I shook my head and glared at him. The last thing I wanted on my lips was the shit of any animal, magical or not.
“Alrighty then. That’s everything I was sent here to deliver.” He hopped back onto the coffee table and turned to look at me. “Normally I don’t really care what kind of dumb situations mages get themselves into, but you seem like a nice kid. If you want my advice, I suggest you stay the hell away from that kryte and whoever’s controlling it. Some things aren’t worth dying for.”
“You’re not the first person to tell me that today.”
The kobold shrugged. “What can I say? It’s good advice. If Viktor were here, I have no doubt he’d tell you the same thing.”
“I’ll take it into consideration,” I said. “You got a name?”
The kobold’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. He glared at me and then turned to Chase. “To pronounce it correctly, I would have to pull out your tongue.”
He let that simmer for a moment then cracked a grin.
“I’m only fucking with you. The name’s Skreek.” He produced an expensive looking smartphone from a hidden fold in his rags. “Hit me on my cell anytime. My number’s in your contacts now.”
“Thanks, Skreek,” I said. “I might just do that.”
With a flash of light that often accompanied teleportation spells, he was gone.
Chapter Fourteen
A stunned Chase stared at his coffee table, most likely wondering if he’d lost his mind.
“How’re you doing, bud?” I asked him.
“I don’t really know. I want to believe I’m not experiencing some sort of shared hallucination, but it’s the only answer I can come up with.”
“This is probably tough to process, but everything you saw was completely real. There’s a lot more going on out in the world than most people realize, and what you’re seeing is only the tip of the iceberg.”
Chase pulled his unfocused stare from the table to turn it on me.
“I used to fantasize about magic being real,” he said. “Hell, I still do sometimes. But now that I know it actually is, I’m not so sure I want this to be happening. Wizards and spells are cool and all, but what was all that about the thing that attacked you? Did you really fight one of those creatures? A kryte?”
“It’s what did this to my back.”
Chase leaned back in his chair, head shaking in denial. “Fuck me.”
First discovering I had the power to cast spells had caused emotional trauma beyond description, so I didn’t imagine it was all that easy for Chase to absorb this new information. He’d just learned that pretty much everything he thought relegated to the realms of fantasy and horror was actually grounded in real creatures and abilities. The longer you live with what you believe to be a known truth, the harder it is to learn it’s nothing but a lie.
“It’s a lot to swallow,” was all I could think to say.
“What are you going to do now?” he asked. “Are you going to keep working on the case?”
“I really have no idea. I’ve been running all over town chasing leads that might not even matter, and I’m not sure I can beat the kryte if I have to fight it again. Everyone might be right; maybe I should get out of town until all of this blows over.”
“Why exactly was this guy killed again?” asked Chase.
“Which guy?”
“The first guy. The one whose wife hired you to investigate.”
I told him everything I knew about Norman Weathersby and the artifact I was pretty sure had been stolen from around his neck. Skipping the part about Felix smashing my skull into a brick wall, I then told him about the reference to an amulet and a book, and how all of that had led to me visiting Xiang Wei’s office in search of clues. The whole explanation only took a few minutes, making it hard for me to believe that so little time had passed between standing in the Weathersby’s shop and fighting the creature that had killed Norman.
“So what does the amulet do?” asked Chase.
“That’s a good question. You grabbed my backpack right?”
“It’s still in the car,” he said. “Hang on and I’ll go get it.”
He returned a few minutes later with my bag in hand. I was happy to see it hadn’t been damaged during the fight. Aside from the spare bra and t-shirt I’d need, the bag contained the book I’d taken from Xian Wei’s office.
Careful not to let slip the pillow that protected what little I had left of my modesty, I withdrew the book and set it on my lap.
“What’s that?”
I opened the leather bound volume to the title page and held it out for him. Chase took the book and flipped through the pages, skimming quickly at first, and then slowing to inspect them one by one. His eyes scanned page after page of text, lips moving a little as he tried to work out some of the difficult to understand words that had most likely been near impossible to translate from their original source languages.
“This is incredible,” he said. “Do these things really exist?”
“Most of them have probably have been destroyed or lost, but if they were recorded in that book, then they existed at some point in time.”
A conversation about the Chroniclers and their likely involvement in putting together such a book wasn’t something I thought either of us was ready for just then. Even knowing about such a thing was akin to a death sentence if the Chroniclers or their agents were to find out.
“Get this,” said Chase, tapping a page excitedly. “There’s a ring that allows its wearer to blend seamlessly into backgrounds in order to avoid detection. It’s a gorram invisibility spell, Alex. This is some straight up Lord of the Rings shit right here.”
The searing pain in my back had eased off to a mild burning sensation, and I laid back down on my side. I wanted to put my shirt back on, but I’d have to clean the unicorn crap off my skin first.
“Does it say anything about the amulet?” I asked.
Chase flipped through a few more pages. “There’s no index in this thing. How do you spell doo-an marabee anyway?”
I spelled it out for him.
“This is going to take a while,” he said. “I’m going to need some coffee. Do you want anything?”
