“Take a seat here,” Isak said. He gently lowered her to the curb beside the dumpster. Aspen’s fingers fumbled to slip her jacket over her left shoulder. Isak helped her after a couple failed attempts.
“Are there any marks?” Aspen said.
“No. Car might be a monster, but he’s a civilized one. Prefers his clients don’t end up maimed.”
“How nice of him.”
“You should tell him that.”
“Maybe you should. You’re the one he’s been leeching off like some Vamps’ blood whore.”
Isak pulled his arms from around her.
“I do what I have to do to get what I want. I told you, I have plenty of memories of my parents. And since Xavier took me in, he’s been the only parent I needed.”
The image of Xavier offering a hand to Isak bubbled up in her mind. Aspen bit back a scathing retort.
“What did you see?” Isak suddenly asked. His eyes were boring into hers, waiting. “Did you see…when Car was feeding on me, there wasn’t any carryover…you didn’t see anything with me in it, did you?”
Aspen hesitated. “No,” she finally answered. “Just mine.”
Isak sighed. “Which memory did you give Car?”
“I don’t want to say.”
“I get that. Mine…mine was of Xavier. I’m sure you’re just overjoyed to hear that since you love the guy so much.”
Aspen forced a rough chuckle.
“I know you hate him. You won’t tell me why, but I know you have a reason. I’ll find out eventually, and I’ll make you see he’s not such a bad person,” Isak promised. He cocked a grin. “He’s a jerk, and rude, and yeah his ways of doing things are often…unorthodox, but I owe him a lot. Once you get to know him a little more you’ll see.”
“I doubt that,” Aspen said, not know what else to say. “He seems like a monster to me.”
“No.” Isak knelt in front of her. He tilted her chin so that she was forced to look at him. “I’ll tell you what I know about him. See this?”
He pulled back his left sleeve again. Up close, the black tattoos appeared harsh and roughly scratched in, like someone had taken the blunt end of a stick and attempted to color within the lines.
“Do you know what these are?”
“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”
Oh, that got a rise out of him. It was almost worth watching the red annoyance creep into his face. But her mouth had a mind of its own and Isak brought out the worst in it.
“You just can’t turn it off, can you?” Isak said. “These are the tribal tattoos of the Ular Clan. Druids.”
“I know you’re a druid.”
“Did you also know that when my parents died that the Ular refused to take me in? They cast me out. Weakness of any kind isn’t tolerated and they assume a broken kid would carry around too much of an emotional toll to do any useful magic. It makes no sense, but it’s their way.”
Aspen almost ran her fingers over the marks. She wondered if the skin beneath them would be rough or smooth. Each one looked deep, and she could imagine how painful they must have been to get.
He let go of her chin and sat beside her, leaning against the wall. He sighed. “The tattoos amplify our magic with the earth. They’re given at birth and re-applied by the parents every year until we’re eighteen.”
Aspen glanced at Isak’s arm again. This time the jagged, jerky application of the ink made sense.
“You re-applied them yourself, after your parents died.”
“Until Xavier picked me up, yes. Then he did it for me. He saw potential in me when no one else did. He gave me a home when I had none. So sorry if I don’t take too kindly to you making unfair jabs at him.”
Aspen rocked forward into a crouch, testing her legs. Her entire body felt jittery and a little sluggish. But she’d live.
“Hate to break it to you, but Xavier’s just another person set up to let you down.”
Isak looked over at her. “Is that honestly how you live your life? Thinking that nothing good can ever happen?”
“Life hasn’t given me too much reason to believe otherwise.”
“That’s a lonely way to live.”
“I won’t judge your life if you don’t judge mine.”
Isak stood. He brushed off his pants. “And what about me? Am I just there to let you down?”
“We were literally trying to kill each other yesterday.”
“Assessment aside.”
He held out a hand to help her up. Aspen stared at it, then took it. “You’re still labeled Undecided.”
That got a grin out of him. “I’ll take that. For now.”
The back door to the shop opened and Car poked his head out.
“Ah, there are my esteemed customers. I’m all ready, if you’ll be so kind as to come back inside we can continue our earlier conversation.”
Being inside didn’t make her feel any better, but this time Aspen could keep her thoughts straight as Car took them over to a shelf stuffed with books. He brushed aside a cluster of PEZ dispensers and black candles and began pulling out volumes one by one, setting them in a neat stack in front of them.
“That was quite the treat you gave me, dear girl. I won’t forget it. Now as to what you’re looking for, I have some ideas.”
“Ideas? Don’t you have any answers?” Aspen said. “Names, places? People we can beat up or try to stop?”
Car sighed, as though he were lecturing an unruly child. “The truth is rarely ever that simple. And if you’re referring to the string of magic thieving that’s been going on for months—oh yes, much longer than I’m sure even you two know—then I can show you what it could potentially be used for. Ah, here we go.”
He pulled out a book with a completely black cover.
“These spells…well, they’re quite effective. Dark magic. Very strong. Very powerful. Why don’t you take a look?”
“We don’t have time for games, Car,” Isak said. “Do you or do you not have something for us?”
