by Keri Arthur
I know that, Belle, but there’s a whole truckload of things involving the wild magic that shouldn’t be happening right now. And this was just another thing to add to the ever-growing list.
I rubbed my arms, my fingertips tingling every time I brushed a thread. The night remained dark and, other than the wild magic, there was little indication of anything supernatural.
And yet the uneasiness was sharpening.
It might be wise to warn the men, Belle commented. If something’s coming, they may not have enough time to get out.
I immediately grabbed my phone and dialed Aiden. I could have called out easily enough, but I didn’t want to wake or alarm the neighbors. And I dared not go inside; if the soucouyant or her fire was headed this way then I needed to be out here to spot it.
What I’d be able to do if I did was another question entirely.
“What’s wrong?” Aiden said, without preamble.
“Maybe nothing, but I think the four of you had better get out of the house.”
“Is the soucouyant coming?”
“Something is.” My gaze was drawn skyward. Other than the extraordinarily bright glimmer of the evening star, there was absolutely nothing untoward to be seen.
“Liz,” Monty said in the background, “we’ve got a network of spells surrounding the place, but they all depend on the bait—us—being inside.”
The glimmer of that star was getting stronger. Growing warmer. The cloak of wild magic stirred in agitation and my heart began beating a whole lot faster.
“The bait will be of no use to anyone if it’s crisped. Get out,” I said. “Get out now.”
Monty swore, but I could hear Ashworth telling him to shut up and just move.
“Hurry, Aiden,” I said, and hung up.
That star was brighter. Closer.
But it wasn’t a star. It was a fireball.
It looked big enough to cause an explosion that would take out not only this house but also those on either side. Worse still, it was moving so damn fast that even if we made it to the trucks, we’d very likely get caught in the backwash.
I swore and briefly closed my eyes in desperate anger—at the situation and the fact that no matter what I did or how fast I learned new spells or new ways of interacting with the magic of this place, it wasn’t ever enough. But as the anger surged at my own inadequacies, so too did the wild magic. The silvery threads shifted and flowed across my body, winding their way down my arm and forming a ball of thick, pulsing energy.
One power to contain another, I realized.
But it meant me standing in front of the house, holding steady against the heat of that fireball until it was close enough for me to throw the wild magic. I swore again, moved into position, and then looked around as Aiden came out of the house.
He studied me for a heartbeat and then looked up. “What the hell is that?”
“Retribution for salting her skin.”
“If that thing hits the house, she’ll destroy not only her skin, but everything in the near vicinity.”
“Given her skin is now inaccessible to her, I don’t think she really cares,” I said. “I need you and the others to get beyond the trucks, at least.”
“I’m not abandoning—”
Anger surged—anger that was based as much in fear for his safety as it was at his stubbornness. “Damn it, Aiden, stop arguing and just do what I ask for a change. You can’t help but you can get in the way, and that might be dangerous to us all.”
Anger flashed across his expression, and it was every bit as fierce as mine. But all he said was, “What about the neighbors? Should we at least try to evacuate them?”
I hesitated, my gaze darting back to the fireball. It was now close enough to see it was the size of a Swiss ball; close enough to feel as if we were standing under a heating vent.
And yet it was nowhere near close enough to throw the wild magic at.
“You can try, but we’ve only a few minutes, if that.”
He nodded and looked around as Ashworth and Eli came out of the house. “Can you two go right, and get the neighbors out? I’ll go left.”
Ashworth nodded. As the three of them departed, Monty finally appeared.
“Okay, now I understand the urgency in your voice.” He stopped beside me and squinted up at the fast-approaching fireball. “It’s kinda large, isn’t it?”
“Yes, and you might want to move a safe distance away, because I have no idea what will happen once I unleash the net of wild magic.”
“I’m not about to go anywhere,” he replied evenly. “I was sent here to observe the wild magic and that’s exactly what I intend to do. Especially when you’re using it in ways that shouldn’t be possible.”
“You could end up being crisped.”
He shrugged. “So could you.”
“I have no choice. You do.”
“How about you just shut up and concentrate on that fireball? Because I’m thinking it’s getting a little too close for comfort.”
My gaze jumped up again. Even though it was still a good distance from the ground, I could now see the twisting, churning mass of flames. The soucouyant had thrown all her anger, all her frustration, and all her energy into its creation.
The wild magic stirred in anticipation. It was almost time to unleash it... and then hope like hell I’d guessed right and that it would be able to contain the fireball. Otherwise, we were all in trouble.
My heart was now pounding somewhere in the vicinity of my throat, and sweat dotted my skin. I could hear voices and footsteps coming from the houses on either side, but I didn’t dare look around. Every sense I had was now attuned to both the fireball above and the power that curled with ever-increasing velocity around my fingertips.
I briefly clenched my fingers around it. Felt the power of it roll through me. Imagined it forming a net around the fireball, containing it, nullifying it. Felt the pulsing response.
The connection between me and the magic of this place was strengthening, and that was absolutely terrifying.
But it was also something I could worry about later.
Then something within whispered now....
