Counter-Hex (Covencraft Book 2)

by Margarita Gakis

She wiped her hands clean with a small cotton muslin sheet. While she didn't have many magical spell casting items, she had started a small collection. She was now the proud owner of some a few casting bowls, some chalk, several cotton muslin scraps of fabric, and had the beginnings of a small herb collection. The instructions in Sakkara's books were always quite clear - clean up all existing, residual magic and start fresh every time.

  Four tries later, she still had nothing. Jade cleaned off her hands, wiped down the table and tossed the cotton cloth down with a little more force than was necessary. This wasn't supposed to be hard. She was supposed to be good at this. Jade eyed her ever-thinning ash pile. If she didn't get this soon, she'd have to go cut more branches. She shook out her arms in a 'jazz-hands' kind of shimmy, shrugged her shoulders and cracked her neck a bit. She spared a glance at Bruce who watched her with lazy eyes from his perch on the counter - judging her with his shifty gaze.

  "You know any time you want to help out, feel free," she said sweeping her hands across the table, gesturing at the rune making. He flicked his tongue at her.

  Jade rolled her neck in a circle again, hearing it crack in a few places and feeling the relief in the joints. Okay. Maybe a slightly different tactic for her intent. If she understood correctly, her intent was the spark that made the rune possible. So maybe 'I want to catch a liar-liar-pants-on-fire' wasn't specific enough. What did Jade want? She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly.

  Jade wanted to find out what was wrong with the Coven and fix it. She dipped her finger in ash and started sketching. Okay, so maybe the Coven wasn't completely her home yet, but it was kind of homey and she had friends here. She didn't want Callie or Henri being taken advantage of. They couldn't use their magic and they were miserable without it. Callie vowed only to wash her hair if Jade could de-frizz it and Henri had sworn off personal grooming of any delicate places until this whole mess was sorted out. They were her friends - new friends, but friends nonetheless and she wanted to help them. If someone was lying to them, Jade wanted to figure it out. Callie and Henri had been welcoming - they'd been friendly and open. They were nice to her. She liked them. She could maybe even love them someday.

  Jade stared down at the sketched out rune and held her palm over it, waffling for just a moment. She really wanted this to work. She slapped her hand down, willing it to work and....

  ... felt a tingle?

  It was like a feather brushing against her nerve endings. She didn't think it had fully worked, but it was more than she had before. Jade turned her palm up and looked down at the ash marking on it. It shimmered slightly and seemed to dissolve into her skin, sinking under the surface for a moment before rising back up and turning into just ash again.

  Close, but no cigar. Yet.

  She wiped everything down (again! God she was going to have a serious aversion to cleaning and dusting after this) and started from the beginning. Deep breath in, deep breath out. She could do this. The ash was powdery and fine against Jade's finger as she dipped the tip in and then started tracing over the rune pattern. She thought about Callie and Henri, unable to use their magic. She thought about the calls she'd logged at Counter-Magic - witches unable to practice their spells.

  She thought about Paris. He looked tired when she saw him on Saturday, during their walk and circle casting in the woods. Jade got the feeling that the Coven's magic problem weighed on him heavily. He was a standup kind of guy and even though it wasn't his fault there was something wrong with everyone's magic, Jade really got an eau de guilt-and-desperation about him. She wanted to help him. She'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit that she wanted to make him proud too. Could you lie to yourself while trying to cast a lie-detection rune? Was it like a dog chasing its tail?

  Focus. Intent. What was her intent? She wanted to find out if Dex was lying - lying to her, lying to the Coven, lying to Paris.

  Jade slapped her hand down on the rune and gasped as a sharp, icy pain shot through her palm, into her wrist and coalesced at her elbow. It was like hitting her funny bone really hard at just the right angle - totally not funny at all and painful as fuck. She tried to pull her hand away from the rune and felt stuck - like she was attached to the table. Pushing up from her chair and knocking it over, she stood, pulling back with all her weight. Her hand became 'unstuck' and she went skidding backwards, landing hard on her ass, her teeth snapping shut with a clack. Her fingers were bent in a claw-like formation and she turned her hand over to see the imprint of the rune pulsing on her palm - each pulse a heartbeat of pain up her ulna, settling in her elbow. The rune shimmered and glittered and then sunk into her hand with a burning sensation. She clutched at her wrist as if she could cut off the pain shooting up her arm and keep it from traveling further.

