Counter-Hex (Covencraft Book 2)

by Margarita Gakis

  Paris wrapped it up, making a note for Suki to add the usual greeting, salutations and ending statements on his correspondence and asked her to send them all out as soon as they were prepared. He quickly sent the voice memos to Suki and then turned to look at Jade.

  "Working on a Saturday?" she asked.

  "I generally do some work on the weekends, yes, but with something amiss with Coven magic, it seemed prudent to keep at it."

  "Sucks to be you," Jade said, buckling her belt. "Did I hear you banning magic use?"

  He nodded, pulling the car away from the curb. "Unfortunately, yes. I had hoped we could resolve it, but we're still no closer to identifying it. Until we can determine what the cause is and how to counteract it, it's best if we simply stop using magic. We may very well be making the problem worse by continuing. Based on reports, no one's spells are working anyway, so I may as well make it official and people will stop trying."

  "Will they?" Jade asked. "Stop, I mean?"

  "Of course. Once they get the alert, all magic use will cease."

  "Wow."

  He spared a quick glance at her. "Why is that surprising?"

  Her shoulders moved up and down in a shrug. "I dunno. You tell me not to push a button and I'm gonna want to push it. You tell me not to use magic and -" she waggled her fingers, little sparks of fire dancing off them as she did.

  "I see your magic is still unaffected," he said dryly.

  "Yep. So does that mean I'm exempt from the ban?"

  "Technically, yes. It doesn't really affect you. But, in a show of support for the Coven, I would appreciate it if you didn't use magic around other witches."

  "Best not show my shiny new toys when all the other witches have busted-up old toys, got it."

  "Precisely."

  Jade looked out the window. "Where are we going?"

  "I thought we could stop off at your place first and you can change your clothing. We're headed out to the nature preserve, so you'll want to be in more suitable attire. Like mine." He indicated his denim pants and hiking boots.

  She snorted a bit. "You could just say I need to wear my grubbies." She must have interpreted the look on his face correctly because she continued. "Yoga pants or leggings. Sweatshirt. Outdoorsy things. Runners."

  "That is what I said."

  "Oh my god, English, never change."

  The trip to her small cottage didn't take long and she was already out of the car before he barely had time to shut it off. Paris noticed he could still feel her demon locks, swirling around the house, especially the doorway, but he didn't seem to be blocked anymore. As she had indicated previously, she had managed to reconfigure them to allow him in. With something wrong with the Coven's magic, he hadn't had an opportunity to study his mother's grimoires any further, keeping them under lock and key at his house. If Jade kept on as she was, she would soon surpass him. She may be new to magic in general, but she clearly had an aptitude for the demon spells. Paris found them tricky and... sneaky in a way that he couldn't quite understand nor predict. Jade appeared to have no similar issues that he could tell.

  He followed her into her house, finding the space itself in the beginnings of responding to her. Her magic had started to settle into the building, sooner than he thought it would. It generally took witches much longer to 'claim' a space, but this small house clearly resonated with Jade now. She tromped up the stairs with her usually heavy elephant steps, yelling that he could get a drink or snack from the kitchen if he wanted.

  Paris was content to wait just inside the foyer, not planning on staying long. He couldn't help but notice as he looked around that while her magic seemed to be permeating the space, she hadn't added any personal touches.

  It was then that Paris realized he'd completely forgotten Jade had never returned to her old life to gather her things. She'd come to the Coven with a suitcase and a few things and he'd neglected to make any arrangements to have her things sent or taken care of, or even offered her time off to do it.

  He thought he could hear her voice coming from upstairs, but he didn't think she was talking to him. Perhaps she was on the phone? At any rate, she was stampeding back down the stairs in jeans and a sweatshirt he recognized as one she wore regularly. Or rather was forced to wear regularly since she probably didn't have any other clothes.

  "Ready!" She jumped down the last three steps at once, landing with a thud.

  "It occurs to me that you'll likely be wanting your things from your apartment. Clothing, knick-knacks. Personal items and the like. Your car, I would assume."

  Jade fidgeted. "Oh, yeah. I guess." She waved a hand. "I'll head back some weekend and pick all that stuff up."

  "Once we take care of this issue, I can go with you. Or not," he added at her expression.

  "No, I mean yeah, that's fine. We can... plan that. Once it's all settled down. No rush."

  Paris frowned, not sure what she meant. She must want to gather her belongings - move in officially.

  Or possibly not?

  Watching her shift from one foot to the other, snapping her fingers in a fit of nervous energy, he realized that she was only placating him.

  "Do you not want to bring your things here?" Paris asked.

  "What?" Jade said sharply, eyes snapping back to him. "Don't be ridiculous. I said I was staying. I'm staying."

  "I didn't mean to imply you weren't staying only that... perhaps you want to leave yourself the option of not staying?"

  Her eyes narrowed slightly. "You're really good at politician speak, you know that?"

  Paris tipped his head in acknowledgement. "It's my job."

  "That and teaching me magic. We should get going," she said, neatly sidestepping him and heading out the door. It was an effective way of ending their conversation, he had to give her that.

