My heart pounded. “Proof of life, or I don’t do anything.” I didn’t need the proof, but I wasn’t going to let them think I’d do anything without knowing he was safe. Nor did I want to risk revealing the connection between our lives if this person didn’t know.
“Speak.” This voice was light and feminine, and it wasn’t talking to me.
“Hello?” Elron’s voice drifted across the line.
“The first week we met. You said you were curious about my clan scar. What did I say?” The mark on the back of my right shoulder identified my clan. Actually, clans. I was bound to my mother’s Wapiti and my father’s Docga. Along with those, it contained the mark of the Ieldra, a sign of a powerful witch destined to do great things. That part of my clan scar had been a lot more interesting before I’d realized great things meant scary and likely to kill you.
“You said curiosity might kill the elf.” He kept going, his words tumbling over one another. “Don’t do it. Don’t listen to them!”
“That is enough proof.” The voice was back, this time rough and tired. “Step down by eight tonight, or we cut the elf.”
The line went dead.
I stared at my phone even after the screen went dark. From that interaction, I couldn’t tell if they knew about the connection or not. Initially, I’d thought they had because the death spell had affected me too. Now, it could go either way. All I’d learned from the phone call was Elron didn’t want me to listen, and if I didn’t do what they asked, they’d hurt him.
“Syed, you mistress of evil. What did I ever do to you!” I swore.
Think. I had to do what I’d barely done since all of this started. I needed to think.
It wasn’t easy to focus though the haze, but I shoved everything aside so I could drive home safely. I got there without incident and skipped the lodge entirely, instead walking through the gardens. Eventually, the path carried me to the altar. I studied it before turning away and heading into the woods. I didn’t stop until I found Ty hanging out by the A-frame building he called home. I sat on a bench, and he snuffled my hair.
At first I was too numb to do anything, even think. Inside me, a dam broke. Leaning against Ty’s cheek, I cried.
When no more tears would come, I dried my face with the hem of my shirt. Behind the grief came fatigue. Today, I wasn’t smart or clever or witty. All I had left in me was what I’d been doing for days. Dig in and push through.
If this was another police case, that would be enough, but it was my life, and Elron’s life. There was a larger picture here, and right now, I couldn’t see it.
“So, do I give them what they want, or do I try to be clever?” I asked.
Ty’s breath ruffled my hair.
“I don’t know how to fix this because I don’t know how everything went wrong. Which events are linked and which aren’t.” I scratched under his chin. “Ethel’s death, I guess. Which doesn’t even make sense. I never took her for a liar, but ages ago, when she asked me to be the premier, she said I had time to get used to the idea. She knew when she would die, and it wasn’t for a few years.”
My breath caught. “Oh.”
Ty huffed.
I started scratching him again. “Ethel didn’t just know when she’d die. She knew how. She told me that. So, what changed?”
Ty cocked his head to the side so I could reach the spot.
“Nothing changed.” I shifted my fingers to the side. “Yet everyone thinks she’s dead.”
Ty groaned and thumped his tail, shaking nearby trees.
“But she’s not dead. Because this wasn’t how or when. She would’ve told me.” Brutal honesty had always been more Ethel’s style than lies and deceit. “So, is she testing me? That doesn’t seem like her.”
Ty was too lost in the bliss of chin scratches to have answers.
“Or is she out there, hiding and plotting to deal with whoever tried to kill her? That would mean the bystander was right, and she escaped into the woods, likely after spelling a set of remains to foil the medical examiner.” Now that sounded more like the Ethel I knew. “But that doesn’t tell me what I should do. If she’s out there plotting, why hasn’t she contacted me?”
“Because she thinks I’m in on it. No, that doesn’t feel right.” I gave Ty’s cheek a final pat, ignoring his nudge. “She knows me well enough to know I wouldn’t betray her like this, plus all it gains me is a bunch of problems.”
