《The Kinnear Chronicles》 Family Ties - Chapter 1 I was 13 years old when I left home for the first time, in 1975. It sounds like a big deal, I know, but growing up in Druid-controlled ¨¦ire with precisely no talent for natural magic would be difficult for anybody. Doing it as the blond-haired, golden-eyed, slimly-built daughter of a classical Irish beauty (you know the type¡­red hair, green eyes, tall and strong) who was also a member of the Council of Druids was¡­uncomfortable, at best. If I¡¯d had to listen to one more person ask ¡°How could Deirdre Kinnear allow herself to be seduced by an outsider,¡± or say something like, ¡°Honestly, that Alys Kinnear is clearly no natural child. Did you see her pointed ears?¡± I might have screamed. Anyway, when my aptitude tests in school showed that I had a natural - and very strong - talent for Hermetic Magic, I jumped at the first opportunity to get out of my dinky little home town near Killarney and away from all of the people who¡¯d made my childhood what it had been. It was distressing to leave my mother, of course, but I felt certain things would be easier for her without me around to constantly remind her colleagues¡­and neighbors¡­and, well, everybody¡­of her ¡°youthful indiscretion.¡± Gods, I really hate that term. So when the test proctor - Wizard Jonathan Tremane - gladly (and with some relief at having found a suitable candidate) offered to take me on as his apprentice¡­yeah, I thanked him with the profound gratitude that only a quietly hurting teenager can generate, begged my mother to let me go, and left with him. Home. It¡¯s such a strange word, really. It has so many different connotations, all of them supposedly positive. And yet to me, home - until I became an apprentice - was a place where I had never been accepted by anyone but my mother. In fact, my mother¡¯s house aside, ¡®home¡¯ was a place I actively hated, though I never consciously admitted it to myself - or her - until I had left. For the next ten years, home was Master Tremane¡¯s townhouse in Dublin. It was the first place I had affectionately called home and meant it. I completed my basic Hermetic apprenticeship - earning the title ¡®Journeyman¡¯ - in 1980. But since that doesn¡¯t qualify you to do much of anything professionally with magic, and I had no particular interest in going to university for a mundane education, I continued on as his apprentice and began working on my Mage¡¯s license. By then, magic had long-since stopped being something I was jealous of other people having, and had become a passion. I lived, slept, and breathed Hermetic magic in all of its myriad forms, and gloried in the flexibility, depth, and breadth of skill and learning that the Druids I¡¯d grown up surrounded by would never know. There were, certainly, things they could do that I would never be able to, but the educational and intellectual mysteries of Hermetic magic spoke to me in a way that the natural mysteries of Druidic magic never had. I was 23 years old when I left home for the second time, in 1985. To me, this was a much, much bigger deal than the first time. With my Mage¡¯s license (and title) under my belt, it was time for me to stop being an apprentice and venture out into the world. I could stay on with Master Tremane and continue as his employee¡­but his gentle prompting and a growing itch to stretch my legs and prove myself made the idea of finding employment with another Wizard, somewhere other than Dublin, very appealing. I had left my nameless little suburb of Killarney a timid, shy little waif, and returned - just to visit my mother before leaving the country altogether - a self-confident (perhaps over-confident) young woman with a somewhat cynical opinion of people in general. I can¡¯t blame that entirely on Master Tremane, though his intolerance for stupidity and general ignorance had certainly rubbed off on me. And it definitely was no influence of my mother¡¯s, for she was an endlessly forgiving and tolerant woman. No¡­I blame the townsfolk who had been singularly intolerant of me as a child. Simply because I looked different, and wasn¡¯t a Druid. So, I wasn¡¯t surprised when my return to the place of my birth was¡­unpleasant. Even my mother, bless her tolerant heart, was offended on my behalf. ¡°I cannot believe that they treated you that way!¡± She said as she slammed the door closed behind us. I smiled at her. ¡°It¡¯s all right, Mom. It was hardly the first time. I expected it.¡± I hesitated, then added, ¡°Okay, maybe not Druid Fianna¡¯s ranting about me being related to some prophecy about the Council of Druids breaking, that was new. But I really only came to say goodbye before heading to London, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m staying.¡± Mom sighed and shook her head, then pulled me into her arms and held me tight. ¡°If you say one word about not wanting to make things harder for me¡­it¡¯s not right that you should have to pay for my¡­¡± she grunted and shook her head against mine. ¡°No, I will not call it a mistake. You¡¯re the best thing that ever happened to me.¡± I returned her hug and laughed softly. We¡¯d discussed the matter several times without making any real headway. ¡°Thank you, Mom. I love you too.¡± She took a step back, her hands resting on my shoulders as she looked at me. And I sighed, not for the first time, over the fact that she and I could not have looked any less alike if we¡¯d tried. Full-grown, I was still half a head shorter than her, still slim compared to her natural curves and muscle, and I looked pale beside her outdoor tan. Not even my facial features resembled hers. I could not see her in me¡­and that had always bothered me. ¡°Anyway,¡± I said quickly, not wanting the moment to get sappy, ¡°if what Master Tremane thinks is true, you probably didn¡¯t have any choice in the matter anyway.¡± ¡°And he could be right,¡± Mom admitted. ¡°Your father might have been one of the Sidhe. It would certainly explain your talent for Hermetic magic.¡± She shook her head a little, her eyes going distant and unfocused. ¡°All I really remember about him was that he was quite a spectacular lover¡­¡± ¡°Mom!¡± I gave her a little shake. Not only did I not need to hear about that, the way she always seemed to drift off when thinking about my mysterious father made me very uneasy. She refocused on me and laughed, then patted my cheek gently. ¡°You¡¯re such a good girl, and I¡¯m very proud of you.¡± Then she shook her head. ¡°London. Why London?¡± ¡°Master Tremane has given me a letter of introduction to an old friend of his from the College of Hermetic Wizardry, who he thinks might be willing to give me a job and help me study for my Wizard¡¯s license.¡± Mom sighed again. ¡°London.¡± She kissed my forehead. ¡°Promise me you¡¯ll be careful. The things I¡¯ve heard about that city¡­¡± My mother disliked cities as a matter of principle. I was very much looking forward to seeing one more modern than the Druid-influenced Dublin. ¡°I will be, I promise.¡± As careful as I could be, anyway, though I didn¡¯t say that. ¡°But what was Druid Fianna ranting about? What prophecy?¡± Mom shook her head. ¡°I have no idea, Alys. I¡¯ve never heard anything about a prophecy about the Council of Druids or about you.¡± She sighed. ¡°But then, it wouldn¡¯t be the first time they kept things from me. I¡¯m the lowest-ranking member of the Council, after all.¡± ¡°And one of the most popular,¡± I pointed out. ¡°I bet that grinds old bristle-face¡¯s gears.¡± She smiled. ¡°I know you don¡¯t like him, but please be at least nominally polite about the High Druid. Fergus Leamhnach is the wisest and eldest of us.¡± ¡°One of those is true,¡± I agreed, finally setting down my duffel bag and leaning my staff against the wall by the door. Mom laughed. ¡°Fine, I agree, but do be circumspect at least. The last thing anyone needs is you calling him ¡®old bristle-face¡¯ to his face by accident.¡± She looked me up and down, then sighed. ¡°Well, at least you don¡¯t grow like a weed between visits anymore. I¡¯ll see what I can dig out of the other Council members and let you know if I find out anything. Keep your eyes open for a Sending from me.¡± At least until a treaty was hammered out with the Merfolk to allow the laying of underwater telephone lines, Sendings were the fastest way to communicate overseas. As my history studies had shown, the Merfolk were both more widespread than most Humans believed, and were understandably not happy about the idea of potentially toxic metals and other materials being run through their undersea cities. Negotiations had been ongoing since the 1890s and would probably continue on well into the 21st Century. Anyway, Mom¡¯s Sendings always took the form of a large owl. I favored large felines. ¡°I¡¯ll keep my eyes open, as always.¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. A Sending is a magical form of communication, whereby the caster creates a temporary magical construct in the form of an animal (usually) and sendsa it to deliver a message. It was a popular spell, common to every magical tradition, both because it took very little energy to cast, and because the message reached its recipient within just a few minutes, as opposed to the weeks a letter could take. Mom looked me over again and shook her head. ¡°When did you grow up?¡± I laughed. ¡°While I was in Dublin, Mom. Ten years, remember? And it¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t get to come home for Yule after my first year. This shouldn¡¯t be a surprise to you.¡± She hugged me again, holding me tight. ¡°It¡¯s not, honey, not at all. But I missed so much of you growing up, and it¡¯ll probably be a while before we see each other again¡­¡± I held onto her just as tightly. Jonathan Tremane had done a fine - if unintentional - job of filling the hole in my life that my missing father had left, but nobody ever, ever replaces Mom. ¡°Maybe. But who knows?¡± After a long minute she let go of me again and smiled sadly. ¡°I know it¡¯s for the best, and I know you¡¯re going to be amazing, but I still wish you could stay a while. You¡¯ll at least stay for supper, won¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Are you sure the High Druid and his cronies won¡¯t pitch a fit?¡± I asked, not really caring either way, and not expecting my mother to either. ¡°They undoubtedly will. Let them. Most of them have never had any children¡­they¡¯ll just have to deal with me seeing off my daughter in proper style.¡± She smiled. ¡°Anyway, I have a gift for you, and it means that you¡¯ll need to repack your clothes and gear. Grab your bag and follow me.¡± She led me back to my old bedroom, which - thank goodness - was not exactly the way I¡¯d left it at the age of 13. Gone were the pinks and purples, ponies, unicorns, brightly colored pixies, and every last embarrassing poster, though a few of the stuffed animals - again, mostly large cats - were still peeking out from shelves and corners. Instead, though the bed was still there for my annual visits, the room had been converted into a crafts room. My mother, in addition to her endless gardening, liked to wile away the evenings with a variety of small crafts. At the moment, she appeared to be in the middle of assembling several bird houses, and was evidently knitting a scarf for a giant. I swear, the thing had to be at least twenty feet long already, in bands of random earth tones. Maybe she was using up leftover yarn or something. There was a well-worn leather satchel sitting on one of the craft tables too. ¡°This,¡± she said, gesturing to it, ¡°is for you.¡± It looked¡­a bit battered, really. A large flap covered in pockets and pouches protected the front of the main bag, which was covered in more pockets, most of which were closed with smaller flaps. There was a large main section, currently zipped shut, and more pockets on the back. It certainly had plenty of places to store little things. I could also sense the faint aura of magic on it. It was enchanted to do something. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked. She sighed a little. ¡°Something my mother made for me a long time ago, when I was just starting my apprenticeship as a Druid. It¡¯s a Bottomless Bag.¡± I blinked in surprise and whistled softly. ¡°Really?¡± I looked at it with more respect now. ¡°Well, that will be useful. They¡¯re usually pretty expensive, though!¡± She smiled. ¡°Usually. But this one was entirely home-made, so it¡¯s not quite as bottomless as a professional model. But it¡¯s more than large enough to carry all of your clothes and other gear, and quite a bit more convenient. You can even put your staff in one of the outside pouches, so you can get to it quickly without having to carry it around all the time.¡± ¡°Mom¡­this is¡­¡± I didn¡¯t know what to say. A bag like this would make my life so much easier, especially if I ended up traveling a lot. A decent quality one bought from a store would¡¯ve cost me a couple of years¡¯ wages, assuming I ended up earning something close to what Master Tremane had paid me during the second half of my apprenticeship to teach me to manage my own finances. She rested a hand on my shoulder gently. ¡°I don¡¯t really have any use for it anymore, and you¡¯ll probably put it to better use than I ever did.¡± She squeezed my shoulder gently. ¡°It¡¯s yours now, honey. My going-away present to you.¡± She sighed a little. ¡°There¡¯s not much else I can give you, except healing salves and other first aid supplies.¡± ¡°Which I will gladly take,¡± I said, picking up the bag. ¡°Thanks, Mom. It means a lot to me.¡± As we repacked my belongings from the military-style duffel bag I¡¯d arrived with into my new bottomless bag, Mom grilled me about my plans for the future. ¡°Beyond getting to London,¡± I said, ¡°I don¡¯t really have a clear plan of action. Airship to the city, then find Master Tremane¡¯s old friend, Wizard Hollis Ellister, and hope he¡¯s amenable to hiring me. If not¡­I¡¯ll find work.¡± ¡°What kind?¡± She passed me another pair of folded leather trousers. Durable, practical, and resistant to most things that might splash in a Wizard¡¯s lab. ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know,¡± I said, sliding the trousers into the large - and very dark - interior of the bag. ¡°A lot of young Mages find work guarding private citizens, or doing security for businesses. The money and experience is good, and I might get to travel. I¡¯d love to see the world. But really, I hope Master Tremane¡¯s friend is in the market for an assistant.¡± Mom nodded, her expression a little wistful. ¡°I always wanted to get away and travel, but I never could.¡± She smiled. ¡°You¡¯ll tell me all about what you¡¯re doing in your Sendings, of course.¡± I laughed. ¡°I¡¯ll bore you to tears with the details.¡± ¡°Good,¡± she nodded firmly and handed me several shirts. ¡°Are you going to get yourself a familiar?¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to,¡± I said, sliding them into the bag and admiring how it never got any bigger as I put things in. ¡°But I don¡¯t know what yet.¡± She smiled. ¡°Knowing you, probably a large cat of some sort. Will you have it Elevated?¡± Most magical traditions have familiars, in one form or another¡­animal companions that are bound to the practitioner. The magic that¡¯s performed to prepare them for the binding raises them to near-human intelligence, so they can be extremely useful companions, and it means that you¡¯re never alone. Elevating a familiar - yet another magical ritual - takes that bond a step further, transfiguring the animal into a humanoid form. Which, obviously, has advantages as both companions and assistants. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said with a shrug. Either way, I couldn¡¯t afford one yet. ¡°Maybe, maybe not. Time will tell.¡± She smiled. ¡°I keep meaning to find a nice owl to keep me company. Maybe now I will.¡± ¡°You should. I hate the idea of you being here all alone.¡± ¡°I¡¯m hardly alone,¡± Mom said dryly. ¡°Not with the other members of the Council watching me and waiting for me to slip up and make another ¡®mistake.¡¯¡± I wasn¡¯t interested in tackling that particular frustration again right now. Anyway, if Master Tremane was right, and my absentee father was one of the Sidhe¡­well, Mom probably hadn¡¯t had any choice in the matter. The Sidhe. I shivered a little at the thought that I might not¡­heck, probably wasn¡¯t¡­completely human. The Sidhe - pronounced ¡®Shee¡¯, and don¡¯t ever do it wrong in their presence - might look mostly human, but aren¡¯t. At all. Where humans can use magic, the Sidhe are creatures of magic. They access the energy of magic the same way humans breathe¡­effortlessly and without conscious thought. It sustains them, allowing them to go without eating and breathing (they usually do both anyway, one for fun the other out of convenience), and keeps them from aging, making them effectively immortal. They live primarily - these days - in what humans call the Spirit World, a dimension that sits alongside ours and connects to it at many points. And they look¡­an awful lot like me, actually. The High Sidhe - their royalty - are often golden-haired and pale-skinned, with oddly colored eyes and pointed ears. They tend to be a bit shorter and slimmer than humans, though some do grow taller¡­it seems to have something to do with their standing and importance in their community. But they don¡¯t like humans very much, except as a source of entertainment. They call us messy and noisy, and claim to be uninterested in getting involved in mortal affairs¡­but make deals with humans at every opportunity. Nothing seems to bring them more joy than putting one over on ¡®some stupid mortal.¡¯ They can also reproduce with humans. Their offspring are known as halflings or changelings, and if they survive long enough to grow up tend to display the best traits of both parents. Which is to say, at least from my perspective, the open-mindedness and flexibility of humans, and the innate power and long life of the Sidhe. But I try not to think about it very much. As I said, it disturbs me to think that I might not be entirely human. I am, as the bad joke goes, knee deep in De Nile. Ugh. I was making bad jokes to myself. Time to change the subject before Mom asked questions I didn¡¯t want to - or couldn¡¯t - answer. ¡°Have you ever thought about leaving the Council and moving away? You could move somewhere in England¡­there¡¯s plenty of communities there that would love to have a Druid¡­¡± I trailed off at the look on her face, which was one part longing and one part¡­trapped. She paused in folding my heavy fur-lined winter cloak, set it down, and rose to look out the window. After a moment, she sighed. ¡°I won¡¯t lie to you, I¡¯ve thought about doing both. But I have nowhere to go, and nobody to help me get my feet under me if I left. Druid communities don¡¯t have much use for money, so I don¡¯t have much¡­but I do have everything here that I need.¡± She turned and smiled at me, a little sad, a little rueful. ¡°My place is here, I suppose, keeping the home fires burning for you.¡± That brought up emotions that neither of us were in the mood to tackle, so we finished my re-packing in silence, and talked about nothing of any consequence through dinner. Having put off my departure as long as I felt safe doing¡­if I was going to catch the last train back to Dublin, I had to go¡­Mom led me to the door and handed me my new bag. I slung it cross-wise onto my shoulder and picked up my staff from where it leaned beside the door. Mom spent a moment fussing over the lapels of my calf-length leather coat, then sighed. ¡°Stay in touch, honey.¡± ¡°I will, Mom.¡± I hugged her tightly. She returned the hug with equal fervor, holding onto me until I finally eased up and released her. With a slightly mischievous smile, she pressed a pouch into my free hand. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°My last present to you. I¡¯ve been saving since you became a Hermetic apprentice for this¡­that¡¯s enough money to buy yourself a familiar. Get a really fantastic one.¡± My vision blurred and I wiped the tears from my eyes before they could fall. ¡°Mom, I -¡± She closed my fingers around the pouch. ¡°You can, and you will. Bring it home to meet me someday.¡± ¡°I will,¡± I said fervently. ¡°I promise.¡± We embraced again and held onto one another for a couple of minutes, then she kissed my forehead and turned me to face the night. ¡°Walk confidently into the future, Alys Kinnear. I am very proud of you, and I love you.¡± ¡°I love you too, Mom.¡± She gave me a gentle push out the door, and I strode away from her down the flagstone path. I stopped at the gate in the low stone wall that bordered her property and turned back. For a moment, I thought about saying something, but couldn¡¯t find the right words. So I just lifted my free hand in farewell, and she returned my wave before stepping back and closing the door. I turned and started walking again, my staff striking the ground with every second or third step. The train station was only a mile, a short walk, and I had a train to catch to Dublin. From there, I would find a berth on an airship going to London. I had been wrong. I knew where home was. Whatever else came in the future, whatever home I made for myself, home would also always be wherever my mother was. Family Ties - Chapter 2 Traveling by airship is a pretty spectacular experience, and I vastly prefer it to long-distance teleportation. Teleporting always leaves me feeling like I''ve been squeezed through a garden hose. But airships...oh my. About two hundred years ago, around 1780-something, some mad genius came up with the idea of putting levitation charms on stones, attaching them to a schooner, and putting steam-driven propellers on the back for propulsion. Needless to say, the first prototype pretty much fell out of the sky, but he survived the crash and eventually got it to work. Over time the technology has been perfected into something that''s half form and function, and half pure aesthetic expression. Today''s airships are artistic masterpieces of wood, steel, brass, steam-driven engines and magic. Many of them are fantastically (often whimsically) beautiful, and even the simplest cargo ships are a sight to behold. I won''t claim to understand precisely how they work. If you want to know that, there''s books on the subject. I know that some Vinlanders have made attempts to build non-magical flying machines using bird-like wings and gasoline-driven motors with propellers on them, but they have problems. They''re noisy, smelly, expensive to build and even more expensive to maintain...and have an unfortunate tendency to - once again - simply fall out of the sky like a rock if the engine fails. It''s pretty understandable why people have thus far preferred to travel by train on land, or by sea and air for longer distances - all of which have redundant magical safety precautions built in. Still, the Vinlanders claim that their ''aeroplanes'' will one day be cheaper and faster than airships. I''ll believe that when I see it. (One may note that I failed to mention any claim that they''d ever be safer than airships. They haven''t made such a claim to date. Doing so would probably conclusively prove some sort of insanity.) I had flown on two airships before, both times with Master Tremane as he went back to Albion for conferences that he had me attend with him. Now, I was pleased to have been able to get a berth on the S.S. Icarus (a name which I refused to allow to give me chills...she was surely a well-built ship and there were neither actual feathers nor wax anywhere in sight on her). She was a mixed cargo and passenger vessel, built to look like a three-masted schooner. Her owner was evidently not a whimsical man; although she had the graceful curving lines of her forebears, aside from feathered wings carved into the wood of her flanks, some scroll-work on the beams, and a fairly traditional but uninteresting figurehead she showed no real decoration. But my berth was comfortable and had a fabulous view of the sky. It was a clear and starry night when we left Dublin, and the sky stayed clear all the way to London. It was, thanks be, a completely uneventful crossing without even the least bit of turbulence to disturb us. Sunrise over London isn''t something to be missed. I''ll be honest, as excited as I was about working in London, I didn¡¯t like cities very much. I think they''re noisy, smelly, and far too crowded. I grew up surrounded by nature in all its myriad forms, and I have a deep appreciation for the natural world as a result. In my opinion, cities just serve to dull the senses and pollute the lungs and sinuses...but a perfect sunrise can make anything beautiful, even a city, and my opinion would likely change once I¡¯d lived there a while. Or not. We¡¯d see. We came in for a landing on the river Thames, just south of London Bridge. I could sense the ship''s navigator - no doubt a Hermetic Mage himself - dampening the permanent levitation charms on the ship''s engines so that it descended smoothly and came down onto the water with barely a bump. He was good, whoever he was. We got a beautiful view of the Tower of London as we came in, which was said to be one of the most haunted buildings in all of Greater Britannia. I didn''t doubt it - a place where so many people had died and where there had been so much pain and suffering would no doubt be a magnet for spirits who hadn''t been able to pass on for some reason. I had managed to get a few hours of sleep on the trip over - as much as I love watching the stars over the ocean, it does get a little boring after a while - so I felt at least relatively fresh as I slung my bag over my shoulder and slid my staff into one of its outside pouches. As Mom had said, the whole staff fit in perfectly, vanishing into a pocket that looked to be the size of my hand. So cool. This bag was going to be worth its weight in gold and then some. One of the things Master Tremane had drilled into me over the years was to always be aware of my surroundings. Not to just look, but to see. To pick up on the details and learn to read people by their posture and expressions. It was, he said, a rare person who could master such a skill, but that even someone who merely practiced it inexpertly would have an advantage over most people. I was nowhere near mastering it, but I had gotten very good at determining the emotions of the people around me...and at spotting things that would give me a leg up in conversations. Sherlock Holmes was one of my role models. Because of that, the very first thing I noticed as I strode down the ship''s boarding ramp and onto the dock was that nobody - and I do mean nobody - was really paying attention to what was going on around them. A few people glanced at me - I''m sure I looked very rustic in my leather pants and boots, soft cotton shirt and long leather coat - but nobody paid me much mind. It was as if everyone had intentionally put on blinders and earplugs to minimize their interaction with the people and world around them. Did I mention that I don''t like cities? Maybe that intentional dulling of the senses and awareness explained why nobody gave the snow leopard dashing down the docks in my general direction more than a passing, disinterested glance. Granted, there were an awful lot of familiars in evidence, everything from birds perched on peoples'' shoulders, to wolves padding beside their masters. There were even a few Elevated familiars - human-like figures with a few obvious animal traits (usually tails and ears, or facial features) walking just behind their masters. But still, the sight of a beautiful white feline dotted with black spots and rings sprinting down the dock and glancing around with what looked - to me, at least - like something akin to panic really should have received a bit more attention. I watched it curiously, noting that it had no collar, which meant that it probably wasn''t bound as a familiar. Maybe my attention drew its, or maybe it just happened to glance in my direction at the same moment I was looking at it. However it happened, our eyes met for a moment, then held as it skidded to a halt. I felt the moment of connection. Clearly this beautiful creature had been primed to be a familiar but was unclaimed, for I quite plainly felt the burst of frantic fear that accompanied the fluttery female voice in my mind. <> It was like hearing a badly tuned and distant wireless broadcast. After all, she wasn''t my familiar, and if anyone had claimed her that contact wouldn''t have been possible. She seemed to realize that she''d made contact with someone who might be sympathetic, for she altered her trajectory and made a beeline for me. She skidded to a halt again, this time at my feet, and very delicately grabbed a fold of my coat in her rather impressive fangs. She tugged and pulled, trying to get me to follow her without damaging my coat. <> I''ve always had a soft spot for animals, especially large cats. Maybe I''m just naturally empathetic towards animals. Whatever it is, I can''t stand seeing them in distress. "All right," I said in as soothing a tone as I could muster with this cat''s panic pounding at my senses. "I''ll follow you, show me the way." She released my coat and turned, padding back the way she had come. She glanced over her shoulder until she was sure I was following, then broke into a trot. I jogged along behind her, weaving my way through the crowd. Nobody gave us more than a passing glance. Cities. If only these people would open their senses and realize what they''re missing out on. Or maybe living a life of total sensory overload causes one to shut down like that. Whatever the cause, I can probably trace it unerringly back to city life. And yet...the Druids of ¨¦ire were just as insular and inward-looking in their own way. Perhaps it''s simply human nature. More likely I was just being cynical again. The snow leopard led me about five city blocks down the docks, approaching a river-side market where animals of every imaginable type were being sold. Most of them had, I could sense as we approached, been primed for purchase as familiars. And in front of one open cage, a man was viciously whipping another snow leopard. This one''s sister, I guessed. It was a safe guess under the circumstances. He was a heavy-set man, balding and dressed in a leather apron over rugged canvas clothing. He was screaming at the cat as his whip raised and came down, over and over again. "...More trouble than you''re worth! Always trying to escape, always disobeying, never taking to your training, now you''ve damaged one of my cages and your sister''s gone..." The poor animal was sprawled on its side, too battered to even move as the blows rained down on it. Her fur was lightly stained with blood, and she made pitiful whimpering sounds that I could hear clearly over the crack of the whip and the man''s ranting. Nobody but me was paying any attention to the scene. Good gods, was this sort of thing so common in London that people had become inured to it? I sped up, actually passing the snow leopard that had led me there as she slowed, sprinting to catch the man''s arm as it raised to rain another blow on the animal. "Stop!" He turned on me, but I didn''t let go of his arm. Master Tremane taught me to never release leverage once you have it, literally as well as figuratively speaking. I''m also stronger than I look, thanks to Master Tremane''s insistence that a healthy body improves a Mage''s spellcasting. "What''s it to you, girl?" He glanced down and saw the other snow leopard crouched beside me, ears flattened, fangs bared. But he didn''t back down, and I didn''t let go of his arm. I thought fast and furiously. I felt a powerful impulse to save this poor creature and her as-yet unhurt sister who had gone to find help. There had to be some way for me to prevent this tragedy from going any further. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "I want to buy them. Both of them." The words were out of my mouth before I could think about it. He must have been as surprised as I felt, because his jaw dropped open and his arm went slack in my grip. "You want to buy them?" He asked incredulously. "Girl, these two are trouble. They''ve fought me tooth and nail since they were primed." I released his arm, and he lowered it. "I''m in the market for a couple of familiars," I said firmly, "And I like large cats. This one," I gestured to the unhurt one still crouched by my side, "Connected with me when our eyes met. I''ll be a good match for them, and them for me." "You''re mad," he said with something between frustration and amusement in his voice. I smiled. "Maybe so." As I''d been speaking, I had dug out the pouch of money mom had given me. Now I tossed it to him underhand, and he caught it as it hit his chest lightly. "That should be enough to cover the cost of the two snow leopards, and whatever damage they did." He bounced the pouch in his hand, then opened it and poked through it for a moment, grimacing. I knew full well that it was probably less than he''d hoped to get for a single female snow leopard, let alone a pair. But he knew that it was more than he was likely to get under the circumstances. Better some money than none and two dead cats. The unhurt snow leopard had crept from my side to crouch beside her sister, licking her wounds. Finally, he sighed. "All right, girl. I still think you''re crazy, but I''m not likely to be rid of them otherwise without dumping them in the river. I''ll throw in collars and leashes so people know they''re yours." "I''ll take the collars," I said with a nod, "But I don''t need leashes." He shrugged. "Whatever. Come over here and we''ll do the paperwork." Five minutes later I was the owner of two snow leopards, one badly hurt. I crouched down beside them and stroked the injured one''s ears gently. "Don''t you worry, we''re going to get you taken care of." I looked up into the other''s eyes. "I''m going to put these collars on you. That''ll mark you as mine, and nobody will try to take you away from me. Okay?" Her voice was much clearer this time, overflowing with worry for her sister and gratitude to me. <> She tipped her chin up to give me room to put it on her. Before I did, I lightly touched the oval metal tag dangling from the simple leather collar. I used a simple spell to engrave my name on the back of it, and the mark I''d taken as my personal sigil when I reached Journeyman status on the front. Then I carefully buckled the collar around her neck. Since the name ''Kinnear'' means ''to head west,'' my sigil is a simplified symbol depicting a sunset over water. An arc radiating rays over a series of ever shorter horizontal lines, meant to evoke a sun setting over the ever-distant ocean. The reflection of the sun on the water makes up the bottom of a curved, stylized ''A.'' Sounds lovely and deep, right? Of course I realize now that to almost everyone else the assumption is that it represents a rising sun because it''s impossible to really differentiate between rising and setting with a simple symbol. But it''s literally set in stone at this point, and it''s unique regardless, so it serves its purpose. And I''m sure there''s some positive meaning in a rising sun that I can appreciate. "Too tight?" I asked, quickly checking the fit of the collar. She shook her head slightly. <> "No need to thank me. Let''s get your sister tended to." I carefully put the matching collar on the injured snow leopard, then examined her injuries. She was in bad shape. I have no idea what kind of man would beat an animal like this, but a glance around had shown me that all of the other animals in his menagerie were healthy and well-groomed. "What did you two do to piss him off so badly?" <> The injured one murmured in a pained voice. <> She trailed off, breathing more heavily and whimpering softly. <> Her sister murmured, pressing against my side. <> "Did you?" I asked. <> they both said. I shrugged, bemused. "All right. I''m going to lift you up," I said to the injured one. "I''m going to a place just a few blocks from here. I can carry you that far, and we can get you some help there." Using a simple spell I enhanced my muscles and carefully lifted the injured cat, cradling her against my chest. "Come on," I said to the other, turning away from the river and heading into the city. The bond between wizard and familiar is not an easy one to describe. Imagine meeting someone for the first time and finding that you understand them as well as you understand yourself. That you know them as if they''ve been your closest friend all your life, and that they know you just as completely and intimately. Almost as if you suddenly had a twin you''d never known about, who could not only finish your sentences but anticipate them, and vice versa. That''s close, but not exact. They''re still independent beings, and of course it takes time to really get to know them...but it''s a close approximation. They say if you and your familiar are well suited to one another, you''ll never need to give them instructions. They''ll simply know what you want them to do and do it. The uninjured snow leopard stayed close by my side the whole way, never straying more than a foot or two away. Leashes, as I''d said, were unnecessary. I had been to the establishment of Wizard Hollis Ellister once before. He was a colleague of Master Tremane''s from when they had studied at the world-famous College of Hermetic Wizardry in London together. Master Tremane had given me a letter of introduction to give to his old friend, explaining that he hoped Wizard Ellister would be willing to put me up until I could find work in the city, and perhaps help me do so, or even hire me himself if he was in need of an assistant. I reached the door of his three-story brownstone, crammed in between two similar buildings with narrow lanes between them and without so much as a patch of greenery in sight. I frowned, confronted with a conundrum. There was a bell-pull, but I had no free hands. Almost instantly, the uninjured snow leopard realized my dilemma and reared up onto her hind paws, placing her fore paws on the wall. Without being told to do so, she caught the bell-pull in her teeth and rang it a few times. I smiled. "Good girl. We''re going to get along just fine." If cats could blush, I think she would have been. <> A moment later the door was opened by a pretty young maid with pale skin and dark black hair, her eyes a pale gray that showed both intelligence and a quick wit. Evidently, the sight we presented - a young woman in mostly tanned leather clothing carrying an injured snow leopard with an uninjured one by her side - was enough to set her back on her heels. She stared at us incredulously and her mouth dropped open slightly. "Y-yes?" She stammered after a moment. "Can I help you?" "My name is Alys Kinnear," I said formally, "Licensed Mage and former apprentice to Wizard Jonathan Tremane. I have a letter of introduction to your master, and I am in need of aid. May I enter?" My formal manner struck precisely the right note, for she immediately pulled herself together and responded with admirable poise under the circumstances. She stepped aside and gestured for me to enter, saying "Come this way," and leading me within. The house was furnished in an eclectic mix of Victorian and Renaissance styles that suggested wealth and power without being overbearing or pretentious. The man who lived here, the decor said, is stylish and likes to be...but isn''t arrogant about it. The colors were warm earth tones, dark greens and rich dark reds, oak paneling on the walls and well-worn hardwood floors. There were paintings on the walls, mostly landscapes interspersed irregularly with portraits of people I guessed were family, and lush plants filled the empty spaces in the corners. It felt homey somehow, in spite of the richness of the furnishings. The maid guided me into a parlor where there was a fire crackling in the hearth. I carefully laid the injured snow leopard down on the stone tiles in front of it; Mom once told me that warmth was good for keeping blood circulating and easing bruises. As soon as I was settled and tending to my new familiar''s scrapes, cuts and bruises, the maid scurried away to find her master, and a minute or two later he appeared in the doorway. Where my former Master was a slim man who preferred the sort of rugged clothes we prefer in the "wilder" parts of ¨¦ire, Wizard Ellister was a city man and made no attempt to hide it. He carried a few too many pounds around his middle, and was dressed in silks and cottons. His clothes were predominantly purple, blue and black, and he still had the huge, curled handlebar mustache that Master Tremane had said compensated for his growing bald spot. He stared at me, then nodded. "Yes, I remember you. Good grief, girl, how long have you been in town?" He headed towards me, and I saw he was carrying a satchel in one hand. "I don''t know," I said. "Maybe an hour at most." He shook his head and knelt down beside me where I was crouched over the injured snow leopard. Her sister was sitting in a tense, hunched crouch a few feet away. He looked at her approvingly for a moment - she was staying out of the way - before opening his bag and starting to take out jars and rolls of cotton batting. "An hour and you''re already a handful. Well, I suppose I should expect nothing less from Jonathan''s apprentice. He was always getting me into trouble. Already got yourself a couple of familiars, eh?" "Yes, sir," I said quietly. "If we can save this one." He nodded and we went to work. Between the salves my mother had given me and the ones he had on hand, we had soon cleaned and tended to the injured cat''s wounds. She lay on her side before the fire, breathing slowly and a bit more shallowly than I liked. Once we stepped back, her sister crept over and laid down beside her. Wizard Ellister sighed and watched them for a moment before turning to me. "Elsie said you have a letter for me?" "Yes, sir," I replied, digging in my bag to find it and hand it to him. "Take off your coat and sit down, girl. You''ll make me look like a bad host," he said with gentle amusement. He settled in a chair and unfolded the letter to read it. I slid out of my coat and draped it over the back of another chair, moving my bag over beside it before sitting down on the floor where I could gently pet the injured cat. She licked my fingers while I was petting her ears. After a couple of minutes, Wizard Ellister looked up from the letter and examined me. "Yes...yes, you can stay with me for a while if you''d like. I''ll ask you to help me with some of my experiments, since I''m between apprentices at the moment and Elsie is hopeless for that sort of thing. But by the gods, she can cook. And I''ll see if I can help you find work. There''s always plenty to be had in the city. If you¡¯re halfway decent, I might even hire you myself. We¡¯ll see." "Thank you, sir." "Lord, save me from sirs and masters," he said gravely, but with a smile in his voice. "Call me Hollis, or if that''s too familiar for you call me Ellister. I''m not your master, girl. If you''re going to make your way in the world, you need to break out of that mindset." He sighed and his eyes shifted to the cats. "But before we do any of that, we need to take care of that poor animal. You know she has internal injuries...I saw you casting the diagnostic spells. And you know that they''re too severe for regular healing magic to do more than prolong her life for a little while." I winced and heard the uninjured cat whimper. "Yes, sir. I know." "You know what you have to do if she''s ever going to fully recover," he said. "The full familiar Elevation ritual will transfigure her body...the act of doing so will repair those injuries as her body is rebuilt. But it''ll bind her to you forever." He smiled a little, "Not that those cats aren''t already permanently attached to you." As he spoke, the uninjured snow leopard crept around to press against my side and under my free hand, seeking comforting. I stroked her ears and neck gently. "I understand, sir." "Don''t call me sir. You''ll do it, then?" He asked. "Yes, s..." I caught myself. "Yes, Ellister." He nodded. "Good. You took responsibility for these cats when you saved them, and I''m pleased to see you take your responsibilities seriously. I have a spellcasting lab in the basement, we''ll do it there where nothing can interfere." He paused for a moment. "You really ought to name them. We can''t go around calling them ''cat 1'' and ''cat 2.''" I could hear the teasing amusement in his voice, and was reassured by it. I turned my attention to the uninjured cat and examined her. She was sleek and lithe, and had the air of a hunter about her. She looked like she would be playful when she wasn''t so worried. "Artemis," I said, touching the tag on her collar. Her name appeared there beneath my sigil, and she purred happily. <> she said. <> I smiled and turned my attention to her sister, who was watching me with tired eyes. But there was a knowing intelligence there nonetheless, and I sensed a deeper wisdom than her sister bore. Perhaps she was the older sister. "Athena," I said after a moment, touching her tag to put her name there. She closed her eyes with a weak but contented purr. <> "Good," Ellister said, rubbing his hands together and rising. "Those are auspicious names, and I approve. Come along, then. Let''s get started." Family Ties - Chapter 3 I was in a deep, dark place. I felt comfortable, safe, and pleasantly warm. I couldn''t move, couldn''t open my eyes, and couldn''t speak. I also couldn''t find the energy to be worried about any of it. I just sort of drifted, worried about nothing and thinking about nothing. "Mistress," a female voice whispered to me, "It''s time to wake up. Open your eyes." The voice was strangely familiar, but I couldn''t quite place it. "It''s all right, dear," a man''s voice said quietly. "She expended a tremendous amount of energy. Let her rest, she''ll be..." The voices faded out as I sank back into the darkness. I was standing in Wizard Ellister''s spellcasting room, on the outside of the greater circle he had embedded in its floor. It was a combination of painted lines and runes, embedded gems, mirrors, prisms and more. It was the most elaborate greater circle I had ever seen and a tremendous tool for focusing and containing magical energies. Athena lay on her side in the center of the circle, not moving, barely seeming to breathe. I knew that Artemis was still crouched by the door where I''d told her to stay, and Ellister was a few feet behind me. "Don''t let go of it," he cried over the rising noise in the room. "Hold on, pour your Anima into the spell and shape it with your will and imagination!" I was performing the Familiar Elevation ritual. I''d studied it at some length under Master Tremane''s tutelage, knowing that someday I might want to use it. I''d never imagined that it would be quite so important to get it perfectly right the first time, though, or that I''d be pouring so much energy into it. There was a rising, howling wind, driven by the energy I had called up and pushed into the circle. The crystals that made up parts of the circle seemed to ring with resonant sound, and four tuning forks set at the cardinal compass points added their pure tones to the din. It was taking a lot more energy than I''d expected it to. But then, Athena was badly hurt, and I had to compensate for that as I worked the spell. If I didn''t, she''d be just as hurt when it was done, and that would be simply awful. Elevating a familiar is more than a simple transfiguration spell. It''s even more than the magics that bind a familiar and allow them to communicate with its master or mistress. In a very real way, it''s a binding of two souls; the animal''s, and the spellcaster''s. One would always be able to sense the presence of the other, always be perfectly simpatico with each other, always perfectly able to understand the other''s needs and desires. That¡¯s what the official literature said about it, anyway. I¡¯d know the truth for myself soon enough. But I''d never met a spellcaster - Druid, Mage, Shaman or otherwise - who had gone through with it and regretted it. Many never did, fearing - or perhaps simply being wary of - the closeness that it brought with another living being. For most people, it was enough to simply own a normal familiar; a highly intelligent, extremely affectionate animal companion. Also, frankly, most people didn''t have the training or power needed to do what I was attempting to do, and had to hire a Wizard to do it for them. Undoubtedly, it was an expensive service. I was a little scared by the idea of what I was doing, binding myself to another living being so deeply and permanently...but I felt a burning need to save Athena''s life. It was the right thing to do, of course, but it went deeper than that. It was almost as if I were being compelled to do it. Fortunately, I didn''t mind. My knees were starting to get rubbery and I was seeing spots in front of my eyes. But I kept my hands over the outside ring of the circle, and kept drawing up and drawing in energy, letting it pour through me into the circle, into the spell, and into Athena. The wind seemed to roar as the spell reached its apex. There was a blinding burst of light from the center of the circle, and Athena''s form melted and changed. I squinted into the light and saw legs, a torso, breasts, arms, hair, a tail...but I couldn''t make out any features. "Just a few moments more!" Ellister shouted over the din. "Hold on, girl!" I felt light-headed, but I held on. Athena and Artemis were counting on me, and I was not going to let them down. I wanted them to be proud to belong to me, and to know that I would do anything for them. This was my first major spell cast on my own as a licensed Mage, and I was not going to fail myself or my new familiars. All that went through my mind as the wind began to die down, and the noise with it. My body finally buckled and I felt myself falling. Someone caught me, the world spinning around me, my eyes wouldn''t seem to focus properly... "Relax, girl," Ellister said proudly. "It''s done. You did it. Rest." I opened my eyes and found myself lying on my side in an incredibly comfortable bed. A deep, plush mattress, soft cotton sheets, a light blanket, and feather pillows. The only light in the room came from behind me, and seemed to be natural light. Probably a window. There was a pretty girl sitting in a chair beside the bed. For a moment, I thought I was looking at myself, she looked so much like me. Then I realized who I was looking at. Her features were powerfully similar to mine, but her hair - styled like mine, even - was the purest white I''d ever seen. Her skin - what I could see of it, since she was wearing a forest green silk tunic of mine that had short sleeves - was covered in a thin, fine layer of short white fur speckled with black spots and rings. A pair of very cat-like ears pushed through her hair on either side of her head, further towards the top than normal human ears. And I could see a tail lying curled around beside her on the chair, patterned in the same colors as her fur. Her attention was entirely focused on her right hand, which she had raised in front of her eyes. With her palm facing her, she wiggled her fingers, then her thumb. She made a fist, turned it around to look at the back of her hand, then opened her fingers again and spread them wide. Muscles I wasn''t familiar with flexed in her fingers, and her nails slid out like claws, then retracted again. I could feel her fascination as if it were my own. Perhaps she sensed the affection and amusement I felt, because she glanced at me then. Her eyes were the same bright golden color I saw whenever I looked in the mirror. She gasped and lowered her hand, turning towards me. "Mistress, you''re awake!" Her hand lightly touched mine where it lay on the bed, and I glanced at it. Her palm felt smooth against my skin, but I could see the fine layer of fur that extended all the way down the back of her hand. Something shifted at the foot of the bed, and weight pressed the mattress down. A moment later, Artemis stretched out beside me, lowering her chin to the blanket and staring at me. <> I smiled at Artemis and nodded, then turned my attention back to Athena. "Look at you," I said warmly, shocked by how weak my voice sounded. She blushed prettily and looked down, then met my eyes again. "Thank you, Mistress. You saved my life." I took her hand in mine and squeezed it gently. "Couldn''t do any less, could I?" Artemis blew out a breath and relaxed, purring and flopping onto her side. "How long have I been asleep?" I asked. I still felt drained and incredibly tired. "It''s been about a day and a half since you finished the spell," Athena said quietly, and I suddenly realized why her voice had sounded familiar. It was like hearing my own voice...she sounded like me, too. Interesting. I''d have to ask Ellister if that was normal. "That long? I''m still so tired..." I broke off to yawn. I couldn''t help it. <> Artemis teased, though her eyes never opened. I laughed softly and gently tousled Artemis'' ears with my free hand. Athena smiled. "If you can stay awake for a few minutes, Elsie has some chicken soup simmering in case you woke up. I''ll have her bring a bowl and some crackers. You should eat something, Mistress." My stomach rumbled noisily. I blushed, and Artemis made a sound that was suspiciously like a chuckle. "That sounds like a good idea," I said with a nod, carefully pushing myself into a sitting position. My head swam a little and I closed my eyes for a moment. