Bound Powers

by Saruuh Kelsey

  “Don’t you have a job?” she asked Peregrine, who leant against the door frame beside her, watching the whirl of movement from the coven.

  “I work nights.”

  “Doing what?” Gabi knew so little about his life now that she couldn’t help but be curious. As always when she spoke to him she felt a pang of guilt, for keeping distance between them all these years. She was still nursing a deep ache that he’d keep the secret of them being brother and sister for so long but she didn’t want to punch him in the face anymore, which was progress.

  “Cooking. For the camp.”

  “Oh.” Gabi nodded. Whenever she’d been to the elven community, there’d always been food in the kitchen marquee no matter what time of day. She guessed that was due to people like Peregrine cooking all through the night. For a second she felt a want, a faint flicker of it—she wanted to go back, go home. But that hadn’t been home since her mum had died. And they wouldn’t welcome her back when she’d shunned them for so long out of pain and grief.

  Peregrine shrugged. “It pays alright. And means I can be here, or home looking after my brothers during the day.”

  Gabi slanted a look at him. “When do you sleep?”

  For a second she thought he’d ignore her as he watched Victoriya and Gus set up a big bowl of purified water in the middle of Gabi’s table. But then in a low voice he admitted, “I don’t much. A few hours each night. I siphon enough energy to keep me going.”

  “Peregrine.” Gabi looked at him sharply. As elves, they could siphon energy from their surroundings—provided their surroundings were living trees or vast spreads of earth—but it wasn’t safe to do it regularly. Inviting too much of the earth into you could have disastrous results. Gabi remembered when she was really young, living at the camp, when a woman had taken too much energy into herself. The earth had claimed her for itself. The tree her body had become still stood on the edge of the property. Gabi grabbed Peregrine’s wrist and squeezed. She didn’t have the words to voice her warning and her fears but he could read them on her face.

  He hung his head, dark hair spilling into his face. “It’s just a bit, every other day.”

  Gabi’s stomach flopped. “Peregrine, that’s too much.”

  “I—”

  “No.” Gabi’s voice came out as a hiss. Her chest hurt. “Don’t be this stupid—you need to stop siphoning. Go home right now. Sleep.”

  “Gabi.” His whole face had softened.

  “I’m serious. Go home.” She realised she was still squeezing his arm and let go. “At least go in the questioning room and take a nap. You need to—”

  He did something then that shocked the words out of her. He wrangled her closer with an arm around her neck and kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry about me, Gabi.”

  Gabi had a very keen sense that this was the part of him that had become a father when his dad died, as she’d found out not because Peregrine told her but because her own dad had. The pressure in Gabi’s chest released when he said, “I’ll go take a nap. Wake me if this goes wrong.” He waved a hand at the coven, who had gone still with concentration around the table, their hands linked.

  “It won’t go wrong.”

  Peregrine just raised an eyebrow. Gabi hated to agree with the eyebrow, but she did. Joy had confessed to Gabi a few weeks ago that her solo spells had been turning out sideways. If she wanted her shower to warm, it would be ice cold. If she wanted her crystals to charge in the sunlight, they would turn dead and lifeless.

  “Gabriella,” Peregrine called from the living room. “There’s an angry-looking cat at the window.”

  “Is it Joy’s cat?” she shouted back.

  “What does Joy’s cat look like?”

  “Grey tabby, on the large side.”

  “I think it heard you. It’s glaring at me now.”

  Joy raised her voice before Gabi could reply. “Don’t worry, she does that.”

  Gabi met Joy’s eyes, her heart doing a little flip even now, after weeks of being with her. “Should I let her in?”

  Joy shrugged without disconnecting her hands from Victoriya’s and Maisie’s in the circle of witches. “Yeah, but if she gets in the way, she’ll have to get kicked out.”

  Gabi would not be volunteering for the kicking out. The cat had the same personality as Victoriya, only she came with claws attached. Gabi opened the door to find her already sat waiting, looking annoyed. She trundled in, went straight to the kitchen, and hopped up onto the table beside the pot of water. Yow, she said. Gabi imagined it was her way of saying, get on with it, then.

