Resistant Magic (Relic Hunter Book 5)

by R. Leonia Shea

  “Typical,” I said, shaking my head. “Planning has never been my strong suit.”

  Kai let a soft laugh escape. “Sometimes winging it works, sometimes it just makes your life harder. You’ll get used to it.” He reassured me. “Obviously not today, but eventually. If we live long enough.” He laughed and looked thoughtful for a second. “When we get home, we’ll work on pulling together your go-bag since we officially know that details aren’t your strong suit. I’ve been looking for a way to tell you but, at least it’s out in the open now.”

  I would have hit him with something if he wasn’t right. I turned my attention to the spell and contemplated how rash my decision to wreck it had been. It would take me forever to repair that damage if I didn’t take the time to figure out the magic.

  “I’ll make tea,” Kai said, heading into the kitchen. I looked over my shoulder and watched him examine the plugs of the appliances in my mom’s tiny kitchen.

  “Why are these all color-coded and labeled?” He asked, holding up the one to the electric teapot. Mom had bundled all the cords together and used the stop-light system to organize her appliances.

  “The electricity in Rome is fussy. If you plug in too many things or the wrong combination of things, the circuit breaker trips. It’s easier to label the cords than to overload an outlet and have to flip the breaker all the time. You can use two greens or an orange and a green, but don’t plug anything else in if you’re using a red-tagged item.”

  Kai lifted his eyebrows. “Wouldn’t it be easier just to fix the wiring?”

  I shrugged, “Everyone in Rome has the same problem, so it’s probably not even possible.” I turned my attention to repairing mom’s spell. It took me longer than usual to trace through the web of her glamour. I hadn’t done as much damage as I’d thought, but the gossamer threads that my mom had woven were fragile and incredibly intricate. I wondered how long it had taken her to construct the illusion because it seemed like repairing it would be my life’s work.

  I was just finishing up when Mom joined us. I pulled my dress away from my chest and looked at the thermostat. It was hotter than hades in Mom’s apartment, and I felt a trickle of sweat running down my spine. Mom cast a surprised look at the clutter wall, and her eyes fell on the small pile Kai had accumulated. Her eyebrows drew together, but before she could say a word, the kettle whistled, and Mom shooed Kai out of the kitchen.

  He sat at the table, with his arm draped over the back of another chair that he’d pulled up tight to his own. Mom made tea, chattering happily about nothing in particular, and I noticed she was directing most of her questions at Kai. He held up his end of the conversation; I brooded and fanned myself with a piece of mom’s mail while I double-checked my repair work.

  Once I was satisfied the spell would hold up, I slid into the seat next to Kai, and he pressed his leg against mine when he plucked his teacup from my mom’s serving tray. Mom sat across from us, and Basir perched on the other chair.

  “Anna, would it be possible for you to go somewhere for a few days?” Kai asked out of the blue.

  My mom stopped with her teacup halfway to her mouth. Her eyes darted to me and slid back to Kai.

  “I could close the shop.” My mom said slowly, clearly as perplexed as I was. “Where do you want to go?”

  Kai smiled. “Not we, Anna. You. Can you take your dog and go somewhere for a few days?”

  “Why? You just got here.” She replied, sounding alarmed.

  “Arienne’s here on business, and it might be a bit of a distraction if you’re here. If you took a little holiday now, we could spend some time together before we went back home.” Kai said, leaning toward my mom. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, and I saw the encouraging smile on his face.

  My eyes moved between the two of them, feeling more like a moron with every passing second. Kai was removing my mom from the situation, and I felt a little edgy that he thought it would be necessary. Mom caught on, and her eyes slid to me. I avoided her gaze. Even without looking, I knew I’d see disappointment, doubt, and fear in her eyes. I didn’t need those things hanging over me.

  “We’re going to need to find dinner tonight after our business meeting. Is there any place you’d recommend?” Kai asked, changing the topic. “Your daughter hasn’t offered up any suggestions outside of the excellent gelato we had on our way over. I’m afraid if I leave it up to her, we’ll have biscotti and gelato four times a day.”