  Back in the car, he drove past the entrance to the nature preserve that was close to Jade's house, watching her crane her neck at the entrance gates as they drove by.

  "We're heading a bit further out today to a different area of the preserve that isn't used as much. If we're going to be working on circle casting, I thought we should stay away from more heavily used areas."

  "My magic's still good, I know it is," she said defensively.

  "I know. I can feel that. But it's still better to be a little bit further away so that there's no interference."

  Jade shifted in her seat, facing him a bit. "Hey about feeling my magic, can you feel when I do this?"

  Paris felt a surge of magic at him, poking at his own, testing the boundaries. "Yes, why?"

  "Would Callie and Henri feel it?" she replied back, ignoring his question.

  "Possibly. They aren't as strong as I am and I'm more attune to your magic both as Coven Leader and as your mentor. If you told them to be aware of it, I'm sure they'd notice it."

  "Would Dex?"

  He took his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at her. "Again, possibly. Why?"

  Jade took a slow breath, crossing her arms over her chest. "You know him, right?"

  "Yes, as a friend and as a Coven Leader. Why?"

  She pursed her lips, staring out the front windshield. "Nothing. Just... curious."

  Paris would be a fool to believe that she really meant it when she said, 'nothing,' but it was definitely a clear indicator that whatever it was, she wasn't willing to discuss it just yet. He hoped that she would confide in him when she felt ready and until she did, he resolved not to pressure her.

  Paris focused instead on the landscape around them. Large maple trees were nearing the end of their fall color change, their fiery red leaves going sallow and yellow, more leaves falling on the ground than staying attached to the trees. Autumn was possibly his favorite season and he found himself sad to see it go. He remembered long walks in the preserve with his mother in autumn as she took him out to gather leaves, branches and other odds and ends for spell casting. Paris pulled the car over at a roadside turnout and stopped the engine.

  "We hike
from here on in."

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Jade's nose wrinkled and she looked into the woods with trepidation. "How far are we going?" she asked.

  Paris got out of the car, grabbing a small pack from the backseat and slinging it over his shoulders.

  "Part of circle casting is being well grounded. The best way to do that is to be surrounded by nature."

  "Yeah, I got that part. But how far away is 'nature'?" she asked using her fingers to fake quotation marks at the word. Jade gestured at the wide expanse of trees and foliage. "Can't we just hang out here?"

  "I'm afraid not," he said easily, starting to walk toward a heavily overgrown hiking path.

  "Do I get a machete?" Jade called out, scurrying after him.

  "We try to leave the forest as we find it," Paris replied, pushing aside a large tree branch as he stepped into the trees. He held it aside for her so it wouldn't come back and smack her soundly in the face. Once they got a little further in, she could more easily make out the pathway he was following. It clearly wasn't used often, but was still defined enough for them to follow. They hiked in relative silence. It wasn't extremely difficult, but it did cause her to breathe deeper and faster; she could hear Paris doing the same in front of her. She liked the silence of the forest, with only the sounds of some birds, the crunching of their boots, and the rhythmic sound of their breathing. She stopped a few times to reach out and touch a tree or some moss, kick a small rock or some branches. The tip of her nose was cold and she sniffed a bit, wondering if Paris had tissues in his backpack.

  After about half an hour, Paris paused to pull a bottle of water out, passing it to her before taking one for himself. "You don't do much of this, do you?" he asked, meaning the hiking.

  She took a long gulp of water and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "Nope. I guess I'm more of a city girl." Jade looked upwards into the dense canopy of yellowing leaves, leaving her throat bare and exposed as she gaped. "It's pretty though." The leaves made a strange and dense pattern above her and she wondered at the structure of it. She felt a strange pull at her brain, like a deep, heavy note playing in an orchestra - too quiet for the ear to hear, but heavy enough that you could feel the reverberation in your chest and bones. She didn't like it.

  She focused on it and then turned her head sharply east. "Is there water nearby?" she asked suddenly, not sure why she asked.

  Paris seemed surprised, eyebrows raising slightly as he nodded. "Yes, there's a small lake about fifteen minutes in that direction." He pointed off where she was looking. "It used to be quite popular for camping and picnicking, but not so much anymore."

  She shivered, a tremor running through her body and settling over her shoulders.

  "I have an extra sweater if you're cold," Paris said, reaching into the pack.

  Jade shook her head, finally turning back to him. She really wasn't all that cold. They'd been moving briskly and she was well dressed. "No, I'm... I'm fine. We should probably keep going."

  "We can head to the lake, if you like. Perhaps your magic is trying to lead you there. You do need some work with your water spells."

  Jade hesitated, staring off in the direction of the lake. "What about circle casting?"

  Paris shrugged, slinging the pack back on. "If your magic is telling you something, we should follow it. There will be time for circle casting later."

  He stepped in front of her, taking a quick look at his compass to ensure they were going in the right direction. Jade fell a little behind Paris as they walked, slowing her steps. She couldn't explain how she felt. She didn't want to go where he was leading. She opened her mouth to tell Paris, but couldn't figure out what to say. He was just about to push aside a mass of overgrown branches that were blocking their way when her hand reached out on its own and clutched the back of his shoulder.