  Miraculously, it stopped.

  Jade breathed heavily, feeling the weight of Bruce as he sidled along next to her, pressing his flank against her side. She turned and twisted her hand, finding that if the light hit her palm just right, she could still see the rune on her skin, like a faint, worn scar. She turned to Bruce.

  "Holy crap, Bruce. I think I did it."

  #

  Jade went to bed that night with the clear-headed determination that she was going to beat Dex at his own game. She had a plan! She had magic! She had a rune! She'd even found a dress for the Coven Ball! Sure, she didn't know if the rune would work but, no matter. She was a can-do person and she was going to figure it all out, no matter what.

  If Jade were a Broadway kind of girl, she'd be singing that things were coming up roses. She settled down to sleep, Bruce curled in a ball at her feet, and thought about how tomorrow she was going to solve the Coven's problems.

  When she woke up, her eyes were grainy and gritty reminding her of the time she'd spent the day wearing false eyelashes with too much glue. Her face felt puffy and sore, like she was dehydrated and left out in the sun to bake.

  She rolled over and pain shot down her shoulder, to her elbow and then her wrist, making her hand tingle and prickle. The spot where the rune had been was the most painful of all. Jade raised her arm and turned her hand over, checking her palm. She could still see the rune shimmering a bit in the early morning light. A faint pulse of pain worked its way up her arm, continuing to settle in her elbow.

  Fuck. She may have made a teeny-tiny mistake.

  This totally hadn't been in the grimoire. Jade didn't think she'd messed it up, but she couldn't say for sure.

  Her alarm buzzed again and she sent a jolt of power out at it, smashing it into bits. The last thing she needed was that stupid beeping in her ear. She fumbled for her phone and managed to text Daniel that she would not be meeting him at the preserve for running. Bruce pressed his serpentine body up against her arm and she hissed at the contact at first, but then sighed when the pain seemed to dissipate at his touch. She didn't know if it was magic or just the comfort of another living creature and she didn't care. He nosed at her rune palm and she rested it on his head, feeling some of the hurt trickle away.

  "Thanks, Big Green," she murmured. His tongue snaked out in her direction with his 'pfffft' sound. Her phone buzzed with Daniel texting her back that she was a big sooky baby for bailing on running and he'd give her grief about it when she saw him at the Coven. She made a face and then worked her way to the shower, hoping the heat would help her arm.

  It didn't.

  By the time she was at the Coven, about two hours later, she felt a continual pulse of hot pain in her palm. It reverberated up her arm, stopping along at each of her joints and making itself known. She pulled off her sunglasses as she walked into the Covenstead, seeing Henri sitting at his desk, typing away on his computer. He looked up as she approached and made a face.

  "You look like shit."

  "Thanks," she said dryly.

  His face morphed into apology and he leaned forward. "Seriously, are you okay, you don't look good."

  Jade waved a hand. Henri didn't like demon magic and Jade didn't have the hear
t to tell him she was possibly suffering a demon rune hangover. "It's nothing." The rune flared up on her palm, causing a sharp shot of agony through her skin. She grit her teeth. She may be in a bit of a pickle. Jade could suck it up with the best of them and was no stranger to being in pain and pretending she wasn't (hello again, childhood), but at the same time, this might be magic gone bad and she didn't know enough about it to know if it was serious or not.

  "Um, is Paris in?"

  "I think so?" Henri said, eyebrows coming together. "Let me check." He turned back to his computer, pressing a few buttons. "He's showing as online and in his office."

  Jade nodded and started for the stairs, climbing them doggedly. "Thanks, Henri."

  This would suck. She had to tell Paris she did demon magic without his knowledge or approval and that she may have fucked it up.

  This would suck huge.

