A Witch's Magic

by N. E. Conneely

  She yanked back her hoof and planted a solid kick in his shoulder.

  He yelped and stumbled back, crushing more flowers under his hooves. “Why’d you do that, Fern? You love me.”

  “Don’t Fern me. When I asked to go steady, you said no, and after five months of hoping you’d see me as more than a casual date, I dumped you. It takes more than love.” She didn’t take her eyes off him, but her tone shifted. “Michelle, the phone is on the wall beside you, if you could be so kind as to call the police.”

  “Sure.” I took my eyes off them long enough to find the phone. I snatched it off the cradle and mashed the first number. A cup from the trash can under the phone caught my eye. From this angle, I could only make out a third of the logo, but it was all I needed. Roasted Beans strikes again.

  “Fern, was he drinking coffee when he came in?” I turned back to them.

  Him was in midair, having leapt for the table while I wasn’t looking.

  “Mannaz!” I pointed my wand squarely at him and shoved extra power into the sleep spell.

  Him dropped to the floor with a thump and flowers sliding across the ground.

  “That is enough for one day.” I finished dialing 9-1-1.

  Fern hopped off the table, nudged him with a hoof, and started gathering up her flowers, trying to hide her tears behind her work.

  I turned around, giving her what privacy I could while I explained the situation to the operator. Given the power I’d put behind the sleep spell, Him wouldn’t be waking up any time soon. By the time I hung up, an ambulance was on its way, and Fern had a giant pile of flowers on the floor and a smaller pile on the table.

  “An ambulance?” she asked as she sorted a dozen roses between the two piles.

  Dismissing my wand, I leaned against the door frame. “There’s something you should know.” Outlining why Him (who’s name turned out to be Alekos) had acted oddly filled the time until the ambulance arrived.

  The paramedics didn’t bat an eye at their unconscious patient. As it turned out, they’d been at Roasted Beans and two other related incidents today. In their words, Alekos would be their least troublesome passenger of the day. Though they did make me go over the spell I’d used three different times. To reassure them, I handed over a business card with strict instructions to pass it on to the hospital staff so they could call me if they had any questions.

  By the time they left with Alekos gently snoring on the stretcher, Fern had turned the shop sign to CLOSED and deposited all the ruined flowers in a bin labeled “Plant Clippings Only.”

  “I should’ve asked if you wanted to file a police report, make Alekos pay for the damages.” If I’d been less annoyed at work problems colliding with my personal life, I would’ve thought about it more clearly.

  Fern shook her head. “It isn’t as bad as it looks, and I know him. Without the magic, he never would’ve done this.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes.” Fern tugged a stool out from under the table and sat, chin leaning heavily on her hand. “I know we had an appointment, but do you really want to talk about flowers now?”

  “Why don’t we reschedule.”

  “That would be good.” Fern summoned a faint smile. “I promise not to have any ex-boyfriends destroying my shop next time you’re here.”

  “Same time next week?”

  “Sure.”

  “I’ll tell Elron.”

  Fern walked me out and locked the door behind me. Frankly, I didn’t blame her.

  My phone rang. I check the caller ID. Elron. How timely of him. Since I wasn’t sure what to say after he missed all my calls and our meeting with Fern, I settled on the very useful, “Hello?”

  “I am sorry, but I will not be able to make it to the appointment.” A voice in the background overpowered his for a moment. “Please pass my apologies along to Fern and do what the two of you can without me.”

  “I take it your day hasn’t gone well either?”

  “No. I have a situation with a fey student and kudzu.” The frustrated spill of words stopped. “Either? I thought you were doing paperwork this morning. Were you called to a case?”

  “Three.”

  “I see.” A flurry of voices filled the background. “Alas, without my attention, the kudzu has resumed engulfing a student. I would very much like to try to have dinner, the two of us, tonight. Could you meet me here, and we can go to the pizza place you like?”

  “It’s a date.”

  “Delightful. Stay safe.”

