Chapter 27 #2
She focused on me. “But now that we’re going to be stuck here for a while, we might as well get to be buds. How about I answer some of your desperate questions, then me and Handsome can leave. Deal?” She texted something on her phone and stuffed it into her back pocket.
“I’m not making bargains with you, especially for other individuals who have their own minds. I figured that was obvious.” I cocked my head like she’d done, squaring off with her.
“Aren’t you adorable? It’s not like you’re giving me a choice. You know exactly how hard a binding spell is to break when it’s a house holding you. Those rice cakes are salty. Got any juice?” She walked around me and headed to the kitchen.
I locked eyes with Ranth. “What are we going to do?”
“How long does your elegant spell hold?”
“A couple of hours, I think. It’ll be however long it takes her to metabolize those rice cakes. I’ve only done it once. I usually don’t have people breaking into my house that I want to keep here.” I was glowing a little from his nod to my spellwork.
“That’s probably enough time for the others to gather the items we need to create the event.”
“What event?”
“What big ears you have,” I replied as Fabra came out of the kitchen with a glass of my pomegranate juice. I stared at it, realizing what she’d done. “You know that has wheatgrass in it, right?”
“Yeah, it’s de-lish. You press this yourself?”
I glared at her to suppress my grin. Call it luck, but I was not going to ignore this opportunity.
The wheatgrass and turmeric in the juice could act as a truth serum if I cast the spell with the rose petals in my kit.
I wouldn’t even need the rice cake. But using two spells would sap my energy and possibly weaken the one binding her to the house.
Probably worth it. I dug into my side pouch for the vial of turmeric.
The vials were set in slots and had coded wax bumps on them, so I could feel them without looking.
I smoothed a finger over the four bumps and a line of the turmeric.
“So, I’m curious, what are these burning questions you have for me? I’m going to need a nap after this,” she said, sliding into my bucket chair and slinging her legs over one of the arms like an annoying pixie.
“Who are the Marahk? What exactly do they do now? And who do you work for, and what do you do?”
“Oh, big ones. Okay, let me see if I want to answer those.” She yawned. “Our order is as old as the mud our ancestors used in the kilns. We learn stuff and pass it on to the next generations. I don’t think that’s much different from three thousand years ago. How old are you?” she asked Ranth.
“We’re asking the questions right now. What do you do for the Marahk?”
“I’m like their personal assistant. What do you think I do?”
“I think you steal things, rough people up, and maybe even make them disappear.”
“Hey, she’s good. You should keep her.” Again, she talked like I wasn’t there. Casting a harm spell crossed my mind, but that would lower me to her level—and she was human.
“Where are you based?” I asked.
“Ha, no. That’s privileged info. Members only and all that.”
Time to bring out the not-so nice spells.
I grimaced and dug into my kit for the rose petals.
Crushing them between my fingers, I tipped bee pollen into the rose petals.
Leaning on the wall, I mumbled into my shoulder, “Tell us true.” Pulling on the house energy, the spell washed power from me and through the floorboards. Weakness buzzed through my muscles.
Fabra’s face twisted as if I’d stabbed her, and she spilled juice down the front of her. “Now look what you made me do,” she said, brushing droplets off her black tank top.
“Where are the Marahk located?” I pushed. The wall was holding me up, but I couldn’t let Fabra notice. We only had a few minutes. I didn’t dare look at Ranth. I dug out a chocolate square and popped it into my mouth.
“Alexandria is the base, but here in Northern Cali, the official mailing is in South Pen, but the org is in Bayview.”
“Org?”
“The chapter’s main meeting house.”
“How many are in this chapter?”
“A handful in the Bay Area. Maybe a hundred globally. I don’t have those records. We’re a secret society, right? They keep secrets. You get that part, honey?”
“What’s the address?” I seethed, trying to throw off the diminutive barb. The roses were losing their hold, but she should be answering. Something was wrong.
“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you.” She cocked her head.
“I don’t think you’re kidding. Do that much? Kill people?”
“You’re not a member. I can’t tell you, but I can tell him.” She nodded at Ranth.
“Good. Tell him.”
“Then you’d hear.”
I rolled my eyes. “Write it down, he’ll put it in his pocket, and we can deal with it later.”
“It’ll be on his head then.”
“Whatever.” I dug into my pouches and tossed a notebook and a pen at her. “While you are at it, tell us about your elders.”
I was pretty sure the spell was fading, but I felt like the floor was melding with my feet. She flipped her shoulder-length hair back. “Not much to tell. He’s big—like bigger than him,” she said, nodding at Ranth while she wrote something on the pad. Ranth raised an eyebrow at me.
“He’s the head of the order here in San Francisco?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Does he have power? Skills?”
“Mad skills. I’ve never seen anyone move as fast as he can. It’s like he’s a wizard or something.”
I stared at her until I figured it out. Nothing she had done here had been magical, but she’d recognized it.
It hadn’t hit me at first because of the traces in my ward, but she had no magic skill of her own.
The earth power wasn’t in her. It was on her.
The silver chain around her neck glinted. It disappeared under her shirt.
“What’s on the end of your chain?” I asked.
She looked down at her chest. “An order symbol. We get them when we pass the test.”
