Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
I immediately reach for my amulet, but with a wave of the witch’s hand, it disappears from around my neck, where Dom placed it, and is transported to the table in front of her.
“Don’t call your charming thief back just yet.
He’s busy retrieving the orb for you.” She gives me a wink that’s a clear copy of the one that Dom just gave me before he left the room.
“Let your lover act the hero he so desires to be for you.”
“Don’t hurt him.” It comes out as part begging, part warning. All I know is that, in this moment, I don’t care about my well-being, the orb, or anything else, as long as Dom remains unharmed.
“It would be a shame to harm such a pretty boy,” she says non-committally. “Smart too,” she adds. “Though his methods were decidedly primitive, he might have succeeded in stealing the orb from us if there weren’t several of the coven’s seers already tracking you.”
“Me?” Why would the coven’s seers bother using their valuable skills to keep me in their sights?
She shakes her head. “I wish we could have gotten to you before the Order of Mergen snapped you up. You’d know your own worth.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Let’s see if this helps.” She waves her hand, and the cozy fireplace in front of us is replaced by Dom in a room full of various treasures, searching for the orb. “Dom,” I call out to him, but he obviously doesn’t hear me.
“We’ve really made retrieving the orb far too easy for him, don’t you think?” she asks but doesn’t bother to wait for my response. “Let’s add a bit more of a challenge.”
I watch as several shadows emerge from the wall, form into the shape of soldiers, and converge on Dom, who is bent over searching for the orb. “Watch out,” I yell, even though I know he can’t hear me.
A shadowman moves to grab him, but just as his phantom hands are about to wrap around Dom’s neck, he rears up, swinging a bejeweled sword, cutting all of the shadowmen off at their necks.
Their forms dissipate, and I breathe a deep sigh of relief until they form again and descend on Dom.
This time, they take turns attacking him.
Through a series of nimble, dance-like footwork he manages to evade each attacker and cut them down one by one, but as soon as he defeats his shadow enemy, it regenerates.
After several rounds of this, I can tell he’s tiring.
I don’t know how much longer he can fight off his tireless foes.
“You have to stop this,” I demand. The witch offers no response other than looking at me like she’s a little bored. “Fuck you then,” I tell her. “I’ll do it myself.”
I pry open the part of myself I’ve kept locked shut all these years. My power roars forward, anxious to overwhelm me and be free. I always knew I was never strong enough to fight it back, but today, I’ll be damned if I let it overpower me. Not when I need to harness it to help Dom.
Concentrating, I focus on the orb that Dom retrieved and direct as much energy as I can into it.
It begins glowing and lifts into the air and starts levitating around the room, bathing the room in a sun-like glow.
The shadow men react by moving in and out of its light, but as I’m able to funnel more and more of my power into the orb, its glow starts to burn the shadows into nothingness.
Seeing that all his enemies are vanquished, Dom collapses to the ground to catch his breath.
Relieved but recognizing he’s still vulnerable to whatever threat the witch comes up with next, I stream all my magic into forming an impenetrable forcefield around Dom so that no harm—magic or otherwise—can come to him.
Once I’m sure that nothing can hurt Dom, I turn to the witch, who is looking decidedly less bored now. “Take that, bitch.”
“Watch it,” the witch warns. “You may have protected your lover, but you left yourself vulnerable.” She gives me a look of guarded respect. “Besides, only my besties are allowed to call me that. Until you reach that elevated status, you may call me Morann.”
“Morann.” I cut to the chase. “We intend you no harm. We came for the orb but will gladly leave it behind for safe passage from the coven.”
She laughs. “The orb is useless once its wish has been collected. We’ve used it for a paperweight for ages, but once we went green, it was relegated to the attic, where we keep all our old knick-knacks.”
I’d glanced at the contents of the attic while Dom was fighting the shadow men. There were hundreds of magical artifacts and countless lost treasures stored up there that Morann considers knick-knacks.
“But it’s time the orb is put into play again. There’s a wish out in the universe that desperately needs filling.” Morann levels me with an expectant stare. “It’s your job to see that the orb is put in the right place so the right seeker may find it.”
“Me? I’m not qualified for such an important responsibility.”
Morann tuts at me disappointedly, and with a dramatic wave of her hand, the curtains to the room’s large picture windows draw open.
Instead of the heavy gray fog or barren landscape Dom and I encountered on our journey to the coven, a brilliant pastel-colored sky and rolling hills show through the window.
I look at her questioningly. “Perception magic,” she explains. “The witch’s version of a one-way mirror. We use it to detour visitors and to propagate our evil reputation.”
“So you’re not evil?”
“Only when we have to be.” She rolls her eyes. “The whole eating babies’ flesh rumor was created by our marketing team. I’m actually a vegetarian, but a bad reputation discourages our enemies.”
She walks over to me, and I can feel her ancient power snap and sizzle in the air.
She may not want to eat my flesh, but I know better than to think she’s not dangerous.
“Back to my point.” She nods to the window.
“Perception magic is one of the most insidious and long-lasting spells that even humans and Mergens have the ability to cast.”
“I don’t understand your point,” I tell her, feeling obtuse.
She lets out a resigned sigh. “Let’s hope your lover can help break their spell then.”
She reaches out and runs a cold hand against my cheek. “Until we meet again,” she says and vanishes. At her departure, the room returns to the dusty, cold space it was before she made her appearance.
The door opens, and Dom charges into the room, carrying the orb.
“I’m so glad you’re okay.” He reaches out to pull me closer, buries his head in my hair, and breathes in deep.
“I ran into some trouble up there and was terrified the witches had discovered you.” His grip on me tightens.
“I thought I was going to have to rescue you from that pyre we talked about.”
I stand happily in his arms. I’d been terrified watching him fight the shadowmen. I luxuriate in feeling his warmth around me and knowing he’s safe.
He pulls back. “Let’s get the hell out of here.
” He pulls out the expensive transportation charm and breaks it in half to activate its magic.
I can feel the spell release into the air, but the magic fizzles like a flat beer.
Transportation takes a huge amount of power, and this charm obviously did not hold enough to do the job.
Confidently, I pick up the two halves of the charm and imbue it with my own magic.
The room tilts as the disorienting carnival ride feel of transporting occurs, and then we are standing underneath the tree Dom’s nest is built on.
It seems like we’ve been gone for weeks, but the darkening sky and a quick set of mental calculations tell me that it must be approaching Christmas Eve.