Chapter 14
something is afoot
When Jess picked her up the next morning, Callie thought something was different. Starting with the way Jess smelled.
It wasn’t bad, far from it. A clean and subtle scent, but there was something sharp at the edges, like citrus over steel. Not Jess’s usual sweat-and-cedar aftermath. Not any of the aromas Callie had quietly cataloged over the months she had been close to Jess. The gym would be her signature body wash, then sweat to form her natural musk. Jess favored a single spritz of an aged cologne, a resin oil, or a slight touch of patchouli at home. A dab at her wrist as a concentration assist.
The ride to the quarry was quiet. They shared breakfast bars that Callie had made and discussed what they would work on for the day. Arriving, they started with calisthenics by the tree line. Setting a Bluetooth speaker to some soothing music with dynamic stretches: shoulders, hips, calves, and hamstrings all got a workout. Then Jess upped the intensity with planks, core holds, and high knees until their breath came in ragged bursts and their limbs shook.
Except Jess was quieter than usual. Not brooding, just…off. Watchful in the wrong ways. Oddly timed compliments softened her standard crisp commands, and her focus kept drifting. Not towards the quarry below, but to Callie and the way Callie was leaning into her lunges. Quad muscles flexed in her tight gym shorts, and newly redefined muscles showed the result of their efforts in the gym.
At first, Callie loved it. She arched a little further in her yoga poses, didn’t care that her floppy t-shirt crept up her spine during a sun salutation. She let it hang open, feeling a welcome breeze wash across her back and chest, her black sports bra snugly in place.
She knew Jess was watching. She could feel it.
Coming out of the pose, Jess was already standing and made a quick adjustment of her waistband. Callie caught the movement and saw the twitch of discomfort or distraction.
“You alright?” she asked, but Jess was already heading to the service road that took them to the quarry floor, “Yeah, good. Let’s make some noise.”
A comment like that would have sent Callie into a smirking frenzy in their early days of beginning friendship and interactions. Today, she just shook her head and followed Jess down the road, excited to work on her magic.
Jess hurled orbs across the flat floor of the old granite quarry. Most of the valley had been carved, block by block, from the rolling hillside in the early twentieth century. Long abandoned, the towering rock walls provided a sound barrier and shock absorber for the destructive, occasionally booming sounds the orbs and energy waves made, which reverberated through the stone walls.
The old access road snaked to the quarry floor, and when Callie caught up with Jess, she was already in motion, conjuring small spheres of light in quick, twitchy flicks of her wrists. Her expression was focused, her face tight with concentration.
Though they had discussed skill development earlier, Callie walked up to Jess and began doing the same. Her movements weren’t as fluid and bright as Jess’s, but she quickly warmed up, trying to match the color of the orbs Jess was calling forth.
They stood side by side in an almost Tai Chi dance, mirroring each other. Jess noticed and started making little comments about Callie’s growing prowess.
“Sharp,” Jess said as one of Callie’s orbs stuttered before fully manifesting, then blossomed before streaking across the quarry. “At the very least, it was pretty.”
“Nice tone,” Jess said clearly, pointing after Callie’s effort, “an attention-getter.”
Callie lifted a brow. Jess rarely complimented mid-drill.
Jess flicked another orb, faster this time, forcing Callie to track its arc, “You’re holding longer now. That’s new.”
Callie smiled, her breath caught by Jess’s tone, “Thanks.”
“Most people can’t adapt this fast,” Jess murmured, readying another triggering sequence for Callie to imitate, “But you’re not most people.”
Callie hesitated, “Are we still talking about plasma?”
Jess didn’t answer. Her next orb was smaller, hotter, and jittering with white heat. “No one’s made me adjust this much. Even in the old days. You’re…difficult to ignore.”
The white orb flew from her fingertips, then erratically zig-zagged from its intended trajectory and smacked into the granite wall across the way with a sharp echo. Jess cleared her throat and shook her head, “Maybe skip that one,” she exhaled sharply, disappointed with herself. Perhaps she had said too much.
