Siphon Magic

by Alicia Fabel

  “Your luck couldn’t hold out for a whole day?” Kale asked Vera.

  He charged her. Scooping Vera up, he pressed her face into his chest and curved an arm over her head. Then he leaped backward through the window with her. Vera clung to Kale as they fell together. When Kale hit the ground, he tucked his legs up, curving around Vera until they rolled to a stop. Vera was shaken but completely unharmed. People screamed out the window.

  “Hurry.” Kale shoved Vera to her feet.

  At the corner of the barn, Mitch yelled, “Here.” The man held the reins of a saddled chicken.

  “What are you doing?” asked Kale.

  “Setting up a getaway. Figured you’d need it,” answered Mitch.

  “I didn’t kill Liah.” Vera brushed at the burn on her hand. “The Maiden killed her, not me.”

  “I believe you,” Mitch said, echoing Vera’s proclamation from their first meeting. “I don’t know what’s happening, but my son said you gave up your cloak to protect him. The Monroe family owes you a debt and our trust. But you need to move now.”

  “There’s no way we can outrun Maiden,” Vera pointed out. “Your family thinks I killed Liah too.”

  “I have some tricks of my own,” said Mitch.

  “Holy cow, you’re a witch,” Vera gaped at the glowing man. “The Maiden will see you.”

  “Gage left me your gift.” Mitch patted his pocket.

  A moment later, Mitch slapped the chicken, and it raced toward the passage carrying Vera and Kale.

  16

  Kale shifted so Vera could stretch out her legs. They’d been squeezed behind the crates in the hatchery storage closet for over an hour, ever since Mitch sent that chicken from the barnyard carrying a magical phantasm of the two of them on its back.

  “This seems like a bad idea the longer we sit here,” Vera whispered.

  “It’s better than trying to outrun witches,” said Kale. “And I assume you’d prefer I not have to kill a bunch of Gage’s family.”

  “You assume correctly.”

  “Then we’ll stay until Mitch says it’s safe to go.”

  “What happens if they realize that’s not us on the chicken? How long can Mitch hold that illusion?”

  “He only had to hold it long enough for the chicken to get a head start. They’ll be following its footprints.”

  Something clattered to the floor beyond the storage door. Kale pressed Vera into the shadows, pulling an empty sackcloth over them. The door cracked open.

  “What are you doing in here?” demanded Mitch of whoever was on the other side of the door.

  “That chick dumped his water bowl again,” said a young girl’s voice. “I can’t find Gage.”

  “I’ll worry about the chick. You go help your father get dinner to the children while the witches track the Guardian.”

  The door clicked closed. Vera released the breath. Only the door swung right back open, and Vera jumped.

  “It’s just me,” said Mitch. “I packed a couple bags with food and supplies for you. I tucked the knife I found in your room in there too. Had to clean the velvet slime off it, though.”

  Kale had forgotten about that. Vera pinned him with an accusing look. That was going to come up again later.

  “Thought you’d need this.” Mitch tossed Kale a clean tunic. “Stay close to the barn until you put the silos between you and us. Then you can get to the woods without being spotted.”

  “Thank you, Mitch.” Kale tugged the clean shirt on, and Mitch collected the bloodied one.

  “I think we’re about even after this,” Vera said.

  “We will never be even. You and the Guardian are going to save all my people. In that endeavor, you have our support, whatever it may be.”

  “I’m not sure your family would agree,” Kale said.

  “It’s not safe for them to know the truth right now. Not with our High guest watching over all. When it is time for us to stand beside you and take back our land, they will know.”

  “You suspected it was her all along,” guessed Kale.

  “Not something to speculate out loud, but Liah’s ramblings always made me wonder.”

  “The fox in the henhouse,” said Vera.

  Kale wanted them to be wrong. He wanted to believe there was no way he’d misjudged the Maiden. Addamas’s words of caution floated through his mind. He’d underestimated another beautiful woman. But how was he supposed to have known when she never intended to deceive him? It was like Mitch’s double-crossing all over.

