“You got that half right,” I told her. “I could recreate the runes, but I’m not sure they would all work. We only know that it hides the holder from the undead… I don’t know what the rest of the runes do. They might not work on any other object.”
“Ohhhhh, that makes absolutely, perfectly, not one bit of sense.”
“Asshole,” I muttered.
“Dumbass!”
11
I ended up making a leather sheath for the athame and started wearing it like a belt knife. I even wrapped the ornate handle in a thin strip of rough leather which I put on wet, and when it dried, it shrank, giving the knife a completely different look. The runes beneath it would still work covered, but the basic rune to push my will into it and activating it was on the base of the pommel, which was common for any runed handheld objects. I also spent time mounting the arches gate charm and the rechargeable healing charm to my necklace.
Other than that, I spent the next two days deciphering the book. With Rose’s help, I was able to get about half of the page and runes figured out that related to the athame. I hardly looked at the other pages, but I made out enough to know that it wasn’t a book on runology, like I’d thought. Sure, it had runes and described their effects, but each page featured a different magical artifact and tool. I recognized the blade that had caused the showdown in the Arches as one of the items described. I didn’t recognize the blade that acted like a soul trap, but Mage Kierston had been correct.
She’d asked me what happened if the two blades had been used in sequence. I’d almost dismissed that out of hand, but from what I saw in what little I could understand in the book, she had been spot on. Vassago could steal the magic with the one blade he’d lost when he’d tried taking me out, causing my crash and first trip to the hospital. Then the second blade stole the soul of the magic user, making the effect permanent. That I’d already figured out, but finding confirmation was enlightening.
The last thing I did was scan the pages of the new book and save them to a Dropbox folder, that way even if Vassago came looking for the book, I could give it up. After losing the last blade when he’d shown up, I’d decided to make sure there were lots of documents. I had a script running that, if I didn’t check on my computer and reset it every week or so, it’d email a link to the Dropbox folder to the Council of Mages. That was something I’d done right away and it hadn’t taken much in the way of skill. The systems I had at my house were complex, and I’d had somebody make them up for me, so it was child’s play to have him make that script.
“Boss, it’s been two or three days,” Rose said suddenly on the fourth day.
“It’s been a little longer,” I told her.
“You’ve not left the bunker since you got that book,” Rose said softly.
“You want me to test my magic, and you can poof out and get JJ if I pass out?” I asked her, grinning. “Setting me up for another prank?”
“No prank, but something Zania said bugged me.”
“You picked up on that too?” I asked her.
“Yes,” Rose said softly, “it was a throwaway line, but since you haven’t tried to use your magic since New York City, I figured…”
“It’s been weighing on my mind too,” I admitted. “She talked about fixing something in my head. What if I burned something out?” I asked Rose, scared.
She flew over and landed on the desk in front of me. I was expecting a scolding, some snark, or maybe some more obscene jokes about how repressed she felt because she had my mojo—
“Boss, you won’t know until you try. I don’t think Mage Zania was worried about that, just you using it too soon. I don’t know why, but she was.”
“So you’re not going to tell me I’m a scaredy cat?” I asked her.
“Do you remember when Vivian talked to you in the stairwell?”
“How could I forget?” I asked her. “It was the most uncomfortable conversation ever.”
“Because you were in her head, and she was in yours,” Rose said. “She gave you the raw, unfiltered shizzna.”
“What are you getting at?” I asked her.
“Before you won me from JJ, you were a loner, on the run. You stayed on the fringes of society and avoided any kind of ‘entanglements,’” she said, using her tiny fingers to make air quotes, “and now you’re up to your eyeballs in entanglements, and you’re about to be Vivian’s handler, and run the new strike force. You literally changed overnight without blinking. After she’d done you wrong, you forgave her and saved her life.”
“This isn’t exactly an easier conversation to have with you,” I told her, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“That’s because it deals with feelings, something you hardly ever talk about, boss. Ever. Never ever.”
“I and my feelings aren’t exactly best of friends,” I admitted.
“I have a theory,” Rose told me quietly.
“Hit me with it.”
“You kind of had a thing for her—”
“I do not,” I told her. “She was acting out a role in Vegas, and I was drunk.”
“And then you felt betrayed. You were surprised when she wasn’t actually trying to work you over the way you were brought up to think council mages would. Suddenly you’re thrown in with her, and you two share a gaze. I’ve heard it’s even more intimate than having your mind read by somebody like Sigmund.”
“It is,” I told her. “Another reason I avoid them. It gets into those areas of the head you don’t want people to see.”
“And she’s too young to understand what she saw in you, but you understood her. You probably understand her more than she understands herself.”
“Is that why she was so close to the edge on the stairwell?” I asked her suddenly, things starting to make sense to me.
“You’re a dumbass, but I think you’re catching on. She came to terms with the fact she screwed up so badly that she was going to die and it was justified. Then? You come strolling in, more than happy to play white knight, and she’s still sorting through your feelings and motivations, and she’s so confused because part of her admires you, likes you, wants you, and thinks you’re dangerous and sexy.”
