Magic & Mini Skirts

by Beverly Sanders

  There was something different this time, though, something about my magic I almost didn’t recognize. It was darker and seemed to be coming from a different place inside me, a much stronger and more powerful place.

  “Ginni!” Babbs yelled, rushing toward me. “What are you doing?” She reached for my hand, cupping it her own and trying to quell my powers. But I was too angry, too filled with rage and raw emotion to be stopped.

  “Back up!” I grabbed my best friend’s shoulders and pushed her against the wall, pinning her down with magic.

  “Ginni!”

  “Stay there!” I said, marching toward Finn. “Tell me why you brought us here!”

  In my life, I’d been far from perfect, and I’d made more than a few bad decisions, but this was very likely the worst one I’d made yet. I could feel Finn becoming angry as his Lycan side fought its way through. Seconds later, he was changing before my eyes, the once-handsome man now shifting into an angry, powerful, wolf-like creature.

  “Tell me why you brought us here!” I yelled, my voice echoing through the caves.

  “Because he doesn’t know any better.” I turned to see a group of men standing at the mouth of the cave. It was obvious from looking at them which one had spoken.

  “Edward Tide?” I asked.

  I was floored, the anger I felt suddenly replaced with confusion. Babbs fell from the wall, her magical restraints giving way as she stumbled over to me, placed her hands on the back of my neck, and began her magical empathy. It only took a few seconds for me to calm down, a wave of peace and serenity befalling me.

  “What just happened?” I asked, looking around the cave to see Finn beginning to shift back into his human form.

  “Witches such as yourself, the powerful ones, they don’t hold up so well here in Mistros.” Edward waved his hand through the air, causing something completely unexpected to happen.

  “Are we . . .”

  “In the library?” he asked, a large and wicked smile coming over his face. “Yes. We are.”

  I couldn’t believe it. In an instant, the darkness of the sky, the dangerous woods, and the almost demonic air dissipated. Gone was the terror I’d experienced only moments before. I was home, I could feel it.

  “None of this makes any sense,” I said.

  “Let me explain.” Abben stepped out from around the corner. “It was a spell, one you had a pretty adverse reaction to. I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting that, but magic is tricky sometimes. We all know that.”

  “So then what’s the deal here?” I asked. “What’s going on?”

  “Ginni.” Abben took a long, slow breath. “I need you to promise me something.”

  “All right . . .”

  “I need you to promise me you won’t tell your father or anyone else what we’re about to tell you.”

  Abben was frightened. I could feel it inside her. I didn’t like the idea of lying to my dad, or anyone else, for that matter. I’d always made it a point to try to be truthful. I’d never kept it a secret that I wanted to leave Enchanted Lake, even when I knew I’d face opposition. I never hid the fact that I wanted to chase my dreams and put magic on the back burner, and I’d never been anything but truthful with Nicco when it came to how I felt about him.

  Still, I could tell whatever Abben was about to say was something I’d likely have to keep close to the vest. And truth be told, it wouldn’t be my secret, my burden to carry. All I had to do was listen, then keep my mouth shut. Simple, right?

  “All right,” I replied. “Go.”

  “Mistros is gone.” Edward spoke up. “It has been for some time.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “What just happened to you,” Abben began. “I did that. It was a spell. I needed you to see it for yourself, to feel it.”

  “Feel what?”

  “Long ago, there was a war between different tribes of lycanthropes, each one fighting against the other for control of the realm. As the tensions grew, they kept going deeper, using darker magic. Magic that had been forbidden.”

  “Like the symbol,” I realized.

  “Yes,” Edward replied. “Like the symbol. They lost control and the darkness spilled out, poisoning the land and everything around it. Soon, tribes were fighting among themselves. As an Alpha, I had a choice to make. Fight a losing battle or try to save our legacy. That’s when I came to Abben.”

  I looked at her. She’d spoken of the lycanthropes with such fear, such hesitation. And now it was beginning to make sense. She wasn’t afraid of them. She was trying to protect something. Something the Council would likely not approve of.

  “My job,” Abben began, “the thing our coven swore to do was protect history. To make sure that everything before us has not been lost. And there was a time before the Council when lycanthropes and witches lived together, without issue, without segregation.”

  “So I came to her,” Edward said. “I told her our realm was dying, but my pack, my people, they needed to survive. We didn’t want power, not like that. Together, we used every ounce of magic we could find to protect our cave’s walls. They’re the only thing left of our history.”

  “So Mistros . . . ?” I asked.

  “Is gone.” Edward sighed, his eyes dim with pain.

  “That’s why there’s so much magic in Second Buckhead,” Abben said. “The Lycan people moved into the mortal realm. It’s our magic that keeps them hidden, that allows them to walk among the masses undetected.”

  “So, what?” I asked. “What does this mean?”

  “It is very important for my people to keep themselves hidden, to stay under the radar. There are other wolves out there, ones who managed to escape Mistros before it fell. If they knew our magic still existed, they would stop at nothing to find it.”

  “Then why were you so mean to me?” I asked. “And why do own clothing stores? What did Hannah have to do with all of this?”