  “When did you decide to send the men away in the night?” asked Kale. He needed to know how he’d missed Mitch’s deception. Maybe then he could understand how the Maiden had accomplished hers.

  “I didn’t,” answered Mitch simply. “I planned to tell you the truth if it came up and beg your silence. It was Gage who sent them away. I found them already loading up.”

  Tension melted from his shoulders. He hadn’t screwed up as badly as he’d thought. But badly enough. How had he missed the Maiden’s deception?

  “There are only a few days until the High Mother’s transition here for her season,” Mitch said. “The last threadbearers are out of the Maiden’s reach for now. We’ll keep them that way until she’s gone. You worry about keeping Vera safe. For some reason, the Maiden wants Vera bad.”

  “That I can promise,” said Kale. “We’re headed to Kyopili next to warn the High Mother. She’ll need to be prepared to fight the Maiden if needed during the transition. Vera will be safe until the Maiden is gone.”

  “Good. I’m going to make sure everyone stays inside so you two can escape. Don’t dawdle.”

  Mitch held out his hand to Kale. Kale was surprised by the gesture. Humans shook hands without thought, but outside their realm, the gesture meant more than a simple greeting. It was a contract of friendship, an offer of assistance should they need it. Kale wondered if it was right to accept, but Mitch waited until Kale grasped the offered hand.

  “May you find luck on your travels,” Mitch said.

  Vera snorted lightly behind them.

  To Vera, Mitch held out a chain. “Gage carved this for you. It is a piece of Eggbert’s shell to keep for good luck. It comes with a promise that Eggbert will be waiting for you when you return.”

  Vera flew into the man’s arms and hugged him tightly. “Tell him thank you for me.” She clasped the token around her neck and swiped away the tears before turning to Kale.

  “Go,” Mitch urged, tears shining in his own eyes.

  Kale crept to the door and peeked outside. His breath caught when Vera slipped a hand into his. He squeezed it, then pulled her behind him out the door, motioning for her to stay low. The bag slung over Kale’s back slid back and forth as they ducked under windows, and then sprinted for the cover of the silos. There they waited, making sure no one was watching, before sprinting to the wood’s edge. They didn’t slow until they were well inside the shade of the trees. Vera breathed heavily, hitching her pack into place. She already had a sheen on her skin from the humidity of the Velvet Woods.

  “So, how do I make sure I don’t become worm food in this place?” asked Vera.

  “Stab anything that looks at you.” Kale pulled the knife from his bag and held the handle out for her to take. “They travel in packs. Kill one, the others will decide you’re not worth it.”

  “Will do.” Vera flexed her hand around the knife. “Don’t take my knife again or I’ll stab you too. ’Kay?”

  “Understood,” Kale answered. “Once the sun goes down, they’ll start surfacing, so we need to get through as much of the woods as we can in the next few hours. If you need to pee, do it now, we don’t want your scent anywhere near us when they wake up.”

  “I’m good,” Vera looked skeptically at the undergrowth. “Even if I did have to pee, the idea of one of those things sliming me while my bare rear hangs in the air would scare the urge right out of me.”

  Kale’s lips twitched. “Walk ahead of me so nothing can
sneak up on you. This time, I’m the sprinkles to your donut.”

  Vera walked ahead, holding the knife in her right hand.

  “If you don’t move a little quicker, we won't get out of here before midnight,” Kale informed her.

  Vera threw him a look over her shoulder but picked up the pace. Kale stayed close behind her. Only one beetle tried to drop onto her head. Kale batted it away without her even knowing it. The undergrowth became more humid as they got closer to the center of the woods. Wet tendrils of hair fell loose from Vera’s braid and clung to her neck. Every once in a while, she lifted the hair and waved a hand to fan her neck. Even though the sun was well on its way down, the heat trapped between these trees never let up. Vera rolled her sleeves up over her shoulders. The damp material clung to her. Kale focused on the trees until Vera lifted the front of her shirt up to wipe away the sweat from her face, baring her waist and lower back. Internals take me, why am I paying attention to her waist?