  "Stop."

  Paris turned to face her and she pulled her hand back slowly.

  "I don't want to go any further," Jade said, the words blurting out of her. The sweat that she'd worked up hiking was going cold and clammy on her skin and she swiped at the top of her lip with the sleeve of her sweater. She felt anxious and jittery, like she was expecting something to pop out of the bushes and scare her.

  He frowned at her. "Are you sick? Do you not feel well?"

  Jade shook her head. "I don't want to work on water today. Can we go back to doing circles?"

  "If you're ill we can go back to the car. Can you make it?"

  "I'm not sick, I just... I want to go back the other way. The way we were going before." She licked her lips and glanced around a bit. "I don't... I don't like it here. I feel like..." she hesitated a bit, feeling slightly foolish as she spoke. "I feel like something bad happened here."

  Paris' face seemed to morph into understanding. "I mentioned this place used to be popular for picnicking?" he asked. When she nodded, he continued, "There was an accident, many years ago and since then, most witches stopped coming here. They say the same thing. Not everyone feels it so I wasn't sure if you would or not."

  "Do you?"

  Paris tilted his head in a 'maybe-yes-maybe-no' kind of way. "It's difficult to say if I feel it because others in the Coven do and I'm tied to Coven magic or if I feel it on my own. I do get an 'off' sort of feeling from this area, but no one's magic has actually been affected. I thought if you were drawn here then perhaps it would be a good area for you to work on your water skills since not many people use it. But if you're one of the witches that's sensitive to this area, we should move along."

  He started heading back the way they came and Jade could feel the pressure that had been building in her lungs decrease with each step they took in the other direction.

  They were back on the path they had originally been on, Jade following Paris closely. She wanted to ask what kind of accident, but was afraid to. She wondered what must have happened to leave that kind of lingering presence in the area. Instead, she asked, "How come not everyone feels it?"

  She saw Paris' shoulders shift in a shrug, the light backpack he wore moving slightly. "Different levels of magic, different sensitivities. Being sensitive to magic is like your other senses. Some people can pick out scents better than others, some have better than 20/20 vision. Some witches sense things that others don't."

  They hiked in silence for almost an hour. The afternoon sun was waning in the trees and Jade did find she was getting cold now, wondering if she could just ask Paris for the sweater he had in the backpack. The pathway broke through to a small clearing and Paris slung the pack off and dropped it to the ground. Looking up, the trees seemed to bow toward the center, so tall they looked like they touched at the middle.

  "How do you feel now?" Paris asked.

  She shrugged, hands on her hips. "Fine. Let's do this circle thing. I'm good."

  He looked around briefly on the ground and, spotting what he wanted, took a few steps away from her. He picked up a branch from the ground and handed it to her, glanced around and found another for himself. When he walked further into the clearing, she followed.

  "The circle," he began, "is the most perfect form in geometry in math, in life. It is the basis of all things. The ellipse that planets travel in, the globes of planets, are all circles albeit distorted. A circle has no beginning and no end much like time and nature, our magical parents. The only thing wrong with a circle is our definition of it."

  "You mean the number pi," Jade said staring up at him.

  He smiled at her. "Correct." She felt a warm rush of pride at being right.

  Paris took his stick and dragged it across the ground, turning in a circle himself as he did.

  "Is that it?" she asked quickly. "Is your circle... done-ish?"

  "Yes and no," Paris said cryptically. "My intent is the biggest piece of the puzzle. At this time, with my magic being affected, I haven't put my intent behind this circle. However, by nature of me being a witch, simply by going through the motions, I have casted a circle. This one would be limited and not l
ikely to do anything great or extraordinary for my magic. But, for all intents and purposes, it is a circle. Now," at his tone, she straightened her shoulders. "I want you to do the same, but since your magic isn't affected, I want you to think about your intent, specifically, that you are casting a circle."

  Jade felt foolish as she put her stick on the ground and spun around in a circle, thinking, 'I'm casting a circle.' She had half a notion that at any moment a camera crew would pop out of the forest and she'd have just been coven-punked, but the woods were silent. As she stepped back to her original position, she felt like she got a small shock - a tingle traveling up her spine.

  "Did I do it? Is that it?"

  "Very good," Paris said, smiling at her. She grinned back. "If you would, step out of your circle for a moment."

  She pursed her lips, trying to figure out where exactly the boundary was since it wasn't marked on the ground. Jade found though as soon as she raised her foot and stretched it out, it was like she could feel where it ended - a strange kind of pushing-popping sensation slid up her leg when she crossed over. Paris stepped away from his own circle.

  "See if you can step into mine," he said.

  She picked her foot up, feeling reminiscent of childhood hopscotch games with Lily - trying to step over the square with the rock on it to reach the proper one. Like her own circle, she felt as though she could feel a barrier, only this time it was denser, thicker. She had to fight a bit to get into it. Stepping fully into Paris' circle, she wrinkled her nose and curled her shoulders up.