Rise: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Spelldrift: Coven of Fire Book 1)

by Sierra Cross

  “Come on, you know that’s not what I meant, right?” With his code of honor, Zen calm, and mad guardian skills, Matt was probably the most high-functioning twenty-five-year-old guy I’d met. But he still looked baffled so I had to spell it out, “After all your talk last night, about how ‘witches don’t fight’ and ‘fighters don’t witch.’ I thought you were into…gender roles.”

  “Gender roles for Wont work?” He snorted, like that was the silliest idea he’d ever heard. “Growing up on a guardian compound, we did everything ourselves. Chopping firewood, fetching well water, peeling potatoes. The frat was messier, but everyone still did chores on a schedule. Wont work must be shared by all.” He shrugged, evidently bored, and turned back to whatever he was reading on the coffee table, leaving me to stare.

  I could not figure this guy out.

  That’s when I noticed the huge blank spot on my wall, one that wasn’t there yesterday. My gratitude for his domestic skills turned to fresh irritation. He’d dismantled my framed cartoon map of Seattle as the center of the world and had it spread out on the coffee table.

  “Okay, we just need the scrying pendant,” he said like he was in the middle of a conversation that I wasn’t a part of.

  “Uh, why?” I asked, not trying to hide how annoyed I felt. “And why did you take my map off my wall?” Too late, I realized saying “my” twice in such short order made me sound like a toddler.

  “To find your coven.” He said it like it made perfect sense. “You scry for the bloodline. You need at least three to complete the circle of power.”

  “Circle of…I don’t even know that you’re talking about.” I sank onto the easy chair, feeling dizzy with frustration and overwhelmed. Once again, he was talking like this was a done deal and that I was the key. Me, with my magical deficiency. Me with my new job starting in less than forty-eight hours. I should be boning up on code, reading business books, putting together a work wardrobe. Instead, I was caught up in the vortex of one guardian’s mission to restart the coven. He was taking over my life, and my apartment. I flexed my hand and felt the very real pain of the demon blast. This stuff could get me killed so easily. Just like it killed my parents.

  Yet the thought of walking away and leaving Matt to deal with this alone didn’t feel right either. Even if my magic was untrained, deficient, or warped, I was the daughter of the coven leader. I could compromise, I told myself. Help get the coven set up and they can take it from there. Then I’ll dive into my new life in the corporate world.

  I was too tired and sore to face disappointing Matt with my lack of magic. I put the pendulum in my pocket and sighed. “I know where one of the coven daughters is.”

  Strange Brew was packed to the gills. Grinders roared, baristas tamped, cups clanked, and people chatted above the din. It was way too much energy for me to take in on an early Saturday morning, but the coffee smelled divine. Matt’s extra-large hand at the small of my back guided me gently through the crowd. Ordinarily, I’d see that as a macho move and be instantly turned off. But the light touch of his fingertips was more like seeking contact rather than trying to direct me. Much to my surprise I liked it. As we got in line I felt an odd electric zing in my bones and did a little hop as if something physical hit me.

  “What’s wrong?” Matt asked.

  “I don’t know. I just felt…something.” The crowd parted and I saw Callie behind the counter. Her head was bent down as she reached into the glass pastry case to get a scone. “That’s her, by the way. The little redhead.”

  “Hey, you’re feeling the presence of another magicborn.” Matt said, like it was some major victory. “You felt her before you saw her.”

  “Magicborn can sense each other?”

  “Yes,” Matt said, leaning in so I could feel his warm breath on my neck. “Witches, warlocks, guardians, shifters, vampires—those with innate supernatural abilities. We all sense each other’s magic. Mages and Fidei are a different story…hey.” Matt looked like he’d just come up with an idea. “Maybe your magic was just unused too long? Maybe it’s coming back. If you start seeing magic coming from the people around you, let me know.”

  “How could I see magic in other people?” I made a face. What did that even mean?

  “Give it time.” Matt’s smile was patient. “Yesterday you couldn’t imagine repairing a ward, or sensing another magicborn. Let alone returning me to this realm.”

