Sorcery

by Ciara Graves

  For the first time ever, a face appeared on the shadow, just enough for me to see both sides of my power were worried about me. “You’ve been running on adrenaline, on the hope of escaping. Now that you’re out, everything’s going to come back to you. If you’re not careful, it’ll cripple you. Just want you to remember what’s important. After that, you can fall apart.”

  “I won’t fall apart,” I insisted, but my words were shaky.

  “It’s okay,” Merlin assured me. “We’ll be right here for you, as will the rest of your team. Just don’t shut them out.”

  “Or us,” the shadow warned. “Now, wake up, Rori. Time to face reality again.”

  The sensation of falling overwhelmed me and then my eyes were fluttering open. The room was dim. I was lying in a comfortable bed with soft blankets and wearing fresh clothes. When I reached up to push my hair back, it was braided again, like I always wore it, in two long ones that came past my shoulders.

  Slowly, I pushed myself up, but my arms gave out, and I grunted in pain.

  A chair scooted and then Chas was there, carefully reaching for my hand.

  “Rori?”

  “Chas?”

  “Yup. You’re safe. Back at the outpost,” he told me quietly.

  I tried to sit up again, but he gently pushed me back down.

  “Save your strength. There’s no hurry for you to get up.”

  I sagged against the pillow, squeezing his hand. I opened my mouth to say something, but then I came apart at the seams. Tears streamed down my face, and he was there, holding me close as I cried over what I’d been through the last few weeks. The pain, the torture, the constant fighting with Dad while that bitch and her husband watched, waiting for me to break.

  Chas ran his hand over my braids, whispering soothing words I didn’t really hear, but they helped calm me down. He asked me nothing. Not that I could’ve said anything right then anyway. It was enough to have him there, his arms wrapped around me.

  After a while, I dozed off again, but when I woke, Chas was still there, keeping me close to his side. He was sitting up in bed, talking quietly to someone else in the room. Sounded like Agnes. I kept my eyes shut and let them talk, hearing my name a few times, but wasn’t with it enough to understand anything.

  When I woke up again, Chas stood across the room, glaring out the window. His hands were on his hips, and he was hanging his head. He looked tired, so tired and beat down.

  “Chas?”

  As he turned around and smiled, the bags under his eyes were evident. As was the fear in his eyes that maybe I wasn’t going to wake up. “Hey, how you feeling?”

  “Like shit,” I said, smiling until it hurt too much. “How bad do I look?”

  “You want me to be honest or lie?” he asked as he sat on the edge of the bed.

  “Honest.”

  “You look like shit, too,” he said with a smile that didn’t last long. “You took quite a beating. And Agnes said there was a massive drain on your power, but it’ll come back once you’ve had time to rest.” He glanced away as if he suddenly couldn’t meet my eyes. “I—uh, I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” I asked, confused. “Chas. You didn’t do this to me.”

  “No, but I turned my back for a second and then you were gone. I’m supposed to look out for you, and I failed you.”

  “Look at me,” I whispered, holding his cheek in my hand until his gaze found mine. “I’m here, and I’m alive. You didn’t fail me. In fact, you inadvertently helped me. I found my dad, brought him back. He is here, right?”

  “Yeah, he is, and he’s just as hard to make rest as you are.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “What happened to you? What did they do?”

  Talking about what I’d been through was the last thing I wanted, reliving it all, but there were things they all needed to know, especially Moran. But if I was going to talk about it, I was only going to do it once.

  “Can you wait to hear until everyone’s here?” I finally asked. “I don’t think I can tell it twice.”

  “Yeah, sure. You want to do it now?”

  “The sooner, the better,” I muttered. “How long have I been back?”

  “About three days. It’s been rough, but I’m glad to see you’re awake. Everyone will. Brogan and Brunie especially.” He cleared his throat roughly then growled as he stood.

  I caught his hand and pulled him back. “What happened in the void,” I said slowly, “I do want to talk about that first.”