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. "Mister Ellister said that you''d be famished when you woke up," Athena said, releasing my hand and rising. "I''ll be right back." I got a look at her back as she headed for the door. Her tail poked from beneath the hem of the tunic, which fell to mid-thigh on her, and she didn''t seem to be wearing anything else. Her legs were covered with the same fine layer of short white and black fur as the rest of her. She was perfect. She paused in the doorway and glanced back at me, blushing. <> she murmured telepathically, then disappeared into the hall. I leaned back and relaxed, idly petting Artemis and listening to her deep, throaty purring. All in all, I felt that my first two days in London had been well spent. Even if I had been asleep for much of the time. Athena returned a few minutes later, just as my eyelids were starting to get so heavy that I feared I''d fall asleep before she returned. She had Elsie - the maid who''d met me at the door - in tow, carrying a lap tray with a bowl of soup and some lightly salted crackers on it. She set it down across my lap with a shy smile, bobbed a curtsy, and scurried out the door again with a slightly awed look at Athena and Artemis. The soup turned out to be precisely what I needed. By the time I was finished with it, my stomach no longer felt cavernously empty and had settled down. Athena took the tray away, and returned followed by Ellister, who smiled at me as he sat down on the side of the bed. "Welcome back," he said teasingly. "I must say, I''m extremely impressed. You''ve done Tremane proud." I blushed. "Thank you. Sir..." He frowned thunderously. I noted with some amusement that his bushy eyebrows were extremely well suited to it. "Sorry," I said quickly, trying not to smile. "Ellister, I was wondering. Athena looks and sounds so much like me. Is that normal?" "Normal?" He chuckled. "Dear girl, there''s nothing that qualifies as normal when Elevating a familiar. I''d call it unusual, but not unheard of. You poured a tremendous amount of Anima into that spell and into Athena herself to heal and reshape her...the end result being that her physical form mirrors yours to some extent. After all, you were healing her body as you transfigured it into a humanoid form. What would you use as a template for that other than your own body?" Athena was watching me from her chair beside the bed. "It doesn''t bother you, does it, Mistress?" She asked, sounding a little uncertain. "No!" I exclaimed quickly. "Not at all! I think you''re beautiful, Athena. I was just curious." She blushed prettily and purred happily, looking down at her hands. "Good," Ellister said. "Now," he rose and patted my hand. "Go back to sleep. Your body needs time to replenish its natural store of Anima, and sleep is the best way to do that." When he was gone, I gently tousled Artemis''s ears. "You''re not going to be jealous of your sister, are you, pet?" <> Artemis said with certainty, her eyes already closing again. <> Athena and I both laughed, our voices harmonizing perfectly. "I suppose I can''t argue with that," I said. Athena smiled at me. "I don''t mind. I''ll do whatever you need me to do." "Have you slept at all since you were Elevated, pet?" I asked her. She looked as tired as I felt. She shook her head. "No, Mistress. I wanted to be awake if you needed anything when you woke up." I smiled and patted the bed beside me. "Come and lie down then. We''ll both get some sleep, and see what tomorrow brings." Blushing, she made her way around the bed as I rolled over to face the window. She stretched out beside me, drawing the blanket over herself and snuggling against me with a contented purr. Artemis pressed up against my back on the other side, resting her chin on my shoulder. Safely nestled between their warm bodies, I quickly fell back asleep. I dreamed, and this time knew I was dreaming. It had that surreal, disjointed feeling that a dream gets when you realize you''re asleep - where everything seems slightly distorted and sounds echo strangely. But although I was aware of being asleep, I somehow knew that there was no way for me to take control of or affect this dream. In my dream, I was standing in front of my mother''s house, outside its stone wall. A large snowy owl was perched on the gate, staring at me with unblinking eyes. I moved a few steps towards it and it let out a piercing cry, spread its wings and leapt into the sky. It flew over my shoulder, and as I turned to watch it, I realized I could smell smoke. The town was a ruin of burnt-out buildings and still smoldering timber. The only living thing that moved was the owl, gliding over the remains of the town. The High Druid''s voice suddenly cried from off to my right, "It was her doing!" I turned to look, but there was nobody there. "As the prophecy foretold!" His voice cried from behind me. I spun around, but there was nobody there. "The world will burn!" another Druid called from behind me. I spun around once more, but there was still nobody there. My mother''s voice said firmly from just behind me, "It was not her. The world will go on as it has." I turned slowly this time, and saw her watching me. She smiled a little and spoke softly. "What comes is not your fault, nor that of any living being, save one. This was all foretold, and it will play out as it must, daughter. Be strong, and you will understand." Her eyes flashed from green to the same bright gold as mine, and I thought her features had started to shift when she vanished completely. Someone was shaking me. I opened my eyes and saw Athena leaning over me, her eyes concerned. "Mistress? Are you all right? You cried out in your sleep." Artemis leaned in and nuzzled my cheek, making me smile. I sat up and wrapped an arm around each of them. "I''m fine, my pets. It was just a nightmare." Wasn''t it? It had felt like a dream, but it had been so vivid and was remaining with me so clearly even after waking up... I shook myself a little. If my dream meant something, it would come to me in time. The door creaked open and Elsie poked her head in, then smiled when she saw us awake. "Good morning, Mistress," she said quietly. "You slept the rest of the day and through the night. If you feel rested, Master Ellister will be taking breakfast in a half an hour and would like you to join him." I stretched slowly, looking inward. I was still tired, but not the muscle-numbing exhaustion I''d felt when I woke up the day before. I could tell that my Anima reserves were still low, but not as depleted as they had been. And I felt eager to get up and move around a bit. I felt restless. Time to move, my body said. "That sounds like a good idea, Elsie. Please let him know we''ll join him shortly." She smiled and nodded, then vanished again, the door clicking shut behind her. "She moves about like a mouse," Athena murmured. Artemis eyed the door. <> I laughed. "I wouldn''t know about the scent, but she does have a way of scurrying about. Come on, let''s get cleaned up and dressed. I''ll see what I have that will suit you...my clothes should fit you well enough." A half an hour later we joined Ellister in his little dining room. I had found suitable clothes for Athena in the form of a loose shirt and leather pants, though she remained bare-foot and occasionally muttered about feeling overdressed. Granted, most people tended to dress familiars like eye candy, but most familiars also seemed to dislike fully-enclosing clothing unless it was necessary for the climate. Something to do with having fur, I supposed. But she humored me and I promised her that we''d go shopping later to find her something she liked. And something suited to her tail - I¡¯d used a bit of magic to open the back seam of the pants to accommodate it. I sat down across from Ellister and Athena settled beside me, Artemis flopping down lazily on the floor behind us. "Good morning!" He smiled cheerfully. "You both look well rested. How''re your Anima reserves?" he asked me. I shook my head. "Low, but not quite depleted. I could light a candle, but that''s about it." He chuckled. "Well, as I said yesterday, you poured a tremendous amount of Anima into that spell. More than I''ve ever seen used for it before." He frowned slightly. "Something''s troubling you." "A dream, that''s all," I said. "I had a weird dream, and it''s lingering." "Will you tell me about it?" He asked. I shrugged and did, describing it in as much detail as I could remember. While I was telling him about it, Elsie slipped in and laid plates of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast in front of Ellister, Athena and me, and a bowl of meat in front of Artemis. Ellister nibbled on a piece of toast and considered my dream as Athena and I tucked hungrily into our breakfasts. Athena seemed particularly fascinated by the silverware and the eggs, explaining telepathically that aside from a couple of sandwiches that Elsie had brought her during her vigil, this was the first human meal she''d attended. Finally, Ellister laid down his fork and looked at me. "Do you think the dream could be prophetic?" I snorted a laugh. "If it was, it would be a first. I''ve never experienced any kind of precognition before, and as far as I know, it doesn''t run in my mother''s family. I was probably just subconsciously dwelling on one of the Druids having mentioned a prophecy about me, that''s all." Ellister made a ''hmm'' sound. "I suppose that could be it. Would you mind if I considered all of the imagery before giving you a firm answer?" "Of course not," I said. "I think you''re giving it too much importance, but..." "Dreams are rarely unimportant," he said. "They tell us things about our minds that we would never know otherwise. And yes, they can even be precognitive or prophetic, whether you have Seer blood in your family or not. If, as I suspect, your father was of the High Sidhe, it could well be that your dream was prophetic. Most Sidhe have at least a minor talent for seeing the future. But I''ll do some research...perhaps some of the imagery will tell us what it meant. In the meantime, since your Anima reserves are still low, what are your plans for the day?" "I thought we''d go out for a bit," I said. "Get a feel for the city, do some clothes shopping for Athena, that sort of thing. Maybe visit the Tower of London. I hear it''s haunted." "Hugely so," he said with a nod. "There''s a shop a few blocks from here that specializes in clothes for Elevated familiars. Do you have enough money? I''d be happy to loan you some until you get your feet under you." I shook my head. "I have a fair amount of savings. After I turned sixteen, Master Tremane insisted on paying me wages for my work and apprenticeship, and to teach me to manage my own finances. Since I didn¡¯t really have much to spend any of it on, I saved up quite a bit." "He''s a good man," Ellister agreed. "Well, then, go and do the tourist thing and a bit of shopping. You shouldn''t have any problem with Artemis coming into stores and restaurants with you - most places here are highly tolerant of familiars." "I should hope so!" I said, finishing off my last piece of bacon. "There''s so many of them!" "Indeed," he said with a nod. "It would be madness to ignore them or force them to stay outside." He considered for a moment. "If I were you, I would start with the shopping. Come back here when you''re done, drop off your bags, and go do the tourist routine." I smiled. "That sounds like a plan." I rose. "I''ll see you later, then?" He nodded. "I''ll join you for dinner." I bowed to him politely and headed for the door. "Come on, Athena, Artemis. Let''s go shopping!" Family Ties - Chapter 4 Have you ever taken a serious, long look at the fashions designed with Elevated familiars in mind? Until that morning, I never had. Not really. Oh, sure, I''ve seen both male and female (mostly female) familiars walking around in some pretty outlandish outfits. Leather bikinis with thigh-high boots. Bustier and panty sets that looked like they belonged in a fetish-gear catalog. That sort of thing, you know? Designed, in my opinion, to make them look¡­wild and exotic, to put it gently. And very rarely did one see a familiar wearing shoes unless it was raining. Even then, some preferred to go without. But until that morning I had never looked at the variety in which these things come, nor had I given any though to why they were designed that way. Athena...had fur. Oh, not a lot (tail aside). Her fur was, as I''ve described, a short, light fuzz that was very pleasant to the touch. It turned out to be surprisingly good at keeping her warm. I don''t know why that surprised me, considering the natural habitat of a snow leopard. But it didn''t cover all of her. As she was being measured for clothes, I was curious to discover that most of the front of her torso had no fur. And that while she had fur on her back and lower legs, it was thinner there than on her arms and the tops of her feet. In fact, the fur on her legs and back was softer and more flexible than the fur on her arms (which was still delightfully soft). Which meant that it didn''t provide as much protection against the elements. The soles of her feet, I learned, were more like paws than the soles of a human''s feet. They were tougher and more sensitive to the contours of the ground. And, by the gods, her toenails could still qualify as claws when she flexed those muscles and extended them. She could, as I''d seen the previous day, do the same thing with her fingernails, which was incredibly cool. Be that as it may, when the shopkeeper - a charming older woman in her late sixties or early seventies, who put me in mind of what I''d always thought a grandmother should be like - started showing us outfits, I was struck dumb. I immediately made a joking complaint that surely those clothes were designed by and meant to appeal to men. The result was two responses that threw me completely off balance and made me reconsider my preconceived notions about fashions for familiars. First, from the shopkeeper: "On the contrary, dear, I designed and made most of these myself, with catgirls in mind. You wouldn''t believe the sorts of problems catgirls have if the fur on their back and legs isn''t protected. And you have to make sure to leave room for their tails..." Then, from Athena: "Actually, Mistress, I think it looks rather comfortable. Do you mind if I try it on?" Artemis was, of course, entirely uninterested and spent the entire time sprawled on one of several fleece mats by the door. What could I do? I was out of my element. And, I confess, I felt an urge to spoil my new familiars a little. So I let her try them on. I can''t - and won''t - deny that they looked great on her. She ended up choosing variants of a few basic and very attractive designs. The first was what the shopkeeper jokingly referred to as her ''bodyguard'' design. It was a black leather bodysuit with a high neck and full back, but left her arms and shoulders bare. It zipped down the front, and had a type of ballistic and blade-resistant fiber material woven into it, with thin, flexible striking plates over her stomach, breasts, and spread out across her back. The bodysuit was accompanied by a pair of thigh-high black leather leggings that reminded me of stockings, with lightly reinforced shin and thigh guards that were nearly invisible, and some extra padding for her knees. They came to stirrups at her feet, leaving them almost entirely bare. The whole thing was accented by a pair of matching fingerless gloves that came to her wrists. I was shocked and embarrassed. I couldn''t believe that any female would want to wear something like that in public. Athena was in love with it. "Mistress," she said, "This is perfect for when we''re traveling and I need to be able to guard you. And it''s so comfortable...it''ll keep me warm when it''s cold out, and isn''t so binding that it''ll be uncomfortable when it''s hot." I sighed. Again, what could I do? She was right. It also made me consider the fact that this darling creature I had helped create would be by my side if I ever ended up in a fight. Which, as a Mage who intended to travel, wasn''t as unlikely as it sounded. It wouldn''t hurt to invest in some training for her while we were in London. The second outfit was considerably more modest and meant to be worn in polite company. The basic outfit was identical to the first, but it included a calf-length skirt in forest green cotton that was slit all the way to the hip on one side. For mobility. Honest. And the bodysuit had belled sleeves of the same fabric. Athena plucked at the sleeves a little with two fingers, then shrugged and nodded. "This is good too." Black and white (naturally), forest green and a very rustic natural leather were the colors she preferred. I approved of her taste in color, at least. It matched my own. Which, come to think of it, really shouldn''t have surprised me at all. At my insistence, she also picked out two pairs of shoes for days - and places - where going barefoot wouldn''t be appropriate. She shied away from high heels, saying that she didn''t want to wear anything that would limit her mobility, but found a pair of comfortable leather ankle boots and a cute pair of sandals that laced up to her knees. I quietly sneaked a second pair of the sandals into the order for myself. I''d never seen another pair quite like them, so I wasn''t sure if I''d find them anywhere else and they were amazingly comfortable. To be completely honest, I also ordered one of the lightly armored bodysuit outfits to wear under my own clothes, and two of the skirt-bearing outfits - slit only to mid-thigh instead of all the way to the hip - for active-wear. The shopkeeper was completely unsurprised, telling me that she also frequently served spellcasters who hadn''t thought ahead to having protection for themselves. I freely admit that I hadn''t. And Athena was right...they were very comfortable. In the end, I was able to talk her into picking up a couple of slightly more modest tunic and shorts outfits in cotton for very hot days, and some longer tunics to sleep in. Though she was honestly bewildered about sleeping clothes. "But, why?" She asked, holding a light green silk tunic to her chest. "I''ll be perfectly comfortable sleeping nude." To my credit, I didn''t blush. Blame the Tantric mages I studied with when I was eighteen. "It''s just how it''s done, pet." She tipped her head, then shrugged. "Humans are strange. But I do like the silk." She nuzzled the fabric and purred. I smiled. "Yes they are, pet." There was one last detail before we left - I bought both of my new familiars nicer collars. Soft black leather with platinum fittings and tags. I used a simple spell to engrave my name on the back of each tag, with their name and my stylized A sigil on the front. They both approved. As we walked lazily back towards Ellister''s house carrying our bags, I did some thinking. Unlike most of the other Elevated familiars that I saw, I let Athena walk beside me. I liked it better that way, to be honest. She was an intelligent, thinking and reasoning being, and while she may have legally been my property she was also my friend. In fact, it surprised me how close I had grown to Athena and Artemis in such a short time - though I suppose it shouldn''t have. They were, after all, a part of me in some rather profound ways. Perhaps because of that, I didn''t feel right having her walk behind me. She was my property in a very real way and was technically a servant (so to speak)...but she certainly wasn''t a lesser being. Maybe that''s my Druidic upbringing speaking; all creatures are equal and should be treated with respect. After some deep thought and a few curious looks from Athena, I finally decided not to let it worry me much, as long as it didn¡¯t bother them. Artemis loped along on the other side of me with the lazy, self-assured stride demonstrated by all prowling felines of every size. Between them, I felt quite safe. I did a bit of window shopping, and I caught Athena admiring a display of swords and knives in a shop window. It reminded me that I had considered sending her for training and decided to bring the idea up. "What do you think, pet? Would you like that?" Athena considered the question seriously, glancing at the display of weapons again. "I know how to fight like a cat," she said thoughtfully, looking down at her hand and flexing her fingers to make her claws extend and retract. "But if we''re going to be doing security and bodyguard work..." "Which is likely at first," I admitted, though I still hoped that Wizard Ellister would hire us. She nodded. "Then I should know how to fight like a human - with blades and guns." She smiled shyly at me, obviously seeking my approval. "I want to be able to protect you, Mistress." I smiled and reached out to caress her cheek for a moment, making her purr gently. "You''re a good girl. When we get back, I''ll ask Ellister if he knows of any good places for training." Artemis yawned, pointedly displaying her fangs. <> Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. "I still have fangs," Athena replied defensively, lifting her upper lip to display her canines, which did indeed come to delicate little points. They looked very cute on her. Artemis huffed. <> Athena sighed. "True. I do feel very odd still." I smiled. "It''ll pass. You just need to get used to your new body. I imagine physical training will help. I might sit in on the classes myself, actually. Master Tremane always pushed good physical fitness." We started walking again. "Do you think I''ll ever get to meet Master Tremane?" Athena asked. "Or your mother?" "Both, I hope," I said with a smile. "Mom will love you and Artemis both. She was so sure I''d have a big cat as a familiar." Artemis purred. <> "She''s right." Athena smiled at me, but her eyes were serious. "And we know how much we owe you." "Don''t do that," I protested, feeling much more uncomfortable with their gratitude than I did with the (still mostly unearned, a guilty little voice in the back of my mind said) affection that fairly flowed off them towards me. "You don''t owe me anything. I did what was right, and I''ve benefited tremendously from my good deed. You barely know me..." "We know everything we need to know, Mistress," Athena said with surprising earnestness as she turned to face me directly. Her eyes, so nearly identical to my own, caught and held mine. "We''re your familiars, Mistress. We don''t know the textbook definition of what that means, but up here," she tapped the side of her head, "And in here," she tapped her chest over her heart, "We understand it. It means we know you better than anyone else ever will. We don''t need to get to know you, because we''re a part of you, and we love you for who you are in here," she reached out and touched my chest lightly. Through Athena''s little speech, Artemis sat and looked up at me serenely. When her sister finished, she added simply, <> A simple statement of fact, as if nothing more spectacular than the pieces of a puzzle fitting together had occurred. For my part, I was blushing furiously by the time Athena finished, sure that I was going to explode from the swell of pride and love I felt for these two beautiful creatures. I had understood before, in a purely academic sense, what it meant to have a familiar. Now it was my familiars themselves who were teaching me what it really meant. I had never had anyone other than my mother - and perhaps Master Tremane - who had loved me. Nobody other than my mother and Master Tremane had ever cared about what happened to me or given a thought to my emotional well-being. Now I was bound for life to two beautiful, loving beings who would put my needs before their own without a second thought and who cherished me as surely as the sun rose every morning. It was exhilarating, and I wouldn''t trade it for anything. Even if there was a tiny part of me that felt vaguely guilty about it, and wondered if it was being forced on them. Perhaps I needed to do some research on the subject when time permitted. "Thank you, Athena, Artemis," I said softly, reaching out to touch Athena''s arm and stroke Artemis''s ears gently. "Bear with me...I''m still getting used to the idea." <> Artemis said, nudging Athena''s leg with her shoulder. Athena laughed and moved forward to embrace me, startling me. For a moment, I just stood there...then slowly wrapped my arms around her in turn. "Thank you," I whispered. "I love you both." Athena blushed and Artemis purred loudly. "Thank you, Mistress. We''ll do our best for you." I smiled and released Athena. "I know you will. Come on, let''s head back." "Well, well," Ellister said a little while later, looking Athena up and down. "Don''t you look splendid." Athena blushed deeply and Ellister laughed. "It''s a fabulous store, isn''t it? They made all of Elsie''s clothes, and even some of mine." I blinked. "Elsie...is she your familiar?" "Indeed," Ellister said with a smile. "Elevated from a pet mouse I was especially fond of." "Told you she moved like a mouse," Athena murmured to me. "Yes, you did," I replied quietly, then addressed Ellister again. "I couldn''t tell." "I would have been very surprised if you had. I went to a great deal of trouble to make sure she looked as human as possible when I cast the spell," he explained. "She handles most of my household management and maintenance, so for the comfort of the people she deals with - and to aid her ability to give them orders as necessary - I went to that trouble." "Incredible," I said, shaking my head in admiration. I hadn''t even considered that such a thing might be possible. "It''s not a common thing and took a tremendous amount of power and preparation," he said, seeming to sense the direction of my thoughts. "But never mind. I''m guessing you bought a few outfits there yourself." He said the last shrewdly and with a teasing glint in his eyes. I laughed. "I did." "Never occurred to you that you might need mundane protection before today, hmm?" He smiled. "It''s hard to think about such things before you start working on your own." I shrugged. "It had honestly never occurred to me. But it was a good idea." He nodded. "Indeed. So, you want to have Athena trained...yes, I know a few places that can teach her what she needs to know. Hand-to-hand combat, swords and knives, even firearms. I''m guessing you''d like to attend some of those classes yourself." "Very much," I said with a nod. "And you plan to study for the Wizard qualification exams, eh?" I nodded again. "Yes, sir. Magic has fascinated me since I was very little, and I want to keep studying it in all its complexity." He smiled. "The mark of a true candidate for Wizard. But...that will make finding a full-time job very difficult," he said, looking at me thoughtfully. Then he seemed to come to a conclusion. "But it would seem that you know what you want for yourself better than most young people your age. You have set your path and plan to walk it." I nodded a third time. "Good," he said with a firm nod in return. "Then if you are amenable, I will hire you myself. You will assist me in my experiments and research, run errands for me, and take care of a few odds and ends now and then that I may need handled. In return, you will receive room and board, educational opportunities, and a modest salary that should be sufficient to cover the cost of any classes for yourself and Athena while leaving you enough to put some away for later." I blinked, opened my mouth to say something, realized I had no idea what to say, and closed my mouth again. It was the third or fourth time that day I''d been caught flat-footed, and I felt a bit of chagrin. Perhaps I wasn''t as good at seeing the world around me as I''d thought. Or maybe I was less well-prepared for being out on my own than I''d thought. He smiled kindly. "I''d planned to make the offer anyway, girl. Not only have you impressed me with your morals and skill, but Jonathan suggested it in that letter he gave you for me. It''s not uncommon for a Mage intending to become a Wizard to take a work-study position with one of their master''s colleagues when their time as an apprentice is over. It gives them the chance to see other ways of learning about magic, and an opportunity to begin using what they''d learned while still under a watchful eye." He arched an eyebrow. "Sometimes they''ve even learned enough to see the wisdom of such an arrangement." I nodded. He wasn''t kidding, it was a fantastic opportunity. "I agree," I said. "I gladly accept your offer." "In that case," he said, rising, "I think you have some unpacking to do, yes?" "Yes!" I said with a laugh, surprised by the relief I felt. I hadn''t realized how tense I''d become without a clear path before me. "Thank you, Ellister." "You''re welcome, Alys. But I insist you call me Hollis. You may be my employee now, but I like my employees to be friends as well." It was the first time he''d called me anything but ''girl.'' I understood, and smiled. "All right, Hollis." It felt strange to say for some reason, then I smiled. "But if I start saying ''sir'' without realizing it, I hope you won''t hold it against me." He laughed boomingly and delightedly. "No, indeed I won''t! I hope you won''t hold it against me if I accidentally call you ''girl'' once in a while." "I won''t if you won''t," I said with a smile. "Good! Now, off with you! Unpack, make yourself at home. I expect you had a bite to eat on your way back? Good. Dinner is at six." Five minutes later the three of us were back in the room I''d woken up in that morning. Athena was busily unpacking our purchases and sorting them out - although honestly, anything we''d purchased would fit either one of us, except that hers had a special hole for her tail. Artemis was sprawled lazily on the window seat by the large double windows that looked out on the street - in the sun, of course. It was a westerly facing, so she would get to enjoy the sun in the afternoons, and I wouldn''t be blinded by sunrise if I left the blinds open. I just sort of stood there, taking stock: A large four-poster bed big enough for all three of us to sleep on comfortably, even given the predilection of cats to spread out as much as possible. The afore-mentioned window seat; a walk-in closet with a bureau inside it, which together would be more than large enough for all of my clothes and Athena''s put together; and an attached bathroom of modest size, once again large enough for our needs and some comfort. There was a roll-top desk in the corner by the window. I walked over to it and rolled back the lid to discover it well stocked with pens, pencils, notebooks, loose paper and envelopes. Everything a young Mage getting started could want for taking notes and the occasional formal correspondence. Which reminded me... "Athena, come here for a minute," I said, gesturing for her to join me. She looked up curiously, smiled and walked over. "Yes, Mistress?" "Sit beside me here," I said, moving to sit on the window seat. Artemis made room for me, then grudgingly - I swear she actually grumbled a little, it was adorable - sat up and moved over to make room as Athena sat down on the other side of me. Once we were all settled - with Artemis comfortably half-draped across our laps - I murmured the words of the Sending spell and released the energy. Instantly, a spectral snow-leopard appeared standing before us. That surprised me for a moment. I hadn''t thought about any specific type of large cat - just a large cat. I''d often had my Sendings appear as lions, tigers and even cheetahs from time to time. Though I supposed now that I had two snow leopards bound to me, it shouldn''t be a surprise. I spoke to it directly, knowing it would record all of my words and our images to play them back as a projection of us for mom when it reached her. "Hi, Mom! Greetings from London!" I smiled and waved. "I made it here just fine, and I''m getting settled in. Things have been a bit crazy, but...well, meet Athena and Artemis, my new familiars." Athena waved shyly. Artemis tipped her head curiously and meowed at her spectral cousin. "I''ve taken a job with Wizard Hollis Ellister," I said, "The old friend Master Tremane sent me to. I guess it''s not unusual for one Wizard to take on another''s former apprentice as an employee to help them get started. So I''ll be doing odd jobs for him and helping with his work while Athena gets some training under her belt, learns to read and write, that sort of thing. And he implied that he''d help me begin studying for the Wizard qualification exams as well. "I had a really strange dream last night. I dreamed that I was standing in front of your house, and when I turned around I could see that the town was in ruins." I frowned slightly, trying to recall the details of my dream. "Then the High Druid said that it was my doing, but I couldn''t see him anywhere. Then he said that it was..." I nibbled on my bottom lip for a moment, trying to remember the exact words. "He said it was as the prophecy foretold. Then I heard Druid Somerled''s voice saying that the world was going to burn. "Finally, I heard your voice," I went on, "And when I turned back to the house you were standing there. You said that nothing that came was my fault, and that things would play out the way they were supposed to, or something like that. Then your eyes changed to mine, and your features began to change, but Athena woke me up then. She said I''d cried out in my sleep." I took Athena''s hand and squeezed it. "I''m glad she was there to wake me up." "I''ll Send you again in a few days and let you know how I''m doing," I went on. "Maybe in a few weeks I can get a couple of days off and come home to introduce the girls to you." I smiled. "Send me soon and let me know how you are. I love you." I waved again, Athena mirroring my gesture, then closed the spell. The spectral snow leopard knew who to take the message to - that was part of the casting - so it immediately turned and leapt into the air, vanishing. I sighed. "My first letter home," I said, slipping an arm around each of my familiars. Artemis yawned and Athena leaned against me lightly, resting her head on my shoulder. "Are you lonely, Mistress?" I smiled and squeezed her gently. "No, pet. I''ll never be lonely again thanks to you and your sister. And I''ve spent more time away from my mom than with her over the last few years, so this is just more of the same." I turned my head and pressed a kiss between her ears. "Now, let''s finish getting settled in, shall we? I think that desk has room for most of my equipment." "Yes, Mistress." Family Ties - Chapter 5 As I was getting dressed the next morning I felt a surge of Anima approaching. A moment later a translucent snowy owl flew in through the wall and flapped to a halt in front of me. Immediately, it changed into an equally translucent image of my mom standing and smiling at me. "Hello, honey," she said, her voice so perfectly reproduced that she might have actually been standing in the room with me. "I was very glad to hear that you''re getting settled in okay. Congratulations on your new familiars. Artemis is simply magnificent, and Athena is a darling. She looks so much like you, you must have poured a tremendous amount of energy into the spell. She is unmistakably your familiar. I''m very proud." Athena had moved to stand beside me, staring at the magical reproduction of my mother in utter fascination. Now she blushed and purred at my mom''s words, pleased - and, I could tell, a little bit relieved - that my mother approved of her. "Let me know if you need anything," Mom went on, "And I''ll try to send it along to you. I asked the High Druid about the prophecy that they mentioned was related to you, but he refused to tell me anything about it. Mind you, he didn''t just go tight-lipped on me...he actually told me outright that he wasn''t going to tell me anything about it and that I should never ask about it again. Can you imagine the nerve?" She shook her head and sighed. "Let me know if you have any more dreams like that. Dreams can sometimes be more than they appear to be, and more than just your subconscious mind purging the events of the day. Right now, I can''t make heads or tails out of this one. But I''m glad that Athena was there to wake you up too." Mom''s image sighed. "I guess that''s all for now. Come home soon so I can meet the girls in person. I love you." She lifted her hand in farewell, and the image faded away to nothing. "Sendings are so cool," Athena said quietly. <> Artemis said, padding up beside me. <> I reached down and ruffled her ears. "You see the world differently than we do, pet. Keep right on doing so." She purred happily and lifted into my petting for a moment. < > she asked, rather pointedly. "Excellent idea. Come on." As we walked toward the dining room, I felt Athena''s hand slip into mine. "Do you think she''ll like me?" She asked quietly. I blinked in surprise. "Who, my mom? Yeah, of course. Why wouldn''t she?" I still wasn''t used to Athena''s shifts from total confidence to shy uncertainty. The change seemed to revolve around dealing with people. I supposed it would pass as she got used to her new form. "Well...she commented on how much I look like you," she said cautiously. "I was just worried that she might be offended..." "I doubt it," I said with a laugh. "The worst thing that might happen is she might decide that I have a twin sister now." Athena looked confused. "You mean me?" I nodded. "I''m teasing, pet. She''ll love you." "I hope so," she whispered. I stopped walking and touched her shoulder gently, turning her to look at me. "Why all this uncertainty, pet?" Athena shook her head. "I''m not sure, Mistress. I just feel..." She trailed off and looked frustrated. "I can''t find the right words for it." "Still feeling a bit unsettled?" I asked, sensing the confusion in her. She nodded. "Yes, Mistress. I almost feel like I''m a stranger in my own body...but not really." I smiled gently and gave her a hug. "It''ll pass in a few days, I''m sure. It''s probably just a lingering after effect of your Elevation. Is it as strong a feeling as it was two days ago?" She shook her head again, smiling a little now. "No, Mistress. It''s faded a bit." "Then it''ll pass," I reassured her. "Give it a couple more days, and let me know if it gets any worse." "Of course, Mistress." <> Artemis fired teasingly into the conversation. <> I blinked in surprise - I honestly hadn''t expected the more feline of my familiars to come out with such an intellectual joke - then burst out laughing. Athena shook her head. "I''ll get you for that, sister..." She mock-lunged at Artemis, who artfully slipped aside, looking smug. <> Before she could finish another shot at her sister, Athena laughingly swatted Artemis''s flank, then chased her sister down the hall towards the kitchen. Ellister...Hollis, rather, joined us a few minutes after we''d settled in to breakfast. Athena was endlessly fascinated by what she still referred to as ''people food,'' and was nibbling on a piece of bacon with intense concentration as he sat down. "Good morning, ladies!" I smiled. "Good morning." "I sensed a Sending earlier. Your mother?" He asked. I nodded. "Letting me know she''s okay and passing along some information." "Did she know anything about your dream?" He asked shrewdly. "How did you...never mind," I shook my head. I''d spoken with him about it, so it was a safe assumption that I''d mentioned it to my mother too. "No, she didn''t know anything. The ¨¦ire Druid Council wasn''t willing to tell her anything, and she couldn''t make heads or tails out of it. She just told me to let her know if I have any more dreams like that." "Do you think the dream was prophetic, then?" he asked as he spread strawberry preserves onto his toast. I shrugged and poked at my pancakes. "I really don''t know. I''ve never had prophetic dreams before, but it was so much more vivid than a normal dream, and it''s stuck with me in almost perfect detail." "Something a normal dream wouldn''t be likely to do," he agreed. "Would you mind telling me about it again later? I''d like to get the details straight, and I might be able to find something out for you." "No, I suppose not," I said slowly. "I mean, it was probably just a dream." "Indeed," he said with a reassuring smile. "Be that as it may, I have an errand for you to run for me this morning." "Oh?" I asked curiously. No time like the present to get started. "Yes. I have a package arriving down at the docks this morning. I''ll give you the name of the ship and her captain...I''m sure you can figure out what to do," he finished with another smile. I nodded. "Pick it up, I assume." "See that? You''re already head and shoulders above my last assistant. When I sent him on an errand like that, he came back empty-handed." He made a face. "First he couldn''t find the ship. When he found the ship, he couldn''t speak with the captain. And nobody else knew anything about the package. So he came back." "I''m guessing he didn''t last long," I said, my sense of humor recovering from the disquiet my dream had caused. "About a week," Hollis confirmed. "It''s a quick and simple job. While you''re out, I''m going to try to line up some training for you and Athena." I smiled. "Thank you!" "You''re very welcome," he returned my smile warmly. Twenty minutes later, Athena, Artemis and I were on our way towards the docks. It was only a few blocks away, so I decided to walk. The day was sunny and a bit cooler than usual for early October, but it was still pleasant and much nicer than high summer. There are, in my opinion, few things worse than a blisteringly hot day in a city. From five blocks away we could already hear the rising noise of the busy docks. It was before nine in the morning, but even early on a Saturday or Sunday the docks were usually bustling and crowded. As we got closer, Artemis moved closer to my side, to the point where she accidentally brushed up against my leg a couple of times. I glanced down at her and saw the tension in her muscles, felt the nervousness in her emotions. "What''s bothering you, pet?" <> she mumbled. <> Athena nodded. "Artemis and I were down here on the docks for more than a month, Mistress," she said quietly. "I don''t like it here any more than she does." It hadn''t occurred to me, but we''d likely be near to or even passing where I purchased them. Well, it couldn''t be helped. "I''m sorry, girls. But work is work...we''ll make it as quick as possible." Athena smiled gratefully and Artemis purred an appreciative sound. As we walked along the docks, I glanced at the note Hollis had given me. It contained the name of the airship I was looking for - the S.S. Miser''s Fancy - and of its captain, Keith Tanner. Up ahead I caught sight of the gilded letters spelling out the ship''s name. It turned out to be an inelegant and somewhat ugly cargo ship, blocky and without any of the graceful lines and swooping hull that had made up the Icarus I''d come over from ¨¦ire on. It was a working ship, designed for function rather than form, and rather reminded me of an oversized barge. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Inwardly, I suspected it was a tougher ship than the Icarus. As I walked up to its boarding ramp and stopped at the bottom, Athena and Artemis both fell back a step. Their ears were perked alertly, tails lashing slowly back and forth as their eyes roamed around. "Ho, Miser''s Fancy," I called up the ramp. "I''m here to pick up some cargo from Captain Tanner on behalf of my employer!" "And who''s your employer, young lady?" A voice called back from further down the ship. I looked over and saw an older man with a weathered face and bright eyes. He wore a blue and gold captain''s cap and had a thick but neatly trimmed gray beard. "Wizard Hollis Ellister, sir. Are you Captain Tanner?" "I am indeed, and I have his cargo," he replied with a nod, heading for the ramp. "Give me a moment and I''ll bring it down to you. It''s not large." "Thank you!" I felt a twinge of nervous tension that wasn''t my own and glanced at my familiars. They were standing on either side of me, a step back from where I stood and facing away from the ship. Artemis was crouched as if ready to pounce. Athena''s eyes were narrowed and roaming around, most of her weight resting on the balls of her feet as her tail balanced her. She was as ready to move as her sister. <> I asked. <> Artemis replied. <> <> Athena added. <> I sniffed, and could smell nothing but fish, tar and the various spicy scents of food being cooked nearby. <> I said honestly. <> <> Artemis said. <> Athena added. <> I said with more calm than I felt. <> But my own senses were starting to twinge now as well. Most spellcasters develop a certain amount of short-term precognition. Rarely more than a minute''s worth, and not specific - precise precognition has an unfortunate tendency to drive its practitioners insane - but enough to warn us of impending danger. Really, it''s a sense anyone can develop with enough practice and attention. Calling it precognition is giving it way too much credit. I was starting to feel that crawling sensation on the back of my neck that told me I was being watched. Crap. Captain Tanner strode down the ramp to meet me with a package tucked under his left arm, extending his right hand as he reached me. "Captain Keith Tanner. And you are?" I shook his hand. "Mage Alys Kinnear, sir." I handed him the second note Hollis had given me, containing his sigil and a brief note saying that I was acting in his stead. "Huh," he said, glancing it over quickly, then returning his eyes to me. "Haven''t seen you before. You look more competent than the last idiot Ellister hired." I smiled. "Yes, sir. He said as much himself." Captain Tanner chuckled. "Don''t doubt it. That boy drove him mad. Well, this is the package he asked me to pick up for him..." He was interrupted by a series of ratcheting clicks and the unmistakable *clack-clack* of a shotgun being closed and cocked. Athena and Artemis both hissed and moved a bit closer to me. I turned in time to see three men step out of the alley across from the ship. The center one wore an old-fashioned frock coat and bowler hat, both of which had seen better days, and had an eye patch over his left eye. His upper lip was twisted on the left side by a scar that descended from beneath the eye patch. He was flanked by two men of burly build. One carried the double-barreled shotgun we''d heard being loaded. The other had a pair of large and unfamiliar revolvers. Not that I knew enough about firearms to identify them anyway. They just looked big. Glancing left and right, I saw four more men approaching, two from either direction, coming up and down the dock towards the ramp. Three of them were carrying blades - two short swords and a long-bladed weapon I wasn''t familiar with, its blade double-curved on one side and attached to a wooden haft on the other. It ran most of the length of the haft, with a grip at its base and another half-way up the blade. It looked dangerous. Worst of all, in my opinion, the fourth carried an ornate and old-fashioned looking pistol that at first glance I''d mistaken for an antique gilded flintlock. It was a Magearm pistol, a weapon that allowed someone with a small or moderate amount of magical talent to fire one or two combat spells with the power of a trained Mage...usually bolts of fire or lightning, which might explain the smoke and ozone smells my familiars had mentioned. Eyepatch spread his hands and smiled. It made his lip twist and curl at the scar, turning his smile into a grimacing sneer. "Let''s not have a fuss," he said in a thick Cockney accent. "Give us the package and nobody gets hurt." Seriously, that may have been the single most clich¨¦d thing I''d ever had said to me, and by a criminal stereotype no less. Accent, scar, eye patch and all. Good grief. If there weren''t weapons aimed at us, I''d have assumed it was some sort of bad joke. I glanced around. The early morning crowd had scattered, scurrying into doorways and side-streets, clearing the dock all around us. And, of course, there wasn''t a cop in sight. I swore under my breath. <> I said to Artemis and Athena, <> <> Athena said. <> Artemis said with certainty. <> <> I said. <> <> they replied together. "I''m afraid I can''t do that," I said politely. "That package is the property of my employer. He''ll be very upset if it isn''t delivered." "Not our problem, girly. You''re a pretty young thing," Eyepatch said with another twisted sneer of a smile, "Don''t make us hurt you." He gestured to his men, and the ones flanking us on either side started to move in. I heard Captain Tanner back up a couple of steps. Artemis took the opportunity to bound back to stand between him and the rest of us as Athena bolted off to the left towards the two men approaching from that direction. I turned my attention to the man with the Magearm pistol. As far as I was concerned, he was the biggest threat. And I was right. His pistol snapped up and with a sharp crackling pop unleashed a bolt of lightning straight towards me. I caught it on a blue-white shield of translucent energy, dissipating most of its power and sliding me back a couple of inches as the rest pushed against me as kinetic force. Then I twirled my right index and middle fingers in the air above my head, gathering crackling electricity around them. I brought them down and thrust them towards the Magearm-wielding thug, returning his lightning with obviously superior control and accuracy. It was a spell I was very familiar with¡­so familiar that I no longer bothered with a verbal focus for it. Lightning is generally the wise Mage''s weapon of choice for urban fighting. It''s easy to regulate how much power is in it - once you know how - making it effective at incapacitating as well as killing. Just as importantly, carefully controlled lightning won''t do a lot of property damage to stone and metal, except at the upper end of the power scale. Fire can be as dangerous to the caster in close quarters as to the target, and kinetic force is too easily countered and avoided. Water magic isn''t really effective in combat unless you''re very good at mixing ice and force, which I wasn''t. This man obviously wasn''t a spellcaster. Just a thug with enough Anima to make the Magearm pistol work. My bolt of lightning licked across the gun and up his arm, making him convulse and literally knocking him out of his shoes and onto his back. The pistol was jolted out of his hand and went rattling away, over the edge of the dock and into the water with a splash. He lay there, twitching and grunting, out of the fight. His partner roared and charged me, pulling a dagger to go with his short sword. This part I was not sure how to handle under the circumstances. I was unarmed - I didn''t have my satchel with me, which is where I left my staff (of course - why the hell did I leave those behind?), and had no other weapons to begin with. So I raised a shield. His first two blows skittered off the translucent blue disk of energy. Before he could get in a third, there was a loud feline yowl and a black and white blur slammed into him. The thud of impact was followed quickly by the crunch of breaking bones and an odd whistling sound that ended as his head left his shoulders and bounced down the dock. Athena stood there before me, the other man''s large wavy-bladed weapon held in her hands like a two-handed sword, breathing heavily and turning to stand between me and the remaining three men. Eyepatch looked shocked. Glancing to the left, I saw that Athena had taken out her two targets rather more violently than I had. They''d never be moving again. In less than ten seconds, Athena and I had eliminated four of his men. "Kill the bitches," Eyepatch snapped, gesturing towards us. On behalf of myself and my familiars, I was offended. None of us were canines. I reached over Athena''s left shoulder just as the shotgun boomed. I caught the spreading pellets on another shield, deflecting most of them into the ground in front of us and the rest harmlessly off to either side. Then I thrust my right fist over her other shoulder and opened it, sending a wave of force across the dock towards the alley. The ripple in the air that marked the otherwise invisible wall of force slammed into the three men. Eyepatch was blown back into the alley, while his companions slammed into the buildings on either side. It was, of course, at that point that the police arrived. Three officers in dark blue uniforms came running down the dock, blowing whistles and demanding we stay where we were. When I looked back at the alley, Eyepatch was gone. The thug with the shotgun was just getting up, breaking it open to reload it. A blue-white glowing net landed on him and sparked violently, leaving him twitching and spasming on the ground like my lightning bolt had done to his friend. One of the policemen knelt down beside him and disarmed him, then began gathering up the enchanted net while one of his partners handcuffed the unconscious man with revolvers. The third policeman approached us cautiously. "Ma''am," he said politely to me, "Please ask your familiar to stand down." I side-stepped a little and rested my right hand on Athena''s left shoulder. She glanced at me, then straightened out of her tense posture and lowered the large weapon to her side, letting it dangle from one hand. "Thank you," the officer said with a nod. "Those men assaulted you, obviously," he said dryly. "She took that blade off one of the men?" He gestured to the weird sword which Athena still held by her side. "They did," Captain Tanner said, moving to stand beside me, Artemis still hovering protectively beside him. "And she did. They were after the package she''s here to pick up for her employer. They were defending me and it." The police officer looked thoughtful, then glanced at the corpses and back to me. "Miss..." "Kinnear," I said. "Mage Alys Kinnear." He nodded. "Mage Kinnear, I suggest you invest in some non-lethal training for your familiar. Considering they came at you armed when you obviously aren''t, I''ll let it go this time...but try to keep them alive in the future." I blinked in surprise. "I...I will. We just arrived in town a couple of days ago." "Hmm," he pursed his lips. "Well, be that as it may. We''ll take the survivors into custody and make sure they don''t see the light of day for a while. Be about your business." "Yes, sir," I said with a nod. He returned my nod and turned to give instructions to his partners. I looked back at Captain Tanner, who smiled slightly. "I''m well known on the docks," he said quietly. "I have more than a little pull with the local police, and they know me well. They won''t question this or you. But you''d better take this and get home. I''d suggest you not show your face around the docks for a week or two, just in case." He handed me the box as he spoke. It was about the size of a shoe box, heavily wrapped in brown paper. "Thank you," I said, still confused. He smiled and patted my shoulder. "Hell of a way to welcome you to London. I suggest you have your pet clean off that blade and hang onto it - she''s hell on wheels with it." He dug in his back pocket and tossed Athena a ragged cloth. "Wipe that off, girl, and toss the rag in the river." Athena blinked, just as bewildered as I was, and quickly wiped the blood stains from the blade. They came off with surprising ease, leaving the blade spotlessly clean. Following his instructions, she tossed the cloth into the river, where it seemed to melt away. One of the policemen paused in passing and pressed the blade''s scabbard into her free hand. It was a leather affair, open on one side with snap-shut straps to hold the blade in place and a shoulder strap to wear it across the back. Athena shared a confused look with me, then sheathed the blade and slung it across her back. With a quick movement, she tightened the shoulder strap until it was comfortable. I looked up at Captain Tanner. "What...?" "Ask your employer, girl. Go on, now." He smiled. "Nice meeting you. Hope next time won''t be quite as violent." A moment later, Athena, Artemis and I were alone on the dock except for the police, who paid no attention to us at all. I glanced at each of my familiars in turn, then shook my head and tucked the box under my arm. "Come on. We''ll sort this out at home." Family Ties - Chapter 6 "Yes," Hollis said, folding his hands and resting his chin on them, his elbows on his desk. "I did expect something like this." Hollis''s study was a beautiful room, decorated much like the rest of his house in an odd mixture of Victorian and Renaissance styles. His desk was a huge, ornately carved and gilt-edged wooden thing made of what appeared to be teak. It was covered with all sorts of things, from a writing blotter and pen set to a stack of books precariously perched on one edge of the desk. There were several devices whose purpose I couldn''t make heads or tails of, including one that looked like an old-fashioned astrolabe and one which was a circle of copper on an upright base, with what appeared to be a cloud floating in the middle of the copper circle. The walls were lined with bookcases, and while they held plenty of books (several shelves were packed to bursting) they also held a wild variety of knickknacks and magical tools. I had spotted a picture of him and Master Tremane when they were much younger on one shelf, and there was a huge landscape painting of what I thought was Mount Fuji in Nippon on the wall behind his desk. The box I had picked up for him sat before him on his blotter, with Athena and I in chairs across from him. Artemis sat beside my chair, watching him as intently as her sister and I. "Which is why," he went on with a sigh, "I asked those policemen to follow you. I also asked them not to interfere unless they felt you were in danger." He smiled slightly. "Clearly, you were not." "Why not tell us?" I asked, both frustrated and a little unsettled. "Partly because I needed to see what you were capable of when caught unawares," he said simply. "Which is why I was magically watching the whole event from a distance. I must say, that was a quick piece of spellcasting you did over Athena''s shoulders. I also approve of your choice of lightning and force, rather than fire. Fire magic is rather frowned on in London, for obvious reasons. I''m also pleased that you used no verbal foci during your spellcasting¡­that shows focus and practice both, though I suspect you still need them with more complex spells, or ones you''re not as familiar with." After I nodded, his brows drew down into a gentle frown. "However, you displayed a distinct lack of melee skills. Have you had no training in that direction?" "Staff fighting and some fencing," I answered. ¡°Very little hand-to-hand.¡± "Mmm," he nodded a little. "Jonathan always did favor armed combat over unarmed. I think we''ll have to get you some training towards that end." He looked at Athena. "Both of you," he added dryly. I felt a rush of frustrated embarrassment from Athena as she lowered her eyes. "Oh, stop," he said with a soft laugh. "Don''t be ashamed of your instincts or your abilities, Athena. You fought marvelously, and believe me when I say that the death of those thugs is nothing more than a strain taken off the local police. They likely would have had to kill those men themselves, sooner or later. But," he sighed again, "We really must teach you how to disarm and disable rather than kill outright. Tell me, do you like the feel of that very unusual blade you took?" She reached out and lightly touched the hilt of the blade where it leaned against his desk in front of her, still in its scabbard. "I do," she said quietly, looking from it to him. "When I grabbed it, it felt right in my hands." He nodded. "That happens with familiars sometimes. They find a weapon that suits them unusually well. We''ll look into having a better one made for you," he said, turning his attention to me. "Do you agree?" I nodded my agreement. "Definitely. She handled that weird sword like she was born with it in her hand." Athena looked pleased and purred softly. Hollis chuckled. "Yes, I''m sure she did." He looked at us for a long moment, then nodded. "That''s all for now, I think. Why don''t you go get some lunch? You''ve had quite a busy morning." I blinked and exchanged a look of mixed confusion and curiosity with Athena. "Hollis," I said slowly, "Do we get to find out what''s in the package?" ¡°That is the other reason I had the police on hand.¡± He smiled mysteriously. "Suffice it to say for now that one of my primary lines of work involves the collection and handling of certain artifacts. Artifacts that others - occasionally - desire to obtain. You prevented that from happening." Athena sighed and I made a face. "All right." He laughed softly. "Good. Go and eat, we''ll talk more later." As we sat at the table a little while later, I saw Athena curiously examining the forks, spoons and knives laid out at her place. It made me realize that she really had no idea how to behave at table - or perhaps even what etiquette was, for that matter. She saw me watching and smiled shyly. "Mistress," she said softly, "Perhaps you could explain each of these to me?" <> Artemis said smugly from where she was munching on a bowl of meat by the table. Athena shot her a teasingly nasty look. "Jealous." <> Artemis said contentedly. <> I laughed. "Come on, girls, don''t fight about it.