  I ended the call and settled into my car. All of this, and I still hadn’t gotten my morning tea or finished those reports. Determined to get a little bit of work done, I headed back to the lodge.

  Narzel must’ve been taking the afternoon off, because my phone didn’t ring once on the drive, and I got home in time to enjoy leftovers from the lunch Landa had served the guests. I even avoided any witches who could be lingering around looking for me.

  The paperwork went as well as it ever does, and I sent off all of the reports before getting back in my car to meet Elron for dinner.

  In a marvel, the call-free afternoon continued. I should’ve been thrilled. Instead, it left a tingle of unease running down my spine.

  Ignoring the feeling, I pulled into a visitor space and started the long walk to the door. The tingle came back.

  “Don’t be paranoid,” I told myself. This wasn’t a case or a risky situation filled with danger. Meeting my fiancé for dinner at his work was the most normal thing in the world.

  A surge of magic raked across my senses.

  That had to be from one of his magical plants, right?

  Another surge, this time with the patterns of a spell.

  “Not a plant.” I sprinted for the corner of the building. My purse fell from my hand as I summoned my wand.

  I prepared to put on a burst of speed as I rounded the corner, but instead, I skidded to a halt. Three witches, or that’s what they felt like given the magic in the air, surrounded Elron. All had black masks pulled over their faces. My elf was doing his part, his sword a blur in the air as he tried to skewer the masked figure in front of him. And he would’ve managed, but the witch kept throwing up shields to deflect his swords.

  The other two attackers looked to be doing joint spell work, with hands clasped as they sketched runes in the air. I couldn’t tell exactly what spell they were casting, but it didn’t matter. Nothing they were doing could be good for Elron.

  With a quick blast of power, I erased the runes hanging in the air. My wand lowered to their hands, and with a spark of magic, I shocked them. They broke apart.

  “Algiz!” Magical ropes tightened around the witches who’d joined together to cast a spell.

  That lasted all of a second before the witch fencing with Elron undid the spell while blocking his sword.

  “Fehu!” I fed the spell more magic than it needed. A sturdy layer of ice encased the three witches.

  Elron backpedaled, giving himself more room.

  I frantically searched for another spell, one that would hold all of them and not require too much magic. After all the spells I’d flung today, magic was in short supply. Even when I’d been fully rested, I hadn’t been able to defeat Isadora.

  “Call the police!” Elron shouted.

  My fingers brushed across an empty pocket. I swore. For once, I’d put my phone in my purse, which was on the other side of the building where I’d dropped it.

  Water poured off two of the witches, and steam curled away from the third.

  Narzel blast it all. I needed a better spell. Or a good enough spell to buy us some time. “Sowil.”

  The containment spell wouldn’t hold for long. Maybe I could try to put them to sleep, like I did the satyr? Going into battle, smart witches would adjust their shields to block such a spell. Of course, these might not be smart witches.

  “Did you call the police?” Elron edged around the witches on his way to me, being careful to give me a clear shot at
them if they tired anything.

  The ice melted off of two of them. We had seconds at most, and I didn’t have a good plan. “Don’t have my phone.”

  Elron swore.

  The containment spells disintegrated, and a spell shot toward Elron.

  Dredging up as much power as I could, I flung my own shield around him.

  The spell splashed across Elron’s chest before wrapping around him. I’d been too late.

  I raised my wand.

  “I wouldn’t if I were you.” The witch who’d deflected his sword stepped forward, her voice cool and calm, as if this was a business meeting and not an attack.

  “Why not?” I kept my wand up and started running through the runes for a stronger shield spell.

  She smiled.

  That’s when I felt it. Icy daggers piercing my skin, twisting around my heart. I shouldn’t have felt it; the spell wasn’t on me, it was on Elron. “No.”

  “You shouldn’t let others know your weakness.” She jabbed her wand at Elron.

  The ice spread from around my heart to the rest of me, but it wasn’t the spell. She knew. She knew my life was tied to his.

  “What do you want?”

  I’d do anything to save him. Anything.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Drop your wand.”