  I narrowed my eyes.

  Kai shrugged. “Then again, if that will keep her happy, I’m more than willing to oblige.” He gave me a wide-eyed innocent look and an exaggerated smile.

  Mom made a few recommendations, looking more concerned because she was suddenly clear that we’d be staying at the hotel and not touring Rome with her. After a few more minutes of breezy and amazingly avoidant conversation, Kai returned to the topic.

  “So when will you be leaving, Anna?” He asked.

  She blinked and looked down at her hands. The corners of her mouth tightened. Her cell phone rang, and she pulled it out of her pocket. I could hear my grandmother’s voice on the other end of the line, and I brightened. My Nan is a world-famous psychic prone to running interference whenever mom and I lock horns.

  “Hi, Nan!” I said, loud enough so my grandmother could hear me.

  My mom said a soft “okay” into the phone and hung up. She turned to me. “Your grandmother says hello.” She turned to Kai, and her expression was strained. “I’m so sorry I won’t be able to be here for your whole visit. Maybe I’ll make it back in time for us to have dinner before you go home. I have a business trip I’ve been planning for months to Switzerland, and I’m leaving Rome tonight. Your visit was rather last minute, or I would have changed my plans.”

  Her voice was tight, but she knew there was no other option. My Coyote, with back-up from my psychic grandmother, had successfully ousted my mom from Italy, and nobody was bleeding. That in and of itself was worth ten tally marks on the Kai side of the scorecard.

  We finished our tea, exchanged hugs like nothing unusual had happened, and Kai insisted on paying for the supplies at the register downstairs despite my mom’s protests before we headed out of the shop carrying two bags.

  We were several blocks away when Kai stopped to look in at the display in a window. The gazes of our reflections met in the glass, and I watched Kai slide his eyes to the left. My gaze followed, and I saw the portly man with the comb-over hairstyle doing a video chat on his cell phone on the other side of the street.

  “Video call, or are we starring in a movie?” I asked, looping my arm with Kai’s and pointing to something in the shop window.

  “We’re definitely starring in something, but the better question is: who’s the audience?”

  “Alliance or Chanson?” I asked, leaning my head on his shoulder.

  “Or perhaps neither. I think there’s one particular magical family that might be taking an interest in the new Fattucchiera. We might be getting a little closer to figuring out why my little witch is so special. Aside from the reasons we already know, of course.” He said, kissing my cheek.

  “Perhaps there are things that are better left undiscovered.” I laid my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, feeling suddenly exhausted.

  Kai rested his cheek on my head. “If I thought that was an option, I’d be completely on board. I don’t think this job is going to be as simple as taming an angry jinn, Ari.”

  “Probably not.” I sighed. “Is that why you got rid of my mom?”

  “I did that because she’s a liability. If someone wanted to stop the Fattucchiera, what better way than by using her mom as leverage?”

  I pinched my lips together and nodded. I was messing up my first job as head of the Crux Crucio Orbis in spectacular fashion.

  Chapter 4

  “I need to find a toy store,” Kai said, sounding thoughtful. He took out his phone and pulled up a map, and we pretended to be hopelessly lost tourists. We walked to the e
nd of the street and turned, sightseeing and laughing as fear slithered up and down my spine, and the man with the comb-over continued to lurk in the shadows.

  With a shopping bag of plastic water pistols, herbs we’d picked up at an open-air market, and other small items that Kai seemed to add impulsively to the already bulging bags, we headed back to our hotel. I watched in the shop windows, noticing the guy with the camera was still trailing us.

  When we’d closed the door of our room, Kai pinned me against the wall and pressed his forehead against mine. “I’m here to help, Ari, but you know what you’re doing. Please stop judging yourself so much and stop listening to the little voice in your head that sounds like your mom because it lies. You’re the right person for this job, no matter what happens.”

