by John Conroe
“It’s much stronger than it looks, it attacks from the air like a giant eagle and it is, at least in form, a fire-breathing dragon. Gentlemen, I suggest we eat and then go to sleep. It’s a little past midnight and you don’t want to go anywhere tonight. I absolutely promise you that this lodge is now the safest place to be. At first light, you two can hit the road while the kid and I go meet the sheriff and feds to sort out that witch and the remains of the pack,” she suggested.
The door opened before they could answer and Declan came in, rubbing his hands together briskly. “Cold out there,” he said. “The building is now warded. Please don’t leave until morning or it’ll break the ward.” He smiled as he said it, looking around, then heading for the cold fireplace. Silently they all watched as he piled a bunch of logs on the andirons and then waved a hand. With a whump and a whoosh, fire flared up and fully involved the cold logs in a split second.
“That’s better,” Declan said, holding his hands out to the flames. “Is that food I smell?”
Some time later, everyone had eaten something and gone to their rooms. Carl, Hutch, and Shorty had been concerned about sleeping without a guard but Declan, backed up by Stacia, had assured them that the watchful Draco would be sentry enough and Declan felt he, himself, would be up for several hours more.
Now the two of them were up in Declan’s room, which was between Stacia’s and the one with the broken window and door. A sheet of plywood covered the shattered window in the trashed room.
“Who are you going to call?” Stacia asked as she watched him power up the same large tablet that he’d used with the tracking spell. They were sitting on his floor, which had a large Western rug.
“Erika’s roommate Tami,” he said as he activated the call. “It’s still a bit before one a.m., and most of Arcane doesn’t go to bed till two or two-thirty.”
Fifteen seconds later, the screen cleared to show an unsmiling girl with rich black hair and Native American features wearing a yellow t-shirt that said Get a Taste of Religion, Lick a Witch across its front.
“Warlock,” the girl said, unsmiling. She might be pretty if she ever animated her face, Stacia thought.
“Witch,” Declan answered evenly. “Nice shirt. Erika’s, I’m guessing?”
She looked down at it and then shrugged. “Of course. I was naked when you called,” she said. Most attractive girls speaking to an attractive male acquaintance would either blush, make the statement flirty, or make it a challenge. She just delivered it matter-of-fact.
“What do you want?” she asked brusquely. “And where are you? The teachers have been asking.”
“Death magic and northern Maine. There’s an air witch up here who has surrounded her lair with it. I’d like some pointers,” he said.
“I see. What do I get out of this?” she asked.
“What do you want?” he replied.
“Screw Erika,” she stated bluntly.
“Not happening,” he said.
“Didn’t think so, but it was worth a try,” she said, glancing for the first time at Stacia.
“How about you owe me a favor? Largish favor.”
“Too open-ended. How about upgrades to your avatar?” he offered.
“How about upgrades to my team’s avatars… plus a small favor?” she asked, then pushed on before he could respond. “The favor won’t break rules, won’t cause harm, and doesn’t involve you boinking any witches.”
“Acceptable,” he said.
“Okay. What’s your sitch?” she asked.
“Young witch. Hooked up with a pack of rogue weres. They’ve taken over an old factory space, a paper mill, I believe. I could feel death and possibly spirits. Stacia smelled dead flesh,” he said.
“That’s remarkably vague, Warlock. I would expect more detailed information from the Master of the Wytch Wars… unless… ah, holding back on purpose,” she said, tapping her lips with a finger. Stacia noted that her fingernail was painted glossy black.
“Garbage in, garbage out, as you programmers say, right?” Tami asked.
“Yeah, I can live with that. I’m looking for general approaches and things to watch out for. For instance, I know death magic wards generally suck life from anything that trips them,” he said.
“Exactly, so the easiest thing is to send something living into the fray and when it dies, you move in. Some wards will get stronger from absorbing life, some will be one-hit wonders and disappear. If you sensed trapped spirits, those will be the ones that gain strength,” Tami said.
“So I’ve got to sacrifice living things to the spells in order to get by them?” he asked.
“That’s the quick way. If you have lots of time, you can erode them safely from a distance by taking apart the foci of the spells, but your witch would likely notice and attack back,” Tami said. “So go to a pet store, buy like twenty mice, and toss them into the spells. It might distract any big nasty enough to get past it.”
“Yeah, not happening,” he said.
She smirked, the first real expression Stacia had seen on her face. “Bunny-loving tree hugger can’t harm itty bitty mice?”
“If I had to, I’d do it. But I’m in the backend of nowhere and pet stores are few and far between,” he said.
“Hmmm, I still think you’re just soft. Is he soft, werewolf?” she suddenly asked Stacia. “Or can he get hard at all?”
Stacia just raised one eyebrow. Declan answered before she could. “Alternatives, Tami?” he asked.