  My fingers opened before I thought about following her order, and my wand fell to the ground. Being wandless wouldn’t stop me from casting spells.

  The spell around Elron’s heart, that stopped me. It narrowed my focus to the woman and elf in front of me, the rest of the world a blur.

  A muscle in Elron’s jaw twitched, but the rest of him hadn’t moved since the spell hit. Maybe it was more than the promise of death curled around his heart. It could be holding him in place too. Any other time, I’d probe the spell, but I’d seen spells react to probes before, and I wouldn’t risk Elron’s life.

  “Drop the sword.”

  I felt the clang of the metal colliding with the pavement in my bones.

  The witch nodded. “Elron is going to walk over here, nice and slow, and get in the van. Michelle, if you so much as twitch an eyebrow or command a drop of magic, he dies. Now, walk, elf.”

  “As tough as dragon hide and unrelenting as the ocean.” Elron stepped forward.

  “None of that.” The witch’s wand jerked. “Or I’ll have to come up with a fitting punishment.”

  I pressed my lips into a thin line and watched the love of my life get in the van with two witches.

  “Wait for our call.” She darted inside the van and pressed a charm against his neck. He collapsed.

  “Elron!” I lunged for my wand.

  They rolled away, not with a squeal of tires, but a purposeful lurch, and were around a building and out of sight before I could do more than curl my fingers around my wand.

  The knives of ice around my heart faded away. Either distance had dampened the effect, or they’d removed the spell from Elron. It didn’t matter which. I knew what I had to do.

  I ran back to my purse even faster than I’d run toward Elron. My hand shook as I dialed the phone. “Gordon? It’s Michelle. I know it’s been a while, but I need your help.”

  Bless him, he didn’t ask why my voice shook, he didn’t ask if I was okay. He asked where and what happened and promised to be here as fast as his cruiser could make the trip. He’d even send Jerry to check the scene.

  I managed to stutter my thanks. It took three tries to hang up the phone because the more I tried to hold my hands steady, the more they shook.

  The university police found me a few minutes later, holding Elron’s sword and sobbing. A voice in my head kept telling me to be strong, to be logical, to think this through and figure out why the witches captured Elron rather than simply killing him.

  At some point, Jerry sat down next to me and handed me a box of tissues. “Gordon’s on his way. I checked the magic, but I’d like to hear what happened.” He stretched his feet out and crossed his ankles.

  “Remember that case with the mayor? You watched them take me away in an ambulance? I’ve hardly ever been so embarrassed. Me, a grown man and capable hedge-practitioner, and there I was, beaten by flying chihuahuas of all things.”

  “They were a menace.” I dried my eyes. It was hard not to smile at that memory. Between the fireballs and their ability to dart through riot shields, we’d all been happy to lob curses at the breeder.

  “You never once teased me. I don’t think I ever thanked you for that.” His rumpled uniform’s fit accentuated his thin frame.

  I blew my nose. “Nothing worth teasing. Confronting a new magical creature, even one as seemingly harmless as a flying dog, has risks.”

  “That it does.” He tipped his head toward me. “What happened?”

  And with that, I knew he wouldn’t ask why I broke down. He wouldn’t tell me it was an over-reaction. He wouldn’t look at me next week and think less of me. So, I told him. At first, the words came slowly, but somewhere in the middle I found my rhythm. The Michelle telling the story wasn’t the same one who’d stood there and watched her love be abducted. That Michelle was mourning Ethel, wedding planning, in love with an elf Michelle. This one, the one who could tell the story without crying, this was Work Michelle: police consultant, killer of demons, and next premier.

  Gordon arrived as I was relaying the spell, the one meant to stop Elron’s heart. He stepped out of the cruiser, a solid block of a man who just looked like he would protect you. And he would, but these days, most of his time was devoted to overseeing the Magical Response Unit in Cobb County. On the way over, he took in the scene before focusing on me.

  Under the assessing gaze, my throat tightened, and I lost my grip on Work Me.