“She’s alive.” I counted off what I knew on my fingers. “She can’t contact me for some reason. Someone wants me to give up being premier. Elron was abducted by the people who want me to step down. Magic has been running wild.”
That’s where I got stuck. Maybe someone had taken both Ethel and Elron because they had plans for a different premier. Not the easiest plan to pull off, and they didn’t have any guarantee I would cooperate. Hardly foolproof. “What am I missing?”
Ty didn’t have any answers.
I tried a different angle. “I don’t want Elron to be harmed. I give the appearance of setting up another announcement. I go about my day as usual, take that stuff to be disposed of for Rodriguez. Then I… do what they ask. I tell the witch community I’m stepping down, which means my mom is also stepping aside. That keeps her from being a target, and at the same time, I tell them Ethel is alive, which is why I’m stepping down. How does that sound?” I looked up at Ty.
He wrinkled his nose.
“You’re right, they could still hurt or even kill Elron, but why would they? I wouldn’t be in line to be the premier, so I and Elron wouldn’t be of value. Oh… that’s the problem.” I huffed. “No easy fixes there.”
Ty bobbed his head.
“I know, but the overall plan is still sound. I schedule the press conference and then spend the rest of the day trying to find another out. It’s the best I’ve got.”
Ty tilted his head to the side before nodding.
“Thanks, Ty. Come down for a hug?” He lowered his head so I could wrap my arms around his nose. “You’re the best.”
I didn’t tell him that no matter what I did, the people holding Elron could kill him. I didn’t tell him this could be the last hug. Instead, I let it stretch on, wishing I could freeze time.
Chapter Twenty
I thought scheduling a press conference would be hard. Turns out, when you’re the next premier, a quick phone call to an assistant is all it takes. As an added bonus, Susanna didn’t even press endlessly about the topic or whatnot. She agreed to set everything up for eight and warned me I had to be back here by six for hair and makeup.
I swung by my apartment long enough to grab a protein bar and an energy-boosting tea and hit the road. It wasn’t exactly safe to be toting around tainted magic. One car accident and I could blow up a stretch of highway.
Any other day I would’ve been enjoying the fall breeze, leaves drifting down, and clear blue skies. All of which were lost on me today. I couldn’t enjoy any of it because inside I felt empty.
Void.
Nothing.
No matter what I did, someone I loved could die. Likely Elron, taking me with him. No future wedding, no helping the witch community, none of our dreams coming true.
If everything went right, and Elron’s captor kept their word, I might get him back after the press conference. That was assuming they wouldn’t have another task for me, and then one after that.
That was assuming this wouldn’t end in death.
Like Ethel.
My fingers tapped on the steering wheel. “I really could use some luck right now. That would be grand.”
A single crow flew across the sky.
“Really? An omen of bad luck? I already know I have bad luck! How much worse could it get?” I took a right to head for Regional Disposal. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
I passed an old bungalow that had seen better days with a FOR SALE sign in the yard, and a tingle crept through my senses. Slowing, I scanned the area, but the fence at the edge of Regional
Disposal’s property appeared in good repair. Even the sedan in the oncoming lane kept to a reasonable speed for the road as it passed. As far as my eyes could see, the tingle was unwarranted.
The tingle persisted along the edge of my shields.
Unable to shake the sensation, I pulled onto the shoulder, flipped on my hazard lights, and silently swore.
I shouldn’t look. I had enough problems. Not a one of which would be helped by poking my nose into a problem that wasn’t currently mine.
Great logic. I ignored all of it, closed my eyes and released the shield blocking me from seeing magic. A deep breath, and I opened my eyes.
A riot of color vying for dominance washed across Regional Disposal, barely held in by the fence. The magic etched into the metal strained under the load, hardly able to hold it in. A fence post next to my car flared neon pink as the two magics collided.
Spots filled my eyes long after the flare of magic died. When I could focus again, I checked the fence. It was still holding, but weaker. “Narzel, you just had to, didn’t you?”