  The spell did not go wrong. Nothing blew up, no steely clouds filled the sky, no sand whipped around their feet in the kitchen as it had one time—but nothing useful happened either. They’d brought an object from Joy’s mum’s room to focus the spell and use to trace that blackened magic, a perfume bottle with a pastel pink puff, but it mustn’t have had enough residue of magic on it.

  “It keeps going back to your mum’s grave,” Victoriya complained.

  “I don’t think it’s going to work,” Eilidh said. “This doesn’t really feel the same as it did when we went in her room.”

  As they let go of each other, their eyes clearing as they focussed on the kitchen instead of the image they saw and shared, Gabi asked, “Would it work if you did the spell in her room?”

  “Nah.” Gus flexed his hands as if they were aching. “We need an actual object to put in the water, and touching the wall won’t do much. I guess we could hack into the wall and get a piece of stone but…” He shook his head. “I don’t know. Does anyone else feel like the magic was just in the air, not in any of the stuff?”

  The others nodded slowly. Joy said, “I always felt that pulsing I thought was death in the air.” She turned to look at Gabi, a lock of hair falling out of her ponytail. “I don’t think a location spell will work with this.”

  Gabi nodded, accepting that. It had been a long shot anyway. “Victoriya?”

  “Fine,” Victoriya groaned. She held out her hand, fluttered it impatiently. Gabi got Joy’s mum’s diary from her jeans back pocket—after several hours of guilty torment, Gabi had confessed to Joy that she’d taken it last night—and passed it over. “Alright,” Victoriya spat. “Everyone shut up. If anyone even breathes loudly, I’m taking your head off. Understood?”

  “Understood.” Gabi startled when everyone else spoke at the same time as her. Even Maisie and the cat sounded their agreement. Victoriya was one scary commander.

  Gabi watched, trying not to frown, as Victoriya held the diary between both her palms and shut her eyes, a V between her eyebrows. “Don’t be a stubborn bitch,” she muttered, scowling with her eyes shut. She’d told them earlier that the psychometry—seeing the history of an object when she touched it—was difficult, and didn’t come second nature to her as it did to her mum. Gabi saw how hard it was as she watched Victoriya, strain written in her gritted teeth, the straight line of her back.

  After a while Victoriya said, “There’s nothing about a killer or stalker or even someone who tried to add her on Facebook a few too many times. No secret boyfriend, no new best friend, nothing that’s not normal. Whatever got to her, she didn’t know it was coming.”

  Joy covered her mouth with her hand. Gabi took a slow step forward so as not to disturb Victoria and put her arm around Joy, tucking her into her side. Joy turned her head into Gabi’s jumper and silently cried. This was too much, Gabi knew, but she also knew being kept out of this would be worse for Joy. The not knowing, the speculation, the dark images an imagination can conjure—Gabi didn’t want any of that for Joy.

  After another long minute Victoriya’s shoulders drooped as she released her hold on the witchcraft and her eyes opened. She stared ahead, right through Gabi. “Awesome,” she growled. “I’m stuck. Someone do something loud and startling.”

  Gus went for one of the cupboards, slowly opened the door, and then slammed it so hard even Gabi jumped, and she’d bee
n watching him. Victoriya shot a step forward but when she blinked, her vision was clear. “Thanks, bae.” She brushed Gus’s shoulder.

  “Anytime you want me to commit criminal damage to someone else’s house, Victoriya, you just ask.”

  She grinned but sobered quickly as she looked at Joy, her face still buried in Gabi’s shoulder. “She didn’t act any differently than normal, didn’t feel nervous or uneasy or excited. Whatever happened, I don’t think it was planned.”

  Eilidh shuffled her weight from foot to foot. “What if it was, but they just didn’t talk to Joy’s mum? She wouldn’t know anything was wrong if she didn’t know she was being watched. If she was being watched,” she added hastily. “I don’t know if she was or not.”

  Gabi was quiet, thinking. Her voice came out gentle when she said, “She could have known her killer for a long time—she wouldn’t have noticed anything out of the ordinary that way either. But this is all speculation and it’s pointless. Thanks for looking, Victoriya.”