¡± <> Artemis said, padding over and resting her chin on Athena''s thigh. Athena smiled and gently stroked her ears. "I love you too, Artemis." I watched them for a moment, smiling fondly. I couldn''t believe how quickly I''d grown to love them. Part of that, I knew, was a side-effect of having taken them as familiars. You can''t have a familiar without being fond of it - it''s part of the magic that binds them to you. But I really loved them. They were a part of me: I needed them, wanted them near me at all times, and found even their less-than-perfect personality traits charming. Gods, I was getting mushy. "So, silverware," I said to Athena, drawing her attention. "Yes, Mistress. Why are there two forks?" She asked. "Be thankful it''s not a formal dinner," I said dryly. "Then there might be as many as four. What you have there is a dinner fork, the one with the long tines, and a salad fork with shorter ones." "There might be more?" Athena asked, incredulous and amused at the same time. "Oh yes," I said. "You might have an appetizer fork, which would be much smaller, and a dessert fork, which would probably identical to the salad fork, but set above the plate rather than beside it." Athena stared at me for a long moment, and I could tell she was trying to decide whether or not I was pulling her leg. Finally, she decided to simply accept it and said, "All right. Two spoons?" "The larger one is a soup spoon. The smaller is a tea spoon." "But...we''re not having either tea or soup," Athena said, her eyebrows furrowed in confused concentration. I smiled. "True. They''re there more out of tradition than anything else." "Ah," she said wisely. "Tradition seems to be the explanation for a lot of things." "Can''t argue with that," I said with a smile. "Usually things that don''t make any sense." "So these strange eating utensil rules made sense at some point?" Athena asked incredulously. I laughed. I couldn''t help it. She was right, after all. "I didn''t say that, love. But a long time ago they must have to someone." "Why?" She asked curiously. "Well," I said slowly, "I imagine a lot of it had to do with how food was prepared and what things were safe to eat together. Sort of like the laws that some devout Hebrews still follow...not mixing meat and milk products, or something to that effect." "Oh," she said, and I could see the blank incomprehension on her face. I laughed softly. "Honestly, it doesn''t make much sense to me either. It''s one of those things about humans that just needs to be accepted." This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. "Fair enough," she said. "Two knives?" "Butter knife and cutting knife," I said. "Two glasses?" She was starting to sound a little desperate as she looked for some element of it that made sense to her. "One for wine and one for water," I replied. "Ah!" She looked relieved. "That one makes sense, at least." <> Artemis muttered. <> I laughed again. I couldn''t help it. "That''s probably truer than I want to admit, pet." Artemis made a distinctly smug noise and returned to her meal as Athena looked over her utensils again. "So," she said tentatively, "Should I be using a knife and a fork for this?" We were having sandwiches. This was going to be amusing. "No," I said with a smile. "With sandwiches, it''s okay to eat with your hands." "Then why even have the utensils on the..." Athena trailed off rather than finishing her question and looked at me for a long time, trying to tell if I was toying with her. Finally, she shook her head. "Artemis is right, people don''t make sense." I smiled, reached over and patted her hand. "No, we don''t. Look at it this way: now you''re ready for dinner tonight." She laughed and purred. "True. Thank you, Mistress." All three of us looked up as Hollis came in with a pensive expression on his face. He sat down and murmured his thanks as Elsie seemed to materialize out of thin air, scurried over with his lunch, and disappeared into the kitchen again. "Hollis?" I asked cautiously, still not conversant with his moods. He looked up and smiled faintly. "Oh, it''s nothing serious. I''ve just been presented with a request for aid from someone in the community, and I don''t know if I can fit it into my day. It''s not exactly urgent or life-threatening, but it''s something they''re disturbed by and want taken care of." I felt like a fish staring up at a baited hook, and knew he was trying to entice me into asking if it was something I could take care of. Of course, he WAS paying me a salary of some sort. One of my jobs for him would no doubt be taking up tasks that needed to get done and which he didn''t have time for. "Is it something I might be able to take care of?" He smiled a bit more genuinely. "Actually, you might be able to. Have you ever dealt with any hauntings?" I groaned inwardly. "I helped Master Tremane deal with three or four during my apprenticeship," I admitted. "And I saw one particularly unusual exorcism while I was studying with a group of Tantric mages for a couple of months." Hollis snorted understanding amusement. "Yes, I''ll bet you did. Which methods did Jonathan show you?" He poked uninterested at the salad Elsie had put in front of him, then sighed. "I appreciate Elsie trying to keep me healthy, but this sucks." I blinked in surprise. He laughed softly. "I was young once too, girl. I still remember the slang, and it hasn''t changed all that much. Now, which methods did he show you?" "Um," I thought hard for a moment. "He demonstrated crystal-trapping, gentle persuasion, energy elimination, and ritual purification of a site or object." There are a lot of different ways of clearing a building or object of a ghost, depending a lot on what type of ghost it is. Residual hauntings, for example, aren''t intelligent spirits and one can simply perform an energy elimination or ritual purification to clear the site of the lingering stain left by whatever trauma caused the haunting. An intelligent haunting is more complex, and potentially more dangerous. Mainly because until you''re well into the process of clearing the site, you don''t know precisely what type of entity (or entities) is being dealt with. What appears to be a simple lost soul can turn out to be a poltergeist or - even worse - a demonic presence of some sort. As I''d said, I saw a demonic exorcism during my time with the Tantric mages. It was, perhaps inevitably, a succubus. That had been a wild night. One which I had no intention of discussing with anybody. Frankly, I think I''d need to be extremely drunk to be able to talk about it without dying of embarrassment. At any rate, with an intelligent haunting, depending on the nature and personality of the spirit, you might be able to very gently encourage them to finally pass on to whatever waits on the other side of that final veil. I saw two like that with Master Tremane. It''s a sad and somehow enlightening experience all at once. If the spirit isn''t friendly...trap it in a crystal and get it out of the house, then banish or bury it at your leisure. And hope it''s not powerful enough to affect the physical world around it. "Mmm," he said thoughtfully as he chewed on a mouthful of lettuce and tomatoes. "Good, all four of those are excellent. I''m partial to gentle persuasion when I can manage it. What was the exorcism like?" I felt my cheeks heat up a bit. "It was unique," I said succinctly. Hollis laughed heartily. "With Tantric mages, I don''t doubt it. What were they exorcising?" I cleared my throat. "Can I not answer that?" He grinned. "Of course. It''s a shame, mind you...I sense a spectacular story. But with Tantric mages, it''s probably an embarrassing one for you." I nodded weakly. "Extremely." He chuckled. "Then don''t worry about it. It''s enough to know that you''ve been trained in different methods of dealing with hauntings. Do you feel up to tackling one on your own?" "How serious is it?" I asked. "It didn''t sound very serious," he replied thoughtfully, still poking at his salad. "It sounds like a residual - always follows a set pattern, doesn''t respond to attempts to communicate, that sort of thing. But you never know for sure." I glanced at Athena, who was listening to everything intently, then looked back at Hollis. "I think that with Athena''s help I should be able to handle something like that." "Excellent!" Hollis said enthusiastically. "If you can deal with that this afternoon and tonight, I''ll have enough time to see if I can find a tutor or two for you and Athena." I had been played a bit. His busy schedule was finding tutors for us. But that was all right...I had shown a willingness to take on whatever tasks he needed me to do for him, which had likely been the point of the conversation. I smiled. "That sounds good. Thank you." Athena nodded eagerly. "Those sorts of lessons sound like they''ll make more sense than table etiquette." Hollis laughed. "Tried to explain place settings to you, did she?" He gestured to me with his fork as he said it. Athena nodded and smiled sheepishly. "It doesn''t make much sense to me." "Doesn''t make much sense to me either," he agreed with a smile. "I doubt it makes much sense to your mistress, for that matter." I shook my head. "Little to none, really," I agreed. "But then, I grew up surrounded by Druids. Table settings were mostly wooden, except for a cutting knife, and kept to a minimum." Hollis chuckled. "It is a simpler way of life. Which do you prefer?" He asked curiously. "Honestly?" I asked. When he nodded, I shrugged a little. "I''ve seen the benefits of both ways of life. The city offers a wider variety of experiences and opportunities to learn. But the quiet, natural life of a Druid community is..." I tried to find the right word, finally settling on, "Refreshing." Hollis nodded. "Yes, that sounds right. I spent six months in a Druid community during my apprenticeship, and it was a rewarding experience." I must have looked surprised, because he smiled. "Oh, they haven''t always had those insular laws about not allowing Hermetic Mages to live in their communities. It only started about twenty years ago, after a rather unpleasant incident." "Really?" He nodded again. "Really. Didn''t mention that when they gave you the boot, eh?" "No," I shook my head. "Neither did my mother." "Well, it''s one of those things that a lot of people don''t know much about," he admitted. "I was on the periphery of the last of the incidents, so I can tell you about it sometime." "I''d like that," I said. He smiled. "Well, after lunch I''ll give you the address you''ll be going to. It''s only a few blocks from here. And you can draw what supplies you think you might need from my stores. I''m sure I have everything you might need." "Thank you," I replied. After lunch, I grabbed my bottomless bag and followed Elsie to Hollis'' storeroom. As I picked up things I might need, I explained each one to Athena and Artemis. A fair-sized jar of sea salt went into one of my bag''s outside pockets, even though the mouth of the pocket was much too small for it. "Sea salt is a purifying agent," I explained to Athena, who listened attentively. "It can be used in ritual magic for cleansing an object or location, and can be used to create a barrier that doesn''t require constant powering by encircling something in a line of it. It can also be used to seal a house against intrusion by malevolent entities by drawing lines of it across windowsills and doorways, though it takes an awful lot of salt to do that." I picked out three likely looking quartz crystals: two fist-sized pieces of raw, milky-white quartz, and one polished piece cut into a flat, round, faceted shape. "Quartz crystal has a lot of different uses," I explained. "It can store and channel energy, which is what the prepared ones are usually used for, like the faceted one." I held it up so it caught the light for a moment before tucking it into another outside pocket of my bag. "The rough-cut ones make good physical components in binding and banishing rituals, or as the focus for a long-lasting light spell. Done properly, a fist-sized chunk of raw quartz can contain even a nasty poltergeist." They followed their faceted cousin into the pocket. After some deliberation, I chose one of a surprisingly large number of palm-sized, cabochon-cut precious and semi-precious gems that Hollis had loose in a box. In this case, a ruby. "A prepared ruby," I explained to Athena and Artemis, "Can be used to bind and store more powerful entities, including most lesser demons." "Really?" She asked, holding it up to the light and looking at it curiously. "Something this small?" I nodded as she handed it back to me and put it in the same pocket with the quartz crystals. "Something about its metaphysical nature makes it ideally suited for the purpose. I''m sure Master Tremane explained why to me at great length, but it didn''t stick." A small, well-sealed jar of olive oil went into an interior pocket of my bag. "Olive oil is another good general-purpose purifying agent," I explained. "Better than chalk for quickly preparing a ritual circle but harder to clean up afterwards, and it can be a real mess on carpeting. So you have to pick the time and place carefully. Speaking of chalk, I only have a few pieces left..." I found a huge supply of chalk in different sizes and colors and took a variety. "White for general purpose, blue for defense, orange and red for projecting energy, green for purification and yellow for binding." "Why those colors for those purposes?" Athena asked. I shrugged. "That''s just the way I was taught. I suppose any color could be used for any purpose, but if you associate a color with a specific use it''s more effective." <> Artemis said with a yawn. Athena giggled and I laughed. "True enough," I agreed. "But that''s how it works. Magic is as much about association and belief that something will work the way it does as it is about rules and methods. Having those rules and standards just makes it easier to do." <> Artemis pointed out. I hadn''t thought of it that way, but she was right. "That''s very true. Good point." <> Artemis suggested. That set me back on my heels for a moment. "That''s...actually, that''s not a bad idea," I said thoughtfully. "I''ll have to give that some thought." Artemis groomed one of her paws in a distinctly smug sort of way. Finally, I grabbed two small bottles of Holy Water for good measure and closed up my bag. I took my staff out of its outside pocket - it would look more professional if I arrived with it out - and checked myself over. Well, maybe my wardrobe could stand to be upgraded a bit for city life. But my soft leather trousers, blouse, boots and coat would just have to do for now. Family Ties - Chapter 7 "Mistress," Athena asked as we walked up the street. "What are ghosts, exactly?" I was suddenly and powerfully reminded of a day several years earlier when I had asked Master Tremane the same question. His response had been amused laughter. Now I understood why. It had taken me weeks of study to even start to approach the answer to that question, and I still didn''t have a definitive answer years later. I doubted that anybody ever would. "That''s not an easy question to answer," I said with a smile. "There''s lots of different theories about what ghosts are, why they come into existence and what their purpose is. The problem is that most of them are right, at least to some extent." "Oh," Athena replied, non-plussed. "I...I see." I laughed softly. "No you don''t. But that''s okay. I asked my master the same question years ago and he just laughed in my face. I guess now I understand why. It''s a question that doesn''t have an answer. Not really." She gave me a confused look and a sheepish smile as I considered my next words carefully. "Well," I said finally, "a lot of people think that ghosts come into existence as a result of traumatic death. That''s certainly true in many cases - many ghosts are the spirits of people who don''t completely realize that they''ve died and are still trying to live out their day-to-day lives." "That''s...kind of awful," Athena said quietly. I nodded. "I agree. That''s why we try to help those ghosts understand that they''re dead and that it''s okay to let go of the world and pass on." "Into the afterlife?" "That''s the theory," I said. "I suppose if you want to be theologically correct, they''d go to whatever afterlife is appropriate to the god or gods they worship." I tried to ignore the lingering doubt left by the question I''d asked Master Tremane when he''d explained that to me. I''d looked him squarely in the eyes and asked bluntly what happened to the souls of people who didn''t believe in gods, or who didn''t worship a particular religion. His expression had become uncomfortable, and his explanation about not really knowing what awaited souls on the other side of death - even those that belonged to the most devout believers - left me as uncomfortable as he had looked. "What about people who don''t follow a religion?" Athena asked, perhaps inevitably. I sighed. "I really don''t know, pet. There''s no real answers about the question of what happens after you die. Even for wizards, it''s a question best left to theology, not science." "So," she said softly, "By convincing a ghost to move on..." She trailed off into an uneasy silence. "Yeah," I said quietly. "We don''t know for sure. But the act of passing on appears to be a peaceful one for most ghosts. The ones I''ve seen let go of the mortal world look relieved and relaxed as they fade out." She seemed relieved by that herself. "Oh. Okay." I nodded. "That''s why we keep doing it that way. Until we learn for certain otherwise, it''s the least traumatic of the available alternatives." I huffed out a little breath. ¡°Heck, for all we know, those ghosts are just imprints of the person who died and not actually them at all.¡± I gestured idly with one hand. ¡°It¡¯s why I prefer to leave those questions to religious leaders, at least until someone comes up with hard evidence one way or another.¡± Athena digested that in silence for a moment, then asked, "So are all ghosts like that?". "No, that''s just one type," I said. "There are ghosts left behind by people who have unfinished business that they feel compelled to take care of. Ghosts of people who loved a place so strongly that they don''t want to leave it after death. Some are the spirits of people who were so...so malevolent in life that they wanted to keep being evil after they died. That covers - broadly speaking - most of the intelligent hauntings." "So part of our job is to figure out which type it is?" "Exactly," I said with a nod. "And it''s not always as easy as it sounds." < > Artemis groused as she padded along on my other side. I smiled. "This one was complicated long before people started looking into it, pet." < > she amended. Athena giggled. I shrugged, unable to argue the point. Artemis had a piercing ability to point out humanity''s flaws that I found deeply amusing. Probably because she was speaking my own feelings about humanity''s foibles. "It''s true. At any rate, there are also non-sentient hauntings. If the conditions are right, a person''s surroundings can sort of record what''s happening to them, especially if there''s a lot of emotion involved. Even more so if they''re magically gifted. Then later, those events are essentially played back as a psychic imprint, visible to people who''re on the right frequency, so to speak." "Then," I went on, "There''s non-human spirits. They may or may not be intelligent, depending on the circumstances. Poltergeists, elementals, negative entities and even some demons fall into this category. My master told me that about twenty years ago they had a brief flurry of problems with Djinn in Greater Britannia after a group of cultural anthropologists returned from a trip to Arabia." Athena was giving me a bewildered look, so I smiled. "Don''t worry about it right now, Athena. Suffice to say, there''s lots of different types of ghosts, so there''s no single ¡®right¡¯ answer to your original question." She nodded. "I can see that!" The house we had been sent to turned out to be a four-story brick building with four gabled windows along the top floor, probably an attic of some sort. It had four windows facing the street on each floor, though the ones on the ground floor were spaced more tightly together to make room for the front door. The window frames were white, and had red shutters that nearly matched the color of the bricks. The front door had been painted red to match the shutters, and had three steps leading up to it. As we got closer, I could see four dark, narrow windows at ground level, suggesting that the house had a cellar as well as an attic. As I climbed the steps with Athena close behind me and Artemis lingering on the sidewalk for a moment, I could sense something a bit off about the house. It wasn''t anything I could put my finger on...there was just something not quite right about the house''s atmosphere. It looked like a friendly enough building, especially as it was wedged in between two newer six story apartment buildings that had no character whatsoever. But it felt like it was brooding and looming over the sidewalk. I frowned slightly and shifted my staff to my left hand. I raised my right hand and spread my fingers, moving my hand in a clockwise semi-circle as I murmured the words of the spell that would let me see the house''s aura. "Feicfidh m¨¦ fuinneamh." Yes, I do my more complex spellcasting in butchered Gaelic. My mom had a tendency to wince whenever I cast spells in her presence, but it came more naturally to me than Latin. Since I grew up speaking Gaelic as well as English, it was easy enough for me to throw together a spell on the fly. Intentionally using bad grammar kept me from casting a spell by accident, since it took an effort and the application of Anima to make it work. It had nothing at all to do with not having spoken Gaelic on a daily basis since I was eight or nine. Really. The spell came together and I sucked in a little breath. Athena must have felt my alarm because she placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Mistress? What is it?" "The house..." I whispered, staring at it wide-eyed. Contrary to what the Druids tried to teach me, everything has an aura - even non-living things. For the most part, a living creature''s aura will be more vibrant and easier to read than an inanimate object''s. It stands to reason. But an inanimate object - especially something like a building, which contains living beings, and most especially a home with emotional ties to its occupants - will have an aura too. Even pebbles have auras...they''re just very narrow and difficult to see. Usually. As I stared up at the house, it seemed to be outlined in a sickly gray-black color. The windows throbbed with a muddy red haze that made me shudder. For the uninitiated, these are not nice colors to see when viewing an aura. Black should be obvious - it devours energy, captures light and can indicate sickness and grief. Grey is a residue of fear and can indicate health problems. Muddy red is anger. This was not a healthy house. I really did not want to go in there. But I had a job to do. I took a deep breath to steady myself and let it out, releasing the spell and letting my aura-sight fade. Looking at the house''s aura for too long might make me flee without doing my job. "We need to be careful in there," I said quietly to Athena and Artemis. "The house''s aura is not good." Without waiting for a response, I stepped up to the door and rapped on it three times with the metal-capped top end of my oak staff, putting on my best polite smile. I felt Athena standing close behind my right shoulder, and Artemis brushed lightly against my left leg, both of them hovering protectively. Their concern for my wellbeing made my smile a bit more genuine. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. After a few moments, the door was opened by a middle-aged woman in black heels, trousers and a cream-colored blouse with an old-fashioned ivory cameo brooch pinning the blouse shut at her throat. It was a very formal look, and suited her somewhat stern expression and iron-gray hair tied up in a neat and rather severe bun at the back of her head. She stared down at me in my mostly home-made leather clothes, then glanced at Artemis and Athena before returning her gaze to me. Her expression never changed, but when she spoke I could hear the disapproval in her voice. "Yes? Can I help you?" I bowed slightly. "Good afternoon. My name is Alys Kinnear, Mage and assistant to Wizard Hollis Ellister. He sent me in response to your missive." Her expression changed instantly, some of the formality and most of the cool indifference vanishing. In its place, I saw exhaustion, stress and relief. "Oh, thank goodness. Do come in, and your familiars." I entered first, Artemis slipping in behind me. Athena came last, politely closing the door behind her and shutting out the noise of the street. "But I''m being terribly impolite." She paused in the foyer and extended her hand, which I shook as she introduced herself. "Aramina Muldrew. My husband Jameson isn''t home at the moment, but should be returning in a couple of hours." "Mrs. Muldrew," I said with a nod, "How severe are the manifestations?" "They weren''t bad until about two weeks ago," she replied weakly. "But they''ve been getting progressively worse. Over the last few days, they''ve grown intolerable in parts of the house." She gestured for us to follow her into a sitting room. "Would you care for some tea?" She asked politely. A quick look around the room showed me rich rosewood furniture, an old-fashioned globe in one corner by a book stand with a huge tome of some sort on it, and a large fireplace on the opposite wall. There was a handsome sideboard with an array of bottles on it - no doubt including both scotch and brandy of some sort - beside an ice bucket and several tumblers and snifters. There was a reproduction of the Mona Lisa on one wall, and a few of what Master Tremane had called ''trophy books''...books meant to enhance the appearance of a room rather than to be read. I smiled. "No thank you. How long have you lived here?" I took a small notebook from an inside pocket of my coat, then rummaged through my pockets until I located my pen. "About three months," she replied, settling onto an ornately carved chair. "My husband and I moved here from Bath. We were shocked to find such a beautiful old house empty right in the city proper, and were pleased when it came for such a comparatively low price. I imagine now that the former owners were just as pleased to be rid of it." I took a few notes as she spoke, nodding. "It wouldn''t surprise me. The government has laws about not selling property without full disclosure of supernatural events that took place on the premises. You may have grounds for a grievance case." "So my husband believes," she said with a nod. "Which is why we decided to call on Wizard Ellister. We hoped that he could document the haunting and provide us with the evidence we need to make the case, not to mention cleansing the building, if possible. We are, of course," she added, "Willing to pay any reasonable fee for his services. Or yours, if he prefers." I could hear the doubt in her voice and chose to ignore it. The fact that I''d made Mage rank stood as its own statement of my basic competence. I had no need to defend it. "Of course," I replied with a polite nod. "We''ll do whatever we can to help. And if I feel that I''m in over my head," I added with a smile, "Wizard Ellister will join us promptly." I may not have had to comment on my competence, but it wouldn''t hurt to show a little humility. She returned my nod, obviously reassured. "Very good. Where do you want to start?" "There are a few other questions I''d like to ask first." I slid my bag from my shoulder and leaned my staff against the wall by the door before sitting down across from her, notebook and pen in hand. "What do you know about the history of the building?" I felt Athena''s presence at my back, and knew that she was standing behind my chair. "Jamie did some research into it after we started experiencing strange things," she replied. "According to public record, the house was part of an asylum that took up the whole block until the early 1930s, when it was closed down and purchased by a private citizen. He broke it up into individual plots, and it underwent extensive renovations before being listed as a place of residence, an office building and some apartments. Actually, the apartments on either side of us just finished additional renovations recently." <> I muttered to Athena. <> She asked, saying the word carefully. I needed to try to remember that there would be strange gaps in her education for a while. <> I answered. <> "I see," I said out loud. "Before we take any action, I''d like to examine the house, if I may. It will help determine the best course of action if we have a full picture of what''s going on. And we''ll look into the house''s history in greater depth. Wizard Ellister may have access to records that your husband couldn''t get to." Mrs. Muldrew nodded. "Of course." "Where have the most severe manifestations been?" I asked. Throughout our conversation, I had been aware that Artemis was slowly making her way around the perimeter of the room, sniffing here and there and looking around in the penetrating way cats have. Now she stopped moving and the fur on the back of her neck and all down the length of her tail bristled. Her ears flattened to her head and she backed up a step. <> I followed her gaze and saw a crystal decanter with some amber-colored liquid in it slowly floating away from the sidebar it had been resting on. Mrs. Muldrew followed my gaze and flinched. "All over the house in the last few days," she said in response to my question, "As you can see. The most intense manifestations have taken place in the attic, my husband''s study and in the basement." By the time she finished speaking I was halfway across the room, moving in a slow circle around the crystal decanter. It was now floating a good five feet off the floor, suspended by nothing at all that I could see. I repeated the spell I had cast outside to see the house''s aura, passing my open hand left to right across the bottle, trying to narrow the spell''s focus as much as possible. Frankly, I did not want to subject myself to the house''s aura while I was inside it. I was not surprised to see a faint nimbus of muddy red aura surrounding the floating decanter. The same angry color that had outlined the windows from the outside. Anger is a powerful emotion, one which can fuel all kinds of unpleasant things, including giving stronger spirits the ability to affect the physical world. As evidenced by this floating decanter. With a slow movement, I reached out and took hold of it. After a moment I felt its weight settle entirely into my grasp, and I released my spell. The bottle''s aura faded from my sight as I put it back on the sideboard. "It could be poltergeist activity," I said thoughtfully, "though this wasn¡¯t particularly violent. Has it been in any way harmful and directed at you or your husband?" "Only when we''re in his study on the second floor, the attic and the basement," she said. "Then it seems to be directed towards us rather than just happening. But I still wouldn''t call what happens in the attic and Jamie''s study harmful, just...direct." I looked back at her as I resumed my seat and picked my notebook and pen back up. "What do you mean?" She considered the question for a moment before answering. "Whenever we''re in the attic, there''s a distinct feeling of being watched. It''s not a friendly sensation, but nothing ever really happens other than that. We''re using the attic for storage, and occasionally we''ll hear thumps and bumps from up there, but when we go to look there''s never anything out of place." "And in his study?" I asked. Mrs. Muldrew actually blushed when I asked. "Actually, Jamie has never experienced anything in there. But whenever I go in, I feel like I''m being watched. It''s not like the attic and basement though..." She blushed more deeply. "It''s more like...young lady, from one woman to another, have you ever had a man look at you in such a way that you felt like he was undressing you with his eyes?" I knew exactly what she meant, and nodded. She returned my nod. "That is what I feel in Jamie''s study. And occasionally, something will pinch my...my bottom!" I resisted the urge to smile at how completely offended she sounded. It wasn''t funny, not even remotely. It was just the way she''d said it. I concentrated on writing my notes for a moment until the urge passed. "I understand. What about the basement?" "The basement," she replied after a moment''s hesitation, "Was where I intended to put my washer and dryer. But every time we go down there, we feel that same feeling of being watched, and the light bulbs have a tendency to flare up and burst. It got to the point where it felt futile to keep replacing them, so we stopped trying. We just don''t go down there now. There appeared to be quite a few of the previous owner''s possessions still down there, but we never had a chance to go through them." "It sounds rather more sinister than the rest of the manifestations in the house," I noted. She nodded. "It is. As I said, we no longer go down there." My notebook and pen vanished back into my coat - in the same pocket this time - and I rose. I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder again, then collected my staff. "I''d like to start in the basement, then. If you''ll show me where it is?" "Of course," she rose and led the way out of the room. In the kitchen - which was every bit as large and impressive as I''d expected, but considerably more modern - she showed me a door that opened onto a dark staircase going down. I tapped my staff on the floor twice and poured a bit of Anima into it, causing the rune-engraved steel cap at the top to glow with blue-white magelight. It would shed plenty of light for me to see by, and I could adjust its intensity and focus at will. A very useful spell, magelight, and one that every Hermetic Mage learns early in their training. She stopped me with a hand on my arm as I moved towards the door. "Miss Kinnear," she said quietly, "I do hope you''ll forgive me if I don''t go down there with you. Frankly, I can barely stand being alone in the house at all." I nodded. "Of course, Mrs. Muldrew. Don''t worry about it. Come on, Artemis, Athena." Artemis stopped at the top of the stairs, her tail bristling again. <> Athena stood beside her sister, her own tail bristled out similarly. <> Animals have always been more sensitive to the supernatural than humans. I''ve always thought it was one of the reasons why spellcasters started taking animals as familiars. You ignored the senses of your familiar at your own risk. If they felt something bad down there, they were probably right. But this was my job, and I did not want to disappoint my new employer on my second day. Not to mention the fact that it''d get back to Master Tremane, which would be even more embarrassing. I was trained for this sort of thing. <> I replied to them. <> <> Artemis observed with her usual insight. She backed up and sat down beside Mrs. Muldrew, startling the older woman. <> Athena smiled. <> <> Artemis teased. <> Athena rolled her eyes. I choked down my laugh, hiding it behind clearing my throat. "Mrs. Muldrew, Artemis is going to stay with you while Athena and I go downstairs. If anything happens to you up here, I''ll know instantly as long as she''s with you." Mrs. Muldrew immediately looked relieved, bending a little to hesitantly pet Artemis'' ears. "Thank you, dear. That''s very kind of you." Artemis took the opportunity to purr like a rusty motor and lean against Mrs. Muldrew''s leg. She was charmed by my familiar''s antics, and I could see the tension leaving her muscles. I smiled. <> <> I turned back to the darkness and directed a beam of magelight from the tip of my staff down the stairs so I could see them. "Come on, Athena." "Right behind you, Mistress." <> Having familiars really was quite awesome. I have no idea how I ever got by without them. Family Ties - Chapter 8 The first time I encountered a ghost, I was with my mother. I couldn''t have been more than seven or eight years old, and she had taken me to look into rumors of strange noises in a clearing in the woods not far from where we lived. The ghost we had found there had been a sad thing, roaming aimlessly in search of something it had lost years earlier, before it had died. It didn''t have enough energy to manifest completely, just a ball of mist in the vague shape of a person, radiating a sense of loss and sadness. My mother had searched the whole clearing, finally locating a little gold locket. The spirit had come to it immediately, its loss and sadness gone, replaced with a sense of relief. My mother had carefully buried the pendant while the spirit watched, then bid it depart in peace. As it faded away, I - in my innocence - decided that helping ghosts move on was a wonderful thing. Years later, Master Tremane had taken me to my first poltergeist case. I had foolishly tried to communicate with it, to talk it into passing beyond...and walked away with a spectacular black eye, a lump on the side of my head and a few small cuts on my face from a particularly vigorous vase. I had expected Master Tremane to be angry with me for embarrassing him. But he had laughed and clapped a friendly hand on my shoulder. "Alys, dear child, I would be a hypocrite of the first order if I chastised you for that," he had said. "When I did the same thing myself during my training!" After that, he had taken me with him whenever he went to look into a haunting. "You''re going to be dealing with these sorts of things all your life," he had told me. "The sooner you start learning to deal with them in all their variety, the better." What I learned was this: Not all hauntings are created equal. Most of the time, ghosts are harmless things, sometimes not even self-aware enough to respond to attempts at communication. Sometimes they were never self-aware to begin with, but were merely the psychic recording of an event imprinted on a location. Others times, as in most poltergeist cases, they were never human in the first place and were something that we still don''t have an explanation for. Elementals and demons needed to be handled with kid gloves, the latter preferably by a holy man of some sort, the former by a Shaman or Hermetic Mage who really knows what they''re doing. But every once in a while, you ran into a ghost that had been a genuinely nasty or insane person in life, and had carried those traits over into the afterlife. In their own way, they were worse than demons. After all, they had full access to the mortal world and free will. Demons had neither. As Athena and I slowly made our way down the cellar stairs, our way lit only by the magelight from my staff, I had a very bad feeling that what we were about to deal with was precisely that. The spirit - or worse, spirits - of someone who had been a patient here when it had still been an asylum. All haunted buildings have an atmosphere to them that a practitioner of magic - or anyone with enough magical or psychic talent - can sense. This one had made my skin crawl more than a bit as I''d viewed its aura from the outside. As we descended into the darkness, I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up. Just behind me, Athena made a soft, unsettled noise in the back of her throat. She probably felt it more intensely than I did. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and felt her press lightly against my back as I willed the magelight to grow in intensity, brightening the area around us. But for some reason, the light from my staff didn''t seem to penetrate very far into the darkness. We could see the nearest wall of the basement - made of old brick - about eight feet to the right of the bottom of the stairs, and an area of tightly-fitted flagstone floor in roughly the same radius. "Mistress," Athena whispered, "There''s something down here with us. I can feel it watching us." I nodded. I couldn''t exactly feel it myself, but I was fully prepared to take her word for it. Her senses were sharper than mine and probably broader of spectrum as well. For that matter, her vision was probably better at penetrating the darkness than mine was. "What can you see beyond the light?" I asked her quietly. She shifted against my back. "Very little, Mistress," she replied just as quietly. "It''s like the darkness is soaking up all light, and I need at least a little to be able to see in it." "Then it''s not natural darkness," I murmured. "No, Mistress," she agreed seriously. "It isn''t." "Well then," I said a more natural voice, pretending that I wasn''t the least bit unsettled or intimidated by something that could swallow up and block out the light from my staff. "Let''s see what there is to see down here." We moved away from the stairs, walking slowly so as not to trip over anything. Shapes loomed up out of the darkness as we walked. An old fashioned boiler and oil heater, as well as the hulk of an old - and very creepy looking - coal furnace. I silently thanked the gods that it wasn''t burning. I''d seen one alight once, and it had reminded me of some sort of evil demon crouched in its corner. We found a few old wooden crates, sealed and nailed shut. Stacks of more modern cardboard boxes with such prosaic labels as ''kitchen'' and ''master bed'' written on them filled one corner. I imagined those must be the previous owner''s remnants, as Mrs. Muldrew had indicated. As we moved towards the back corner of the house opposite where we''d entered the basement, the darkness seemed to coalesce around us, growing almost tangible. It pressed in on us, slowly reducing our circle of light to a scant four feet. I pressed more energy into the magelight spell, and while it grew brighter in our immediate area, it did nothing to push the darkness out away from us again. I dug in my bag and pulled out a chunk of quartz crystal, milky white and roughly the size of my fist. With an effort of will, I infused it with another magelight spell and set it on the floor. Like the light from my staff, it did little to push the darkness away from us. "What''s that for?" Athena asked quietly. Her voice seemed strangely muffled, and I finally admitted to myself that I was getting nervous. "I want to see how far away from it we can get and still see it," I replied just as quietly. "Let''s head back towards the stairs." With a nod, she turned back the way we had come. I quickly followed her, resting my right hand on her left shoulder and glancing back every few feet. The quartz crystal remained a bright beacon in the darkness, holding the shadows at bay out to about three feet from it in all directions. When we were about thirty feet from it, it suddenly blinked out. The sudden darkness where it sat immediately became the center of a cracking, splintering sound that sent shivers up my spine. "That can''t be good," Athena whispered. I shook my head. "It''s not. Stairs?" "We should be right on top of them," she replied, sounding frustrated. "I don''t understand it, they should be right here." "Could you have gotten turned around in this murk?" I asked gently. She shook her head. "My sense of direction has always been flawless, Mistress. I''m quite certain we''ve come back around to where we started. But it''s changed." Unfortunately, that was entirely possible. If we were dealing with an inhuman entity - or, perhaps worse, a collection of insane human spirits - they could have a startling amount of control over how we perceived our surroundings. Not over the physical world itself, but it was well documented that a powerful spirit could overcome even the best psychic defenses, at least as far as projecting illusions went. But to befuddle and confuse Athena''s superior instinct and senses was a more difficult matter. That scared me more than a little. It meant that the entity or entities we were dealing with were more powerful than I had first thought. Which meant that this was going to be harder... Athena''s hand touched my face, and my train of thought shattered. I realized I was on the verge of hyperventilating and forced myself to take a few deep breaths. After a moment, I felt my calm returning and took in Athena''s worried eyes. The magelight on my staff had dwindled to almost nothing, and now it flared back to brilliance as I centered my thoughts. "Thank you, Athena." She nodded slightly. "Of course, Mistress. What do we do?" I thought about it. Clearly, my fear had been a pathway for whatever was here to follow into my mind. Athena had disrupted that by providing me with something familiar - no pun intended - to focus my thoughts on. I had an idea. "Close your eyes," I said softly. "Think about your sister, and take us to the stairs." She smiled, reassured by my unspoken faith in her. Without questioning my intentions, her eyes closed and she turned in place for a moment before starting to walk. I reached out and clasped her shoulder gently so we couldn''t be separated and followed her through the darkness. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. In moments, she seemed to step up onto thin air, and the illusion shattered. The stairs instantly became visible to me, and I could see Artemis standing in the doorway at the top peering down at us. <> she said with some concern. <> I smiled up at her. <> Artemis nodded her head slightly and backed away from the stairs as we made our way back up. I squeezed Athena''s shoulder gently and murmured, "Well done." She flashed me a quick, relieved smile over her shoulder. "Thank you, Mistress." "This is," I said to Mrs. Muldrew a few minutes later, "Going to be a bit more difficult than I''d hoped." She had made me a cup of tea, and we were back in her parlor. Athena had her hands curled around a cup as well, and the chill we''d felt in the basement was slowly being dispelled by the hot tea. Artemis was sprawled on the floor by Mrs. Muldrew''s chair, tail flipping lazily. "Is it bad, dear?" She asked nervously. "It could be worse," I said in what I hoped was a reassuring way. "I think that what we have here is a fairly simple haunting in its own way, but I believe there''s more than one entity at work. If they worked together at a single goal, we''d see something like what happened to us in the basement...an illusion powerful enough to befuddle even Athena''s senses." I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts, then added, "I''d like to look through what your husband found out about the history of the building, if that would be possible." "Of course," she said with a nod. "He made copies of everything in case we needed it for some reason. It''s all in his study." "Which is another room I wanted to take a look at," I smiled. "That''s convenient." I finished my tea and rose, picking up my bag and staff. "Shall we?" Athena quickly finished her tea and she and Artemis were by my side in an instant as Mrs. Muldrew led us through the house. My first impression had not been mistaken. It was a beautifully and elegantly furnished house, done in a pseudo-Victorian style that appealed to me greatly. Old-fashioned rosewood furniture, vases and paintings, elegant carpeting and drapes lined every hallway. Glimpses of the rooms we were passing showed a dining room large enough to seat at least twenty, complete with beautiful tapestries on the walls; a recreational room with a billiards table and full bar; and several lavishly appointed guest rooms. The house was also huge, taking up almost a quarter of a city block outside. Inside it was practically a maze of hallways and rooms. I silently thanked the gods for sending me Athena and Artemis...without them, I doubted I''d be able to find my way out if left on my own. Aside from the decor, one thing about the house remained solidly constant as we made our way through it. Always, no matter where we were, there was a feeling of being watched. Both Athena and Artemis kept glancing around warily, their postures tense and alert. I felt it as a tingling sensation on the back of my neck. A quiet sense of malevolent attention fixed on us. Mrs. Muldrew led us to her husband''s study on the second floor, darkly furnished in rich woods with a huge old mahogany desk as the room''s centerpiece. As a whole, the room''s contents were much like the rest of the house; pseudo-Victorian, quietly dignified and elegant. There were a couple of bookcases filled to bursting with medical textbooks, reference guides, journals and other publications. Two shelves held a display of antique surgical implements. "Your husband is a doctor?" I asked curiously, thinking about how much the spirits of a former asylum would dislike having a medical professional living in their domain. She nodded. "Yes, he''s a surgeon. He''s working with some of today''s brightest minds to improve the techniques used to remove brain tumors." Oh, lovely. "That needs to be factored into the equation," I murmured to myself. "What does?" Mrs. Muldrew asked, having overheard me. "These spirits might have been riled up by your husband''s profession," I replied slowly, thinking out loud as much as responding to her question. "If the spirits here are remnants of the old asylum, they might rather strongly dislike having a brain surgeon living here, whether his work is relevant to their history or not. Where are the documents your husband gathered about the house?" "Right there on his desk," she replied. "Please, feel free to have a seat and go through them. I need to get in touch with our cleaning service and see if they have any new employees who might be willing to come here. Will you be all right on your own for a bit?" I nodded and smiled reassuringly. "Of course." She smiled. "Very good. I''ll be back to check on you soon." As soon as she was gone, I moved around the desk and sat down in the leather desk chair behind it. Athena moved to the shelves of old surgical implements curiously, and Artemis - being very much herself - flopped down onto the thick carpet by the desk and yawned hugely. I delved into the pile of folders and envelopes on the desk, pulling out old deeds and construction permits, licenses to practice psychiatric medicine on the premises, bills of purchase for the surrounding buildings that eventually became part of the structure as a whole, and more. He had found the original structural blueprints, as well as sets of blueprints for every expansion the building - and later, buildings - had undergone, right up to a relatively new set that had been drawn up ten years earlier during the renovations that had turned it into a residence. He''d even managed to get slightly out of date blueprints for the other buildings that had been split off from it. The sense of malevolent attention had intensified when we entered the room. After fifteen minutes it had become so strong that Artemis sat up and was looking around constantly, the fur on the back of her neck and down the length of her tail bristled out. Athena was pacing restlessly back and forth beside the windows behind me, occasionally stopping to look out. Even I could feel it with crystal clarity after a while, as the hairs on the back of my neck bristled like my familiars'' tails. I looked up from the blueprints I was examining and glanced around, frowning. "Do you girls feel that too?" "You mean the skin-crawling feeling of being watched?" Athena asked dryly. "Hard to miss." <> Artemis rose to her paws and padded over to the door and peered out into the hallway. <> "It feels like someone''s undressing me with their eyes. It''s creepy as hell." I looked around slowly. "Is that your intention?" I asked the air. "To make us so uncomfortable that we''ll leave?" Athena jumped and uttered a startled meow, swinging around with her claws out and slashing at thin air. She stopped and looked bewildered. "What''s wrong?" I asked. "Someone...something pinched my tail," she said in confusion. I pursed my lips and looked around, then sighed. "This is one of those times I wish I actually was a Druid. A purification ritual would be really nice right about now." I considered my options, then nodded to myself and picked up my bag from the floor beside the chair and started rummaging through the pockets. "Which one did I put it in..." "Mistress?" Athena asked, padding over. "Ah!" I brought out the jar of fine white salt I¡¯d taken from Hollis¡¯ supply room and held it out to her. "Here, take this." "Yes, Mistress," she took it and looked at it for a moment, then at me, waiting for instructions. I closed my bag back up and nodded to the floor. "Use it to trace a circle around the desk. Not too much, maybe an inch wide. Make the circle big enough for all of us to be inside it with the desk." She nodded and went to work as Artemis padded over curiously. <> "I''m going to keep out whatever it is that''s trying to distract us," I said, digging in my bag again. "Stay inside the circle, okay?" Artemis nodded and sat down on the other side of the chair, watching her sister. Athena returned to me a few moments later, set the jar down on the table and brushed a little bit of excess salt off her hands. "All set, Mistress." I held out four palm-sized chunks of quartz crystal to her. "Cardinal directions." She looked at me blankly. "Sorry?" I laughed. "No, I''m sorry Athena. My bad. North, south, east, west. As close to them as you can get, one at each point." Athena looked relieved. "Yes, Mistress!" She took them and moved away, mumbling "Cardinal directions" under her breath. She glanced around for a moment, then went to work with the instinctive direction-sense she''d already demonstrated in the basement. Artemis watched curiously. <> I smiled down at her and took a moment to ruffle her ears gently. "Good to know, pet. Keep those eyes and ears alert, then." <> she wrinkled her nose. <> "That''s all right, pet," I said absently as I watched Athena at work. "I doubt you''d smell our watchers anyway." Artemis huffed softly, clearly annoyed by the idea of not being able to smell her prey. When Athena returned to me again, I rose from the table and moved to the circle. "Looks good. Well done." She practically glowed with my praise as I walked around the inside of the circle, then glanced around. "North?" I asked her. Athena pointed to one of the chunks of crystal. "Thank you," I said, moving to it and kneeling down by it. I touched it lightly with the tip of my index finger and whispered a few words in Gaelic about raising a wall. As I finished, all four crystals began to glow with a gentle white light, which quickly spread into the salt encircling us. A few moments later, the feeling of being watched was completely gone. I rose and smiled. "There, better?" Athena nodded with the same relief I felt. "Yes, Mistress." Artemis yawned. <> I smiled. "Later, pet. Keep watch." Artemis sighed and padded around the desk and sat down facing the door, being careful to stay inside the circle. I sat back down at the desk and returned to examining the blueprints. "Athena, come and take a look at this," I said about fifteen minutes later, moving two sets of blueprints side-by-side. "I don''t actually know how to read, Mistress," she murmured regretfully as she came up beside me. "That''s all right. We''ll fix that soon enough," I smiled up at her and took her hand to reassure her, squeezing it gently. "Right now, I just need an extra pair of eyes. I want to see if you see what I did. These are building blueprints...they show the layout of the building we''re in now," I explained. "The ones on the right are the current ones, after it was renovated to be a house. The ones on the left are the last set from when it was still an asylum." She leaned down, still holding my hand in hers as she looked at them curiously. "They''re mostly the same, aren''t they?" I nodded. "The architect who did the remodeling used as much of the building''s original structure as possible, I think. What do you see?" I watched her expressive face with interest as she examined the diagrams. Curiosity and confusion warred for space there at first, followed by a sudden focus of attention and alertness. "The basement," she said after a moment. "The basement we were in a little while ago is a third the size of the one shown on the old blueprints." I smiled. "Good," I looked back down at the blueprints. "I was afraid I was reading it wrong. I wonder why they did that...why close off so much of the basement?" "Perhaps it was unsound?" She asked. "Or unfinished?" "Both are possible," I agreed. "But I can''t find any reference to a wall being put up in the basement in the renovation reports. I think we need to take another look at the basement." She made a face. "Do we have to?" "I''m afraid so," I said with a nod. "Artemis will be coming along to protect us this time." From the other side of the desk, I heard Artemis yawn. It was a surprisingly expressive sound, conveying disdain for our nervousness. <> Athena and I both laughed. But our eyes met, and we silently acknowledged the strained note to the laughter with little nods. "It needs to be done," I said quietly. "Our answers are probably down there." She smiled warmly. "Where you go, Mistress, I go." "I can''t ask more than that." Family Ties - Chapter 9 Going down the basement stairs a second time was one of the most difficult things I had ever done. The last time, whatever was down there had very nearly gotten its hooks into me, and would have if not for Athena''s timely intervention. Even then, it had befuddled Athena''s senses so completely that, had she not managed to restore my calm, we might have been trapped by whatever was down there. That was one of the reasons I was bringing Artemis this time. For a number of reasons, animal minds - even an Elevated familiar''s mind - are harder to influence and fool than the human mind. Their senses are often sharper than ours, for example, and their brains handle the information differently. Or so I was taught. Come to think of it, that should have told me something about how profoundly Athena''s transformation had affected her. The spirits in the basement had managed to fool her senses of sight, hearing and smell just like they''d fooled mine. But where that confusion had provided the spirits with a channel into my mind, it had simply befuddled Athena''s senses. Huh. That was worth filing away for later investigation. Athena might be naturally more resistant to the various forms of mind magic than even a highly trained Mage. As during our previous descent into the basement, I called magelight to the tip of my staff, brightening it and shaping it into a beam as we made our way down the stairs. Artemis went first, with Athena following behind me. The darkness was still deep and pervasive, more so than it should have been. It was clearly unnatural. "Both of you stay close to me," I said softly. "I don''t want to risk our getting separated down here." With a quick glance around, I oriented us towards the wall that had been put up to divide this part of the basement from the larger portion of it. "The wall we want is over that way. Artemis, keep us on a straight line to it." <> "Good idea," Athena murmured. "Since they befuddled both of us last time." I shot Athena an amused look. "Befuddled?" "Did I use it wrong?" She asked anxiously. "No, not at all. I was just surprised." I smiled warmly. "I was just thinking the same thing a moment ago." "While you were asleep, Mister Ellister explained that I''ll know a lot of what you knew when you Elevated me," she explained as we followed Artemis through the strange darkness and past the crates and boxes I''d seen earlier. "But it''s going to take a few weeks to...to percolate?" She smiled sheepishly. "I didn''t understand that part." "It makes sense to me," I said with a nod. "I poured a lot of myself into you to Elevate you," I reached back and took her hand. "You''re very much a part of me now. Just like your sister, but quite a bit more profoundly." <> Artemis said, drawing our attention to where we were walking. <> Athena stepped up beside her and flared her nostrils, taking a deep breath. Then she sneezed. "All I smell is basement mildew. A lot of it." <> Artemis fired at her cheerfully. <> Athena rolled her eyes, then both of them turned and looked to me for direction. I stared at the wall for a few moments, mentally comparing the basement as we''d seen it to what was on the blueprints. There was no question that the square footage of the basement we were in - in spite of not being able to see all of it, or even most of it, at one time - was significantly less than what was shown on the old blueprints. "Okay," I said finally. "I''m going to try a sounding spell my master taught me. Step back from the wall." They both did, Athena moving to stand beside me as Artemis turned to watch our backs. "A sounding spell, Mistress?" "Mmhm," I said, rummaging in my bag. "It''s kind of like active sonar. Hit the wall with a sound wave and see what it gives back. If it''s empty space on the other side, it should have a different acoustic signature than if they filled it in." "Ah," she said, clearly not completely understanding. I smiled. "You''ll see. Ah, here it is." I pulled out a tuning fork and closed my bag again. "I''m sorry if this makes your ears hurt." Artemis sighed and flattened her ears, as Athena covered hers with her hands. I considered the wall for a moment, then the tuning fork, all the while recalling the details of the spell. Finally, I murmured a few words in Gaelic about spreading and returning sound, struck the tuning fork against my staff to make it chime, and touched it to the wall. A few feet to our left, the wall began to glow and hum softly. I swore under my breath and pulled the tuning fork away from the wall, stuffing it back into my bag. "I was hoping they''d filled it in." "What does that mean?" Athena asked. "It means that there''s an open space on the other side of the wall there. Probably the corridor we were looking at on the blueprints." I walked down the wall to the spot that was still glowing faintly and frowned at it. Artemis and Athena followed me, Artemis asking, <> "Yeah, we have to," I said thoughtfully. "I suppose I could use a bit of geomancy...see if I can shape a hole. It works with stone, it ought to work on bricks." I touched the glowing tip of my staff to the wall and began to murmur the words of my spell. In Gaelic, I spoke to the bricks, gently but firmly encouraging them to wake and change, to flow away from the spot I wanted cleared. At the same time, I poured Anima into the spell, running it through my staff and into the wall. It had worked with stone in the past, causing it to almost liquefy and flow away from the spot I wanted cleared. I had even been able to shape it into specific forms. The brick was quite a bit more stubborn than rock - being man-made for a specific purpose rather than naturally formed - but after a couple of minutes it seemed to shimmer and ripple. Then, in a single fluid movement it flowed outwards, forming a rough archway that opened on a pitch black corridor. I released the spell and let the brick solidify again (for lack of a better term), then shone the magelight at the tip of my staff into the hallway. Unlike the brick wall I''d just opened, the walls beyond were made of cut stone. The light from my staff just barely revealed doors on both sides of a long, unlit corridor. It seemed to go on forever, past the edge of my magelight''s beam. Which, granted, wasn''t really that far. Like the part of the basement we''d already explored, the darkness that inhabited the hallway that lay before us was unnatural. It swallowed up light and seemed to loom over us with sinister intent. I shivered, and felt Athena shiver beside me. <> Artemis said teasingly and prowled forward cautiously, hackles raised and the fur of her tail bristled out. I shared an amused look with Athena. Artemis had struck precisely the right note to shake us both out of our immobility. Shaking my head a little, I followed Artemis into the hallway, and Athena came behind me. Unsurprisingly, the first two doors we came to - on opposite sides of the hallway from one another - were either locked or rusted shut. I was leaning towards locked because the doors themselves, solid-looking things made of iron-banded wood, were by all appearances in perfect condition. The wood looked well-seasoned and strong, the iron bands clean of rust and the hinges seemingly in working condition. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. With a bit of concentration, I could sense the enchantments that had been laid on them. Both doors radiated the faint sensations I had come to associate with spells designed to preserve materials - both organic and inorganic - against time and the elements. I felt the protective, secretive feelings that often came with spells constructed to seal a portal and keep it closed up tight. "Someone really didn''t want people getting into these rooms," I said absently, running my fingers over the hinges of one of them. "And wanted to make sure that the doors would remain intact as long as the enchantments that kept them sealed." Athena had crouched down and was examining the lock curiously. "Mistress, this lock is weird. It''s not like the ones I saw upstairs and at Mr. Hollis'' house." "What do you mean?" I asked, crouching down beside her. It looked like an old-fashioned deadbolt lock to me, but I freely admit I don''t know much about their construction. By way of demonstration, Athena tapped one claw against the metal plate around the keyhole. It thunked softly rather than making the lighter sound metal with space behind it would usually make. "It''s solid. Like there''s no mechanism inside it." I rose, resting my hand on her shoulder for a moment and smiling down at her. "Well spotted." She smiled up at me in return. <> Artemis said from the other side of the hallway. <> I turned to see her hunkered down, sniffing at the slim gap that ran along the bottom of the door. "What do you mean, pet?" As I moved to stand beside her, Athena following, Artemis pressed her nose against the base of the door and sniffed. <> She pawed at the door for a moment. <> "No airflow?" Athena asked, speaking aloud the question I had been thinking. She really had absorbed more of me than I''d realized. I made another mental note to speak to Hollis about it later. Mind you, it didn''t worry me at all. Quite the contrary. I felt it would be both useful and probably a lot of fun. But I was curious as to how common such a thing was, and what the extent of it might be. "That''s probably the case," I said thoughtfully, answering Athena''s question, crouching down and stroking Artemis'' neck and back. "I imagine the spells on these doors are keeping anything from going in or out, including air. Though why they''d be keeping you from smelling them," I said to Artemis, "I have no idea." "Can you look more closely at the spells?" Athena asked, once again speaking my mind for me. I patted Artemis'' shoulder warmly before rising, and she rubbed against my leg in response, purring contentedly. "I can," I said thoughtfully. "And we might learn something valuable in doing so. Watch my back, girls." Athena nodded and turned to face one way, while Artemis set herself to watch in the other direction. The spell I cast then was pretty much the same spell I cast outside the building in order to read its aura. Even the verbal and physical components were nearly identical, but the intent was subtly different. Magic is funny that way. Really skilled spellcasters rarely bother using verbal foci at all, and only use the most basic physical ones, when molding and shaping their spells. I''d already gotten pretty proficient at doing that with some combat magic, but the subtle things...well, I still needed practice and experience. I finished casting , and in the wake of the spell the door seemed to become coated in a swirl of multi-colored energy - the spell''s manifestation of the enchantments placed on the door. I examined it curiously, reaching out to brush the fingers of my left hand through the sheen of energy, sampling its texture and getting a feel for their effects. "This," I said finally, "Is an interesting mix of spells." "How so?" Athena asked, perhaps sensing my desire to use her as a sounding board. Or maybe she was just curious. More likely, a mix of the two. "The reds and yellows," I replied, "Are sealing and locking spells, not just holding the door shut but preventing even air from passing in or out. The pale blues and greens are even more curious - they''re preservation spells, like what people used to use to preserve food before refrigerators became common. They appear to extend beyond the edges of the door and into the walls, so I''m guessing the whole room is wrapped in them." <> Artemis asked. "Maybe," I said slowly. "It seems kind of unlikely, though. Why leave it here during the construction?" I turned to look down the hallway, shining my magelight at the other visible doors. "And why do it to so many rooms? From the spacing of the doors, and from the blueprints, I''d say these aren''t small rooms. Certainly not of a size for pantries, even large ones. At a glance, I''d say all of the doors have the same - or at least similar - enchantments on them." "What do we do?" Athena asked. I flashed her a quick smile. "We open one, of course." She returned my smile, perhaps a bit wryly. "Of course. I don''t know what I was thinking, Mistress." "Oh, stop," I teased, returning my attention to the door. It felt good to joke with her...it kept away some of the feeling of being watched. After examining the door for a few silent minutes, I began casting spells. I could have torn the enchantments apart with ease. They weren''t overly sophisticated, and while designed to last for a very long time, they wouldn''t stand up to much abuse. But I wanted to keep them intact, in case I needed to seal the room back up afterwards. Why have to redo work that had already been done? So instead I wove my spells with subtlety, carefully inserting the metaphysical equivalent of lock picks into the enchantments and slowly prying them open. It didn''t take me very long, maybe five minutes. In the end, I managed to convince the spells to release the physical door without disrupting their integrity and to magically pop the lock open almost silently. But when the door started to swing silently open, the air of malevolence seemed to constrict around us, causing Athena and Artemis to press closer to me. I understood why a few moments later. The room was most assuredly for storage of perishables, but not for food. It was part of a morgue. Rows upon rows of cold-storage lockers just the right height and width to slide a body into lined the walls. My jaw dropped open just a little and I breathed out an almost silent curse. This was not good. But this was my job. So I steeled my nerves and moved forward into the room, intending to examine the lockers. If all of them had bodies in them, perhaps preserved for later experimentation and/or postmortem examination, it could indicate a large number of deaths on the premises. Worse, if all of the lockers had inhabitants (so to speak) and all of the other rooms were like this one, we might have a very serious problem on our hands. "Mistress?" Athena whispered from behind me. As she spoke, I suddenly felt a sharp spike of fear that wasn''t my own. "What is it, pet?" "It''s...look." Her voice was quavery and had an edge to it that made me turn. She and Artemis were both backing into the room, tails lashing with agitation. Artemis has her fangs bared and was growling deep in her throat. So I turned to look. For a moment, I was certain my heart had stopped. Then it sped up to a frantic, near panic pace. The hallway was packed to bursting with people. So many that they couldn''t move, they were so tightly crowded together. They were mostly male, and most of them were wearing what looked like old-fashioned hospital scrubs...canvas pants and short-sleeved pullover shirts. For a moment, I wondered in absolutely bewildered silence how they could have possibly sneaked up behind us without our hearing them. Then I realized that I could see the opposite wall and door through them. "They just appeared," Athena whispered, answering my unspoken question. "Right after you stepped into the room." < > Artemis added uneasily. <> I looked more closely at the people in the hallway. Many of them had their hair cropped close to their heads or shaved off entirely. None were wearing jewelry of any kind and quite a few had visible scars or tattoos, or both. And finally, most of them appeared to have numbers on the right breast of their shirts. The numbers seemed to stand out with special intensity and greater solidity. As if the numbers were how the spirits identified themselves. These, I decided, were the inmates of the old asylum. The ones who had died on-site. The expressions on their faces ranged from absent indifference to focused, outright anger. But all of their eyes - leeched of color by their spectral nature and seeming to reflect my magelight with unnatural clarity - were fixed on me and my familiars. The spirits suddenly crowded forward, pressing towards the doorway and causing Athena and Artemis to retreat further into the room. They stopped on either side of me, and a moment later the spirits stopped as well, clustered against the open doorway so tightly that they actually overlapped in some places. But they didn''t enter the room. A moment later, I realized that they probably couldn''t. I had opened the door, but the preservation spells remained intact. Air had come in with us and flowed freely through the doorway because of how I had opened it, but the room itself was still designed to keep things in and out. They couldn''t cross its threshold. It was a small reprieve, but it let my heart slow back down to a less frantic pace and gave me a chance to think clearly. I wasn''t sure that we were actually in any real danger yet. They were, after all, incorporeal beings, and while they could - it probably took several of them working together - affect their surroundings, there was little down here for them to make use of. I took a few steps forward to the doorway, causing the spirits to fall back slightly. "We mean you no harm," I said in as quiet and reassuring voice a voice as I could muster. "We''re here to release you from this trap." I gestured around me. Most likely it was the preservation spells as much as the trauma and madness that had lingered here which kept them from moving on. I didn''t realize I had actually reached the doorway until one of them croaked in an almost inaudible voice, "This place is ours," and took a swipe at me. I flinched back automatically and felt a thin sliver of pain on my cheek, which caused me to jump back in surprise. Athena caught me, trembling with a mixture of adrenaline-response and fear. "Mistress, your cheek..." I raised my hand to my left cheek, which stung a bit, and felt wetness. When I drew my hand away again, I saw a bit of blood on my fingertips. The spirit had not only made contact with me, it had been able to hurt me, however slightly. Which it absolutely should not have been able to do. "I think," I said very quietly, trying not to let my fear come across in my voice, "We''re in over our heads." Family Ties - Chapter 10 Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place. If we tried to leave the room, we might be torn to pieces by the spirits in the hallway. At the same time, they were apparently unable to enter the room as long as its preservation enchantments remained intact. And obviously we couldn''t stay there for long. Not only did we not have any supplies - food and water - but I wasn''t sure what effect the enchantments on the room would have on us if we stayed inside them for too long. "What are they?" Athena asked, staying between me and the door as much as she could. "And why don''t they come in?" "They don''t enter," I replied absently, thinking hard, "Because one of the enchantments on the room is keeping them out. I''m not sure which one. As for what they are..." I trailed off into silence. They weren''t poltergeists, which were almost never known to manifest visible forms, nor were they ghosts in the traditional sense of the term. The vast majority of ghosts simply couldn''t affect their environment, and one of these had scratched my face. I couldn''t be sure that the rest would be able to do that, but I was intuitively certain that they could and not eager to test the theory. Although anger and hatred poured off of them in an almost tangible aura, they were incorporeal - I could see through them, however hazily - which ruled out wights. And ghouls and every other sort of physical undead I could think of off the top of my head, thank goodness. Wraiths. They had to be wraiths. Wraiths were a sub-species of ghost, so to speak, which were defined by two major factors: First, like wights, they were created by the death of a person who was furiously angry, dangerously insane, or basically just plain evil. Pick at least two, and insane has to be one of them. We were certainly in the right place for that. Second, unlike wights, they were usually bound to a single location and had no physical form. It didn''t mean it was impossible for them to manipulate their environment, but it did make it very difficult. And attempting to cause someone harm made it easier, which made them vastly more dangerous than normal ghosts. As evidenced by the handkerchief I was using to clean the cut on my cheek. I was scared. I had never dealt with anything like this on my own, and had no idea how I was going to get myself and my familiars out of this mess in one piece. I supposed that I could try to blast our way out. Lightning had a powerful effect on spiritual entities, as did fire - though I was loath to use fire in a basement for obvious reasons, even if it was mostly stone. That much fire would make it hard to breathe, for one thing. And yet, Master Tremane taught me that violence should never be the first solution, unless your life is in immediate danger. I had responded to the thugs at the docks with violence because it was obvious that Athena, Artemis and I were in danger. That was not necessarily the best response with ghosts. Many types of ghosts have a trait in common - they''re often still on Earth because of some sort of unfinished business. It could be anything from a lost trinket all the way up to simply wanting to see how the world continues to develop. Rumor has it Leonardo da Vinci''s ghost haunts his home city, and has been seen leaning over the shoulders of people reading newspapers and books. But I digress. If I could figure out what it was that this group wanted... Or maybe my fear was clouding my mind and making me stupid. I mean, I was standing in a morgue, surrounded by their physical bodies. I practically smacked my forehead with the heel of my hand, turning and moving to the wall of lockers. "Mistress?" Athena asked, following me closely. "They''re trapped here," I said. "It''s the combination of enchantments designed to keep their bodies..." I grabbed one of the big release levers as I spoke, yanking it open and sliding the locker out to reveal a perfectly preserved corpse under a sheet. "From decaying," I finished. Athena made a face and took a step back. "Why do that?" "Medical experimentation, probably," I said quietly. "It happened a lot during the last century and the early part of this one." I slid the locker shut again, turning back towards the door where the wraiths had clustered, suddenly unmoving and watching me with unnerving intensity. "Not every problem is solved with magic, Alys," I murmured, unconsciously mimicking Master Tremane''s voice. Then I huffed a little sound and moved back to the door. Artemis side-stepped to make room for me, though she had her fangs bared at the wraiths. To my surprise, they actually seemed to be a bit intimidated by her. But then, animals - especially felines and canines - interact with the spirit world quite a bit more easily than humans. It was possible that she, more so than I or even Athena, would be able to hurt them. And they seemed to know it. I shifted my staff to my left hand and held up my right, palm outward in a sign of peace. "Be easy, spirits. If you will allow us to pass without harm, we will see to it that your mortal remains are laid to rest with due dignity." There was a long moment of silence. Then the wraiths shifted around, and one drifted forward. He was taller and better defined than the others, to the point that I could actually make out the features of the person it had been in life. His face was broad and craggy, with no beard, thick lips, and a nasty looking scar which started high on his forehead, bisected his right eyebrow, and went all the way down his cheek to his chin. His head was bald - either naturally or shaved clean - and he had the look of a man who had once been muscular but had lost it through inactivity. "Promise..." he said, his voice ephemeral and almost inaudible. It was a cold, dead sound that made my skin pucker with goose-flesh and raised the hairs on the back of my neck. "Swear..." "You have my word," I said firmly, "Given freely. I will see to it that you can finally rest." He seemed to consider me for a long moment, his colorless, translucent eyes fixed on mine. Then he nodded and glided back away from the door, saying simply, "Go..." The rest of them took their cue from him, turning and drifting away, most of them fading out and vanishing. After less than a minute, only the one who had spoken remained, waiting across the hall from our door. "Come on, girls," I said softly, shifting my staff back to my right hand and moving out into the hallway. I nodded politely to the wraith and made my way back down the hall, Artemis and Athena flanking me. When I glanced over my shoulder at the entrance I''d opened in the wall, he too was gone. Most of the sense of malevolent observation had faded away, and the darkness in the basement was a natural one for the first time since our arrival. The magelight atop my staff cut through it effortlessly, lighting up most of the basement. Mrs. Muldrew was waiting for us at the top of the stairs looking confused. "Did you do something?" She asked. "The whole atmosphere of the house just changed...that feeling of being watched is gone, and it''s like the house is waiting for something now." I took a deep breath and let it out. "Yes, and no. We''ve found out why the house is haunted, and what we can do about it. I need to consult with Wizard Ellister and find out how to get the ball rolling...there''s a lot of work to be done." It took most of the next two weeks to make all of the arrangements and get everything done. Hollis came with me the next day to strip away the enchantments keeping the bodies from decaying, and we had to get the police involved for propriety''s sake. They were understanding and helpful, providing as much assistance as they could in removing the bodies to the city morgue where they would be documented and cremated as quickly and efficiently as possible. The law enforcement officials of most countries have a working relationship with at least one of the magical communities under their jurisdiction. In the case of Albion, it¡¯s the Order of Hermetic Wizardry that worked with the police in a semi-official capacity. It was a two way street, giving Mages like myself the freedom to take care of situations like this one without having to involve the police (who often would have had to call in a specialist anyway), and giving the police the ability to call on us when our skills were needed. I don''t carry a badge or anything like that, but unless I really step over the line it''s not likely they''ll do more than ask me a few questions and send me on my way. As evidenced by that little fracas down on the docks, however manipulated it had been by Hollis. It makes life easier for everybody. Of course, it''s not as simple as ''bang, you''re a wizard, off you go now and fight evil.'' When studying for my Mage''s license, I had to learn all about law enforcement in Albion, both for the entire region and for the individual kingdoms that comprise it. I had to prove to the satisfaction of a panel of officials - both state and national, magical and judicial - that I knew the boundaries of my work and what my responsibilities were if called upon to serve. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It had not been easy, but getting my Mage license had been a proud and satisfying moment in my life. And it made it possible for me to do things like this: making arrangements for the removal of bodies to set ghosts to rest. In the end, ninety-seven bodies were removed from that old underground morgue. Some of them had clearly been autopsied or experimented on, others had evidently just been stored there for later use. Athena and I learned more about pathology and mortuary procedures than either one of us ever really wanted to know, but Hollis insisted that it would be good for us to see it through. And it was. When it was over, I felt strangely cleansed and good. When I spoke to Athena about it, she agreed - we had done a good deed. As difficult as it had been for us emotionally, we had come out the other side stronger and as relieved of the burden as the ghosts themselves. Artemis was, of course, largely indifferent to the whole thing, not understanding what the big deal was. It was enough for her to stay near us, watching every day''s new tasks with mild interest for a few minutes before finding a place to sprawl and nap. The day before we were to dispose of the remains, we went back to the former asylum to make one last visit to the basement. Hollis accompanied us out of curiosity, since I hadn''t been able to adequately explain to him why I wanted to. As we reached the entrance I''d opened in the basement wall, the wraith I''d spoken with faded into view, blocking our way. "Promised..." he whispered. I nodded. "I did, and it''s almost done. Your remains have been cremated. Tomorrow, we''re taking them out onto the ocean, where they''ll be spread during a funeral ceremony." He seemed to sigh in relief. "Thank you..." Then he faded away again. None of the other spirits appeared to us, and the house no longer had that strange feeling of being watched wherever you went in it. The feeling of waiting that had taken its place was gone as well. I guess I had needed the closure as much as the ghosts had. On our way out, we stopped to have tea with Mrs. Muldrew. "The house feels so different now," she said as she poured cups for us in her sitting room. "It''s quite amazing." Hollis smiled and sipped his. "Mrs. Muldrew, you have no idea how clever this young lady really is. Most young Mages would have made a mess of your basement trying to blast those poor spirits. I am quite impressed." "You''ve obviously picked up a good assistant, Wizard Ellister," she said in response, using his formal title. "And her familiars are some of the best behaved and most intelligent I''ve ever seen." I was blushing furiously under this assault of praise. But I caught sight of Athena, standing by the door and beaming proudly at me. Even Artemis, sitting beside her sister, was clearly pleased that we were being spoken of highly. Her ears were perked up, and an attentive - frankly, rather smug - look had settled onto her feline features. Their pride eased my embarrassment. We had every reason to be proud. We had freed a household from a potentially dangerous spiritual problem, and had given rest to spirits bound to this world through the misdeeds of others. So I simply nodded my head politely and said a quiet, "Thank you. May I ask what your plans are going forward?" Mrs. Muldrew smiled warmly. "My husband and I intend to subdivide the house into individual homes. This is simply too huge a mansion for any one family to live in or maintain with ease, especially in central London. That was our plan from the start, but we could never get anyone to work here for long. Now we shouldn''t have any problems." "If you have trouble finding renters or buyers when all is said and done," Hollis said, "Let me know. I always have colleagues in search of larger living quarters." "I will," Mrs. Muldrew said. "And thank you. For everything." She rose with us and came to me, taking my hands. "Especially you, Mage Kinnear. You have done my husband and I a great service, and we won''t forget it." The next day, we went out onto the Atlantic Ocean in a small steamship we''d chartered for the purpose. A local priest and few of the police officers who''d helped us remove the bodies came along on their own time, saying that they wanted to help see things through. Athena looked a little bit green at first, but quickly found her sea legs. Artemis was completely unbothered by the experience, and spent a lot of time on deck with her forepaws up on the railing, peering out at the ever-changing water. We didn''t go far from shore. There was no need to. The funeral service was short, quiet and dignified. "We ask the gods to take these poor souls into their arms," the priest finished softly, "And see to it that they rest easy at last." It took a bit longer to spread the ashes over the water. There was quite a lot, but at least there was no wind that day. When we were done, we went our separate ways secure in the feeling that we had done something good and right. That evening, Hollis and I sat in deep, plush chairs in front of the fireplace in his sitting room. I sipped at a mug of steaming tea, while he slowly swirled a snifter of brandy. Artemis was sprawled in front of the hearth - a location that was quickly becoming one of her favorites. Athena sat on the floor in front of my chair, leaning lightly against my legs. She was carefully copying the letters of the alphabet onto a pad of wide-ruled paper, a children''s primer open on her lap. Her reading skills had progressed at an incredible rate, much of it having evidently been imprinted in her mind by the Elevation ritual. It had just needed the right trigger to come to the surface. But writing had eluded her and needed to be amongst her first lessons. "That was done very well and very satisfactorily Alys," Hollis said finally. He turned and smiled at me, his eyes sparkling with good-natured warmth and pride. "Jonathan was right about you. You have a good head on your shoulders. You''re going to go far." I smiled shyly. "He really said that?" He laughed. "You''re more interested in what he had to say than the praise I''m giving you now? You are most assuredly his student. Yes, girl, he said that. And I''m saying it too." I blushed. "I''m sorry. Thank you. You really think I did all right?" "Yes, I do," he replied firmly. "I meant what I said to Mrs. Muldrew. One of my previous assistants ended up involved in a similar - but considerably less difficult - situation and tried to blast his way out with lightning. Made a right bloody mess of things, and the property damage he caused cost him two months'' wages." He shook his head before continuing. "No, you did very well indeed, Alys. That was potentially a very dangerous situation you had to manage, and you came through it with only a scratch to show for it." <> Artemis said smugly from her place before the hearth. She hadn''t even bothered to open her eyes or lift her head, but she was clearly alert to what was being said around her. <> Athena murmured without looking up from her lesson. <> Hollis cleared his throat. "If you''re discussing me behind my back..." Artemis yawned in a distinctly bored way, as if to say "Why would we?" Athena laughed softly as I shook my head and said, "No, not at all. They were just saying that I handled the situation well." "And they''re right. Listen to them, Alys," he leaned forward, setting his mostly empty snifter on the table between us. "You kept your head and used it too. You not only cleared the house of its ghosts, you did so in such a way that the spirits themselves went peacefully rather than having to be forced out. That sort of thing, driving out spirits or performing a ritual cleansing, leaves a sort of metaphysical stain on the environment." "Why?" I asked curiously, turning a little to look at him. "Oh, there''s more than just one reason," he replied thoughtfully. "A religious cleansing, for example, leaves behind a strong positive residue that will wear away over time. In my experience, when a mark like that becomes worn and frayed, it acts like a beacon to entities that might want to destroy or take advantage of such a thing." "Demons," I interjected. He shrugged. "Amongst other things. Demons aren''t the only entities interested in soiling or destroying holy energies. And believe me when I say that drawing the attention of such entities can often be worse than living with what was originally driven out." "I believe it." He smiled at the fervent note in my voice. "Yes, I forgot that you''d seen something like that during your apprenticeship." I shivered a little, remembering an incident I had witnessed Master Tremane take part in two years earlier. A family had asked a Christian priest to bless their house and drive out a ghost that was living there peacefully, and in doing so had fired off what Master Tremane had equated to a psychic beacon that a stronger and more malevolent entity had come to investigate. The new entity had found the family''s teenage daughter, only a few years younger than I was at the time, to be an easy victim. She had lied about what the haunting spirit had done to and around her, engaged in petty theft and at least one fairly minor instance of fraud. In other words, she had been a wide open, easy to use channel. It had taken two days for the Christian priest and Master Tremane to drive the new entity out of the house and away from her. They had been two of the longest days of my life, watching what the entity had done to the girl and convinced her do to herself. I felt it was amazing there had been anything left of her mind when they were done, but she had been intact and sane when it was over. A testament to the strength of the human soul, the priest had said. On our way back to his house, Master Tremane had quietly told me it was more likely a side-effect of how the entity had been trying to possess her. Why torment her if she wasn''t alert and sane enough to feel anguish over what it was doing, he had asked. I didn''t sleep well for weeks afterwards. Hollis seemed to understand the direction my thoughts were traveling in, because he nodded. "Yes, I''ve seen that look on my own face often enough. You know, it''s not uncommon for an exorcist''s hair to turn white early in their career, no matter what magical tradition they hail from. That''s why it''s more often a calling than a career choice." I nodded. "I can''t see anyone doing that because they thought it would be a good way to make a living." He smiled. "Nor can I." "Mistress?" Athena asked quietly, holding up the pad of paper for me to look at. I took it from her and looked over her work. "Much better pet. Your lowercase ''q'' doesn''t look so much like an a anymore. Keep at it." She smiled up at me and took the pad back, flipping to a fresh sheet and returning to work. "Well," Hollis said after a minute of comfortable silence, "I think I''m off to bed." He rose slowly and stretched. "Who knows what tomorrow will bring, after all. Don''t stay up too late, you two. Get some rest." Athena and I both looked up at the same time and replied simultaneously with identical, "We won''t"s. Then we looked at one another and giggled as Hollis left, shaking his head and muttering about having too many girls in the house. I sat back in my chair to finish my tea while Athena finished her lesson. It had been three exhausting weeks, but I had arrived in London without too much trouble, gotten myself two of the best familiars anyone could hope to have, and brought my first job for Hollis to a successful conclusion. I couldn''t wait to see what happened next. Family Ties - Chapter 11 "What does it really mean to be a Mage?" Athena asked a couple of mornings later as she was practicing her penmanship and I was taking notes form a thin volume on the meaning of dream imagery that Hollis has given me. ¡°I mean,¡± she added after a moment, ¡°what¡¯s it all about?¡± I sat back in my chair and looked across the table at her. "Basically, passing your Hermetic Mage''s exams means that you''ve completed six years of apprenticeship and a minimum of four years as a Journeyman. The Mage exams test your ability to control your spellcasting and your proficiency with different types of magic, as well as a basic knowledge of the laws of Greater Britannia so that you understand the boundaries of what a Mage is allowed to do. And, of course, being a Mage is a gateway to a lot of other opportunities." "Like what?" she asked curiously. "First and most importantly - at least to me - becoming a Mage is the first real step towards becoming a Wizard. You can''t start studying to become a Wizard until you''ve proved your proficiency with basic spellcasting to the satisfaction of the Hermetic Order of Wizardry." I smiled and added, "Being a licensed Mage isn¡¯t a career in and of itself, it¡¯s just a stepping stone¡­in my case, being the assistant to a licensed Wizard. Lots of Mages go into the military or law enforcement. Others become professional translators, work in construction and engineering, science, medicine, you name it." "Why?" I wondered if I''d sounded like that when I''d asked Master Tremane questions like that. "Well, think about it. How useful would it be to a structural engineer to be able to apply magic to his work? To be able to tell instantly and with the smallest margin of error possible whether a building is still structurally sound after an earthquake, for example. There are spells that will pinpoint damage so subtle that it can''t be seen with the naked eye...but which over time could cause the building to become unsafe. "The same thing can be applied to medicine," I added after a moment''s thought. "Some of the best doctors in the world have worked magic into their medical practices. True, healing magic has limitations and can be extremely difficult...but it can be used to root out infections, determine the exact nature of an injury, and diagnose diseases with near perfect accuracy. Broken bones can often be set and fused whole without needing a cast, and tumors in difficult - or even dangerous - to reach places can be slowly and carefully dissolved with magic. See?" She nodded thoughtfully, then said, "I suppose the military applications are obvious. A group of combat Mages hurling explosive balls of fire can be more devastating than the best artillery. It must be the same in law enforcement, where spells can be used to safely render a suspect unconscious without any lasting harm." "I should mention," I replied with a smile, "that actively practicing magic without a Mage''s license can get you in trouble. I''m not talking about household magic, but the sort of application of magic in a career that I was just talking about a couple of minutes ago. There are laws and safety regulations that make professional use of magic without at least a Mage''s license illegal." Athena considered that in silence for a few minutes before asking, "So why would people stop after getting their Journeyman''s qualifications?" "Well," I said, playing with my pen, "for starters, it¡¯s a difficult education, and plenty of people never have a reason to progress past being a Journeyman. For example, some of the world''s best Potions Masters have never studied magic beyond that level, feeling the flashiness of spellcasting would distract them from their chosen calling. Sometimes a person studies magic in order to learn to control a wild talent. Once they have it under control - having passed the Journeyman qualifications - they can set it aside or use it at home for simple tasks. I can''t tell you how many times I watched my mother do laundry and dishes with magic. Those were some of the first applications of magic I ever learned." "Other times," I added, "a person discovers that the study of magic simply isn''t for them. Passing the Journeyman''s qualifications shows an understanding and knowledge of magic that can be useful to an employer, even without the actual application of magic. And a lot of people pass the Journeyman exam coming out of school rather than an apprenticeship, just to show basic proficiency and to prove themselves capable of learning magic for a profession." "So what''s the difference between a Mage and a Wizard, then?" Athena asked. ¡°Basically, where a Mage is licensed to practice a specific type of magic as part of a career, a Wizard is licensed to practice magic as a career. But it''s a lot more involved than that. Being a Wizard brings a lot of responsibilities with it.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°Here in Albion,¡± I said, sitting back in my chair, ¡°Wizards must provide assistance to the government, military, and both national and local law enforcement agencies when asked. Fortunately, they have good pay scales for that sort of service, based on complexity and both perceived and real hazards. ¡°Wizards are also required,¡± I continued thoughtfully, ¡°if physically and psychologically able, to confront serious supernatural threats to public safety. Whether asked to or not, with or without compensation. Fortunately for us, most governments - like Albion¡¯s - will adequately compensate a Wizard for their time and trouble after the fact, at least if they were successful. ¡°One of the most important things Wizards are required to do is keep watch for and investigate potential Nosferatu and Zombie outbreaks. We don''t expect to be compensated for this unless we''re called in specifically for this purpose. Frankly, a lot of the time such investigations happen so quickly and quietly that, unless there was a genuine problem, nobody aside from the Wizard or Wizards involved ever find out about it, except in the final report to the government. It''s safer for everyone that way. The panic caused by a large-scale investigation of either one can be just as harmful as a real outbreak.¡± Athena digested all of that for a few moments before saying quietly, ¡°It sounds like a hard life.¡± I huffed out a little laugh. ¡°It''s not an easy life, being a Wizard. It brings a level of responsibility - to yourself, your magic, your community and your country - that some spellcasters aren''t comfortable with. Not to mention the fact that it can put you in danger in ways that being a Mage doesn''t. A policeman who''s a Mage might be asked to consult about a potential supernatural predator...but if it turns out to really be one, odds are very good that a Wizard will be called in. If you''ll forgive a bit of melodrama, Wizards stand between humanity and the darkness.¡± I smiled lopsidedly. ¡°At least, that''s what Master Tremane always told me.¡± <> Artemis grumbled from where she was dozing in a sunbeam. Athena and I shared a smile and went back to our respective studies. Being the assistant to a locally renowned Wizard isn¡¯t always a glamorous life full of excitement and laughing at danger. Most of the time, it''s like being a secretary or clerk: I kept callers from interrupting his work and took messages, ran errands to pick up items he needed, and spent hours taking dictation as he ran experiments. But it wasn''t all study and tedious drudgery. And, truth be told, I found it fascinating to watch him work. The simple act of writing down his notes as he performed an experiment was an opportunity for me to learn new things, and I didn''t waste those opportunities. There were plenty of other opportunities to be had as well. At Hollis''s urging, for example, I updated my wardrobe a bit to be less backwoods rustic. And though I still leaned towards what shopkeepers jokingly called "Men''s fashion," I persevered and went on wearing trousers and boots rather than skirts and high heels. Oh, I had a few such outfits in my closet...they just didn''t see the light of day much. Really, my style didn''t change significantly. It just drifted away from tanned leather and towards twill, denim and tweed. I also spent a lot of time sitting in on Athena''s lessons. Some of it was that I was helping her learn, such as working on her reading and writing, and learning to fight with the unusual sword she¡¯d taken from the thug on the docks. The sword was called a shieldblade, her sword master informed us. It was apparently a relatively new, and not yet very popular, weapon designed by the Vinlanders. The one Athena had confiscated was a cheap knock-off of those¡­ proper ones were solid metal, about the size of a broadsword with a straight, wedge-tipped, single-edged blade that widened into a squared-off reinforcing edge which was between an inch and an inch and a half thick. Frankly, the only thing the manufacturer of the obviously inferior knock-off had gotten right was the sword''s unusually long two-handed grip. It was called a shieldblade because the squared-off side could be used to block and parry blows without risking damage to the cutting edge of the blade. It was having a hard time catching on because it was a difficult sword to use, partly because of its weight - more than a broadsword but less than a claymore - and partly because it was awkward to handle. Or so we were told. When we finally went shopping for a proper one for Athena, we learned that the blades themselves - properly made ones, anyway - were a marvel of metallurgical and alchemical wizardry. According to the merchant we purchased the blade from anyway. "These blades," he said, holding one out across both hands for us to examine, "Are made by the finest Norden metal smiths in Vinland. Not like that rough knock-off your pretty familiar is carrying," he added, nodding politely to Athena, who blushed at being called pretty. "Well, it was acquired during an attempted robbery," I explained. "She took it off one of the thugs who jumped us." The merchant, a middle-aged Norden man whose golden hair and beard were just starting to go gray, grinned. "He was doubly a fool then. First for buying an inferior product, and second for assaulting such obviously competent young women. These blades," he went on, deftly flipping the sword over in his hands, "Are a marvel of alchemical and metallurgical study!" "How so?" I asked with a smile. Master Tremane had taught me to play the haggling game, and I knew that if I let the seller expound on the virtues of their product not only did I stand to learn useful things about it, I stood a good chance of getting a better deal out of him. "I''m glad you asked!" the merchant replied enthusiastically. "You see, Norden sword smiths have long worked on improving the quality of their steel through refining, blending, and folding techniques...much like our counterparts in Nippon. And recently, the Nordens of Vinland have taken a cue from the Nippon sword smiths by adding an element of magic to the process. