Counter-Hex (Covencraft Book 2)

by Margarita Gakis

CHAPTER TWELVE

  Paris found it increasingly difficult to focus on his work. He found his mind kept drifting back to his argument with Jade and her stubborn assertion that Dex was responsible for the Coven's magic problems.

  But it wasn't just his argument with Jade bothering him. It was one moment, the moment he'd still been wholly wrapped up in Jade's magic, feeling his own power starting to resonate correctly. Everything felt clearer, sharper - like he hadn't realized he'd been viewing things through a veil of murky water. Suddenly things had felt right again. Paris' spell to find the boy had worked and even though Josef had to separate Paris and Jade, Paris felt like his magic was fixed - better.

  At that moment, Dex walked into the room - and Paris hadn't known who he was.

  It ended like a lightbulb popping - sharp, fast and quick. Jade started accusing Dex, and Paris felt the rest of her magic sluice out of him, like water down a drainpipe. Paris was resolutely on Dex's side just as quickly. Of course Dex wasn't responsible. Dex was a friend to the Coven, a friend to Paris.

  But that moment when his magic had run true, when Paris had looked at Dex and thought, 'Who is that?', stuck in his mind, like a thorn in the soft fleshy part of his hand.

  He felt strange even thinking about it now. It felt as though he were remembering something else, some other time, some story that was told to him in passing. It was ridiculous. Dex was his friend. He'd known Dex for years.

  Hadn't he?

  He couldn't explain it. Part of him wanted to be able to completely discount what Jade said. Part of him felt like a betrayer for even considering it. It felt wrong and strange to think that Dex had anything at all to do with the problems they were having. He certainly had the evidence to disregard Jade's accusation. She'd asked Dex if he'd done anything to the Coven magic and Dex had said no. Jade's rune hadn't lit up. End of story.

  But there was still that split second, when Dex walked in and he was a stranger.

  A knock sounded at his office door and Callie's head poked itself around the door, her blond hair fanning out and curling a bit around the wood.

  "Gotta sec?" Before he could answer, she was stepping in and shutting the door behind her. "I hear you and Jade had... words."

  "If we ever manage to bottle and market the speed at which Coven gossip spreads, we'll make millions."

  Callie snorted in agreement, pulling up one of the chairs opposite Paris' desk, setting it a bit closer than he normally had it. "So. What happened?"

  "You tell me. I'm sure you heard all the details."

  She made an apologetic face. "Yeah. I heard Jade accused Dex of having something to do with our magic problems and then you and she got into a bit of a yelling match."

  Paris reluctantly nodded. "That's about the sum of it. She's convinced that Dex has something to do with it."

  "She doesn't like him. I don't know why. He's... Dex. As far as I know, he's never been anything but nice to her."

  "Hmmm. She hasn't liked him since he's arrived?" he asked.

  Callie shook her head. "No. To say the very least."

  Paris pushed away from his desk a bit. "Jade cast some kind of demon rune on her hand, a lie detector, and then accused Dex of having done something to our magic."

  Callie looked at him expectantly. "And?"

  "And nothing. Her rune appeared to be functioning fine but it didn't indicate that Dex was lying."

  "You've a 'but' face on." Callie frowned. "You seem... I don't know. Uncertain?"

  Paris moved his head in a considering manner. "I'm not sure how to phrase it. This whole situation has me unsettled."

  "You don't really think Dex has anything to do with this, do you?"

  He opened his mouth to say, 'no.' that was the word on his lips and in his mind. But what came out was, "I don't know."

  Callie's eyebrows went up. "So do you believe Jade then? What proof does she have?"

  "I don't think she has any."

  Callie started chewing on her thumb. "I don't know, Paris. I really like Jade. I do. But Dex... I've known him for forever."

  "I know," Paris said automatically. He hadn't even meant to say it; it had just come out. It was strange feeling his own sentiments echoed in Callie's words, but also at the same time feeling frustrated and uneasy. "But something about Jade's conviction..." he trailed off, not sure where he wanted to go with his words. He thought about Dex, about his friendship with Dex and felt odd. He felt as though...

