The Cost of Magic

by S T G Hill

Thorn had more presence of mind and halted several steps back. “Ellie!”

  Her sock feet skidded over the floorboards, almost kissing the door. Her heart pattered away and her whole body went alternately hot and cold with excitement.

  She took a breath and blew it out, then rapped her knuckles against the door.

  “Come in,” Arabella said from within.

  She burst inside and found Arabella sitting at Grant’s desk. She’d found a pen and a yellow legal pad somewhere and had several lines of writing on the paper. All the writing was crossed out.

  “What is it?” Arabella picked up on Ellie’s excitement.

  “Thorn knows about someone who might have a unicorn horn,” Ellie said breathlessly.

  Thorn crowded the door behind Ellie, “I do. Maybe. But why does it matter? What do you guys know?”

  Arabella filled Thorn in on Belt’s procedure that she and the others had interrupted. That Belt had found a way to separate Ellie from the Gem of Orlyon. And that way depended on the use of a unicorn horn.

  “Belt said it would work?” Thorn asked Ellie.

  She nodded. She didn’t tell them about the part where Belt said it would hurt quite a bit, that removal.

  I’ll deal with that if—not if, when—we get to it.

  “I take it she’s talking about whoever you got the phylactery to summon that dragon from? I never did ask how you acquired that.”

  It was then that Arabella and Ellie both noticed that Thorn didn’t exactly share in their excitement.

  “He stole the dragon thing,” Ellie put in.

  Arabella directed her attention to Thorn, “Stole? Just who did you steal it from, Thorn?”

  Thorn rubbed at the back of his head and glanced around the study.

  “Thorn!” Arabella said.

  He dropped his arms and spread his hands in a motion of surrender, “I took it from Simon the Polymancer.”

  Arabella pushed up to her feet and leaned her hands against the desk, her eyes wide. She swallowed audibly and then sank slowly back to the executive chair. “You didn’t.”

  Thorn pursed his lips, face blushing with irritation, “I had to! He wanted too much for it! And aren’t you forgetting that we needed something, something big, to distract Belt with so that we could rescue her?” He waved at Ellie.

  Arabella stared at Thorn, her jaw working, “Even if he does have a unicorn horn, do you think he’ll sell it to us now? And now his guard’s up!”

  Ellie put herself between them when she saw real, actual sparks begin discharging tiny bolts of lightning in the air.

  “So what if he’s mad? Can’t we just pay him for the dragon thingy and get him to sell us the unicorn horn? I mean, we have more time now. I don’t need rescuing anymore.”

  I hope we have time, Ellie thought. Granted it had only been a day, but there was no sign of Belt. No sign that anyone had breached the warding that guarded the Pitarelli brownstone from unwanted attention.

  “Hey, what’s going on in here?” Attracted by the commotion, Matilda appeared in the doorway, peering over Thorn’s shoulder.

  This time Arabella stood up in a more collected fashion. She came around to the front of the desk so that it no longer stood between her and the others.

  “I understand that we were desperate for a distraction. I also understand that it worked; we have Ellie with us here now. But now I wish that you guys had talked to me first. Even if we didn’t need something from him, it’s dangerous to be on the wrong side of Simon.”

  Ellie hated the new feeling of frustration that welled up from her stomach, choking out that initial burst of excitement. “Then screw this Simon guy. If he might have a unicorn horn to sell, maybe someone else will, too? Right?”

  Arabella looked at her, “He has such a large collection. He’d be the most sure bet. This isn’t something we can waste a lot of time on.”

  Chapter 38

  “So it’s decided, then,” Arabella said. She didn’t sound particularly happy with it.

  A curious mix of relief and apprehension filled Ellie, quivering in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t relish the thought of the process of getting the Gem out of her, but she wanted it out all the same.

  Matilda leaned against Thorn, a ghost of a bemused smile on her face. “Just don’t send this one to get it.”

  She nudged Thorn with her elbow, and he shot her a frustrated glance. “I did what I needed to do. If I had to go back and rescue Ellie again, I’d do the exact same thing. He was asking too much for the phylactery. Gouging. He deserved it.”

