful, to shorten and compress it. Alex had noticed that telekinesis fragments appeared in other spells, particularly unlock, which at some point required a physical force to turn the components of the lock as though a key had been inserted. Alex was fairly sure he knew the parts of the spell that dealt with the exertion of physical force, but there were other sections, pages of them, where he was completely lost. There was a part that seemed to be about identifying the will of the caster.
When he cast telekinesis it was a matter of focus and then casting the spell, like when he'd shot the container of sugar at Ruby’s head. He could simply focus on something, cast telekinesis, and throw it. Alex had certainly improved since he'd first learned the spell, when he'd been barely able to move a coin. Now he could move heavier objects, even up to a few pounds, but he still couldn't work out how the spell could interpret and understand the will of the castor. The code seemed impossibly intricate, and when he cut pieces out of it, it simply couldn't be cast, the execute button remaining grayed out, no matter how much he worked on it and massaged it.
He’d eventually managed to cut out some code that he could use but all it would do was to push the object in a random direction.
Alex picked up the stapler from the ground and took it back over to the desk in the corner of the room, then took himself to the far side and, putting his hands up, cast the same fragment of the spell. Again the stapler shot towards him. This time he managed to catch it, although it stung his hands to do so because of how fast it was traveling.
Alex put the stapler down and sat on the dusty old office chair that had been inherited with the building. There was some progress here, but he wasn't sure if it was enough. He was, at least, managing to fling things and it had direction, even though it was straight at his head, but it seemed that by cutting out some of the excess code he’d managed to speed up the velocity without having to use any more mana. Now if he could only get the stapler to fly away from him, then perhaps to be able to direct it, he might have a reasonable weapon.
Alex faintly heard one of the mages at the other end of the factory moaning something. April had been working on them for days now, and while it wasn't quite torture because they weren't being physically injured, perhaps the Geneva Convention would have something to say about it because they certainly weren't mentally well.
Alex spun his chair and looked down the other end of the factory. Jacob was there with April, holding the scarred mage’s mouth open as she dripped liquid into it. She moved to the second one who willingly opened his mouth.
“What did you do today, Alex? Ah, you know, flung a stapler at my face and oversaw the torture of two Ignis mages, you know, the usual,” Alex muttered to himself and then rubbed his eyes. He was feeling that pressure again, the desire to run to the wilderness, and once again the thoughts about whether they should even be in Baxter came flooding back. Jeremiah had said something like it wasn't distance that kept the Greenacre pack safe, and distance certainly hadn't helped Alex's pack. The truth was they weren't safe wherever they were, but if he had to pick a place to be unsafe in it would be out in the wilderness where there were wild animals to hunt and territory to roam rather than in the city, squatting in rundown houses.
“Oh, well, it’s too late now,” Alex said to himself. They'd heard that morning from Jack Smith, the dodgy accountant. The owners of the factory and the surrounding properties were more than happy to unload them onto Alex. He was now the proud owner of the factory, eight houses, and some empty blocks of land, all for the princely sum of a quarter million. It had crossed his mind that if he had more money he’d erect a fence around the whole lot to build a fortress of his own.
Alex forced himself back to studying Juno’s spell, the cantrip. Although she saw spells differently than him, she’d somehow managed to cut down parts of telekinesis to a very specific movement that undid shoelaces and then knotted them together. That part of the code was sleek and small because it wasn't trying to discern the caster’s state of mind and their will, but rather enacting an algorithm, predetermined to pull the laces and knot them together.
That was how she managed to shrink the spell so it was so small and fast she could cast it without being caught. She’d also taken segments of the conceal spell so it appeared to distract attention away from what was happening. That one was a little more complicated to work out because Alex wasn't entirely sure how distraction worked in the first place. April had told him about mind magic, a deadly branch that was so dangerous, there were no enclaves based on it because users of mind magic often went insane. Yet it seemed as though witches and other magic users did dabble in it occasionally. After all, distraction had to do with attention, which was a state of mind.
Alex was deeply buried in the code when April came into the office, closing the door behind her. He was in his hybrid form now to better protect from being hit on the head with a stapler at high speed, and with his enhanced sense of smell, the scent of the office wasn’t great. It was mostly dry and dusty with a few dead cockroaches, and he could smell the mummified remains of a mouse somewhere in the wall. There was another scent underneath it like mold perhaps, something that had gone into a dormant state, considering the hot weather.
The hot weather hadn't done any favors for the office, which lacked air-conditioning, and Alex sitting there in hybrid state covered in fur wasn't helping either.
When April came in, he breathed in the scent that surrounded her. The smell of the trees and leaves, a touch of jasmine, and damp earth. He let go of what he was doing and turned around as she hopped into his lap and wrapped her arms around him. Her fingernails were covered in black dirt and she had streaks of it all over. She was wearing a white tank top and tiny pair of blue shorts with her pink hair tied up in a ponytail. She smelled of a mixture of the earth, sweat, and sunscreen.
