Making Magic: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure series (The Witches of Pressler Street Book 2)

by Martha Carr

  Laura wiped a few tears from her eyes. “What?”

  “I just saw…” Emily stepped toward the energy core to look at the bottom. The minute she pressed her fingers against the glass-like wall, green sparks rose to meet her hands with a buzz and snap. “Ow.” She jerked her hands back, shook them out, and looked inside again. unable to see anything. “I swear something dropped down the middle of this thing. It was white. Maybe round. I dunno.” Stepping back to peer at the ceiling, she reached out her hand and waved it toward the top of the energy core. Her copper ring flashed, and the huge ball of light she’d summoned drifted across the ceiling, lighting the top of the core attached there just like it was attached to the floor.

  “Maybe a few parts are coming loose?” Nickie stared at the ceiling and shrugged.

  “You realize you didn’t cast a spell or anything, right?” Laura watched Emily studying the ceiling.

  The youngest lowered her head and turned to Laura with a grin. “Hey…you’re right. Like it read my mind.”

  “More like you’re a Hadstrom, and that’s what it’s supposed to do. I think.” Laura returned the grin and glanced at her own ring. “At least this part of the legacy isn’t the worst-case scenario.”

  “Wait, do you hear that?” Nickie raised a hand to shush them. “Listen…”

  They heard a crunch and a metallic groan, followed by a few muffled thumps.

  “Did that sound like a squeak to you guys?” Emily asked.

  Laura stepped toward the energy core, bending a little to check it out. “I don’t know, but it—jeeze!” A flare of green sparks erupted from the center of the clear cylinder, spraying in all directions like a firehose without anyone holding it steady. More metal groaned and squealed, the sparks lit up in bright, banging flashes, and the cylinder trembled.

  “Laura, I thought you said the big ship was supposed to balance out whatever we did in here.” Emily stepped away from the core, but was powerless to look at anything else.

  “That was just a guess. And it wasn’t even my guess.”

  The column cracked and sparked, making them all jump. A second later, flying green sparks of magical technology diminished, replaced by a column of steam hissing from somewhere at the base.

  “Um…not that I’m complaining or anything.” Nickie cocked her head. “But if this thing is broken, that’s a little anticlimactic, right?”

  Neither of her sisters said a word, instead waiting for the final explosion or tremble in the ground or whatever awful thing would signal their success.

  “Think it’s a good time to leave?” Emily asked.

  A loud, desperate-sounding squeak rose from the base of the column. Something banged around in there with a sound like a mouse’s claws scrabbling inside a metal sink. A puff of steam spurted from one of the arches between the energy core’s many claw-like feet. A small white ball of fluff pushed its way out, swaying a little. The escaped teezler let out a high-pitched cough, which might or might not have triggered the static green burst along its fur.

  Emily almost choked on her laughter and surprise.

  “Harmless, huh?” Laura folded her arms.

  “Well yeah. At least to us.” With a chuckle, Emily crouched into a squat and grinned at the deviant teezler. “How’d you get here, huh? Did you go in there and break everything?”

  The creature ruffled its fur, blinked wide round eyes at her, and nodded with another little squeak. It glanced at Laura and shrank toward the floor.

  “Looks like it did a pretty good job, too.” Nickie nodded at the energy core. “I’d say the thing’s pretty broken.”

  Right on cue, another burst of green sparks flared inside the clear cylinder.

  The teezler jumped, spun around, and chattered angrily at the metal base before sheepishly eyeing Emily. “Did you wreak massive destruction in there, little fella?”

  The tiny creature nodded vigorously. Laughing, she scooped it up and squinted. “How did you even—” The teezler flung a tiny, fluffy arm toward the bowling bag. “Ooh. Very clever. Don’t do it again.”

  Laura puffed out a sigh. “That’s kind of a bummer…”

  “What?” Nickie smirked and hefted the sledgehammer over her shoulder again. “Since when do you say bummer?”

  “I don’t know. I just…” Laura shook her head and slipped the massive socket wrench off her shoulder. “I let you guys go first ‘cause I was trying to make up for sneaking out to find the Engineer and…” She shrugged.

  “Well that was nice of you.”