  I exhaled and kept my eyes closed, feeling the sting of the tears behind my lids. “I need to do better. You’re catching a million details that I am oblivious to.”

  “This is your first real assignment as head of the C.C.O. It’s not like you’ve been running the resistance for years.” He breathed the words against my temple.

  “Don’t defend me,” I growled, opening my eyes and meeting his gaze with defiance. “I need to be able to do this, and you know that as well as I do. I don’t have the luxury of letting you handle all of the little things because I’m not paying attention. I have a Ph.D., for heaven’s sake; I’m not stupid, and yet I keep going about this like I’m going to wait and see what happens. That’s crazy and dangerous. For all of us.”

  He smiled ruefully. “So then pay attention and let me help.”

  “I want your help, Kai. Really,” I took a deep breath because I knew that we’d been dancing around my next words since Majeedah called. “But you’re mortal. I can’t keep putting you in danger. Hell, if it weren’t for you thinking things through, my mom would be in danger, too.”

  He made a little noncommittal noise, “First, I’m human, Ari, but I’m not sure I’m mortal. There’s a big difference between those two things. Second, your mom’s another matter because if you’d told her what was going on, she probably would have left on her own if for no other reason than to protest your choice of profession. She knows she makes you vulnerable, but she doesn’t have to like the storms you run into.”

  My mind skidded over that for a second. “How would she know that, exactly? The danger part?”

  “This isn’t her first rodeo, Ari. Your father worked for the Alliance, at least in some capacity, and one bad decision got him killed. Then your mom shielded you for years, ensuring that organization would never get close to you. She even worked with Kingston to protect you and cover things up so you’d stay hidden. I’d guess that if you settled down in one location a long time ago, your mom would have moved in next door to make sure she could shield you.”

  I shook my head. “You’re leaving out the part where she makes her living in a rather dangerous trade.”

  “I wasn’t going to mention that, but since you did,” He shrugged. “Your mom is obviously skilled enough to take care of herself because she probably encounters dangerous people on a daily basis.”

  He had a point, but despite that, my mother had done exceptionally well protecting me from all things magical. That had left me an amateur witch on the downward slide toward forty wielding magic I didn’t fully understand. It was a steep learning curve that made running the C.C.O. very risky. I should have been trained to use my powers instead of being led to believe that I wasn’t that talented. Shielding me didn’t appear to have worked in the long run, and the fact that she’d hid her own powers from me rankled more than a little.

  As for Kai’s theory of immortality, it was just a theory. That wasn’t good enough for me. My voice was pitched a little lower but came out still somewhat strained. “Let me rephrase the first part. I’m not willing to test your immortality by putting you in danger, so when the jinn makes an appearance,” I paused because I wasn’t sure how to say it.

  “You want me to hide behind you?” He laughed.

  “Yes.”

  “Not likely.”

  “How about a compromise?” I ventured. “You could be my reconnaissance team. My advisor.”

  “The ace in your hole?” He suggested with a wicked grin that turned to something more along the lines of mocking.

  I sighed, narrowed my eyes, and bit back the retort that was right on the tip of my tongue. I compromised with “The thorn in my side at times, but my well-concealed partner.”

  “You do realize the word partner implies an equal share in both risk and reward?” He asked.

  “I’d prefer if everyone thought you were more of a junior partner. I’m the only one who’s magical at the moment, so for now, I’m going to need you to promise that if anything goes pear-shaped, you’re going to get out of there. You’re no less of a liability than my mom is.” That sounded way harsher than I intended, and I cringed, wanting to take those words back even though they were true.

  He looked at me and considered his options for a moment. I watched a kaleidoscope of emotions flicker in his eyes, and his shoulders slumped. When he looked at me again, there was a mantle of sadness that had settled around him, one I hadn’t seen since he’d first been stripped of his magic. There was an involuntary shake of his head, a twitch of his jaw muscle, and finally, a nod of resignation.