  Kale had enough when Vera pulled her hair up and piled it on top of her head. Her shirt rode up as she stretched to hold the hair in place. Kale used his teeth to tear a strip from his tunic sleeve. He reached forward, twisted Vera’s braid and loose tendrils into a knot, and wound the strip of fabric to hold the hair in place so she would stop playing with it. When Kale finished, Vera gave him a funny look over her shoulder. And tripped over a branch. Even Kale was too distracted and didn’t catch her that time. He leaned over to help her up and noticed the smell of rot. Then he saw the white feather.

  “The Maiden lost her chicken on her way through here. I think it must have been nearby, which means we’re on a pack’s hunting ground.”

  Vera moved forward slowly. This time Kale didn’t correct her pace. When they came to a fallen tree, Kale guided Vera around it, not wanting her too close to an easy hiding place. As Vera circled the mass of uprooted roots, she whirled away, gagging. Aww Hell. The Maiden hadn’t just lost a chicken, she’d lost a couple of witches and their mounts too. The mass of slime-coated body parts and feathers turned even his stomach. At least the slime contained most of the stench. The worms had laid eggs too. With the abundance of food, it was the perfect time to grow the pack.

  “She wasn’t overcome by worms,” Kale concluded. “Her hen probably went down while she fought her own witches, and then she left them all for the worms. I knew her story was strange, but I didn’t question it.” Kale punched a tree.

  Vera eyed his bleeding hand. “Is blood a good idea right now?”

  “The worms aren’t hunting. They’ve gorged themselves already and left this here to snack on when they get hungry again.”

  “I still think we should go now.” Vera avoided glancing again at the desecrated bodies.

  Vera was right. As they turned to leave, she jumped back, bumping into Kale.

  “I saw something,” she said.

  “A worm?” asked Kale.

  “I don’t think so. It was too tall.”

  “Probably a beetle,” Kale said.

  “And those won’t attack, right?”

  “No, it was probably here for the bodies and is waiting for us to leave so it can go back to them.” Kale squinted through the gathering darkness. “We’re only halfway through the woods and sunset is very close. We have to get moving.”

  Vera moved cautiously, head swinging side to side. They walked until it was nearly pitch black. Vera occasionally tripped. She moved slowly out of necessity. Kale kept his eyes mostly on the brush but occasionally checked the limbs above. Something had been leaping from tree to tree earlier, keeping pace with them. He hadn’t heard it in a little while, though, which may or may not be a good thing. There was no telling what lived above.

  “Maybe it’s time for me to lead,” Kale said when Vera stumbled again. “Hold onto my shirt.”

  “Can you see in the dark?”

  “Better than you, apparently,” Kale said, catching her before she walked into a tree.

  “How much farther?”

  “Not long. The humidity is letting up.”

  “Maiden shoved magic in me,” Vera said suddenly. “I can still feel it inside me. Like when you eat so much you think you’ll be sick. And it won’t go away.”

  “She gave you too much.” Kale imagined how things would be different if Vera had told him that before he’d thrown them out a window. He would have ripped the Maiden’s head from her shoulders, High Maiden or not. “To stay with your analogy, your stomach is too small for what she gave you. You can stretch your stomach with time. That’s what happened to your ancestors. They kept taking a little too much each time until their stomachs were too big. They were afraid every bit of magic they pulled might be their last, so they binged whenever they could. Until their appetites were unquenchable.”

  “I don’t want to become like that,” Vera said with worry.

  “You won’t. Because you don’t want to.”

  “How do I get it out of me?”

  “Use it.”

  “I don’t know how to use magic.”

  “You’ve handled it before. It’s all about spinning a thread, and then casting it out of you like a fishing line while telling it what to do.”

  Vera became quiet for several minutes. Then there was a flash of light that blinded Kale. He grabbed Vera, wrapping himself around her until he saw spots and could see the outlines of the trees again.

  “Crap. Sorry.”

  “That was you?”

  “I was trying to make a light.”

  “Were you thinking about lightning by chance?”