I raised my hand and unleashed the wild magic. It flashed skyward, a silvery streak that raced toward the twisting mass of red and gold. As the two drew closer, the net began to unravel. Silvery threads flicked out from the main mass, briefly resembling long fingers. As they spread out even further, the fireball’s intensity increased; flames erupted from its surface and flashed toward the net of wild magic. The two clashed, and the silver disappeared into the red.
I briefly closed my eyes.
It hadn’t worked.
Goddammit....
But even as the fear hit, the wild magic surged anew. Silver filaments crawled out of the middle of the fireball and quickly wrapped themselves around it. The flames twisted and flared, but the threads were stronger, twining around and around the fire. The heat rolling off the fireball began to ease, but it was close to the treetops now. The sharp scent of eucalyptus stung the air and the leaves were starting to curl and brown—a sure sign the tree was close to ignition point.
Monty raised a hand and began spelling, the soft words lost to the gathering roar of the approaching fireball. I doubted there was a spell strong enough to protect us against the sheer heat of it, but I wasn’t about to do anything to stop him. If the wild magic failed, then a small chance was better than nothing.
The silver threads of wild magic now covered most of the fireball, but flames still shot out from various bits of the outer rim. The old gum tree was now smoldering.
It wasn’t working, and we were too damn close now to run....
Energy surged again, and the fireball abruptly halted. For several seconds, it hovered just above the tree, a twisting, churning mass of red and silver.
Then, with a huge whoomp, it exploded.
Monty swore, cast his spell into the air, and then pushed me sideways and down, onto the ground. The tree
exploded into flame and spots of silver and red scattered like ashes all around the lawn. Some caught, some didn’t, but the heat and smoke from the burning tree swirled around us, briefly cutting sight down to several feet and giving little indication of what else might be on fire.
For several minutes I didn’t dare move. I just hunkered down on the ground, listening to the roar of flame and waiting for the heated hammer to fall.
It didn’t.
“Fuck, that was close.” Monty pushed up onto his knees and looked around. “But it looks as if your net of wild magic worked. For the most part, anyway.”
I sat back on my heels, wincing a little as pain slithered down my cut thigh. Not only was the old gum tree ablaze, but there were also minor spot fires all over the lawn, and both the wooden window frames and the door of the soucouyant’s house showed signs of blast marks. But it could have been a whole lot worse. The net of wild magic had somehow succeeded in both containing and erasing most of the fireball.
“What was that spell you cast before the explosion?” I asked. “Because you seriously need to teach it to me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Sure, but why would you think you’d need it?”
“Do you really think that’ll be it for retaliation?” I said. “From the little I saw of soucouyant, she’s not going to take kindly to either of us getting the better of her.”
“Probably not, but she’s going to find it hard to sneak up on us unseen given she now has no skin.” He rose and offered me a hand.
I accepted it gratefully. The world briefly spun and then settled—a sure sign I really was pushing my limits now.
“The skin on the bed wasn’t the skin she was wearing when she went after tonight’s victim,” I said.
“Yes, but if she was able to maintain those other forms beyond a night, she wouldn’t be reclaiming her ‘original’ skin every morning,” he said. “Most spirits need to escape the daylight. The soucouyant does that by using her human skin—without it, she won’t be able to hide in plain sight.”
“Which gels with something Belle discovered tonight.” I gave him the information, then added, “Is it possible we’re dealing with two soucouyants rather than two different types of fire spirits?”
“Could be, although it’s odd for them to be hunting in the same area. They’re usually loners.”
I hesitated. “I have no idea if fire spirits can reproduce, but is it possible there’s some kind of kinship between them?”
He frowned. “There’s certainly documents that state some demons are capable of reproduction, but I’ve never read anything that suggests spirits are.”
“But they have to come from somewhere, don’t they? Granted, there are some witches whose destiny it is to move into the spirit realm, but entities such as fire spirits have always existed alongside humanity.”
“And I guess we witches have tended to hunt them down rather than study them, so we really haven’t got much more than old wives’ tales to go on.”
Which made Belle’s books even more valuable. “Surely the archive in Canberra has more than that? They’ve been collecting information, both here and overseas, for eons.”
“You’d think so, but I’m coming up with squat so far.” He thrust a hand through his hair, shaking loose random bits of inert wild magic and leaf matter. “Either way, we’d both better sleep with half an eye open.”
I couldn’t help smiling. “You can sleep with half an eye open; I’ll be layering in additional protections in the spell network that protects the café.”
“Which will only protect you from the spirit, not her arcane fire.”
“And that’s exactly why I want you to show me the shielding spell you used—it did protect us, and it’s possible I might be able to weave it into the current layers.”
“Hasn’t anyone told you it’s dangerous to adjust spells in such an ad hoc manner?”
“Yes.” I glanced around at the sound of footsteps and saw Aiden approaching.
“You okay, Liz?” he said, stopping beside me.
“Yes, but it’s mainly thanks to Monty spelling a last-minute fire ward.” I leaned into Aiden’s warm body; his arm immediately went around me, preventing retreat. Not that I actually wanted to go anywhere. His tender but protective touch made me feel safe. Loved, even.