  He hesitated for a minute. It was obvious this was all coming as a surprise to him. He wasn’t prepared to answer questions. Not like this, anyway. Not now. But I wouldn’t stop. I wouldn’t give up on Nicco, and I knew he felt it.

  “The clothing store’s a front,” he said.

  “You don’t sell clothes?”

  “I do, yes,” he replied. “But they have a specific purpose and for specific clientele. The clothes we sell are enchanted with magic, a potent mix of Lycan and witch magic. It was Abben who helped me create it. The garments all have the power to stop our people from shifting. They don’t even feel the pull. It keeps us and the rest of the world safe.”

  “So you knew I was a witch and you treated me like that anyway? Why?”

  “I was trying to keep you away from all of this. Hannah liked your clothes. She offered you the space and didn’t tell me. I just didn’t want added complications. She could be a bit . . . much.”

  “A bit much?” I asked.

  “Hannah Alden was neither witch nor wolf. She was simply a human, one I once had feelings for. But I became careless. She discovered the truth, that I was what I am. After that, things got complicated. She asked for my help in opening the store and I thought if I did that, it would just be another outlet for my people, another way to protect them. I never meant for any of this to happen.”

  There was pain in his eyes, so much that I could feel the weight of it on my skin as he looked at me. I wanted to say so much, but I was too conflicted, too emotionally spent to fight. There was nothing left to do but talk.

  “You knew about all of this and you didn’t tell me?” I looked at Abben.

  “I couldn’t,” she replied. “Not until I spoke with Edward. Not until we understood what was going on.”

  “You should have said something,” I said. “I’ve been driving myself crazy and you just sat back and watched it?”

  “It wasn’t easy, believe me. I wanted to tell you. I’ve risked so much here. Do you know what the Council would do if they found out that in the back of our library sits the key
to Lycan magic? That I helped create these things without approval? It would be the end of me, and I’ve worked too hard, Ginni. They deserve protecting, just like everyone else.”

  “I don’t disagree with you. But if you had everything you needed to decode the symbol, then why—”

  “Because it made no sense,” Abben replied. “Because . . . because I didn’t want to see the look on your face when . . .”

  “When what?”

  “It’s time you understood what the symbol means,” Edward said, taking a seat on a large brown leather chair. “I’m sorry to tell you, but Nicco Turner is a murder.”

  13

  It was impossible. It had to be. Right?

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “Nicco . . . what?”

  “Let me explain.” Edward sighed, a slow and heavy breath expelling from his chest. I wasn’t sure what he was about to say, but I knew that as much as I didn’t want to hear it, Edward Tide didn’t want to say it. “The symbol is old, very old. Long ago, a Lycan Alpha known as The Mad King became obsessed with the idea of those around him double-crossing him. He gathered the most powerful magics he could find and created something new, something the Lycan world had never seen. To a witch, it would have likely seemed like a simple hex, but for my people, it was a new kind of magic. The symbol was born in the fires our home, under the light of the fullest moon. It was meant to keep away all lycanthropes, a sort of repellant. When carved into wood under the light of a full moon, a powerful magic is unleashed, one no wolf may cross.”

  I tried my best to let it sink in, to understand what he was saying, but nothing seemed to make sense. The more I tried to put the pieces together, the more confused and frustrated I became.

  “How does that make Nicco a murderer?” I asked.

  “As I said, Hannah found out my secret but in doing so put herself in danger. I couldn’t be there with her all the time, so I told her a few ways to protect herself. One of which was this symbol. I told her to carve it into the wood should she need to. The fact that it was found next to her body tells me that she must have felt in danger.”

  “No . . .” I said. “That wouldn’t have happened. Nicco is a great guy. She wouldn’t have felt in danger near him. I can assure you!”

  “She would have had no other reason to carve the symbol,” he said.

  “What about the woman?” I asked.

  “Woman?”

  “The one wearing Babbs’s skirt. The one who took Hannah’s body from the morgue. Where does she fit into all of this?”

  I could tell from the look on his face that he was surprised. He didn’t know Hannah’s body was missing. The color drained from his face for a moment. He looked down at the floor, trying to piece together what this could possibly mean.

  “Do you have any idea where her body is now?” Edward asked.

  “How on Earth would I know where her body is?”

  “We need to find it. I don’t know who took it or what their plans are for it, but I don’t feel right leaving it out there in the world. It isn’t right.”

  “And what about Nicco?” I asked.

  “The fact that he went running out of there like that only strengthens our belief.”

  “Our . . .” I stepped closer to Abben, making sure to look her squarely in the face. “You believe this too?”

  A veil of silence befell her as she looked at me. We’d only known one another a brief time, but in those weeks, we’d gotten close. We’d bonded over many things. I considered her a devoted friend, one who would never keep secrets from me. I guess I was wrong . . .

  “I have no choice but to believe the evidence,” Abben replied, her eyes darting around the room as she tried to avoid looking at me. “He went in there. Fifteen minutes passed and she carved a symbol to keep him away. Then he came running out and she was dead. That’s hard logic to fight.”