Phone in hand, I got out of the car for a closer look. The way the magic inside the fence moved reminded me of…
No. Couldn’t be. They’d destroyed the cleaning supplies from Happy Paws, right?
The magic pulsed, warring with itself inside the fence. Magical phantoms of dogs and cats sprung to life, battling forks, knives, and one jumbo-sized chef’s knife. A fork sprang for a cat, who batted it out of the air and pounced before trotting off, tines thrashing as the cat carried it away. In retaliation, the chef’s knife, easily the largest item on the battlefield, sliced through a cat and two dogs.
Before the knife could attack anyone else, a Roasted Beans coffee cup hopped onto the battlefield, leapt up, and came down on top of the knife, trapping it. Not to be outdone, a round ball of what I could only assume was ice cream rolled on to the magical battlefield, flattening everything in its path.
Either Regional Disposal’s disposal efforts weren’t doing the trick, or they weren’t really disposing of magic items at all, but storing them. Now all these rogue magics—ones that should’ve run themselves out, not created phantoms to terrorize the magical landscape—were battling. Since they weren’t dead, there had to be a source, but where? What would be powerful enough to keep magic of this scale operating for days?
I shook myself out of my daze and started dialing Rodriguez. The entire area would have to be quarantined. It was a big job, likely too much for me alone, but I could coordinate with a firm who specialized in problems, well, not like this, but close enough.
The first ring of the line was interrupted by a fire and pain spreading through my entire body. I fell to the ground shaking, tears leaking from my eyes, the phone forgotten.
A familiar looking woman with jaw-length blond hair pursed her lips as she considered me.
I didn’t know what there was to consider. Pain still flared through my body, and given the stun gun in her hand, magic didn’t have a damn thing to do with my current state.
“Oh, you’re still awake.” She knelt down beside me.
My eyes didn’t want to focus on the swimming images of her face, but for a brief moment, they snapped into a cohesive whole.
I knew her.
She’d been on Isadora’s side before the Trial by Magic. Marquette hadn’t said much that day, but if she was involved, then maybe Isadora was behind this, and I’d been played.
“That won’t do.” Her wand tapped my forehead, and my world went dark.
Waking up hurt. I wanted to blame the stun gun, but frankly, the concrete floor under me bore more than a fraction of the responsibility. The cold metal cuffs around my wrists blocking my magic weren’t helping. Even without opening my eyes, I knew the bracelet that allowed me to summon my wand was gone. Annoying, but not the largest problem.
Hoping to buy a little time before my captors realized I was awake, I kept my eyes shut. Before Marquette had zapped me, I’d been calling Rodriguez. The call had rung once, but I couldn’t remember if he’d answered or not. If not, Susanna would realize I was missing in a few hours when I didn’t show up for makeup.
Not that she’d have a clue where to find me. No tracking spell would penetrate the mess of magic around this place, which made it a pretty good place to hold someone if you knew a witch was looking for them.
That thought had my eyes open and me scrambling upright as best I could. Blinking, I noticed the relative lack of debris on the floor, which meant this area had been cleaned recently or didn’t get much traffic. From the block walls and slit-window door, the most notable feature was the person chained to the opposite wall. In the dim light, I couldn’t make out their features.
“Elron?” The tracking spell had failed. Maybe because he was here, and now we were here together. Which, now that I thought about it, didn’t seem like much of an upgrade.
“So much for you saving me, not that being locked in here was a good start.”
I’d recognize that sharp voice anywhere. “Ethel? You’re alive? Right. The tracking spell failed the same way.”
“I don’t follow.” She scooted closer, the dim lights revealing disheveled gray hair and a bright pink shirt.
“Have you seen Elron?”
“No.”
“Oh.” I sucked in a deep breath, reminding myself that Ethel didn’t have to see Elron for him to be here. “Everyone thinks you’re dead. So did I at first, but then I remembered you knew when you were—will—whatever, die and said you had time before then.”