  “If you want to pretend it didn’t happen. If it’d be easier—”

  I grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him down, kissing him. The same intense rush of heat surged through me the second our lips met, and I knew it wasn’t a fluke, or heat of the moment. Whatever this was between us was real.

  He held my face in his hands as he deepened the kiss until I winced, and he drew back.

  “Sorry,” he whispered. “That’s the answer I was hoping for.”

  “Thinking of that moment got me through quite a few rough days,” I admitted. “But Brogan, I guess I should talk to him.”

  “He knows.”

  “He what?”

  “I told him, after you were taken. Things got heated, and he knows, but,” he said quickly when I groaned, falling back to the pillows, “he’s alright with it actually.”

  “He is?”

  “Yeah, he said he sensed it wasn’t going to make it too much further between you two. What happened to us all changed him. Changed you, too. But if you want to talk to him first before everyone else gets here, I’ll send him your way.”

  Considering all the other shit going on, dealing with relationship drama was the last thing I should’ve been thinking about, but we were a team, and if we weren’t functioning well, we’d get killed whenever the Cleansers decided to make their next move. I had to clear the air with Brogan, see that we were really going to be okay. I nodded, and Chas kissed my forehead then said he’d send Brogan and round up everyone else.

  “And Dad, if he’s awake,” I added. “He and I have a lot to talk about still.”

  “Bet you do.” Then he said he’d take as long as he could to get everyone else here then left.

  I waited until he was gone then attempted to get up. It took a few tries, a lot of cursing, and falling back until I got enough strength to make it to my feet. Standing wasn’t terrible, so I took a step, then another and nearly made it to the window when my knees buckled, and a wave of dizziness sent me to the floor. I smacked my hands on the tiles.

  “Damn it.”

  “Rori? What are you doing? Trying to hurt yourself even more?” Brogan scolded as he rushed into the room and knelt at my side.

  “No, just wanted to walk around, take in the view, you know. This is the VIP treatment right now,” I teased.

  He grinned with me. “Only the best for the crazy Griffiths.”

  “We are crazy.” I sniffed hard and then hugged him.

  He held me right back, and it no longer seemed like we were dating, but like I was hugging my best friend. He rubbed my back as he sighed.

  “Are you done scaring the daylights out of us all now?” he asked. “Pretty sure if you were going to be gone any longer, Chas was going to lose his shit for good.”

  “He looked pretty rough.” We sat on the floor, smiling, but then I stopped. “Brogan…

  He reached up and pulled my hands away from my braid like he always used to.

  I hadn’t even realized I’d been doing it.

  “You don’t have to say anything. Really. I understand and after decking Chas once—or twice—I accepted the truth. You and I work better like this. Friends.”

  I agreed, not surprised to hear they’d gotten in a fight, but part of me still felt guilty, until he told me to not feel that way for following my heart, especially after all the shit we’d been going through. He helped me back to my feet, and we strolled around the room, holding me up as he talked about what I missed while I’d been gone. When he t
old me about the enemy’s building they cleared out, I stopped and looked at him in disbelief.

  “How many more are out there?”

  “Not sure yet, but we’ll find them all. We’ll save everyone they’ve taken, including the magic-users under their control.”

  “Yeah, I might have some news about that,” I muttered. “And Brunie?”

  “She’s working out even better than I expected,” he said, cheeks reddening.

  “Is that so?” I asked grinning wider. “You know, she is a damned good fighter, at least from what I managed to see before being taken.”

  “She is. Damned good. Great instincts.”

  “Wields that staff like a pro.”

  “Was trained by Agnes,” he told me proudly. “Yeah, she’s a natural.”

  “Pretty, too.”

  “She is,” he agreed quietly then threw me a look. “Seriously?”

  “What? I might be wounded, but I’m not blind, or deaf. It could be good.”