“No, I think maybe I’ll close my eyes for a bit.”
“Is that okay?” he asked. “Do I have to worry about you not waking up or anything?”
“Nothing like that,” I assured him. “I just need to recover. It’s been a long day.”
“Sure thing.”
I felt Chase lay a light blanket over me, and I feigned sleep as he went to make coffee. As tired as I was, I couldn’t let go of the fact that I was too deeply wrapped up in this thing to consider walking away from it. Viktor wasn’t the kind of person who’d tell me to run if he didn’t believe it was the best course of action. Then again, I couldn’t be entirely sure his instincts were unaffected by his concern for my safety. It pissed me off how often people underestimated me because of my gender and size.
Sure, I looked like I could play the role of best friend in a Nickelodeon TV show about a bunch of pre-teen mathletes, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t take care of myself. Years of bouncing through the foster care system had taught me a thing or two about how to protect myself from someone bigger than me, and I’d spend enough time living on the streets to have had to use those skills in order to fight off the kind of people you hope you never have to deal with. The whole reason I’d gotten into this business to begin with was that I’d been tired of running away from my problems. I’d wanted to help people who didn’t have the ability or the knowledge to help themselves. It was one of the few things that kept me from slipping back into certain destructive habits.
My fight with the kryte had been something else entirely though. I’d barely escaped with my life, and I was pretty sure I hadn’t even managed to kill the damn thing. The charm Viktor had given me was now a useless ugly bracelet, and that meant I wouldn’t be so lucky the next time an attacker got the better of me. On t
op of all of that, I now had Chase to deal with. There was no way I was going to let him get involved beyond this, but I already had the feeling he wasn’t going to let me slip away from him without putting up a fight. Chase could be annoying and irresponsible at the best of times, but he was loyal and protective to a fault. I’d had to deal with his white knighting more than few times during the course of our online gaming sessions.
I still hadn’t made up my mind what to do when I finally let sleep overtake me. I wanted to fight, to prove to everyone that I was capable of so much more than what they thought of me, but I was also so damn scared and tired I couldn’t imagine having to face off against the kryte again.
When I finally did drift off to sleep, the ensuing dreams were decidedly not the stuff of rainbows and sunshine.
A thin film of sweat coated my body when I eventually woke. My forehead felt like it was on fire, and I was so thirsty I could hardly choke out a call for Chase. He was there by the couch immediately, and he ran to fetch a fresh jar of cold water when he finally understood what I was asking for.
“Better?” he asked when I’d spit the straw out of my mouth.
“Much,” I croaked.
I cleared my throat and reached out to take hold of the mason jar. I shifted upright, careful not to let the blanket slip away from my body, and I plucked out the silly straw so I could toss it on the table. I then gulped down half the water in one long pull. The room spun less and less violently with every breath I took, and soon I felt almost free of the urge to empty the contents of my stomach all over Chase’s living room.
The gunk on my back cracked and flaked away every time I moved, and I leaned forward to try to get a look at it. What I could see of the wound was now only an angry red line peeking out through the dried up remains of the poultice the kobold had applied. I felt a little bad about leaving unicorn shit all over Chase’s couch, but it was old and ratty enough he wouldn’t likely notice anytime soon.
“Can you do me a favor?” I asked.
I told Chase what I needed, and he went to fetch a damp cloth and a big bowl of water to wipe down my back. He muttered in amazement as he cleaned off each new section of the wound, obviously grappling with the absurdity of a thing like unicorn crap existing let alone it being able to almost fully heal a wound as bad as the one he’d tried to clean and bandage just hours earlier. Even I was amazed at the speed at which I’d healed. Although I still felt a considerable amount of pain and weakness when I flexed my back experimentally, I’d at least be able to move around again.
Once finished, Chase dropped the dirty cloth into the bowl and turned away to give me enough privacy to put on my bra and shirt shirt.
“You can turn around now,” I said.
“So are you all healed now?” he asked.
“Mostly. It still hurts like you wouldn’t believe. Feels like someone dug a pit in my back then buried a bunch of hot coals under my skin. Do you have anything for pain?”
“I’ve got some weed,” he said. “I’ll go grab my vaporizer.”
He stood up to leave, but I reached out and grabbed his arm. Chase was no angel, and I knew he dabbled in more than organics when it came to getting his buzz on.
“Do you have anything stronger? I could really use an Oxy if you have it.”
Chase paused, clearly conflicted. I knew he was holding, but there was hesitation in his eyes.
“Maybe you should smoke a bowl first. If that’s not enough, then you can let me know if you need something stronger.”
“That’s not going to cut it. I’m in some serious pain here.” I did my best wounded puppy impression. “I almost died last night.”
“Fine.”
Chase left, returning a few minutes later with two forty milligram tablets. He gave me one and then put the other on the table.
“You want water?” he asked.
By way of answer, I popped the tablet in my mouth and swallowed it, licking my lips and restraining myself from going for the second. Had I been alone, I wouldn’t have held back, but the last thing I needed was Chase worrying about his junkie friend.
