Gemstones, Elves, and Other Insidious Magic (Dowser 9)

by Meghan Ciana Doidge

  “You want me to spell Jasmine’s necklace invisible?”

  Rochelle gave me a look.

  I laughed, a little harshly. “Invisibility isn’t a thing … for people.” I glanced over at Jasmine, who was gazing down at the sketch of herself thoughtfully. “That’s not possible.”

  “Not if you don’t think it is,” Rochelle said. “If your magic is controlled by intention. So Jasmine will have to go without your protection.”

  She reached over to close her sketchbook.

  Jasmine, moving so quickly that the oracle flinched, touched the edge of the book, keeping it open on the coffee table. Bent down to hover over the sketch, she looked up at me, her golden curls falling forward all around her head and shoulders. “The oracle can only try to articulate what she sees. So …” Jasmine glanced over at Rochelle. “You believe you see me abruptly appear? Or disappear?”

  The oracle nodded. “Appear.”

  “That could simply be Jasmine’s speed,” I said.

  “Not in a vision.” Rochelle settled back on the love seat, arranging the cushions behind her lower back again. “I’m meant to see, to understand what magic wants me to see in my visions. If I study it closely enough. Plus, the necklace glows briefly.”

  “It can’t be invisibility,” I said, speaking to Jasmine — who was way, way better versed in magic than I was. “Even Warner … or Kett for that matter … can’t turn themselves invisible. They simply use light and shadows to their advantage.”

  “You’re right. So whatever the oracle is picking up isn’t true invisibility …” Jasmine’s gaze was on the sketch again.

  I stepped forward for a better view myself. But all I saw was Jasmine’s lovely face. She was clearly wearing her necklace, which was drawn in great detail, while looking at something beyond the edge of the page. No fangs, no fear, no joy.

  “Can you … move like Kett does?” I asked. I tried to phrase it vaguely because questioning someone about their personal magic was considered rude in Adept society. And there were many ears in the room, and in the house beyond.

  Jasmine straightened, stepping closer to me, but shook her head. “I can move quickly and slip partly into shadows, but nowhere near as well as my master does.”

  I nodded. Kett could blend so well into the night that even I couldn’t see him, though I could always taste his magic.

  Just then, Mory slipped back into the room, crossing toward the love seat.

  Without my hot chocolate.

  I narrowed my eyes at her.

  She shrugged as she pulled out her knitting. “Not enough milk. There’s tea.”

  “Tea?” I echoed pissily.

  Jasmine snorted, drawing my attention back to her before I could demand the chocolate bar that the necromancer had flaunted before me earlier.

  The golden-haired vampire lowered her voice. “Not all abilities are passed through the primary blood exchange at rebirth. But … I’m not certain without having Kett here to ask, but I might have gained his ability to absorb the magic of those I drink from. The, um … after inadvertently drinking from the elf, I could see magic for a while. In color.”

  “That wouldn’t cause the necklace to glow in the vision, though.” I was thinking madly. “If it was an ability you were supposed to absorb. If we even knew anyone who could become actually invisible, who you could then drink from.” A sinking feeling hit me. “What about Blossom?”

  I definitely wasn’t a fan of the idea of the brownie offering up her blood, but she was the only Adept I knew who could sneak up on me. Maybe true invisibility was the magic behind that little trick.

  Thankfully, though, Jasmine shook her head. “No. Brownies have an exceptional ability to mask their magic, especially if they’re bonded with and moving within their chosen abodes. But they don’t actually become invisible.” Then the golden-haired vampire hesitated, glancing toward Benjamin.

  I followed her gaze. He was still perched in the window seat with his notebook in hand, presumably transcribing every word we were saying.

  “Estelle can teleport,” Jasmine whispered.

  “Kett’s maker? Jesus. That’s an unsettling thought.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But Kett can’t.”

  “Ve can. Kett’s granddaddy. You call him the Big Bad of London. But maybe the blood thins? You know, from generation to generation?”

  “Or like with other Adepts, abilities can skip generations.”

  Jasmine sighed. “If I can teleport, I’m fairly certain I’d know it. Like all magic, it would be triggered instinctively the first couple of times.”

