Witch-Mage Liberation, page 6
“It’s not as quick as that,” Thea reminded her. She gestured at Kira’s human form, her long legs, and the silky pajamas she wore. “It took you months to master this form.”
Kira flipped a lock of golden hair over her shoulder. “Try again.”
Thea groaned, but Kira pulled her up from the couch. “You’re worse than Jax,” Thea told her.
“You won’t need ice packs after this training, at least.”
She had a fair point there.
Thea stood in the center of her living room once more. Kira formed a circle of magic around her to help. Thea closed her eyes and focused, imagining a copy of her body floating off her real one. “Imagine your magic going sideways rather than straight out of your body,” Kira instructed, her voice gentler this time.
Thea’s body hummed with magic. She felt lighter. She opened her eyes to see her living room swimming before her. Fragments of something beyond flashed across her vision. Am I seeing this living room in the past? she wondered. Different furniture floated across. The walls changed colors. Whatever was happening to her, Kira’s magic and instructions had worked.
“There! You’re doing it!” Kira exclaimed, clapping her hands with glee.
A second, much more transparent, almost ghostly version of Thea floated off her body and lingered in midair. Thea swayed. “I’m getting really fucking dizzy.”
“Hold your focus!” Kira commanded. “The longer you can do that, the more distinct your second form will become. You won’t look so…pale.”
Thea scowled. “I can’t will a nice summer tan to my skin like you can!”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Kira added something else, but Thea didn’t hear it.
She cried out as her concentration broke, and the second version of herself flew into her real body. It jolted her, and the magic she’d used to project herself danced down her body in a sudden, nearly electrifying sensation. “Whoa. That felt weird.”
“But cool, huh?”
“I’m not sure ‘cool’ is the word, but maybe when I get better at it.”
Simply projecting herself and holding the form took much more work than Thea thought. She’d need a lot of practice before she could use the power to do anything useful. She felt weird projecting herself without rituals or the various methods a witch would typically go through to achieve this. She’d heard of coven witches and mages capable of astral projection, but none had extra-dimensional entities around to help.
Thea considered herself lucky and made a mental note to be nicer to Kira. She smiled. “Thanks for helping. I think I’m too tired to keep going, though.”
Kira relented, seeming disappointed. However, Thea could tell by the weariness in her eyes that Kira was equally tired. Thea sometimes forgot how draining it could be to help a human witch. Kira was constantly drawing from the Lake, and though it was second nature in her true form in that realm, it was more difficult in any form in the human realm.
She hugged Kira, surprised at how natural it felt to hug her human figure instead of her cat one. “You’re the best.”
“Best extra-dimensional entity you know?” Kira quipped.
Thea pulled back. “Your humor is improving.”
Her mind swam with other thoughts. Being able to project herself meant she was growing in power and knowledge. That was what she needed to become a mage, right? It also made her think about how powerful the person behind all the shit going on in the city was. What drive, power, or greed would it take for a mage or whoever it was to act like this?
Thea shook her head. I don’t get it.
Someone knocked at her door, interrupting her thoughts. Oh, shit. I forgot we weren’t supposed to start practicing until Mia showed up. Thea said this to Kira with a silent glance as she crossed to the door and opened it.
Mia started to say hello, then noticed the tired look on her friends’ faces and the sheen of sweat on Thea’s brows. She scowled. “You started without me!”
Thea cringed. “I know. We just…”
Mia wasn’t having it. She brushed past Thea into the living room and quickly scanned the place. She whirled back to Thea. “You know, I shouldn’t be surprised you’d be reckless enough to try projecting without taking the necessary precautions. All you had to do was wait until I got here.” Mia tossed a sack of sweet-smelling herbs onto the coffee table. “You should have had another cleansing before starting. Do you know what could have happened to you?”
Mia was right. If dark magic was lingering around or on her, projecting would only open her up to an attack. That darkness could have wiggled in and taken root. However, it was Mia’s tone that kept Thea from admitting wrongdoing. She stiffened, and it only got worse when Mia added, “Things could have gone sideways. Pun not intended. Kira would hardly know what to do if you got into trouble!”
Thea did nothing to hide her anger. “At least we’re doing something about the fact that a powerful mage who has gone off the deep end is fucking everything up in this city!”
Mia was not fazed by this revelation. “Being in a hurry could put you out of the fight, Thea. Work too fast, and you’ll kill yourself.”
Thea knew she was right, but she couldn’t stand it. Not when Mia sounded exactly like Jax.
“I think I’ll be fine. Kira’s helping me learn what I don’t know, and what I do know is…well, I’m good. I’m already doing things most people in my coven have never done.”
Mia crossed her arms. “Right. Dream-walking and astral projection. Two things that could kill you if you’re not careful. By the looks of it, you’re not being careful, Thea. I don’t care how good you think you are. Stupid is still stupid.”
“At least I have a chance. At least I have power that could—” Thea cut herself off at Mia’s chagrined expression. Her confidence had bordered on arrogance. “Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
Mia turned away, shaking her head. She wiped at her cheek, the only sign a tear had dropped. If she was crying, she didn’t want Thea to see. “That’s quite all right. You said what you said. You might want to break off from your coven, Thea, but you still hold some of their biases.”
