by Kaye Draper
I took a deep breath. "You know what, Jet? Maybe you should go be a cat right now."
Toma had his lips pressed together as if he was smothering a laugh, but his bright eyes were glowing faintly as they darted about, and I knew he was seeing things the rest of us couldn't.
Jet sighed and morphed into a crow, fluttering over to perch on my shoulder.
I looked around to make sure no one saw that. "Don't do that in public, asshole."
"Uh. That was freaky," Ryan said, straightening from his slouch. He looked at Toma suspiciously. "Are you an animal too?"
Toma laughed. "No, Ryan. I'm a mage. Which," he held up a hand to forestall the questions, "I will gladly explain to you after we're done. But we need to get on with this before the casting wears off or your mother calls the cops on us."
Ryan ran a hand through his hair. "What is going on, Esper?"
I let out a breath. "Can I give you the short, weird story now and the long version later? Toma's right, we need to finish up here."
At Ryan's eye roll, I went up the steps, Toma following me. The mage was whispering, soft and rhythmic, to unseen ears. It sent shivers up my spine as I felt his magic working. "Okay, so short and weird. I met my dad, he's not dead, and he said there's a curse on our family. I'm a necromancer. Toma's a mage. Jet's my familiar. And Jet says you've got witch blood, so I'm going to assume you have had a hunch about this stuff for a while now." I shrugged at his wide-eyed look. "We're going to try to break that curse now. But you need to stick around, cause apparently it's tied to all of us."
He blinked at me. "Okay."
I nodded. Thank fuck for brothers who were used to my weirdness. "Is everyone else home?"
He sighed. "Yeah. Mom's passed out with some dude in the back. I just fed the kids. Ness and Jamal are watching movies." He stepped back and held out his arm. "Come on in, I guess."
His brown eyes studied Toma closely as the mage stepped through the door. Maybe looking for signs of magic. "You kind of make me jittery," he said haltingly.
Toma smiled at him, all soft and nonthreatening. "That's because your aura and mine are kind of…butting up against each other. You'll feel a bit anxious like that if you're around someone who is very powerful. It's your body's way of telling you there's a potential threat around." He shrugged. "You get used to it eventually and it doesn't seem so jarring."
Ryan blinked at him, then turned to me. "Are you sure this is safe? Cause if what he just said is true, then my 'aura' says this little guy of yours is scary as shit."
I laughed. "Yes, Ryan. It's fine. Toma won't hurt you."
It was comical, really. Even though he was only a teenager, Ryan was broader and a head taller than Toma. And yet he looked like he was about to piss his pants. I glanced at my spirit mage. I guess I was just used to it. Or maybe it was because I wasn't a witch. But I could see how that massive aura of his would freak people out.
Toma lit a piece of holy wood with his magic, then blew it out, sending up fragrant smoke. "I'm going to smudge the place," he said, all business now. "You make sure the little ones are comfortable. I don't want to frighten them."
I nodded and moved to the living room while Toma paced around the cluttered trailer, a winding trail of smoke and a shimmer of misty spirit magic trailing in his wake. My two youngest siblings were sitting on the couch, sharing a bag of microwave popcorn and watching a Disney movie on the chunky, old TV. I plopped down between them. Nessa launched herself into my arms. "Esper!" She wiggled into the crook of my shoulder, then whispered. "Who's that pretty person with the blue hair? Is she a princess?"
I laughed and squeezed her tight. "No, silly. That's Toma. He's my friend. We're going to do something to make you all feel better. But it's magic, so it's going to look a little weird, okay?"
She pulled back to look at me with wide brown eyes. "Really? Real magic?"
I nodded. "Really real."
She frowned. "Momma's not going to like that. She says you do creepy things." Her face was too serious. "She says Ryan's been doing creepy stuff too, when he's not being a bad boy and getting into fights."
I sighed. "It's not creepy, Ness. It just sounds weird to people who don't know any better. I'll tell you all about it, real soon, I promise." I pointed at the TV screen. "But first, you tell me about this."