  I had no argument for that. Damn him, he was actually planting a seed of hope in me. That my magic would grow, finally. I was starting to think that hope was more dangerous than a demon.

  Callie’s small face lit up when she saw me. “You came!” she squealed. “I usually work afternoons but I had a feeling I should come in this morning.” She frowned at the line. “But I can’t take a break until we slow down. Will you wait?” She put her hand on mine, and I could see she was afraid I wouldn’t wait. Like there was some part of her that was still the little kid that was always trying to tag along with Liv and me.

  My heart melted. “You bet. We came here to see you. Take your time.”

  Matt and I ordered chocolate croissants, which Callie insisted were killer. She gave us our lattes on the house. The only tables left were bar height, and my legs were too short for the rungs. About the eighth time I reached for them and missed, I looked over at Matt’s lap and wished I could rest my feet on his jeans-clad thighs. Where had that thought come from? Guardian, not boyfriend, I reminded myself sternly. He was really going to need to find a job, so he could get his own place to stay, so I could keep my sanity.

  We did an Internet search for Liv while we waited. There was nothing. A few Facebook profiles existed of the same name, but pictures made it obvious it wasn’t her. It was like she’d been swallowed by a black hole.

  “Is there a magical version of witness protection?” I joked.

  “Of course there is.” He leaned over to finish my croissant. “It’s run by Fidei; we better hope she’s not in it or we’ll never find her.”

  I sighed. Dang, I’d been hoping like hell to avoid the scrying.

  At least I was feeling well-fed and caffeinated by the time Callie got a break from the action.

  “Sorry,” Callie sat next to us. “I thought this place was crazy on weekdays.”

  “Callie, this is Matt.”

  She shook his hand, a puzzled look on her face. “Sorry.” She shook it off. “When I saw you in line just now, I thought you looked really familiar, but I must be imagining things.” She turned to me. “The crazy thing is he reminds me of someone from our mothers’… You know, the thing we were talking about last time?” She said it as if trying to speak in code.

  “Yeah, magic.” I laughed a little. I must have scared her when I scolded her. “You can say it in front of him.”

  “I’m amazed you remember what I look like, Callie,” Matt said cheerfully. “Last time I saw you were a little kid. Running around Caster’s Park in tears, demanding Alexandra free a frog. I believe you named him Fred.”

  “Oh my gosh,” she whispered. “It can’t be. You…died.”

  “We have kind of a long story to tell you,” I said, picking at the buttery flakes on my plate. “Spoiler. It’s about magic.”

  “Oh. Oh!” She bounced and clapped her hands. “Hang on, I’ll be right back.” Jumping to her sneakered feet, she peeled off her Strange Brew apron. “They’ll just have to do without me for the rest of the day.”

  When we told Callie we were going to restore the coven, her eyes filled with happy tears. “I’ve waited for this day my whole life.” She clasped her hands to her chest and threw her head back, a smile blooming across her face. “Where do we start?”

  “Our first task is to find Liv,” I said.

  Minutes later, we were sitting in my car, Matt in the driver’s seat, me in the passenger seat, and Callie in the back. Reluctant as I was to give up the wheel, it made sense to have him drive while Callie and I concentrated on pooling our magic. Matt explained t
he basic concept. He said they do it in the Brotherhood—to be stronger when they fight together. In a coven, once three or more pool their magic they are permanently connected, always enhanced. As you feel another magicborn’s presence, you can either guard against their magic or draw it in. It sounded like such an ethereal concept, but as Callie and I concentrated, I felt it. Her magic made me stronger. The magic in my blood lit a fire under my skin, not a bonfire, more like a pilot light, but it felt like heaven. I felt a rush of nostalgia.

  “Before you two begin scrying for Liv, I need to warn you.” Matt sounded even more serious than his usual self. “The nine women of the coven died that day at the hands of dark magic. But there’s no way of knowing what happened after.” He stopped as if stuck on how to continue.

  “After?” Callie looked confused and I didn’t blame her.

  “They died. There wasn’t any after,” I said.