  "It's like I'm remembering something I wasn't there for," he said out loud.

  "What?"

  Something felt more solid in him, more steady as soon as he voiced the words. He looked up at Callie. "When you think about Dex, how do you feel?"

  Callie shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I feel... like I always feel when I think of him. I like him. He's my friend."

  "Is he?"

  Callie squinted at Paris. "What? Of course he is. He's been our friend for years."

  Something cold and thick was settling in Paris' gut at her words, at the expression on her face. She looked utterly convinced but also, somehow blank. Like a fanatic.

  "When was the last time you saw Dex before he came to the Coven?"

  "Oh, I just saw him... well. I mean it couldn't have been too long ago," Callie mused. She shook her head a bit as she thought. "Uh, you know, it was um. Well, before Jade came to the Coven. Definitely."

  "But when exactly?" he pressed.

  Callie fidgeted a bit. "I don't..." she met his gaze, looking a little lost. "I can't remember."

  The cold, thick feeling in his stomach settled like a heavy stone. "Nor I."

  "What does that mean, Paris?" Callie asked, but he could see in her face she already suspected what it meant.

  Paris pushed back his chair, rising to his feet. "It means I need to go see Jade, probably apologize, and find out if she suspects anything else about what's wrong with the Coven's magic. Something's been affecting us from the start. We thought it was just our magic, but..."

  "It's us too," Callie said, her voice wavering slightly. "It's not just our magic that's wrong, it's us." Callie shook her head. "This feels weird. I feel wrong when I talk about it. Like..."

  "Like you need to stop and apologize," Paris finished for her.

  "Yeah." She nodded, her large brown eyes focused on him. "And Jade thinks he did this to us."

  "Well, she thinks he's responsible for the Coven's magic problems."

  "But her hand thing, her demon rune, it didn't work."

  Paris paused "No. It didn't. But she was upset. I was upset. We had words. And now I think I should try to apologize and see if she's still willing to help."

  Callie's head tipped forward and she rubbed her temples a bit. "I'm so confused. I'm trying to focus on what we're talking about and it's like bits and pieces are getting snatched away from me."

  "Whatever has been done is powerful. I find it hard to focus on our conversation as well," Paris admitted. As he sat there, talking to Callie, he found he kept wanting to soothe over what he'd said, take back his words and deny he thought anything was untoward about Dex. He stood up. "I'm going to see Hannah first and then Jade. Hannah's the strongest of us and was the first to detect that something was wrong with our magic. Perhaps with this new information she can learn more. With Jade, I've been able to filter my magic through her and it... clears it somehow. I don't know if she'll let me do it again, but at the very least, she doesn't appear affected by anything that's happening to the Coven's magic or to us."

  Callie nodded. "Okay. I can try searching the library database for memory spells or deception or..." she shook her head again, trying to clear it. She grabbed a pad of sticky notes off Paris' desk and snatched a pen, scribbling furiously. "God, I've got to write this down, I feel like as soon as I leave I'm going to forget." She tore her notes off the pad and folded them carefully, tucking them in her pocket. Paris came around the corner of his desk and as he did, Callie surged forward and hugged him tightly. "You better still be real.
"

  Paris hugged her back, easily remembering Callie - their friendship stretching back all the way back, as far as he could remember. "I am."

  "Good luck with Jade."

  He grimaced. "Thank you. I fear I'll need it."

  #

  Paris knocked at Hannah's door, tucking his hands into his pocket. There was a nip in the air, his breath visible on each exhale. He couldn't pretend it was autumn much longer with the weather going frigid and cold.

  "Paris," Hannah said as she opened the door. She gestured him in quickly with her usual familiarity. "I wasn't expecting you."

  "Sorry to barge in. I've got more information on what's happening to Coven magic and I needed to talk to you about it."

  She made a kind of 'ah' sound, nodding in that sage way of hers. "Come to the sitting room. I've got some tea on."

  He knew better than to start talking before he was seated, mug in hand. She plopped two sugar cubes into his drink and then eyeballed him for a moment before plunking in a third. "You look like you need that today. What can I do for you?"

  "It's about Dex."