“If we live through this, I will be sure everyone knows I’m alive.”
“If?”
Ethel sighed. “I’ve been told I should expect to have very few days left.”
“But you told me you had years, and that was less than a year ago,” I said. The electric shock hadn’t done my reasoning abilities any good.
She shrugged. “How did you come to be here?”
It took a while to catch her up, partly because I had to untangle things as I went. Isadora’s motives for all of this weren’t clear to me, so I avoided blaming her until the very end. “I don’t know why Marquette used the stun gun on me. Maybe magic near the edge of the property causes problems with what they have going on here. Anyway, she supported Isadora during the challenge. But I still can’t figure out what Isadora gets out of this, and I really did think she was afraid.”
“Marquette seems to be on day guard duty. She’s been bringing my meals.”
“And how did you come to be here?” I had questions too. A lot of them, since my brain power had gone to emergencies and spells, not critical thinking.
“I awakened here after the convention. In that time, I have seen three jailers, and Isadora hasn’t been one of them.”
“Do you remember getting in your car?” I had a bad feeling about the supposed accident.
“No.”
I tapped my fingers on my thigh. “Everyone said you were in the car. The medical examiner was sure he had your body.”
“As you can see, he was mistaken.”
“Clearly, but that makes me wonder why everyone said you were in the car. And who’s body is on his table.” It was possible to alter a witch’s memory. Changing the memory of seven witches was far from easy.
“The better question is how we leave this place.”
“Unless they gave you the grand tour on the way in, all I know for sure was I parked along the fence line of Regional Disposal before Marquette stunned me.” That came out bitter, which was fine. “Isadora won the challenge. I don’t understand why she’s doing this now.”
“As I said, I haven’t seen Isadora.” Ethel shook her head. “I don’t believe she is involved.”
“Then wh…” The rest of the question died on my lips as the door rattled.
The lock clicked, and the door swung open. Light flooded the room. Susanna stepped inside, wand in hand. She stared at me, ignoring Ethel. “Why couldn’t you follow simple directions?”
I blinked, but Susanna didn’t go away or change shape. Of all the people I expected, she wasn’t on the list.
“You’ll have to be more specific,” I said. “It’s been a Narzel kissed week, and after that lovely jolt of electricity, I’m not thinking clearly.” That reminded me to check my magic reserves. In one potentially lucky turn of events, I had most of the magic I could hold and was regenerating more.
Her foot tapped. “Stay home and announce your resignation like a good little witch.”
I raised an eyebrow. “No one told me to stay home.”
“It should have been clear.”
“Then you needed to say it clearly.” I really shouldn’t bait her, not when in nullifying cuffs with Ethel and likely Elron as prisoners.
The corners of her mouth pinched together. “If you agree to do as I say, no fighting, no destined-to-fail escape attempts, I’ll release you.”
“And if I don’t agree?” Some days I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut. Today, looking at a woman who’d pretended to be on my side while abducting my friends, well, I was short a brain to mouth filter.
“Would you rather watch Elron or Ethel die?” Her lips curved up in a cruel smile. “Painfully.”
She didn’t know. Susanna didn’t know my life was tied to Elron’s, which was either the best news I’d gotten since waking up here, or the worst.
“I’ll give you time to think.” She turned and left.
Even after the key turned in the lock, I didn’t speak for fear that Susanna or one of her co-conspirators were listening. On the bright side, she wouldn’t be knowingly threatening my life while threatening Elron. On the horrible side, since she didn’t know Elron’s real value, Susanna could simply kill him to prove a point, and then we’d both be dead.
“Advisers and assistants can be valuable, but one should never be too free with information,” Ethel said.
I’d been assuming she had told her entire inner circle. Silly me. “A lesson I’ll remember.”
We lapsed into silence as the minutes ticked by. I’d always prided myself on having a plan. No matter what went wrong or how a situation developed, I had a plan. Not today. I couldn’t even figure out the best move.
A Witch's Magic Page 19
