Chapter 1 #3
Lev turned to me, his eyes telling me to run.
I jerked when Fawn’s lodestone flashed. A scintillating cloud of haze exploded from her, spreading throughout the entire shop.
It filled my lungs on a breath, and Lev sprang to his feet only to fall back down, gaze empty.
Cries rose, then cut off into a frightening silence.
I tried to stand, slumping on the stool when a winding pattern of threads moved from my lungs to my mind, numbing me. Unable to fight, I felt myself sink into a haze of dreamy nothing…
Until a cold spike of anger jammed itself between me and the fuzzy allure of peace.
Pluck! I exclaimed as the scintillating threads of the spell pushed from my mind just enough for Pluck to slip in.
Fawn’s spell snapped into place, but this time, an uncomfortable itch crawled between it and me.
It was Pluck, and I watched as the shadow sent a hazy ribbon of dark matter to cleave to the invasive magic.
Once there, he shifted it, changing the resonance of Fawn’s spell, pulling it beat by beat out of alignment.
Like an uneven load in the washer, the forget spell began to thump and wobble until it shook itself apart and broke entirely.
Thank you, I whispered into my thoughts, sure I hadn’t lost any memory when I looked up to see the coffee shop the same as I’d left it. That is, apart from the people silently staring at nothing, the piped-in music sounding alien and wrong as they all sat or stood like statues.
She spelled the entire store. Pluck’s thoughts fizzing through mine held a harsh accusation. The longer they’re under the influence, the more memory they will lose.
Then we break it. My head lifted, and Fawn’s attention snapped to me in shock. My own anger grew as I stood, and she went ashen, her fingers white-knuckled around her phone.
“Shit, she’s awake,” she whispered, and a frantic, demanding voice on the other end of the connection began yelling at her: “Get out! She’s got shadow with her! Get out!”
“Sit!” I demanded as she pushed to her feet and Pluck swirled to the floor as a half-seen shadow. “I said, sit!”
She bolted. Dross trailed from her in a glittering, dangerous ribbon. Until I cooled it, it would burn Pluck…
Torn, I froze—watching when the dross from her own spell broke on her in a tinkling wave. The door jammed in a wash of bad luck…and she slammed face-first into it. Trapped, she spun to me, her expression ugly.
“Benny, wake up!” I shouted, but both he and Lev were dazed and unresponsive. The door chimes rang merrily as Fawn finally got the door open. Damn it all to hell. If we lost her now, we might never find her again.
Desperate, I turned to Pluck, surprised to see he’d swirled himself into a slim, sleek dog with pointy ears and a cord-like tail. “Pluck, can you wake them…” Fawn was already across the street, that glittering ribbon of dross trailing her like toilet paper stuck to her heel.
It will take time. I’m unfamiliar with their minds. I’ll tear them if I’m not careful.
I took a step to the door, hesitating. “Get them free, then catch me up.”
Petra, she knows who you are. This is a trap!
But Fawn’s silhouette was getting smaller.
“That spell would have depleted her lodestone,” I said, pulse quickening as she hustled down the busy, snowy sidewalk.
“I won’t engage. I’ll follow her. See where she goes.
” My brow furrowed as he pinned his ears, clearly reluctant. “Pluck, I need you to wake them up!”
His anxiety was obvious, and when his entire being hazed, I knew he realized our emotions sprang from the same place. As desperate as his fear was for me, it was equaled by my worry for Benedict.
Go, he thought bitterly. I will wake them.
“Thank you,” I whispered, then shoved the door open.
Cold slammed into me. I hunched, squinting through the driving snow, looking for Fawn.
Traffic moved, and pedestrians wove around me in the early dusk.
The sudden squealing of tires pulled me into a jog.
She’d been trailing dross. Dross caused accidents.
The colder it got, the faster dross broke—and it was icy out here.
My shoes weren’t meant for this and my hands were cold. My breath came in and out, chilling me. At the corner, two men argued over a dented fender, the stoplight above them flickering as it shifted from red to green. I slid to a halt, listening.
The sound of a horn drew my attention. There, a block down, I spotted her.
“Got you.” I broke into a stiff jog. Pluck would find me. He could find me anywhere.
As if sensing me, Fawn began an awkward run. I ran faster, not caring that I was freezing my lungs. She had spelled Benedict and Lev. She used her magic to harm, risking all of us if she broke the silence of our existence.
Angry, I didn’t hesitate when she darted into an alley.
I’d seen her fear. She ran because she didn’t have anything left in that ring of hers.
“You have scammed your last take, sweetheart,” I said when she halted before a chain-link fence halfway down the alley and spun to face me.
Wary, I scuffed to a stop, feeling the cold dive deep into me with each breath. “You’re done.”
It was just her and me. She didn’t have to worry about the silence here, and her fear tightened into something worse as her chin lifted defiantly. “Done? Hardly.” Her gaze went to where the buildings met the sky. “Now!”