Chapter 9 #3
I reread the letter twice more before I crumpled it in my fist, seething at the boy’s audacity.
His thankless, pigheaded, cocky stubbornness was going to get him chest-deep into the worst sort of trouble.
Did he think himself invincible? Or perhaps he knew his time was growing short, and he was making as much amends as possible before the Devil claimed his soul.
That seemed more likely for a human. Still, this was just blindly putting himself in danger.
There were demon-hounds! And a witch who wielded fire magic!
Did he not have even an ounce of self-preservation in his bones?
“Mr. Witch?” Therese prodded softly. “Is everything … all right?”
I clenched my jaw. “No, it is not all right. We’ll have to ready ourselves at once and go after this horrible little troublemaking human.
” I barely tamped down the rage in my voice as I bounded down the stairs, Therese hopping after me as quickly as her little frog legs would allow.
It was actually impressive how nimble and quick she had become.
She was adapting to life as an amphibian much better than I would have thought.
I burst into the kitchen, pointing at Freya, who had marmalade all over her mouth. “Time to earn your keep. We’ll need to use that location rune to find Auggie.”
Freya wiped her lips with a napkin. “Already? Very well. But it’s more a tracking rune than something that will just give up his location. We’ll have to follow his trail to find him.”
“Whatever it takes,” I said. I turned to Lexi. “Thank you for taking us in, Lexi. And for healing the boy.”
She waved a hand dismissively as she leaned against the counter. “It was nothing. It was nice to have some company.” She looked at me knowingly. “Don’t be too rough on the boy. He’s only doing what he thinks is right.”
I paused. “You knew he left to help those fools in Kingsbury?”
Lexi’s lips curved into a small smile. “I may have heard him sneak out this morning.”
“And you didn’t feel the need to let me know?”
“As far as I can tell, Kingsbury is now tangled up with your task of seeing Auggie to America. Such a shame that you’ll do some good along the way, isn’t it?”
I looked at her, exasperated. “You are not very nice.”
She laughed. “Is that so? Well, I could have let him simply leave. Lucky for you, I convinced him to wait outside for you to hear you out.”
I stared at her. “He’s … outside?”
Lexi nodded and sent me a meaningful look. “And it was no small feat to get him to stay. Hear him out, Callum. Do what’s right.”
I fought not to roll my eyes. Instead, I smiled tightly. “Thank you for speaking to him.”
She inclined her head, and I glanced at my friends, who were all watching me. I smiled grimly, then walked to the front door and stepped outside.
Birds were twittering as golden rays of light filtered down through the clouds to highlight areas of the garden, as if on exhibition. At the end of a row of rhododendrons, Auggie sat on a swinging bench.
I hesitated, then walked over and sat down beside him.
I didn’t know what to say at first, so I remained silent.
I was strangely nervous. It probably had something to do with how this human could be my ticket to freedom.
Or he could outright refuse my services and make me fail.
What would happen then? Would Lucifer force me to renegotiate my contract with him since I couldn’t fulfill it on my end?
I wet my lips. “I’m sorry that—”
“When were you going to get around to telling me that you’re a witch?” he interrupted me, and I stilled at the accusation in his voice. “Or did that just slip your mind?”
“I … didn’t want to scare you off,” I said cautiously. “You made clear upstairs what you thought of witches. But I mean you no harm, Auggie.”
Auggie leaned back in his seat, snorting. “Really? And why would someone as selfish as you care about my well-being?”
“Selfish?” I raised an eyebrow.
“You were going to let those people in Kingsbury fend for themselves. Meanwhile, you wield magic.”
I ran a hand down my face. “It’s not…. Look, a mutual friend charged me with seeing you to America, and I plan on doing just that. The people of Kingsbury made their own beds.”
Auggie turned to look at me for the first time. I shrank from the anger pooled in his eyes. “People make mistakes. You don’t just abandon them in their time of need unless you’re a complete jackass.”
My hands curled into fists at my side. “Then maybe I’m a jackass, because they aren’t my problem.
” I felt anger coiling in my chest. Who did this little brat think he was, anyway, telling me how I should behave?
“They have no right to my aid when they have burned and hanged and drowned my kind for centuries without recourse, without an apology. They’re always the victims. They’re ruled by fear, and act accordingly. ”
Auggie looked incredulous. “How do you sleep at night with that attitude? Doesn’t it bother you at all that you have life-altering abilities, and you don’t choose to use them to help people?”
“I have!” I shouted. “I’ve helped humans and where has that gotten me?
My shop burned to the ground! My parents burned at the stake!
My soul….” I shook my head. “You don’t know the first thing about me.
I’m too other for humans to see me or my kind as human.
If they can’t benefit from my magic, they have used every excuse in the book to ruin what I have built for myself.
And yet you defend them? They’re in Kingsbury because of their own hubris!
If I help them, are they going to thank me with a nice boulder holding me underwater?