  “Or it could be nothing,” he argued as voices came closer to my room. “We should get you back in bed and comfortable.” He hesitated then leaned in and whispered, “You sure you’re up for this? Trevor woke up first, told us of what he’d been through and Rori… if you think you can’t get through it, if you don’t want to… we’ll understand.”

  Flashes of those first few days in that cage came back to me. I dug my nails into Brogan’s arm until he winced.

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s alright. I get it.”

  I nodded, and he helped me back into bed. “I got this, as long as I only have to talk about it once.”

  He didn’t seem too sure about that, but didn’t argue with me. He took his place near the windows.

  Agnes walked in next, checking on me and asking how I felt. Blade and the other commanders after her, followed by Brunie. The next two to enter were Chas, who was supporting Dad. He smiled at me and squeezed my hand as Brogan brought over a chair, so he could sit by me. Chas stayed close by, too as the room fell silent. Moran was the last one in, shutting the door quietly behind him.

  “Rori, glad to see you awake,” he said and smiled warmly. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I was tortured for the last few weeks,” I muttered with a bitter smile, “but I’ll live, and that’s what matters, right?”

  His sudden frown said he did not agree. “What happened after the fight?”

  Dad kept hold of my hand and gave me an encouraging nod. “Right here, kiddo.”

  I wondered how much he’d told Moran already. From the haunted look in his eyes, I’d say most of it, if not all. “Guess I’ll start at the beginning. I don’t remember being snatched,” I said quietly, “but when I woke up, I was in a cage, trapped, hooked up to some wires and shit.”

  Chas snarled, shifting closer to my side.

  I took a deep breath then told them everything that happened. I started talking. Every moment I spent with Tabitha, each time she had me beaten up or shocked, everything.

  Chas grew angrier by the second, but I couldn’t get myself to stop. I went on and on, telling them everything I could about the facility. How many guards I saw in rotation. Jake, I had to tell them about him and the other magic-users with the object embedded in their necks. A chip of some kind that shocked them, could control them. That pissed off everyone. And then even more, when I got to the part about finally meeting Dad and how messed up he’d been.

  “It gets worse,” I said after what had to be ten straight minutes of talking. Maybe longer.

  “How could it get worse?” Chas growled, sounding barely in control of himself.

  “Tabitha was planning on using us,” Dad chimed in for me when I wasn’t able to get the words out. “She was going to have us destroy our own, every last one, with necromancy. And then kill us in the end. It was a plan she talked about often, but… my mind was too clouded to hear it clearly, or understand what she was making me do.”

  Moran approached Dad and held out his hand. “Do not feel guilty for what these psychopaths have cooked up. You endured. Now you’re here.”

  “Yes, but you and I both have talked about this, we’re corrupted now.”

  “We are?” I asked, alarmed.

  Chas cursed.

  Agnes nodded.

  I was dumbfounded. “What? Why didn’t you say anything! We can’t be here. We’ll hurt someone!”

  “We think we found a way to clear you of all their influence,” Agnes assured me quickly. “We’ve been preparing it since you two were brought back. It should be ready by tomorrow. Once you are both rid of it, your powers should come back strong as ever. You’ll feel like yourselves again.”

  Dad shook Moran’s hand. “Thank you, my friend. Chas?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  Dad winked at me, then gave Chas a smile. “Drop the sirs, kid, and thank you for taking care of my daughter. All of you.”

  Chas shook Dad’s hand next. “She hasn’t made it easy on us.”

  Dad smiled as I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure she hasn’t.”

  “Do we know why Tabitha’s doing all this at least?” Brunie asked. “Why do they hate us?”

  I held up my hand. “Actually, that’s something else we need to talk about. Moran?”

  Once I had his full attention, I relayed to him what Tabitha vented to me, about her family and what happened afterward.

  His eyes darkened, and a storm appeared in the depths of his pupils. Afterward, he said nothing for a long, drawn-out minute.

  “Is it true?” I finally demanded. “Do we do that? Let magic-users get away with murdering people?”

  “I don’t know,” he replied quietly. “The incident when her children were killed… I remember it.”