  “It’s…more complicated than that.” It was obvious Matt hated talking about this. “The Fidei—the order of magically trained humans that protect the Wont world from all things magic—created the bus accident to cover up what happened at the cave. But in doing so they moved the bodies away from the wards.”

  “Why would that matter?” I asked.

  “A few Caedis demons were able to come through that night. And unlike the Nequam who can throw a glamour on and pass as human, they need bodies. They take them close to the moment of death. Caedis means killer because they must take over a body to survive in our realm. There’s a possibility that one of these demons could have taken over a dead witch’s body. If so, that witch’s daughters would have been brought up in dark magic.”

  “You’re saying Liv could be evil?” The thought made no sense.

  “We know Liv,” Callie snapped. “That’s not possible.”

  “I’m just saying we need to be on guard, is all.”

  The thought of any of my mother’s friends’ bodies being used by demons was enough to make me sick to my stomach. This was all so much to take in. Demons taking over human bodies and wandering around Seattle. The feeling of magic in my body. Callie back in my life. I needed to plow ahead or get sucked under.

  “Now, what am I supposed to do?” I picked up the pendulum and held it over the map.

  “You scry,” Matt said.

  “And I do that by…”

  He ran his hands over the short hair on the back of his head. Right. The Brotherhood didn’t do magic; he had no clue. It was the blind leading the blind.

  Callie wasn’t much better. “I saw my mother do it. She used to hold the pendulum over the map. And it would…just point to what she was looking for. Just give it a try,” she said encouragingly.

  I rolled my eyes, but I did try. And just like all those years ago—nothing happened.

  Not exactly nothing. The pendulum rattled, like it was about to move and then balked. Like it was a TV game show and I chose the wrong answer. I could practically hear the buzzer as I begged it to move. Matt made me try over and over. Nada.

  He sat back in frustration. “It’s like one minute your magic’s there and then it’s not there.”

  “Can I try?” Callie asked tentatively.

  “Be my guest.” Feeling like a magical reject, I passed back the pendulum and map.

  Callie rolled the pendulum chain between her thumb and forefinger as she closed her eyes. I felt her magic flow through our link—a warm, blissful feeling of connection—but a stab of jealousy hit me when the pendulum began to move. The crystal clearly pointed to the Westlake neighborhood of Seattle.

  “All right!” Matt exclaimed, and put the car in gear. “Let’s go.”

  I slumped down in my seat, arms crossed over my chest. I guess it was confirmed, I’d be of no use to the coven.

  Matt squeezed my knee. “Don’t worry.” He read my body language like a book. “We’ll get to the bottom of whatever’s really going on with your magic.”

  We made the rest of the trip dodging traffic in silence. When we were close, Matt asked Callie to scry again so she could pinpoint where we needed to go. She picked up the pendulum again and held it over the map. I felt the magic move again. The pendulum wobbled and instead of pointing to Westlake, it pointed west to Poulsbo, swung up for a brief second, and went completely slack.

  Epic fail.

  Chapter Eight

  The grey twilight sky opened up, letting loose a steady beat of rain on the car, as we drove a dejected Callie back toward her apartment.

  “Chin up, it’s only been one day,” Matt told her. “Tomorrow, go buy yourself a pendulum on Alchemy Row and keep working it. We’ll be in touch very soon.”

  I had to hand it to him. His pep talk was reassuring, if totally delusional. Callie even flashed a sweet perky smile before she pulled up her winter-white hoodie, dashed out into the crisp air, and ducked under the awning of her building. But on the silent drive home, I happened to glance at Matt when he didn’t know I was looking. And for a split second, his perfect features were sunken with hopelessness.

  The pain on his gorgeous face was so acute it penetrated my own numbness. The thick protective coat of cynicism I always wore—no, not always. Damn him—the guardian had made me believe in his crazy dreams. Me doing magic, like my mother. Slaying demons. Avenging my parents. Just for a moment I’d let myself want that future…and found I’d never longed so badly for anything. I wanted it every inch as bad as he did.

  Which made it ache all the more to face the awful truth: that Callie and I were currently a joke. We couldn’t even scry. Whatever miniscule talent I possessed, it was, untrained, and inconsistent. No part of this was going to come fast or easy. But—tantalizingly, tauntingly—that didn’t mean it for sure impossible, either.