Car continued holding out the book. Aspen snatched it.
“I could give you what you want to know outright,” Car said as Aspen began flipping through it. “But to truly understand the magnitude, to truly appreciate what you’re up against, you should come to the answer yourselves.”
Aspen bit back a snarky response. She knew when there was no chance at an argument. As suave and demure the façade the demon put up, it was clear continuing to pester him wouldn’t get them anywhere.
She reached over and tugged on Isak’s sleeve. “All right, magic boy, come here.”
She tilted the book toward him as he stepped closer to her, their shoulders touching and sending an electric tingle down her side. Aspen began flipping through the pages, pausing just long enough to scan the contents of each before moving on. Each sheet felt like skin beneath her fingertips. Her eyes drifted over the spells, the ingredients, the incantations and runes. She mumbled some of the more complex words to herself under her breath.
“Can you read magic?” Isak said, soft enough that Car couldn’t hear.
“Of course I can read magic!” She roughly turned the page. “For the most part,” she muttered.
“Need help?” Isak said, his voice teasing.
“It would help,” she pressed the book more firmly into his hands, “if the one who actually uses magic was doing a little more of the work.”
Isak made a show of licking his finger, then dramatically flipped the page, his grin getting wider each second as Aspen shuffled her feet impatiently. The more pages he turned, the more runic symbols and pentagrams appeared, followed by alchemic formulas and scrying incantations. These were a far cry from the simple spells Aspen had managed to scratch out for her own uses. While she had made it a priority to be familiar with various forms of common magic, actually learning the nitty gritty of the mechanics had proved to be beyond her interest.
Their eyes skimmed down each page at the same pace. Isak’s page-turning s
hifted into a rhythm as they tore through the volume.
“Such collaboration,” Car said. “I’d daresay it’s almost adorab—”
“Shut it,” Aspen and Isak said together.
“Most of these are really dark spells,” Isak murmured. “The Council’s banned a lot of them, but Car’s right, they all require pretty heavy amounts of magic. More than any one user would probably have.”
Aspen pointed. “What’s that one do?”
“Raises the dead.”
“That one?”
“Sends a plague onto your enemies.”
“Cheerful. And that one?”
Isak grimaced. “You don’t want to know. Nothing happy, I can promise you that.”
He flipped the page again and Aspen’s eye snagged on a spell that seemed a little different than the others. The text for the incantations was written in a more flowing hand, unlike the abrupt, jagged lines of the spells previous.
“And what’s that one?”
Isak’s brow furrowed as he leaned in closer. “That’s weird. It’s a spell to take down barriers.”
“Like walls?”
“Yeah, magical barriers. Like the kind that have been cast to keep each borough separate.”
“That is weird.” Aspen turned the book so she could see better. “Why would something like that be in here?”
“How odd indeed!” Car said gleefully. “How bizarre!”
Aspen ignored him and continued staring at the page. “All the other spells are about death and destruction. Sucktastic stuff. This just takes down walls. What makes that so bad?”
“Well…” Isak tilted the book sideways, as though that would better reveal the page’s secrets. “It’s no secret most of the supernatural races don’t get along. If those barriers between the boroughs go down, we might have a giant turf war on our hands.”
“In and out,” Car quipped, picking at a nail. “In and out.”
“Listen, Cheshire cat,” Aspen snapped. “You actually going to help us or just keep spouting nonsense?”
“Walls are odd things. Most times they’re just as effective at keeping something out rather than something in.”
Aspen looked at the page again. “Hold on…what if it’s not to keep the races apart. What if…” Something clicked in Aspen’s mind, bits and pieces of loose information colliding at once. “Isak, you said there are wards up around the city.”
Isak’s eyes grew wide. “Barriers. Keeping the really bad stuff out.”
“And if someone were to gather enough magic, and then use that magic to power a spell to take those wards down…”
“Then who knows what would come in,” Isak finished. “Not just come in, but what someone would bring in.”
“Bring in?” Aspen said, fear tightening her chest.
“Think about it,” Isak said. “So what if the wards go down. The Mages would just put them up again, right? If they really want to do some damage, then either they kill the Mages, or…”
“Bring something in that would do it for them,” Aspen finished.
They both jumped as Car clapped. “Bravo! Bravo! I knew you could do it!”
“Who is planning to do this, Car?” Aspen said, pointing to the page. “Who wants to take down the wards around the city?”
“If only I knew! With those wards down, who can tell what kind of nasty creatures could get in? High-level demons, ancient beings…”
“Yeah, you’d just love that, wouldn’t you?” Aspen said.
Car put a hand to his chest, almost managing to look hurt. “On the contrary, my dear girl. I’ve carved out a nice, cushy place here. Plenty to eat, plenty to do. Any powerful being from the outside would undoubtedly be a bully and upset my entire enterprise.”
Isak shoved the book back onto the shelf. “We need to figure out where that magic’s going and what they’re trying to bring in with it.”
“It’s been a pleasure!” Car called after them as they rushed through the shop and outside. “Come back anytime!”