  I nodded. Extreme situations or extreme emotions often triggered latent powers in Adepts. Jasmine had just experienced a rough couple of weeks. So if she had the ability to teleport, then —

  Wait …

  I had the ability to teleport stored in my own necklace. Could I transfer that to Jasmine?

  “What are you thinking, Jade?”

  “It’s one thing, I think, for me to add certain protections to Mory’s necklace, or to give a single intention to Benjamin’s pen. But they don’t have to be able to wield magic to trigger that …” I glanced over toward Rochelle. “What are the chances that the sketch you sent to me in the nexus wasn’t about me breaking out?”

  “You’re thinking about Blackwell’s amulet,” Rochelle said, indicating that she knew what I was talking about.

  Mory stiffened at the mention of the dark sorcerer’s name, but she kept her gaze on her knitting.

  Seriously, speaking frankly would have been way, way easier on everyone. “I couldn’t collect the twin amulet, couldn’t pick it up. The treasure keeper had warded the entire place against pilfering.”

  “By you specifically?” Jasmine asked, way too skilled at interpreting clues — and far too amused at coming up correct.

  I side-eyed her. “Apparently.”

  “I’m certain that sketch was for you, Jade,” Rochelle said.

  “Yeah, but when I finally made it to the other side of Lions Gate bridge, my father and the healer were already waiting. They’d wanted to bring me with them, but I was already gone. So … technically I didn’t actually need the amulet.”

  Jasmine was glancing back and forth between the oracle and me. “You just said you couldn’t collect it anyway, Jade.”

  “I stole its magic.”

  Jasmine laughed breathlessly. “Teleportation?”

  Yeah, the golden-haired vampire was far quicker than me at putting two and two together — and coming up with rare magical abilities. Of course, she was originally a Fairchild witch, trained in magic from infancy. Then she’d attended the Academy and worked for the Convocation as an investigator.

  Still, I had two successful bakeries and the ability to make pretty magical artifacts. So maybe we were even on the blessings scale?

  “What do you think, oracle? Could it be teleportation you’re seeing, not invisibility?”

  The white of Rochelle’s magic ringed her eyes. “I see the hallways, then Jasmine appears,” she murmured. Then she paused, as if reviewing the vision in her own mind. “It’s not teleportation. I’ve seen Blackwell teleport many times. Jasmine … slides into focus. Like … like she’s part of the walls, but then steps forward into the hall.”

  “Obfuscation!” Mory blurted, proving that she could listen closely and knit at the same time. “Like what you did for Ed when you bled all over him.”

  Jasmine gave me a look. “Not sure bleeding all over me would be a good idea, dowser.”

  I laughed, involuntarily shoving all my pissy fretfulness to the side as I did so. “I agree, vampire.”

  Jasmine bared her teeth at me, sans fang. “Maybe next time.” She looked over at Rochelle. “I wouldn’t mind a bit of that teleportation power, though.”

  Rochelle shook her head sternly.

  “Spoilsport.”

  That comment got an extra round of giggles from me. And, honestly, it felt good to laugh. I missed my BFF
s so desperately.

  “Okay, okay.” I calmed myself. I seemed to be flipping from one extreme emotional state to another — and trying to drag everyone with me. No wonder they were being cautious and close-mouthed. “So my concern with that sort of thing … if I can do it consciously and without bleeding all over Jasmine … is that she … you, Jasmine, need to have the ability to turn it on and off, to trigger it. I assume you don’t want to take the necklace on and off, right?”

  “You assume correctly, dowser. But since we’re faced with an oracle’s vision, I have a feeling it’ll sort itself out.” Jasmine became completely serious. “I believe. I have to believe.”

  I nodded. “All right. Let’s give it a try. I’m going to have to touch you.”

  “I’m all atingle in anticipation.”

  Mory and Benjamin laughed quietly. Apparently, Jasmine could only maintain a serious note for micro periods of time. But then, who was I to judge?

  I shook my head ruefully, reaching for the gold chain half hidden under Jasmine’s bronze silk blouse. I pulled it out, revealing the twelve … no, thirteen tiny reconstruction cubes attached to it. Each of the miniature cubes glowed softly blue with witch magic. Wisteria’s nutmeg magic, to be specific.