She launched into a yammering explanation about the movie and how the princess was going to save the prince this time. I glanced at Jamal and held out an arm. He was wide-eyed and quiet, afraid. He tucked into my side, and his dirty fingers plucked at a loose thread on the knee of my pants. "I'm glad you're here, Esper," he whispered. "Mom's new boyfriend is scary."
I tried not to let my anger show. "I have a feeling that is all going to change soon, Jamal. We won't let anyone hurt you."
He sighed.
Toma passed by, going to smudge the other end of the house. I stopped him, embarrassment and shame rising up in my chest at the thought of him seeing this place. Of him seeing where I'd grown up while he spent his childhood in a sparkling mansion. "Maybe I should do the back bedrooms," I said, clenching my jaw. "In case my mom or her boyfriend get violent."
His purple eyes met mine and the look he gave me made my chest ache. "We'll go together." He glanced at Ryan. "Stay with your siblings?"
Ryan took my place, sitting on the edge of the couch between Jamal and Ness as if he was ready to spring up and defend them at a moment's notice. I was startled when I saw his eyes flash. It was fleeting, a quick little slip of magic visible in my otherwise normal brother.
I felt like the world I knew was about to come tumbling down around me like a house of cards. I led Toma through the back of the house as he whispered and trailed smoke. Sherry was in the back bedroom, all the curtains closed, and the dark, stuffy room filled with the skunky smell of weed smoke and stale, unwashed bodies. The blankets twitched and my mom glared up at me with bloodshot eyes as I stood between her and Toma.
"What the fuck are you doing now?" she muttered. Her companion let out a loud snore.
I shrugged. "Fixing things, you ungrateful cow."
She heaved herself up, sitting over the edge of the bed, nothing but a thin tank top and a pair of gym shorts hiding her sagging breasts and thick thighs. "You watch your mouth, you brat. And who the fuck is that? What's that homo doing in here with that stick. You trying to poison us now?"
Toma finished his smudging and turned, heading out the bedroom door. I rolled my eyes at my worthless parent and followed. Behind me, I heard my mom heave herself to her feet and stumble after us. Toma set the holy wood down in a shell that had been inscribed with strange runes. Then he stood stock-still in the middle of the living room and closed his eyes, chanting under his breath.
Mom stumbled up to me and reached for my arm. Jet let out a caw of warning and she jumped back. "Is that a fucking bird?" Apparently, she hadn't noticed him in the dark bedroom.
I glared at her. "Just stay back and shut up."
All my attention was for Toma. His long blue and black hair had started to float, wispy tendrils coming free from his ponytail to whip about his pretty, ethereal face. His power flowed around him, growing stronger as he called on the spirits to break the curse around us. I could feel it, as the spell crested. He held out his hands and light spilled from his palms.
My mom lost her mind. She lunged toward Toma, screaming, her hands clawed inward, ready to scratch and maim. I grabbed her upper arms and shoved, pushing her back away from the mage. But she kept coming, fueled by some sort of unholy rage.
Ryan was at my side in a flash, grabbing her other arm and yelling for her to calm down. It didn't do any good. As the power around us rose and crested, she just got crazier and stronger. Then I felt panic rising in my own chest. I wanted to make the weird, tingling, burning magic that coated us go away. I slapped a hand to my chest, nearly losing my grip on Sherry as she surged toward Toma.
Then Jet was there, feeding me power, helping my own dark energy overcome whatever
was trying to sabotage the spell Toma was casting.
Toma said my name and I turned toward him. His eyes were open now, and they glowed like purple flame, empty and unseeing as he undid the curse. I heard my mother's name fall from his lips, followed by that of each of my siblings.
For one brief instant, I saw the black tendrils of the curse, understood how they had twisted and dug into my heart, clung to my soul. Then I was blinded by a white light that burned everything away.
Sherry went limp, falling into my arms and carrying us both to the ground, where we landed on the rickety old coffee table and crushed it under our combined weight.
I gasped like a beached fish, staring up from the floor at Jet's bemused face, weird sparkles dancing at the edges of my vision. "Idiot necromancer?" he said calmly.
Then, everything went dark.