  “What was he asking for, anyway?” Ellie said, curious because Thorn kept mentioning that this Simon guy asked a heavy price. “Is there some sort of magical money I never learned about?”

  She hadn’t heard of any such thing at Sourcewell. And the quartermaster there didn’t actually charge any currency when she went to “buy” clothes or school supplies.

  The quartermaster’s office had been staffed with channelers skilled at particle manipulation. Whatever you wanted they literally magicked up out of nothing.

  So long as the request wasn’t too ridiculous, anyway.

  Arabella stood at the window, peering out into the garden with its deceptively peaceful nature. “Men like that are only interested in a couple of things: artifacts that they don’t yet own, and power. Which did he want from you, Thorn?”

  Thorn squeezed his hands into fists over and over. “I did what I needed to do.”

  Ellie wanted to know the price, but she also knew that Thorn found himself standing on a narrow path over a steep drop.

  And besides, it felt like they were finally beginning to patch things up ever since she came back to the world. “Does it really matter anymore?”

  Thorn shot her a grateful look, and Matilda a jealous one.

  Arabella turned around and Ellie recoiled in shock. Glowing red veins of magic pulsed in the top of her hands and in her cheeks and neck. “It does, because Thorn might have cost us our easiest chance of getting us what we need.”

  She’s angry, Ellie realized.

  Arabella brushed past her, then grabbed handfuls of Thorn’s trench coat. He was so startled that he didn’t fight back.

  “What are you doing?” Matilda said, scooting back a step and raising her arms, ready to cast a spell.

  The air filled with the entirely non-magical static of brewing tension.

  “Master Thrace,” Thorn said.

  Arabella ignored his plea. Instead she lifted him off his feet, the top of his head brushing against the study’s ceiling.

  “The next words out of your mouth better be whatever Simon wanted for the dragonbone phylactery. And then after that, how you managed to steal it from him. Because we need that unicorn horn. We can’t get the Gem out of Ellie without it. And if we can’t get it out of her, we can’t use it to stop Belt. And if we can’t stop Belt, we can’t make him pay for everything that he’s done…” She brought Thorn’s face closer to hers, “And I’m not going to let him get away with it. Any of it.”

  “Thorn…” Matilda said, her hands wavering with uncertainty.

  Ellie sat on the desk, gripping hard at the edge. She hadn’t realized just how deep Arabella’s rage and frustration went.

  Or how old. Something about the way she spoke to Thorn, something in her tone, told her that this went back with Belt farther than Ellie herself did.

  “Master Thrace,” Thorn said again.

  “I’m not kidding around!” Arabella said. Then she gave him a single, hard shake.

  Matilda stepped forward uncertainly, and Ellie wondered if she could trip Matilda before she managed to get a spell off.

  It didn’t matter.

  Arabella gave a frustrated sigh. She unthreaded one fist from Thorn’s coat and pushed her opened palm against the side of his face.

  Filaments of angry red magic slipped under his skin, and he sucked in a sharp breath.

  “Tell me,” Arabella said.

  Thorn
pulled his eyes from Arabella and set them on Ellie. Those eyes of his trembled. “Ellie.”

  For a moment, Arabella’s righteous rage wavered and she lowered Thorn until his dangling toes touched the floor. “Don’t look at her. Look at me.”

  She hoisted him back up, and the red lines that went under Thorn’s cheek pulsed.

  He squeezed his eyes shut as those inquisitive threads pressed deeper into him. It looked like it hurt.

  Ellie stood up from the desk. “Arabella, stop.”

  “Stay out of this,” Arabella said.

  Thorn opened his eyes and grimaced. “He wanted Ellie. For the phylactery.”

  “What?” Arabella dropped him.

  Thorn stumbled, backing up against the closed door of the study. He clutched his face with one hand and a bookcase with the other, holding himself steady.

  “Thanks to Belt, everyone knows about Ellie. About what she is. Simon knew somehow that I knew Ellie. He demanded her in exchange for the phylactery.”