  Victoriya flicked her eyebrows up in acknowledgement.

  “Is there anything else you can think of?” she asked the rest of them. “Another spell?”

  “Honestly?” Gus stuffed his hands in his pockets. “No.”

  No one disagreed. Back to square one then—no way to predict where the killer had gone now the murders had stopped and the triangle was complete. No witchcraft to help them. Gabi sighed and ran her hand up and down Joy’s back. “We’ll think of something.”

  Victoriya pushed herself up onto the counter in front of the tiny window. “Neil had an idea.”

  Gabi gave her a questioning look.

  “The last death was near Glasgow, right? And it was pretty recent? And you know a cop there? What if we went up there, all of us? We could run tracing spells in a place the magic hasn’t been faded for years, maybe pick up on something, their gender or age or species.” She shrugged. “We might be able to find something. Here … there’s nothing to help us.”

  It was a good idea, and a good point, and something Gabi had already thought of. Joy’s mum had been killed years ago and all power faded—but with the more recent deaths, the magic was fresh. But Paulina had refused to fund the journey. She looked between Gus and Eilidh, Maisie and Victoriya. “I can’t afford that kind of trip. I don’t have any savings. We’d need petrol, hotel, food, and whatever stuff you need for your spells.”

  “Yeah,” Gus said, drawing the word out. “I’m broke, too.”

  Maisie yipped.

  “Which leaves me, Eilidh, and Joy,” Victoriya said, looking thoughtful. “Can’t you get funding from your superior or whatever, Pride?”

  Gabi raised an eyebrow. “My superior is Paulina Montgomery.”

  “Great. Do you think you could at least get us into a morgue?” Victoriya’s mouth twisted. “As much as touching Freya was gross, it was helpful.” She gave an apologetic look to Eilidh for calling her dead cousin gross. “If I could touch a victim…”

  Gabi nodded. The trip itself had been a good idea but this was a solid direction and even better. “I’ll see what I can do about the money.” In other words borrow it from her dad and Aunt Cheryl. “Can you guys get time off work?”

  “Oh yeah, no problem,” Gus replied, his mouth twitching.

  “You got fired,” Victoriya said deadpan. “I can take a few days off. I just have to give the community centre and my groups some notice.”

  “Eilidh?” Gabi watched her stick a blue tip of her hair in her mouth as she thought.

  “Maybe. It’d take some convincing for my parents to let me go. Could we do a weekend?”

  “Actually that’s a good idea,” Gabi said with a smile. “How about this weekend? Joy, are you working Saturday morning this week?”

  Joy nodded. Her hands had worked their way beneath Gabi’s jumper and shirt, flat against her bare skin. “I can ask for the day off, change my shift. It’ll be fine.”

  Gus grinned inexplicably. “Am I hearing this right? Road trip? Do you know I had a dream about this once? Gabi, you weren’t there, but Mais, your friend Eifa was. We went to Brighton and got candyfloss.”

  Maisie rolled her eyes at her brother.

  “Can I come?” asked a new voice behind Gabi, making her jump half a mile.

  “No, father, you cannot.” Gabi didn’t even turn, refusing to acknowledge his ghost stealth, assuming he’d used magic to let himself into the house that had been his for decades. Assuming Regina Stone had sent him to do some active parenting.

  Bo made an immature whining sound but he was grinning when Gabi finally looked at him. “Look at you, going on your first work trip. My baby’s all grown up.”

  Gabi scowled at him, all fake annoyance. Joy laughed, her chest vibrating against Gabi’s.

  “You,” Victoriya said, snarly as usual. “Leave. I don’t need babysitting.”

  Bo put a hand to his chest, dramatically affronted. “I would never walk halfway across town to spy on your coven-slash-crime meeting on the orders of your appropriately-worried mother. I can’t believe you’d assume such a heinous thing from me.”

  Victoriya clearly wasn’t sure how to respond, a first. Gabi swung her foot and kicked her dad in the leg.

  He spun on her. “Ow. Gabriella. I didn’t bring you up to be this violent. Joy, tell her.”