“Come with me, I have something I want to show you,” she said and then kissed him.
Alex was more than happy to take the distraction. Thanks to the entire pack being stuffed into the one house, it was incredibly hard to get any privacy at all. Additionally, Alex had had plans three days ago that after Roma’s they were going to go buy some proper mattresses and beds and start making their home more livable, but after the attack, they'd come straight back so he, April, and Nia were still sleeping on a creaky mattress that had seen better days.
Alex kissed her back, thoughts crossing his mind of grabbing and bending her over the desk. Despite the fact it would be private he didn't really want to be in this office a minute more.
April pulled away from him. He saw her cheeks were pink. After he shifted to human, he allowed her to lead him out of the office and the factory. They passed the two Ignis mages on the way out. Both were murmuring in a singsong tone to themselves. They w
ere still magecuffed together and, as they passed, Alex remembered that that was something else they had to deal with. They still hadn't bought another pair of mage cuffs, so if these two mages somehow managed to break those, they might be able to go on the attack.
“Don't worry about them,” April said, seeming to read his mind, pulling him along, her small hand in his. They went out of the factory, crossed out of the ward to the houses on the other side that Alex was now the proud owner of. Alex followed April down beside one of the houses and into a desolate and dusty backyard.
“So, we have this,” April said, waving a hand around.
“Wow, it's beautiful, so happy you brought me here, darling,” Alex said.
“It has good bones. That's what they say about terrible houses, don’t they? It has good bones, like that matters,” April said.
She pulled him towards the rear of the yard where Alex saw there was a gate built into the fence to the adjoining property. April pulled it open and Alex stopped in shock. It was as though the gate in the fence was a magical doorway like the wardrobe that led to Narnia. On the other side of the fence was long, thick, lush grass and a profusion of plants.
April grabbed Alex again and pulled him through the gate. He breathed in the scent of jasmine as he went. The house in front of them was just as rundown and ruined as the rest, but the backyard was a miracle. Small colorful butterflies fluttered around and bees lazily droned from flower to flower. There was some kind of thick groundcover, covered in pink flowers, running down the sides of the grass patch. Everywhere Alex looked, there was a new kind of plant, and every time he breathed in, he could smell something else: the scent of lemon, lavender, and mint.
“Nature magic, ta-da,” April said, twirling around.
“You’re incredible,” Alex breathed. He looked down at one of the garden beds where April had obviously still been working. There was a small shovel nearby and a bag of potting mix that she must've acquired on one of the trips out in the last week or so. Running down the garden bed were succulents, and he recognized them, matching the ones that had grown at his stepmother Jane's house. April followed his gaze and then pulled him over to it.
“These are cuttings from your stepmother's garden. Me and Nia took a secret trip about a week ago, seeing as the other ones are currently locked in Juno's backyard, and we can't get there because the wards of the house don't have us on it anymore.”
Alex suddenly found it hard to talk, feeling for a moment on the verge of tears. It was something so simple. Some plants cuttings taken from Jane’s old garden but really it was love, an act of service that Nia and April had done for him. For all that he'd been concerned that he'd gotten together with them too fast, it was things like this that told him it was right and good… although he still didn't know what April's last name had been before they'd gotten together. He wrapped his arms around her.
“What was your last name before you became my mate?” he asked.
“What?” April laughed. He supposed she'd been expecting him to say something completely different, perhaps about the garden.
“I gave you a favor. The name in my spellscreen is April Lowe, but what were you before that?” Alex said. Now he was touching her he couldn't help but to lean forward and kiss the side of her neck, tasting the slight salt on her skin. April laughed and pushed him away a little before pulling him over to the shade underneath the tree, so they could get out of the sun.
“If you really need to know, I didn't have a last name before—not officially—nymph babies just get names, so the ones who found me called me April, because that was the month they found me. I used a fake name. Sometimes April King for whenever I had to do things involving the normal world but most of the time I'm just April,” she said.
“Like a celebrity,” Alex joked, running his hands down her sides.
“Exactly. The world-famous garden nymph slash half Earth elemental,” she said. As Alex leaned forward and kissed her, he realized April hadn't made this garden just for his benefit. It was quiet, peaceful, and isolated. They could actually have some privacy. It wasn't long before they were scrabbling at each other's clothes, pulling them off before sinking down onto the lush grass.
“We need to get more of those ward batteries to cover more of the houses, so we can get some privacy,” April breathed, trying to get Alex's boxer shorts down.
“Don't worry, it’s definitely on the top of the list,” Alex said. He pulled off April's tank top and started kissing down between her breasts. The taste of salt was delicious and he felt like a dog for a moment who just wanted to lick.
