Magic in my Bones (Lesser Magicks Book 1)

by Kellie Sheridan

  Maybe I should have just given the wolves her name and let Ireland's faction leaders rip her apart like her dog had done to one of the fae.

  Maybe when all this was done I could take Ethan aside and tell him everything I knew, at least then I'd be able to sleep a little more easily.

  And yet I couldn't forget the look of that body who'd been mauled by something even smaller than a werewolf.

  "Since that has all been settled," Ethan said, his expression unreadable, "I think it's time we all discussed what will, and will not, be tolerated from—"

  In the distance, a woman screamed. A second later, the air around us shimmered and for a moment it was like looking at the world around me from underwater.

  Something had gone horribly wrong. No, Patrick was dead, so something else had gone horribly wrong.

  Basically, nothing at all was going the way it was supposed to.

  The first thing I noticed when my eyes started functioning normally again was that both fae were gone. Beside where they'd been a moment before, both Ethan and the witch he'd brought with him looked lost and confused. But neither one was concerned with the missing fae, they both seemed focused on the streets around us where once again, people were making their way back into the square.

  A spell had been protecting us, or keeping us away, I didn't know which. Whatever it was, it was gone now.

  The second thing I noticed was Cooper sprinting across the park from the same corner where we'd entered, running full speed ahead toward us.

  My first instinct was to get out of the way, but as soon as he got close enough to our group, Cooper slowed, stopping beside Ethan.

  "Tell her what you told me," Ethan directed the wolf who had just joined us, indicating the witch.

  "What's happening?" I asked Nina since she was the one still closest to me, but the other woman only waved me off.

  "We were ambushed," Cooper said. "Trina and me. One minute, we were on the roof, she was focused on whatever spell she had cooked up, I was watching the perimeter. The next second, someone had grabbed her. I could see where they had their arms wrapped around her body, dragging her backward, but I couldn't see anyone. As soon as I moved to stop them, I was hit from behind. I took down one guy, but by the time I was standing again, there was no sign of Trina or anyone else. This was all a trap."

  Chapter 18

  Cooper hadn't even finished speaking before Aoife started running, disappearing down the street in a green haze. If she was running toward something or away from it, I couldn't tell. And I couldn't follow. Nails dug into the skin on my arm as the witch grabbed me by the wrist.

  "This is exactly why you should have been killed a long time ago," she hissed. "If you and yours have harmed one of mine, the lesser magicks of Ireland will feel my wrath for a hundred generations."

  I tried to pull away, but her grip wouldn't give out. "I don't know what's going on any more than you do, but you're going to need to back the fuck off right about now." But the more my mind spun, the harder it got to ignore Cooper's theory. This had been a trap within a trap within a trap. Somehow, I’d gone from meeting some lesser magicks at a bar last night to handing Aoife something she'd wanted, but what? Had someone else died today because I'd chosen to get involved?

  "Meg, that's enough." Ethan put his body between the witch and I, cutting her off from my view while distracting the other woman long enough to let me break her hold.

  Taking a step back, I bumped into a broad body. Spinning around, I found Jeff and Nina still standing behind me. I'd just assumed that when Aoife had run her friends had too. "You're still here? What exactly just happened?" More specifically, did you know what the hell all that was about? I kept that last question to myself, but it was the one I really wanted answers to.

  I'd liked Nina the first night we'd met, really. And wow, how was it possible that was only yesterday? But she was obviously friends with Aoife, and even if the other woman hadn't told her about murdering the fae girl, she hadn't jumped ship when she'd learned about it either.

  Nina looked around helplessly. "I'm not sure. She just ... took off. And where did Dominic go?"

  "He ran after her," Jeff added, frowning. "To chase her down or aid in her big escape, I don't know. We all came when Nina called a few days ago, but I'm starting to wonder if we were all just meant to be additional cover."

  "Can you call everyone back? Let's find out how many people were involved with taking that witch? Maybe then we'll know how many people are with Aoife on this."

  "How can we trust that she hasn't left some of her people behind to track what's happening here?" Jeff asked, shuffling from foot to foot with nervous energy.

  "Believe me, I've considered that." I gave him a long look, trying to drive my point home. There were officially zero people I could trust anymore. "But what other choice do we have? We need to find Trina before she gets hurt. And then we need to figure out what Aoife had to gain from bringing us here. Why that witch? Why now?"

  I still wanted a chance to talk to Ethan, to figure out what he knew or if we were already entirely screwed because of Aoife's betrayal. He was currently standing by the fountain, speaking with Meg, the witch, too quietly for me to hear. She looked all kinds of pissed, but Ethan's calm demeanor never faltered.

  At least there was one other wolf who might be able to get me up to speed. "Call everyone," I said, directing the order to Nina and Jeff. "Get them all here as quickly as you can. I'll be right back."

  "Hey," I said only a second later, approaching Cooper from behind. "Long time no see. What did I miss?"

  Cooper gave a long, exasperated sigh. "I hate people," was the only real response I got. "Last night was essentially a disaster wrapped in a kerfuffle wrapped in a nuclear explosion waiting to happen. We were the ones who called the fae, Katie was the target of an attack, you think that would have garnered our pack a little trust, but no. Meg is convinced that Ethan has been hiding you from her for years now, hoping to use you for his own means."