“Spoilsport. Cut switches from living saplings, preferably evergreen, ideally juniper or holly. The trees will live but the branches take a long time to die. That resistance works well against many death spells. Plus, you can hold them out in front of you like a detector. When you see the needles at the tip turn brown, you know you got a problem. Since you aren’t tough enough to sacrifice mice, which I know damn well you could call by the dozens, you’ll have to erode the ward. Salt and herbs. Best if you can deliver them from a distance, like with hollowed eggshells. Captive spirits can come at you in disembodied form or may take some type of physical construct. Salt, some of the stronger herbs, and draining spells are useful in slowing them down and weakening them. But to completely banish, you’ll need to find and burn their remains… with more salt.”
“How about shotgun shells stuffed with salt and protective herbs, plus a few pressurized paintball grenades filled with more of the same?” Declan asked.
“Yeah, maybe. What herbs do you have?” Tami asked.
He looked around the room and then frowned. “I left the herb kit in the car. I’ll be right back. Just gotta let myself out of the ward and then repower it. Talk to Stacia while I’m gone,” he said, jumping up and heading out the door.
Stacia’s eyes followed as he left and then turned back to the girl witch on the screen. Tami was watching her with her arms folded, eyes hard.
“So you’re the one. Why?” Tami asked.
“Why what?” Stacia asked, although she had an idea.
“Why is he fixed on you? I get the physical part; you’ve got that in spades, but hell, there are at least four girls here who are pretty close to you and would tag team him if he wanted. Why a werewolf?” Tami asked.
“We aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend,” Stacia said, suddenly wondering why she was even answering.
“Does he know that?” Tami asked. “Because he won’t even look at the girls that are throwing themselves at him. I almost started to think he was gay, but then some newbie made a crack about your picture on a magazine cover and Declan lost his shit. Kid almost went home. Baddest witch in the school got all up in his face on, like, his second day. A lot of posters came down that day. The garbage closet was full of them.”
“We are friends for now, not that it is any of your business,” Stacia said.
“Listen wolf cheeks, anything to do with that kid is witch business. He’s like a global treasure. Arcane’s witch population quadrupled this semester and we got some of the best teach
ers in the witching world all of a sudden. Coincidence or intense interest in the strongest male witch ever heard of who has intimate knowledge of the Book of Sorrows? You tell me. If you’re leading him on for shits and giggles when he could be setting up his life in the Crafting world, then you’re a bigger bitch than my roommate. At least she’s honest about her desires,” Tami said.
“I’m not leading him on. I like him. It’s complicated. And why the hell am I telling you my business anyway?” Stacia said, getting angry. Inside, her wolf was standing at attention, growling.
“Easy there, Blondie-locks. Don’t get your panties in a twist. The kid is, in my opinion, besotted with you. He obviously likes you a great deal more than you like him, but that doesn’t give you the right to jerk him around. He’s all full of honor and loyalty and useless crap like that despite the people that constantly try to use him. I just want you to realize that he picked you out of almost everybody and while I know you must be used to having any guy you want, this one is special.”
“You don’t think I know he’s special? And for your information, most guys find me interesting right up until I Change. Then they’re terrified, except the werewolves. They just want me as a trophy mate and to get my connection to Chris and Tanya, or just to break my spirit and dominate me. And just how would you know how much I like him? Maybe I’m just not going to drop into bed with a guy I really like. Maybe I want it to go a little slow so we both know it’s real,” Stacia said, her wolf just under the surface.
Tami studied her for a moment. “Good.”
“What?” Stacia asked, confused by the sudden change.
“I wanted to see where you stood. I think that’s now pretty clear. I’m not usually interested in who sleeps with who or any of that crap. My path is clear of that shit. But this kid is a game changer and frankly, I’d rather he was with you,” Tami said.
“What? You just gave me the third degree!”
“Listen. If he decides he likes a witch here, it will change the balance of power between every witch circle in the country. Personally, he scares the fuck outta me because I can’t control him. He’s too independent and full of principles. So I’d rather he was with a werewolf and none of the witches,” Tami said.
“Why did you ask him to sleep with Erika?” Stacia asked.
“Because he knows I’m uncomfortable with him, myself, but he expects something like that. If I didn’t go that route, it would make him suspicious. Plus, I knew he wouldn’t touch Erika with his roommate’s dick. Shit, he has girls knocking on his door in bras and lace thongs and he ignores them.”
“No way? How desperate are they?” Stacia asked.
“They’re serious like heart attacks. Like their whole lives depend on it. He put a stop to it, though. Moved his room into the middle of the werewolf floor. Now any girl who comes strolling through in her undies—or even dressed—has to pass every male werewolf, who can smell them coming while they’re still on the stairs. A lot harder to knock on a door when every other door is open and the wolves are laughing, making comments, and trying to get them into their own rooms,” Tami said.
“That was clever,” Stacia said, picturing it.
“Oh, your boy is sharp as a laser. He’s pretty quiet about it, but there are times when he’ll bring up a spell or ward that none of the hotshot witch teachers know. It’s partly why they’re here.”
“You’re saying the teachers are looking to learn from him?” Stacia asked, incredulous.
