Bewitched, page 4
I don’t have time to move or scream. It slams into my chest, throwing me to the ground and pinning me beneath its weight.
Can’t breathe.
A massive set of black paws rests on my sternum, holding me in place. I let my eyes drift up, taking in the silky dark fur that coats the animal’s forelegs and chest. My attention snags on the creature’s terrifying serrated teeth for a moment before my eyes rise the rest of the way, and I meet the amber-green gaze of a panther.
CHAPTER 5
Oh, my fucking goddess on high.
This strange magic led me right to a panther. I repeat, a panther.
I would scream, except my throat isn’t working.
I’m going to get eaten and then shit out by this ferocious hellcat, and no one is ever going to know what happened to me.
Pull yourself together, Selene. You have magic at your disposal. No overgrown pussycat is going to end you, no matter how terrifying it is.
The panther opens its jaws slightly—enough for me to get a whiff of big-cat breath, which is as awful as it sounds.
The panther leans forward, bringing its head close to my face. The entire time, it stares at me.
I feel something then, something that gathers in the very center of my body. It takes another second for me to realize it’s my magic. There’s something in the air—or maybe it’s in my bones—that calls to this creature. It has the same ageless feel as my magic does.
And the longer I look, the more I sense some aspect of myself behind those eyes. My fear is gone, replaced by an instinctual familiarity.
My magic hums at the thought, moving out from the center of my body and flowing into my limbs. The urge to touch the great cat, to pet it, is nearly overwhelming.
Tentatively, I lift a hand, feeling my power gather in my palm. My inner skeptic is still positive this is where I die, but my intuition is saying something different, and I trust it above all else.
The magic coiled in my palm builds, driven by some primeval witchy instinct. It makes my flesh tingle and causes my fingers to twitch a little.
The panther closes the last of the distance between us, pressing its face into my outstretched hand, as though desperate for the touch of my magic.
And that’s exactly what the creature gets.
Power bursts from my palm at the contact, turning the air around us a glittering pale hue of orange. It slips into the panther just as easily as a breath of air, and I feel it connect. Something deep within me snaps into place then, magically linking me to the creature.
I stare up at the big cat as it gazes down at me, its face still pressed against my palm.
After a moment, it moves from my hand, leaning in as though it needs to get a closer look at my eyes. Then, all at once, it gives my cheek a lick that feels like it took off a layer or two of skin.
I reach up and dazedly pet the animal, my hand shaking a little, while inside…inside, I sense our freshly forged bond.
Holy shit, I think I just bagged myself a familiar.
I stare at the big cat for the dozenth time as I brush myself off and get my bearings.
The coven is going to shit bricks when they see my familiar.
Shit. Bricks.
I actually smirk a little at the thought. The phrase “be careful what you wish for” came from witches.
The panther—my panther—is massive. I’d never truly appreciated that about these great cats until now, when I’m standing next to one.
Of all the animals I could’ve gotten matched with, I got this one. He—and uh, dude’s definitely a boy—is much prouder and scarier than the familiar I imagined for myself. To be honest, I was thinking I was more of a chinchilla girl.
Apparently not.
Even now, I can feel the soft hum of my connection to the great cat. It’s a strange feeling, being bonded to another essence—and to that of an animal, no less. It’s like discovering you have an extra appendage, only this one is sentient.
I close my eyes now and focus on that sentience and the bond that binds us together. The longer I concentrate on our connection, the more I feel a pull to slip down it.
So I do.
One moment I’m sensing the magical bond, and the next, I slide into the panther’s mind.
Most of the creature’s thoughts are barred from me, but I can feel his mild hunger, and I sense that he’s otherwise in good health. His strength simmers just below the surface, and inside his head, I feel stronger, more athletic.
I breathe in, and through his nose, I smell a dozen different scents, each with its own nuanced meaning. Most shocking of all, when I blink and the world comes into focus, I can see myself through his eyes.
Freaking trippy as hell.
I swing his head around, taking in our surroundings. His vision is sharper yet less vibrant, and I can see all sorts of things in the shadows of the jungle.
I slip back into my own head, and it’s like moving from one room to another—no magic needed, no memories devoured.
I have to place my hand on a nearby tree while I catch my breath.
“You are… This is…” Unbelievable. Extraordinary.
And most of all, unexpected.
Really, really unexpected.
Despite how desperate I was to find my familiar, I hadn’t truly believed it would happen on this trip.
Tentatively, I step forward and stroke my panther’s fur, still half expecting him to bite my hand off. But he lets me pet him, even closing his eyes and leaning into my touch.
“What should I name you?” I ask him.
The big cat says nothing, just continues to lean into me.
“Phantom?” I try the name out. I mean, he is scary.
No reaction. I think that might be a no.
Goddess above, I’m trying to read the thoughts of a wild cat.
“Onyx?” That one’s pretty literal.
No reaction from my familiar.
“Ebenezer?” I throw out.
Now he gives me a look, and it’s not a nice one.