  Joy laughed, the best sound Gabi had ever heard. “Give up assaulting your dad, Gabi.”

  “Thank you,” Bo said.

  Gabi rolled her eyes, kissing the top of Joy’s head.

  “You know,” Victoriya remarked, “I thought once I had a boyfriend, I’d stop feeling sick watching you two, but I’m happy to report you’re still disgusting.”

  Gabi smirked. Over the months, she’d developed the talent of stripping away the acid in Victoriya’s words to find the real meaning underneath. What she really meant now was I’m glad you’re together and you’re looking after my friend.

  “So.” Eilidh took her hair out of her mouth and looked around at them, her expression the most grave Gabi had seen since her cousin’s murder. “We need to come up with a good excuse for my mum and dad. If they find out I’m going to Scotland to see a dead body, they’re gonna ground me for life.”

  “Kids these days,” Bo sighed. “With their Netflix and crime solving.”

  Joy

  The next few days were a blur of emotion and activity. Gabi spent most of her time in the archives room downstairs, scrutinising her piles of research and files, staring at the boards she’d put together for hours on end. Joy and her coven sat at the kitchen table for long hours, plotting the spells they could use when they went to Glasgow, brainstorming a shopping list. Every other day Joy still went to work, but she was glad to not have to make up an excuse when she asked for the weekend off—her boss had just shrugged and given permission. Joy was beginning to think some form of intoxication was responsible for the laidbackness of her boss, but if that same laidbackness had led him to establish a nature reserve to help endangered animals and to give Joy a job when nobody else wanted her, she was thankful for it.

  She startled three days after the location spell had found nothing at a very polite knock on the front door of the Law House. Gabi was absorbed in her work and theories, mentally preparing herself for the trip, and Gus and Maisie were upstairs so Joy got off the couch in the questioning room where she’d been reading, trying in vain to relax, and went to the door.

  A very tall, handsome black man waited on the doorstep, neatly groomed and well dressed.

  Joy smiled politely. “Hello?”

  Some recognition shone in his eyes. “Joy, right? I’m Hashem, Salma’s brother. I have an abnormal request.”

  Joy’s heart gave a tug of pain at the mention of Salma, so far away from Joy, accessible only by Skype and phone calls. She missed her so much. But her mouth managed a smile. “Abnormal requests are the only requests we get around here. Do you want to come in?”

  He nodded, and followed Joy inside. She yelled u
p to the others to come down and poked her head into the paperwork room, glancing fondly over Gabi, cross-legged on the floor surrounded by notebooks and files. “Someone here to see you. Or us. I’m not actually sure.”

  Gabi looked up, interest in her eyes as she climbed to her feet. She bent her head to kiss Joy once, loving and quick, before she squeezed past into the hallway.

  “Hello,” she said to Hashem. “I’m Gabriella Pride. This is Joy, and Gus and Maisie,” she added when the latter two clambered down the stairs. “Come into the kitchen. What can I help you with?”

  “It’s my mother,” Hashem said, pulling out a chair. “She keeps asking for you, Pride.”

  Gabi frowned, a deep crease on her head. “Me? Why?”

  “Something about a festering soul. I don’t really understand it, but you might. She said it’s important that she speaks to you before you leave.”

  Joy blinked, and then wondered why she was shocked. Salma’s mum was incredibly accurate in her moments of clarity. Even if they were rarer now than they used to be.

  “Alright.” Gabi got to her feet; Gus and Maisie had barely sat down but rose too. “Let’s go talk to her.”

  Pride

  “The elven warrior,” Mrs. Nazari said with a smile as Gabi walked slowly across the front room. The seer was immaculately neat, her thin braids falling around her shoulders, her lips a deep plum colour, and her bright rainbow dress without a single crease.

  “Not a warrior,” Gabi said as she sat opposite the woman. “Just a detective. You asked to talk to me?”

  Mrs Nazari’s lips held a secretive smile. “Not a warrior,” she repeated under her breath, and then louder, “Yes. We need to talk about the soul.”

  “The soul?” Gabi leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. From the corner of her eye she saw the others edge into the room.

  “The twisted soul. The one he tortured and broke and filled with poison.”