Thea had not realized how a hedge witch might receive her words until it was too late. She sought Kira’s eyes across the room but found the extra-dimensional entity back in cat form, looking away from Thea and Mia.
“Mia, I’m sorry.” Thea put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I said some stupid shit, and you’re right.”
Mia turned, her eyes glassy enough to tell Thea they had welled up with sudden, hurt tears. “That attitude you have sometimes is dangerous. It’s exactly the sort of thing that could send you down a dark and dangerous path if you’re not careful.”
Shit. Thea hadn’t thought of that. For the second time that evening, she sank onto her sofa. She remembered stories she’d heard of witches heading down the path of magehood and losing not only their minds but control of their power. Dark mages were real, and she didn’t want to become one.
Many of the stories she’d heard had come from her coven. Witches used them to warn her against leaving because they wanted her to feel stupid for doing so. Similar warnings had come from her parents, though. Thea could at least heed those.
If she stopped listening to those around her she trusted and cared about and allowed arrogance to convince her she was always right, she’d be in hot water. Thea buried her face in her hands. “I’m sorry.”
Mia sat beside her and put a hand on Thea’s back. “I forgive you.” She glanced in Kira’s direction. “And I’m sorry if I made it sound like I think you’re stupid or incapable. Kira, too. You’re both wonderful and skilled.”
Thea lifted her head. “Where would I be without you?”
“Dead in a ditch?”
They both laughed. Kira hopped up between them and snuggled in. “Don’t get too comfortable yet,” Mia told the cat. “I want to see Thea project once before bedtime. Otherwise, what the hell was the point of coming over here?”
“To save me from moral corruption and deep darkness?” Thea posed.
“Ah, yes. Mia, the savior of Thea.”
Thea squeezed her friend into a hug. “You have no idea.” A while back, while Thea battled with the heaviest grief she had ever experienced, Mia had saved her. Maybe Mia didn’t know it, but her friendship with Thea shortly after her parents died had kept Thea afloat.
Thea stood again. Kira took human form to feed Thea magic. Mia stood off to the side, creating precautionary wards on the floor to prevent Thea’s magic from bouncing out too far and making unfavorable things happen, like breaking vases.
Thea closed her eyes and pushed her power sideways, focusing on the form she wanted to take. It was easier this time. Mia’s presence alone set Thea at ease. The wards she drew up made Thea feel like she was in a controlled environment. You’re safe here, Mia seemed to say with her magic. You’re safe to try what you need to.
A gasp came from Mia’s lips a moment later. Kira’s hushed, giddy voice followed. “You’re doing it again. Good job, Thea!”
Thea opened her eyes to find a projected version of herself standing in front of her. Projected Thea had her back to real Thea. “Now, see if you can look into yourself,” Kira instructed.
Thea’s projected form turned. Images flashed before real Thea’s eyes. She gasped. “What do you see?” Mia asked.
“The Lake. Inside me.”
Kira hushed Mia so Thea could focus. She drew a deep breath, and her projected form took a step. Suddenly, without scrying and runes, Thea stood in the Lake’s realm at the edge of the water. “This is weird,” she murmured. The realm looked the same as the last time she was here, except for one thing.
The placid silver water stretched out, and the hazy whiteness of everything beyond remained as it was. However, a slight shift in the air had Thea’s projected form turning. Another body of water, much smaller than the lake but still considerable in size, awaited her there. Unlike the silver of the lake, this water was dark and murky, almost like blood or ink.
The dark magic, she realized. The Lake’s power flowed into Thea and out again, a slow drip into this secondary body of water. The leak Mia had spoken about yesterday. Thea reached out with her projected form to follow the trickles coming into the pool. Her power wasn’t the only thing feeding it.
She gasped again. The power is coming from all across New Orleans. The disrupted wards. Other mages and witches the magic had invaded. Thea was only one source for this body of water. It was a second Lake. Though smaller, it’d been growing without her notice. The question now was who the hell created this, and what did they plan to do with it?
Thea’s heart pounded faster. Something foul and larger than she imagined was at work. Even with all this power draw, though, it would take something potent to mobilize it in the physical realm. Something akin to a strong shove upending a huge tub of water.
“Kira, I need your help cutting off the drain.” Thea’s voice was faint and far away, but Kira heard her.
“Pour your magic into it and use a sealing spell.”
It made sense enough. Thea hoped the seal would hold as long as she needed it to. After she cut off her power to the pool, the creator would have to find another source to replace her. Or they’ll come after me again, she thought.
Thea did as Kira had suggested and soon had her power sealed off from the new body of water. She stood for a second, staring at that inky blackness. She shuddered. Merely looking at it gave her the same feeling she’d had in the graveyard, the coven estate, and the warehouse earlier that night. A taint of desperation and malice. Something was desperate enough to pull this much power. Did greed drive it? Revenge?
Maybe if she peered long enough into that water, she’d see who lurked beneath its surface. Then, a hand came to her physical form’s shoulder. Mia’s voice sounded far away. “Come back, Thea. You’re starting to sweat and shake.”