“Like an initiation?”
“Kinda. Can’t really talk about it.” She fiddled with the necklace.
“Yeah, the secret part.” I walked over and tugged at the silver.
“Hands off, chica.” She slapped me, but I’d pulled it out. It was a curved blade suspended over a goblet. Her T-shirt had dipped when I yanked the chain out, revealing a black tattoo.
“They mark you too?” Crocus. They bound the magic to the person. Ranth didn’t have a tattoo. I’d seen his chest—I wondered what else it did other than block spells.
“What does that symbol mean?” I asked Ranth.
“I have no idea. It’s nothing to do with the Ahknim.” He walked toward Fabra, and she held a hand to stop him from coming closer.
“Things change. Time alters all purpose,” Fabra parroted. She turned away and tucked the chain back into her shirt.
“That your motto?”
“The specifics to the order are closely held.” She pursed her fuchsia-painted lips in a smirk.
“Right, of course they are. Tell us what you know about Ranth and how you know what you know.”
“Only the simple questions, huh?” She waved a hand at Ranth. “He’s a Keeper, and I guess old, though I don’t know how that works. Some of the weirder stuff that goes on is above my Order level.”
“But you said you saw his file?”
“Part of my briefing.” She patted her back pocket.
“Phone?” I asked, holding out my hand.
“Not a chance, babe. There’s sensitive stuff on there.” Fabra crossed her arms.
“You know I’m a witch, right?” I crossed my arms too.
“You threatening me?” She cocked her head.
“Not at all. Reminding you. I want that file. You can send it to me.”
“No can do.”
Ranth walked up to Fabra. “Then you can show it to me. Because it’s literally my file.” He towered over her.
Fabra looked up at him, sizing him up. “I guess I can show it to you.” She tugged out her phone and scrolled through screens.
“Here you go.” She held out the phone. I peered around her shoulder, but she turned it away from me.
Ranth grabbed it, but she held on. He bent her wrist back, ripped it out of her hand, and then tossed it to me.
I emailed the file to myself and Ori while Ranth held Fabra off.
The cloudiness of the room was an indication that she had some tricks of her own.
Normally, the house would prevent a spell from being cast, but now that I’d weakened it…
I sent a file and another three emails that looked interesting before tendrils of rainbow-slicked orange curled around me.
Fabra darted under Ranth’s arm and snatched the phone out of my now partially frozen hand.
The room swam as Ranth’s words about magic being my core railed through me.
I locked on to the crawling orange, and my skin glowed with a silvery light.
The orange curled in on itself as if I’d burned it.
It shrank away, retreating to the shadowy corners of the room, then dissipated altogether.
I wavered with fatigue, leaning on the wall for support.
How was Fabra doing this without magic of her own—and why was the house letting her?
Fabra wiped a hand across her forehead as if the orange thing had winded her. “Wow. How’d you do that? I’ve never seen anyone do that…” Fabra said, her eyes wide and the hand with the phone now at her waist.
I had no idea what I’d just done. I was used to sending out energy balls, but that was throwing things. I’d never made myself glow before.
“Nice tat, by the way. What’s it say?” She pointed at the words glowing on my forearm.
“Secret.” I tugged down my sleeve and shoved another square of chocolate into my mouth. The raw energy coursed through me.
“Let’s get this straight, kids. I need to take him back to Bayview, and you want your answers.
I’ve given you what I know, and you took some extra bonus.
But now I’ve got nothing more to give, and you’re keeping me here against my will.
So, unless you want me to call 9-1-1 and report a situation, I’d suggest you let me do my fucking work. ”
The house creaked, and the floor shifted in protest, throwing her sideways to her knees.
Ranth and I were both against walls. “Hey, the house is a no-swear zone.”
“What, is it going to bite me?” She growled, getting up.
“Something like that.” My lips curled with the silent gloat.
Fabra looked up the ceiling and said, “Fuck.” The floor shuddered and wavered, but this time she rode it like a snowboard. Her eyes were wide. “Earthquake?”
“The house’s swear-meter is sensitive, so you’d better watch your mouth.”
She darted behind the chair and held on to it. “What the hell are you? Warlock? Wizard? A Scinlace?”
“What’s a Scinlace?”
Someone pounded on the door. My head turned toward it as the pounding grew louder. Even at full power, the wards only protected from magical attacks.
“Now see who’s in trouble.” Fabra laughed as I darted to the edge of the window. The back door splintered and booted feet thudded through the kitchen.
“Get down!” I shouted at Ranth as I dropped to a crouch. Ranth shot me a confused look and then knelt. I had no energy for a spell, but connecting with the house should allow some reserve. Two armored men burst in, and I screamed. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
The house shuddered and rocked back and forth as something hit the floor with a clang. I fell sideways as a cloud of smoke exploded and choked me. Everything went gray. I heard a voice distantly saying, “Put this on,” and then a tussle.
I struggled to remain aware and clawed at the curtains to get myself off the floor.
There was a blue flash, then a scream and more scraping.
I silently chanted, hoping to activate the glowing thing with the power from the house, but the world tilted.
I couldn’t get any focus. My lungs ached for clear air.
I had two seconds of floating in clouds before the gray closed around me like a shroud.