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. "During the refining and forging process," he continued in an intentionally hushed, awed tone, as if sharing a profound secret with us, "Vinland smiths have begun combining traditional Norden alloys with elemental air magic. As we fold the layers of iron, we work in elemental air spells to produce a new metal, as strong and durable as steel, but as light as a feather. We call it Vinderstal, or Wind Steel." He flipped the blade around effortlessly and offered it to Athena hilt-first. "Try it," he said with enthusiasm. "Feel its weight and balance. I promise, you''ll not find its better anywhere." Athena glanced at me for permission, and when I nodded, reached out and took the blade from him carefully. She blinked in surprise as she lifted it from his hands, taking a firmer grip on the hilt. "It weighs half of what this one does," she said in surprise, reaching up with her free hand to tap the hilt of the inferior blade rising from behind her shoulder. "And its balance is exquisite." The merchant beamed. "You see?" He turned his attention to me. "You seem like a wise young woman. Surely you must recognize the value of having the best equipment for your familiar." I felt my lips curl up a little. "Indeed I do," I said dryly. He laughed. "And something else you may not have known," he added as Athena slowly tested the weight of the blade, "Is that metal prepared in this way is unusually good at taking and holding enchantments." I blinked. He was right, I hadn''t known that. I turned slightly to watch Athena, possibilities suddenly flitting across my mind. If he was right, I could make that sword even better than it already obviously was. "You see the possibilities," he said, sensing a sale. "It''s a fine blade, with the potential to become even more in the hands of your familiar and through your skills with magic." Athena had stopped and was looking to me, so I smiled. "Do you like it, Athena?" She nodded. "It''s perfect, Mistress." I returned my attention to the merchant. "Let''s talk price..." He grinned broadly. In the end, we settled on what I felt was a fair price for the blade, its scabbard, and a specially designed harness that would make it more comfortable for Athena to wear across her back. From the smile on the merchant''s face as we walked away, Athena cradling the new blade in her arms, I suspected he felt he''d gotten a good deal too. Or perhaps he''d simply enjoyed the process. I had, after all, been a good customer. It was money well spent. Once Athena''s sword master was done gushing over the quality of the sword and they returned to her lessons, she settled into the rhythms and moves of the dance they were building around the unusual blade with greater ease than she had with the original. "Even the best trained swordsman," her teacher said to me one afternoon as she went through her exercises, "Is only as good as the sword they carry. An inferior blade will upset balance and risks breaking when needed most. You made a wise investment in that sword." Then there were Athena''s martial arts lessons, which taught her non-lethal unarmed combat. I chose to take part in those directly. It turned out to be a good thing I did. I had already learned some basic hand-to-hand combat techniques from Master Tremane, but what Athena and I learned in those bruising, exhausting lessons did more than teach us to fight. It honed our muscles and reflexes, taught us how to read an opponent''s attacks, and how best to defend against them. I thought I was relatively fit when we started, and still ended those days sore for a while. It was good for us both. I also took part in some of her shooting lessons, though I wasn''t sure it was a skill I''d ever use. Master Tremane always said "It''s better to learn a skill you''ll never need than to need a skill you never learned." Anyway, as a wizard I had little need for Magearms, let alone firearms. But each had its advantages, and while Master Tremane had taught me to use Magearms, this was my first opportunity to learn to use firearms. Magearms were invented a long time ago - the earliest known versions were more than two thousand years old - as a way of making combat spellcasting viable in large-scale warfare. They act as a ready-made form for a combat spell; usually something simple like a firebolt or a small lightning bolt. The user simply has to invest the requisite energy into the weapon, squeeze the trigger, and the runehammer snaps into the keystone, which connects it to the engraved spell matrix, closing the circuit and casting the spell. Modern Magearms come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from pocket-sized weapons up to infantry-portable siege weapons that take multiple people to fire. Most of them are designed to have a fairly generic energy matrix so that the runes on the keystone are what determines the nature of the spell. This lets manufacturers make the keystones interchangeable, allowing users to swap them on the fly as needed. They''re useful in that they require very little training and virtually no focus to use in high-stress situations. Even skilled spellcasters have been known to resort to Magearm pistols during combat and for dueling, though swords are still the preferred method of settling duels - especially when someone with little or no magical talent is involved. Still, only a comparatively small percentage of the population has the requisite Anima levels to use a Magearm more than once or twice without exhausting themselves. Also, the level of work that goes into manufacturing one - engraving and Thaumic engineering, since they have yet to find a way to mass-produce them - makes them prohibitively expensive. Anyone with enough Anima and money to own and operate a Magearm will typically carry one paired with a sword "For giving the mundanes a sporting chance." Seriously, I heard one arrogant ass of a nobleman say precisely those words. How obnoxious is that? Anyway, that''s where firearms come in. They were first invented a couple of centuries ago - in the late 1700s or early 1800s, I believe - and were designed as an inexpensive counter to Magearms and combat-trained spellcasters like myself. They use a basic alchemical formula - today known as gunpowder - to propel a lead slug or other projectile contained within an enclosed chamber. Originally they were small balls or bullets that needed to be loaded one at a time with loose powder, but they''ve evolved to self-contained cartridge guns called revolvers that were designed about twenty years ago. There is a point to all of this, honest. Firearms are loud, potentially unreliable and produce copious amounts of foul-smelling smoke. But most disturbing to many people is that they can be used by absolutely anyone and require little training and no innate talent to use, though they still require some skill to use effectively. To be sure, they''re not as powerful as a properly executed combat evocation or well-crafted Magearm - but a couple of bullets will leave you just as dead as a bolt of lightning. Needless to say, the aristocracy of various nations around the world were less than thrilled by the idea of low-Anima commoners having the power to kill with - or without - a thought. Because of that, firearms are generally limited to licensed familiars (who have very little free Anima, having used it all in the Elevation process) and soldiers (both regular army and private militias). The license itself is rather expensive and is issued to the familiar''s owner or the commander of the unit in order to purchase them for their soldiers. You can also get a private license, which is something many police officers do. None of the licensing means a thing to ruffians and bandits who lack the ability (or skill) for spells or Magearms. And if they don''t have the resources - or the nerve - to carry an illegal firearm, it''s knives, swords and bludgeons one must defend oneself from. Which is, of course, why swords (and other similar weapons) are still in common use and carried openly. As Hollis said, "All the combat spellcraft and alchemical wonders in the world won''t do you a lick of good if you''re caught in a melee with nothing but a friendly smile to protect you." Since I was already decent with a sword, thanks to Master Tremane, I decided to take part in Athena''s shooting lessons. At the end of the day, it''s good to know that if I''m ever exhausted to the point of uselessness as a spellcaster or a swordsman, I could at least theoretically defend myself with a gun. And Athena, with no free Anima for spellcasting or Magearms, would be nearly as effective a combatant as I myself could be. Rumor has it that there are animals in parts of the world - Africa, India and Nippon, from what I''ve heard - that are referred to as ''Awakened'' and can use their Anima in much the same way as humans. But that''s probably just stories. It''s also beside the point. Be that as it may, I had taken the time to apply for a license so that Athena and I would be able to carry and use firearms and had been granted it. She found them as distasteful as I - and most people - did. "It stinks, Mistress," she said one afternoon as she was cleaning the practice revolver she was using, "And it makes my ears hurt." She had just finished a round of target practice in the narrow side yard of Hollis'' townhouse and was sitting beside me. That afternoon, I had joined her with a lap desk bearing a couple of books and a composition book half-full of notes I had gathered on the Philosopher''s Stone at Hollis'' request. I''m pretty sure the neighbors couldn''t much like having someone firing off dozens of rounds right next to their house, but if they said anything to Hollis about it he never told me. "I know, pet," I said soothingly. "But there''ll come a time when you might be glad to have it." <> Artemis said from where she was stretched out beneath our bench. < > "True," Athena replied with a sigh, and returned to cleaning her pistol. Hollis emerged from a nearby door and walked towards us, hooking his thumbs in his belt and smiling broadly. "Good afternoon, ladies," Hollis said, causing Artemis to poke her head out from under the bench I was sitting on and peer up at him. He smiled at her. "And good afternoon to you too, Artemis." She purred and disappeared back under the bench, making him chuckle. I set down my pen and smiled. "She just likes to be acknowledged sometimes." "Don''t we all?" he asked with a soft laugh. "How is your research going?" "Slowly," I replied. "The Philosopher''s Stone is a thorny subject, with a lot of conjecture and very little hard data. It seems like only one or two people in the history of alchemy have managed to make one." "Very true," he agreed, "On all counts. It''s a difficult subject of study to begin with, since the Stone - a name which could not be less accurate - is an unusual substance. It violates several natural and alchemical laws, having the properties of both a solid and a liquid depending on how it''s being handled. Not to mention that it''s extremely difficult to make, and the process is dangerous. "But that''s not why I came out to speak with you," he added ruefully, his smile fading away. "I''m easily distracted. A Rabbi I know contacted me early this morning about a problem a family in his congregation is having and asked for help. About a month ago, the youngest daughter of this family took ill and quickly wasted away. She was buried two weeks ago. Last week the youngest son, a year older than his sister, reported having dreams about his sister visiting him. He too has grown ill and is quickly wasting away." "That sounds like a Nosferatu attack," I said quietly. Hollis nodded grimly. "Doesn''t it, though. Have you dealt with a Nosferatu before?" "Yes," I replied slowly. "I helped Master Tremane deal with one four years ago. It wasn''t pretty." "It never is. But if we don''t do something, this boy will die like his sister," Hollis said. "And then we''ll have the beginnings of an outbreak on our hands." I shivered. The last reported outbreak of Nosferatu had taken place in Vinland about ten years ago. By all accounts it had resulted in the burning of a small town to the ground. The whole town: buildings, stock, and residents, without discrimination. There were, as I recall, complaints about innocent people having been killed. The response from the local authorities had been simply, "Better one or two innocents than the entire eastern coast." According to the records I''d read of the incident while studying under Master Tremane, there had been a lot of nodding agreement with that sentiment. When I''d asked if an outbreak was really that serious, he had looked at me very grimly, his dark eyebrows drawn down in a frown. His response had been short, firm, and to the point. He himself wasn''t certain burning a town had been an overreaction. So I took a deep breath and let it out shakily. "All right. I can handle this, especially with Athena and Artemis to help. What do you want us to do?" "Here is the address," he replied, passing me a small sheet of note paper. "Pack what you think you''ll need to stay a couple of days. Go and observe the boy, and watch over him tonight and tomorrow." I nodded and rose, Athena rising with me as Artemis slunk out from under the bench and padded towards the door. "All right." Hollis reached out and caught my wrist. "Alys..." He hesitated, then sighed. "Well, I suppose this is the sort of challenge we all face at some point as a Wizard. Be very careful, and don''t be afraid to call me if you think you''re in over your head. Especially if you think there''s more than one." I smiled tremulously and tried to keep myself from shivering. "I''ll be careful, and I''ll holler for help if I need it." "Good," he nodded firmly. "Get going, there''s not much time before sunset." I glanced back at the door and saw him watching me, his eyebrows drawn down in a worried frown. I wondered if he thought I was biting off more than I could chew, or if he shouldn''t have even offered it to me. A Nosferatu. Great. Family Ties - Chapter 12 In 1346, a plague came up the Silk Road out of China. It swept through India and Persia, and finally into Europe, as well as spreading south into Arabia, Egypt and Africa. But it wasn''t a disease in the traditional sense of the term. Vampires. Specifically, Nosferatu. According to the histories Master Tremane had me read about the Black Plague, the first people became aware of it was when an entire town in China vanished off the map in one night. Nobody paid attention to it at first, because this wasn''t entirely unprecedented. With the country''s large population and comparatively small percentage of magically talented individuals, China had always had an unusually bad problem with supernatural predators of all types. Because of this, the surrounding countries had always been extremely cautious about allowing border crossings by people traveling out of China at night, and of those bearing large cargo during the day. But then news began to arrive that the problem was spreading west along the Silk Road at an alarming rate. This was a breed of vampire rarely seen outside of China and India, and they were much harder to deal with. You see, there are several different types of vampire. Master Tremane made sure I studied up on all of them, since the odds were good that I¡¯d have to deal with at least some of them during my career. The most ''common'' vampire - that is, the most widely known - is the so-called Noble (or European) vampire. These are beings with all of the classical, overly romanticized vampiric traits - the need to drink blood to survive, unusually pale skin, the ability to shape-shift into wolves, rats or bats (or, rarely, all three), unusual strength and speed, effective immortality and extreme resistance to injury, and so on. Contrary to the stories, the Noble vampire does have a heartbeat (how else could the blood circulate through their bodies) and do cast shadows and reflections (they are solid matter, after all). The two I''ve met both liked garlic and had no problems eating it, let alone being near it. One of them attended Mass at a Catholic church every Sunday. The other attended both Friday night and Saturday morning services at his synagogue - so holy symbols honestly aren''t an issue for them. They are, however, uncomfortable in direct sunlight, and it strips them of much of their strength, their shapeshifting, and most of their ability to heal from injuries. Many Noble vampires are even accepted into communities and treated like normal people, as long as they''re polite about their feeding. They are, after all, just normal people with extra abilities, a mild problem with sunlight, and the need for a strange dietary supplement. Also, communities don''t fear their presence because they are effectively ''sterile'' (for lack of a better term). They can only create another vampire through a complex ritual which requires the vampire-to-be to have high Anima potential and - perhaps most importantly - to be a willing participant. Otherwise, it does nothing. Their population is small, and they like it that way, so there''s little fear of them spreading. That''s what Europe was used to. I should also note that they genuinely abhor the way they have been romanticized, and mostly just want to be left alone to pursue their individual careers and hobbies. You know, like everybody else. There are other types that I won''t go into here because they aren''t relevant to the conversation. Some of them are supremely bizarre, like the Nippon breed that separates its head from its body at night so the head can go hunting. Freaky. The type of vampire that caused the Black Plague was one that had only very rarely been seen outside of China and India. Unlike the Noble vampire, this type - commonly referred to today as Nosferatu - are human only in the most technical sense. They don''t have a heartbeat, are so emaciated as to appear almost skeletal, and are disturbingly fast and tough. They also have many of the ''traditional'' vulnerabilities: Holy items will drive them off and burn them, their silver allergy can poison and even kill them, and daylight will cause them to spontaneously combust rather spectacularly. But the very worst things about them are the two most devastating: Firstly, they have only a rudimentary intellect and little self-awareness. They operate mainly on two instincts...feed, and hide during the day. And they''re very clever about both. Secondly, under the right conditions they can reproduce extremely quickly. Under ordinary circumstances, a Nosferatu''s presence can be spotted by the signs Hollis told me about. A member of a family will become sick, the symptoms appearing much like pernicious anemia or tuberculosis - only coming on quickly and proceeding quickly. The victim of a Nosferatu attack will usually last three days or three nights of being fed on. That''s when one of three things happens. (The number three, incidentally, comes up a lot when dealing with the supernatural, as do five and seven. These are numbers of power.) If the victim has low or no Anima potential and are drained, they die. Twenty-four hours later, they''re reborn as a Nosferatu and are out hunting. If the victim has moderate or high Anima potential, there are two possible results. Whatever happens, their symptoms proceed into what appears to be something like hemorrhagic fever. I won''t go into detail, but it can be pretty gruesome. That lasts two or three days beyond the feeding period, and they either survive and slowly recover, or die - and stay dead. The Black Plague was not ordinary circumstances. It was a huge population of Nosferatu fighting for prey. Victims were fed upon and often drained in a single night, rising the next night as a newborn Nosferatu. The end result was, in retrospect, predictable. Two became four. Four became eight. Eight became sixteen, sixteen became thirty-two, thirty-two became sixty-four...and the Black Plague spread faster than it could be contained or stopped. In 1347, the first of the famous vampire hunting clans, the Belmonts, organized and went to work. They gathered spellcasters, holy men, scholars and soldiers alike, and in under a year there were no less than fifteen hunting clans hard at work. By 1348, the number dead was estimated to be around 75 million people. Naturally, panic began to spread as quickly as the Plague. Whole towns were burned to the ground, citizens and all, when infection was even suspected. Noble vampires were rounded up and driven from their homes or killed, even though they had nothing at all to do with it. Late October 1349 showed a marked decrease in the spread of the Plague. A lot of credit is due to the vampire hunters, who worked tirelessly to educate people, calm panic and - of course - eradicate the Nosferatu whenever and wherever they were found. But statistically speaking, a lot of it was probably due to the dwindling population of people with little or no Anima potential. By August of 1350, the Black Plague was effectively over. In the end, the number of deaths was estimated to be around 150 million men, women and children. Nearly a third of the world''s population (a number I still have trouble believing and find absolutely horrifying) wiped out in four years. In the following years, most of the vampire hunting clans disbanded or dwindled away. Today, only a few of them still keep to the old ways and remained organized, standing vigilant against another such outbreak. To help them, spellcasters all over the world have been taught the ways of finding, identifying and eliminating vampires, especially Nosferatu. It was one of the most important duties that we fulfilled. But we''re not perfect, and we can''t be everywhere at once. It was why when an actual outbreak occurred in Vinland in 1975, the entire town ended up being burned to the ground in a panic. And it was why I was so ambivalent about having to look into a case potentially involving a Nosferatu by myself. This was, frankly, a serious public health threat and I had only the smallest amount of experience dealing with such things. But I knew when I started my apprenticeship that it was one of the heaviest responsibilities I would be expected to take on, and one I intended to live up to. "Is all of this relevant somehow?" Athena asked carefully as our cab rounded a corner and approached a home near Chiswick Park. I looked over at her, startled. "Um¡­I thought some history would¡­" She smiled gently. "How about a quick briefing on what we should be looking for instead?" "I thought it was pretty interesting," the cabby interjected. Artemis yawned. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. I did have a way of rambling when I got started on a subject. "Sorry. Okay, Nosferatu¡­low animal intelligence, no real consciousness. Predatory behavior, they''ll go for weak prey before strong, so children, the elderly and the infirm are usually their first targets. We''ll be looking for small puncture-like injuries on the victim, and someplace close by where the thing could be hiding during the day - it''d need to stay out of direct sunlight." Athena nodded. "Oh, and there''ll probably be a rotting smell where it''s been hiding," I added as an afterthought. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. "Lass," the cabby said earnestly over his shoulder, "Your job sucks. I dunno how many people say it, so I will¡­thank you kindly for your service to the community. We''re here." I paid the cabby as Athena and Artemis got out, giving him a large tip for his kind words, then watched the automobile - still a novelty to me - pull away from the curb and putter off down the street. Steam-driven automobiles were extremely uncommon in ¨¦ire. It wasn''t so much that there was no way to use them there as there was simply no serious market for them. For some reason - I blame the Druids - the vast majority of ¨¦ire''s citizens had largely eschewed modern technology in favor of ¡®traditional¡¯ ways of living. Dublin was by far the most advanced city in the country, and even it had few buildings over five or six stories and most of its roads were unpaved. Seeing one automobile a day in Dublin was a lot. Seeing one in a week out in Killarney was almost unheard of until about a year ago. Being in a place where automobiles were so common that one could be hired to take you wherever you wanted to go in the city for a reasonable amount of money, just by stepping to the curb and sticking out your hand as one approached, was still unusual to me even after several weeks. So I tended to behave like a tourist when riding in a cab...gawking at the sleek finish of the vehicle, listening to the contented chuff and hum of the engine, and sometimes asking more questions about how it worked than the cabby could possible have answered. Hollis found it amusing and assured me I''d get used to it before too much longer. Standing on the curb, I turned to survey our destination. It was a lovely little two story house with gabled windows on the second floor. Its lawn was well-groomed in preparation for winter, and the two trees in its front yard nearly barren of leaves. The windows had cozy-looking burgundy drapes visible inside them and matching shutters on the outside, blending comfortably into the brick. A matching brick path led up to a big natural oak front door. "Come on," I said to the girls and set up off the walk, my staff clicking softly with every other step. There was an old-fashioned bell-pull attached to a small brass bell that hung beside the door, which I took hold of and rung gently. After a moment, the front door opened to reveal a woman who appeared to be in her mid-forties. She had lustrous black hair in tight curls that fell to her shoulders, just showing the first signs of gray at her temples, and was wearing oval wire-framed glasses over clear green eyes that took me in with a glance. "Yes?" She asked, her eyes moving to my staff, then to Athena and Artemis flanking me. "My name is Alys Kinnear," I said quietly and politely. "I''m a Mage working for Wizard Hollis Ellister, and these are my familiars, Athena and Artemis. Rabbi Cohen asked us to look into events here." Her eyes changed from wary to relieved in an instant. "Thank God," she breathed out. "Come in young lady, do come in. I''m Margaret Fisher." She opened the door for me and stepped aside. As I walked through the door, I took a moment to reach up and lightly touch the Mezuzah affixed to the outside of the door frame. I could feel the gentle hum of power in it¡­warm, protective, and subtle. These were people of genuine faith, then, and the house would have a fairly solid threshold. Good to know. Mrs. Fisher gave me a surprised look. "Are you Jewish, young lady? If you''ll forgive me for saying so, you don''t look it." I smiled. "No, I''m not," I replied warmly. "But I''ve studied all of the major religions and try to be respectful of them." That seemed to please her and put her at ease. "That''s a wise outlook. Do come in, you and your familiars both, and be welcome. We''re glad you''ve come." "Thank you." I glanced around the living room the door had opened onto and found it cozy. The floor was lightly carpeted, there was a large fireplace on one wall, a sofa, chairs, coffee table, the usual. Pictures of the children were on every available bit of wall-space that wasn''t taken up by other bits of artwork. "My husband Joseph will be home in an hour or so," she went on. "Will you be joining us for dinner?" I nodded, returning my attention to her, "And standing vigil tonight, if you''ll have us." "Gladly," she replied, her relief written large across her face and in her voice. "We''re so afraid that little Jane has become...has become..." I held up a hand to let her know she didn''t have to say it. "I know, and I understand. I''m here to find out, and to help you deal with it if our fears are correct. How many children do you have?" There were an awful lot of pictures. "Four," she replied, then corrected herself. "Three, now that Jane is gone." She sighed. "Billy - William - is the next youngest after her. He''s thirteen. Then there''s Rose, she''s fifteen, and their oldest brother Phillip, who''s seventeen." "And Billy is the one who..." I trailed off, not sure how to put it delicately, or if I even needed to. "Says he saw Jane?" She smiled hollowly. "Yes. It''s all right to speak plainly with me, dear. I''ll bear up." I reached out and touched her arm lightly. "We''ll get this straightened out, one way or another. Tonight, I''d like to have Athena stay in Billy''s room while Artemis and I check the house and grounds, then we''ll all stay in his room the rest of the night, with Athena and I alternating on...patrols, for lack of a better term." "That would set my mind at ease," she replied with a nod. "I''d like to speak with Billy before then, if I may," I said quietly. "I need to know what he''s seen." "Of course," she said. "Come with me, I''ll show you to his room." Billy''s room was practically a stereotype of the pre-teen boy''s room. Sports equipment, models, half-finished homework on an old roll-top desk, you name it. I was silently thankful that he (or, more likely, his mother) had cleaned up any dirty clothes that had been lying around before I arrived. The boy himself was sitting propped up in bed with a book open on his blanket-covered lap. He looked up as we walked in, letting me get a good look at how pale and wan he was. His skin was a pasty, unhealthy-looking shade, and even his eyes - blue - seemed faded somehow. His short brown hair was rumpled, and his pajama shirt appeared to have Cricket bats printed on it. "Billy," Mrs. Fisher said, "This young lady is Mage Alys Kinnear. She''s here to talk to you about how you saw Jane." He looked at me curiously, his eyes bright and intelligent in spite of showing his exhaustion clearly. The dark smudges under his eyes seemed to emphasize how faded he was. "Hello, Mage Kinnear." I smiled. "Hi, Billy. It''s nice to meet you." "Thank you, ma''am," he replied quietly. Ma''am? Ouch. Oh well, I was sort of an authority figure, after all. His eyes bulged in amazement as Athena and Artemis entered behind me, which made me smile. "These are my familiars, Athena, and Artemis." "Wow!" He said with obvious enthusiasm. The first real life he''d shown yet, and it seemed to relieve his mother somehow. "Are they snow leopards?" "Yes, they are," I smiled. "Do you mind if we sit down and ask you a few questions?" "No, ma''am." I turned to Mrs. Fisher and smiled gently. "Would you be so kind as to put on some tea for us?" She seemed to understand that I was trying to find an excuse to talk to Billy alone and nodded. "Of course. I''ll be in the kitchen if you need anything." "Thanks." I grabbed the desk chair and pulled it over so I could sit beside Billy''s bed, while Artemis prowled around the room, sniffing here and there. Athena walked to the room''s window and looked out of it. "When did you first see your little sister, Billy?" I asked softly. "About a week after her funeral," he replied just as softly. "I really missed her. She was always a pain, but when she was gone..." His eyes filled with tears. I nodded gently. "It''s all right, I understand. How did she look when you saw her after she died?" "Well," he hesitated. "It looked like her, but she looked...I dunno...she looked thinner or something. And her skin was kind of a weird light gray color. She looked kinda sick, but I guess that kinda makes sense. But I thought she''d''ve gotten better after she died, you know?" I nodded. "Yeah, I do. Can you tell me what happened?" "It was a little after my bedtime, like around 8:30," he said. "I''d just finished getting ready for bed when something tapped against my window. It really scared me, you know? ''Cause my room''s way off the ground. And when I looked over, she was looking in at me. Her eyes were weird...they were black. I know it should''ve scared me, ''cause it wasn''t right, but I wasn''t scared. I just wanted to open the window really badly, so I did and told her to come in." Billy trailed off into silence, and after a moment I asked, "Then what, Billy?" "I dunno," he shook his head. "Then nothing. I woke up the next morning. I guess it was a dream." He sounded awfully uncertain. "How long ago was that?" I asked. "Three or four days ago," he said hesitantly. "I''ve kinda lost track of time." I smiled gently. "Being sick will do that." But three or four days? That was a little odd. By the third day, a Nosferatu victim was usually so ill they wouldn''t even be able to talk, let alone sit up in bed, read, and gush over a young Mage''s cool familiars. For it to have been drawn out this long, it meant one of two things: Either she wasn''t a Nosferatu, but some other sort of nocturnal predator, which would make my life less stressful; or she was spreading her hunting around, in which case there would be more victims and a bigger problem than anticipated. But all I said out loud was, "All right. Have you seen her again since?" "Yeah," he said with a nod, "Two nights ago, I had the same dream again. Or whatever." A day between feedings, then. That was pretty odd too, unless - as I had already considered - she was spreading her hunting around. If she kept to that schedule, that would make her third visit tonight. How convenient. "Okay," I said. "And that''s about when you got sick? After the first time?" He nodded gravely, trying not to look upset and scared. "Yeah. Do you think I have the same thing she had? Am I gonna die?" His bottom lip quivered a little as he asked the question and his eyes filled with tears. I gave him my most reassuring smile. "Not if Athena, Artemis and I have anything to say about it. Athena''s going to stay here with you for now while Artemis and I go and have a look around. Then we''ll be back, and at least one of us will be with you all night long." The relief he felt was practically a tangible thing, and was painted across his face in broad strokes. He wiped away his unshed tears and smiled up at me shyly. "Thanks, Miss Kinnear." He hesitated. "Do you really think Jane''s become a vampire or something?" "I honestly don''t know yet. That''s what we''re here to find out, Billy," I patted his arm gently. "But no matter what, we''re also here to protect you and help you get better. Okay?" He smiled and nodded. "Okay." I rose and looked around. Athena was still peering out the window, and Artemis was sniffing around the base of the bed. <> <> Athena said. <> <> Artemis added. <> I blew out a breath. <> Out loud, I said, "Athena, make yourself comfortable here. Billy, she''s really friendly, so you go right ahead and talk to her." Athena moved over and sat down where I''d been, smiling at him. "Hi, Billy." She held out her hand for him to shake. He did so, looking at her with awe. "I''ve never met a familiar before. What''s it like?" Athena beamed at him, her radiant smile lighting up her whole face and causing him to smile in return. "It''s about the greatest thing in the world, as far as I''m concerned," she said with a quick glance in my direction. I smiled. "Come on, Artemis. Let''s go have a look around." Family Ties - Chapter 13 Outside, Artemis and I had a look around the house. As frightened as I was by the prospect of this actually being a Nosferatu attack, it would make things easier in quite a few ways. As I said before, there are many different types of creature that fall under the heading of ''vampire.'' Of those, Nosferatu are amongst the easiest to hunt if you get to them before they start to reproduce. Some vampires, like the Noble Vampire, can come and go almost at will and without leaving any telltale signs in their wake. But they''re easy to identify because of the two delicate puncture wounds they leave on their victims'' throats. Also, as a generality, their victims are willing and usually well looked-after by the vampires themselves. Others are outright confusing, like the east-Asian Jiang-shii (literally, "Stiff corpse"), which hops rather than walks because of its physical nature. It is very, very dead. And would probably be classified as a zombie except that it doesn''t devour its victim''s flesh - instead, like other vampires, it drains vital life essence; in this case, the victim''s Qi. I''ll leave those to the Taoist priests who are best equipped to control and destroy them, and welcome to them. Two breeds of vampire from the area around Greater Britannia, Gaul, Germania and Romania are incorporeal; that is, they''re spiritual entities rather than physical ones. Like the Jiang-shii, they drain life essence rather than blood, and can be nearly impossible to track if you don''t catch them while feeding. You get the idea. There are almost as many different types of vampire as there are countries in the world. I''m personally of the opinion that they''re all very different species of creatures that have been lumped together due to having a few similar traits. It''d be like saying that both dolphins and lobsters are fish because they live in the ocean. Anyway, I say that the Nosferatu is amongst the easiest to track and kill for several reasons. Firstly, it is - like the Noble Vampire and Jiang-shii - a physical creature. But unlike the Noble Vampire, it cannot change shape or use magic, which means that it leaves obvious tracks and traces wherever it goes to hunt. Secondly, it''s behaviors are similar in many ways to a simple haunting. Unless starving, it will try to return to the places it knew in life, and may even try to follow patterns it followed in life. This makes it at the very least somewhat predictable - if you can learn where it lived and what its schedule was like in life, you can often waylay it. Unless it''s starving, which only happens when there''s a lot of them in a relatively small area. Then you get the Black Plague. Which is why it''s best to deal with them quickly. Thirdly, and this relates to their behavioral patterns, they''re not very creative and their intelligence fades pretty quickly. They know everything they knew in life, at least at first, and tend to stick close to their personality in life. But, as I said, it fades faster the longer they''re dead; I imagine it has something to do with the fact that their brain cells are no longer replacing themselves. Be that as it may, eventually they''re reduced to a high level of animal intelligence, which makes them that much easier to trap and kill. Rather like the classic zombie (there''s the Z-word again), they have a base animal intelligence that drives them - hunt, feed, hide. (Sometimes I wonder why Nosferatu weren''t classified as a form of zombie. The only reason I can think of is that they just drink blood rather than devouring body parts.) Finally, their vulnerabilities are well known and fairly easy to follow through on. The traditional method of killing a Nosferatu is rather spectacular: A wooden or iron stake through the heart, cut off its head, fill its mouth with wild roses (a practice I believe comes from Christianity, of all places, but it seems to be effective as a paralytic agent - perhaps an allergy of some sort), then burn both parts of the body. Of course, realistically that would kill just about anything. But it''s effective nonetheless. Fortunately for me, they''re very vulnerable to magic. Fortunately for Athena, they''re also vulnerable to silver. I''d procured several silver-bladed daggers for her and for myself, as well as special ammunition for her unusual revolver. When choosing a firearm for her, Athena and I had done quite a lot of research and spent hours discussing the merits of various manufacturers and styles of gun. After lengthy discourse, she settled on an unusual weapon designed by a small manufacturer from Brittany named LeMat. They''d been around for a little over a century as a manufacturer of very elegant and high-quality Magearms, and had recently begun to produce a larger than normal revolver with nine chambers that held .44 caliber shells. The central section of the cylinder led into a barrel below the main one and held a 16 gauge shotgun shell. The owner of the shop we''d been in at the time had extolled the virtues of having a shotgun shell as a backup in case the larger than normal nine-round cylinder was insufficient. He had also pointed out that a shotgun shell could carry unusual payloads, and pointed us to a store that sold 6mm beads in pretty much every material imaginable. A shotgun shell filled with silver shot. I had been told time and again that silver made bad bullets. It''s a soft metal that tends to flatten under pressure, causing bullets made of it to tumble and become inaccurate after a very short distance. Here was a simple solution, and Athena liked the weight and feel of the gun - even if it did look a bit oversized on her. All of which amounts to this: Both of us were well equipped to deal with this creature, should it appear. Artemis, on the other hand, was at a bit of a disadvantage in this case. Don''t get me wrong...no matter what you are, you do not want to tangle with a pissed-off snow leopard. She weighs about 85 pounds, and when that hits you doing about 65 kilometers per hour and turns into a blur of flailing claws and biting fangs... ''Nuff said. But while she could tear the thing to ribbons - and while animals were immune to the Nosferatu¡¯s bite - I wasn''t sure that would do it any lasting damage. I had been taught that Nosferatu had amazing regenerative capabilities, and that simply doing massive damage was not enough. Dismembering them would inconvenience them terribly, but unless the entire body was completely destroyed - fire was best - or buried in consecrated ground using special methods, it would pull itself back together eventually. Yuck. "Stick close to me, Artemis," I said softly as we made our way around the side of the house, "And tell me what you find." <> she replied. Her nose was hard at work, her eyes roaming the ground around us. As we reached the rear corner of the house, she suddenly stopped and her ears flattened back against her head. <> "That''s probably our target," I said dryly. "Dead creatures will do that. Which way?" If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Artemis glanced up at me, then swung her head left and right, trying to follow the scent. After a moment she looked up again. <> I sighed. "Figures. Well, never mind. Come on." We moved slowly back and forth across the back yard, being careful not to step on anything that might be a track of some sort...which turned out to be next to nothing at all. When we reached the back corner of the yard, marked by a picket fence, I sighed. "Nothing. Did you see anything, pet?" Artemis sniffed at the corner of the fence and blew out a sigh. <> "I suppose that stands to reason. Anything watching this house would probably try to do it from the edge of the property." I folded my arms and leaned against the fence, looking up at the house. I could see Billy''s window from here - I knew it was his because Athena was standing in it, watching us. She lifted her hand and I returned her wave. <> <> she replied. <> <> I pushed myself off the fence and looked around. <> <> Artemis asked. "Could be. Come on." We made our way down the length of the fence to the shed that stood in the other corner. It was a smallish thing, about fifteen feet square and maybe eight or nine feet fall, and stained a pleasant rust color to blend in with the fence and the house''s brick. It had a padlock on it, which was tightly shut - I double checked, giving it a couple of good tugs to make sure it wouldn''t come loose. The shed''s double doors were tightly attached - I checked the hinges - and well-fitted. There was barely any gap between the doors and the frame. <> <> Artemis and I took the opportunity to make a quick circuit of the shed. We discovered a compost heap squeezed in between it and the fence, the smell of which made Artemis sneeze and rub her nose with her paw. I reached down and rubbed her ears gently. <> she said, backing away from the compost. "That''s not surprising, I suppose. I can smell it right here too." I looked at the pile thoughtfully. It wasn''t a large one, certainly not large enough to hide a teenage girl. A few minutes later Mrs. Fisher came around the corner of the house and hurried over to us carrying a key ring. "Did you find something?" "Not yet, Mrs. Fisher," I did my best to sound reassuring. "We just want to check the shed. It seems pretty unlikely, but..." "My husband was just in there the other day to get the lawn mower," She said, handing me the keys. "Assuming we''re dealing with a Nosferatu," I replied, trying to sound as clinical as possible; this used to be her daughter, after all, "We have to check all immediate possibilities. These creatures are abnormally good at hiding themselves away during the day. So..." I opened the padlock and slipped it out of the hasp. Before I could open the door, Artemis interposed herself between the door and Mrs. Fisher, leaning against her and gently pushing her back. Mrs. Fisher gave me a surprised look, and I smiled. "Artemis is more perceptive than she lets on. I doubt there''ll be anything out of the ordinary here, but she''s right." "All right," she said softly, taking a few more steps back. I took a deep breath and silently gathered the Anima I''d need to cast a quick and dirty lightning bolt, just in case. Then I opened the door. Immediately, I realized that the shed would make a miserable hiding place for a Nosferatu. There were a pair of square windows facing one another on the side walls, making the interior of the shed well lit. One of them was even letting in a patch of late-day sunlight, which would have been anathema to the creature. I shot a wry smile over my shoulder at Mrs. Fisher. "I should have noticed those windows." She returned my smile tiredly. "I forget about them all the time myself, dear. I take it there''s nothing here, then?" I shook my head and began locking the shed back up. "No, it would be a terrible hiding place. Just once I''d like the obvious answer to be the right one." She snorted a little laugh as I handed the keys back to her. "If only life were that simple." I turned back to the house and frowned, looking up at it. No tracks in the back yard, but its scent was spread widely enough to mess with Artemis''s ability to backtrack it. There was no sign of it trying to nest in the shed, and there were no other structures in the back or front it could hide in. The storm cellar''s doors were tightly locked, and... Something clicked. The front and back yards were large, but the side yards were narrow. The houses were about twenty yards apart. A superhuman leap, to be sure, but I''m pretty sure I could do it with a bit of magic. Athena might be able to do it with a running start. Artemis definitely could. And a Nosferatu, with its superhuman strength would probably be able to make that jump without too much trouble. Which immediately tripled the borders of any search I might run. No, more than that. If it was using rooftops - if it even existed - it could be anywhere. I suddenly had a headache. With an exhaled sigh, I looked at Mrs. Fisher. "I think at this point the best thing we can do is keep watch over Billy tonight. With three of us watching him and the house, if something is hurting him we''ll catch it and stop it." She nodded and we started back to the house together. "Do you think it''s a vampire, Miss Kinnear?" There was real fear in her voice, and I sympathized. "I''m not completely sure yet. I''ll need to examine Billy for bite marks, but that''s not conclusive." I fell silent for a moment, then gave her as reassuring a smile I can manage. "We''ll know for certain tonight, one way or another." Athena gave me a slightly relieved smile as Artemis and I returned to Billy''s room. <> I smiled and gently patted her shoulder as she went to stand by the window again. <> I sat down in the chair beside Billy''s bed and smiled at him. "How''re you feeling?" He shrugged tiredly. "All right, I guess. Kinda tired, but not like I could sleep tired. Just..." "Like you''ve got no energy?" Billy nodded. "Yeah, that''s it exactly. Your familiars are really cool." I grinned. "Yeah they are, aren''t they? I''d be lost without them." "Athena said the same thing about you," he grinned back at me. Athena, visible on the other side of Billy''s bed, turned fully towards the window. But not before I saw her blushing. It made me laugh softly. "Well, both are true. Billy, I need to take a look at your neck." He looked up at me with absolutely trusting, guileless eyes. "Okay." The collar of his shirt was turned down in short order, revealing unblemished and unbroken skin on both sides of his neck. "Huh," was all I could say. "Am I okay?" He asked in a small voice. I smiled and gently tousled his hair, then helped him fix the collar of his robe. "That''s what we''re trying to find out. I''m going to cast a few spells over you..." "Wow, really?" He asked, sitting up a bit straighter, excitement coming into his face. "I''ve never seen somebody cast spells up close." "Well, now''s your chance," I replied warmly. "I''ll even tell you what they do." "Cool!" "For example," I said, gathering the Anima to cast a diagnostic spell, "This first one is going to give me an idea of your general health." As I said it, I decided to waste a bit of energy and be flashy about it. Billy''s eyes were wide with wonder as heatless sparks of blue-white light drizzled from my fingertips as I waved my hands over his body. The sparks danced in the air less than an inch away from him as he breathed out another awed "Cool!" What I saw made me blink in surprise. Most of the sparks of light changed from blue-white to greens and golds, colors that indicated good health, except for seven spots of pulsing red. The spots of red were aligned in a straight line down the center of his body; at the crown of his head, his forehead, his throat, the center of his chest, and then three in a tight group over his abdomen, the base of his spine, and between his legs. "What''s it mean?" He asked, his voice a mixture of wonder, curiosity and apprehension. I smiled reassuringly. "The greens and golds indicate that you''re a very healthy and ordinarily energetic young man. Which is good. The red spots are your Chakras...energy centers within your body. But they shouldn''t be red, they should have stayed blue." "So what''s wrong with me?" He asked. "Well," I temporized, thinking fast, "This gives me a few clues, but I think we''re going to have to wait for tonight to be sure. Athena, Artemis and I are going to stay with you all night, so you''ll be perfectly safe." "Do you think it''s my sister?" "No." I shook my head firmly. "Actually, I''m pretty sure it''s not." Family Ties - Chapter 14 "What do you mean?" Mrs. Fisher asked me a half an hour later when I told her the same thing. I was sitting with her and her husband - who looked to be a few years older than she was and whose short black hair was just starting to turn what I felt was going to be a distinguished iron color - in their living room. Athena sat beside me, half turned towards the stairs in the hallway just outside the room. "I think we got started on shaky footing," I said. "I arrived and started searching for clues as if the problem were definitely a Nosferatu. As I''m sure you''re aware, even a single Nosferatu represents a critical public health danger, so we tend to react in specific ways to it. But what I''ve seen so far doesn''t suggest the presence of one." "How so?" Mr. Fisher asked. His voice was deep and calm, the voice of a reassuring patriarch. "There were no tracks in the back yard, for starters." I pursed my lips thoughtfully. "While it''s possible that a Nosferatu could reach your house without crossing the yard - from the rooftops of neighboring houses - it doesn''t seem very likely. We would have seen displaced shingles from the roof lying in the side yards...you don''t make a jump like that without putting a lot of pressure on the surface you''re taking off from. And you certainly don''t land without a pretty significant impact. Barring those approaches, it would have left tracks somewhere in your front or back yard as it approached and left, but Artemis and I couldn''t find any." I paused for a moment, then continued. "Artemis did get the scent of decay all over your back yard, but that could be any number of things; it could even be a side effect of the compost heap you have by your shed. It wouldn''t be noticeable to us, but Artemis''s sense of smell is quite a bit more sensitive than ours. "By the time we came inside," I went on, "I was beginning to think we weren''t dealing with a Nosferatu. What I found when I cast the diagnostic spell over Billy confirmed it. I had expected to find indication of injuries on his neck, around his thighs or down by his ankles - vampires will sometimes drink blood from the arteries in those places rather than the neck, as it''s considerably less obvious and people rarely think to look there." I gathered Anima to cast a particularly useful - if fairly simple - spell, then spread my hands, displaying an image of the results of the diagnostic spell between them. "Instead, I found this. The red marks indicate points of injury. In this case, they line up with his Chakra points." "What does that mean?" Mrs. Fisher asked in confusion. "The short version is this: Chakra points are where energy flows in and out of the body," I replied. "In a healthy body, those points would have been a deep blue or green, or even a radiant gold in certain cases. What this means is that whatever visited him drained energy, not blood - it was a psychic attack, not a physical one. So it can''t be a Nosferatu." "Which means it wasn''t our daughter?" Mr. Fisher asked, some hope in his voice. "Correct," I nodded. "It was something else entirely." Mr. Fisher ran his hands through his hair. He and his wife both looked relieved, in a sickened sort of way. It must be a hard thing to feel glad that a beloved family member is genuinely dead rather than undead. Finally, he said, "We still have a problem, though. How do you plan to proceed?" "Exactly the way I originally intended," I said. "Athena, Artemis and I will spend the night in Billy''s room and around the house - either Athena or I will be with him at all times tonight. If something comes to feed on him, we''ll be there to stop it." "Thank you, Mage Kinnear," Mr. Fisher said earnestly. "You have no idea how much your help means to us." I smiled. "I''m glad we can help." Athena and I ate dinner with Billy in his room - he was too exhausted to go downstairs to eat, so we opted to keep him company. Having company that was closer to his own age than his parents - sort of - seemed to cheer him up. Without having to discuss it, my familiars and I decided that we would try to raise his spirits before it was time for bed. After dinner, Billy and I taught Athena how to play poker, a game at which the thirteen year-old boy was entirely too good. If we''d been playing for something other than plastic chips, he would have cleaned us both out. Artemis behaved entirely too much like a normal kitten rather than a full-grown snow leopard, peeking over the edge of Billy''s bed until he laughed and dangled a bit of string for her to bat at. While he was trying to teach Athena to make a cat''s cradle using another piece of string - an exercise which I felt was very good for her still-developing manual dexterity - I saw his parents standing in the doorway watching and rose to speak with them. "It''s good to hear him laugh again," Mr. Fisher said quietly. "Thank you for that." "He''s barely said two words to anyone since Jane died," Mrs. Fisher added, "And the last two days he''s been so pale and quiet it was like he was fading away." "What about Rose and Phillip?" I asked curiously. "I haven''t seen them yet." "They''ve gone to spend the night with friends," Mr. Fisher replied. "We thought it might be better if they weren''t underfoot tonight." I nodded. "That''s wise." Billy laughed again and all three of us looked over to see him clutching his stomach with one hand and pointing at Athena with the other. Athena, for her part, was putting on a very good show of having managed to get her fingers tangled in the string. Artemis had her paws on Athena''s leg and was peering at the tangled mess with apparent fascination. "Your familiars are darlings," Mrs. Fisher said with a smile. "You''re very lucky." "I know," I said with absolute sincerity. "I''ve only had them for several weeks and I''d already be lost without them." "Several weeks?" Mr. Fisher asked in surprise and with curiosity. "I would have guessed they''d been with you since you were little. You seem very close with them." "Some of that is the magic that makes them my familiars. But also¡­I saved their lives," I replied quietly. He nodded his understanding. "That does change things, doesn''t it." I looked at him curiously. "I was a soldier in the Britannian Royal Marines," he answered my unasked question. "Saving someone''s life creates a powerful bond. As my wife said, you''re very lucky." We all fell silent, watching Billy help Athena disentangle her fingers from the string. Finally, Mr. Fisher spoke again. "Are you expecting trouble tonight?" I considered the question seriously, thinking about everything I''d learned since arriving at their house. I was fairly certain we weren''t dealing with a Nosferatu, which was a tremendous relief. But that left me without much to go on for figuring out what we were dealing with, except that it appeared to be a psychic vampire rather than a physical one. Which didn''t really narrow things down at all. "I''m honestly not certain," I replied finally. "It''s best to be cautious in this sort of situation, especially when all I have are theories and thin evidence." "Is there anything we can do?" He asked softly, his voice almost pleading with me to say yes. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. It''s never easy to feel helpless, especially for a soldier, even an ex-soldier. As part of my training, Master Tremane had made a point of at least once a year putting me in a situation where I was seemingly powerless to affect the outcome. Partly it was to teach me to think on my feet and make use of every available resource, but mostly it was to show me that helpless feeling and to remind me that even magic can''t solve every problem. So I thought hard. Even the smallest thing I could give them to do might make them feel a bit better about the situation. Plans change. Instead of patrolling, it might be better if Athena, Artemis and I all spent the night in Billy¡¯s room. In which case¡­ "You can seal the house," I said. "Make sure all of the doors and windows are closed and locked. If you have sea salt, outline the bottom of every window and door with a thin, unbroken line of it." "What will that do?" Mrs. Fisher asked. "Even if I''m mistaken, it''ll make it harder for certain types of entity to enter the house," I replied. "To the point that it''ll restrict where that type of entity can enter the house. They''ll certainly make a ruckus trying, which will give us a little extra warning." "And if you''re not mistaken?" Mr. Fisher asked. I shrugged. "Then Athena and I will will be here to keep things relatively in hand and drive off whatever comes. But it''s a good precaution to take anyway. I was going to do it myself, so if you could do it instead it''ll save me time that I can use to prepare here." I gestured to Billy''s room. "And make sure he''s going to be safe." They both nodded and left to do as I asked, and I turned back to the room in time to see Athena produce a perfect cat''s cradle. I applauded gently, making her turn in surprise and smile sheepishly. "I never doubted you could do it," I said, returning to Billy''s bedside. "Come on, let''s get set up." "What''re you doing now?" Billy asked as Athena carefully disentangled her fingers. "Well, we''re going to set up some things to protect you tonight," I replied, moving to where I''d put my bag down and rummaging in it for materials. "For starters, we''re going to raise a magical barrier around your bed, that should keep anything nasty from getting to you." I paused to smile at him. "And because you look like you need a good night''s sleep, we''re going to make it dampen sounds one-way. That way, we won''t disturb you if anything happens, but we''ll still be able to hear you if you wake up and need something." "That''s so cool. I want to be a Wizard when I get older," he said with such frank, awed earnestness that I had to smile again. "Tell you what," I said, returning my attention to my bag. "If you really want to become a wizard, when you''re feeling better you get in touch with me and I''ll help you find someone to test you to see if you can become one." "Thanks!" "You''re welcome, Billy. Now, let us work for a bit." He nodded and fell silent, so we got to work. We started, as I had told him, by setting up defenses for him. Many Mages like to use chalk or markers to draw circles and runes, but I have a fairly tidy mind and that didn''t appeal to me. Everything in its place, and no mess left behind. I had discussed the matter at great length with Master Tremane, and we had come up with the idea of using cast iron runestones. They were blocks of iron cast in the shape of perfect cubes, and on each side they had engraved the runes that could made up a fairly complex spell of protection (amongst other things). They were a derivation of the runestones used by Norden spellcasters, and I honestly didn¡¯t understand why Hermetic Wizards eschewed the practice. One cube went at each corner of Billy''s bed, another at his head and one at his foot. Anima was gathered and applied, and in less than a minute he was surrounded by protective energies that would keep out anything that wasn''t a human being. Much faster and more efficient than always drawing a new defensive perimeter, and quite a bit less messy. Not as traditional, though. When I was taking my Mage exams, I discussed them with one of the proctors and he was enraged by the idea of not drawing protective circles everywhere I went. Too bad, Old Boys Network. It works, and it''s a heck of a lot faster and cleaner. Once those were set up, I used the same rune blocks as anchors for the spell of silence I wrapped around Billy''s bed. Once that was done, I smiled at him. "Can you hear me?" He looked at me blankly. "What did you say?" I smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. It took him a moment to follow, but then he grinned and nodded. As he put his head down on the pillow, he mumbled, "So cool..." again. Within moments, he was asleep and breathing softly. As I''d suspected, he was exhausted. Athena closed the bedroom door, then took up a position beside the window and looked out at the back yard. Artemis sprawled across the doorway. Since the door opened outwards, anyone trying to come in would get a nasty surprise. As I''ve said before, she might only weigh about eighty pounds, but eighty pounds of furious claws and fangs could be deadly. I sat down beside Billy''s bed again and looked around the room. "What now, Mistress?" Athena asked softly. "Now we wait," I replied just as quietly. "This is the hardest part of any investigation, even if you know exactly what you''re dealing with." "What do you think we''re dealing with?" She asked. I was silent for a few moments and she turned to look at me. Her eyes, so like my own, begged an answer to the question. This was a new experience for her. We had spent so much time training to fight, and now the second time we were out on our own all we had done so far was look around, talk, and wait. I smiled a little. "Master Tremane once told me that a wizard''s life was largely long periods of studious quiet broken up by brief moments of terrifying panic. The trick, he said, was learning to get by between adrenaline fixes." Athena blinked, then giggled. "I see. Adrenaline fixes." "He wasn''t entirely wrong," I admitted wryly. "After a while you come to enjoy the rush of doing something potentially dangerous. It''s stupid, really." "It''s not stupid," she replied firmly. "It means you enjoy your work." I raised an eyebrow. She blushed and shrugged. "That''s how it seems to me, anyway." I laughed softly. "You''re probably not far from the truth, love. Well, never mind. Just know that we''ll probably be dealing with something nasty before too much longer." "Back on topic though," she said, making me silently admit that I was dodging her question. "What do you think we''re dealing with?" "I''m honestly not sure," I admitted. "About the only thing I''m confident of is that this isn''t a Nosferatu attack. Aside from that, what we''ve found hasn''t told us much. The field is still pretty wide open, so to speak. Unfortunately. I''d be a lot happier if I had a clear picture of the situation, but I feel like something''s missing." "Could it just be that we came into it with a preconceived notion of what we were going to find?" "That could be it," I said with a nod. "That could very well be it. But I don''t think so. I really think some piece of information is missing." "Well then," she turned to look at me directly, leaning against the windowsill. "How do we go about finding the missing piece of information?" "That''s an excellent question," I smiled wryly, then gave it some serious thought. "If we''re dealing with a spiritual entity of some sort, it might have left traces of itself behind. I know a few spells that could reveal such things, but if it''s still nearby they''d all give me away." "What do you mean?" "That sort of magic makes a mark on the environment. Or rather, it causes the marks made by the creature to become more tangible. It reinforces them and makes them stand out, you might say." I considered for a moment. "It''s like firing off a flare gun to follow tracks instead of using a flashlight." "What would the flashlight be, then?" She asked, smiling. I tapped the side of my head. "Our brains." Athena considered that for a moment, then nodded. "You said a couple of weeks ago that we''re like detectives. We gather the information like pieces of a puzzle and put it all together." "Precisely." I moved to stand beside her at the window and gently bumped her shoulder with mine. "Unfortunately, in a situation like this we don''t have the luxury of a full investigation. The attack is ongoing and needs to be dealt with quickly. Which usually means it''s going to be a bit messy." "What was it Mr. Ellister said?" She asked with a smile, bumping my shoulder in return. "You can''t plan for the unexpected, only prepare for it?" "Something like that," I smiled and nodded. Her right hand dropped to rest on the butt of her revolver as she glanced over to where my bottomless bag sat, filled with an incredible array of bits and bobs. "I guess we''re as prepared as we can be." "Now we wait," I sighed and looked out the window. "That''s always the hardest part." It was, too. We turned off the lights to make it easier for Billy to sleep, and to let our eyes acclimate to the darkness outside. Well...my eyes, anyway. Athena and Artemis had little trouble seeing in the dark. Their superb night vision made me feel a bit hampered, really. By midnight, Artemis was stretched out on the floor beside Billy''s bed, more than half asleep. Athena and I were taking turns standing by the door and window, moving back and forth to keep ourselves alert. The house was silent, except for the usual soft creaks and pops a house usually makes late at night. We could hear the occasional automobile go by outside, and once the sub-sonic hum of an airship going overhead towards the London docks. The sheer monotony of it made it hard to keep from becoming drowsy. At one o''clock, I switched places with Athena so that I was at the window. <> I said to her through our bond. <> I could feel the palpable relief from her. <> I smiled. As lazy as felines of all breeds can be, once they''re keyed up they have a hard time staying still. She silently opened the door and slipped out into the hall, closing it behind her with an almost inaudible click. <> I sent after her. < > <> <> I sighed and turned my attention fully back to the window. "I hope it stays this quiet," I whispered to myself. It was going to be a long night. Family Ties - Chapter 15 Someday, perhaps I''ll learn not to say things like "I hope it stays this quiet" or "Everything''s going to go smoothly" during times of stress and crisis. Things like that seem to tempt the trickster gods. It was about fifteen minutes later when I saw Athena''s shadowy form emerge into the back yard and make her way towards the back fence. She moved with a sure grace that I was certain was perfectly silent and which made me just a little bit envious. <> I said to her. <> <> she replied without stopping, disappearing behind the back yard''s big oak tree. <> <> <> she replied, a certain hesitancy in her voice. <> She was silent for a full minute. <> she said finally. <> I considered that, leaning against the window frame and looking out into the night. What could cause that? Not zombies. Yeah, they can stink to high heaven, but they''re not exactly the subtlest of creatures, and if there was one in the area it would stand out like a sore thumb. And it wasn''t likely to stay just one or unseen for very long. Vampires? There were one or two types of vampire that really were just decaying corpses, and a couple that weren''t but carried the scent of decay with them anyway, for some obscure metaphysical reason. But off the top of my head I couldn''t think of any that wouldn''t have left some sort of physical traces behind them. Another type of supernatural predator, then. Which didn''t really narrow the field at all, unfortunately. There were a lot of different creatures that used scents as markers, warnings and even as a defense in some cases. More than a few of those were energy-eaters. Even worse, a few of those were shapeshifters. Boggarts, Fetches and Doppelg?ngers immediately came to mind. I dismissed Doppelg?ngers without a second thought - if it was one, it wouldn''t have appeared as Billy''s sister, but as Billy himself. That was their modus operandi, and they were clever but not particularly bright. Boggarts were fear-eaters, and while that would certainly show up to a diagnostic spell as damage to the Chakras, it too wouldn''t have shown up as Billy''s sister. It would instead have appeared as something paralytically terrifying to him. They were neither bright nor clever and never varied from that methodology. So I could rule them out too. Fetches? That was a disturbing thought. Smart, clever, and not so much evil as viciously nasty and completely untrustworthy. Unless you were paying them, in which case they were about as reliable a mercenary as one could ask. Not a front-line fighter, they did mostly snatch-and-grab kidnappings or assassinations. And they were absurdly good at both. Like Boggarts, they were fear-eaters, but preferred a diet of subtle, slow terror as opposed to quick, shocking scares. I took a moment to slow my heart down and take a few deep breaths. It was amazingly unlikely that this could be a Fetch, or any of the other things that had run through my mind. There was no sense scaring the crap out of myself. "The odds are better that we''ll be hit by a burglar tonight," I muttered. Remember what I said about needing to learn not to say certain things at certain times? Artemis suddenly rose to her paws, ears cocked, evidently more alert than she had appeared to be. A moment later, I heard the faint tinkle of breaking glass from downstairs. "Oh, you have got to be joking," I whispered. <> <> Athena replied, and I saw her shadow dart across the lawn towards the back door. Artemis moved for the door, but I hurried forward and caught her collar gently. "Stay here with me, pet. Athena can handle whoever''s down there." She bared her teeth at the door - always an impressive sight - but subsided, settling onto her haunches again. Her tail and ears remained tensed; her fur bristled slightly. <> she said a moment later. "Something other than our probable burglar?" I asked in a hushed voice. <> She looked up at me, confusion on her face and in her thoughts. <> I sniffed the air and smelled nothing unusual. A thought occurred to me. What if the smell of decay my familiars were picking up wasn''t a literal, physical smell, but a metaphysical presence that their senses could only translate as a scent. That would certainly explain why I hadn''t smelled it myself until I was on top of the compost heap. "Can you tell where it''s coming from?" I asked. <> We both turned to look at the window, a magelight appearing cupped in my left hand as we moved. The thing that hung framed in the window was simply revolting. It''s body was sort of spherical, about three feet across, lumpy and mottled in shades of dark brown and black. It had stubby legs and arms that could only be vestigial, and a tiny head. Its face smiled at us with inane, vapid good cheer. It waved. And for a moment, just a moment, I thought I saw Athena clinging to the outside of the window, gesturing to be let in. But my psychic defenses are strong, and I shook it off quickly. This...thing...was our predator, beyond a doubt. There was a series of thumps and muffled cursing from downstairs. <> Athena announced a moment later. <> Artemis hissed and moved, putting herself between the window and Billy. Which is when I realized that he was rising. My senses felt murky and slow somehow, and I realized that it knew its first gambit had failed. I was under attack. I pushed back, envisioning my mental defenses as a fortress of iron surrounding my mind and threw up a forcefield around that. Instantly, I felt normal again, though I could feel the thing''s psychic attack like a steady pressure around my head. <> <> Athena said at the same time. <> The last was delivered with urgency, and a moment I heard the back door bang open and shut. <> I said. <> Artemis had gone up on her hind paws, her forepaws on Billy''s chest, trying to push him back to the bed. <> I started towards the window, waving my hand at Billy as I went and murmuring a single word in Gaelic. Sleeping spells are something every Mage learns early on. They''re simple, don''t require a lot of Anima to cast, and are incredibly useful in a variety of circumstances. Billy slumped back on the bed, eyes drifting shut again. <> Athena said, <> <> I replied, gathering my Anima again, <> <> I released the magelight, letting it float over my head, unlatched the window and swung it open. The smell hit me immediately, like rotting meat. Before the creature - whatever it was - could do anything, I made a downward swatting gesture with my right hand and cried out in Gaelic, "An modh orduitheach!" I was feeling poetic, okay? I know it was verbiage overkill, but sometimes you just have to. It''s not like the exact wording is important so much as the intent behind it. Whatever, it worked. The creature made a startled noise and shot straight downwards, smacked by an invisible wave of force. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. I jumped up to the sill, calling "Stay here!" to Artemis, and stepped out into the air. As I started to fall, I said, "Cleit¨ª!" Feather-weight spells are, like sleeping spells, something every Mage learns early on. They too are amazingly useful, and this particular use was a quick and dirty casting that Master Tremane had taught me for times when gravity wasn¡¯t on my side. It wouldn''t do much good for a long fall - as the saying goes, gravity is a harsh mistress - but for a two story fall? No problem. I landed lightly, barely having to bend my knees to absorb what little impact there was, and dismissed the spell. The creature appeared to have bounced once or twice on impact and was just rising back into the air. Athena had swung out to one side - my right, in this case - as we''d practiced, so we could catch the thing in a cross-fire. It looked back and forth between us, still smiling inanely. Before it could move, I raised my right fist over my head, extended my index and middle fingers, twirled them in a circle, then brought them down and stabbed them at the creature. A lightning bolt lanced out from my hand and crackled across the space between us. The creature beamed at me, opened its mouth and inhaled deeply. My lightning curved in its path and vanished into the creature''s toothless mouth without a sound. It hiccuped, then belched revoltingly. "Well, bugger." I thought fast. If it could absorb magic that easily, I was handicapped. Or maybe it was just elemental air magic. It was floating, after all, and my force spell had hit it hard enough a minute earlier. As I gathered my Anima for a second strike, Athena drew her big LeMat revolver and began shooting. It cracked four times in quick succession, and four bullets flattened against the creature''s lumpy hide and thumped to the grass below it. I followed her small hail of bullets with a gout of blue-white flame, hot enough to sear the grass beneath the creature and make Athena take a step back from it. The creature just continued to smile inanely, though it was now smoking slightly and smelled even worse than it had before I''d scorched it. Worst of all, it seemed quite unperturbed by what little damage my fire had done. "Let''s see how it likes silver," Athena said. She thumbed the hammer on her revolver, then flicked a little lever on the top of it. A second, smaller hammer dropped down out of the normal one and into position to strike the center chamber of her revolver. She aimed, pulled the trigger, and the centerline shotgun shell fired with an echoing bang. The creature evidently did not like silver at all. At least, I assumed that, based on how the impact of the tightly-grouped silver buckshot caused it to burst with a bang as loud as Athena''s revolver. In doing so, it showered us and the ground around us with a clear, syrupy substance that smelled just as horrid as the creature itself had. We stood there in silence for a moment. Nothing needed to be said right away. I could sense Athena''s emotions running parallel to my own, vacillating back and forth between relief and disgust. We understood one another perfectly. Finally, with a disgusted sound, Athena shook some of the goop off of her arms and gun. "What WAS that?" She asked in revulsion, slime dripping off her slowly. I wiped some of the viscous, stinky substance off my face and shook my head. "Aside from disgusting? I honestly don''t know. I think we should head home and clean up, then come back and fill in the Fishers." Athena nodded fervently. "Good idea, Mistress." Even as she said it, Mr. Fisher burst out of the back door carrying a double-barreled shotgun, his wife close behind him. "What was that?" He asked, "And why is there a man in a ski mask tied up on our living room floor?" "Or," I said, "We could tell them now." Mrs. Fisher gasped and took a step back. "What is that smell?" I sighed. "I''m afraid it''s us, Mrs. Fisher. We''re sort of covered in what''s left of the thing that was attacking your son." "The man on your floor is a burglar," Athena added helpfully, trying to wipe the slime off of her LeMat and failing miserably. With a grimace and a sigh, she holstered the weapon. <> she mumbled to me, <>. Out loud, she finished, "You should call the police and have him picked up." <> I commiserated, thinking of what it would take to get the goop out of my hair. "I''d offer to hang around to answer questions, but we should go get cleaned up before it dries¡­" I trailed off and looked at Athena. Her ears were cocked attentively. After a moment, she sighed. "Police siren." A moment later we all heard it, and I sighed too. "Or we can answer the questions now," I said. "I hope they won''t mind interviewing us outside. I don''t want to track any of this slime into your house." "Thank you for that," Mrs. Fisher said weakly, covering her nose and mouth with her hand to ward off the stench. "More importantly," Mr. Fisher added, "Thank you for stopping whatever it was. I''ll go meet the police out front and bring them around back here." He trotted off around the side of the house, breaking open his shotgun and plucking out the shells before going to meet the police. "Do you know what it was?" Mrs. Fisher asked. I shook my head. "Not yet. But once I know, I''ll tell you." She nodded her thanks and retreated back into the house to get away from the smell. The police accepted our story at face value. Fortunately, the presence of the absolutely noxious slime was as good an indicator of the presence of a supernatural predator as if the thing had still been alive for them to see. That we were coated in it was a testament to the creature having been destroyed. They asked their questions as quickly as possible while still being thorough, arrested the burglar, and retreated from the stench almost as fast as Mrs. Fisher had. They asked only that we send them a report on the event and what the creature had been once we figured it out. I promised to do so. By the time they were done, it was a little past four in the morning. Mrs. Fisher was kind enough to figure out a way to tie my bag to Artemis''s side so it wouldn''t get covered in slime on the way home. We decided to let Billy sleep to regain his strength and set off in search of a cab. It took us four tries to find one that would take us. Artemis refused to sit in the back seat with us and rode with her head out the window. So did the driver. A half an hour later, I was confronted by another problem. "I hope you don''t for an instant think you''re coming into MY house with that...that...what IS that all over you?" I gave Elsie a tired smile. "Not sure, but it smells to high heaven. My eyes have been watering constantly for the last forty minutes or so. We need to shower." "What you need to do," the girl said, planting her hands on her hips and blocking the doorway as best she could, "Is go around to the side yard. You can hose yourselves down, then come inside and shower off the rest in the guest quarters." It was the most she''d ever said to me at one time. From the look in her eyes and the thin set of her lips, I could tell she was dead serious. I nodded and held up my hands in surrender. "All right. Come on, Athena." Athena sighed and nodded. "Yes, Mistress." Artemis made to follow us, but Elsie stopped her. "You can come inside, Artemis. I''ll get that bag off of you." My still-feline familiar paused just long enough to give her sister and me a distinctly superior look before disappearing into the house. Elsie closed the door in our faces. I exchanged a look with Athena, who shrugged eloquently. Without another word, we went to hose down. An hour later, scrubbed clean and dressed in fresh clothes, I was sitting at the kitchen table finishing a quick breakfast. Athena was sitting across the table from me with her revolver disassembled on a soft cloth as she carefully cleaned every piece. Hollis stood leaning against the wall beside the hearth, arms folded across his chest and a thoughtful look on his face. I had just finished giving him a brief rundown of our visit to the Fishers'' home. "It sounds," he said thoughtfully, "like nothing I''ve ever seen." He smiled wryly. "Congratulations, you''ve met something new. I rather suspect it was a construct of some sort." Athena looked up and spoke my mind, as I had a mouthful of oatmeal. "You mean something someone summoned?" She sounded so much like me in that moment that it made me pause and look up in surprise. She giggled. "Sorry, Mistress." I swallowed and shook my head. "Don''t be. That was pretty cool." "She''s on the right track, anyway," Hollis said absently. "It seems precisely like the kind of thing that someone would have summoned. The fact that it burst the way it did when struck with silver and showered you both in some sort of ectoplasm is telling. Some constructs will do that." "Charming," I said dryly, then took another mouthful of oatmeal. Athena continued for me, once again perfectly reproducing my voice and thoughts. "Who could have done something like that? Who would have, for that matter?" She finished wiping down and oiling the pieces of her gun and began reassembling it. Hollis shook his head. "An excellent question. When you go back to talk to the Fishers, do a bit of snooping around and see if you can find any traces of the thing''s energy. If it left an echo of itself behind, that could be a clue as to the identity of its summoner." I nodded and finished my oatmeal, rising. "Thanks, Hollis." Elsie entered the room with my coat draped over one arm. Her face had a pinched, disgusted look as she held it out to me. "I managed to get all of the slime off of your coat and used one of Master''s herbal concoctions to leech the stench out. You''re going to smell like lavender for a few days, but I think that''s preferable." I took it from her with a smile. "I''m not going to argue. Thank you, Elsie. I owe you one." She looked startled, then her pinched expression softened into a smile. "You''re welcome, Miss Alys." I slid into my coat and shouldered my bag, turning to Athena. "Ready?" She checked the action on her revolver, quickly loaded it and rose as she slid it into its holster. "Ready!" We made it back to the Fishers'' home just before nine in the morning, as promised, to find that the window broken by the burglar had already been replaced. Billy met us at the door...or rather, practically bowled us over when the door was opened, first hugging me then Athena and finally Artemis...before zooming off to play in the back yard. He was still a bit pale, but obviously had back most of the energy he''d lost and was none the worse for his interrupted night. I ended up standing outside the back door with his mother while he ran around the yard, kicking a ball back and forth with Athena and Artemis. Before coming out I had spoken with them quietly about what the creature had been. Now she spoke without looking at me. "Will he be all right?" I had already surreptitiously checked his aura and found him already healing nicely, so I nodded. "He''ll be fine in another day or two. You can already tell he''s feeling better." Mrs. Fisher nodded. "Unquestionably." She was silent for a moment. "Do you think that...whatever it was, do you think it killed my daughter?" I sighed. "It''s possible. Perhaps even likely." "What can I do to protect the rest of my children?" "Before we leave, I''ll put up some wards around your house," I replied. "They won''t do you any good against humans, but it''ll keep out anything unnatural." She smiled at me then, warmly and confidently. "Thank you, Miss Kinnear." I returned her smile. "You''re very welcome. My employer and I will also do some research to try and figure out what it really was. I''m afraid it didn''t leave behind enough of an energy residue for me to tell anything immediately." "That''s all right," she said, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder. "You''ve already done more than we expected, what with that burglar last night." "That was an odd bit of timing, wasn''t it?" She nodded. "Extremely. You think it was related?" "Coincidences do happen, but I think it''s worth looking into," I said thoughtfully. "I''ll see if the police will tell me anything about him." "You''ll let us know if you find anything?" she asked. I nodded. "Of course." I let Billy play with Athena and Artemis for another half hour before we left and headed for home. It was time to get some sleep. Family Ties - Chapter 16 "Hollis, would you mind if I took a few days off?" It was about a month later, and I needed a break. I''d been going flat-out since arriving in London and hadn''t had a chance to catch up with myself. First it had been getting Athena and Artemis, then the haunted house, training Athena (and training with Athena), and finally the thing with the Fishers, raising their wards, and all of the research I''d done into their problem (none of which had panned out in any significant way)¡­all mixed in with my own studies and whatever other work Hollis asked me to do around the house and around town. He smiled across the breakfast table at me. "I was wondering when you''d ask. How much sleep are you getting?" "About four to five hours a night on average," Athena said before I could reply with something less truthful. I glared at her for a moment, and she returned my gaze with gentle exasperation. Hollis frowned slightly. "Have I been working you that hard? Yes, I suppose I have. Why didn''t you say something before now?" I opened my mouth to say something about how it wasn''t too much work and I was doing just fine, but Athena beat me to it again. "She doesn''t want you to think less of her or that she''s trying to shirk any of the work you''ve given her. She''s trying to make the best possible impression." For a moment, I thought about trying to deny it. But in the end, I sighed and silently admitted the truth of it. Also, I had to admit that I was amused by the looks she gave us both - the gentle exasperation for me and a bit of reproach for Hollis. You could almost hear her saying that I really should have asked him to lighten the workload a little, and that he probably should have noticed that I was working myself to the bone. Hollis tried in vain to keep from smiling. "I''m terribly sorry, Alys. I got so wrapped up in things that I didn''t notice. You''re doing as much work as I am and you''ve been training Athena and Artemis, taking some of Athena''s lessons with her, and continuing your own studies on top of it all. Yes, by all means, take a few days off. Catch your breath, get a little sleep. Why not take a trip home to see your mother? I''m sure she''d love to meet Athena and Artemis." "That''s what I was thinking of doing," I said with a nod. "I want to make sure she''s doing all right, too. The Council of Druids was giving her a hard time before I left." Hollis huffed out an irritated breath. "Druids. They didn''t used to be as small-minded and insular as they are today. Even in my youth they were more accepting of other ways of life than their own. It''s no wonder they''ve largely retreated to Ireland in the last twenty years. Nobody wants them around." It took me a moment to mentally translate Ireland into ¨¦ire, I was so used using to the traditional name. I smiled uncertainly, not sure how to respond. He noticed and gave me a sheepish look. "I''m sorry, Alys. It must have been hard for you, growing up so different in that environment." Unconsciously, I reached up and brushed my fingers through the hair on the side of my head, feeling the delicate point of my ear hidden beneath my pale golden hair. "It certainly wasn''t easy," I agreed. "Sometimes I wonder if they would have been more accepting of me if I''d shown a talent for Druidic magic rather than Hermetic." Being special isn''t all it''s cracked up to be. Sometimes ''special'' just means ''different.'' I noticed that Athena was giving me a subtly concerned look, so I shook my head a little and set it aside for later consideration. "It might have been," Hollis was saying, "but it¡¯s not good to play the ¡®what might have been¡¯ game, especially with things that you definitely cannot change." He smiled gently. I nodded my agreement. He was right. "Anyway..." "Yes," he said, "Coming back to my original point..." He trailed off into silence, then laughed. "I don''t remember what my point was." "Druids becoming more insular?" I prompted gently. "Ah yes," he nodded, "My point was that I suspect that unless they get over their growing xenophobia, the Druidic tradition is unlikely to survive another century. There simply won''t be a large enough population to sustain itself." He smiled. "Go home and rattle their cages a little." "When you put it that way..." Athena and I were packed within the hour. In the meantime, Hollis made arrangements for us to travel from London to Dublin by airship, using his vastly superior connections. I couldn''t wait to see my familiars'' reaction to flying. The airship - the Rosy Dawn - turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous modern thing in the form of a mid-sized galleon, its hull a graceful arc along the bottom with gilded abstract designs along the beam and rails. It was definitely a passenger ship, built to be elegant and comfortable with almost no space for cargo. We found our berth and made our way up on deck in time for takeoff. Traveling by airship is one of my two favorite ways to travel, the other being by train. But where I''ve always found traveling by train to be very soothing, going by airship is exhilarating. Or at least, the takeoff and landing are. After a couple of hours, the landscapes mostly look the same at ten thousand feet. But watching the port and its surroundings dwindle to toy size during launch and grow to seemingly overlarge proportions during landing was always fun. Athena was enchanted, leaning against the railing and staring down at the people and buildings as the airship hummed and gained altitude, until the individual people were effectively invisible beneath us. Artemis, being perfectly true to herself, stood on her hind paws with her forepaws braced on the railing for about three minutes before losing interest. Athena and I watched the landscape roll past for about an hour while Artemis dozed at our feet. When she caught me yawning, Athena promptly ushered me inside and put me to bed. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow and didn''t wake up until the ship began its descent to dock in Dublin about eight hours later. I was, perhaps, more tired than I had thought. We caught a train south-west from Dublin to Killarney, by which time the sun had well and truly set. It was a cold night, with a gentle drift of snow beginning to fall from the sky as we stood on the railway platform. "Well," I said finally, "It''s about a half-hour''s brisk walk from here to where my mother lives. I wouldn''t mind stretching my legs after all that time cooped up, what about you two?" "The cold doesn''t bother us very much, Mistress," Athena said with a smile. "I wouldn''t mind the walk either." <> Artemis said from where she was standing at the edge of the platform, her ears perked alertly and her tail swishing. <> I smiled. "Then let''s take a walk." With my staff in hand, my coat flapping in the chilly breeze and my familiars flanking me, I had never felt more like a Wizard than at that moment. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Fortunately, I''d had the foresight to dress warmly, with a thick cable-knit sweater under my coat, and heavy trousers. Even with my coat buttoned up tight, a woolen cap on my head and a scarf wrapped around my neck and lower face, my cheeks and nose were getting numb by the time the warm glow of the lights in my mother''s house appeared ahead of us. Athena had bundled up as well, giving in to the biting wind after just a couple of hundred yards and digging her boots, gloves, and a coat, hat and scarf out of our bottomless bag. Artemis, once again being very true to her feline self, seemed blithely unconcerned by either the cold or the snow. I heard Athena muttering once or twice about missing the thicker fur she''d had before being Elevated, but I could feel through the bond between us that she wasn''t really upset about it - just unused to feeling the cold quite so intensely. Still, it was a relief to all three of us when I shifted my staff to my left hand and knocked on mom''s door with my right. We heard her muffled "One moment!" after a minute, and just a few moments before the door cracked open. "Who''s out on a bitter night like this one?" She asked suspiciously. Then her eyes drifted down to Artemis, widened, and shot back up to mine. I tugged down my scarf so she could see my face and smiled. "Hi, mom! Surprise!" She laughed and opened the door all the way. "I like this sort of surprise. Get in here before you catch your deaths of cold." She pulled me and Athena inside gently and held the door open for Artemis to slip inside before closing it and latching it behind us. Before I could move, she tugged the hat from my head and pulled the rest of my scarf away so she could look at me. "Goodness. Your cheeks and nose are all red. Get those cold wet things off and go sit by the fire, all three of you." She hurried off to the kitchen, and within moments our outerwear had been shed and our gear piled by the door. Dressed down to my trousers, shirt and stockinged feet, I stood beside Athena in her leathers at the fire as we warmed ourselves. Artemis did a quick circuit of the room, then sat down by the hearth and purred contentedly. Mom returned a few minutes later with two steaming mugs of tea, which she handed to me - I passed one to Athena - before disappearing back into the kitchen and returning with a bowl of water for Artemis. Then she looked back and forth between us and shook her head. "Little did I know that when you went off to London, daughter, you''d come home with a twin sister." I laughed and Athena giggled. "It wasn''t intentional," I said, still laughing softly, "But a delightful turn of events nonetheless." Mom nodded and abruptly hugged me. "Welcome home, honey. I''m so glad you came to visit." Then she hugged Athena, to Athena''s intense surprise and pleasure. "And welcome to the family, Athena." She bent and ruffled Artemis'' ears, making her purr. "You too, Artemis. Come on, let''s drag some chairs up to the fire and you can tell me all about what you''ve been doing." The ease with which my mother accepted not only Athena''s presence but also her appearance set my familiar''s fears to rest and made her feel perfectly at home. We drew two more thickly cushioned chairs over to the fire to join the one my mother had been sitting in, and set to telling her everything. By the time we finished sharing our story almost two hours later, Artemis was sprawled at our feet, dozing contentedly in the glow of the fire, and Athena and I both felt warm and relaxed. My mother shook her head. "Ghosts, monsters and endless hours of training and errands." She smiled. "Perhaps not quite what you were expecting when you began your study of wizardry, Alys." I smiled ruefully. "The ghosts and monsters I expected. The additional training I sort of assumed. The endless errand-running? No, not quite what I''d expected." "What did Mister Ellister say?" Athena asked, her lips curled in an amused smile. "One must crawl before one can walk, and walk before one can run?" Artemis yawned. <> Athena laughed and told mother what Artemis had said, prompting mom to bend and stroke Artemis''s fur. "You tell them, kitten." Artemis purred contentedly, pleased to have found an ally. I chuckled, then yawned hugely, covering my mouth in surprise after the fact. Athena smiled fondly. "I think it''s time to get you off to bed, Mistress." "I slept the whole flight over!" I protested as she pulled me up out of my chair. "And rarely for the last few weeks before that," she said firmly, turning me and pushing me gently in the direction mother indicated. "Down the hall, second door on the right, Athena. I''ll bring your things in a moment," my mother said. "My familiars are conspiring against me!" I called over my shoulder to her, but without any real malice behind it. On the contrary, I felt warm inside that Athena was finally overcoming the shyness she''d exhibited since being Elevated. In no time at all I was nestled beneath the thick blanket on my old bed, Athena snuggled up beside me and Artemis curled up in front of the small fire in the fireplace across from the bed. Again, sleep claimed me before I thought it would. My sleep on the flight over had been deep and dreamless, probably because of my exhaustion. But now my brain was at least relatively rested, and evidently decided it was time for a bit of mental exercise. I dreamed, and just as I had the last time this had happened, I immediately knew that I was dreaming. As before, I was standing in front of my mother''s house, outside its stone wall. A large barn owl was perched on the gate, staring at me with unblinking eyes. I moved a few steps towards it and it let out a piercing cry, spread its wings and leaped into the sky. It flew over my shoulder and as I turned to watch it I realized I could smell smoke. The town was a ruin of burnt-out buildings and still smoldering timber. The only living thing that moved was the owl, gliding over the remains of the town. The High Druid''s voice suddenly cried from off to my right, "It was her doing!" I turned to look, but there was nobody there. "As the prophecy foretold!" His voice cried from behind me. I spun around, but there was nobody there. "The world will burn!" Druid Fianna Somerled called from behind me. I spun around once more, but there was still nobody there. My mother''s voice said firmly from just behind me, "It was not her. The world will go on as it has." I turned slowly, expecting to see her as I had the last time I''d had this dream. Instead, there was a young woman standing there. She looked to be about my age, and we were of a height and build. But her long black hair hung thick and heavy around her head, obscuring her face except for two glittering golden eyes and a rather unpleasant smile. Her skin was an unhealthy pale color that was almost gray; her clothes a ragged black dress that was form-fitting to the waist and down her arms, with a full, loose skirt. Her head lifted a little and her eyes met mine, making me shiver. "Hello, cuz. I didn''t know you were having these dreams too. Interesting. They''re right, you know...it''s not you. It''s me. But it''ll be an easy mistake to make." "Why''s that?" I asked, my voice echoing strangely. Her smile grew in an unsettling way, briefly flashing even white teeth. "You''ll find out. See you soon, cuz." I sat bolt upright in bed, sweating and panting, my heart hammering in my chest. Athena sat up sleepily and looked at me in surprise and concern. "Mistress?" I shook my head and pushed damp hair back off my forehead. It took me a minute to control my breathing, but finally I shook my head again and smiled weakly. "Just a bad dream, pet." Artemis peered at us over the foot of the bed. <> "Okay," I admitted, "More of a nightmare." "Like the one you had right after I was Elevated?" Athena asked with her usual piercing insight. She knew me too well. Which was, of course, the point of the familiar bond. "Just like that one, only weirder," I said. Athena rose and disappeared into the little attached bathroom, returning with a hand towel. She gently wiped my face and neck with cool water, and in a few moments I was calm again. "Thank you, Athena." She smiled and kissed my cheek. "Anything for you, Mistress. I just wish we knew why you were having these dreams." When she returned from putting the towel back, I sighed. "I''ll talk to Mom about it in the morning." Athena nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." She smiled. "When she told me to call her Mom too..." I laughed softly. "I thought your cheeks were going to spontaneously combust you were blushing so hard." "Well, it wasn''t at all what I was expecting," she said sheepishly. Artemis hopped up onto the bed and stretched out beside me. <> She put her head down on her paws and yawned. <> I smiled and ran my fingers through her short fur down her back, then patted her side gently. "Yeah, good moms are like that." I laid back down and Athena burrowed back into the blanket beside me. "I know I''ve said it before, but I''m so glad you found me, Artemis. I don''t know how I got by without you two." Artemis purred. <> Athena laughed softly and snuggled close. "Thank you for rescuing us, Mistress. We''ll always be by your side." I woke again in the very early morning with the sun just starting to lighten the sky outside the window. I laid quietly for a time, listening to the soft rumbles from Artemis as she slept and feeling Athena''s slow, even breathing against my shoulder. Why was I having these strange dreams? One was a fluke, easily written off as just a bad dream. But the same dream a second time with changes? A new player in the dream who spoke to me directly and responded to questions? And one who was so...sinister. I shivered a little and pressed a bit closer to Athena. I didn''t get back to sleep. Family Ties - Chapter 17 Three things happened the next morning that made me forget about my nightmare and the unsettling thoughts that kept me awake at dawn; the first two were related to the weather. When Athena finally woke and we got up to face the day, we discovered that the snow had not stopped, and was now a little over knee deep. Peering out the window, Athena huffed out a breath. "Good thing we planned to stay a couple of days. I don''t think we''re going anywhere." "Does it look like it''s going to stop?" I asked as I fluffed my hair back into place after putting on a dark green knitted pullover my mother had made for me the year before. "Not any time soon," Athena replied, tipping her head to one side to peer up at the sky. "The cloud cover is still pretty heavy, and the snowflakes are small and thick." I smiled. "Want to tackle the front walk?" We spent the next two hours outside in the snow, first shoveling a path from the front door to the road, and then caught up in a snowball fight with a group of rambunctious kids enjoying a day off from school. Artemis joined in near the end, playfully dunking both Athena and I into snow banks when we weren''t looking. It took a half an hour for the three of us to dry off and warm up, by which time mother had a late breakfast and mugs of hot chocolate waiting for us. We sat around the cozy little table in the kitchen eating pancakes and drinking cocoa. A perfect morning. The third thing came not long after that. Shortly before lunch, as Athena, Artemis and I were relaxing in front of the fireplace, there came a knock at the front door. "I''m not expecting anyone," mother said loudly from the kitchen. "But then, I wasn''t expecting the three of you," she added, sounding amused. "I wonder who''s going to show up now. Alys, honey, would you get the door?" I exchanged a look with Athena and shrugged, then headed for the door. Athena followed me and I felt reassured...between the two of us, we could handle pretty much anything that might be out there. Except what I found when I opened the door. It was a tall man in a heavy black coat and cloak, wearing a broad-brimmed black fedora and a bright crimson scarf wrapped around his lower face. There was a beautiful snowy owl riding on his shoulder, and he had a staff with a crystal hawk''s head topping it in his left hand. If the clothes hadn''t tipped me off, the staff would have and made me smile in surprise. "Master Tremane?" He blinked. "Alys?" His voice was muffled by the scarf, which he pulled down to reveal his neatly trimmed goatee and warm smile. "Goodness, I hadn''t expected to see you here." "The feeling is mutual!" I said with a laugh. "Come in!" I stepped back and he came in, his eyes flickering over Athena in an appraising - and, I thought, impressed - glance as I closed the door, shutting out the cold. He stomped the snow off his boots and set his staff next to mine beside the door, then shed his cloak, coat and hat as the owl hopped off his shoulder to perch on top of the nearby coat tree. "I don''t remember you having an owl, Master." I looked up at it. "It''s beautiful." "He," Master Tremane said, running his fingers through his straight black hair to smooth it into place. "And he''s not mine." He blushed a bit as he said it, making me raise my eyebrows in surprise. "Oh?" At that point, my mother emerged from the kitchen and smiled brightly, blushing like a schoolgirl. "Jonathan! I wasn''t expecting you today!" Oh really. "Yes, well," he was still blushing and shot a glance in my direction. "Well, it''s almost Yuletide, and I thought I''d bring you an early gift..." He gestured to the owl. I took a startled step back as my mother hurried over and beamed at him. "He''s beautiful! Is he really for me? How did you know I wanted an owl?" She kissed Master Tremane. Not a shy kiss, either. I''m pretty sure my jaw actually, literally, came unhinged and dropped open. Athena silently reached over and gently pushed it shut. "Alys mentioned it once or twice while she was still my apprentice," he replied, giving me an embarrassed look. "Speaking of which," he said to me, trying to reassert his self-confidence, "You''re not my apprentice anymore. You should call me Jonathan." My turn to be sheepish. "Sorry, force of habit." "Athena," my mother said, "Would you mind setting another place at the table?" Athena giggled at the looks on our faces. "Of course," she replied, and hurried off to the kitchen. The three of us stood in uncomfortable silence for a moment as Artemis stalked over and peered up at the owl curiously. For his part, the owl looked down at her imperiously and promptly dismissed her. He was a powerful looking bird, and I didn''t doubt for a second that he''d give her hell if she tried anything. She seemed to know it, because she transferred her attention to Master Tremane. To Jonathan, rather. That was going to be tough to get used to. Finally, I couldn''t help myself anymore and said teasingly, "So, is this entirely ethical?" "You''re not my student anymore," Master Tremane said quickly, "So yes. Perfectly so." Then he realized I was teasing him, smiled and ruffled my hair, messing it all up. "You haven''t changed a bit, scamp. How are you? I''ve received good reports about you from Hollis." I felt my cheeks warm with a swell of pride. "I''ve been well, sir." There. Sir was easier, and he seemed to accept it. After years of calling him Master, calling him by his first name just felt fundamentally wrong. "And I take it you''ve been courting..." He laughed. "Yes. Almost as soon as you left for London, I came to see your mother." "He''d been waiting for years," she said from where she was trying to coax the owl down from the coat tree so she could get a better look at him. "Such a sweet man, making sure everything was proper before doing anything. Do you have a name yet?" she asked the bird, who shook his head. "Well, I''ll have to think up a good, strong name for you." She finally coaxed him onto her arm and stood caressing his feathers gently. "Jonathan, he''s beautiful." Master Tremane beamed. "I''m glad you like him. He''s primed to be a familiar, all you have to do is bind him to you." "After lunch," she said firmly. "You''ll stay, won''t you?" We all looked out the window. The snow was picking up again. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Master Tremane chuckled. "It looks like I might not have much of a choice." Bull. Master Tremane could teleport better than anyone I''d ever met. But I let it pass...if he wanted to court my mother, I was perfectly fine with it. He was, after all, the closest thing I had to a father, and I loved him like one. If being together made them happy, that was good enough for me. "Well then, everybody to the table, lunch is almost ready," Mother said, then headed for the kitchen again, pausing by the fireplace so the owl could hop onto the mantle and warm himself. Athena had just finished setting a fourth place at the small kitchen table and smiled shyly at Master Tremane as he approached. "You must be Athena," he said, shaking her hand warmly as he looked at me. "Your mother mentioned her," he added by way of explanation. Artemis seemed to materialize by his legs and he bent to greet her as well, petting her ears. "And this beautiful creature must be Artemis." He smiled at me as he straightened again. "Well," he said, "You''ve certainly made a good showing of your skills and power in these two." I beamed happily. I couldn''t help it. He''d always been a bit reserved in giving praise for my achievements, so this was a powerful accolade indeed. "Thank you, sir. I''ve done my best." "So I''ve heard," he said, sitting at the table. "Hollis has been keeping me appraised of your work for him. I have to say, I was impressed when I heard how you handled that haunting. That was a difficult problem to get on your first solo job and you dealt with it admirably." I sat down across from him, blushing again. "I was well trained, sir." He laughed. "So you were." Soon the four of us were sitting around the table, replete after a lunch of sandwiches and hot soup. Artemis was dozing by the fire as the owl perched on the mantle above her, watching us all with complacent patience. "So," I said slowly, prepared to tease again, "When shall I expect an invitation to the wedding?" I had timed it perfectly. Master Tremane almost choked on a mouthful of tea as he tried not to spray it across the table at me and ended up wiping his mouth with his napkin as I giggled at him. Taking pity on him, mother patted his shoulder gently. "I don''t think we''re quite ready for that yet," she said. He looked relieved. "It''s a bit soon," he agreed. "But who knows." "Well," I said in my most pretentious tones, "When the time comes, you have my blessing, children." They both gave me nearly identical looks of dry amusement. "Good to know," Mother said. "It''s nice to have permission," Master Tremane agreed. "Perhaps we should just elope, then." Athena giggled. I smiled. "But really, I want you to know I''m okay with it." The relief on their faces was almost as amusing as the expressions I''d gotten while teasing them. "Thank you, honey," mother said. "That means a lot to me." Master Tremane nodded. "And to me." He reached across the table and patted my hand. "You''re already like a daughter to me," he said, unexpectedly mirroring my own feelings towards him. I smiled. "That means a lot to me," I said, echoing my mother''s statement. After that, we helped my mother take the owl as a familiar. She named him Apollo, joking that "We need to keep to a theme," in reference to my own familiars. All in all, the day had expertly conspired to make me forget about my nightmare. I finally remembered it that evening while the four of us were sitting around the fire and talking idly. I took advantage of a lull in the conversation to say, "I had that dream again last night, Mom. But it was different this time." Athena, sitting on the floor and leaning against my legs, looked up at me. My mother and Master Tremane both focused a startling amount of attention on me. "Really?" Mother asked. I nodded. "Will you tell us about it?" Master Tremane added. "Your mother told me about the first one...I hope you don''t mind." I shook my head. "I don''t mind at all. I''m glad, actually, because it really rattled me last night." I spent the next few minutes telling them about the dream in all the detail I could recall, complete with the changes at the end - the absence of my mother''s image, replaced with the strange and deeply unsettling young woman. When I finished, Athena added, "She was in a sweat when she woke up. It took several minutes for her to relax enough to lie back down. And I''m pretty sure she didn''t get much more sleep last night." I looked down at her in surprise. "You were asleep through dawn." "Only dozing, Mistress," she said with a warm smile, leaning a bit more firmly against my legs. "You know cats sleep lightly." I stroked her ears affectionately for a few moments as she purred up at me before the warm smiles on my mother''s and Master Tremane''s faces became a bit embarrassing. I cleared my throat. "Yes, well...she''s right, I didn''t get much more sleep. I think I dozed until dawn and then couldn''t shut my mind down enough to get back to sleep." Master Tremane slowly stroked his beard, a gesture I was familiar with from my years as his apprentice. It meant he was deep in thought. Finally, he looked up and exchanged an inscrutable look with my mother. "Do you still believe the dream to be prophetic somehow?" Mother nodded. "I do. The Druids of the Council keep mentioning that there''s some prophecy they believe is related to Alys, but they won''t tell me more than that." She looked as frustrated as she sounded. "Honestly, if they keep this up, I''m leaving my position. They''re none too happy that I''m being courted by a Wizard anyway." "Hollis says that their traditions aren''t likely to survive more than another generation or two if they don''t shed the insularity they''ve developed over the last twenty years or so." I shrugged. "Personally, I wouldn''t mind seeing you free of them, mom." Master Tremane nodded a little. "Nor would I. And I believe Hollis is correct," he added. "The Druids, at least those of ¨¦ire, have become too insular for their own good." He tapped his chin with two fingers for a few moments. "I''ll look into it from my end when I get back to Dublin," he said finally. "If there was a prophecy made about Alys, it should have been recorded and entered into the archives. If it exists, I''ll find it." Mother looked relieved, and I''m pretty sure I did too. "Thank you," I said. "I really appreciate it." He smiled at me. "I have to take care of my favorite student." "You''ve had other students?" I asked jokingly. "That''s entirely beside the point," he replied comfortably. "You''re still my favorite." I saw mother smiling, obviously pleased by the easy rapport that already existed between me and her new beau. If I were living in a fantasy novel, I''d think his courting my mother was too convenient to be anything other than a plot point. Fortunately, life isn''t like that. There was one awkward moment that evening when it was time for bed. My mother and Master Tremane went through a highly amusing song and dance about him sleeping on the couch that lasted for almost twenty minutes - going so far as to find him a pillow and blanket - before I finally took pity on them. "I''m fully aware, thanks to the time you sent me to spend with those Tantric mages," I said to Master Tremane, "of what men and women do together. Or men and men, or women and women as the case may be. Just promise me you''ll put a one-way silencing charm around your room so I don''t have to listen to it." "You really have to tell me about that part of your training sometime," Mother said with an impish smile. "No," I said firmly, feeling my cheeks warm at the memories. "I really, really don''t." I left them laughing and went to my own room, Athena and Artemis trailing along behind me. As we were getting ready for bed, I felt Athena watching me and turned to find her smiling gently. "What?" I asked, amused. She shrugged, still smiling. "I haven''t felt you this relaxed and happy before, Mistress. It''s making me feel good too." I blushed. It was easy for me to forget that the bond between my familiars and me went deeper than being able to share thoughts and sense where we were in relation to one another. We could feel one another¡¯s'' emotions as well, and mine were currently strong enough to have an impact on them. I wasn''t sure I was entirely comfortable with forcing my feelings on them. "It''s not a bad thing," she said quickly, sensing my train of thought. "I really like it. And your mother has gone out of her way to make me feel like part of the family...this just helps that along." She smiled shyly. "It''s nice." <> Artemis observed from her place before the small fireplace in my room. She yawned. <> She put her head down on her paws. <> She let out a long, relaxed purr. < > Athena shrugged eloquently. "She''s right. It feels perfectly natural to us. This is how it should be." I considered that for a moment, then decided to let it go. They were right, this was how the bond between familiar and spellcaster worked. The sooner I accepted that, the better. "All right, I''m sorry. I''ve been kind of silly about it, haven''t I." Athena nodded, smiling. Artemis yawned again and relaxed, seemingly unconcerned and uninterested. I laughed softly and climbed into bed. "Well, come on. Let''s see if I can get an uninterrupted night''s sleep tonight." Athena slid into bed beside me and snuggled close, resting her head on my shoulder. After a moment, Artemis hopped up and stretched out on the other side of me. They fairly radiated their contentment and happiness to me, and for the first time I opened myself to it fully, basking in their love for me. If any nightmares tried to get through that night, it was evidently enough to stop them. I slept like a baby. Family Ties - Chapter 18 By the next morning the snow was almost hip deep, at least on me, and we were well and truly snowed in. We received word that the trains weren''t going to be running that day, and that airships had been grounded in ¨¦ire, Wales and south west Britannia, and parts of Scotland. But the storm had passed by dawn and any fresh snow that fell was light, fluffy, and didn''t accumulate much. With Master Tremane''s help, we had the front walk cleared again in less than fifteen minutes. He showed me an ingenious ways of using force spells to lift and shift large amounts of snow with surprising precision. "So what you do," he said, his voice muffled by his scarf, "Is gather together the elements for a normal force spell. But rather than simply releasing it as a wave or blast, imagine it taking a shape you can maintain. Envision it forming a big scoop," he cupped one hand as he said it, "Dipping into the snow and lifting it free of the greater mass. If you enhance your senses through the spell, you should be able to tell where the ground is and go right down to it. Like scooping ice cream from the bottom of the container." He made a scooping motion with his cupped hand to demonstrate. "Then release it where you want to drop the snow, and repeat as needed. Like this." As he said it, he repeated the scooping gesture, and a blob of snow about three feet across and at least that high separated from the smooth white expanse before us. It lifted up, revealing a section of the stone path that led to the gate, then moved off to the side and dropped unceremoniously in a heap on top of the snow beside where it had been. I grinned. "That''ll save some time and effort instead of shoveling." Between the two of us, we made quick work of it. Having seen him put magic to work that way, I should have known not to throw that snowball at him, but I just couldn''t help myself. His retaliation came in a steady stream of a dozen or more snowballs at a time left me on the run and Athena doubled over with laughter. After lunch, I had another impromptu magic lesson with Master Tremane showing me more applications for fine use of force magic. Specifically, for the purpose of building snowmen. First, he gathered up enough snow to