Callie turned away to get the grin out of her system, then recreated her version of Jess’s attempt. The result was as intense as Jess’s errant sphere, but it didn’t hover and jerk. With a sweep of her arm, Callie directed the orb to follow Jess’s path, and it, too, thudded into the granite with a satisfying pop.
“Your centerline’s clean,” Jess said, oddly redfaced though they hadn’t exerted themselves much, “Balance is good.”
Callie stared at her, the late morning heat prickling at the back of her neck. “You okay?”
Jess nodded sharply. “Let’s shift to shields.” Turning away from Callie, Jess walked a few steps, then broke into a run. Callie stared momentarily as Jess’s legs and backside provided a lovely view, but she knew an orb would soon be rocketing her way. Triggering a protection shield, Callie planted her feet just as Jess lept into the air, rotated her body like a gymnast, and fired a green orb straight at her.
Callie, fully prepared and knowing the intensity of Jess’s practice orbs were designed for speed and agility, readied herself. Like a slow-motion baseball pitch, the sphere came in on a slow, manageable arc.
“Too easy,” Callie thought, factoring in Jess’s odd behavior. That last orb of hers was almost trembling. Callie came off her solid footing, up on the balls of her feet, and at the last second, the orb jogged low and struck the dirt at Callie’s feet.
Callie tipped the shield down and directed it away, then spun, rolling left, bringing the shield, glittering with light, to absorb another faster orb that Jess had conjured, thinking Callie wouldn’t see it.
Callie’s feet slid back in the dirt as the orb impacted her shield. It was strong and dialed into the higher ranges of Jess’s practice intensity. Callie felt the hit across her arms and shoulders, then carefully peeked around the shield to see if a third weapon was on its way. Nope.
Jess stood, a hundred feet away, hand on her hip and a satisfied smirk on her face. Suddenly, her left arm snapped to the ground, and a shield sparkled to life.
“Witch, please,” Callie shouted, then saw Jess’s shield grow larger, thicker. While waiting for Callie to respond, Jess stood still and stuck out her tongue like a bratty middle schooler.
“Oh…” Callie whispered, her eyes widening, “What is she gonna do?” Callie didn’t have time to dwell on the whereabouts or intentions of Jess’s tongue. Jess fired more orbs, then ran to reposition behind a boulder, emerging only to fire off another volley.
Callie dismissed the first round, then had a moment to target Jess with one of her own. The sphere wasn’t showy but veered straight up, whistling down on Jess’s position without mercy. Callie caught a glimpse of Jess’s arm going straight up, her shield an umbrella of protection as Callie. Crouched, Jess’s legs absorbed the brunt of the force, and she fired off a grin at Callie and then laughed. The battle was on.
Jess, flushed and silent, upped the tempo. One orb, green. Then two, flashing green to blue, went up in the air like summoned planets. Jess stepped out from another boulder and shot a third, larger and boiling with energy, right at Callie.
The novice witch would have to make a choice. Read all the trajectories and speeds, guess at the impact intensity, and hope that she hadn’t annoyed Jess over something unknown. Any of those orbs could easily drop her to the ground.
Callie ducked, then spun, using her shield to deflect Jess’s fastest orb back at her. That bought her time. She would have to conjure a second equally powerful shield to counter the three smaller spheres now tracking from opposite directions, rendering her orb triggering briefly unavailable.
Callie did precisely that. Blocking the first of the trio with her left arm, she turned to make sure she had a bead on the other two.
One of the remaining orb pairs split as Jess directed it to do so. Callie absorbed the shock of the first, then turned to meet the last sphere. It had slowed and increased in intensity. Callie drew her free hand behind her as her knees bent, ready for the hit.
The impact knocked her back. Hard. In shock, her anger flared, and the orb she had called up, hidden from Jess’s view, flared with power. A heavy metal snap sounded as Callie took the hit, but her orb came screaming around her shield with newfound force.
Caught up in the surprise of defeating Jess’s intense challenge and perhaps reacting with some growing frustration, Callie knew her new orb was at the peak of her power abilities. She’d allowed the briefest moment of distracted emotion, and the power of her magic had transformed the training orb into something deadly.