“No, now, before your shadow turns up or anyone else,” April urged, pulling him upwards.
Although Alex really wanted to take his time to feast upon her body and her curves, he wasn’t going to turn down an invitation like that, especially not with her wrapping her legs around his waist. Tiny green sparks were already starting to pop out of the air, pulled by April's excitement. Alex kissed the side of her neck and then nipped her ear as he slipped into her. April let out a groan that traveled down his spine, setting his nerves afire. It was no time for gentleness, and she was urging him on, pulling him into her, moving her hips. Alex began moving, speeding up, then they were desperately kissing each other, unable to get enough. Alex could taste salt, smell sunscreen, but beyond that was nature, the jasmine, and the grass. It was cool under the trees, and the grass was soft on his knees as he kept thrusting into her. The green ebbed and flowed, coming in bursts, sometimes in time with his thrusts.
Alex was deep into the pleasure of it, obsessed with April's body, the feeling of her beneath him, the sounds she was making, totally focused on her, when he felt a cool touch wash across him as though some unseen breeze was blowing on his body. It smelled of the forest, of damp leaves, and fallen trees rotting away. It was dry and damp and alive and dead all mixed together. The ceaseless churning of nature, of growth and decay and renewal.
Although he was focused on his mate, Alex could suddenly sense the plants around him. He knew where the jasmine vines were planted and could feel each of them around him. They were thrumming with life. With barely any effort, Alex drew on the nature magic. It wasn't pulling the life from the plants, but rather drawing magic through them, coloring it green, giving it the power of the earth, of life and death and renewal. April's eyes went wide as a flood of green shot out of the air and splashed into them. She felt his connection to nature. At first it had been through her, but now it was his own.
“Is that you?” she gasped with one hand on the back of his neck and the other down near his hips. Alex went to speak, but the grass surrounding them suddenly grew. Alex wasn't quite sure how he did it. It wasn't a spell but some kind of overflowing of the nature magic redirected outwards, emanating from his body. The grass, which was already thick and lush, became like a soft bed. Somehow the connection to nature he'd made strengthened April's as well. He could feel it like a cycle between them, the magic being shared and stirred around through the connection of their bodies. They soon both sped up and lost themselves in the blur of green. Alex wasn't quite sure he was himself anymore. He seemed to sink into the flood of nature around him, to become part of it and, for a few moments, he and April were as one, a joined, single being.
Soon the pleasure climbed, and April's frantic whisperings and gasps in his ear went up in pitch. They came together, April pulling her hands against his back, pushing him into her, urging him on. The flood of green that burst out of the air was so thick that Alex could hardly see his mate, just the flashes of pink hair and occasionally her eyes. There was a creak nearby as one of the trees suddenly grew and all along the garden bed flowers burst into bloom. They eventually slowed, April gently rocking against him, gazing into each other's eyes, the green sparks gradually lessening, twinkling away into the air.
“I knew it was your long game just to use me to connect to nature,” April whispered. Her eyes were half-lidded and Alex knew the feeling well. He slipped out of
her and then lay beside her on the grass, putting his hand on her stomach. She entwined her fingers with his, and they lay there, looking at each other until, within a minute, both were asleep. The plants around them, dosed with nature magic, grew a little more, the vines creeping over the fence and the butterflies and bees making their way between them.
6
“I think I’ll settle on the sixty-five inch. You know, it’ll fit well in the wall, it’s not too big for the room, and gives you somewhere to go in the future like up to seventy-five or even eighty-five inches,” Jacob said, flicking through some junk mail he’d somehow found.
They were up on an abandoned factory roof, looking down at the necromancer address that Stephen had left behind. Twenty years ago it had made boards for coffins but now appeared closed up and vacant.
Alex had decided that rather than spend another night working on spells or crammed in the house with everyone else, he was going to go out. He’d managed to negotiate everyone down to him just taking Jacob.
Although the building had appeared vacant at first glance, Alex had seen a small light flicker on in the window for just a minute, a few hours ago. Now it was nearing 11 p.m. and the two werewolves had been sitting up on the roof for a couple of hours, watching, seeing if they could spot any Xavo necromancers.
Alex hadn't forgotten that they were the ones behind the attack on the village, had been the ones spraying silver all over them. Although Ignis had taken Juno, and for that crime they would surely die, the werewolves and his pack held a burning hatred for Xavo, considering they'd silvered the earth, which is one of the worst crimes a werewolf can imagine.
“Well, you know what they say, it’s not how many inches you have, it’s how you use it,” Alex said as he looked through the binoculars again, mostly to stave off boredom. Although in action movies things happened relatively quickly, in real life, surveillance was boring as hell and sitting still for so long was a skillset he had yet to develop.