  Hannah sat, looking regal and poised in her chair. She took a sip of her tea, slurping it a little due to the temperature of the water. "Hmm. Dex."

  "You don't seem too surprised."

  Hannah looked as though she were considering her words carefully. "I'm not. Not exactly."

  Paris set his cup down on the side table, without taking a sip. "Hannah, do you know something about him?"

  "No. I don't think so. Why don't you tell me why you are asking," she said, sitting back in her seat a bit.

  "I don't think I know him," Paris confessed, feeling a sharp burn of wrong as he mouthed the words. He pushed through it, knowing he needed to get this out. "I don't know if anyone in the coven does." He told Hannah about what happened, how he was filtering his magic through Jade and directly after, when his magic still felt like it was working, Dex had arrived and Paris hadn't recognized him.

  Hannah looked at him, nodding slightly. She hesitated, her teacup trembling slightly. Paris waited for her to speak. After a moment, she appeared ready. "When he arrived, it was as though I had to make myself remember him." She smiled faintly and he felt such a rush of profound relief at her words. "I admit, until just now, I thought it was the just the beginnings of my age finally showing itself. I often lose things here and there - a key, a stone I meant to use in a spell, a packet of herbs I picked up." Hannah had a sad, wistful look on her face and Paris' heart lurched at it. He often forgot how old she was. In his mind, she was eternal - always there. She'd joked about her age before, but she'd never spoken so frankly about it. "This was the first time I'd felt like I'd lost a person."

  "You didn't really remember him, did you?"

  "No," she said quietly. "And now I see that keeping that information to myself was wrong. I thought it was just me." She looked sheepish and frail for a moment and Paris reached forward, taking one of her hands. She clutched it tightly. "What a mistake."

  "You couldn't have known."

  Her fingers tightened around his for a moment, her eyes shiny with moisture. She let his hand go, flapping her fingers at him, brushing at her eyes a bit. "Well, we can discuss my aging at another date. A much, much later date," Hannah said, picking up her teacup again. "So, what are you going to do about this?"

  "I admit, I was hoping you'd tell me."

  "There's a reason you are Coven Leader and I am not. I've no interest in making grand decisions and plans. Something tells me you've already got an idea in your head."

  Paris sighed. "I need to go see Jade. I think she's suspected Dex all along and today she tried to prove it was him and something went wrong." He paused thinking about how Jade's demon rune didn't work. "I'm not sure what. At any rate, she's the only person that seems to be truly unaffected by it. She tried to help the Coven today, help me," Paris continued, "and I managed to tear a strip off her a mile wide."

  "Well, she's tough. She can take it."

  "Let's hope she feels the same way," Paris said ruefully. He picked up his teacup and saucer, taking a sip of the hot sweet liquid. "Hannah, how much power would a spell like this take? To change our memories and to affect our magic."

  Hannah tapped a fingertip against her china cup. "Quite a bit, though I'm sure you guessed that. I would say likely demon magic." She paused and tipped her head a bit. "Or possibly blood magic."

  Paris grimaced feeling a bit sick. "I've been letting a sociopath walk around the Coven freely and all the while I've been calling him a friend, haven't I?" he asked rhetorically. He was glad when Hannah chose to stay silent, simply drinking her tea. "What kind of magic am I going to have to do to break blood magic? Is it even possible?"

  Hannah considered his question. "If I'm gauging his power correctly, you're still more powerful than he is."

  "But will it be enough? I know next to nothing about demon magic and I've never used blood magic myself, let alone tried to break it. I know some spells but I've not used them."

  "You've got your mother's grimoires."

  Paris felt the weight of those grimoires on his shoulders. "You think my mother's books would have something strong enough in them to break magic this powerful?"

  "I think if anyone could do it, your mother would have been the one. Plus, you've got Jade."

  "Do I?" he asked. "I wonder. I was quite hard on her."

  "The Coven is her home. We're her home."

  "I don't think she feels that." Paris rubbed a hand across his jaw. "I suppose I'll find out. I'm half afraid I'll get to her door and she'll sock me one."

  "Your best bet is to roll with it. If she hits you, she'll pack a wallop. Be grateful her cast is off."