She dropped her shield and saw Jess standing there with, at first, a warm smile acknowledging Callie’s startling achievement, but when she saw Callie break from behind her shield. Jess saw panic.
The orb shot across the expanse of the quarry. Jess only had a heartbeat to summon a shield. She had seen, then felt, the power of Callie’s sparring weapons growing.
Her protection shield came up, and she tilted it, hoping to deflect the sphere and some of its conjured energy away to minimize the shock. She tried for a full breath, then held, but there was no time to whisper a blessing. Then…nothing.
No impact. Jess braced again. Had Callie triggered a redirection? Was it coming from somewhere else? Jess risked a look only to see Callie standing a few feet away, her chest heaving, shaking her head. “I got it,” she cried out sharply. “I…called it b-back,” she stuttered. Callie hung her head and took a deep, shaking breath.
Stunned, her heart and breath held, Jess ran to Callie.
“Jess,” Callie gasped, her muscles trembling with leftover magic, reflecting a sweaty sheen in the sun. It was obvious she knew what might have happened, but Jess couldn’t look away. Callie was shimmering, her hands still echoing the plasma she had forced to return. Her stance was wide and solid, claiming ground as if she were meant to.
Jess’s heart shifted again, a deep pulse, then that moved as well, dropping lower—bothered in a way that had no place in a training session. Part of Jess’s filters fell away. “Callie,” she whispered, the awe in her voice couldn’t be misinterpreted, “You are so fucking amazing.”
Callie looked up, her pooling eyes wider,” W-what? How can you-”
Jess interrupted, her voice deeper than she intended. “That’s the first time I‘ve ever felt you pull a punch and still worry it might kill me.”
Callie froze. “It’s….starting to click.”
Jess swiped her hand across her forehead, clearing the dirt, “So, like, congratulations. You’re officially terrifying.”
Callie let out a strangled laugh. She was too rattled to notice how intensely and where Jess was staring. Sweat was running everywhere, disappearing into her sports bra. Callie had yet to actually look at Jess.
Jess stepped closer, trying to compose herself, but that image of Callie, her power was still sizzling in her head like the afterburn of a spell gone wrong.
“You’re not mad,” Callie asked, her voice too small for her stature.
Jess tilted her head, a half-smile blooming. She had to do something to perk Callie up, “I’m impressed,” she said quietly. There was a beat, and Jess allowed herself, “And maybe a little…shaken.”
Callie blinked, “Shaken?”
Jess gave her a crooked smile, then looked over her shoulder to the winding road up to the quarry's rim, “You almost vaporized me and looked good doing it. I’m allowed to need a moment.”
“A moment,” Callie repeated, her head bobbing, “Sure?”
“Maybe we end it for today? Get our stuff and hit the road?” Jess’s brow arched suddenly; she pointed to their sweatshirts where they had begun. “The sun’s gonna drop behind the wall pretty soon anyway.”
Where Jess was suddenly animated, moving with purpose. Callie hadn’t quite yet caught up. She was still processing, quiet as they walked to pick up their water bottles and Callie’s sweatshirt.
She’d watched Jess that afternoon, cycling through the magic-triggering movements, producing the energy waves seemingly without effort, creating a force powerful enough to rattle more than just the abandoned quarry.
Callie’s heart was quaking in awe. She noticed Jess’s jaw clenched as she released an orb of one of her more aggressive protection panels. Her confidence was sexy, and Callie had spent the afternoon working herself into yet another frenzy, wanting to recreate Jess’s magic skill as well as the style and intention in which it was presented.
And now, she had done just that. Jess had been impressed. The way Jess had said it. Quietly, intimately, Jess’s tone made Callie revisit the frustration that had been the catalyst.
“Jess stuck her tongue out at me,” she thought, “like that will ever happen.” Then, with Jess walking slightly ahead, Callie adjusted her snug shorts. She let out an annoyed breath full of heat and agitation.
But Jess turned, interrupting Callie’s view of Jess’s muscled backside. It was her turn to ask, “You okay?”
Callie dragged in a breath, trying to get her pulse back under control.
Her throat bobbed once.
“Peachy.”