  Hell, juggling while mixing cocktails hadn’t come easy at first either.

  Which reminded me, I still hadn’t gotten my final paycheck from Sanctum, and I desperately needed it to stock up on work clothes. The alternatives, dressing like a bartender or wearing my interview outfit day in, day out at Millennium, seemed equally loser-esque. Anxiety flooded my brain as a list of other neglected tasks rattled through it: witch or not, I needed to pay bills and buy stuff for lunches. Scout out the corporate shuttle stop. Pack my new leather carry all bag. I was starting a new job on Monday, dang it. Having a magical stray—a hot, driven one at that—staying on my couch had really thrown my priorities off-balance. It was like I couldn’t think clearly with Matt’s alluring presence filling my living room. I needed space. Away from his pheromones.

  The rain was letting up to a comfortable Seattle drizzle by the time Matt, parallel parking with military precision, squeezed my car into a tiny, steep spot between a motorcycle and a SmartCar. To my relief, his expression had returned to the look I privately thought of as Zen guardian or command presence.

  “Hey, I’ve got to go pick up my last paycheck,” I told him, thinking that a walk might help me. “My dickhead ex-boss refuses to mail it to me, so I’m going in person. But I’m not sure how it’ll go down. You may want to wait at the apartment.”

  “Alexandra, I’m a guardian against the realms of dark magic and demons.” Matt wasn’t the sarcastic type, but the amused curl of his full mouth looked dangerously close to a smirk. “I can deal with one dickhead boss.”

  Fair enough. I shrugged and led the way.

  Walking around town with Matt at my side, I learned in the ten blocks to Sanctum, was a surefire way to stop guys from ogling me. The men we passed on the street would instead sneak disbelieving glances at Matt’s monstrous pecs and biceps, then look away and walk faster. I caught no fewer than three young women letting slow, lusty gazes travel down his six-and-a-half-foot frame. One tossed me a glare of pure dislike, as if to say, “How’d you get with him?” Matt didn’t seem to notice. Knowing him, he was busy scanning for possible threats. But truth be bold, I didn’t mind those women thinking Matt belonged to me. Sure, it was probably just a crazy fantasy to think the guardian could ever be mi
ne—he was so professional all the time—but, as with restarting the coven, it was a fantasy I wasn’t yet willing to let go of.

  I gave a chin raise what’s up to Tony on the way into Sanctum. It was kind of early so we could cross the room without bumping bodies. Barely. Though there was no sign of the raucousness that would unfold as the night wore on, the room already gave off a buzz, a warm ambience of excitement that I’d badly missed. A twinge of melancholy passed over me at the sight of my Gothic revival backbar stretching proudly across the back of the room, the colored liquor bottles twinkling hello to me…

  “Alix, I missed you!” Emma slam-hugged me, making me laugh with surprise and delight. I squeezed her back, realizing how much I’d missed being part of the Sanctum crew. “You left without saying goodbye.”

  “I know…” I looked down. “I’m a shit.”

  “No, Randy was way out of line,” she said. “I would’ve quit too. But it’s not the same without you.” She whispered in my ear, “Brett’s an okay bartender, but he’s no you.”

  I couldn’t hide my grin; it felt good to be missed.

  Emma’s eyes traveled up the length of Matt. She gave me a questioning glance.

  “Oh. This is Matt.” Suddenly my mind blanked on how to introduce him. He was my guardian, but Emma was a Wont; she’d have no idea what that meant. Man, keeping all the parts of my crazy life compartmentalized was getting hard. “He’s…a…friend…of mine.” Great, I’d just made it sound like Matt and I were having a torrid affair. Only in my dreams. My cheeks were heating up.

  Luckily Emma and Matt had already glided past my awkward stammering and were shaking hands.

  “This place is great.” Matt glanced around appreciatively. “I’ve never seen the upstairs,” he added, then caught himself. “I mean the inside.”

  “Yes, Sanctum is an amazing spot.” Emma gave me a pointed look. “Speaking of that, I still have something I want to talk to you about.”