  “What?” I snapped the same time Dad did.

  “I was there, and we had the man in our custody. Said he was sent off to be locked away for life, his powers bound… but now, if what she’s saying is actually true… He rubbed his forehead. “There have been rumors over the years of magic criminals escaping justice one way or another. They simply disappear into a black hole. I don’t even know what happens to them.”

  “But you’re a commander,” I argued.

  “But not the prime minister for our magical community. He’s the one who has full control. Not me. You know that. I believed I was privy to everything, but it would appear I was wrong.”

  “Still doesn’t give her a right to declare all-out war,” Brunie muttered. “Why didn’t she go to the authorities? Or ask for a real change instead of sending fanatics and killing us all off?”

  “She didn’t trust anyone after that,” I whispered. “Sadly, can’t say I blame her.”

  “Oh, and one more thing,” I said, knowing what I was going to say was only going to make matters worse. “I tried to kill Tabitha on the way out, but magic doesn’t work on her.”

  “Beg pardon?” Moran snapped.

  “She’s right,” Dad said. “Rori should have been able to drain her of life, but it did nothing.”

  “How is that possible?” Brogan asked, the same annoyance on his face that I probably had on mine when I realized it. We’d asked that question too many damned times where the Bogards were concerned.

  “They have magic-users at their disposal,” Dad mused. “Had them for years. For all we know, they forced someone to create a magical deterrent against all our abilities. We’ll have to kill them the old-fashioned way. Get close. Or a shot to the head. That always works well.”

  Moran seemed to be calculating something in his head then muttered to himself roughly when he came to a conclusion. “I want none of you to worry about this issue. Not right now,” Moran ordered. “Tomorrow, will everything be ready?”

  Agnes nodded. “I will ensure they are.”

  “Good then I want everyone out. Let Rori and Trevor rest. I will see to this other important matter. Blade? Take everything Rori and Trevor have told us of the headquarters in Oregon, see if you can find any sign of blue
prints, land, a building… something. We are going to start planning now.”

  Blade nodded and took off out the door.

  Moran turned to Dad. “Good then, Trevor, shall I escort you back to your room?”

  Dad hugged me, then said he’d see me tomorrow. When he drew back, his eyes flickered with his magic, but he clearly was still tired.

  I suddenly wanted to close my eyes and go back to sleep. I definitely sensed my powers were off. And though I’d talked to Merlin and the shadow inside my head, I hadn’t really tried to use frost or any other ability, since we came back. Now that there was a chance of being corrupted, I definitely wasn’t going to try.

  Chas was at the door when I called him back. “Mind staying for a bit?” I asked. “If you don’t mind?”

  “Why would I mind?”

  I shrugged then scooted over so he could climb up beside me.

  Someone closed the door to my room, and we were left alone.

  I rested my head against his shoulder, and he found my hand, holding it securely. His body hummed with tension. Telling the story had been hard enough.

  I was surprised he’d managed to listen to it all without shifting into bear form and destroying something. “I’m not sure I can sleep,” I whispered.

  “I’ll be right here the whole time,” he promised, kissing the top of my head. “Not leaving your side again.”

  “I’m sorry I put you guys through this.”

  “Don’t you dare apologize. Don’t. We’re going to find them, and we’re going to ensure they can’t torture anyone else again. Ever. I’ll kill them for what they did to you, to your dad, to everyone left behind.” He breathed out heavily through his nose. “I saw cages at the house we cleared out, saw how broken all those people were. And it killed me, knowing what you were going through, and I wasn’t there to protect you.”

  “I survived because of you and the others,” I whispered, turning him to face me. “You would’ve been proud of me.”

  “Why is that?” he asked curiously.

  “I might’ve borrowed your charm and used it against Tabitha.”

  His lips thinned in disapproval. “I’m sure she loved that.”

  “Eh, it was worth the extra hits now and again to watch her get all pissed and thrown off balance.”