CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I knew there was something weird about that damn bird.
The thought had barely formed before Nyssa was forced to swerve out of the owl’s trajectory, causing her broom to sway dangerously from side to side as she tried to regain their balance.
Nyx let out a loud hiss from her basket, and Elowen’s grip tightened painfully around her waist. ‘What in the name of all the deities is going on?!’
Nyssa didn’t have an answer for her. Instead, she glanced around the small grove, her gaze fixing on a small patch of flattened grass. ‘Hold on, I’m going to land!’
Nyssa was good on a broom, but there was no way she could outmanoeuvre this bird. It was too fast, too big, and if she didn’t get them to ground soon, she had no doubt it would send them plummeting to an extremely painful end.
‘I’ll buy you some time.’ Elowen’s words landed at the same time as a vine from one of the nearby trees shot straight for the owl and wrapped around one of its legs. A loud, pained screech cut through the grove, sending the already frantic fireflies darting into the shadows.
There was no time for Nyssa to marvel at yet another power Elowen had kept hidden.
Not when the owl was already tearing itself free, its wide, yellow eyes flashing with an unnatural light.
There was something familiar about those eyes, but Nyssa couldn’t place it, like a dream she couldn’t fully recall.
Nyssa had little time to dwell on it as she was forced to dodge the owl once more.
She angled the broom downwards, aiming directly for the patch of grass that was open enough to land on but close enough to the treeline for her, Elowen and Nyx to dart for cover.
Magic tingled at the tips of her fingers, and Nyssa channelled it into her broom, pouring as much power as possible into her command: Land!
The broom lunged forward just as Elowen sent another vine towards the owl, causing it to veer off course and miss crashing into them by just a few inches.
The air whooshed around Nyssa as the owl passed by, the tip of one of its wings brushing against her arm, and even through the sleeve of her jacket she felt the familiar tingle of magic.
‘Get ready to move.’ Nyssa’s words came out in one rushed breath as the ground drew ever closer. ‘The second we hit the ground, run for the trees.’
She could feel the thud, thud, thud of Elowen’s heart against her back, and without thinking, Nyssa focused her magic on Elowen, willing it to fortify the elf’s magic.
‘Power that I summon here
Lend your strength, abate our fear.’
The scent of her magic wove with the rich, earthy aroma of Elowen’s power, and then the vines flying around the grove began to thicken and grow thorns. This time, when one caught the owl, it was forced to stop entirely, giving Nyssa the time she needed to complete the landing.
It wasn’t a graceful one. The second they were close enough to the ground, Nyssa and Elowen both jumped from the broom and into the grass.
Nyssa paused just long enough for Nyx to jump into her arms, and then she was running, Elowen at her side, her breaths coming hard and fast as the owl finally tore itself free.
‘This way!’
Nyssa headed east, down a small, overgrown path that she and her grandmother had walked more times than she could count. Just a little further up it, and they’d be on the warded grounds of her cottage.
Just a little further.
Nyssa kept her focus on Elowen, on channelling as much of her own magic as she could into the spell she’d cast as the elf reached up her hands towards the canopy above them.
Small sparks of light appeared in the air, like tiny, dancing fireflies, and then the canopy began to thicken, giving them the cover they needed to dart the final stretch.
The trickle of the brook which flowed through her garden hit Nyssa’s ears, propelling her to run just a little harder, a little faster …
They broke through the treeline and sprinted through the rickety gate, bursting into the cottage grounds just as the owl tore through the thicket. It let out another loud screech as it came up against the wards around the property, its beak pecking furiously against a wall it couldn’t see.
‘The wards in the cottage are stronger,’ Nyssa panted; ‘we should get inside.’
Elowen was already moving, her long legs carrying her across the overgrown garden to reach Nyssa’s front porch. Nyssa reached her a few seconds later, and then they were darting through the door and into the safety of the cottage.
Despite knowing that an owl couldn’t open a door, Nyssa locked it behind them. Nyx jumped from her arms and immediately up on to the kitchen window, tail swishing as she kept watch.
‘I always knew Nighthaven was strange,’ Elowen said, joining Nyx at the window, ‘but I never expected to be attacked by an oversized owl. Do you think someone sent it after us?’ There was no accusation in her tone, but Nyssa still flinched, hearing blame even where there was none.
Because even though Elowen had said us, there was only one of them who had a past linking them to a coven whose signature animal was an owl.