“The Book of Sorrows was one of those fabled grimoires that supposedly contained the knowledge of the ages. He’s the only one alive that’s seen it. And Chris Gordon gave the empty shell of the book to the Irwin Clan. Word is it’s blank,” Tami said. “So yeah, the teachers will sometimes describe a problem and then ask a student to try and solve it with a spell. They did that to Declan a few times till he started playing dumb. But the few times it worked, he used spells of such refined efficiency that they took your breath away. No way any kid my age should have been able to come up with that on their own.”
Stacia was quiet for a moment. “He threatened a kid over my poster? That doesn’t sound like him.”
“Well, to be fair, we had just fired him from Wytch Wars, so he was already pretty pissed,” Tami said.
“You fired him from his own game?” Stacia asked.
“We made him the permanent Game Master. It wasn’t really fair for him to compete. Hell, he made most of the dirt dudes that we use. Anyway, it was day two of the new semester and we were introducing the new kids to the game. The veterans got together and voted him GM. He wasn’t happy. Then this new kid cut out a picture of your face from a poster and taped it to his avatar. Asked Declan how he could make it more realistic so he could take you home and have his way with you. Obviously had no idea you were connected to Declan and, of course, being a dumb ass boy, he had to say it much cruder than that. Declan waved a hand and the avatar just crumbled into dust, the picture mask evaporated without even smoke. The rest of us oooo’d and ahhhh’d and the kid realized he’d stepped deep in it but didn’t know how bad. He was a pyrokinetic and like I said, tree stump dumb. He pulled a flame on Declan.”
“Ouch, what happened? Did Declan hurt him?” Stacia asked.
“No, he just took the kid’s flame. Took his power or something. One second it was roaring, the next it was gone. Then the kid couldn’t generate so much as a spark.”
“Witches can do that?” Stacia asked.
“Well, before, I would have said no. But he can obviously do it. We don’t know what he did. That’s more than mildly terrifying, by the way. Imagine that someone could just take your ability to Change into wolf girl,” Tami said.
“Did the kid get his power back?” Stacia asked, thinking it would suck to lose what she had now.
“Yeah, after Declan left. A bunch of kids videoed the confrontation and we’ve been studying those, trying to figure it out. Best we can come up with is that because he’s so strong in Fire, he just took all the heat the kid generated and directed it elsewhere. Problem is he’s so smooth at it that we couldn’t figure out where it all went. Imagine pulling your power on this kid and he just takes it and uses it against you?”
“Okay, that would be scary. No wonder you don’t like him,” Stacia said.
“I don’t dislike the kid. I just don’t have time for boys and certainly not that one, as if he’d ever stop looking at you and look at a girl with RBF syndrome,” Tami said.
“RBF?”
“Resting Bitch Face. My relaxed expression is, I’m told, off-putting. But that’s okay because I have way bigger things to think about than boys,” Tami said.
“Like what? Family? Career? Money?” Stacia asked.
“My family is Navajo, what we call Dinè. We follow the Witchery way… the path of death magic. The path is hard and requires… sacrifices. I have issues with it,” Tami said.
“Sacrifices? Like human sacrifices?” Stacia asked.
“Hmm, you’re no dumb blonde, are you? I begin to see what he sees. Yes, human sacrifice. Usually a loved one. That’s what’s expected of me,” Tami said.
“Oh!” Stacia said as the light bulb went off in her head. “If Declan could or would teach you, you might be able to get power without sacrificing someone,” she guessed.
Tami’s frozen blank face, her RBF, cracked into shocked surprise. “Okay, you are sharp.”
“That’s the favor you’ll ask of him,” Stacia guessed again.
Tami nodded. “Only, let me ask you this. The witch that wrote Sorrow was reputed to be a master of death magic as well. So why does the kid need me?” she asked.
The answer was instantly apparent to Stacia. “You don’t know?” she asked.
Tami shook her head.
“My turn to ask you a question… has Declan ever met your family? Does he know about your problem?” Stacia asked.
Tami nodded. “I had to give a brief presentation on the background of our family path once. An
d Declan let my kid brother run an avatar once on family day.”
“And what would happen if he just started to teach you some of his secrets? How would the other girls react?” Stacia asked.
Light dawned on the dark witch’s face. “They’d lose their shit.”
“But if he owes you a favor, that would be different, wouldn’t it? Then they could seek to do him favors and get access, right?”
“He’s helping me?” Tami asked, shocked.
“It’s what he does. And despite being a boy, he’s oddly observant sometimes. And I hear him coming,” Stacia said, glancing at the doorway.
“So he doesn’t need my advice?” Tami asked.
“He will certainly value your expertise. Both Chris and Tanya always harp on gathering as much information as possible. Despite his book smarts, he doesn’t have firsthand death magic experience… I don’t believe,” Stacia said, then glanced back to the door. “He’s back,” she said loud enough that Declan heard her as he came in through the door, lugging a hard-sided black case.