“I’m kidding,” I say. I take in the panther all over again. “Hmmm…you’re a serious guy.” Serious enough to deserve a powerful name, one of a ruler.
From the foggy wisps of my memory, I drag a name forth. “Nero.”
The big cat turns his head and licks my palm with that abrasive tongue of his.
“Do you like that?”
The panther butts his head against my hand, and I think that’s a yes.
I pet his fur. “Yeah, I bet you get a thrill being likened to some ruthless Roman emperor.”
It’s as I’m straightening that movement above me catches my eye. I glance up in time to see that line of indigo magic twisting in the air. It snakes through the trees, toward what looks to be a body of water.
My queen… Find me… Claim me… Save me…
The deep-blue magic reaches for my arm, wrapping itself around my wrist as though it were a hand and tugging me forward.
I stare at it, momentarily confused. I think I assumed finding Nero was the driving force behind the plane crash and this very literal magic quest I’m now on. But, of course, that’s not the case. Familiars don’t actually put out any magic of their own; they simply amplify and conduct it. The voice and the insistent power pulling me toward the murky water ahead of us are something else entirely.
The magic tugs on my hand again, and I feel compelled once again to find the source of it.
Empress…
“You better not be some swamp monster set on devouring me,” I call out, “because now I have a badass familiar who looks like he would happily eat swamp monsters for breakfast.”
I glance at Nero, who doesn’t look like he’s on board with eating swamp monsters at all.
“I’m obviously bluffing,” I whisper. “Just go along with it.”
Languidly, the big cat stretches, then prowls forward, his tail brushing against my side as he starts after the magic.
I follow him, reveling in the subtle thrum of our connection. Though I cannot see the thin magical cord that connects us, I can still sense my familiar on the other end of it.
This is so wild.
Nero slips between the trees on silent feet, moving like a shadow through the jungle’s underbrush.
We haven’t gone far when the trees give way to a large, winding river.
Could this be the Amazon River? Because that would actually be really fucking awesome. Random, but awesome.
I stand there, hands on my hips, my combat boots splattered with mud and my skin sweaty, and I savor the ridiculous irony of the situation. I’m now getting the wild magic quest I was too broke to afford. I mean, technically I’m also too broke for the quest I purchased, but what are details?
The line of blue magic cuts directly across the river, disappearing into the trees on the other side.
I let out a sigh, then turn to Nero. “You wouldn’t happen to know of any nearby bridges, would you?”
CHAPTER 6
It’s not a bridge, but Nero does lead me to a boat. Well, a dinghy. One that’s rusted over and partially submerged into the muddy riverbank. Inside, it’s filled with decaying shrubbery, a murky puddle of water, and what looks to be a thriving, self-contained ecosystem. The floor of it is also partially rusted through. And it’s missing its oars.
But you know what? It’s something.
So I spend a ridiculous amount of time and magic repairing the Tetanus Express and prying it out of the riverbank. By the end of it, my head, which had stopped hurting thanks to the aspirin, begins to throb again.
I ignore the pain and my rising anxieties about the amount of power I’ve used today. I’m on a magic quest; I can be a little indulgent with my spellcasting.
With that thought in mind, I release another burst of my power, one that cleans the interior of the dinghy. All the while, the dark blue magic circles me.
Empress…
I ignore the voice and the restlessness it stirs in me. Instead, I drag the boat into the water, grimacing a little when my boots squish into the riverbed. I nearly whoop with joy when the dinghy stays afloat, rocking gently in the shallows of the river. It’s still badly rusted and missing oars, but it floats.
I turn to Nero, who’s been watching from the riverbank, and I hesitate. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to acquire a familiar but not what to do with one once we bonded.
“Do you…want to come with me?” I ask.
Nero stares at me for a moment. Then, in response, he prowls to the lapping edge of the river and leaps into the dinghy. The force of his landing nearly capsizes the boat in the process.
“Dude,” I say, grabbing the edge of the vessel and holding it as steady as I can.
If Nero was at all worried about being thrown overboard, he doesn’t show it. The panther plops on the floor of the boat and begins cleaning himself.
I glance one last time at what I can see of my magical repairs to the dinghy, then at the far side of the river.
Taking a deep breath, I gather my courage and hoist myself into the boat.
Before I can even attempt a spell to get this thing moving toward the far side of the river, the magic circling me now pushes at my back, propelling us across.
I let out a shaky exhale.
Well, that solves that.
It’s only when we’ve reached the center of the river that I have my misgivings.
What in the goddess’s name am I doing? Magic quest or no, I shouldn’t be wandering around in this unfamiliar jungle, letting some mysterious being lure me closer. I don’t even have my notebook, so if I forget my memories from earlier today, I’m F-U-C-K-E-D.
I glance overhead at the afternoon sun.
And if I don’t get back before sundown…
Doubled fucked.
But my intuition isn’t warning me off this trail, and I did find my familiar by listening to it earlier. Technically, this is what a magic quest is—listening to that untamable inner voice that leads all witches.