Still, it wasn’t Elowen’s style. And despite her own issues with self-blame, she wasn’t an enemy of The Coven of the Sacred Owl. ‘I don’t think so; it’s the same one I saw earlier outside the tavern. Alaric said some of the animals here can absorb the remnant magic, so maybe—Ah!’
A sharp pain radiated down Nyssa’s arm, and her hand shot up to press against the spot where the owl’s wings had grazed her. In her haste to get to safety, Nyssa hadn’t noticed that the owl had torn through her sleeve and cut into the flesh beneath.
‘Let me see that.’ Elowen was already tugging Nyssa’s hand away, her brow furrowing when it came away slick with blood. ‘Great gods, what are that owl’s talons made of? Sit down; I need to heal it before it can get infected.’
‘It’s fine. I’ve got some antiseptic ointment my grandma made in the cupboards, I’ll just—’
‘Sit.’
The no-nonsense tone in which Elowen said the word had Nyssa sighing and slinking into one of the chairs at the kitchen table.
Elowen moved to stand in front of her, so close that Nyssa’s knees pressed into her thighs as the elf gently slid down the sleeve of Nyssa’s now torn jacket.
She let out a small breath when Elowen’s fingertips danced around her wound.
‘Sorry,’ Elowen muttered, not realizing Nyssa’s reaction hadn’t been because it hurt, but because it was her touching her.
Even with her cut stinging and her mind replaying the events of what had just happened, and of why that darn owl seemed so familiar, Nyssa couldn’t stop her body’s reaction to Elowen’s closeness.
Something pooled low in her stomach, warm like the magic seeping from Elowen’s fingers, and a few glowing specks of light sparked in the air above Nyssa’s arm.
Beautiful, thought Nyssa.
It didn’t take long for the wound to knit itself back together, and yet Elowen’s fingers lingered on Nyssa’s arm, soft and soothing as she asked in a low voice, ‘How does it feel?’
The heat in Elowen’s eyes made it difficult to tell if she was talking about the now-healed wound or whatever was happening between them, and so Nyssa kept her own reply just as vague.
‘Wonderful,’ she said, her throat suddenly dry, and the way Elowen’s green eyes dropped to her lips almost caused her last thread of control to snap.
But Nyssa could still sense the magic of the owl outside, creeping and thick like the fog in her dreams. It hadn’t yet managed to break through the wards her grandma had put up around the cottage gardens decades before Nyssa had been born, but if it did, the wards around the cottage itself were powerful enough to keep the owl out.
Or at least, they would have been, if her grandma was still alive. Without her here to fortify them, there was a chance their magic had faded over time. And Morven had been able to destroy the one at the café so easily …
‘I should check the wards,’ Nyssa said reluctantly, causing Elowen to step back.
‘Of course.’ She didn’t seem offended by the sudden change in subject, and Nyssa was glad that she didn’t need to explain herself; Elowen’s first priority was, and always would be, the safety of Nighthaven.
It was one of the things Nyssa loved about her.
Pushing that particular thought (and the way it made her heart swell) aside, Nyssa got to her feet.
‘Once I’m done, I’ll start looking for a spell to contain the owl …
creature … thing. Maybe then Alaric can try to determine its intentions whilst I search for the source of its magic.
If someone did send it, we’ll find out.’
Elowen nodded. ‘I’ll keep watch from the window – if it does manage to break through the wards, I’ll do what I can to slow it down. And in the meantime, I’ll put on some calming tea. Deities knows, we could both use some.’
It was something Nyssa’s old coven members would have never even considered; it was unnecessary, a task that would only take time away from the job at hand.
Yes, they’d have helped her trap the owl and taken care of her physical wounds, but her mental ones?
Those would be left untended to by anyone but her.
Not any more, she thought, as Elowen retrieved the jar of Nyssa’s favourite blend from the cupboard.
Such a simple gesture, and yet it gave Nyssa the surge of resolve she needed to begin checking her grandma’s wards.
Like her grimoire, they still carried the faint aroma of her magic, sweet and comforting, and Nyssa breathed it in as she checked each one.
She was halfway through when her gaze snagged on Familiars lying open on her living-room table.
Nyssa’s heart thudded to a stop. Since Morven had been turned into clay and sucked into the game, Nyssa hadn’t risked opening it. So either someone else had – or Morven Delamorte had already managed to escape.