13. Magical Surpises
Magical Surpises
“Call it off!” Quicksilver barked.
He sounded angry, but I couldn’t mistake the fear in his voice.
He waved a muscular arm at me, making his wishes unambiguous.
“CALL IT OFF, SHADOW! NOW!” he snarled.
The snaked hissed, swaying closer to where he stood.
I froze for a few seconds longer than I should have, maybe in shock.
I stared up at the snake, which was thicker around the middle than I was, or Quicksilver was, and had plated scales of what looked like real gold.
Its tongue flicked out, also seemingly made of gold.
Its eyes glowed red in the lantern light as it hissed, exposing long, gold fangs.
“SHADOW!”
I blinked, and reacted without thought.
“Back!” I shouted in English. “Come back to me!”
Fear rippled through me as the massive head turned. Those red eyes stared at me. Briefly, I almost saw another presence there. In my mind’s eye, the snake turned black, its eyes gold. Something about that version of it mesmerized me and scared the hell out of me.
My hand was shaking when I pointed at my now-bare arm and wrist.
“Back!” I demanded. “Come back! Now!”
The serpent rapidly began to shrink in front of my eyes.
It felt like I blinked, and it was half the size it had been, then a third, then a quarter, then only a few feet long.
It began slithering towards me over the thick mats, moving in a mesmerizing sidewinding gait as it covered the distance between where it started and where I stood.
I continued to hold out my wrist and arm as it slid up to me, then coiled coldly around my leg, climbing up until it reached my waist, then slid over to my bicep, then down to my wrist and forearm.
It shrank more as it coiled tightly around my bare skin.
Once it was back to the same size and shape it had been it before I gave the initial command, it stopped moving, and gradually began to solidify.
I stared down at the intricately detailed creature as it tucked its head over one loop of its body, then went utterly still. The eyes changed last, from a fiery, luminous scarlet with an unmistakably living glow, back to a comparatively dull emerald cast.
Within less than a minute, everything about the snake had gone back to being completely inert. I continued to stare at the jewelry for a few seconds longer.
Bones had done that.
How the hell had Bones done that?
I’d never heard of any enchantment that could do that to a piece of jewelry. No wonder he’d warned me not to activate it inside his mother’s house.
I didn’t realize I was still staring at it until something else pulled my attention.
I looked up when I heard heavy footfalls on the mat, sinking the material down a few inches as Quicksilver walked over to where I was.
When I glanced up at him, he came to a stop, hands on his hips.
His face was still redder than usual, but as he stared at the jewelry around my wrist and arm, he seemed to hesitate.
I couldn’t help noticing he didn’t appear in a hurry to get any closer to me.
“Do you have any idea how illegal that is?” he asked, in a cold, quiet voice.
I blinked, met his gaze, and frowned.
“Illegal?” I instantly distrusted his words. “Why?”
“There’s no way that’s light magic.” Quicksilver pointed accusingly at the gold snake wrapped innocuously around my wrist. “Did he give it to you?”
I considered lying, then didn’t. Exactly.
“It was a present,” I said stiffly.
Quicksilver let out a loud scoff. “A present.”
“Yes.”
“That’s some present, princess,” the older mage growled. “I don’t suppose he explained why he was giving you such a deadly gift?” When I didn’t say anything, he pointed at it again. “That’s a weapon. At the very least, it should be registered as such.”
He began walking towards me, and I reflexively covered it with my palm.
“Give it to me,” he said, his hand outstretched. He didn’t make it a question, or even a request. “Hand it over right now, Shadow––”
“No.”
The word was past my lips before I’d thought.
I didn’t back down from it, though.
There was no way in hell I was giving him the bracelet Bones had magicked for me. I’d fight him for it, if I had to.
He seemed to see some part of that in my eyes.
When he stopped short, glaring at me openly, his hand still outstretched and demanding, my answer didn’t feel any less like the right answer.
It felt like the only answer.
“Absolutely not,” I said, my voice cooler, but also more certain. “It was a gift. And he did tell me why he gave it to me. He meant it as protection. Are you going to tell me I don’t need it? Or that I’m the first wife to receive a defensive present from their spouse?”
“That’s hardly a shield charm,” he began angrily. “I just told you––”
“It’s illegal, yes,” I cut in, equally annoyed.