Chapter 5
I woke up with a pounding headache, and I felt like someone had punched me right in the center of my chest, just above my solar plexus. It took me a minute to figure out that I was sitting in the passenger's side of my car, with my feet on the ground and my head between my knees. Someone was rubbing my back in slow circles. While someone else was yelling.
The noise was making my head pound. "Will you just quiet the fuck down?" I snapped, sitting up and rubbing my forehead. It was Toma rubbing my back. Jet was standing toe to toe with Jazz, of all people, in front of my worthless mother's trailer, growling and hissing like a guard cat.
They all stopped and stared at me when I spoke.
Jazz rushed over, but Jet dematerialized then reappeared right in her path, making her slam into his chest with a muffled squeak of surprise. He shoved her away, then crossed his arms and glared down at her, his tail lashing. "Stay away from my master. I won't warn you again, traitorous human."
She ran her hands through her hair, tugging at it in frustration. "I just want to make sure she's okay. For the hundredth fucking time, get out of my way!"
Toma sighed. "Jet, I really don't think she means any harm."
Jet looked over his shoulder at me. "Can I please kill the stupid girl now, idiot necromancer?"
I shook my head, then thought better of it when my temples pounded. Shit, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. Or maybe by a fuckton of magic. "No, thank you," I hissed. "Not right now anyway."
He rolled his yellow eyes and morphed into a cat. Padding over to the car, he jumped into my lap. He sat up with his long tail curled around his legs, his yellow eyes focused on Jazz in clear warning, while he did something with my magic that made my headache ease up.
"What the hell do you want, Jazz?" I bit out.
She slunk over and crouched in front of me, reaching out tentatively to touch my knee. "I saw some weird flash of light. Then I saw these two morons carrying you to the car. I had to make sure you were okay."
I sneered at her. "Why? So you would know if you should tell the supernatural council the nasty necromancer was dead?"
She looked down. "No, Esper. Because it scared the hell out of me to see you looking like that." She lifted her eyes to meet mine and I was surprised to see unshed tears there. "Because even if you hate me, I still want you to be okay."
I sighed, lifting a hand to pet Jet to keep him from biting her. He was rumbling with a barely suppressed growl. "Okay. Whatever. But what were you doing here in the first place?"
She opened her mouth, then closed it, at a loss for what to say.
I saved her the trouble. "You know what? Never mind. You're just doing your job, right? Maybe next time you go spying for the council, you should just keep to yourself."
"I wasn't—"
I stood, cutting her off. Clutching Jet to my chest, I went around and climbed into the back seat so I could lie down. The world was spinning, and I felt like I might barf. "Take us home please, Toma," I demanded, curling up into the fetal position with Jet pressed to my chest.
Toma sighed and closed the passenger door. Turning to Jazz, he gave her a wry, sad smile. Then he slipped behind the wheel and got us the fuck out of there, thank the Powers That Be.
By the time we got out of town, I felt well enough to sit up, thanks to whatever Jet was doing with my energy. It felt like he was pulling it out of me, then sending it back in…filtering it? I patted him on the head. "Thank you," I whispered.
He bit my finger, just shy of drawing blood. I yanked my hand away. "Ow! Fine, I get it. Still pissed off. Still not a pet. Powers That Be."
Toma was watching us in the rearview mirror, his purple eyes filled with concern. "How are you feeling? I didn't expect the backlash against the spell to be that strong."
I shrugged. "It's getting better. I feel kind of like I've had the flu or something, you know?"
He sighed. "Well, it had been draining you, like a sickness. It was just at such a slow trickle that you didn't notice." He gripped the wheel so tight his knuckles went white. "I should have seen it before. But…it was at a deeper level. I make it a habit not to go poking around so deep in people's auras." He sighed. "Or…I used to. Now I can't help it. I just see way too much, all the time."
I reached forward and squeezed his shoulder. "Not your fault. Thank you for fixing it." I sat back, worrying my lip. "Uh…you did fix it, right?"
He smiled at me, shy, but proud. "I did." He flicked his eyes away, toward the road. "Just like a real sorcerer."
I laughed and leaned between the seat so I could look at his face. "You are a real sorcerer, dummy. You always have been."