  Jasmine touched the back of my hand tentatively. “This … this won’t effect the reconstructions, will it?”

  “No. There’s enough residual magic in the chain to work with. That’s your magic. I won’t need to use the power stored in the cubes.” I laid my thumb and forefinger on the chain, splaying my other fingers across Jasmine’s upper chest and collarbone. Her skin was cool to the touch, still creamy in color, but paler than my own.

  “This is a little personal … but can you still trigger and view the reconstructions?”

  Jasmine looked surprised. “Yes. I … I hadn’t thought about it when I do, but yes. I can.” She smiled. “That’s a witch ability.”

  “Actually, I’m pretty certain it’s only a specific witch ability. Can Gran even view reconstructions without having a reconstructionist around?”

  “I would think so, but we’d have to ask to be certain.” Jasmine’s smile had widened, and there was nothing snarky or sarcastic about her expression now. “I can still do some magic. I mean, I knew about the tech. I’m not as good as I was before, but …” She trailed off happily.

  “Yeah. Let’s see if I can jump through the oracle’s hoops. But if I can, I’m going to guess you won’t have any issue triggering the new magic.”

  Jasmine nodded, still softly smiling.

  “First things first,” I murmured, stirring the residual within the gold chain and coaxing Jasmine’s sweet peppermint power to pool under my fingers. “No one will be able to take the necklace from you. Though you can gift it voluntarily.”

  “Thank you.”

  I smoothed Jasmine’s magic into the chain, cementing it there with my own alchemy. I focused on the feel of the combined power filtering up and down the chain, the tenor and taste of it. I thought about Rochelle’s sketch, and of her description of Jasmine appearing, fading in from the white halls. As if she’d camouflaged herself with those walls, using them as a visual cloak. Similarly to how her master Kett moved through the shadows. An ability that Jasmine already had to some extent. So … I just had to pull that ability forth from her own magic, then inform it that it could cloak the vampire from any of her immediate surroundings, not just within shadows.

  I fed more magic into the gold chain — my own magic and Jasmine’s. I could hear the quiet scratch of Benjamin’s pen across paper, and a ticking clock from the entranceway. But all I could see was the magic glowing beneath my fingers, glistening from the edges of the chain, filling it full. Full of power, full of intention.

  “You can’t be moving for it to completely mask you, I don’t think,” I murmured, speaking without really thinking about what I was saying. “Not very quickly, at least. But … you might be able to also shield whoever you’re touching from direct sight? Maybe?”

  “That makes sense,” Jasmine said. “I’ll test it.”

  A bit of feedback reflected off the necklace, as if it was telling me it was full, though magic couldn’t really be measured as mass or volume. I lifted my fingers from contact with the chain and Jasmine, watching as all the energy I’d called forth settled into the necklace.

  “Holy hell, dowser,” Jasmine whispered, her chin practically pressed to her chest so she could look at her necklace. “It’s glowing. Like, brightly.”

  “Yeah. Thankfully, not everyone can see magic. But … you might want to tuck it under your shirt. Or a jacket. It’ll probably fade. Eventually.”

  “I will endeavor to be worthy of your gift, dowser. Thank you.” Jasmine carefully tucked the necklace into her cleavage again, then she winked at me saucily. “Kett is going to be jealous.”

  “More jealous about you being seen by the oracle than jealous of the necklace. I’m not sure he could pull that pretty piece of magic off quite as well as you do.”

  Jasmine chuckled. “Come on, Ben. Let’s find a witch to spell some locks and run some tests with us. Olive is awake. I can … hear her upstairs, moving around.”

  I raised an eyebrow at the hitch in Jasmine’s wording.

  “I’m not hunting the witches,” she said crossly.

  Yeah, in the long run, giving the vampire an obfuscation spell might have been a bad idea.

  Benjamin dutifully shut his notebook, tucking it into his satchel as he fluidly rose from the window seat and practically appeared at Jasmine’s side in the same motion.

  The golden-haired vampire glanced over at Rochelle. “I imagine we don’t have much time.”