  "That's the only reason she came here today then?"

  "Who knows? Knowing that a few individuals with lesser magick had all travelled to her country to start their own little coup probably didn't sit well with her, but once she learned you were at the heart of that too, she's become less than fun to deal with."

  "I'm not at the heart of anything! I'm just trying to keep things from getting worse."

  "How's that going for you?"

  "Not great, thanks so much for asking." Thankfully, my glib comment came out more tired than sarcastic, though there had been a whole torrent of different emotions behind my words. Emotions that mostly refused to come out as my body and mind stayed focused on survival. I wanted to copy his massive sigh from earlier, but everything I was feeling seemed to want to stay cooped up inside me. "It's crossed my mind a few times now that I might have been better off hopping on the first bus out of here on that first night. Or just taking a cab across the country, hopping on a boat to England and being done with all of this." Pausing to take a breath, I forced myself to try and see beyond my own complaints. "Have you seen or heard from your brother again? Do we know how much of this the humans are aware of?"

  Cooper shook his head. "I haven't seen Bryan since the crime scene at the barn. And even then, he made a point not to acknowledge me, so even if he knew something, he'll probably think better of sharing it with me again." All around us the square was continuing to fill, but not just with humans going about their business. Some were familiar faces, like Tate coming back at Nina's call. I had to hope that meant he'd had nothing to do with the abduction of the witch girl. Others, mostly women, I didn't recognize but all showed signs of the same witch magick that surrounded Meg. This had to be her coven. Or what was left of it.

  Cooper turned his whole body to face me, blocking my view of anyone else. "This isn't your fault, you know? None of what's happening is on you. It's fairly clear at this point that whatever is happening now has been coming for a long time. You're the o
ne that gave us the heads-up."

  I started to respond, opening my mouth and hoping the words would form to explain what I was feeling as I spoke, but before I managed more than a few fumbled phrases, the crowd around us got a little louder, a little more frantic.

  "Trina!" someone yelled.

  I turned to find one last witch making her way toward our group. She looked to be in her thirties or so, with dark hair and eyes. From a distance, her light skin seemed to be sporting a few bruises, and she was holding one arm tight against her body with the other.

  "Is that the witch who went missing?" I asked Cooper, but he was already gone, sprinting to meet the woman who had to be Trina. Everyone else who'd gathered nearby looked like they were being pulled in her direction as well, one large crowd easing forward to embrace its missing member.

  Meg was at the front of the pack, with Ethan right behind her.

  I didn't bother trying to be polite as I shouldered my way forward, needing to know exactly what was happening.

  It looked like Trina was trying to explain what had happened to her while simultaneously fighting off tears. I came into hearing range mid-sentence. "It was risky," she explained, talking to Meg, but also looking around at the other women who'd surrounded her. "But she just kept hitting me, so I had to do something. We were back behind a shop. I think I saw a woman watching us with her phone out. She might have been calling the police, so we'll have to deal with that too."

  "You don't need to worry about that now. We'll get you home for some rest and you'll be good as new before you know it. For now, what I want to know is who is responsible for this." Meg demanded. "Who did this?"

  "I don't know who they were. I literally couldn't see whoever grabbed me. It felt like a man though. He bound my hands, but not tight, and then his friend, the woman, just started whaling on me. They didn't use any magick."

  "So maybe this wasn't us." I recognized Nina's voice from somewhere nearby.

  "No," I answered. "There's just no way. This was Aoife it had to be. She wanted this all along, I just can't figure out why." I took another step forward, until I had wedged myself between Ethan and Meg. "How did you escape?

  "I didn't want to risk exposure, but I couldn't ..."

  "It's okay," Meg said, reaching out to stroke Trina's hair. "You don't have to talk to her."

  "It's fine. It all just happened so quickly. I couldn't fight them off. But I managed to get my hands free after only a few hits. I used a variation of that incineration spell we'd been working on, and directed it out in front of me, hoping to hit the bitch hitting me and her sidekick at the same time. They ran off right away! If it weren't for the fact that the guy had been invisible, I would have wondered if they were human after all."

  "Well they weren't," Meg said definitively. "And I'm going to ensure that all those invited to the summit know exactly who was responsible for these relentless attacks against the factions."

  "So that what, they'll cancel or relocate?" I cut in. "Are we sure that wasn't what Aoife was hoping for all along?" Meg didn't answer. "So maybe we should all just take a breath here and try to work out what it is we're not seeing before we charge ahead all over again, and this time someone else gets killed."

  To my surprise, nobody argued. They didn't start some super group hug, all embracing one another, differences and all either, but for once, nobody argued. Instead, plans started to form for a search party to try and track down anyone who might have been involved.

  "Melanie," a familiar voice called out to me a few minutes later, when I'd retreated to the fringe of our still-growing group. A little too familiar.

  I already knew that the person calling my name was someone I had no interest in talking to.

  Taya caught up with me anyway, moving fast enough to get ahead of me and block my path.

  I stepped to the side, she moved with me.