“She said that?” I asked her and then felt like an ass for asking, my curiosity having gotten the better of me.
“Part of her liking JJ was to make you jealous.”
“What? She genuinely liked JJ,” I told her, “I saw it in her head.”
“Part of her really does, in a big, huge crushing type of way. But you were the one who walked up, punched an almost eight feet tall Were into submission, and survived harebrained plots that would kill most people.”
“If you think my follies are impressive, you should see me when I bring my A game,” I told her, grinning.
“Well, we’re going to need that, and soon. So you need to bury your fears and practice the hocus pocus,” Rose said. “Unless you gave us too much of your mojo and your junk fell off when I wasn’t looking?”
“I can’t believe you peeked on me in the shower,” I told her, rubbing a hand across my eyes.
“Hey, a girl can be curious can’t she?”
“Asshole.”
“Dumbass.”
I pulled my necklace out from my shirt and held the healing charm in my hands. I remembered what Zania had said about the healing charm taking more than normal, and it made me wonder if that was another reason these were so rare. Maybe it wasn’t just that healers didn’t want to spell them for monetary reasons. Maybe they didn’t make the rechargeable ones often because they were more dangerous to use. I thought about it then decided that I might be on to something.
I concentrated my thumb over the rune and then pushed some of my will into it. I felt alive, like I’d taken a deep breath of fresh, cold mountain air. The hair on my arms stood straight up, and my skin broke out into goosebumps as I filled the charm. This time, I felt the drain acutely, and I felt when I hit the full mark on the charm. I let it go then sat back in the kitc
hen chair and waited. I wasn’t out of breath, but I could feel the effects of channeling that much magic. Filling it before had taken a lot out of me. Now? I felt like I might have fast walked a ten-minute mile, not an all-out exhausted state.
“You okay?” Rose asked.
“Yes,” I told her. “You catch any of that in the magical spectrum?”
“It was kind of freaky, boss,” she told me, something weird in her voice.
“What do you mean?” I asked her.
Rose opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, and then her jaw snapped shut. She tapped a finger on her chin and hovered in the air in front of me for a bit.
“I think… What’s the difference between the power line that comes into your house and the one that runs your washing machine?” she asked.
“Amperage?” I asked her. “Or voltage?”
“Yeah… and the line size of the wiring.”
“Yeah, the wire for the heavier stuff is definitely thicker.”
“So, boss…” Rose said, taking her finger off her chin and snapping her fingers, “So this time, when you channeled your magic into the charm, it was like instead of squeezing your magic out of an outlet the size of a dime, you had an opening the size of a softball.”
I thought about that and was confused.
“You’re saying my fuse box was upgraded?” I asked her.
“Not just that, your transmission power, if we’re still using electrical metaphors,” Rose said.
“How do you know this kind of stuff?” I asked her, sidetracked.
“I watched a ton of This Old House. Bob Villa was a sexy lumbersexual,” Rose said with a finality that made me grin because she wasn’t joking.
“Lumbersexual?” I asked her.
“He was sooooo hot back in the day.”
“So my ability to channel is a bit wider open?” I asked her.
“It’s like a lady who’s had five kids. First one barely squeezes out, by the sixth, they are almost falling out.”
“Oh god, stop,” I told her.
“Well, if you’re not out of it, do some more shizzna.”
I flipped her off like the mature individual I knew I was, superior in intellect and mature in ways that she couldn’t even hope to acquire—
“Come on…”
I switched over to the gate stone I had that connected me to Central Park in New York City. I gently pushed my will into it and suddenly realized that I’d filled the charm. I flipped to another one I knew I hadn’t filled in a bit and pushed my will into the charm that I’d used to gate Vivian to the Himalayas where my ice cave hideout was. By the time that was done, I was feeling majorly drained. I stopped and let out a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding.
“Boss, I’ve seen a lot of stuff, but you’re scaring me. I think we need to talk to Mage Zania.”
I kept breathing, scared and surprised. I’d pushed as much magic just now that would normally take me two or three days.
“I think… you might be right,” I told her.
I pulled my phone out and realized that I didn’t know if Zania worked for the council or the hospital. Then I decided it really didn’t matter, and I dialed the Bureau. After a few moments, I was connected to somebody who I was told could help.
“Wright,” Rasmussen’s voice said over the line.
“Mage Rasmussen,” I said, “how are things?”
“They are just boinking along,” he said.
“That’s just creepy, coming from you,” I told him.
“I knew you were going to say that.”
“Futures are my gig,” I told him. “Listen, I need to get with Mage Zania. She said she needed to talk to me at the end of this week, and she said something strange I was wondering—”
“We were wondering when you were going to notice,” he said, I could almost see the smile through the airwaves.
“We?”
“Ask me again, but in your mind, look for the answers.”