Thea drew her magic back in. The force of it sent her reeling. She blinked, and everything returned to normal. She was back in her apartment with only one version of herself standing in the living room. Kira looked exhausted. Mia wore a worried expression. “Are you all right?”
Thea fell to her knees, half in pure fatigue and half in shock. The magic she’d seen had gathered into one source, a smaller lake, but its tendrils spider-webbed out all over the city. A parasite. How the hell was she supposed to get rid of it? She swallowed as Mia bent in front of her.
“Thea? What did you see?”
Shaking, Thea replied, “Something out of a nightmare that had been in the works for a very long time.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“The pre-veil world was a dangerous place for those who practiced magic. Only ten years ago did the world begin to accept that witches had a place in society. The tragedies of Salem are only a shred of the misdeeds done against coven members of the United States. The post-veil world is not much safer, though advances have made the country a better place for both non-magic and magic-using individuals. Organizations like the Arcane Investigation Division have been established for this reason.
In the pre-veil world, seldom were there cases of witch violence against non-magic users. The violence between covens, however, is a long, fraught history of betrayal and bloodshed. Witches and mages have been hunting and battling one another for centuries, and much of their history is still unknown today.”
—Orlena Gorbana, The History of Covens and Adjacent Societies
Brandon checked his watch. “She should have been here by now.”
“I don’t get why we had to have the meeting here,” Jax remarked from the other side of the conference table.
Brandon agreed that their usual meeting spot at a favorite bar in the French Quarter was preferable but not allowed.
He closed a folder he’d been staring at for the past twenty minutes and rubbed his eyes. “Claire wants any official work meetings to take place in the offices from here on out. At least until the matter of the wards is taken care of. It’s too risky to talk about these things out in the open. Trust me, I don’t like it either.”
Apparently, Thea felt the same way because they were supposed to start this meeting twenty minutes ago, and she was nowhere to be seen. They had taken the last three days off work to rest and recover. Though Claire wanted them working as quickly as possible on the case, she saw burnout on the horizon for AID’s best team if they didn’t get some sleep.
Brandon returned to work this morning and heard the buzz of conversation surrounding the issues happening in the city. The pressure was on, and Brandon wasn’t a newbie anymore. Everyone in the building knew who he, Jax, and Thea were. Hell, people in AID all across the country knew his face and name by now. All because one day, he’d been put in charge of hiring a witch liaison.
The building was mostly empty now, with most employees having gone home for the day. For hours, Brandon had slaved over paperwork. Jax sighed and peeled a banana, and the sight of it made Brandon realize he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Even then, it had only been a muffin and a cup of coffee.
Finally, the door to the conference room swung open. Before either man could speak, Thea declared, “I know, I know. I’m late. Before you boys get your panties all twisted up, I have a pretty good excuse.” A pause. “This time.”
Brandon and Jax were less concerned about hearing her explanation than about Kira in cat form and Mia accompanying her. This was an official AID meeting, not a friend gathering. What was she thinking? Brandon bit his tongue. The least he could do was give her a chance to explain herself.
“I met with my coven Mother this afternoon. It took longer than I thought, but I hurried over here as soon as we finished.”
“You could have told us you were going to the coven estate,” Brandon remarked. “We could have pushed this meeting back.”
Thea settled into a chair. “I didn’t go to the estate. I called Mother Folsom, and she was skittish about talking on the phone. She said she’d meet me somewhere in the city.” Brandon and Jax shared significant glances, to which Thea commented, “I know, right? She was desperate enough to not order me out to the estate.”
Brandon didn’t understand why Michelle Folsom liked Arthur so much. Then again, he didn’t understand a lot about Thea’s coven Mother.
“Mother Folsom suspects there is a powerful mage involved. Otherwise, how would someone like Arthur go missing? He’s not easily bested.”
The disappearance alone didn’t seem like enough to make such an assumption, but Brandon let Thea continue.
“Apparently, Folsom had Arthur on a job piecing together strange incidences regarding dismantled wards around the estate. Arthur was looking for someone who might help him, but he required a variety of materials, time, and energy. Weird stuff, too. Folsom thinks Arthur might have gone to Dark Street Market to look around.”
Dark Street. Brandon had heard of it. Though plenty of AID agents had visited the place on various investigations, his work had never taken him there. He was fine with that. Dark Street was almost the equivalent of a real-life black market but for magic. AID hadn’t found enough real evidence of illegal activity to ban people from going there or shut the place down.
Various occult types had set up shop over the years there. It was less for the coven types and more for the hedge witches, rogue mages, and the odd supernatural to buy, sell, and exchange wares.
“And he disappeared after he went looking for these things?” Jax clarified.
“Exactly,” Thea responded. Kira was sitting in her lap, and Mia had taken a seat beside her. Brandon still wondered what they were doing here, but at the speed Thea was going, he assumed he would learn soon enough.
Thea blew out a long, hard breath. “There’s more.” She told them how she had successfully used astral projection and what she had discovered about the city. Brandon and Jax shared alarmed glances, then sat in stunned silence as Thea described the magnitude of the dark power she had seen.