  “Why?” Ellie said, incredulous.

  “Yeah, why would anyone want her?” Matilda said, shooting Ellie a look of disgust.

  As they watched, Arabella calmed. The throbbing veins of red apparent in her flesh dimmed and then disappeared. “He’s a collector,” she said.

  “And as Omenborn,” Thorn stepped forward, steady on his feet once more, “She’s one of a kind. The rarest, and therefore most valuable to Simon, magical artifact in the world.”

  “Hey! I’m right here. I’m a person, not a thing,” Ellie said, “And besides, didn’t he think it was weird that you wanted that dragon thing to use to rescue me?”

  Thorn shrugged and shook his head, “He didn’t know why I wanted the phylactery. And to answer your second question, I told him I wanted to see the phylactery before I agreed to anything. He opened up this pocket dimension and brought it out. As soon as I could, I grabbed it, wrapped him up in as many chains as I could, and got out of there.”

  “My hero,” Matilda said, hugging one of his arms.

  “There’s really nowhere else we can get a piece of unicorn horn?” Ellie said.

  Arabella turned to face her, “Belt was right when he told you there aren’t any unicorns anymore. He showed you what was probably the largest fragment left. There won’t be anymore than a handful of pieces in the world. So while others might have one, we don’t know for certain who.”

  Ellie’s shoulders sank, “Except we do. We know Belt has one. And we figure that Simon does, too.”

  “I’ll go find Simon,” Thorn said, “And I’ll make him give it to us.”

  “That’s a bad idea,” Arabella said, “As soon as he sees you coming he’ll either run or fight. And you’re a strong channeler, Thorn, but he’s a polymancer. You’re lucky you got away with the phylactery the first time.”

  That word again, polymancer, Ellie thought. It tickled at something in her memory. Some lecture or chapter from a class at Sourcewell. Probably Magical Foundations. AKA, Magic 101, Magic for Dummies, etc.

  She wished then that Sybil were there with them. She’d be able to whip off some verbatim definition for them all.

  “What is a polymancer anyway? And why does that make Simon so dangerous?” Ellie said. “Poly, that means many or something like that?”

  Matilda let out a little laugh, but didn’t say anything else.

  “It does mean many,” Arabella said, “The full term means that Simon is a rare piece of magic himself. While the vast majority of sorcerers have the bulk of their skill in just one school of magic, with some skill in one of the others, a polymancer has a talent for all three.”

  “Belt’s a polymancer,” Thorn said.

  Arabella sighed, “And before I knew the whole truth, Ellie, I thought you were, too.”

  Ellie frowned, “Why?”

  “The entrance exam,” Arabella continued, “Since polymancers are so rare, the entrance exam isn’t really equipped to test for it. It tests for which school you have the most aptitude in. And since a polymancer has aptitude in all three primary schools, the test concludes that you’re an ab.”

  Ellie remembered. “That seems like forever ago now.”

  A melancholic smile ghosted the corners of Arabella’s lips. “It does.”

  Ellie remembered much more. The frown lines across her forehead deepened. “You also said you thought I wasn’t an ab. That I reminded you of someone. Do you know another polymancer?”

  The word still tasted funny in her mouth.

  Arabella’s smile, barely there to begin with, collapsed. “It’s not important right now. What’s important is figuring out how to get what we need from Simon. Some way that doesn’t involve trading him Ellie.”

  “That would be good,” Ellie said.

  “Shame,” Matilda added.

  Even Arabella gave her an exasperated glare for that one.

  Chapter 39

  After a while, the small study became stifling with the four of them in there.

  Matilda begged off, saying she’d go along with whatever harebrained scheme they finally landed on.

  Thorn kept putting forward the idea of strong-arming Simon into giving them whatever fragment of unicorn horn he owned.

  He figured that Arabella was a powerful kinesist, that he himself was a skilled channeler, and that together they’d be able to overpower Simon.

  Then they sat in the Pitarelli den, on the same couch that Peter sat in when they first quite literally popped into said den.

  Ellie watched a couple of cars pass by outside.