  "Go away."

  "Not until you talk to me. Listen, I can explain ..."

  "What? Why you sold me out? Fine. Go ahead. Did it get you everything you always wanted Taya? Are you part of the inner circle now." Taya frowned, opening her mouth to speak, but I wasn't done yet. "Because we both know these people are using you. They didn't want you before, they don't want you now."

  "It's not like that. Things are changing. Not just in Ireland, but all over the world. If we're going to survive exposure, we all need to band together and present a united front."

  "You sound like you're reading off a pamphlet. And I get it, Tay, I do." I hadn't meant to use my roommates nickname but it slipped out anyway. My mind was still trying to sort through everything that had just happened, distractedly trying to put the puzzle pieces together while enduring Taya's half-assed apology. "You want to be included, to be part of something. I get it. You know what, in a way, that was always something I wanted too. Magick is a huge part of who I am, part of my heritage, but I've had to stay away from it my whole life. And even though I never really knew what I was missing, what was possible. But even knowing all of that now, if I'd had a chance to get my family back, or, I don't know!" I cried out in frustration. "But if the only way in for me was to ruin your life in the process, I never would have done it."

  "Your life isn't ruined! Don't you see that. You have these impossible powers, you're respected, you already have more connections with the supernatural world after a week than I made in a lifetime. You're the one with all the power here. And Meg only wants to help you build on that."

  "Sure, so she can control me. Listen, Taya. I really don’t have time for this right now."

  "Just let me introduce you to Meg, properly without all this other stuff. I know Meg can come off as a little intense. She's just protective. Listen to—"

  I held up a finger, looking away from Taya at everyone else still there in the square with us. "Not now!"

  Taya kept talking, but I'd stopped listening.

  I'd missed something, something important. Something big.

  Aoife's buddies had grabbed the witch, then just let her go. Why? Was it too risky to hurt her out in the open, with so many of the greater magically inclined nearby.

  Or had they just gotten what they needed and taken off, letting the girl go once she wasn't going to be of anymore use. She'd told us she'd fought, but it wasn't until she used her magick that her attackers backed off. That had to mean something.

  Still trying to ignore Taya's sales pitch, I played back through the few conversations I'd had with Aoife. She'd kept alluding to something bigger, something that she was gathering the pieces for, but what?

  "Taya, shut up for a second, would you?"

  My roommates mouth snapped shut, an embarrassed flush taking over her features.

  "I know what she's planning." The words escaped my mouth as soon as I got a moment of quiet to let myself think. "Aoife. I know what she wanted from all this. I need someone to get me to a computer. And quickly."

  Chapter 19

  "Nina," I called out, hoping she was still nearby.

  She appeared a moment later, but something in my urgent tone had drawn others as well. I felt Ethan behind me more than saw him, but the important thing was, he was there.

  "Are you friends with Aoife on Facebook, or do you have her email, anything like that?"

  "Sure," Nina said, confused. "A bunch of us do. She reached out through an email chain to see who could come to Galway on short notice."

  "Good. Because I think she's been taking videos of the greater magicks using their powers to try and use against them. Either for blackmail or to try and out them to the media before they can do the same ... I'm not sure. But if you can connect me to her online somehow, I can find everything she has, and hopefully destroy it before she has a chance to do anything more. Will you help?"

  Holding my breath as I waited for her response, I hoped for the best. Because no matter how many things seemed to go wrong ... and there were a lot of them, I couldn't seem to stop believing something good might happen. It had to. Nina only hesitate
d for a moment. "I'll do whatever I can. Whatever she's been doing, there's a very good chance it's going to get everyone killed in the end. I don't want her hurt, but if we can stop what she's doing, I'm all for it?"

  "She had no problem hurting me," Trina added in, voice shaking. "And we know she's already killed someone. If you're protecting her, you're a part of this."

  Finally, Nina seemed to find her backbone. "You're right," she said. "Just tell me what to do."

  "Does anyone know where the closest internet café is?" I asked the group. Having Nina on board was a plus, but that was only the first step. "I need to get online." I'd walked these streets so many times. But always having tons of my own devices meant I rarely gave a second glance to anything like an internet café. Worst case, I'd settle for somewhere with free Wi-Fi, but the more powerful a computer I could feed my powers into, the faster I could work, and my phone wasn't going to give me nearly enough juice to work with. But a touristy city like Galway had to have something like this covered, right? It had to.

  "I think ..." Taya answered.

  "No. You don't." But nobody else spoke up. "Seriously, is no one else actually from this actual city? You all just came here to wreak a little havoc and then be on your merry way."

  "I do," Taya said, an edge of frustration rising in her voice. "If you'd just listen to me for a second."

  "Fine. You're right. If you know where we need to go, lead the way. We don't have time to sit here and wonder whether anyone should actually trust you."

  Taya didn't wait for any further permission than that before taking off back toward Quay Street. With no choice but to follow, I left Eyre square behind, only slowing long enough to look over my shoulder to make sure Nina was still with me. Even factoring in my powers, the internet was a damn big place. If I had any chance of finding a drop of water in the ocean of information, I needed her as a head start.