By the time they’d reached the next street over, the pair of them had slowed their somewhat-run into more of a fast walk, realizing that drawing attention to themselves—especially Aspen—wasn’t a good idea. Already there were more people out. A couple threw curious glances their way. Aspen tried drawing herself more into the bunched folds of her jacket’s collar and hurried to match Isak’s long strides.
“Why?” he said, thinking aloud. “Why would anyone want to take down the wards? They’ve been around the city for centuries—before it even was a city. Taking them down…even if you wanted to bring something in that doesn’t guarantee it won’t just kill you too.”
“I really doubt whoever’s doing this is thinking that far ahead,” Aspen said.
“But why would they—”
“Doesn’t matter,” Aspen cut in, walking in front of him so that he had to stop and look at her. “How, why, any of that doesn’t matter. What does matter is where are they’re going to strike next and how we’re going to stop them.”
Isak’s lips were thin, straight lines. “I’m drawing a blank. That magic is way more advanced than any I’ve ever seen. I don’t even know where to begin looking…”
He trailed off, his eyes moving up and behind her.
“Isak? What is it—Oh, troll piss.”
A half dozen ghouls were slinking from the shadows, converging on them. Aspen had no idea what so many of them were doing in Ember’s Landing, or out in the daytime, but the slick saliva running down their jaws and hungry, bloodshot eyes focusing on them as they surrounded them said they weren’t here for a friendly chat.
“Stay behind me,” Isak said, putting an arm out to cover her. Aspen glanced at it, at him, then knocked it down with a laugh and drew her knife.
“We’re surrounded, idiot. Unless you’re really flexible, you can’t cover all sides.”
“Lovely, lovely prey,” the first ghoul said. Its too-long tongue whipped out, back and forth, back and forth. “We’ve been told to find you, yes we have. We followed the scent of your flesh, and now we wish to taste…”
“You take those three,” Aspen said. “I got—”
“Well, well.”
A seventh figure emerged from the shadows and any of Aspen’s plans of getting out of this unscathed fluttered away.
“My dear little Aspen, my sweet little Norm,” Hugo said, clasping his hands together. “There’s quite a hefty bounty on your head. Alive or dead. Looks like you’re going to be of some use to me after all.”
City of a Hundred Spires
Aspen didn’t think before she attacked. Thinking would only let the doubts creep in; like how there was no way she could take on Hugo alone and survive; that even with Isak on her side it was very likely they’d be scraping her off the concrete in bloody chunks.
“I’ll take the djinn!” Isak yelled.
That was fine by her. That left her with the slightly less-deadly ghouls. They had no external magic; just corrosive spit, insatiable appetites for human flesh, and hygiene worse than a middle school boy’s.
She could deal with that.
There was the sound of something hacking, like a bad cough beneath her feet, a moment before flames erupted where she’d stood. The searing heat shoved her across the ground. Hugo raised his fingers to snap and summon more flames, but Isak’s magic flared to life and he sent a clod of earth rocketing at him, forcing him to duck.
“Move faster!” Isak barked at her. “I can’t watch you the entire time!”
Watch her? Who did he think was watching whom?
Aspen rolled under a ghoul’s rancid arm and came up swinging. Her knife sliced gleefully through rotting flesh, severing its forearm. There was a splash of blood across the blade and a second later it was gone, soaked into the metal and giving the edge a deadly glimmer.
Aspen kicked out the leg of the next one. The other four who weren’t helping Hugo take down Isak were trying to surround her.
“I want h
er still kicking,” one of the ghouls hissed. “I want her screaming as I unravel her entrails—”
Aspen threw her knife. The ghoul’s speech turned to gurgles around the sudden blade lodged in the back of its throat.
Before its body had hit the ground, Aspen lunged for her knife. Her fingers just managed to brush the hilt—
A snarl of rotted skin and teeth collided with her. She threw her hands up in front of her face just as the ghoul’s jaws snapped toward her throat. Her hands tingled as she gripped its teeth, one hand on each jaw. In seconds, the tingling turned to an unbearable burning.
With a sudden thrust of strength, she forced the jaws apart with a sickening snap and threw the howling creature off her. Her knife was right beside her and she grabbed it and plunged it into the still struggling ghoul, making it still.
Two left—
The hairs on her arms buzzed a moment before a searing bolt of electricity snapped from the tips of Hugo’s fingers and collided with her chest.
Every one of her cells felt on fire. Her blood vessels seemed like they would explode. She was thrown through a storefront window, shattering glass and metal before she slammed to the ground.
The amulet Lucien had given her was glowing, its warmth pressed reassuringly against her shirt. Aspen’s thoughts spun. Hugo was attacking them. And while before that wouldn’t have been a surprise, Aspen had been so sure he was the one behind stealing the magic. So why was he after them? Why did he care about some small bounty when soon he’d be strong enough to take down the wards around the city?
A ghoul was clambering over the lip of the store’s shattered window. Its hungry eyes fell on her.
Move, the self-preserving part of her mind told her.
I think I like it here, thanks. It’s warm. And if I don’t move nothing hurts…
Mage's Apprentice (Mages of New York Book 1) Page 18
