3. Barn … Dance? #6
"I like that not at all," a low tenor voice replied.
The speaker changed to a different language.
Even with his silver and gold flecked blue aura, it was hard to truly see him, he blended into the shadows so well.
Penny stopped trying. She rested her head in her hands and closed her eyes again.
So tired, worse than that all-day job last summer, the one where guys fell asleep at the work site they were so drained.
She heard a sniff, then the dog said in English, "I'm surprised no one noticed the barn go missing, Rasi."
"That makes two of us, Cahway, but there's not much traffic on the road, and there might have been an illusion or 'look away' charm to discourage people noticing." The second voice sounded thoughtful. "The magic workers will have their hands full sorting it out."
"Anno."
Penny opened her eyes again. The blue-black man stood beside the dog. "Are you two related?" she asked, pointing back and forth. It wasn't the right word, but her brain didn't want to work.
The man crouched, both knees popping in a way that made her wince with him. "I'm his key null, if you know what that means."
"Oh, thank you. You both have the same colors, blue-black with gold flecks." Why was she telling them? Well, Familiars knew magic and were always good, so it would be OK.
The man made strange signs with his right hand.
The dog nodded, then stood and strolled into the shadows.
He came back with a green and gray woman with bits of brown dancing in her colors.
The man stood and moved to the left. The woman went to one knee.
"Miss, lower your shields, if you can, please. "
Penny reached inside and faded her shields.
The woman frowned. "You're right, Cahway. Miss, who taught you to shield?"
Why did it matter? But she was a Healer, or acted like one, so she said, "From some books. We talked about it in school, in class, but that was all." Should she have done something different?
The lady smiled a little. "I ask because there's an odd hole in your shields. You block out almost everything, but not the sense of people. That explains why your attacker could draw so much from you so quickly."
A new voice said, "That, and because she gave him access to her magic." The big, black and silver man approached, and the dog and his key null got out of his way. "Miss, did anyone give you a piece of jewelry recently?"
That was strange. "No, I bought everything for my work, and the lady at the bakery didn't give me anything free."
The dog nodded, then asked, "Did you take anything from someone?"
"Not stole, but were handed," the big man clarified.
She nodded. "Credit cards, so I could run the charge on my phone's PayBox app."
The people shared a look, or so it felt. "That explains it," the big man said. "By taking the card from his hand, you gave him implied permission of your own free will. That and your contract or agreement with him."
The tall, older blue, silver, and gold flecked man flowed into view. "The deputies come." His words carried a warning. He had a sense to him like the leopard or jaguar in the zoo.
"We'll stay," the big man said, waving toward the Healer. "I got called about the barn, and she came with me as backup in case it needed cleansing."
"Benes." The older man disappeared into the darkness. How did he do that? She looked around. All the others who had been walking around the farmyard were gone too, leaving the big man, the Healer, and the gent with the dog.
"Does something need to be done to the patterns?" the Familiar's man asked.
The Healer shook her head. "Not anymore. They got scratched when the barn returned, and can't be used."
Barn returned? What? "I don't—The door's wrong," Penny blurted, eyes focusing on the barn wall ahead of her. "That's the east door."
"Oops," the key null said as his Familiar covered one eye with a paw.
"I am not trying to change it," the big man declared. "I'm not strong enough. Maybe Silver, at midnight on midwinter if she's really angry, but not me." He wagged a finger at the dog man, who had started to grin. "Do not try it. Whatever you are thinking about, no, don't do it. No."
Rasi rested one hand on his chest, expression innocent and hurt. "I have no idea why you would think that I might consider moving a barn."
The dog rolled his eyes, sort of, and said, "We need to get gone." He stood, tail wagging, and wandered into the darkness once more. Rasi bowed and followed.
"What happened?" Penny looked from man to woman and back. "Why'd the barn change?"
"It changed because a left-hand sorcerer used the patterns on it, plus stored power, plus your magic and the power from a willing helper, to animate the barn and send it to harass someone's animals.
The Sleipnir component compelled motion, and the star and moons drew power and gave direction.
" The woman stood and brushed off her knees.
Penny boggled. That was impossible. She'd not done a magic pattern, just the folklore-based designs. She looked at the door. But the barn had turned half-way round. The patterns would be visible from the road now. "I didn't do pattern magic."
The man waved to a sheriff's car that was turning into the farmyard, and the woman went to meet the deputy. "Why do you say that, ma'am?" He didn't sound angry, just curious.
"They're not true hex signs. Plus there's no glyphs, so they are not pattern spells, and I didn't charge the patterns. Mr. Di'vola provided the designs and paint, and I scaled them up and put them on the north side of the barn."
The man smiled, slowly, as she spoke. "Patterns don't have to have glyphs in them, miss. If you want, my sister can explain after you talk to the deputy and get medical help for your concussion."
"Thank you, Miss Favarro. Those fit perfectly," Mr. Cooper said as he took in the finished barn. "I know they are not purely traditional, but the colors do look better than the usual combinations."
"You are very welcome, sir. Thank you for letting me modify things a little." The colors had a slightly warmer hue than the originals. The base paint had originally been a cool red, not warm red. The barn seemed happier this way, the colors harmonizing instead of standing out.
That evening, after a platter of sausages and local meats washed down with a hearty dunkel, she indulged in a piece of hot apfelkuchen with a dollop of cream.
Tomorrow she'd pack, and then start for home the following day.
She'd recovered from the concussion faster than usual, probably because of the Healer.
And the sheriff had not tried to claim the money she'd been paid for the traveling barn.
He was a lot more interested in Di'vola's business than in a barn behaving badly, now that the barn had come back to where it should have been.
The large, eight-hoofed prints in the soft soil of the pasture had convinced her, once the Healer got permission to show her.
"We magic workers are also looking into things, because he shouldn't have been able to take your magic that way, through implied consent. " Mrs. Padurowski had shaken her head.
"How is the book working for you?"
Penny had smiled. "I understand what I was doing, and have changed things a little, ma'am. Thank you."
"Good! If you can experiment and find what works, that's the best way if you don't have a traditional teacher. He wrote another book, if you are interested, more about off-beat kinds of magic worker like hydrothaumatologists, or the lady plumber's magic."
Now, Penny contemplated the display of "Genuine Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Signs" coaster sets and smiled. She'd never complain about having to clean drywall ever again.
Then she checked her email and pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, no, no, not on a bet.' Taking her nieces and nephews to the Jersey Shore for a day at the beach by herself? "I'd rather patch roofs from inside the attic in August."
Maybe she should see if the barns with the Rock City signs down in Georgia needed repainting. Except Georgia had bugs. Penny considered her empty beer mug and had more water.