  As always, Hannah managed to bring a smile to his face, no matter how grim it was. "Thank you," Paris answered dryly, pushing to his feet. "Perhaps, if you don't mind, you could assist Callie in her searches in the library? I would feel better if you were looking into it as well."

  "Of course."

  "I can take you there."

  "I'll take myself. Stop stalling and go see Jade."

  #

  It wasn't working.

  Jade had been trying to recreate the demon rune for an hour and she couldn't get it to work. Bruce, interested in the activity she supposed, had padded downstairs and into the kitchen. He lay with his belly pressed against the floor, watching her with his reflective eyes.

  "Ugh, I know!" she said as she failed again and he lazily flicked his tongue at her. Jade knew exactly what the problem was. She couldn't get the feeling back she'd had the first time she'd cast the rune - the certainty she'd felt about helping the Coven, helping Paris. When she tried, she found she just felt angry and hurt all over again. She took a deep breath and shook out her hands, trying to start over. She wiped down the table with her cotton cloth, imagining it was cleaning the surface of all magic and bad mojo. Jade circled the rag over the surface counter-clockwise, trying to calm her brain.

  It had always been a problem for her. She'd only ever really been able to be calm and centered when she was with Lily.

  There was a deep tug of melancholy at the thought of her. Everything was off lately. Jade thought about the dream she'd had recently; Lily in the lake, her hair fanned out around her, arms stretched up to the surface. A ghostly stalagmite under the water, swaying almost imperceptibly to a hidden current. The feeling she got when she thought of that lake - sick and heavy. The look on Paris' face when he yelled at her. Coming back to the cottage and wondering if she should even stay.

  Instead of focusing on the Coven and Paris, as she did the last time she made the rune, she tried to focus on Lily instead. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the calm, almost sleep-like feeling she would get when Lily was around.

  She heard Bruce shift to his feet and then heard his nails on the floor as he waddled over to her. Ticky-tacky, ticky-tacky. She felt him press his serpentine body against her calf, a warm heavy weight against her mus
cle. It reminded her of Lily too in a way - a grounding weight, pulling her emotions down deep, coiling them low and dense where they couldn't spring up and confuse things. Like her fingers were one end of a magnet and her pile of ash another, she dipped her fingertips in the burned soot unerringly, and started sketching out the rune on the table. She kept her eyes closed, feeling... something. She wasn't sure what. It was calm and heavy - like a pot of hot stew sitting on a stove on a cold day. It made her feel safe and bound. Jade opened her eyes and stared down at the rune she'd traced. It was a little lopsided and slanted and when she placed her palm on it, she was met with the all too familiar sensation of absolutely nothing happening.

  She pushed herself away from the table a bit in disgust. She couldn't get it to work. Bruce made his 'pfffft' sound and she looked down at him.

  "I don't know," she said plaintively. "It's just not working." She could feel the ball of mistrust still sitting behind her sternum; an uncomfortable weight and she knew it was keeping her from casting the rune.

  Bruce made a kind of wistful sound in return and Jade rolled her eyes, petting his scaly head. He blinked up at her sadly. "I don't know why you're so sooky. I'm the one that got yelled at today." He curled his tail around her ankle as she wiped down the table again.

  "This isn't going to work," she muttered out loud. "I can't..." she took a deep breath. "Okay. Plan B. What else do we know, Bruce?" Jade crossed her arms over her chest, sitting back in her chair, thinking. The lie detection rune was a bust until she could get over her feelings about the Coven and Paris. She could try to track Dex down, but she didn't really know what she would do with him if she found him. Plus he kind of gave her the creeps. Maybe she should focus on what was actually wrong with the Coven's magic instead of who she knew was behind it. She remembered being in the forest with Paris, feeling the bad-wrong sensation just out of reach of her magic. Not the lake (she shuddered a bit - she still didn't like the lake), but the feeling just beyond it. Discordant and strange, it had tugged at her and grabbed her attention, like a sliver under her skin. Paris had said they'd go back with Hannah. Maybe he already had. It wasn't like Jade was privy to everything he did.