  Vera stilled. “Oops.”

  “Next time try something gentler.” He shook away the last of the spots. “Not fire. The last thing we need is to be burned alive.”

  “Oh,” Vera squeaked. “Nope, we’re good.”

  “You were thinking about fire, weren’t you?” Kale closed his eyes, seeking patience. “For now, I can see. Maybe we should leave good enough alone.”

  Vera didn’t respond, which he took to mean she disagreed. Stars help me. Kale started moving again, Vera’s hand on his back. Once or twice, her hand slipped, and Kale had to remind her to pay attention. Finally, dots of amber light began to pop in and out of sight above them. The lights twinkled, casting a glow over the space they took up.

  “Fireflies?” Kale looked with wonder at the incredible insects only found on Earth.

  “I love them,” Vera said with an upturned face, smiling at her casting.

  “They’re a good choice.”

  Vera tipped her head down to share her smile with Kale but it fell flat. Her eyes widened, looking past Kale’s arm. Kale twisted in time to see the fox launch itself at him. It latched its teeth on his shoulder and shook. Kale reached back to grab it, but the fox released him almost immediately, falling to the ground. It lay in a heap, twitching, with Vera’s knife in its back. Kale jerked the blade to the side, ending the vixen’s life quickly.

  “Are you okay?” he asked Vera, who trembled.

  Vera nodded rapidly. “You?”

  “I’m fine. I think that’s the fox I hit with a rock.” Kale looked around, regaining his bearings. “I’m pretty sure we’re out of the Velvet Woods, but I want to go a little farther to be sure. Can you keep going?”

  “I said I’m fine, Kale,” Vera snapped. “Will there be more foxes?”

  “There shouldn’t be.”

  Kale cleaned the knife in the dirt and handed it back to Vera. She took it without batting an eye. As the moon began to filter through the trees and the chill returned to the air, Vera jabbed her finger against a spot on Kale’s shoulder. His skin was bare from where the fox had shredded the fabric. Kale hissed at the bite of pain.

  “What is that?” Vera asked.

  “Glass.”

  “Why is there glass under the skin of your shoulder?”

  “There’s glass under a good portion of the skin on my back at the moment. I went through a window earlier today. Didn’t have a chance to clean it out befo
re the skin healed. I was too busy hiding and running.”

  Vera was quiet. “I’m sorry.”

  “I think we’ve determined none of what happened this afternoon was your fault.”

  “Not that. I’m sorry for how I reacted to your memory.”

  “Don’t,” Kale bit out.

  “Shut up and let me talk,” she said irritably, and then took a steadying breath before charging forward. “You never lied about your past or who you used to be. I know you’re not that person anymore. I had no right to judge you for a past I only saw because you were saving my life. All I was thinking about was me. You’ve only cared about my well-being since, well since you decided not to off me. So, I’m sorry. And thank you. For not doubting me when that High Witch-Bitch framed me for murder.”

  “It wasn’t hard to trust you. I know there’s no way you could kill anyone. Unless you were defending someone. Or my back.” Kale winked at Vera. “We can rest here. It’s too dry for the worms to come this far.”

  Vera nodded, dropping to the forest floor and pulling off her shoes. Kale set about making a small fire to deter anything else that might come sniffing around.

  “Will the Maiden be able to find us here?” Vera poked at the fire with her knife.

  “I don’t think she’ll be anxious to lead a hunting party past her killing grounds. They’ll have to take the long way around the Velvet Woods. Plus, Mitch said he’d make sure we had at least a day’s head start. That means we have until tomorrow afternoon before we have to start looking over our shoulders.”

  “Good. Take your shirt off,” said Vera without missing a beat.

  Kale swung around to stare at her. The girl had surprised him before, but his heart just about choked him that time. He was not thrilled that part of him was excited by her odd demand.

  “I’m going to get the glass out of your back,” she explained.

  Well, that made a lot more sense. But now there was no denying the woman had more power over him than he was comfortable with.

  “You don’t need to do that,” Kale said.

  “Obviously. But I’m going to. Sit.”