Nero lunges toward the river, nearly capsizing the boat. Again. I grab the sides of the dinghy for balance while the water near us churns. I hear a crunch, and then the panther is backing up, dragging some writhing thing along with him.
What in the…?
Nero turns toward me, and clamped in his jaws is the biggest motherfucking snake I’ve ever seen, its head and neck hanging lifelessly, even while the rest of its body still spasms.
Ho-ly shit.
“Good boy,” I croak.
He gives me a look like he might eat me next if I treat him like a pet again. He pads back to the middle of the boat and flops down, the huge twitching snake tumbling in along with him.
I grimace.
Clearing my throat, I say, “I feel like we need to go over some boat rules. Rule one—”
Nero sinks his teeth into the creature’s belly.
Going to hurl.
“No eating animals on the boat.”
Ignoring me, the panther continues to chomp on the dead snake.
What am I supposed to do if my familiar doesn’t listen to me? Aren’t familiars supposed to give their undivided loyalty to the witch they’re bonded with?
I take a few deep breaths and decide this is not the hill I want to die on today.
“Fine, ignore boat rules, just don’t get any blood on me—”
I feel something warm and wet hit the back of my hand.
I glare at my familiar—who is still absorbed in his meal. “Don’t make me turn you into a housecat,” I warn him.
He pauses eating to flash me his fangs.
Guess he doesn’t like the idea of that all that much. “Then behave.”
He stares at me for a moment longer, then goes back to eating his nasty snack.
The blue magic pushes us along, and slowly but surely, we cross the river. Overhead, the rest of the magic hangs above us like a contrail, the line of it disappearing into the trees on the approaching side of the riverbank. I swear it looks denser than it did at the crash site.
I can still feel the power pressing against my back, but it’s begun to creep over my shoulders and around my chest, and a strand of it brushes against my jaw, feeling for all the world like the light stroke of knuckles against my skin.
I think it would be better if I found the touch repulsive, but I…don’t, and that leaves me confused.
Eventually, we reach the riverbank. I wait until the dinghy has nearly beached itself on the shore before hopping out with Nero and dragging the boat as far ashore as I can.
Dusting my hands off, I turn to the dark jungle beyond.
Come to me…
I pause. That phantom voice is so much stronger now.
The air around me seems to vibrate. I can feel the magic as though it were alive.
Calling to me. Calling…
I pick my way through the vegetation and the looming lush trees, that insistent pull getting stronger. I stop only when I get to a dense, almost-impassable cluster of foliage.
I’m about to move away from it when I sense…more magic. Only this doesn’t have the same elements as the blue magic above me.
The spell here—and what I’m sensing is a spell, not unspooled magic—is unlike the one pulling me onward. This power is so subtle that I would have missed it if I weren’t looking for magic in the first place.
Now that I am looking right at it, I see the shimmery lines that its spellcasting left behind. Sometimes these can take the shape of writing, but other times, like right now, the spells look like nothing more than glittery string woven together.
This spell, however, is not simply a few magical strings; it’s a whole tapestry. The spells—wards technically—hang in the air like a giant web, one so complex and so intricately wrought that it must’ve taken weeks if not months to create.
I study the layers and layers of protective spells, in awe that someone created this.
The most prominent of these wards are ones that will a person to leave this place. There are still more that form a magical barrier of sorts, one that would be impenetrable to a nonmagical human. Finally, I sense several overlapping enchantments that obscure whatever’s beyond from view. It’s all so hopelessly complicated.
Unfortunately for me, the magic I’ve been following cuts directly across these wards, as though they weren’t there.
My queen…
That voice stirs my blood and prods my back, and if I have any hope of finding its source, I’ll need to get past these spells.
I give the web of them another once-over. After a moment’s hesitation, I reach out with my fingers, unsure how the wards will react. Hexes and curses could be woven into these things, and I really don’t want to walk away from here with some curse that rots me from the inside out.
Help me…
I’m emboldened by that plea. There may be someone on the other side of these spells that’s in true peril. And while I’m in no position to be some knight in shining armor, I am the only one who’s here, so I can at least try to be brave.
I take a steadying breath, then press my hand to the web of spells.
At my touch, the entire cluster of them disintegrates, as though it were no sturdier than an actual web. But even as my hand slips right through, I feel the massive amount of power these spells released, the wave of it slamming into me and causing me to stagger back. The shock wave spreads out into the jungle, dissipating as it goes.
I frown. Spells that strong should’ve put up some sort of fight.
But I only linger on that concern for a moment because now that I’ve removed this section of wards, I can see the area in front of me for what it really is.
Ruins.
I stare at the toppled columns and the smashed remains of hewn arches, the white marble covered in vines and vegetation. The stone itself appears to be inlaid with golden floral patterns, and the ends of the columns morph into what look to be the boughs of trees.
I’m no expert but…I swear this architecture has the touch of the Otherworld to it, the realm where fairies reside. So what is it doing hidden away in South America?
My heart thumps harder.