  “Yeah, but I…” Laura blinked, confused by her own reaction. She glanced at the energy core as she passed it and strode toward her sisters. “I really wanted to hit something.” Like a little kid who just got told to quit running in the house and go play somewhere else, Laura smacked the Velikan socket wrench against the dismantled energy core.

  Laura’s ring flashed silver, and the wrench sent a cracking jolt of destructive magic through the cylinder. It launched the wrench out of her hand and sent it hurtling across the chamber toward her sisters. Shouting in surprise, Emily ducked, and Nickie leapt to the side.

  Next to Laura, the energy core shuddered with a series of blazing silver and electric-blue flashes, and a wave of explosions boomed all the way up the clear tube. Laura reeled backward and gawped at the rising devastation. A massive, jagged crack split the metal and the glass-like material of the cylinder all the way around at the base. The chamber groaned and shuddered, and the energy core split from its cradle on the ceiling. It began a slow, terrifying collapse like a felled tree.

  “Okay, now would be the time to get outta here,” Emily shouted. Without knowing why, she snatched up the empty bowling bag as the teezler jumped inside it. Laura and Nickie were already running down the corridor the way they’d come, and Emily pushed herself to keep up.

  The falling energy core groaned behind them, lighting up the passageway with green and blue sparks. Hissing steam echoed from everywhere until it was so loud, it hurt.

  “Conmeatus!” Laura shouted. A shimmering transport bubble burst from her ring and drifted in front of them as it grew. “Come on. Hurry up!” She stepped into the bubble and waved Nickie forward. Nickie dropped the sledgehammer and picked up the pace.

  The minute she reached the bubble, she whirled around to see Emily sprinting down the corridor, arms pumping, bag tucked beneath one, as the energy-core chamber exploded in brilliant hues of blue and green and an orange she hoped wasn’t fire. “Emily, come on!”

  The hallway trembled and shuddered, knocking Emily off balance. Those few seconds she lost were just enough. She reached for Nickie’s outstretched fingers, but the transport bubble disappeared, taking her sisters with it.

  16

  The bubble popped and dropped Nickie and Laura in the middle of the foyer.

  “No!” Nickie whirled around, blinking, and ran a hand through her hair. “Where is she?”

  “Oh, my god.” Laura blinked, the image of her little sister chased down by a magical explosion burned into her brain.

  “Laura! We have to do something.”

  “She’s…she’ll be here.”

  “She’s not here.” Nickie groaned. She spun in a circle. “We have to go back. What if she’s stuck? What if she’s unconscious? What if—screw it.” She lifted her hand and took a breath. “Conmea—”

  Laura grabbed her sister’s wrist. “Wait. There might not be anything left to transport to. What if the next bubble drops us into that explosion, huh? Just think about it.”

  “Why don’t you think about what’s gonna happen when Emily doesn’t show up!” Nickie opened her mouth to cast the spell, but something thumped onto the huge staircase behind them.

  Six more bumps later, Emily stopped tumbling down the stairs. She hit the landing upside-down, on her back, her legs stretched out on the stairs above her and her shoulder and head shoved against the wall. “Ow…”

  “Oh, my god! Em…” Nickie dropped at the base of the stairs
and helped Emily sit up. Groaning, Emily got her feet the rest of the way down the stairs, patted Nickie’s shoulder, and rubbed her head. “Are you crazy? You stopped to pick up a stupid bowling bag.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Emily shifted to get the corner of the bag out from under her, then held it up. “Success.”

  “Success?”

  “Nickie, you’re sounding a lot like Laura right now, and there’s only one Laura, thank god.” Emily grinned up at their oldest sister and paused. “Hey, I’m okay. Promise.”

  Laura stood there in the hallway, both hands clamped over her mouth as she stared at Nickie and Emily on the floor. “Yeah.” It came out muffled and squeaky, and she dropped her hands. “Yeah, Em. You’re okay.”

  Nickie shot her a furious glance, and Laura couldn’t ignore the swell of guilt building in her gut. “You cast a bubble, right?”

  Emily shot her two thumbs-up. “Best way to travel.” She glanced back and forth between her sisters and frowned. “You guys didn’t think I could do it on my own, did you?”