  “That won’t work if he just runs as soon as he sees you coming,” Ellie said.

  Thorn clenched his hands on his knees, clearly wanting to stand up and pace around. He’d been doing that earlier, but Arabella told him to sit, since his frenetic pace was getting under her skin.

  “He won’t see me if Arabella goes in first. Gets him thinking about the deal. He won’t be concentrating on what his prognosticating tells him and I’ll get the drop on him.”

  Arabella leaned back in the well-worn easy chair that occupied the corner beside the TV. “If Simon knew about your relationship with Ellie, there’s no way he doesn’t know that I’m also part of the Resistance. He won’t trust me. Even if he does stay around to listen, his guard will be up.”

  Again, Ellie wished that Sybil were there with them. She found she always did her best thinking with Sybil around.

  And with Chauncy curled up on her lap, his fur fine silken and warm when she ran her fingers through it.

  But neither of them were there. Sybil was back at Sourcewell. Chauncy was… a fist clenched around Ellie’s chest.

  Belt hadn’t come right out and said that he had killed Chauncy, and Ellie chose to believe that meant he’d managed instead to fight Chauncy off. She refused to let herself believe anything else.

  She didn’t know exactly why Chauncy came to mind at that moment. Maybe because the Pitarelli brownstone wasn’t that far from the Williamson brownstone.

  That also felt like a lifetime ago. Like a different person ago, even. Back when Ellie decided she wanted to be someone completely different.

  Pretended, more like it, she thought.

  Arabella and Thorn continued arguing, neither of them noticing Ellie slip deeper into memory.

  She had always been good at pretending. Pretending to be whatever he latest foster family wanted so that she could stay out of trouble.

  Pretending to be the helpless crying girl to get into the movies for free.

  Pretending that she was still a powerful sorcerer after Chauncy pushed Belt through that breach portal in her bedroom so that Belt’s lackeys would leave her alone.

  Ellie’s breath caught in her throat. She squeezed the armrest of the couch.

  She had it: the answer.

  “What if Simon just opens up his pocket dimension, jumps in, and seals it shut behind him? What then?” Arabella said.

  Arabella had lost most of whatever calm she’d managed to
gather before. She leaned forward in the easy chair, fingers pushing into the overstuffed armrests.

  Thorn gripped his knees so tightly that his knuckles went white.

  “Guys, I know how to get the horn from him,” Ellie said, If he actually has one, or some fragments. She decided not to think about that possibility.

  Thorn and Arabella had become so absorbed in their own little tiff, and Ellie sat there for quiet and still, that they’d forgotten she was with them.

  Thorn jerked back, one hand coming off his knee, crackling tongues of electricity licking and crackling around his knuckles.

  Arabella drew in a sharp breath.

  “I know what to do,” Ellie said, giving them a moment to calm down.

  Arabella sighed, and Thorn released his summoned lightning and lowered his hand.

  “What’s your idea?” Arabella said.

  “We give him what he wants,” Ellie said, “We give him me.”

  Chapter 40

  They both lurched up from their seats.

  “That’s far too dangerous!” Arabella said.

  Thorn levelled an accusing finger at her, “I didn’t think I needed to remind you of this fact: but you don’t have your magic anymore, Ellie.”

  Ellie also stood up. She hated that they were both taller than her. “Okay, first, we don’t have any other option, as you guys have made super clear over, like, the last two hours.

  “And second, Simon doesn’t know that I don’t have my magic.”

  “What good does that do us?” Thorn said.

  “Easy,” Ellie said, “We pretend that I do still have it.”

  They gave her a look like she’d sprouted a second head before their eyes.

  “Ellie…” Thorn began.

  Ellie didn’t have time for his patronizing. Her idea electrified her, made her feel useful.

  Made her feel hopeful.

  “No! Listen! When I was in the 6th grade, there was this bully who would jump me every day after school. Charlotte Feinstein,” Ellie frowned at the recollection, “Actually, Matilda reminds me of her…”

  Arabella raised an eyebrow at her and Ellie got back on track.