Which I wasn’t, of course, and never would be, but it was nevertheless nice to believe otherwise, even if for a moment.
“I’m also okay, thanks for asking,” Monty said, clearly amused.
“Good, because the last thing this reservation needs is to lose another witch,” Aiden said. “Is this it from the soucouyant? Or will there be more attacks?”
“This is probably it for tonight, but she may well resume hostilities tomorrow night.”
“Which gives us tomorrow to find her. Any ideas?”
Monty grimaced. “It’s possible I can use a piece of her skin to track her in much the same manner as Lizzie used the ember, but I’ll need Eli’s guidance. I’ve studied the spell’s basics, but never actually performed it.”
“More than happy to help out with that,” Eli said, as he and Ashworth strode up.
“And her skin?” I asked. “Even if it’s salted, what’s the chance of her trying to get it back? Or even washing the salt from it and reusing?”
“That, I don’t know,” Monty said. “The records I’ve read only go as far as saying salting prevents them from reclaiming their skin. It doesn’t mention anything about the possibility of them cleaning it.”
“What about keeping it in brine?” Ashworth said. “The fact salting her skin makes it physically impossible for her to move back into her flesh suggests it’s her Achilles’ heel, so keeping her skin in a brine mixture should make it impossible for her to reach into the jar and grab it.”
“What’s to stop her grabbing the jar and smashing it open?” Aiden asked.
“Spells that will contain a lovely little sting in their tail, Ranger.” Ashworth’s smile was wide. “And you’d better believe I have one or two of those up my sleeve.”
Monty raised his eyebrows. “Care to elaborate?”
Ashworth slapped him on the back hard enough to send him staggering forward a step before he regained his balance. “One thing at a time, lad. One thing at a time.”
The two of them moved into the house. Eli followed, but not before muttering a somewhat bemused, “And there goes the rest of our nice, quiet evening.”
“And there goes ours,” Aiden said softly. “I’ll have to stay here and supervise.”
He didn’t actually have to, as there were other rangers within the reservation. But I withheld the rather snarky comment—the fact of the matter was, I had to accept his job was his life, and that would never change, whether he was with me or the love of his life.
Something within me twisted at that, and I wasn’t entirely sure if it was the green-eyed demon or the prophetic part of me warning of what would be.
I rose on my toes and kissed him, long and slow. It was a promise of what might have been, and what might yet be. But not tonight. Maybe not even tomorrow night, depending on how all the aches and pains went.
Rather reluctantly, I pulled back out of his arms. “I’d better go.”
“Do you want me to drive you home?”
“I’m frustrated enough. I don’t need to be in the close quarters of a truck with you right now.” I hesitated, a smile twitching my lips as my gaze skimmed downward. “And from the look of things, neither do you.”
He chuckled softly and lightly brushed his fingers down my cheek. “Here’s hoping that we catch a break with these cases and manage some time together. Otherwise, I might just explode.”
I grinned. “You managed over a year flying solo, Ranger. I’m thinking a day or two extra won’t do you any harm.”
“Then you would be wrong.” He glanced around at the sound of sirens. “That’ll be the fire department and Mac. I’d better let you go.”
I kissed him again�
��this time briefly—and then called for a cab. It only took a few minutes to get home, and I arrived to find the promised bath waiting for me. The highly scented, herb-enriched water did wonders for both my energy and pain levels, and the solid ten hours sleep that followed didn’t hurt, either.
Over breakfast the next morning, I said, “Did you manage to uncover anything else about fire spirits last night?”
Belle shook her head. “It seems the spell book we need is in storage.”
“Which is always the damn way,” I said. “I wish we had room for them all here.”
“It’s probably better that we haven’t.” Belle picked up her coffee and leaned back in her chair. “The café has already been hit once. We were lucky it didn’t cause all that much damage to our personal effects, but next time that may not be the case.”
“True.” I tore off a bit of toast and mopped up the leftover egg. “You know, it might be time to make preparations against that possibility.”
“As in, make an e-copy of each book?” Belle grimaced. “That’ll take a damn while.”
“Yes, but it’s better than losing any of her information.” It also guarded us against the possibility of the high council discovering the existence of the library and confiscating all the books.
“It’d only be a safeguard if they’re stored on a drive that’s not, in any way, connected to the net. But having a backup is a good idea.” Belle briefly pursed her lips. Though her expression was thoughtful, there was an odd glint of anticipation in her eyes. “One of our regulars is an IT guy. I might talk to him and see if he can help us out.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Who?”
“Kash Kennedy.”
Amusement twitched my lips. “Now there’s a name that must have given him hell as a kid.”
“Apparently so.” Her silver eyes twinkled. “And it’s also probably the reason he looks so damn fit now.”
“Oh, hello,” I said, grinning. “Do I sense the possibility of a romance brewing?”
“Possibly.” She shrugged. “We actually met at the gym—he’s a part-time trainer there. He’s asked me out a couple of times, but I’m playing it cool.”