make a snowball and tossed it out in front of him. He caught it in an invisible hand of force and gently lowered it to the snow. Then he began to make sweeping and pushing gestures with his hands, using his ongoing force spell to carefully roll the snowball in ever widening circles. With every motion of his hands, more snow was gathered to it, forming into a smooth and nearly perfect sphere as it went. The end result was a ten foot tall, perfectly formed snowman that had the neighborhood children wide-eyed with awe. I had to stand on his shoulders to put the thing''s coal eyes and mouth, and carrot nose on. He refused to do that with magic, insisting it just wouldn''t be right, his eyes sparkling with silent laughter. Though we did use a little bit of magic to enlarge the carrot so it didn''t look too small as a nose. I suspected the thing would be there until early summer. It was so densely packed that it''d take forever to melt. The best part of it though was that we both let our hair down, so to speak. When we were master and apprentice, he always kept a certain emotional distance from me, which was proper. Now, thanks to our long familiarity, he took to playing the role of father effortlessly, and it felt right to me. Apparently, it felt right to him too. Dinner around the table that night was a warm, homey experience that left me feeling - for the first time that I could remember - a certain faint ache that I hadn''t had a father growing up. Evidently, I was going to have one now...and that was okay with me. Athena, Artemis and I stayed two more days - it took that long for the train tracks to be cleared - and took our leave early on the evening of the fourth day of our visit. Master Tremane - all right, Jonathan - was returning to Dublin as well, so he was going to be taking the train with us. "Come again soon honey," my mother said, hugging me tightly at the door before handing me my bag and staff. "And you," she said, turning to Athena and hugging her too, ¡°keep taking such good care of her. And make sure she takes good care of you." She bent and ruffled Artemis''s ears. "That goes for you too." The three of us waited outside while she said goodbye to Jonathan - I might have been okay with them together, but really wasn''t ready to see them kissing or anything like that - then struck off for the train station with him. We walked side by side in silence for a few minutes, Jonathan on my right, Athena on my left and Artemis ranging out ahead of us, the only sound that of our boots crunching through the snow. Finally, Jonathan said to me, "You''re really okay with me courting your mother?" I smiled behind my scarf. "Nope. I think it''s horrifying and awful." He looked at me sideways, then snorted a little laugh. "All right, sorry I asked." "Seriously, I''m okay with it," I said. "I''m glad she''s not going to be alone all the time anymore. And the sooner you can talk her into leaving this stupid little town the better." He nodded a little. "Don''t think it hasn''t crossed my mind. The last time I was here she told me about the hard time the other members of the Council were giving her, just because I was courting her." He shook his head. "Fools." "Hollis hasn''t told me what happened to make them withdraw from their contact with the world," I said. "Do you know?" "I know," he said reluctantly. "I just don''t like talking about it. It was a bad time for relations between the Order of Druids and the Order of Hermetic Wizardry. There was a matter of the possession of two members of the Druidic Council - that they weren''t able to deal with themselves - and it ended badly when they asked the O.H.W. for help." "Ah," I said, getting a glimpse of the matter. "It was another Wizard doing the possession?" He looked at me, surprised, then his eyes crinkled at their corners. Even though I couldn''t see him smiling behind his scarf, I knew he was. "I forget sometimes how quick your mind is. Not just one, a half-dozen taking turns in shifts. When the O.H.W. caught them, the O.H.W. high council decided they''d refuse to turn the Wizards responsible over to the Druidic Council for justice. That was when things really got bad." I winced and nodded. "I can see how it would." I could, too. Druids took the matter of justice - some non-Druids said vengeance instead - very seriously. Not handing a group of criminal practitioners over to them could easily have caused the equivalent of a diplomatic incident. When highly trained spellcasters are involved in an incident like that, it can get ugly very quickly. "What happened?" "A group of Druids tried to take the six wizards by force," Jonathan said quietly, "During their trial, which was being held at Glastonbury Tor. Seventeen people died. Eight Druids and nine Wizards. After that, the Druids pretty much withdrew to ¨¦ire and stopped communicating with the outside world. There were some who thought they might close the island altogether, but the High King of Albion demanded they not secede and admit that they had been wrong." The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. "Ouch," I said. Albion, the traditional name for Great Briton, encompassed Britannia, ¨¦ire, Scotland, Wales and Gaul. The position of High King was a hereditary one, supposedly descended from Arthur Pendragon himself in an unbroken line, but it had been mainly a figurehead position for the last two centuries. In spite of that, the High King (or queen) still wielded a significant amount of political power through popular tradition. "That was King James the sixth, right?" I asked. "It would''ve been what, two years before he died?" Jonathan nodded. "He was already pretty well gone mentally...he was a hundred and seven and not a practitioner of magic, so his mind and body had both been on the decline for a while. He disliked magic as a generality, which is why he never learned to use it. I don''t really think he knew what he was doing, he just wanted it out of his face. It worked, but the Druids were so resentful that they stopped talking to anybody outside their own circles. No pun intended." I sighed, ignoring the pun. "Stupidity." The brim of his hat bobbed as he nodded. "You can say that again. Mind you, that''s a very rough and simplified version of the story. It was a complicated mess." "What happened to the six Wizards who were involved in the possession?" "They died during the Druids'' attack on the trial at Glastonbury Tor," Jonathan replied. "No great loss. Frankly, it saved us the trouble of finding a suitable punishment for them. I was in the jury and was not looking forward to days of debate over how to handle the situation." He sighed. "Sometimes I think things were easier when the magical communities policed themselves without regard for the legal traditions of whatever country they were in." I looked at him in surprise. "No, really," he said. "Three hundred years ago, those six Wizards would have been executed on the spot without a trial, for having violated the free will of another human being. End of story. These days, there was some question as to what to do with them because they hadn''t actually killed anybody. Foolishness." "Why is that foolish?" I asked. "Do you remember one of the first things I taught you about magic and how it''s used?" The corners of his eyes crinkled in a smile again. "Say it with me now, ''Dark magic...''" "''Corrupts the soul and devours the mind. Its effects are cumulative and invariably end in madness,''" I said with him, seeing his point. "So you''re saying that having done what they did, there was little or no chance that they would repent or look for redemption?" "Actually, I''m saying there was little or no chance that they even could," he said with a sigh. "You didn''t see them during the trial. Any time they were given the chance to speak in their own defense, the result was vitriolic and violent ranting about how they were going to kill all of us when they freed themselves. They were already far gone, like rabid animals." We walked in silence for a while as I digested that. "It''s not easy," I said finally, "Being a Wizard. But the difficult part isn''t wielding the forces, it''s knowing when to and why you should." I could hear the amusement in his voice, "Congratulations, apprentice. That''s the most important lesson you can learn. I thought I hammered it home years ago." I chuckled softly, my breath fogging the air in front of me even through my scarf. "You did. I think I had to be out in the real world, doing things on my own before it really finished sinking in though." He nodded. "Which is why apprentices become Journeymen, then Mages, rather than going straight to their Wizard mastery." I laughed. "Fair enough." "I hope you never have to face a Wizard who''s gone bad, Alys," he said very seriously. "I''ve faced three in my life, and have scars from all three. But if you do, don''t hesitate any more than you would facing any other kind of monster." "I won''t, Master." He cleared his throat teasingly, and Athena giggled. "Sorry!" I laughed. "Give me a break, you''re asking me to change a habit that''s a decade old. It''ll take some time." Artemis came trotting back to us then, tail lashing and ears flattened to her head. <> she said, <> "Where?" I asked, stopping and looking around. <> she said unhappily. <> "What''s up?" Jonathan asked. "Not sure," I said, crouching down and petting Artemis. "She said she caught other scents that didn''t belong here, one she couldn''t identify and a strange cat too. Something about it really set her on edge." Athena had walked a few more steps and stopped, her coat open and one hand resting on the butt of her revolver. "Mistress?" I looked up. "What''s wrong, pet?" She shook her head. "I don''t know. Something." Jonathan stepped up beside her, keeping a few feet between them, planting his staff firmly and looking around. "Something you hear? Smell?" "Feel," Athena said. "Like we''re being watched. That weird prickling feeling on the back of your neck?" He nodded. "I understand." He shifted his staff to his left hand and raised his right above his head. I felt a surge of energy and a sphere of light appeared above his hand, then shot up into the air about thirty feet. It lit up the snow-covered landscape around us like daylight, dispelling the darkness and giving us a clear view. I rose, looking around carefully. "I don''t see anything." "Nor I," Jonathan replied. "I don''t either," Athena said, buttoning her coat back up. She sounded frustrated. "Whatever it was, it''s gone now." "Perhaps it realized the folly of stalking two Wizards and two familiars," Jonathan joked. A moment later he released his spell and the light went out. "Come on, we''re only a few minutes from the train station." We bought our tickets and settled into a compartment together, the four of us effectively filling one. The warm, well-lit interior of the train was a welcome relief from the cold night outside. "What''s next for you when you get back to London?" Jonathan asked. I shook my head, "Whatever Hollis needs me to do. Research, running errands, another of his bizarre jobs..." Jonathan chuckled. "London does offer a wide variety of problems for a wizard to tackle. It''s a good place to get your feet wet. Have you thought about traveling?" "Once I have more experience under my belt," I replied, "And have passed my Wizard''s qualification exams, I''ll think about it. The most important thing I''ve learned from my first real jobs is how much I still have to learn." Jonathan grinned across the compartment at me. "That''s a valuable lesson, especially for a Wizard-to-be. Lots of people never learn that one." "Ha ha," I smiled back at him. "Anyway, I''d like to go to Vinland and Nippon someday. More immediately, I''d like to visit Bath and Edinburgh at some point. I haven''t even gotten out to see Stonehenge or to Avesbury yet." He smiled. "Hollis has been keeping you busy." "Very," Athena said dryly. "Mistress was barely getting enough sleep." Jonathan chuckled. "You have a superb advocate there, Alys." I nodded. "She''s taking good care of me." "Mistress takes good care of my sister and me," Athena said simply. "The bond between Wizard and familiar," Jonathan nodded, smiling. "I''ve never taken a familiar, but watching the three of you together makes me want to." I was surprised by how easy my relationship with my former teacher was now that I was no longer his student. He had always seemed so stern and aloof to me when I was studying under him that this new side of his personality - a relaxed, warm and caring man who was ready to tease me at the drop of a hat - had come as quite a shock. One I thought I wouldn''t have too much trouble getting used to. The train ride to Dublin passed in a blur of companionable conversation and one rather vicious game of chess on a travel set I had in my bag. Jonathan accompanied us to the airship docks and saw us right to the boarding ramp of our ship. "I take my leave of you here, young Alys," he said with a smile, then gave me a warm hug, which I returned happily. "Take care of yourself and keep in touch." He stepped back and flashed a quick and rather roguish grin at me. "I''ll just keep an eye on your mother for you, shall I?" I laughed. "That would be greatly appreciated. You take care of yourself too, and I promise I''ll be in touch soon." He then gave Athena a hug, to her obvious surprise. "And you, young Athena, go right on making sure your mistress gets plenty of rest. I''m glad to know you and your sister have her back." "We always will, sir," she said with a warm smile. Artemis reared up and planted her forepaws on his chest to lick his cheek, making him laugh and ruffle her ears. "All right you three. Off with you, now. Don''t miss your ship." He tugged his scarf back into place and began to walk away, pausing to wave before disappearing back into the airship station. Athena and I returned his wave, then turned and hurried up the boarding ramp with Artemis at our heels. With our tickets checked, we settled into our cabin. In the morning, we''d be back in London and back to work. But for now, we had one more night of rest. We took full advantage of it. For once, I was asleep before the ship took off. Family Ties - Chapter 19 "Alys," Hollis said one morning in early January as he came into the kitchen where Athena and I were having breakfast, "I have an errand I need you to run." I looked up, surprised by how grave he looked and sounded. "What''s wrong?" He shook his head and went to the stove, where Elsie regularly kept a kettle of hot water on for tea, and began to make a cup for himself. "Nothing''s wrong per se. But as you know, I have at least five projects going on at any given moment. Two of them have come to a head at the same time. Both are of equal urgency and need to be dealt with as quickly as possible. So I need you to go and take care of one, while I handle the other." "All right," I nodded. "What''s the scoop, boss?" "I need you to go to Edinburgh," he said as he sat down at the table with us, "And pick up a package. The package is currently in the hands of a wizard I studied with in my youth, Patrick MacMullan." He leaned forward over his cup of tea and caught my eyes with his own. "I need you do this with more caution than you may feel is necessary. The package contains a five hundred year old Aztec dagger that was used extensively in magical rituals involving human sacrifice." Athena, about to take a bite of her oatmeal, looked up and set her spoon back down in the bowl. I felt a shiver run up my spine. Hollis nodded. "It is a powerful focus of dark magical energy, one which I intend to destroy. I''ve made a study of destroying such things safely, and it''s some of the most important work I do. All I need you to do is get the package from MacMullan and bring it back here." "Why don''t I think it''ll be that easy?" I asked rhetorically. "Because it probably won''t be," Hollis agreed. "Items like this have a way of attracting precisely the sort of people we want to keep them away from. Be on your guard." "I always am," I said simply. "Be more on your guard than usual," he said gravely. "I''ve had a sending from Jonathan about your potentially prophetic dreams." "Oh?" Hollis rubbed his nose for a moment. "Evidently, no record was made of a prophecy regarding you with the Prophecy Records Commission. The PRC is usually very comprehensive about that sort of thing, since prophecy can be a dangerous subject. That does not," he held up a hand in a gesture of admission, "Mean that they are infallible or that they receive or properly record a report of every prophecy that''s made. Jon is especially concerned that the prophecy might have been made by a Druidic Seer, in which case they might not have reported it at all." "Lovely," My response was so dry it could have caused water to evaporate. "He filled me in on what happened to split the Druids from the rest of the magical community." "Ah," Hollis grimaced. "Well, I suppose it''s good that you know. Be that as it may," he went on quickly, "He feels that if your dreams are truly prophetic in nature, they''re likely to be warning you of an event in the near or immediate future. Considering the content of your dreams, please be more cautious on this trip than usual." I frowned slightly. "You think something''s going to happen now?" He shrugged. "I think bad things happen every day. I know you''re going to be transporting a ritual object that''s likely to draw the attention of bad people. Two plus two equals what?" "Four," I said with a sigh. "Point taken. We''ll be extra careful, won''t we?" Athena nodded. "Even more so than usual." Artemis mrowled her agreement from under the table. "Good," Hollis pushed himself to his feet and picked up his cup of tea. "Well, I''ll contact the station and get tickets for you on the 23:30 train to Edinburgh. Come to my study after dinner and I''ll have them ready for you." "We''ll see you then," I confirmed as he left the room, then looked at Athena. "Let''s get packed." She nodded and rose, "Mistress, if I may suggest..." "Always," I rose with her. "Put on the leathers you bought, the ones like what I usually wear," she said. "Remember, they''re light armor. Just in case." I smiled. "All right, Athena. It''s a good idea." Thirty minutes later I was less certain of that fact. "It''s very tight," I said as Athena finished showing me how to secure the bodysuit. Its high neck felt almost like a collar, and the stocking-like leggings felt stiff at my thighs, shins and calves; but the whole thing was flexible enough for me to bend and stretch with relative comfort. Looking in the mirror, with Athena standing beside me, I blushed. "We look more like twins than usual, but I''d never have the nerve to wear this in public." Athena giggled. "I can''t imagine you doing so. But I''m glad you''ll be wearing them anyway." Shaking my head, I turned and dressed in my usual traveling clothes. As the shop-owner had promised, the leather outfit beneath remained comfortable and cool even once I was wearing trousers, boots, a shirt and sweater over them. "There is definitely some magic woven into these," I said to Athena as I finished lacing up my hiking boots. "I expected to be sweating by now." She shrugged. "I wouldn''t know, Mistress." She was busy putting our clothes into my bottomless bag and paused. "Staff in or out?" I considered for a moment, then said, "Out. Ordinarily I''d pack it, but since we''re going out armed and armored, I might as well be ready for anything." Every Wizard makes (or buys) numerous magical tools and gewgaws during their lifetime, but a staff is by far the most common. A Wizard''s staff is like a multi-tool, designed to do lots of things well enough to get by, but not to do any one thing really well. As a generality, they were the most commonly used magical tool for gathering, redirecting, channeling and focusing Anima, which made them extremely useful for...well, pretty much every type of spellcasting. Their appearance varies as wildly as the Wizards themselves. My staff was still sort of a work in progress. Most wizards have the same staff their whole lives, barring complications, and they tend to change over time, gathering ornamental and magical purposes alike. Mine was a simple oak shaft a little taller than I was, capped with plain steel at either end. It had the requisite Anima-manipulation runes carved into it at the top and bottom and a few more around the middle, but was otherwise quite plain. Which wasn''t unusual for a young Mage just getting started. It just didn''t make for an exciting description. It was also good for smacking things. But that goes without saying. "Don''t forget the quartz crystals..." I started to say. "Five different sizes," Athena interrupted with a smile, "As well as a variety of other prepared precious and semi-precious stones." "Potions?" "General healing, anti-venom and anti-toxin, general-purpose poison antidote, invisibility, and a couple of energy drinks," she replied promptly. I blinked and started to smile. "Ritual components?" Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! "Restocked with the most common items," she said, "Chalk, sand, salt, feathers, stones, blessed water, I took some holly and mistletoe from the garden, and Elsie located an extra tuning fork when I asked about one." I started to laugh. "Is there anything left for me to do?" She rose from peering into the bag and smiled, just a bit smugly. "No, Mistress. As it should be." I gave her a hug as I got my laughter under control. "Thank you. Come on, let''s go raid Hollis''s stores and make sure we haven''t missed anything useful. Then we can go do some target shooting and I''ll help you clean your gear." "Thank you, Mistress!" I believe I''ve mentioned once or twice that I love traveling by train. Heck, I love traveling period. But there''s something special about the sound and feel of a train in motion. The click-clack of the wheels on the tracks, the gentle rocking motion...it''s surprisingly soothing. There have been several attempts over the past fifty years to move trains away from steam-driven engines. But for some reason, both passengers and train companies alike have resisted the urge to move to new technologies just for the sake of doing so. Magically-driven steam engines are efficient, environmentally friendly, and traditional. Yes, I said traditional. I realize that that''s a lousy reason to stick with a way of doing things, but in some cases tradition is both stronger and more important than change for the sake of change. Steam trains have been around for two hundred years without changing significantly (except for improvements in the steam engines themselves), and I hope they stay that way for two hundred more. Train stations are another story entirely. If they could find a better way to handle ingress and egress, that would be a good thing. Athena and I pushed our way through the crowded station, Artemis close on our heels. We were in better shape than most of the people we were struggling our way past, since the bottomless bag my mother had given me was more than able to hold all of our clothes and supplies. Thanks to that, we didn''t have the sort of big trunks or bags most people were hauling behind them, which made navigating the crush of people a bit easier. And having my staff out to lead the way with - a solid length of oak does wonders to make people clear a path, even when you''re not actively trying - but we still had an uphill battle getting to our train on time. That was with us arriving an hour early. But that''s King''s Cross station for you. Unfortunately, the Caledonian Sleeper was one of the best ways to get from London to Edinburgh, and it ran out of King''s Cross. Oh, there were faster trains. Some made the trip during the day in just under five hours. But the eight hour trip on the Caledonian Sleeper was a lot more comfortable, and would enable us to arrive fresh and rested. Since Hollis wasn''t able to give us more than nebulous warnings about possible dangers, getting started after a solid six or seven hours of sleep sounded like an excellent idea. We were met by a conductor at the door to our car. He looked us over with a quick glance and said simply, "Tickets." I handed him three. "Myself and two familiars." He glanced at the tickets, punched holes in them at the appropriate spots, and handed them back to me. "First class sleeper car, very nice. Cabin six, up the corridor on your left." I smiled at him. "Thanks." Hollis hadn''t mentioned that he''d bought us first class tickets, and I hadn''t noticed until we were already at the station. It would make the trip a lot more comfortable than I was used to, and would make security easier on the return trip. I made a mental note to thank him when we got back. We made our way past the conductor, and a few minutes later were comfortably ensconced in a cozy little compartment with two fold-out beds (one above the other) and a padded bench with a small table. Athena insisted I take the top bunk and promptly leaned her sword against the bottom one, hanging her gun belt where she could reach it easily. I raised an eyebrow, kicking off my boots and hanging my coat on a hook by the door. "Worried about being attacked on the train?" She smiled wryly. "Sorry, Mistress. Some of what Mr. Ellister said has left me feeling kind of edgy." Artemis hopped up onto the bench and stretched out facing the door. <> "Really?" I finished changing into the sleep shirt and pants I had brought, leaving my leathers on as Athena had requested, and used the short ladder to climb onto the top bunk. Athena nodded. "Yes, Mistress. Something''s not quite right." "That isn''t very reassuring," I said dryly, but smiled as I said it. "Well, the door is locked. Anybody who wants to get in is going to have to make some noise. And I''m sure between the two of us, they won''t get far." Athena nodded and settled onto the bottom bunk. "Very true, Mistress." I had to admit as I laid back on my bed that I was a bit unsettled myself. What Hollis had said about expecting trouble and the nature of the package we were collecting had obviously set all of our nerves on high alert. But to be attacked on the train going there? I had been imagining that anything that happened would occur on the way back, after making the pickup. Or even as soon as we arrived in the city, assuming our errand was known to someone we didn''t want to know about it. Was I being naive? Or were my familiars being paranoid? Bottom line, was their caution a bad thing? No. Not at all. "Well, stay alert," I said finally, folding my arms under my head and looking up at the compartment''s ceiling. "But don''t let it keep you from getting some sleep. I doubt anything''s going to happen before we¡¯ve picked up the package, and I need you both fresh when we get there." "Yes, Mistress," Athena said, and I heard her shift around a bit beneath me. Across from us, Artemis yawned hugely and put her chin down on her paws. <> she said. <> I smiled. How many times as a little girl had I tried to sneak up on one of the cats that lived in town? Now that I thought about it, I had never once succeeded. "Good. Sleep well, kittens." Artemis made a contented sound and closed her eyes. A similar sound drifted up to me from the bottom bunk, followed by Athena''s whispered, "Sleep well, Mistress." It took me a few minutes to find a comfortable position. I wasn''t used to sleeping in what amounted to light armor, even if it did look like some sort of kinky lingerie. No matter how comfortable it was - and it was comfortable enough that I''d forgotten I was wearing it several times already - it was still an unusual thing to wear to bed. But I felt somewhat reassured knowing that even if we did get attacked in during the night I would be prepared for it. I woke once in the middle of the night and rolled onto my side so I could see out the window. There wasn''t much to see, just the darkness and the occasional blur of a tree as we went whipping past it. The sounds of the train and the gentle swaying motion were both soothing to me, as were the soft sounds Athena and Artemis made when they slept. After a few minutes, my eyes slid shut again, and I let myself drift back to sleep. We arrived in Edinburgh a little after 8:30 in the morning, slightly longer than the expected duration of the trip. We''d eaten a quick breakfast in the dining car, finishing just as the train slid into the station with the hiss of its brakes echoing all around us. It was cold enough out that Athena and I both wrapped ourselves in heavy cloaks over our coats, and it was just starting to snow again as we stepped off the train. So I was very glad to see a heavily cloaked and hooded figure holding up a piece of paper with ''Kinnear'' written on it. <> Athena murmured as we headed in that direction. <> I replied, <> The closer we got to our contact, the more I was glad she had reminded me. From a distance, the person waiting for us hadn''t looked particularly out of the ordinary. As we got closer, however, I realized that it was close to seven feet tall with broad shoulders and - to judge from the breadth of the cloak - solidly built. We slowed and looked up at him - or her - as we came to a halt. "I''m Alys Kinnear," I said quietly. The hooded head bent and I saw two gently glowing yellow eyes peering out of its shadowy depths. I tightened my grip on my staff and called up my Anima, ready to start throwing spells. "Welcome, Mage Kinnear," a stilted, genderless voice said. "I am RB-102, chauffeur to Wizard MacMullan. He asked me to collect you and bring you to his home." "I''d like to see some identification," I replied quietly. "Of course, Mage Kinnear," it said, and one of the most amazing arms I''d ever seen emerged from under the cloak. Said arm was made of what appeared to be a mix of stainless steel and copper making up the bones and supports. They were held together by bands of rubber and strips of leather. The fingers were works of art, more steel and copper with textured rubber pads between the joints and on the palms, all of it broken up by so many points of articulation that they probably had better manual dexterity than a normal human hand. Between its thumb and first two fingers it held a slip of metal about the size of a business card. It shimmered with colors as it moved, and I took it cautiously. As I touched it, the colors swirled around my fingertips, then coalesced into small, finely printed text. It read, ''Mage Kinnear, you may trust this automaton, named RB-102, to bring you to my place of residence.'' It was signed with both a name, Patrick MacMullan, and a Wizard''s sigil that glowed with a soft blue-white light. I relaxed immediately. It was incredibly illegal to falsify a Wizard''s sigil, a law that was often enforced - instantaneously - by magic associated with the sigil. Often lethal magic. As I''ve said before, Wizards take their personal sigils very, very seriously. But an automaton...that explained the height and build, metallic arm and artificial voice. I looked up at it in awe, never having seen one in person before. Automatons were amazingly rare, requiring tremendous skill, both mechanical and magical, to build. They were also completely trustworthy. If one had been sent to collect me, with the sigil of the Wizard I was here to meet, I could trust it to perform its task unfailingly and unquestioningly. They were very strong, very intelligent, and not the least bit self-aware, without any motivation beyond whatever instructions their creator had given them. "Very well," I said finally, handing the metal card back to it. "Take me to your master." Family Ties - Chapter 20 "I''m afraid we have little time for pleasantries and none for sightseeing," I said as politely as possible as I bowed to the man sitting behind the desk before me. Although I knew he was the same age as Jonathan and Hollis, he looked older by more than a decade. His face was seamed and weathered, his hair snowy white and thinning. But he still showed the strength of his contemporaries. The events of his life must have been strange indeed. "We''re scheduled to depart on the noon train back to London," I added. "Well," Wizard MacMullan said, "That gives us little time indeed." He rose and came around the desk, extending his hand. "Wizard Patrick MacMullan." I shook his hand firmly. "Mage Alys Kinnear," I said, giving the proper reply. "These are my familiars, Athena and Artemis." Athena curtsied and Artemis settled to her haunches and looked up attentively. "That''ll do for pleasantries," he said with a warm smile. "Call me Patrick. Come, I have the dagger locked in a small chest and sealed in my vault. I''ll give it to you, and you can take it to Hollis." "I''m going to look a little odd carrying a small chest back to the train," I replied with some amusement as he led us out of the room and down a flight of stairs. "In Edinburgh? Hardly. Many people use them for a lot of different purposes," Patrick shrugged. "Nobody will look twice, I assure you. Here we are." The staircase ended in a very solid-looking iron door. He pulled a ring of keys from somewhere inside his dark blue and grey robes and began flipping through them quickly. "That''s a very impressive door," Athena said quietly. Patrick flashed her a quick grin. "Hollis and I share a passion for finding, securing and destroying artifacts of dark magic. Sadly, there are a shockingly large number of them around. Many people get caught up in magic without realizing how dark what they''re doing is and accidentally create something sinister without meaning to. Others create these things intentionally. But they require, in our opinion - the most cautious of handling." "How do you destroy one?" I asked curiously as he began unlocking the five deadbolts I could see on the door. "Well, that''s not as simple a question as it sounds," he replied thoughtfully as he selected a different key to unlock the second deadbolt. "It depends on a great many factors. In the case of this dagger, I suspect magical fire would be sufficient." "In some cases," He selected another key and opened another lock, "Very old or very powerful relics require extreme measures to eliminate them completely. Dragon''s fire is a classic cleansing agent for dark magic, as is destruction in an active volcano. Needless to say, both are a bit on the dangerous side." He flashed me a quick grin and continued to the next lock. "Sometimes it''s as simple as destroying the physical vessel. Sometimes the energies within need to be scattered and diminished before the vessel can be safely destroyed. In the worst case scenarios, some artifacts are so powerful or are intentionally made so indestructible that all one can do is store them out of reach and hope they never see the light of day again. I have a few things down here like that." "If you know so much about destroying them," I asked, "And think you know what will destroy this one, why risk sending it to Hollis?" "Well, academically I know a lot about destroying such artifacts," he said absently. "But it''s not my specialty. In practice, I''ve rarely had to destroy one, and I''m more often called on as an Exorcist." That would explain the white hair and weathered features. With a flourish, he unlocked the last deadbolt and murmured the words of a spell to remove the magical protections I could feel thrumming around and through the door. "My defenses are threefold," he said, "If you''re curious." "I am," I said. "I''ve always found wards interesting." He smiled. "Good! Too many young Mages today think wards take too long to bother with. Anyway, each lock is magically attuned to the key associated with it. Even if someone managed to make a copy of the key, only I or someone I trained to do so could attune the copy to the lock. Without being attuned, the lock wouldn''t open even for the right key." "That''s really cool," Athena whistled softly. Patrick looked pleased. "It''s a ward of my own devising. If we had more time," he addressed me this time, "I''d show it to you. But another time. The second layer of defenses are standard wards, but woven together to make a whole stronger than the sum of its parts. Mostly portal sealing, repulsion and the like, though two of them are potentially lethal. I won''t say more about them. Don''t take it personally." I shook my head. "I don''t. I know how important keeping the details of something like that quiet can be." "Good," he said firmly and began to pull the door open. Its hinges squealed laboriously, but it opened. "The third layer is physical, something many Mages forget to protect against. There''s a half-dozen crossbows in hidden niches around us. If the door was opened without the spell to disable them being cast, whoever opened the door would look like a pincushion - or worse, probably, after the spells hit." He considered the now-open door as the lights inside began to come on. "I should really replace them with firearms, but I can''t quite bring myself to abandon the traditional style of crossbows." "There''s something to be said for tradition," I agreed. "Besides, if it''s something non-human trying to get in, the cold iron of an arrowhead might be more effective than a lead bullet." "That''s true too," Patrick nodded. "You have a good head for this sort of thing. Come this way." He led us into his vault, which appeared to take up a fair chunk of his basement space. There was a workbench in the center of the room, with bookcases and shelves lining the walls. The shelves were crammed full of every imaginable sort of dark magical talisman, focus and material component ranging from a jar of bluish eyeballs with hourglass-shaped pupils - really - to something that looked like a used Vodun doll from West Africa. At least, from the pins sticking out of it, I was pretty sure it had already been used. My eyes were caught for a moment by a trident made of copper that seemed to sparkle with greenish light, and a book that...I took three steps to the side and peered more closely. Its cover appeared at a glance to be made of leather, but something about the texture reminded me of human skin. I swallowed hard. "Is that..." "Best not to ask," Patrick said gently. "I try not to think about some of what''s in here. I''d have nightmares if I did. Over here." I went to stand beside him at the workbench, while Athena and Artemis crowded in close behind me. On the bench was a small wooden chest bound in iron and copper and held shut with a padlock engraved with runes. "There it is," he said. "As secured for transport as I can make it without it becoming impossible to move. I won''t ask you to sign for it or anything like that, but if you''re not sure you''ll be okay playing courier..." I shook my head. "We''ll be fine," I said with more confidence than I felt. "Hollis warned us that we needed to be extra cautious on this trip, especially on the way back, and we will be." Athena nodded and Artemis mrowled her agreement. Patrick smiled. "Then I give it into your care, and I wish you a safe journey home. Will you stay for an early lunch? I imagine you already ate on the train, but you won''t want to go to the dining car with that in your possession." "That would be very good," I said with a returning smile. "Thank you." "If you don''t mind my asking," I said slowly as we returned to the door, "Why keep all of this if it''s so dangerous?" Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. "Well, for one thing it''s safer here than lying around," he said lightly. "But really...as unpleasant as most of these things are, and as dangerous as they are, destruction of knowledge is often an irrevocable act. Many of the items in my vault have provided me with the insights or information necessary to deal with a greater darkness than themselves." "I see," I replied thoughtfully. "You safeguard the knowledge against being used for evil, without destroying the potential to learn from it how to prevent or stop evil." "Just so." He locked up the vault, and we returned to the main floor. "When you arrived," he said a little while later as we were finishing our light meal, "You said there wasn''t enough time for sightseeing. I take it you''re interested in Edinburgh." "Very," I replied eagerly. "Is it true that parts of the castle are almost nine hundred years old?" "Very true," he smiled. "And the castle rock has been inhabited as a seat of power since long before that. For over two thousand years, in fact." "Because it''s a nexus of ley lines?" I asked. "Precisely," Patrick nodded. "One of the largest confluences of ley lines in the world, in fact. There''s a system of tunnels and caverns under the rock that were the last great stronghold of the Sidhe before most of them finally retreated to the Spirit Realm." He gave me a penetrating look, his eyes flicking to the delicate point of one of my ears, poking through my pale golden hair. "You might find that particularly interesting." I blushed and shifted my hair to cover my ear again. "Perhaps." He smiled. "I didn''t mean to pry." "It''s all right," I said sheepishly. "I don''t know who my father was, but it''s a fair bet he was of the Sidhe. I would like to see the castle and the tunnels when I have time." "When you have time," he said with a smile, "Come back and see me, and I''ll get you into both. I have access to areas that the tours can''t get into, and I imagine those are the ones that would interest you the most." "Thank you." I leaned forward a little. "Perhaps you''d be willing to teach me about your automatons at the same time?" He grinned. "Ah, those are a specialty of mine, and I''m always glad to show them off. They take a great deal of time and effort to build, but I''d be more than willing to teach you the basics. Being an Exorcist may be my calling, but building those automatons is my passion. Perhaps if you came back in the spring. April and May are beautiful up here with everything blooming." "I''ll see if I can get away then," I said with a nod. We took our leave of him not long after that, thanking him for his hospitality that day and his offer of hospitality during a future visit. He had one of his automatons, a different one, drive us back to the train station so that we arrived with a good forty-five minutes to spare before the train was scheduled to depart. Being a train station, it took us most of that time to clear our tickets and get to the train itself, but at least we weren''t racing to catch it this time. We settled into another first class compartment, and I put the small chest up on the luggage shelf. The train pulled out of the station less than ten minutes later, mostly empty for a change according to the conductor that came by to check on us and verify our tickets one more time. "I''ve rarely seen the Caledonian Sleeper with such a light compliment of passengers on its way back to London," the older man said as he tipped his cap back to scratch his head beneath. "It''s never packed, mind you, since the train''s main purpose is the nighttime run to Edinburgh. But the rearmost cars are all but empty." He shrugged and set his cap in place again. "If you need anything, miss, you ring for me. I doubt I''ll be busy." Once he was gone, the three of us exchanged a series of complex looks. I felt the tension in the air, something that raised my hackles a bit. "Do you girls feel that?" Athena nodded. "I think we were followed through the train station too, Mistress. But I was never able to catch sight of anyone paying an unusual amount of attention to us." <> Artemis agreed. <> "The question is," I said, "How long they''ll wait before making their move to claim the chest and its contents. Perhaps we should make a circuit of the train and see if we can spot a likely candidate." "Getting past us to it won''t be easy, Mistress," Athena replied. "I think we should hunker down and stay here." We considered our options in silence for a few moments. Finally, I sighed. "You''re right, pet. We have a strong defensive position here. Might as well make use of it." So we settled in. Athena took a seat on the bench, turned a bit towards the door with her sheathed sword propped against one leg. Artemis stretched out on the bottom bunk, also facing the door, and appeared to doze off, but I knew better. I paced the small compartment for a little while before finally sitting down beside Athena. It''s not easy to maintain a state of high alert, especially when you''re on a train. The rhythm of the rails and the swaying of the train is practically hypnotic and a natural soporific to many people, myself included. I honestly did not mean to doze off, and having only been awake for a few hours I should have been alert. In other words, I have no excuse for being caught flat-footed. But our surprise was complete when the door of our compartment suddenly and violently exploded inwards, smashing into the far wall and shattering the window there. I was on my feet before the pieces of the door had crossed the room, but one of them clipped the side of my head and sent me spinning into the little table. Athena was on her feet an instant later, her sword flashing as it cleared its scabbard. Artemis remained where she was, but tensed and crouched to pounce. "Mistress?" Athena asked as she set herself with a two-handed grip on her sword''s hilt. "Are you all right?" I shook my head and pushed myself upright with my staff. When I touched the side of my head, my fingers came away wet with blood, but not a lot of it. I was probably lucky I didn''t have a concussion. "I''ll be okay," I said clearly, not a hint of a slur to my voice, thank goodness. "It just clipped me." She glanced over her shoulder at me, and the instant she turned her eyes from the door a black blur darted into the room and slammed into her. It took a split second for my eyes to resolve what I was seeing...a fast-moving catgirl, her skin and hair midnight black and dressed in leathers like Athena''s that matched her skin tone almost perfectly. She had a pair of short curved swords crossed on her back and had firmly planted her shoulder into Athena''s stomach, lifting her from her feet and knocking her backwards. Athena slammed into the remains of the door with a grunt, but kept her feet and her grip on her sword, pressing forward instantly to be met by the other catgirl''s crossed blades. A sword like Athena''s shieldblade is best used in open spaces, but she''d spent days practicing close-quarters fighting with it, and knew how to use it in tight spaces. I could see Artemis looking for an opening in the quickly darting and clashing blades, waiting for the right time to add herself to the melee. I moved to my right, trying to get a clear line of sight on the other catgirl, and was almost immediately glad that I had. If I''d stayed where I''d been, I would''ve been caught directly in the spray of splinters and shrapnel as a person-sized hole was blasted in the wall and bench to my left. As it was, Athena, Artemis and I were all peppered by splinters, but none big enough to do serious damage and our clothes (and Artemis''s fur) caught most of it. I was distracted, trying to figure out how to help Athena, and wasn''t expecting a magical attack. As such, I simply was not fast enough to defend myself against the wave of invisible force that caught me up and slammed me into the wall to my right, hard enough to make me drop my staff. As I slid to the floor, I saw a slim figure about my size in a black canvas coat and hooded cloak already exiting through the hole with the chest containing the dagger tucked under one arm. "Bugger!" I pushed myself to my feet and grabbed my staff. "Artemis, with me!" "Hecate," a female voice called from the hallway, "To me!" Immediately, the black catgirl disengaged from Athena, leaping backwards into the hallway and darting away down it. "Athena, go after her!" I called as I ducked through the hole in the wall with my left hand held out before me, the Anima for a shield held ready to release. But there was nobody in the room, so I went on through the open door and out into the hall as Athena ran past me. I followed her, and Artemis followed me. We chased the two figures, the cloaked woman and the catgirl, towards the back of the train and through two more sleeper cars. The third car we entered was the first-class baggage car and was nearly empty. This was our chance. I lunged to my left, giving myself a clear line of fire towards the cloaked woman and thrust my staff towards her, unleashing a burst of force similar to what had been used on me. It was even more effective because she was running where I had been nearly motionless. I caught her full in the back, lifting her off her feet and slamming her face-first into the wall beside the door. She staggered back, dropping the chest and stumbling against the wall beside her. The catgirl - Hecate, I supposed - skidded to a halt and turned to face us, drawing her curved swords again and taking up a defensive position in front of her mistress. "I should have expected that," the woman groaned as she regained her balance. She shook her head, causing the hood to fall back. When she turned, I took a step back in surprise. For a moment, I thought I was looking in a mirror. Her features were so like my own that it shocked me into immobility: Pointed ears, bright golden eyes, delicate features and pale skin. We were even of a height and build, as far as I could tell. Then the differences registered. We both had very fair skin, but where mine was a healthy - if pale - shade, hers was a pallid and sickly color. Her eyes were the same color as mine, but deeply sunken with dark shadows beneath them, and her hair was the same deep black as her familiar''s. We were both slim, but she had an almost emaciated look about her even though her muscle tone was clearly good. It was still like looking in a mirror, I thought, but a dark and twisted one. She smiled slowly, the smile curving her lips unpleasantly and making her eyes glitter with something that looked more like madness than happiness. "Well met, Alys. I''ve wanted to meet you for some time, but daddy wouldn''t let me. After his useless thugs failed to get the package from you down on the London docks last time, I decided I''d come myself this time." She bowed deeply, but stopped short of scooping up the chest as both Athena and Artemis hissed. "You have me at a disadvantage," I said quietly, keeping my staff pointed straight at her. She laughed delightedly and clapped her hands together. "Oh yes, I certainly do, and in so many ways. A lovely play on words." Her eyes met mine and her smile darkened somehow. "I approve. But you''re right, I do. Call me Brenna...dear cousin." Family Ties - Chapter 21 Cousin? Bullshit. "All right, Brenna," I said calmly, ignoring the implications of her words for now. "Step away from the box." "Or what?" She planted her hands on her hips and pouted. "Are you gonna to try to spank me, cuz?" She giggled. "Bring it on. Hecate!" Hecate - definitely the dark catgirl''s name - lunged forward at Athena. Their swords met with a ringing clash and they were at it again, swords whirling and whistling through the air. Athena had more room to move now, and it was quickly obvious that she had the advantage of reach and strength. But Hecate, I think she was an Elevated panther, was faster. They were surprisingly evenly matched. Artemis circled to the right, trying to get a clear line of attack. "I admit, I was surprised to find out you had two familiars," Brenna said, shedding her cloak to reveal a tight black dress made of black leather, velvet and lace with artfully ripped skirts under a calf-length black canvas coat. "I suppose I should look into getting a second one myself." Without warning, she flung a bolt of fire at me. This time I was ready for her, and it splashed harmlessly against the translucent blue shield of energy I raised before my outstretched left hand. "Fire?" I asked incredulously. "In here?" "I don''t care about the train or its passengers," Brenna replied with a negligent shrug. "Only about this chest and its contents. That was a very nice shield, by the way." "Thanks." Before she could move, I sent Anima coursing down my staff and a bolt of blue-white lightning licked across the mostly empty baggage car towards her. She lifted her left hand and with a gesture nearly identical to mine caught and dispersed the lightning on a circular shield of shadowy energy. "Lightning," she said in a bored tone of voice. "How very responsible of you." Another bolt of fire flickered to life in front of her hand and whipped down the length of the car towards me. I intercepted this one with a sphere of water, resulting in a billowing cloud of steam that obscured the space between us somewhat, and sent a matching bolt of fire back towards her. It sped through the steam with a hiss. Rather than deflecting or stopping it, she caught it in her hands - actually just reached out and gathered the fire to her like she was catching a ball - and bounced it from hand to hand. "What happened to being responsible in your spellcasting? I could use this fire to ignite the car." "I rather figured you''d be able to stop it," I replied dryly, thinking fast. "And you won''t do that as long as you''re in the car." She smiled, and something about the smile made me shiver. Then, without a word, she caught the fire in her right hand and tossed it negligently to the side. It struck the wall and curtains to one side of a window. The curtain immediately caught fire and the wall started to smolder. "Or maybe you will," I said, shocked. She really was crazy. Through all of this, Athena and Hecate exchanged blows. The ringing of their swords filled the train car and made my ears hurt. Every time it looked like Athena was about to get the upper hand, Hecate would pull out a new acrobatic trick to evade the blow. Every time Hecate drove Athena back, Artemis was right there, claws and fangs flashing. It was Artemis''s claws who drew first blood, making Hecate howl in fury and redouble her attacks. "Bother," Brenna said in annoyance. "I don''t have time for this nonsense." She made a twirling motion with both hands in front of her, gathering fresh fire into a sphere before flinging it towards me. This was obviously a more powerful spell. Possibly even explosive. I took a chance and created another glowing shield of force, angling it towards the already burning window. With a weird crackling noise, the fireball deflected away from me and crashed through the window. A moment later there was a flash and a bang, and all of the windows on that side of the car shattered inwards as the car itself rocked on its wheels. "You''re insane!" I blurted in surprise. She grinned. "Possibly. Fun, isn''t it?" By way of response, I threw another bolt of lightning towards her. As she dispersed the energy on another shield, I followed the lightning with a blast of pure force. But she either sensed it or saw the rippling in the air that marked its passing and moved to one side. My force blast instead blew open the door behind her instead. She waggled her eyebrows at me comically and bent to pick up the chest. "Bugger!" I spat, and filled the door with a field of invisible force just in time for her to bounce off it after scooping up the chest. "So eager to fight!" She exclaimed, giggling as she turned to me again. "Have you been spoiling for someone to test your skills against, cuz?" "Why do you keep calling me that?" I asked angrily. We were evenly matched in skill when it came to throwing and deflecting basic combat spells, though the way she¡¯d caught my firebolt¡­that was something I¡¯d never managed. It was time to see how creative she was. So I cast another spell, conjuring loops of rope that coiled on the floor around her feet, entangling them and locking her in place until she could get clear of them. "Because that''s what you are!" She laughed, seemingly unperturbed. "What a delightful spell, I''ll have to try that one. Have you seen this one?" She hissed something in Latin, and the ropes transfigured into a writhing mass of snakes, which turned and started towards me. Cobras, I realized after a moment. Lovely. Artemis beat me to the punch, wading into the mass of snakes, paws slapping and jaws biting. In moments, she had dispatched every last one of them; the spell had been so focused on me that the magical snakes hadn''t even recognized the danger to them. Brenna pouted. "That''s not fair!" "Fair?" I asked incredulously. "Really?" She shrugged. "I need to get another panther, I suppose. You''ve got two familiars, I only have the one." I stared at her blankly, honestly not sure what to make of her. Finally, I settled on simply saying, "How about this? I''ll drop that forcefield if you walk away without the chest." Athena and Hecate, who had been rapidly exchanging clashing blows which Brenna and I had been speaking over, leaped apart and stood staring at one another over a space of about ten feet. The resulting silence - except for the normal sounds of a train in motion and the crackle of flames - was like a physical pressure on my ears. After a long moment, Brenna shook her head. "I can''t do that, cuz. I need what''s inside it." "You can''t have it," I replied flatly, drawing up more Anima for another spell. But I was at a disadvantage while I held the shield keeping the door blocked in place, and from the grin on her face she knew it. Casting the entangling ropes spell had been a strain while holding the shield in place...I wasn''t sure I could do it again, or completely block a spell if she sent another one at me. "Certainly