  As she passed by people on her way up the stairs and to Paris' office, her palm flared up a few times - enough that she started trying to pinpoint what was causing it. On the third floor, Jade moved to the side of hallway and paused, not-so-stealthily standing next to a large plant. A duo of witches walked by, one saying that all she'd had for dinner last night was a bowl of popcorn. The rune flared to life and Jade clenched her jaw. Pain throbbed up her arm and settled in her shoulder. She focused on steadying her breathing, staying put. Data collection, at its finest, was all about consistency. She waited it out and a minute later, a trio of male witches walked by, one proclaiming he'd been to the gym four times in four days and was benching some obscene amount. Jade's palm coursed with pain again, sending sparks to her elbow and shoulder.

  It was detecting lies. Holy shit, it worked.

  Okay, so it was totally more painful than she'd expected and she felt like utter crap, but still, success.

  Someone walked by on their phone swearing up and down that they'd been working late that last Tuesday and Jesus, no, they were not having an affair. Her rune practically sang with pain and her knees felt weak. It shimmered on her palm, iridescent and shiny, like a freshwater pearl. Time to head to Paris' office and see if Jade could catch Dex in a lie.

  She passed by three more liars on her way to Paris' office - someone promising to call their mother, someone talking about the size of jeans they wore, someone saying they couldn't meet for lunch because they were busy. God almighty, was everyone a lying liar who lied?

  Jade felt dizzy and a little sick by the time she arrived. Paris' assistant's desk was once again empty, the ever-elusive Suki still missing. Jade was only grateful this time as it meant she didn't have to check in with anyone before she knocked once on the door and let herself in.

  Paris looked up from his desk as Jade came in, frowning. "You look horrid. What's wrong?"

  "I'm charmed," Jade said, stumbling in. She made a beeline for the Queen Anne chairs in the corner, flopping down in one. Paris stood from his chair and came over to where she was slouched, legs akimbo out in front of her.

  "What's the matter?"

  She made a face and kind of grunted a bit. "I think I fucked up."

  Paris raised an eyebrow at her. "You think, or..."

  "Fine," she said sharply. "I know I did." She bit the inside of her lip. "Um, so how much do you know about demon runes?"

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Paris sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. His cell phone buzzed in his pocket and he ignored it. "What have you done?"

  Jade held out her hand, palm up and the moment she did, he could feel the density of magic around her. It was thick and murky, like a stagnant pool of water. He blinked, staring down at her palm. "I think I'm a human polygraph machine," she said.

  Paris frowned, staring at her palm, almost transfixed by the amount of power contained in such a small area. "Pardon?"

  "Lie to me."

  He was at a loss, his mind going instantly blank. She stared at him wide eyed, blinking once or twice. "C'mon, you must have something. Any kind of lie will do."

  Paris shook his head slightly. "Um... I wish you'd never joined the Coven."

  He saw a split second of disbelief on her face and then her palm shimmered and sparkled, rune lettering flaring to life. Her face went tight, lips pressing together, jaw muscle flexing slightly and he realized it must hurt her. Paris could feel the magic in her blood, in her bones, writhe up against her skin, like it was trying to push out of her body. She sank back against the chair, taking a shaky breath. "Wow, that really was a lie."

  "Of course it was," he said, his tone snappish. He took her proffered hand and turned it over in his own. He touched her palm and thought he could feel a rune beneath the skin, like scar tissue. "What is this? Where did you get this?"

  "Er." She looked a bit sheepish. "Your mother's demon grimoires?" Jade said like it was a question.

  He pursed his lips together and before he could speak, she was already protesting.

  "I know, okay, I know! You said not to and I did and can we both just agree it was really fucking foolish and I'm sorry and I would say it won't happen again, but we both know that would be a lie and I really don't want to go through the whole shooting-pain-in-my-hand-and-up-my-arm-thing again so it's best if I don't make promises I know I won't keep."

  They faced off for a moment, both of them unwilling to look away or blink. Paris broke first. "Tell me what you did and how you did."

  He listened as she went through the process - burning ash, her intent, her failed tries and then her success.

  "I felt okay last night, but this morning I feel like I'm really hungover. Only there was no fun involved. My arm hurts and people lie. Oh my god they lie. I passed by four liars on the way here."