  “As soon as the sorcerers are ready, we’ll move forward. Unless magic tells me differently.”

  Jasmine met Benjamin’s steady gaze. She was about an inch shorter than him in her brown suede boots. “We’ll be ready to rescue the warriors. Won’t we, Ben?”

  He grinned at her easily. “We will.”

  Then they slipped swiftly from the room, heading upstairs instead of down. I could taste just a hint of Burgundy’s watermelon magic within the well of power in the map room, but all the other witches, including Scarlett and Gran, were still upstairs.

  I settled my gaze on Rochelle, then looked pointedly at Mory. The necromancer kept her attention riveted to her knitting. Ed was attempting to make a nest out of an afghan that was draped over the arm of the love seat.

  The oracle grimaced.

  “Just tell me, Rochelle. I feel like I’m going crazy waiting around. Just tell me.”

  Rochelle nodded, but then didn’t immediately offer up any insight.

  “I’m the one who’s going to close the gateway,” Mory said mildly.

  “Close the gateway,” I echoed incredulously. My mind momentarily blanked, as if I were incapable of even processing the idea. “I’m the one who fixed it! The one who opened it!”

  “Jade,” Rochelle chided.

  “No!” I started pacing again, but stopped myself. “Just no. It’s alchemy! It’s magic.”

  “I’m magic,” Mory interjected.

  I ignored her, pointing at the sketchbook still lying open on the coffee table. “Show me.”

  “Some of this … I’ve been shown a bunch of pieces, Jade. I’ve had to put them together. I see Mory at the gateway, Gabby at her side. I see you and your father shielding them both. I see an army of elves. More and more flooding forward.”

  I sat down in the chair Jasmine had vacated, feeling shaky and faint. “This can’t be, Rochelle. Mory … Mory can’t do alchemy, not even amplified by Gabby. This is just insanity. This is what you’ve been pushing me toward?”

  I realized I was yelling. I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, head in my hands, trying to simply breathe.

  “It isn’t alchemy,” Mory said, setting her knitting aside and sliding off the couch onto her knees by the coffee table. “May I?” she asked Rochelle.

  I felt more than saw the
white-haired oracle nod.

  Mory tugged the sketchbook toward her, flipping closer to the back. “You fixed the gateway, yes?”

  I didn’t answer. She already knew I had.

  “But how are the elves fueling it?” She found the sketch she was looking for, letting me know that she’d already studied the oracle’s sketchbook. They had already had this conversation, most likely multiple times. All while waiting for me to return.

  She pushed the sketchbook across the coffee table so that it edged my peripheral vision. I caught a glimpse of a figure in the well of magic above the gateway. I squeezed my eyes shut so I couldn’t see who hung there, slowly dying. Because of me. Warner … Kandy … Kett … Haoxin …

  I clenched my hands. I’d been making pretty little trinkets for everyone while … while —

  “It’s the magic of one of the others,” Rochelle said gently. “The gateway is fueled by their magic. Yes?”

  Before I could confirm, Mory spoke up smugly. “But not just magic. Their life force.”

  I looked up at her.

  “That’s what I do, Jade. I can see that much, feel that much, even through Ed’s eyes. I couldn’t get near enough, not until after you amped up Ed’s charm and made him seriously sneaky. And then I got kicked out when the elves strengthened the exterior warding. But I figured it out. The gateway is being fueled by life force. Soul magic.”

  I rubbed my forehead, feeling the puckered skin of my still-healing scar. “The oracle said that collapsing the gateway causes a backlash that destroys the city.”

  “Yeah, but I’m not going to collapse it to close it. I’m going to … unweave the life force. Release it, so it no longer fuels the operation of the gate.”

  “That’s delicate work … precise, time consuming …”

  “Yes.”

  “Which is why we need you,” Rochelle said. “You and your father. And all of the others, in fact. To give Mory time.”

  “And the sorcerers and witches?”

  “Backup. To hold a boundary if the elves try to bolt. Or … if the worst happens, to try to protect the city. They’ve been setting it up for two days.”

  “The necromancers are ready with secondary defenses as well,” Mory added.