Why should I have to take that chance over and over and over? ”
Auggie stared at me warily for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was much softer. “Not all witches are the Ember King. You clearly aren’t. But not all humans are to blame for the cruelty of a few either.”
I looked away. Tears began to form in my eyes, and I blinked them away, angry that I was getting emotional at his words and over the foolish humans.
“All humans are capable of terrible things. Even those as sincere as you seem to be have streaks of cruelty. If that weren’t the case, we wouldn’t be here right now. ”
Auggie’s face was clouded with confusion. “What?”
I held up a finger, not caring for the moment what sort of pact he’d made with Lucifer, or whether he would admit it freely. “And anyway, I saved you from a necromancer on the road to Bristol. Do you know how terrifying necromancers are? She controlled my boots. My boots!”
“Necromancer? But I thought the coach overturned by accident.”
“Yes, well, it didn’t. You were attacked.”
“By a necromancer.”
I hesitated. I wasn’t going to tell him that my traveling companion had been the one to cause the incident. Technically, it had been the necromancer, using Freya’s body. “So, as you can see, I am still capable of good deeds.”
“But only because you’re being paid to see me to America by someone. Who is this someone, anyway? What do they care for me?”
I waved his questions away. “I’m not being paid. I’m earning back something that is mine.”
Auggie harrumphed, entwining his arms across his chest. “You’re a smooth talker, Callum. I don’t trust the words coming out of your mouth one bit.”
“Well, good thing for you, you don’t have to trust what I say. I’m going to see you to America, safe and sound, whether you like it or not. And that will be the last you’ll have to see of me.”
“Good.”
“Good,” I echoed.
Auggie stood abruptly and began stalking away from Lexi’s house.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” I called after him.
“To Kingsbury. Where else?”
I cursed, then followed after him. “And what are you going to do? Pay outrageous prices for salt? Carry those heavy bags across vast distances, with hell-beasts stalking you? Even you can’t be that reckless.”
He wheeled on me. “Callum, I am going to help those people, whether you want me to or not.” He hesitated. “It would be much … easier with your help.”
So, he did want me with him. Okay. I could work with that. I put a hand on my hip. “What about your aunt? What if she dies before you reach her because you took a detour?”
“I’m weighing the lives of hundreds over the life of one woman who never bothered to write to me before now. She might be family, but … what can I do to help her? I know I can help the people of Kingsbury. It’s important. Do you … know anything about the people there?”
I lifted my arms helplessly. They were human. They were as pigheaded as Callum, apparently.
“Kingsbury was a hub for alchemists,” Auggie said.
At my surprised look, he continued, “I know. Maybe that doesn’t make me completely selfless.
People used to come from all over to exchange ideas, test experiments, build things in Kingsbury.
Imagine what must lie there! And we can help them.
We can make sure that knowledge lives on. ”
“Alchemy,” I said, putting a hand to my head. I couldn’t believe I was being swayed by this human. I should have nothing to do with alchemy, but I had to admit I was curious. And if it put me in Auggie’s good graces … there would still be plenty of time before the blood moon.
I licked my lips. “I have a potion that can turn dirt to salt, but I’ll need to recharge my magic after.
It’s still not even full from yesterday’s meditation.
I’ll need a few more hours.” I considered.
“And I can make some wheelbarrows levitate to transport bags of salt. We can probably make it to Kingsbury by nightfall if we don’t tarry. ”
Auggie was grinning.
I scowled. “You don’t have to look so pleased with yourself.”
He approached me and squeezed my arm. “Thank you.”
I nodded, feeling my face heat up. “Yeah, yeah.”
I heard crunching behind us and turned to find Lexi approaching cautiously, Freya and Narcissa just behind her. Lexi smiled tentatively. “Is everything all right?” she asked.
“We’re going to Kingsbury,” Auggie told her. The gloating in his voice put my teeth on edge. “Won’t you join us?”
I nodded. As annoyed as I was with my friend, she would come in handy if someone was injured along the way.
Lexi shook her head slowly, glancing back at Freya. “I don’t think that would be a good idea. The people here need me, and three witches would be a coven. You need express permission from the Council to form a coven, even temporarily.”
“Except in emergency situations,” Freya corrected her. “That provision was added decades ago.”
Auggie considered. “Why is a coven bad?”
“They’re not bad,” I said. “Just powerful. The power of three can work more difficult, more powerful magic—even summoning.”
“Forbidden magics,” Auggie said. “The Council sure is fearful of other people’s power. Like alchemy.”
“Like alchemy,” I agreed. “The only recognized, legal coven is the Council itself, to ensure balance is maintained.” Even I would have had to leave my parents when I’d come of age, to avoid forming a coven at home. “Their version of balance.”
Freya narrowed her eyes. “I’m going to ignore that.”
“I always ignore him,” Narcissa helped. “Life is much less frustrating that way.”