  “We didn’t know what to think,” Nickie said softly.

  “How ‘bout giving me a little credit here, huh?” Emily picked herself up off the floor, grimacing at the soreness in her neck. “I’m know I’m still the baby. I’ll always be the youngest, and I get that, but I’m not actually a baby. I can handle spells and bubbles and running from explosions just as well as you can.”

  Nickie dropped her head back against the wall and straightened her legs out on the floor. “We know you can, Em. But you stopped. To pick up a bag.”

  “Yeah? Well this bag”—Emily swung it out and tossed it onto the foyer floor—“was a custom order, right? Dad printed ‘Magic 14’ on there just for you, Laura. I don’t know who else would even be stupid enough to go down there besides the Gorafrex, but even if it’s just that thing, it’d pretty dumb to leave something lying around that points back to us. You know, just trying to be smart. Good to know how low your expectations are.” Without looking at either of them, Emily stormed past them and out the front door.

  “Come on, Em.” Nickie spread her arms. “Where are you going?”

  “Out,” she called over her shoulder.

  Laura opened her mouth to say something—anything—to get her sister to stay. Instead, what came out was, “In this heat?”

  The door slammed shut. Emily was gone.

  “Really, Laura?”

  “What?”

  “In this heat?”

  Laura blinked and gestured toward the door. “Heatstroke’s a thing. What should I have said?”

  “I don’t know.” Nickie shook her head, stood, and ran a hand through her hair. “I need some water or something.” She headed off through the dining room and into the kitchen.

  Laura glanced at the bowling bag on the floor. A white, fluffy head poked out of one corner. “Oh, no. You stay in there.”

  The teezler blinked when she pointed at it. “You were helpful, to be honest, but that doesn’t mean you get to stay out of your pen. Come on.” She bent to pick up the bag, and the furry creature chattered away at her. “Yeah, yeah. Congratulations.” Laura frowned down at the thing, then dropped her frown and sighed at the teezler. “You might have changed my mind about you little guys though.”

  The rogue teezler received a boisterous welcome from its fellow creatures upon being returned to its pen. Laura shut the door and propped the box up against the tote, then went upstairs and found Nickie in the kitchen at the table, phone in hand, watching a news clip.

  “What’s that?” Laura went to the sink to get a glass of water.

  “Breaking news.” Nickie turned up the volume and flipped the phone around so Laura could see. “Earthquake in northeast Austin. They’re calling it a three-point-four on the Richter scale.”

  “Ugh. The Thinkery?”

  “Yep.”

  Laura blinked, took a long drink of water, and sighed. “Just tell me…was anyone hurt?”

  Her sister smiled and closed the news clip. “Nope. Couple of toddlers fell over, but that’s what they do.” She shrugged. “I guess that means we—” Her phone dinged, followed by four more in quick succession. “Crap. Chuck’s been trying to get ahold of me. Why didn’t I get these?”

  Laura pulled out a chair and joined her at the table. “Maybe we were just really far underground. It’s not like we climbed down a ladder or anything.”

  “Right.” Nickie read through all the texts and sighed. “I need to call him.” She pressed the call button. After the first ring, their front door swung open with a little creak.

  “Hello?”

  Nickie stared at her phone, ended the call, and turned toward the dining room. “We’re in the kitchen.” She shot Laura a surprised grimace.

  “Babe, what happened to your phone? I’ve been texting all morning.”

  “Yeah, sorry. We didn’t have reception.”

  Laura bit back a laugh, which was harder to do when Nickie shot her a warning glance.

  “Where did you guys—woah.” Chuck stopped at the long dining room table the Hadstrom sisters never used. Except now, it held all the iron weapons Laura’s ring had forged almost a week ago. “You guys takin’ these to the Renaissance Festival or somethin’?”

  Nickie’s eyes widened, and she and Laura stood and joined him in the dining room. “Oh. Those.” Nickie stopped on the other side of the table, folded her arms, and nodded at the array of oddities—an iron lance longer than the table and two random iron spheres that released some kind of thin iron thread at the push of a button. And only Emily can touch them, apparently. Good thing we left the daggers in our cars… “We just found these today.” She glanced at Laura and nodded.