“But what you haven’t told me is why it’s illegal.
What laws am I breaking by owning it? I’m afraid I’m going to need to see the exact statutes, Professor.
And then I’m going to need an official order that states I’m required by Magical law to hand it over. ”
Quicksilver fell silent, but I didn’t feel him back down, either.
I held his openly cynical stare.
“I recognize I don’t have proper control over it yet––” I began stiffly.
He scoffed louder.
“––I’ll remedy that,” I went on, making my voice louder.
“I won’t wear it publicly until I’m certain I know all of the commands and situations that could trigger it.
I’ll keep it out of sight, and only use it in a contained environment.
I won’t even wear it to our lessons anymore.
I’ll use it in here alone, if you think that’s safer. ”
My jaw tightened.
“But I’m sorry, I’m not handing it over to you,” I repeated. “Nor to anyone. Not even Forsooth. I’m not stupid enough to believe I’d ever see it again if I did, and not only because it was likely an expensive bauble, even before Bones spelled it.”
A silence fell over the Experimental Magic Shed.
I watched Quicksilver stare at me, weighing his next move. For a tense few seconds, I wondered if I was going to have to fight him for it, after all.
“Fine,” the professor growled. “Hold onto your bauble for now. I’ll discuss it with Forsooth. And Corvid, since he’s the resident expert on dangerous magical objects that should be locked up and mysteriously aren’t.”
He didn’t hide his hostility, and that time, it didn’t feel aimed solely at me.
I logged that information away, as well.
So Blackstone and Quicksilver weren’t exactly pals.
That might be good information to have. And was one of those “dangerous magical objects that should be locked up” meant to be Bones himself? The thought was there and gone, but it brought up a ripple of unease.
Just how many people knew about Bones’s condition?
Was it more than me, Blackstone, and Forsooth?
Was Bones wrong? Were there people other than his father who knew in Dark Cathedral, too? Bones had seemed certain Malefic would have trusted no one with that information, not even his closest allies, but had one or more put it together themselves?
Careful, love, a softer, much more familiar voice murmured.
I shivered.
Then I pushed the thought deeper into my mind.
It continued to burn there, though, worrying me.
I fought to push that worry away as I made my way back to Bones’s Tower.
I wanted a shower and a change of clothes before meeting up with the others. Luc wanted to test the next batch of spells I’d dug up in my research in the hopes we could trigger the phasing ability.
I’d tried those spells already, of course.
I wasn’t supposed to be conducting magic alone.
Forsooth lectured me about it, so had Luc, Alaric, Jolie, Blackstone, and even Nyx.
But I wasn’t about to ask my friends to stay up every night working the way I was.
They were giving me enough of their time, especially Luc, who more or less abandoned the other areas of his project to focus on this.
He’d justified it by calling our project “related research,” but it was only barely that, and only if I succeeded in phasing.
We’d been fairly loose with our meeting times over the break, but I knew they’d all head to my place in time for dinner.
Alaric would show up first, likely before six o’clock.
He’d been spending most of his days in the library or Frumpy’s, and timed his arrivals so he could talk to me before the others got there.
He usually had something he’d found––lately, he’d been obsessed with Bones’s collar, and the possibility of reversing the vow, which I’d finally told all of them about.
I’d been genuinely worried they’d want to stop after I told them.
I’d been relieved when it only seemed to motivate them more.
Luc, Nyx, and Jolie usually came together, usually right around seven, and we’d all eat supper and talk about which rituals or spells we wanted to try that night.
Then we’d collect ritual ingredients from Bones’s supplies, sometimes sending a drakai to Bonescastle if we were missing or didn’t have enough of something, Nyx and Luc would draw the ritual circle, Alaric and I would draw the runes, Jolie would cast the protection spells, and we’d begin.
We generally got through four or five full attempts per night.
All of which meant, I had only about an hour to myself.
I knew I should probably try to sleep for twenty minutes of that, but I wanted to look over Alaric’s revised version of the map.
I wasn’t looking forward to the start of the new term.
My Summer coursework looked to be significantly more difficult than Spring.
I’d do my best not to get sent down, since I’d promised Forsooth, but I’d barely carved out two nights a week to finish assignments and cram for in-class tests last term, and I really needed to shave that time down even more.
The thought of giving up all that research time made me feel sick.