  Paris held up a hand to stem the tide of her speech. She was getting riled up and he suspected it had to do with the amount of power she was channeling to keep the rune working. His cell phone continued to buzz in his pocket, making him feel somewhat assaulted on all fronts. "Hmm, did it say in the book how to stop it?"

  Her head tilt and glare spoke volumes. "Would I be here if it did?"

  "So you cast a rune, a demon rune, on yourself, having never worked with runes before and not understanding them fully, without knowing if there was a counter-spell in the grimoire? That about sum it up?"

  Jade squirmed a bit. "When you put it like that, it sounds dumb."

  Paris wasn't sure he'd had enough coffee yet for this. "It was. It was incredibly foolish of you. What on earth would possess you to do such a thing?"

  Her shoulders shifted and she jutted her chin out mulishly. "I wanted to find out who broke the Coven's magic," she said, not making eye contact.

  "And how was this to help you?"

  "Because it was going to prove someone was lying."

  "Who? Do you suspect someone?" Paris asked, leaning forward, intent on her. This was the first he'd heard of Jade having any suspicions and he was surprised she didn't just come to him right away. "You must have someone in mind. You can't possibly have thought of just randomly walking around and asking people."

  "No," she huffed, as though the very thought of that was ridiculous.

  "Then, tell me. Who do you suspect?"

  Jade crossed her arms over her chest, wincing slightly when she had to fold her runed arm against her body. "Dex, okay? I think it's Dex."

  Paris leaned back a bit, surprised. "Dex?"

  "See!" she said, sitting upright and pointing her finger at him. "This is exactly why I needed proof because everyone loves him. And I don't. I really don't. He pushes all my 'No' buttons, but it's like... I'm new. I'm the witch not born in a coven and I'm the one that had demons after her and I'm the one who can use demon magic and no one will care what my opinion is when you're all friends with him."

  Paris was flabbergasted. He had no idea Jade felt that strongly about Dex, but also about her opinion lacking any weight with him, or the rest of the Coven. "So instead of coming to me with your suspicions and talking to me about it like a rational being, you decided to prac
tice unknown demon magic on your body."

  "Would you have listened to me?" she asked hotly and somewhat rhetorically if her tone was any indication.

  "Well, we won't know now, will we?"

  Jade rolled her eyes. "Don't use the third person on me, okay?"

  Paris pursed his lips. "Fine. You won't know now if I would have believed you."

  She curled in on herself a bit, her face going blank and solemn, and he felt like a heel. He should perhaps just keep a litter of puppies in his office so he could kick them whenever he wanted to feel just as bad as he did now.

  "But you don't, do you?" Jade's voice was flat and quiet. "You're just pissed about the demon magic, but you're not really considering that it's Dex who's doing this to your Coven. To you."

  Paris felt trapped. He felt like he had to proceed carefully. She stared at him defiantly and yet a little hopeful. He didn't want to outright crush her feelings, but at the same time, he'd had no idea she didn't trust Dex. "I know you don't trust people easily," he began and she cut him off.

  "I knew it. I fucking knew it. Then bring him up here and let's ask him and I'll show you. I'll show you exactly why I cast an unknown demon rune on my hand. I'll prove it."

  Paris held back a sigh. He didn't like to give in to ultimatums or demands, but perhaps in this case, it would be for the best if he did simply invite Dex up here and they could settle it. Then he could see what could be done about the demon rune. He opened his mouth to say as such when there was a knock at his door.

  "A moment," he said to Jade, hoping his face indicated they weren't done yet. She fell back into the chair with what could only be described as a sulky expression. "Yes?" he called out.

  Josef poked his head in. "You aren't answering your cell phone and we've got a bit of a situation."

  Paris reached into his pocket and saw four missed calls - two from Josef, one from Callie and one from Suki. "What is it?" he asked, standing.

  "Missing child," Josef said without preamble. "He's six, a wanderer, and a bit of a sleepwalker. Tends to toddle off. His mother, Nora, works in HR, can usually locate him with a spell and problem solved, but with the Coven's magic not working..."