  “Huh.” Chuck rubbed his chin and studied the items. “You guys went looking for a spear and a couple of…what? Metal balls? In an antique shop without reception?”

  Nickie glanced at Laura and nodded. “Yep…”

  Laura grinned at Chuck. “Special kind of antique shop. They carry really old weapons hardly anybody wants. We went through a lot of junk.”

  “A lot of junk.” They both nodded at him.

  “Huh.” Chuck laughed. “You know, that’s not even the weirdest thing you guys have done, so okay.” He leaned over the table for a closer look at one of the iron orbs. “This thing doesn’t look very old, though. I mean, is that some kinda button…” He lifted the iron orb in both hands and tossed it.

  “Chuck, it’s not a toy,” Laura said.

  “Uh…babe? Maybe you should put that down.”

  “Woah, it’s pretty heavy. Have you guys figured out what this thing does?” His finger moved toward the circular button on the top of the orb.

  “No!” Laura shouted. She rushed around the table and plucked the sphere from him. Chuck blinked at her in surprise. “Come on, Chuck. We just got them, and they’re important for this…project I’ve got going on. I just don’t want to mess with them yet, ‘kay?”

  His hands, now empty, hadn’t moved. “Uh…” Chuck blinked and glanced at Nickie, who shrugged. “Right. Sorry.”

  “Totally fine.” Laura cocked her head and placed the iron orb back down on the table. “So what’re you doing here?”

  “Oh. I mean, I knew you guys were going out to look for stuff. Didn’t know you were looking for weapons…”

  “You knew, huh?” Laura shot Nickie an accusatory glance, and her sister shook her head before smiling at Chuck again.

  “Yeah, Nickie told me yesterday. I’m not trying to interrupt anything, if you guys are still doing your thing, or whatever. Babe, did you get my texts?”

  “Literally right before you walked in the door. Sorry.”

  “Did you read them?”

  “Yeah.” When Chuck widened his eyes, Nickie jolted a little and blinked. “Oh, yeah. Right. Dave wants to have a meeting.”

  “He sure does.” A tiny frown flickered over Chuck’s brows as he studied her. “So I was thinking maybe we could—”

  The
front door burst open. Emily continued her determined stomping and walked into the dining room. She stopped. “Oh. Hey, what’s up, Chuck?” She snorted and shook her head. “Get it? Upchuck?” She walked around him, leaned forward, and snatched the metal orb from the table.

  “Hey, Em…” Chuck glanced at her, then watched her walk back toward the foyer, orb in hand. “Where, uh, you goin’ with that thing?”

  “To practice in the basement.” Emily stopped short in the foyer, blinked, and shook her head. “Nope. Not the basement.” She took the stairs two at a time.

  Chuck glanced at Nickie with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you guys didn’t have a basement.”

  “That’s why I can’t practice there,” Emily called from the top of the stairs. “Catcha later.” Her bedroom door opened and closed, and everyone in the dining room stared at one another a few seconds.

  “Practicing what?” Chuck laughed in an awkward way.

  “Oh. She thinks these things are some kinda medieval bowling ball or something.” Laura turned toward Nickie and opened her mouth.

  Nickie shook her head the tiniest bit, then, “Come sit, babe.” She nodded toward the living room across the foyer. “I wanna know what Dave has to say.”

  “You sure? I mean, if you guys aren’t done, I can—”

  “Yep. I’m sure. Let’s go.” She walked around the table and grabbed his hand, leading him into the living room.

  “Yep, all good,” Laura called behind them. “I have a few things to go look up, so I’ll just…” She sighed and turned back to the kitchen. “Awesome. One energy core activated, one destroyed, ten more to go.”

  Laura slumped into her chair at the kitchen table and drank the rest of her water. “And that thing is still out there. Definitely still inside a human host. Definitely getting ready to kill another witch. Or a wizard. And we have no idea where to look for it or how to find it unless Nickie plays Dad’s lullaby again and brings it right—”

  Her phone buzzed in her back pocket and nearly made her fall out of the chair. She didn’t recognize the number. But it’s not like I can afford to avoid potentially important phone calls. Her finger came down on the green button to accept the call. “Dr. Laura Hadstrom.”