I thought he was messing with me, so I looked into the futures where I asked him again who the ‘we’ was. He told me that Zania had found a block in my head that had acted like a plumbing reducer as well as a filter. She’d removed it completely at first, not knowing what it was about, but after a couple days of reflection she’d figured out that somebody had put a mental and magical block on my magic so I would have a chance to grow up and gain control of my powers.
Then I asked him if he was f$%king ##%%!! @##@$ and @#@@#@#%, and Rasmussen laughed at me and told me to check it out for myself. So my future self-looked into the future, and that’s when it hit the present me and the future me. I was beyond the three to the ten-second point. I had been, for a little while during our back and forth conversations in my head.
“Holy shit,” I said softly as I shut off my sight.
“Indeed,” Rasmussen said, “I’d still love to get you to come in though. To meet your team.”
“My team?” I asked him, my body going cold and clammy.
“Yes, your strike force. I already know you had an idea on how to track down Vassago, so bring the rag you used to clean the power-stealing blade with you when you gate to New York.”
“I still need to talk to Zania,” I told him, “and I think you knew something about this… block and filter?”
Rasmussen was silent.
“Asshole,” I hissed.
“I'll make sure Mage Zania is available for you to speak with. Say an hour or so, that way you can gather your pack?”
“You want all of them or the immediate team?” I asked him.
“Whoever you want to be read in,” Rasmussen said.
“I don’t know if I need all of the Arches pack, but I will have JJ and Dana come with me.”
“Bring the cop if you want her involved,” Rasmussen said suddenly.
“I’ll keep it under consideration,” I said, “Thanks. See you in an hour.”
“Goodbye, Mister Wright,” Rasmussen said and hung up.
“Damn, boss…” Rose said, “I know a lot of shit I’m not supposed to say, but this isn’t one of them.”
“What is it you aren’t supposed to say to me?” I asked her.
Her eyes shot wide open, and a hand slapped across her mouth to prevent words from falling out.
“I could hear his side of the conversation. I got the impression he already knew,” Rose said after a minute.
“That was my take also. Or he at least suspected as much. I’m going to pack; can you poof up the hill and make sure JJ and Dana are decent and ready to gate in an hour?”
“Sure thing, boss, anything else?” Rose asked.
“Yeah, give me some time before you come back. I have to make a couple of phone calls.”
“Oh, oh! I know who you’re going to call!”
I nodded. “And I don’t want an audience for this call. She hasn’t been in touch since the morning she left.”
“Well duh, you haven’t called her since the walk of shame.”
“Walk of what?” I asked her.
“Her sneaking home, in your shirt. It’s bad enough she didn’t get a boinking, but—”
“I’m not talking about this,” I told her, shutting off what would have been another long drawn out conversation, and if I were lucky, it wouldn’t devolve into discussions about my mojo.
“Okay, be back in an hour,” Rose said, and with a popping sound, she was gone.
“Faeries,” I muttered darkly and called Cindy.
“I can be there in thirty minutes,” Cindy said after I’d caught her up and told her what we were doing.
“I’d appreciate it,” I told her.
“Me too. I missed you,” she told me.
“Same,” I told her back, wondering why, if she missed me, she hadn’t called me?
I heard a popping sound, and Rose appeared in front of me and gave me a shy wave, probably knowing she was way too early.
“What should I pack?” Cindy asked.
“Honestly, I�
��m just going to have them read you into the situation for now. When the heavy magic starts flying, I need you to do what you do best.”
“Fling lead?” she asked.
“Be yourself, but yeah. I don’t want to drag you into this, but you deserve to know everything you can about what’s going on. I can’t just drag you out of your life.”
“What if I told you that you don’t have to drag me?” she asked, and I could tell she was grinning.
“What? All girls like a guy to grab a handful of hair and—”
She busted up into giggles. Giggles of all things. I waited till she was mostly done.
“So I have to pack a couple of things. I’ll see you soon,” I told her.
“Okay, see you soon. Oh uh... you want your shirt back?” Cindy asked.
I felt my cheeks burn.
“Keep it,” I told her.
“Bye.”
I hit the end button and pocketed the phone.
“I just wanted to tell you that Dana and JJ are outside by the Jeep, and they’re ready,” Rose said.
“Thanks, short stuff,” I told her.
“What are you going to do with the rest of the time? You need a hand packing?”
“I’m going to stash the book,” I told her.
She followed me to the workbench where I had the book set under a lamp magnifier. Some of the space also doubled as where I would pack my food storage. I pulled out a Mylar bag from a drawer and put the book in, then folded the ends over and put a piece of tape over that. I could have used my impulse sealer to make it tight, but I didn’t want to wait for it to heat up. The runes on the book already prevented it from decay and kept it safe from the elements, I just wanted to keep it from being dusty.
“Where are you going to stash it?” Rose asked.
I’d stopped by the back wall, near the lathe. I didn’t use it much, but it was definitely handy.
“Rose, most lathes have an on and off button, right?” I asked her.
“Bob Villa didn’t do metal work,” Rose said, “but that sounds about right.”
“Okay, then what do you notice about mine?” I asked her.
Second Sight: The Rune Sight Chronicles Page 9