  “That’s what I am now.” He said it with such self-loathing that I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned my head on his chest.

  “I don’t want to risk it until we’re sure you’re hard to kill. You’re the one who always pushed me to take risks, but I can’t risk your life. I’d be even more prone to rash decisions if I thought you were in danger.” I admitted.

  “You would reconsider that if you thought about everything we’ve been through together.”

  I pulled my head back and gave him a perplexed look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “For starters, you should have picked Evan.” He growled and turned away from me.

  “Not this again. What is your obsession with Evan?”

  “You’d let him go with you, but I’m a liability,” Kai said with a casual lift of his shoulder as if he were brushing off how much my comment wounded him.

  I sighed. “I would probably let Evan go with me, yes. But not for any reason other than his magic, and you’re not a liability in the sense you mean it. I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for you, Kai. You’re the one who’s kept me in this complicated magic world, but,” I sighed and tried to find a more gentle way to say it, “things have changed because of the whole punishment thing you had to go through. The punishment you took because of me.”

  He turned back to me and sat on the edge of the bed, looking like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “It wasn’t your fault. It was my choice.” Kai said, sounding disgusted.

  I thought that was a generous take on it, but I crawled on the bed and knelt behind him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. “Not all of the changes have been bad, though, right? I mean, I can’t make up for the awesome power you lost, but it’s not too terrible all the time, is it?”

  He leaned his head back on my shoulder. “No. It’s not terrible, but I’ve never been on the sidelines, Ari. What you’re asking me to do...” His voice trailed off, but at least he didn’t sound quite as depressed.

  “I know,” I admitted, laying my cheek against the side of his head. “If my lack of planning got you killed, I couldn’t live with that, Kai. It takes all of my concentration just to keep me alive.”

  He laughed, but it sounded a little bitter. “I will concede that point. For now.”

  I opened my laptop and began tracing through the parts of my theory about the jinn. Kai watched as I made notes and flipped through archaeology sites, museums, and historical records. No matter what I looked at, I couldn’t figure out what the jinn was after. I gathered information, made a timeline, and at some point, I realized that my theory might not be as incomplete as I thought.


  “I need to see the locations of the fires unless the Guild shares something spectacular with us at the meeting,” I said, rubbing my temples. I tried to organize my notes, but there was no logical thread that I could see, just a nagging feeling that all of the parts of the mystery would come together if I could just find one more nugget of information.

  Kai was grinding up herbs in a mortar and pestle that he’d produced from his suitcase. Our entire hotel room looked like a magical field lab. Herbs, crystals, bits of stone, metal, and salt littered the table, dresser, and part of the bed. There was an unbelievable amount of debris, and Kai was patiently scooping something up with a set of copper measuring spoons.

  “I have a few things for you to spark before you go anywhere,” He said, sounding distracted.

  “Okaay.” I drew the word out and watched him for a moment. “I should know what you’re doing, shouldn’t I?”

  “You do know what I’m doing. I’m your field support; you do the complicated magic, the esoteric research, and I do the grunt work and try not to test my theory of immortality.” He lifted his shoulder in what should have been a casual gesture but instead looked angry.

  That wasn’t good.

  I glanced at Basir, who raised his wings and settled them higher on his back in his version of an owl shrug. No help there.

  “Kai…” I began.

  He held his hand up to stop me, but he didn’t look at me. “I’m trying to adjust, and I'm going to need a little time.” He pushed a few packets of herbs toward me. “Read the labels and spark those, please. The rest will be ready when you get back.”

  “You’re not coming with me?” The disappointment was a little crushing.

  Kai sat back and looked at the ceiling. A muscle twitched in his jaw, and after what seemed like an eternity, he ran his hand through his hair. “You can’t have it both ways. Either I’m your partner, or I’m your field support. If I go to the meeting, I’ll notice things you won’t, and there will be two of us working on this; the downside is, they probably already know who I am, so I am very much a liability. If I don’t go to the meeting, they might believe I’m not a threat.”