Jet hopped up front and morphed into people shape, turning sideways in his seat to look at Toma. "Little one, you are more than a mere, piddling sorcerer. You're a spirit mage. Have a little confidence."
Toma huffed a laugh. "Sorry, but that makes me feel less confident, not more. If I was just a sorcerer, that would be one thing—at least I've learned about that, watched the others around me growing up. But this? I have no clue how to be…this."
Jet rolled his eyes. "Why am I surrounded by idiots who don't understand their potential?"
I reached over and slapped him upside the head. "Shut up."
He swatted at my hand. "Watch the ears, idiot necromancer. Honestly, you don't even know how to treat a familiar. I don't know why I expect you to know anything else."
I ignored him. "You were amazing, Toma. But what happens now? And, what about Sherry? She was pretty psychotic there at the end, last I remember."
Toma turned onto the dirt road that led to my house. Our house now, I thought with a jolt of warmth. He glanced at me in the rearview. "When I was working the spell, the curse intensified. It was almost like a living thing—it dug its claws in deeper. The witch did warn me that would happen. It went away when the curse broke. Your mom passed out, just like you did."
I snorted. "When she wakes up, she'll probably just think she's hungover."
Toma nodded. "She might." He pressed his plush lips together, then bit his bottom one between his perfect white teeth. "I think it will take time for the effects of the curse to fade. You'll probably only see slow changes."
He glanced at me in the rearview, then at Jet. "What?"
I blushed and shared a glance with the familiar. Toma's little lip biting thing was so damned hot. Jet grinned, slow and wicked. "You lost us both there, pretty mage."
Toma pulled into the driveway and put the car in park, then looked at Jet in question, his dark brows drawing together. "Why? All I said was, it will take time."
I huffed a laugh. Jet leaned in close to Toma, his eyes flicking down to that cupid's bow mouth. "It has nothing to do with what you said. I have no idea what the necromancer was thinking in that slow mind of hers, I was too busy wondering what those lips would look like wrapped around my cock."
Toma laughed, then leaned in and nibbled at Jet's bottom lip. "You're a degenerate, cat."
I agreed. But then, I'd been thinking pretty much the same thing as Jet, so…. Shows where my damned priorities were.
Toma turned to me, his eyes sparkling wi
th mischief. "Esper…why is your face so red? It almost matches your hair! Are you…feeling okay?"
I glared at him. He knew perfectly well why I was beet red. "Nothing."
Jet laughed. Toma winked at me. And a howl split the air, shattering the moment.
I was out the car door before either of the men could stop me. A flash of gray fur rushed by me and I was knocked back against the car, slamming my shoulder into the metal with bruising force. Two more monster-sized wolves ran by, snarling and snapping at me in warning as they passed.
"Fuck!" I rushed after them as they surrounded the house. It was so damned weird. And a little insulting. They acted like we didn't even exist, focused only on the house, their howls and yips almost taunting.
The front door slammed open and Luna strode down the steps, standing with her arms crossed over her chest and her bare feet planted in a confident stance on the snow-dusted walkway. "I told you to leave!" she said, her voice carrying in a strange way, even though she spoke at a normal volume.
I pushed my way forward, my hair nearly standing on end with nerves as I walked between two massive, snarling wolves. Drake and Awan came from the backyard, a couple more wolves following them. The vampire and the skinwalker took up spots next to me.
"I warned you once," Luna said firmly. "I won't hesitate a second time."
The biggest wolf shifted, bones and skin reforming to reveal a stocky, dark-haired guy with mud-colored eyes. "I'm your alpha now, bitch. And I'm taking you back home to the pack, where you belong. Come along nicely and we won't have to use this."
He gestured as a guy stepped out of the hedgerow, toting a dart gun.
Luna snarled. A few of the wolves around us let out a high-pitched whine.
"You seem to be missing some facts here," Luna said, her green eyes flashing, never leaving the wolf's face. "You aren't my alpha. You're an alpha—and a stupid one at that. You came into my territory. Twice. You've endangered my mate," she continued, pulling me closer to her.