  “Sergeant, Michelle was just telling me how the assailants took Elron.” Jerry snagged Gordon’s eye and gave a slight shake of his head.

  Gordon tucked his hand in his pockets. “Please continue.”

  I had to swallow twice before I could say it. “They put a spell on him, one that could kill him. I think to stop his heart, but I didn’t probe it to be sure.” Work Me got through most of the story without breaking. “He said… doesn’t matter. They forced him into the car, placed a charm on him that made him collapse, and drove away.”

  For a moment, neither of them spoke. With a creak of leather, Gordon knelt down, his face kind. “We need to know everything. What did Elron say?”

  I could feel the tears gathering. “Please don’t.”

  Gordon simply looked at me.

  I swallowed. Procedure. On his side of things I would’ve asked too. “We have a saying. I told it to him once, and he used the words when he proposed. It’s about our love. He used part of it today. ‘As tough as dragon hide and unrelenting as the ocean.’” The tears I thought would fall didn’t. I’d said the worst of it. The last words he said, words of love, and I hadn’t been able to say them back.

  “Do you feel up to walking the scene with us?” Jerry asked softly.

  “Yes.” Because I would move mountains and walk through fire to keep him by my side. “We should start where I parked.”

  It took over an hour to go through it, let Jerry check the magic, and fill out paperwork. But after that first telling, it was easier. I’d already looked at my actions, where I felt I’d failed, and with each retelling, I went over my actions again. Maybe I could’ve used more magic, more aggressive or even deadly spells, maybe if I’d known then what I knew now, I could’ve saved him. But I hadn’t, and with the knowledge and magic I had, I’d tried my best.

  If I got Elron back unharmed, that would be enough.

  “We could try tracking him. I should’ve done it as soon as they got in the van, but I wasn’t thinking clearly.” That’s when I saw it, the shadow in Gordon’s eyes.

  “You can’t.” He kept his voice gentle. “You can’t work the case of your missing fiancé.”

  “I have tracking charms in the car.” I said it, even though I knew it wo
uldn’t matter.

  “Michelle, you can’t, and you know why.”

  I sucked in a deep breath. “If you can use the charms, you’re welcome to them.” It sounded lame, even to me.

  “We’ll take them.” Jerry glared at Gordon. “We can always use tracking charms.”

  Gordon nodded but didn’t look happy about it.

  “Thank you.”

  “We are going to do everything we can to find him.” Gordon met my eyes, and in him was a man who’d move mountains. “We will find him.”

  “I’m counting on it.” That was all I could say without tearing up, and tears wouldn’t help Elron. “I’ll get those charms for you.”

  Jerry met me at the car, Elron’s sword in his hands. “Usually we’d keep it for evidence, but there isn’t much we can do with it. Take it home with you. I collected his gloves to use with the tracking spells.”

  I nodded too many times and laid it across the back seat. Thankfully, my eyes had dried up, or I would’ve cried again, and I’d filled my crying quota for the year this afternoon. Still, I closed the door softly and felt a little better for having the sword.

  Popping the trunk, I dug through my extra supplies. While recovering, I’d made buckets of charms, so I was better stocked than usual. I pressed a bag of fifteen charms into Jerry’s hands. “I know why you can’t use them on this case, but it should help.”

  “It will.”

  I closed the trunk and stood there, not sure what to do.

  “You have your purse?” Jerry asked.

  “Phone, wallet, everything.”

  “Wand?”

  “That too.”

  “Then go home. Call your mom, or a friend, but don’t wait for news alone. I promise, I’ll call as soon as I know something.” He opened the door for me.

  “Thank you, you don’t know…” I looked down at the gum-smeared pavement so I didn’t have to see the sympathy in his eyes. “Just thank you.”

  I drove away, pointedly not looking at the cops still going over the parking lot. Elron wasn’t here anyway. He was gone, but I was going to find him. Move mountains. Walk through fire. Carve through dragon hide. Be as unrelenting as the ocean.