“That’s all I have,” he said. “Those are leftover from surgery I had last year, and I don’t plan on getting more. Just so you know.”
“It’s cool,” I said. “I only need these to get through the next day or two. My back should be better by then.”
Chase looked like he had more he wanted to say, but instead he sat down and bit off the warning I sensed he very much wanted to give me.
“Oh! You’ll never believe what I found while you were sleeping.” His concern was momentarily forgotten as he snatched the book from Xiang’s office up off the table. He flipped to a page near the back. “I can’t make out any of the actual writing in this section of the book, but I found this translation written in the margins. ‘Whether the Amulet of Duan Marbhaidh is an artifact of legend or reality is uncertain, yet we include it in this compendium in the rare chance that one of our order might discover the truth of its existence. If recovered, the Amulet of Duan Marbhaidh must be protected with the utmost care and secrecy. Under no circumstances should the Amulet fall into the hands of any Dark Practitioner. There is no cost too high for its retrieval should this come to pass. Any brother of the order should be ready to trade his life to keep this artifact in the hands of the Light. Little is known of the Amulet of Duan Marbhaidh’s true power, but we have come to suspect that it bestows upon its bearer the unimaginable power to reap death upon his enemies.’”
“That does not sound good,” I said.
“Not it doesn’t, but get this,” Chase continued reading, “It is believed among some of our order that this artifact is not only real, but that it requires an activation spell recorded only in the long lost grimoire of Archmage Carolus, dead in the battle of — I don’t know how to pronounce this, but I don’t think it matters — in the year 892. Without this spell, the Amulet is powerless, and its use is not to be feared. Most who believe the Amulet is real, also believe Carolus’s grimoire was destroyed along with his body when it was engulfed in mage’s fire.”
Chase shut the book and set it on the table.
“Is that what you did in Chinatown today?” he asked. “Mage’s fire?”
The look of guilt in my eyes must have given him his answer, since he nodded silently and stared at the cover of the book for a long time before speaking again.
“So you’re really a wizard?”
“Mage.”
“Sorry, you’re really a mage?”
The mason jar on the table caught my eye, and I lifted my hand and pointed my index finger at it. Muttering a few words of nonsense to add to the dramatic effect, I sent a pulse of energy into the water, bringing the temperature up to an instantaneous rolling boil. Steam billowed up in a voluminous cloud before dissipating as quickly as it had appeared.
“Holy fuck,” said Chase. “Did you just do that?”
“Chase, a kobold teleported into your living room and smeared unicorn shit all over a two-foot long wound that then healed in a few hours. Are you really surprised I can use magic to boil some water?”
“I still wanted to see it for myself,” he said sheepishly. He became serious then. It was very unlike the Chase I always counted on for a laugh and a smile. “You’re going to get this thing back, right?”
“I don’t know yet,” I told him truthfully. “Some very wise people seem to think the smart play here is to back off and let someone else deal with it.”
“Who’s that going to be?”
“I don’t have a clue.”
Chase looked at me with expectant eyes. I knew he wanted to hear that we were going to jump right back on the trail of the Amulet of Duan Marbhaidh. The disappointing truth was that I didn’t think I could bring myself to do it. It was time I faced the fact that I wasn’t nearly strong enough to defeat the kryte, let alone the person controlling it.
“Well?” he finally asked.
“Well what?”
“Are we going to go find this grimoire thing, or what?”
“Chase, you don’t understand how dangerous this is,” I said. “Whoever has the amulet has already killed several people for the sole purpose of getting information. Do you think they’d even hesitate to wipe you out with a single thought? What makes you think you can take on a Dark mage?”
I could see my words had cut deep, but that’s what I’d intended. A few hurt feelings were far and away the lesser of the evils waiting in Chase’s potential futures.
“I’m not going to take on a Dark mage,” he said quietly. “That’s going to have to be your job. You’re going to need help though, and don’t even think about telling me you’ll be fine on your own. I know you’re in over your head, and it’s obvious you’re scared, but if we don’t go save the fucking day, then who will?”
He was right to say I was afraid, but he didn’t know the first thing about the root of those fears. He didn’t know it was my own magical ability that terrified me more than anything else, and he couldn’t possibly understand why that might keep me from finding out what would happen if I really had to push myself. The fire in Chinatown was probably still eating through neighboring buildings unless a mage had stepped in to help in secret. When I was backed into a corner, bad things happened. I didn’t know what might happen to Chase if he was caught in the middle of it.
“I can’t do it, Chase. I’m just not strong enough.”
“That’s bullshit,” he blurted out. “You’re feeling shitty because you got your ass kicked. We have to do this, Alex. Don’t you see we’re the only ones who can? We don’t have to go after the bad guy, and we can stay as far away as possible from that kryte thing. All we have to do is find this Carolus dude’s grimoire.”
“I don’t even know where to start looking for it,” I said. “It could be anywhere in the world, if it even exists.”
“If the amulet exists, the grimoire exists, right?”
“I suppose it has to.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Chase jumped to his feet, holding his hand up for a high five. “Let’s do this thing!”
Black Magic (Black Records Book 1) Page 14