  “Why can’t we just do that thing we did in the apartment?” Babbs asked. “To replay the events of what happened?”

  “That won’t work,” I replied.

  “Witch magic cannot be used there. It’s incompatible with Lycan magic in that way,” Abben clarified. “Believe me, Ginni. I don’t like this any more than you do. And in the beginning, I didn’t want to believe it either, but if Nicco lost control of himself once, he may do it again. We have to find him, to take care of this.”

  “Take care of it?”

  “I will speak with him,” Edward said. “If I believe he’s a danger to our community, then I will have no choice but to handle it in the same way I would if it were anyone else.”

  “So that’s your big idea of fixing things?” I said, anger boiling up inside me. “Stop your people from being who they are? Take away their ability to shift, to imprint? Remove everything about them that makes them special? Then, kill the ones who deviate?”

  “The garments may inhibit their shifting and imprinting, but at least they’re alive when the sun comes up.”

  “It’s crap!”

  “Don’t talk to me about my people that way. You have no idea what we’ve been through, the things I’ve seen, the things I’ve done . . .” Edward’s eyes began watering over with tears. “I watched my whole world get turned upside down. I watched our realm poison itself until there was nothing left. I did what I had to do to keep us alive, and if that means dealing with your murderous boyfriend, then so be it.”

  “He isn’t a murder!”

  “That is something I’ll get to the bottom of when we find him.”

  “We?”

  “I’ve sent a few of my people out looking for him. Now that the police and the media have his name and photo, we need to find him quickly and before they do.”

  “Then I’ll find him before either one of you!” I stormed out the door.

  I just didn’t know where else to go . . .

  “Hey,” I said, stepping through the door of the house I grew up in.

  “Ginni,” my father said. “Hello, darling. Long time no see.”

  “Yeah . . .” I said. “Too long.”

  It only took seconds for him to realize something was wrong, that I was worried about how this whole thing was going to go. I’d lost my mother long before I had a chance to realize how important she was to me and how much I’d miss her. I had the luxury of youth, of blissful innocence, one my father made sure I held onto for as long as possible.

  In her absence, he’d helped me through all the drama and tribulations of being a young witch. We’d talked about boys and about growing older. He’d taught me how to be strong, how to be the best version of myself I could be. I knew now, just like I’d always known, that if I needed him, my father would be there for me.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “It’s Nicco,” I said. I’d promised Abben and Edward that I wouldn’t tell their secret. That I would keep the truth of the Lycan race and where its magic is currently held away from him. I needed to be careful with my words. “He’s missing.”

  “He’s left you behind?” my often all-too-blunt father asked.

  “Yes. For lack of a better term. I’m afraid something has happened in the mortal realm. A woman has died, and it looks to the entire world as if Nicco is the one who killed her.”

  “Did he?”

  “No!” I said, my voice cracking from the stress. “Of course not! You have to believe me.”

  My father, one of the most powerful warlocks in all of Enchanted Lake and a member of the magical council could, even with all the power at his disposal, do nothing but sit next to me and wonder if I was right or if I was being a foolish girl.

  “What measures have you taken to find him?” he asked.

  I handed him my phone, clicking on the photo of the symbol I’d been searching for so long. I finally knew what it meant and instead of helping me clear Nicco’s name, it only seemed to cement his guilt. That, however, was no longer the only problem I had.

  “What are you doing with this?” My father asked, his voice becoming enraged. �
��This is lycanthrope magic. You shouldn’t have this, especially not here!”

  “I know,” I said. “But it appeared at the murder.”

  “From that wolf you live with?”

  “He has a name, Father!”

  “That matters little now. Not if he’s going to pull you into the middle of crimes, not if you’re going to be walking around with a Lycan target on your back. What if the wrong person sees this, Ginni? Do you know how much danger you’re putting yourself in by chasing after him?”

  “I don’t care. I know he didn’t do it. I owe it to him to find the truth!”

  “At what cost?” He slammed my phone on the table. “It’s bad enough that your life has cost us half the population. I won’t have you running around from realm to realm chasing wolves!”

  “I’m a grown woman! I’ll make my own decisions!”

  “Grown or not, you’re still my daughter, the only thing I have left! What would your mother say?”

  “I don’t know!” I said. “I have no idea what she’d say. But I’d like to think she’d understand. Just like I’d like to think you would too.”

  “Understanding is one thing. Having you act this way is another one entirely!”

  “I shouldn’t have come here.” I grabbed my phone and headed for the door.

  “Ginni, wait.” He followed behind me. “Don’t leave like this. Don’t leave angry.”

  “I’m not angry. I just wanted to talk, to have dinner with my dad and try to, just for a minute, forget about what’s happening.”

  “We can still do that.” He waved his hand, the stove in our kitchen springing to life.

  The house hadn’t changed much while I was away. The grass was a little higher, the flowers a little less vibrant, and the smell of fresh-baked sweets no longer wafted through the air. But I guess living alone, those things just kind of fall by the wayside. It was sad, in a way, to think of him as alone, or worse, lonely.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to—”