I can." She snapped a word and a tightly controlled blast of force struck me on the hip before I could block it. The blow spun me off balance, causing two things to happen: First, she had a clear moment in which to turn and head for the door again as she held off a snarling Artemis with a gout of flame from her free hand. Second, I lost enough of my concentration for the force spell blocking the door to fail. She went through it, calling over her shoulder, "Hecate, let''s go!" This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. The Elevated panther caught Athena''s shieldblade between her two curved short swords and twisted hard. Athena, who had been pressing forward in a thrusting move, ended up driving the chisel tip of her blade into the wall of the baggage car, giving Hecate plenty of time to break off and follow her mistress. With a snarl, Athena pulled the blade free and went through the door right behind Artemis and barely two steps ahead of me. The next car towards the back of the train turned out to be a half-empty passenger car, and people were already on their feet in alarm as Brenna and Hecate made their way towards the back of it. A few people moved out into the aisle in front of us, only to jump out of the way again as Artemis practically roared at them. Ahead of us, Brenna blew the back door off the car with a force blast and made to go through it. <> I snapped. As my familiars dropped to the floor, I said a silent prayer to whatever gods might be listening in the hopes that the next car back might be empty. At the same time, I released the Anima I''d drawn up and thrust my staff towards the retreating forms. Early in my spellcasting lessons, Master Tremane - Jonathan, I need to get used to calling him Jonathan - had impressed on me the importance of learning to mix elements in combat spells. A blast of wind could stop someone in their tracks. A burst of force could knock someone down. A blast of wind combined with a burst of force could lift someone off their feet and knock them a good twenty or thirty feet back for half the amount of effort that doing the same thing with pure force or pure wind would take. The bolt of lightning that left my staff was effectively wrapped around a lance of invisible force. My timing was perfect - the conjoined spell struck Brenna squarely in the back as she jumped across the small gap between the cars. I heard her cry out in surprise and pain as her body smashed through the door into the next car with a crash. Hecate, caught by the edge of the lightning, cried out and crashed into the car wall beside the door, then dropped to her knees, dazed. Artemis and Athena were on their feet - or paws - in an instant and charging towards the back of the car. Before we got there, Hecate had regained her feet - however unsteadily - and disappeared into the next car. As we passed through the door into the next car, I took in three things. First, Hecate was helping a slightly singed and dazed Brenna to her feet almost halfway towards the back of the car. Second, Brenna was fumbling an obsidian-bladed knife with a leather-wrapped handle out of the now-open chest. Third, and most importantly, the car was completely empty except for us. Artemis got there first, leaping and hitting them like a cannonball, knocking them apart and landing beyond them. Athena arrived right after her, flipping her shieldblade around and bouncing the squared-off side of the blade off Hecate''s head like a cricket bat, sending the Elevated panther reeling into the empty seats to her right. But Brenna recovered before I cast another lightning bolt. Maybe it''s because I was getting tired already, but Brenna shrugged it off without a sound, simply taking it and shaking herself with a grunt. Maybe she was just more used to pain than I was. Whatever the reason, she slashed out at Artemis with the knife as Artemis jumped back from her, catching my familiar across one shoulder and leaving a thin ribbon of red that began leaking blood as Artemis yowled in pain. Then Brenna turned towards me, pointed the dagger at me and hissed something sibilant in Latin. The spell she was casting seemed to make the air shiver and grow heavy somehow as a streamer of darkness began to wind its way out of the dagger. It slowly coalesced, taking the form of a huge smoky-black serpent. It was easily half the length of the car and a foot around as it dropped to the floor silently, its tail whipping around and catching Athena in the side hard enough to send her sword spinning from her hand as she slammed into the wall opposite Hecate with a cry of pain. "Athena!" I cried out as Artemis yowled her protest from the other side of Brenna. Brenna laughed. It was an unsettling, almost unhinged but still full-throated sound. There was an unholy joy in it that raised the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck. "Now THAT is power!" She crowed happily. "Kill her!" She called to the snake. It turned its eyes towards me and began to move forward. On the other side of it, I saw Hecate rise and move to Brenna as Artemis slipped out of sight between two rows of seats behind them. My head, side and back ached and the pain from my familiars was a dull throbbing in the back of my mind. A bloody great snake made of smoky but somehow solid darkness was bearing down on me, and my cracked mirror-image was still giggling madly over the obsidian-bladed knife she was holding above her head in triumph. Bugger. It was time to take off the kid gloves. At least the car was empty. Wizard MacMullan had said he thought fire was the proper element to destroy this dagger. After all, nothing dispels shadows better than fire. And one good conjuration deserved another. It had absolutely nothing to do with wanting to show off a little and prove that I was this crazy young woman''s equal even without a special focus. Honest. I had only the vaguest idea of how to safely destroy the ritual dagger Brenna now held. But I knew she couldn''t be allowed to keep it and, most importantly, I couldn''t trust her not to try casting some other horrible spell if I simply disarmed her. I shifted my staff to my left hand, raised my right above my head, and drew in Anima through my staff. I did it as quickly as I could, gathering and shaping it in my mind. "¨¦an ar thine!" I cried, my voice echoing a bit with the force of the spell I was constructing. A ball of rolling fire exploded to life above my up-stretched right hand, growing by the moment and suddenly unfurling into a fiery bird. Its beak was sharp and curved, its talons wicked, its wings and tail feathers graceful. The conjured phoenix spread its wings as I threw it forward, trailing the flames it was made of behind it. Its wingspan was wide enough to leave burned trails on either side of the car and shatter the windows its wings brushed against, and its cry was a shriek of fierce anger. The phoenix sliced through the serpent as if it weren''t there, scattering the shadows it was made of with seemingly no effort at all and continued on towards its caster. My conjured phoenix descended on it, wrapped its talons around her arm and hand, and bit into the dagger. The ensuing explosion was blinding, deafening and flattened me against the wall at the front of the car. When I opened my eyes again, I was cradled in Athena''s arms. She, in turn, was leaning against the wall that had stopped my unintentional flight so abruptly. "Mistress?" She asked quietly. I groaned, "Ow." She relaxed and let her head drop back against the wall as Artemis slunk out of the seats beside us and dropped her head on my lap. The wound on her shoulder was still bleeding sluggishly. I raised my head...and discovered that the back third of the car had been blown open to the sky. The roof and walls were simply gone, splintered edges showing where the explosion had sheared them away. The floor was scorched, the carpeting still smoldering a bit, and the very tail end of the car was completely missing. I could see the last two cars falling behind us in the distance. The nearest one was smoking, so I imagined the explosion had caught a piece of that one as well. The floor, thankfully, appeared to be intact. I thought I saw the dagger lying on the scorched floor near the end of the car, but from where I lay against Athena I could see no sign of Brenna or Hecate. I rose stiffly, my whole body aching and sore. A quick glance showed me that both Athena and I were intact and bleeding from dozens of tiny injuries - probably shrapnel from the blast. But nothing serious enough to need immediate attention. With a little groan, I dragged myself down the length of the car, limping a bit. My hip, where Brenna''s force spell had hit me, felt bruised and stiff. It took me a few moments to get there, but finally I looked down at the remains of the dagger; a fire-blackened hilt with the splintered remains of the obsidian blade emerging from it. I sensed no energy at all in it, which was good enough for me. It would never be of use to anyone ever again. I scooped up the remains and dropped them in a pocket of my coat. I looked around as Athena came to stand beside me. "Brenna? Hecate?" She shook her head. "I''m not sure, Mistress," she said quietly. "The blast knocked me out for a few minutes too. You were out a bit longer. They were both gone before I woke up." <> Artemis said quietly. <> My brain, still a bit scrambled, took a moment to appreciate how her grammar was improving. "Thanks, pet." I sighed. "I have a feeling we''ll be seeing them again." I walked back to the front of the car and dropped into one of the remaining seats there. Athena dropped into the one beside me a moment later, her sword held in one hand, my staff in the other. Artemis dropped her chin onto my knee and sighed. "Not a complete failure," I said finally. "She didn''t get away with the dagger." "Very true, Mistress." Athena was silent for a moment. "Why was she calling you ''cousin''?" I shook my head. "I''m not sure, pet. I suppose it''s possible...I know nothing about my father, after all." <> Artemis said stoutly. Athena and I exchanged a look. We''d both seen the resemblance between Brenna and myself. <> Artemis added quietly. < > I smiled tiredly and ruffled her ears gently. One of the train''s security guards finally arrived, peering through the shattered door with a Magearm pistol in hand. Probably a stunner. "Mage Kinnear?" he asked warily. I raised my hand wearily. "Present." His lips quirked into a smile for a brief second, then his serious expression returned in full force. "I have instructions to aid you and your familiars. Where''s your assailant?" I gestured over my shoulder with my thumb. "In the next car, I think." He looked past us, then back down to me. "There...is no next car anymore, ma''am." I smiled faintly. "Then you can help by bringing us a first aid kit." "Yes, ma''am." We must have looked quite a sight getting off the train in London two hours later: Battered and bruised, clothes singed and smelling of smoke, a few visible bandages and sticking plasters on Athena and me, and all three of us moving stiffly and gingerly. Hollis, bless his heart, was waiting with a cab and met us on the platform. "Alys?" He asked in surprise. "What happened?" "We had a bit of trouble," I said. "I''ll tell you on the way home." Family Ties - Chapter 22 "Well," Hollis said after dinner the next evening, "You certainly managed to destroy the dagger." We were sitting in his study, wounds properly tended, hot tea in our hands, fed and at least marginally rested. Elsie, it turned out, was a passable medic in addition to a superb cook. Athena, Artemis and I had spent most of the day filling out statements and answering questions for the police and rail company¡­well, Athena and I did anyway, with Artemis watching. It had been a positively exhausting process that I didn''t want to ever repeat. Too bad it was in the fine print of the job description. "In fact," he went on, "I''d say you got lucky. Your fire-based phoenix construct probably absorbed and dissipated most of the energy that was released, and what little is left is bound in the remains of the dagger. Otherwise, the explosion would''ve been larger. I believe I can safely disperse what''s left." I had a hard time imagining the explosion being larger and any of us surviving it unharmed. I shivered a little. "I''m sorry," I said quietly. "I couldn''t think of anything else to do." Hollis shook his head. "Don''t be sorry. Under the circumstances, I would have done something similar." He smiled gently. "I might have thrown a force sphere around them first, mind you, to contain the explosion. But you had no idea what was going to happen." "Ignorance is no excuse," I said flatly. "Ordinarily it isn''t," he agreed. "But destroying artifacts is a subject you had little information on, and you were in a combat situation...which makes a difference. You had to make a snap decision, and I''m pleased with how well you did under the circumstances. Yes, you could have done better...if you''d had more experience, and if I''d briefed you on how to safely destroy the dagger, if if if." He smiled. "Don''t play what if. You, Athena and Artemis survived without serious injuries. You worked together as a team and did it well against a dangerous opponent who appears to have been more experienced. Also, I believe the train''s insurance will cover the damage." I winced a little. "I hadn''t even thought about that." "Adrenaline will do that," Hollis said gently. "What about that girl, Brenna?" I asked. "Do you think she could really be my cousin?" Hollis shrugged. "You yourself said that you know nothing about your father," he said. "It seems an unlikely coincidence - if it''s actually a coincidence - but it''s at least possible. From your description of her, I''d guess that she''s spent time studying Necromancy. That branch of magic tends to have a physical effect on its practitioners, making them look much the way you described her...pasty skin, hollowed-out eyes, somewhat manic behavior, and so on." I sighed. "I don''t have any way to trace her. I didn''t get her whole name and she didn''t leave anything behind I could use as a focus." "It''s not surprising," Hollis said gently. "She seemed well prepared for the attack. It''s a testament to your skill and quick thinking that her snatch and grab was foiled at all." ¡°And her cocky attitude,¡± I grumbled. Hollis smiled a little and nodded acknowledgment. "We''ll find out who she is sooner or later, Mistress," Athena added quietly. "You said it yourself: I have a feeling we''ll see them again." I nodded. Stretched by the fire, Artemis yawned and sat up stiffly. <> I smiled and repeated what she''d said to Hollis, who nodded. "Not a bad philosophy, that. And she''s right. You all learned valuable lessons on this trip." "We need to work on team tactics," I said dryly. "We were jumbled and out of sorts until we got our rhythm at the end. And even then she nearly had us." "That phoenix construct sounds like an exceptional piece of spellcrafting," Hollis said. "I''d like you to demonstrate it for me later, if you would." I must have looked embarrassed, because he laughed. ¡°Truly,¡± he said, clapping his hands together. ¡°Both to see the spell in action¡­and to see you reproduce it! You''ve done your teachers proud, Alys Kinnear," he said with a smile and a nod. "Very proud indeed, to remember what little you were told about destroying such an artifact during a spur of the moment casting of such complexity. Now, come along...I want you to show me how you did it." After that, things settled back into the routine I was becoming comfortable with. I helped Hollis with his research, and he began teaching me about safely destroying items imbued with large amounts of dark magic. As part of my ongoing wizard training, I began studying Albion''s laws as they applied to the practical application of magic by a wizard. Hollis also had me attend a couple of lectures about diplomacy and negotiation at one of the local colleges and, of course, there was the usual endless study of advanced magical theory and practice. It was a lot to take in and kept me busy. I had known going into it that becoming a full wizard wouldn''t be an overnight thing. It would likely take a couple of years for me to learn enough to pass the necessary qualification exams to work as a wizard on my own. I was lucky to have someone like Hollis to take me under his wing as both an employee and a student. With him sponsoring me, I could get the practical experience I needed while continuing my studies. I made a mental note to thank Jonathan for having arranged it. Even when I hadn''t realized he was doing it, he had been looking out for me and helping pave the way for my future. I was grateful. In the middle of January, I had a long talk with Billy Fisher and his parents about what it took to become a Wizard. He was still almost painfully eager to become one - I guess I''d made quite an impression on the boy - and wasn''t intimidated by the idea of ten years of dedicated training. It would certainly be a good experience for him, even if he decided not to follow it all the way to being a full wizard, and it wouldn''t harm his conventional education in any way. His parents were both terribly proud of him for wanting to do it, so there was no barrier there. Magical training was, after all, a highly prestigious path to follow. So, with Hollis''s help, we found a Wizard who lived not too far outside of London and was willing to train Billy, and just like that he became an apprentice. I promised to keep in touch with him, and fully intended to. It would be a lot of fun watching him learn and grow, especially if I could have a hand in it now and again. On a more practical note, it would keep me in touch with the Fishers. I felt, and Hollis agreed, that their supernatural troubles were likely not yet over. Someone had to have summoned or created the creature that had killed their daughter and tried to kill Billy. That mystery wasn''t over yet...and we had nothing to go on until something else happened. In early February, I happened to bump into Mrs. Muldrew at Harrods. We ended up having a light lunch together there while she filled me in on everything that had happened since my last visit to her home. She and her husband had decided that they liked the building too much to leave it altogether, so they were working on subdividing it into three connected townhouses. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "We''re making sure the connecting walls are soundproofed," she said between bites of her salad, "And we''re talking about turning the old morgue into storage rooms for rental by tenants." She smiled across the table at Athena and me. "The whole house feels different since what you did for us. There''s an atmosphere of contentment and peace there now. We simply can''t thank you enough." I returned her smile. "I''m glad we could help." Somewhere around the beginning of March, it came to my attention that Athena had picked up my Irish accent. I was so used to hearing it from my own lips that I hadn''t noticed it from her until one client - an older woman who had needed a particularly stubborn Boggart removed from her home - had commented on what a charming accent Athena and I both had. Having become aware of it, I noticed that Artemis had picked up my accent as well. I was charmed, amused, and curious if it was normal. When I asked Hollis about it, he just smiled and shrugged. "They''re a part of you, Alys," he said with some amusement. "Did you expect otherwise?" His question made me take a half-step back (metaphorically speaking) and really examine my relationship with my familiars again. I realized that, after my revelation during my trip home to see my mother, both Artemis and Athena had become so much closer to me that they were often able to anticipate my needs and actions. It wasn''t uncommon for Athena to be passing me a book or ritual component before I had a chance to ask her for it, and both of them had become extremely good at knowing when I needed affection or when I needed a bit of space. And it felt so natural to me that I hadn''t noticed. It was simply how it was supposed to be. They were a delight, and I loved them both dearly. Athena was very nearly the sister I''d never had, and Artemis was by far the best pet I could have ever imagined having. "They''re familiars," Hollis said with a laugh when I told him about my revelations while trying not to blush at effectively baring a part of my soul to him. "That''s precisely how they''re supposed to be." Had I expected otherwise? I hadn''t really given it any thought, and decided that it really didn''t merit any. One evening in the last week of March, I received a Sending from my mother. Athena and I had just been getting ready for bed when mom''s spectral snowy owl swept into our room through the wall and changed to her image. "Hello, my darling girls," her translucent image said. "Jonathan is coming to visit the first weekend in April. We both thought you, Athena and Artemis might enjoy spending a couple of days with us. We can throw you a late birthday party, and we might have some other news to tell you. Send me and let me know if you can come or not." "Good gods," I said to Athena as mom''s image vanished, "I think he actually proposed." I thought about how I felt about that, and decided it could only be a good thing. Athena giggled. "It could be something other than that, you know." Artemis stretched and rose from her place before the fire. < > I laughed and said, "That''s very true, pet." How could I not agree? She was right, as usual. Hollis was willing to let me take the weekend to go and visit them, so everything got packed into my bottomless bag, and off we went. It was a beautiful spring morning as the three of us set off from the train station in Killarney and headed for my mother''s home. Before we''d gone two miles, we knew something wasn''t right. There was smoke on the horizon. By the time we reached town line, the three of us were jogging instead of walking. When we crested the last hill before heading down into town and saw the state of things, we froze in shock. The town had the appearance of a war zone. I saw buildings that looked like they''d been blown apart from the inside, and others that appeared to have collapsed because of structural damage. Homes lay in shattered piles and still burned fitfully, or smoldered blackly as weary-looking figures with fire-fighting gear moved on to the next task. The smoke was thick, the devastation horrifying. By the time I approached my mom''s house at the edge of town, I had broken into a full-on sprint, my coat flapping around my heels. Athena was close beside me, Artemis out ahead of us, and all three of us came to another shocked halt at the opening in the low stone wall around her property. Her house had not been spared. If anything, it looked as though serious attention had been paid to destroying it utterly. The house itself was mostly smoldering splinters of wood and scattered stone. One of the chimneys - the main one - was still standing, but it leaned to one side drunkenly and threatened to topple over at any moment. The flower beds - the plants had probably just been pushing up through the topsoil - were gouged out and turned over. I took a few steps through the gate, my mouth dry and my heart hammering in my chest. "Mom?" I called, then tried to run towards the remains of the house. Athena caught my arm and pulled me back. "Mistress, don''t! It''s not safe!" <> Artemis said from behind us, < > I tore my eyes from the wreckage of my childhood home and took the few steps back to the twisted and wrecked iron gate. There was a piece of paper tied one of the bars, fluttering in the faint breeze. I grabbed it, tearing it free of the piece of string that held it to the gate. There were four words on it. Just four, but they told me everything I needed to know about what had happened here. Fire for fire. Gotcha! Almost everything, anyway. I was intuitively certain that it had been Brenna...she was the only one I could think of who''d leave a note like that for me. I had, after all, used fire magic against her and had probably burned her - maybe even badly. But was she seriously suggesting that this was somehow payback for what had happened on the train? It was kind of disproportionate, if it was. The message was written in a flowing, elegant script. She''d had time to prepare it. Either that or her handwriting was amazing. I spread it a bit further and prepared to cast a few detection spells on it to see if I could get anything else from it, holding it in both hands...and the instant I did, it suddenly burst into flame. I let go of it at once before it could scorch me, and the paper quickly burned away without a trace. "That''s her!" An unpleasantly familiar voice called from behind me. "That''s the girl who did it!" I turned to see Druid Fianna Somerled approaching at an angry stride, though she was limping and half of her hair appeared to have been burned away. She was flanked by three police detectives, one of whom had the badge of a Mage hanging around his neck, a normal police badge with a staff crossing the center of it diagonally. "She''s the one who did this to the town and killed most of the Council!" Fianna spat. "Arrest her!" "Alys Kinnear?" One of the detectives asked warily. I nodded. "That''s me. But I just got here. This is - was - my mom''s house," I added, gesturing to the ruins behind me. "Do you know what happened to her?" He didn''t address my question. Instead, he very quietly said, "I''m afraid I''m going to have to take you and your familiars into custody, Miss Kinnear. We have some questions to ask you about what happened here early this morning." "Early this morning?" I asked in confusion. "I just got here from Dublin, I''ve been on the train from there since a little before 06:00." "We''ll check on that," he said with a nod. "For now, please relinquish your staff and gear to us and come quietly." That was when I realized that the Mage with them was tensed for a fight. I could sense the Anima drawn up around him, ready to fling up defenses and retaliate at a moment''s notice. His right hand was hanging with deceptive looseness by his leg, ready to begin casting spells - or maybe reach for a Magearm - if I tried anything. They thought, or at least suspected, that I had done this. And I suddenly realized that it probably looked like I did. From his perspective, I was still holding a bit of the Anima I had started drawing up to cast spells on the note, and I would have a residue of fire magic lingering about me - not to mention a few wisps of smoke - from the note combusting in my hands. Except they wouldn''t have seen the note or have seen it burst into flames. The town had pretty much been burned to the ground and there I was, left holding the literally smoking metaphorical gun. Figuratively speaking. Cute. "Wanted for questioning?" Fianna asked incredulously. "I want her arrested and taken for execution!" I blinked in surprise. Execution? Well, at least I knew who gave them the impression I''d done it. "Druid Somerled," the Mage detective said politely, "We need to know all of the facts before we do anything like that." He returned his attention to me. "Coming quietly will only help you, Miss Kinnear." I didn''t have a lot of options. I could probably flatten the lot of them, maybe even without killing any of them, but that certainly wouldn''t help me. I could try to talk them down, but that would probably just make them more anxious and might result in a fight I really didn''t want. Or I could surrender to them like I had nothing to hide or fear. Which was the truth. No choice at all, really. "All right," I said. I knelt and carefully laid my staff on the ground, then placed my bag beside it. My heart was cold and my stomach roiled with fear as I asked again, "Can anyone tell me what happened to my mother?" Athena slowly unbuckled and lay her sword and gunbelt beside my staff and bag. "We''ll discuss that at the station," one of the detectives said as the Mage gathered up our things. He moved forward and gestured to a car that was pulling up. "After you, Miss Kinnear." And the day had started out so nicely. Thicker than Blood - Chapter 1 Here''s something nobody ever tells you about being a professional Wizard: Eventually, you will be arrested or taken into custody for questioning. As near as I can tell, this is a simple fact of life for any practitioner of the Art that gets involved in public displays of power on a regular basis. Sooner or later, someone points a finger at you, or you''re required to answer questions about a case you''re working, or something similar. It goes with the territory. Something else nobody ever tells you: Being in jail, even just a holding cell or interrogation room, really sucks. And that''s when you''re waiting to answer questions about a case. If you''re a suspect, you can expect to be treated as if you''ve committed the crime - just for the sake of the safety of the people handling you. Ergo: Sitting in a prison cell wearing manacles designed to dampen magical abilities while your familiars are locked in cages somewhere else in the facility and you''re waiting to be questioned in relation to the utter devastation of a town - an event you had nothing to do with - after being falsely accused of the crime will really ruin your day. Q.E.D. The worst part of it by far - at least physically and psychologically - was having my connection to Artemis and Athena so attenuated by the manacles. It is, of course, impossible to sever the familiar bond completely, short of killing my familiars (or me, obviously), but the magic of the manacles blunted my link with them so strongly that while I could sense their presence nearby - faintly - I could neither hear their thoughts and emotions, nor send them mine. And I had grown so used to both that it was a devastating sensation, one which left me so out of sorts that I was having a hard time stringing my thoughts together at first. Top that physical and psychological disorientation off with the emotional distress of having no idea what had happened to my mother, who may or may not have been there during the event in question (the police STILL hadn''t told me anything), and panic had begun to set in. But I was a licensed Mage, a Wizard in training, and I was not going to allow myself to panic. So I meditated. It wouldn''t actually dull the disorientation or distress I was feeling, but it would allow me to push them to one side and maybe think clearly. Once I managed to convince my body that neither my familiars nor I were in any immediate danger, I was able to shift my mind back into gear. Mostly, anyway. I still felt strangely dazed and disturbed by the absence of their thoughts and emotions. But I was able to think again, which was a good start. But said start cleared additional room in my brain for the destruction of my hometown and my fear for my mom to spread out, and shortly that dominated the parts of my mind not taken up by the absence of my familiars. To be blunt, I was not all that upset by the destruction of the town. Don''t get me wrong; any destruction brought upon innocents is a terrible thing. But let''s be truthful...there was no love lost between me and most of the town''s residents. Many of them had treated me poorly while I was growing up, and that leaves emotional scars. I felt worse about not feeling badly for the other survivors of the attack than I did about the actual destruction of the town. Good riddance. I sighed a little. That was inappropriate. I wouldn''t allow myself to be that bitter. They were, as I said, people who had caused me no end of emotional pain when I was a little girl, and I had been more than glad to get away from them when I went to start my training. But they were still people, and no innocents deserved what had happened there. Not to mention the fact that, unless I was dramatically mistaken, they were innocent in this case; they had done nothing to bring this destruction down on them. This was, it seemed, my fault. At least indirectly. So what was going on here? If it was Brenna who did it, why? An act of retaliation for having foiled her attempt to get a very cursed dagger I had been transporting for Hollis Ellister, my employer, a few months ago? It seemed somewhat disproportionate, at least to me. She''d evidently used fire magic on the town...perhaps I''d burned her with my phoenix construct. Though that too seemed rather like a bit of overkill as retaliation went. I was, I suddenly realized, trying to think like someone who was quite likely insane. I was just going to hurt myself doing that. My time right now was better spent remaining calm and worrying about my mom. The door to my cell opened and I looked up to see the Mage-detective who''d helped take me into custody standing there. He was a good-looking young man...dark brown hair, gray eyes, probably a little over six feet tall. He was wearing black trousers and a dark green shirt without a tie. Very fashionable. Not that I was in a mood to appreciate any of this. So I just stared at him, keeping my expression politely blank. "Mage Kinnear? I''m Detective Inspector Ben Donovan. Would you please come with me? We need to ask you some questions." He said it quietly, politely, and respectfully. That mollified me a little bit. So I rose and nodded. "Lead the way. Can you tell me what happened to my mother? And is there any way to turn the effect of these manacles down a bit? I''m going to have a hard time answering questions if I can''t think straight." He tipped his head and gave me a confused look. Then comprehension dawned in his eyes. "Oh! Your connection with your familiars. I''ve heard that the effect can be a bit disorienting. I''ll have a word with the detective in charge in a few minutes. And I''m afraid I don''t know what happened to your mother yet. For now..." He stepped out of the doorway and gestured for me to precede him. If only I could figure out what was bugging me about him. Something felt off, but my brain was too full of feeling wrong and fear for my mom to figure out what. Evidently, they''d decided I wasn''t an immediate threat. He was alone as he led me down the hallway. "Decided I''m not going to try to blow up the building?" He sounded amused. "If it''s any consolation, miss, I don''t think you did it. I had a Truth-sayer spell running when we took you into custody, and nothing you said indicated any kind of guilt or even awareness of what was going on." "So why..." "Partly for your own protection," he said when I couldn''t find the right words to finish my question. "That Druid really had it in for you." I grunted. "No kidding." Druid Fianna Somerled, had been the assistant to the High Druid of ¨¦ire - Ireland, to the rest of the world - until earlier that day. Now that he was dead, I suppose she might be the new High Druid soon. Be that as it may, she''d always considered me to be a bit of a scandal...not only am I the daughter of an unwed mother, based on my appearance my father had not been human, but one of the Sidhe. I did not fit into her world view. And she¡¯d never been anything but brutally honest about that. "Right here," the detective said suddenly, gently taking my elbow and pulling me to a halt before turning me into an open doorway. The room was every clich¨¦ I''ve ever heard about for an interrogation room. Bare walls, a ticking clock, microphones on the table, a chair on the far side facing the door and two across the table for the detectives to sit in. On one wall, there was a large mirror. No doubt one-way. I shrugged mentally and moved around the table, sitting down in the lone chair on that side. "Manacles?" I asked hopefully. "Let me find out. I''ll be right back." He left the room, closing the door behind him. According to the clock, I''d been in custody for six hours. My stomach rumbled, reminding me that I hadn''t eaten anything since breakfast. Between that and the fact that it took a strong effort to keep from waving at the mirror and whoever was on the other side of it, I was able to judge my state of mind: addled. I rubbed my forehead. Oh boy. I needed to get a grip. Donovan returned, followed by a middle-aged woman I hadn''t seen before. She wore a business suit; slacks and a trim-cut jacket of dark blue linen over a cream-colored blouse. Her hair, black turning gray, was done up in a neat bun. She moved around the table and held up a key. In response, I held up my manacled wrists. She unlocked the manacles and pulled them free of my hands. Instantly, full contact with my familiars flooded back into my brain. <> They both asked simultaneously, half-panicked. <> I replied gently as my mind quickly reoriented itself into some semblance of order. <> They subsided immediately, their discomfort and fear vanishing as quickly as my own. I only hoped I was right. Of course, with my mind finally clear there was nothing to stop me from thinking about other things. Like the fact that an entire town had been destroyed and there were probably people dead. And my mom... I looked up at the woman and nodded. "Thank you. Does anyone know what happened to my mother yet?" "We''ll discuss that in a minute. Don''t make us regret removing your restraints," she said flatly. "There are three armed officers outside who won''t hesitate to open fire if you try anything." Donovan glared at her. "I sincerely doubt that''s necessary..." His accent, I realized, was distinctly London. He wasn''t from ¨¦ire. Curious. That must''ve been what was bugging me. And why were they dodging the question of what had happened to my mom? I felt the panic starting to well up again, a bitter taste in the back of my throat, and shoved it back down. Panicking would not help me right now. Not at all. "Sit down, detective," she said quietly. "Just because we requested the help of Scotland Yard doesn''t make this your jurisdiction." Ah, he was from Scotland Yard. That explained both the odd out-of-place feeling I got from him and the hostility he was getting from the local police. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Since the Magical Law Enforcement Act of 1907, the authority of New Scotland Yard''s Paranormal Investigation Branch had expanded to a national (and sometimes, with the permission or request of the hosting country, international) level. Over time, it has become a gathering point for magically gifted investigators, owing to its position in Albion''s capital. Some of Greater Britannia''s member nations - especially ¨¦ire - felt like Scotland Yard was stepping on their toes when a PIB Inspector was sent to their jurisdiction, but rarely put up a serious fuss about it. After all, like it or not, they''re getting the very best paranormal-related law enforcement operatives Albion has to offer. Donovan held up his hands in polite surrender and sat down, giving me a look that I couldn''t immediately translate. I got the impression that he was on my side, though. Assuming they weren''t playing me. The woman detective moved back around the table and turned to face me without sitting down. "Mage Kinnear, you''re potentially in quite a lot of trouble." "I gathered," I said dryly. "But I came quietly and I''m willing to answer any questions you have." "Without a lawyer present?" She asked, probably for the benefit of whatever was recording our conversation. "If I feel the need for one," I replied politely, "I''ll say so." She looked a little surprised, then nodded. "Very well. My name is Detective Inspector Janis O''Malley. Can you tell me where you''ve been since last night and who would have seen you?" I took a deep breath and reminded myself that cooperating could only help me. "On an airship from London to Dublin first. It left the London docks at about 22:00 last night and landed in Dublin at approximately 05:45 this morning," I replied. "After that, on a train to Killarney. It left the station a little after 06:30, as I recall, and didn''t get in until almost 09:00. I imagine there were tons of people who saw me, and I have punched tickets for both trips." She nodded and sat down finally. "We found them in your coat while we were going through your things." "We repacked your bag for you," Donovan interjected. "That''s a very cool bag. Home-made?" I looked at him in surprise. "By my grandmother. Or so my mom told me." I looked back at O''Malley, who was glowering at him. "Can you tell me what happened to her? Her house was demolished..." She returned her attention to me. "There''s no evidence that she was there. We''re trying to locate her now." Relief washed over me, the panic subsiding. She hadn''t been there. "Try the residence of Wizard Jonathan Tremane in Dublin," I said. "If he was there when whatever it was happened, he might have retreated there with her." I thought I saw recognition on Donovan''s face, and maybe a bit of surprise. O''Malley narrowed her eyes at me, then turned to the mirror and nodded before returning her attention to me. "Tell me, Miss Kinnear...how were relations between you and the druid community in your hometown." "Somewhere between strained and outright hostile," I replied honestly. "They were never comfortable with me." "Because of your behavior towards them?" She asked, taking notes in a notebook not unlike the one I used. "No," I said, surprised. "Not at all. I was always polite and respectful. No, they didn''t like me because of my..." I trailed off, then shrugged and finished, "Uncertain parentage and Hermetic talent." She looked up from her notebook, confused. "Uncertain parentage?" I brushed back my pale gold hair to reveal my right ear and its delicately pointed tip. "I have reason to believe my father was of the Sidhe, but no proof - other than my ears, eyes and hair." Donovan seemed fascinated. O''Malley simply nodded. "I see. And your Hermetic talent?" "As I understand it, there''s bad blood between the Druid community and the Order of Hermetic Wizardry," I replied. "Something that happened when I was still a toddler." "1964," Donovan said helpfully. "The multiple-possession case of several Druids in Cork." "Ah," O''Malley said. "So they exiled you from the town?" "Not precisely," I said slowly. "They made it clear I wasn''t welcome there, but since my mom is a member of the Council, they couldn''t give me the boot permanently." "I see," she said, taking notes. "May I ask why I''m a suspect and how this is relevant?" I asked. "Establishing motive," Donovan said. "You have a Mage''s license and are training to become a Wizard, so you had the means..." O''Malley turned in her chair and glared at him. He shrugged and said nothing. Huh. What was this all about? I mean, I understood why they were questioning me, but the hostility between the two detectives was practically tangible. O''Malley returned her attention to me. "You''re a suspect because several eyewitnesses reported someone matching your description in town early this morning causing the destruction. She had an Elevated feline familiar with her who was chasing down and injuring or killing people who fled from the buildings they were destroying. Completely at random, from what we''ve been able to gather." "How many people died?" I asked quietly, not sure I wanted to know. Whether I had done this myself or not - which I hadn''t - it was still indirectly my fault. Or at least appeared to be. Innocent people - who I may not have liked much, but who were still people just going about their lives - had been hurt and killed. When O''Malley didn''t reply right away, Donovan stepped in. "It wasn''t as bad as it could have been. With such a large number of Druids in town, there were few fatalities. So far, only fifteen, but a lot of people are injured. Some badly." I didn''t let it show on my face, but inwardly I winced. As I said, I might not have liked most of the people in my home town, but I didn''t actually hate them either. I felt a coldness in my gut...these people had died and been hurt just because I had grown up there, because my mom still lived there. But I hadn''t done it myself, and I wasn''t going to give in to a guilt-trip just because I grew up there. Donovan looked sympathetic, as if he understood what I was feeling. O''Malley was watching my reactions closely. She seemed content with what she saw, because she sat back in her chair and looked thoughtful. Before she could say anything though, there was a tapping from the mirror. She looked up, frowned, rose and left the room. Donovan smiled apologetically. "Sorry about this. They''re in a rough place. No Mages on staff, and a town completely destroyed by some serious combat magic. There were witnesses placing someone who looked like you at the scene of the attack, but there were some inconsistencies." "Such as?" I asked curiously. "Well," he said, opening a notebook of his own and leafing through it. "For example, the young woman who was seen attacking the town only had a single familiar, an Elevated feline, that matched the description of yours...Athena, isn''t it?" I nodded. "But she didn''t have a second familiar, and hers was wielding two curved swords instead of a shieldblade." He looked up from his notebook, eyes gleaming with curiosity. "I''ve never seen one in person before. It''s a pretty odd weapon, isn''t it?" I shrugged. "Athena''s comfortable with it, and it gives her another non-lethal option in a fight." Was this guy for real? Or was he trying to keep me off balance? From his description, that sounded like Brenna¡¯s familiar Hecate and her curved blades. "Hit them with the squared-off side?" He asked, nodding. "Clever. Anyway," he returned his attention to his notebook. "Um...let''s see...while the damage was mostly done with fire, there was a distinct residue of shadow magic around the area, which you aren''t known to use..." "Shadow magic gives me the creeps," I replied. "I don''t touch it." He nodded, making a note. "There''s no aura of it around you, though I did sense fire magic on you when we brought you in." "There was a note pinned to the wall beside my mom''s gate. It combusted in my hands a few seconds before you arrived." His eyes widened in comprehension, and he looked like he was going to ask another question before he was interrupted by the door. It opened to reveal a distinctly disgruntled looking O''Malley. "Your alibis check out," she said to me. "You''re free to go, for now. Don''t leave ¨¦ire for the next few days and make sure we know where you''re going to be staying. We may have more questions for you. Donovan, make yourself useful and see her out." She turned and stalked off without another word. "Friendly," I said dryly, rising. Donovan rose as well and shrugged sympathetically. "Like I said, she''s having a hard time of it. If you know anything at all that might help..." I hesitated. "I think I know who did it," I said carefully, "But all I have are suspicions, and what I know of her probably won''t help you all that much." He gestured for me to precede him. "Tell me what you know. Anything might help." As we made our way through the precinct house, I told him about Brenna and our fight on the train. We stopped to collect my things, then headed towards the waiting area with my bag and Athena''s sword and gunbelt over my shoulder, and my coat draped over one arm. "...And that was when you all arrived and took me into custody," I finished as we paused at a small waiting room. "Which explains why there was fire magic lingering around me." Donovan nodded and finished writing in his notebook. "I saw someone framed in a similar manner back in London. It''s very clever, and hard to detect." He frowned at his notebook. "So this girl Brenna...you think she might really be..." He was interrupted by the arrival of Athena and Artemis who practically bowled me over in their relief. I hugged Athena close with one arm, petting Artemis''s ears with my other hand and gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry." He shook his head, smiling a little in return. "Don''t be. Do you think this Brenna girl might actually be related to you?" I shrugged as Athena took her gear, our bag and my coat from me and Artemis rubbed against my leg. "No idea. I don''t even know who my father is, so there''s a whole side of my family I know nothing about. I can''t rule it out." He nodded. "Well, that might help. If you think of anything else," he made a business card appear in his hand and held it out to me. "Contact me. By Sending would probably be easiest...the precinct here has telephones, but..." I tipped my head and smiled a little as I took the card from him. "In hostile territory?" He flashed a quick smile in return. "Something like that. They didn''t want to call in the Yard, but needed the expertise of a Mage. I was in Dublin on another case, so I was sent here. I''ll probably be back in Dublin before long." "That''s probably where I''ll be too," I replied. "I''ll let you know if I think of anything." The front doors nearby burst open and Jonathan Tremane swept in. He''s good at dramatic entrances - I think it''s the black fedora and red scarf he always wears when he''s going out. His eyes flashed around and settled on me, relief appearing on his face as he approached. My mom was right behind him, looking anxious and exhausted. "Mom!" I hurried to meet them, Athena and Artemis close on my heels. She elbowed Jonathan out of the way - gently - and wrapped me up in a hug so tight it nearly made my ribs creak. "You''re all right." "So are you," I gasped. "Obviously." Jonathan and Athena both snickered. Mom eased up but didn''t let go of me. "It was that Brenna girl, wasn''t it." "I think so," I replied. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jonathan and Donovan talking quietly and wondered if they knew one another at all. There was a feeling of familiarity in the way they leaned towards one another. "I''m just glad you''re okay," I added, hugging her tightly again. "Jonathan teleported us to his home in Dublin as soon as the first explosion rocked the house," she said, stepping back a little but not letting go of me. "That''s the last time I want to teleport anywhere." "Like getting squeezed through a garden hose, isn''t it?" She nodded. "That''s a good way of putting it. Anyway, he wanted to go straight back, but I wouldn''t let him. We tried to contact you, but the sending came back..." "It was the magic dampening manacles they had on me," I said. "They block incoming magic as effectively as outgoing." "That''s what Jon thought it would be. So we went back and got there right after they arrested you," she said. "They had a million questions for us there before we could get away." "I''ll bet," I said dryly. "But...your house..." "Was just a house," she replied with a gentle smile. "I''d already started to move some of my things to Jon''s place in Dublin. There was nothing inside of it I can''t get by without, as long as you and the girls are safe." "You have, huh?" I asked, smiling a little. "Come on," Jonathan said, stepping up and slipping his arm around my shoulders. "I let D.I. Donovan know you''ll be staying with us for a few days. He''ll let the local police know." Gently, he guided me towards the door. It was only a fifteen minute walk from the police station to the train station, and soon we were comfortably ensconced in a train to Dublin. "Well," I said, "How much trouble am I in?" "Not much, from what Donovan told me," Jonathan said. "Your alibis are pretty airtight." Athena, sitting beside me, sighed and laid her head on my shoulder. It had been a stressful day for all of us. "She''s crazy, isn''t she?" I asked suddenly. "Brenna." "I''m inclined to believe so," Jonathan replied. "I felt the power behind the first spell that blew up the shed behind your mother''s house. There was fury in it." I sighed. "Don''t worry about it right now," he said gently. "Just catch your breath and we''ll take things as they come." "Good advice for any situation," mom murmured. I sat back and closed my eyes, slipping an arm around Athena and holding her close as Artemis rested her head in my lap. I had, it appeared, made my first real enemy. It was inevitable. Another thing they don''t tell you about being a Wizard is that, sooner or later, you''ll make somebody angry enough to try and hurt you. And the people you loved. I''d just have to find some way to make sure Brenna couldn''t. Thicker than Blood - Chapter 2 Easier said than done, of course. But it''s good to have goals. We rode without speaking for a while, listening to the steady ''click-clack, click-clack'' of the rails. Athena and Artemis - evidently even more traumatized by the six-hour disruption of our bond than I had been - both dozed off after a few minutes, Athena with her head on my shoulder and Artemis sprawled at our feet. I may have drifted off for a bit myself, because the sun seemed to set with startling speed - one moment the sky was a pleasant late-afternoon blue, the next it was fading to twilight and the train''s interior lights had come on. I shifted a little and stretched, taking a deep breath and letting it out. Athena sat up a bit, blinking sleepily and then shaking herself. "Eventful day," Jonathan said quietly from where he sat across from us, putting a small notebook away in a pocket. Mom was dozing as well, her head leaning against the window. I nodded. "Very," I replied just as quietly. "They''re going to continue to consider me a suspect, aren''t they." He nodded. "Of course. You''re a likely candidate, whether we want to admit it or not. But I doubt anything will come of it. They''ve already all but cleared you. Now it''s just formalities." "But what if..." He held up a hand to interrupt me. "Don''t go there. It''s amazingly unlikely. You may have the means, but they''ll never prove motive beyond circumstantial evidence and hearsay, and your explanation of the residue of magic left on you was enough to satisfy Donovan." I tipped my head a little. "How did you know about that?" "He asked for my opinion about it," Jonathan said with a little smile. "I''ve worked with Ben a couple of times when Scotland Yard needed an expert in Dublin. I''m inclined to say that Brenna was very clever about setting you up, disguising herself and her familiar as you and Athena, then planting a magical trace on you that would look as if you''d been casting fire magic recently." "Assuming it was actually her," I said cautiously. "We don''t know that for certain." "Indeed," he said with a nod. "But who else would it be?" I shook my head. "I can''t think of anyone." "Nor I," he agreed. "There isn''t anybody," Athena added softly. "Brenna and Hecate are the only enemies we''ve made." "That we know of," I said. "Don''t take on trouble that doesn''t exist," Jonathan said gently. "Remember Occam''s Razor." "The simplest explanation is usually correct," I paraphrased. "Quod erat demonstrandum," Jonathan replied. "Brenna is the only enemy you''re aware of having made, ergo she''s the most likely candidate for having framed you. "I hate the idea that you might have made others," mom said, yawning and sitting up. "You''re too young to have enemies." I smiled wryly. "Mom, I''ve had enemies all my life. The Council of Druids saw to that." "I hesitate to call them enemies...close enough, though," she admitted with a sigh. "But that was my fault. So let me rephrase...You''re too young to be making enemies." Jonathan smiled. "I don''t know, love. I infuriated my first police inspector when I was nineteen." Mom elbowed him. "Don''t disagree with me on this," she teased. He held up his hands in surrender. "Yes, dear." He gave me his most stern look, though his eyes were twinkling with mischief. "Alys Kinnear, you''re too young to be making enemies." Athena giggled and I rolled my eyes. "Okay, Dad." We all fell silent for a moment. I was surprised by how natural calling him that felt, even in jest. If the look on Jonathan''s face was anything to go by he was just as surprised for the same reason, and I could see on Mom''s face that she was surprised I''d even made the joke. I cleared my throat. "Sorry." "Don''t be," Mom said quickly. "That''s partly why we invited you to come up for a few days..." Jonathan smiled. "Mind you, this does not mean you have to start calling me ''dad.'' I don''t know if I''d be all that comfortable with it anyway. But..." He suddenly looked uncertain, as if he were worried about what my reaction was going to be. "Well, I asked your mother to marry me." I let it hang in the air for a few moments. I felt honor-bound to tease them about this. It was, after all, a once in a lifetime opportunity. So I let his statement hang without responding and kept my face expressionless, even though I wanted to grin. The silence drew out and started to become uncomfortable. Let them sweat for a minute. They glanced at one another nervously. Athena blew it by giggling, startling them. I nudged her with my elbow and she smiled apologetically. <> I finally smiled at them, letting them see how happy I was for them. "I had a feeling that''s why you invited me to visit. Let me see the ring." My mom held out her left hand to show me a simple platinum band. Set in the center was a gorgeous, flawless diamond set with a single tiny emerald on either side. I whistled softly. "Wow." "I made it myself," Jonathan said proudly. "The ring?" I asked. "The diamond," he replied. I looked up in surprise. "Seriously?" He flashed me a quick grin. "I haven''t taught you everything I know, apprentice." "Wow," I said again, looking back down. "That''s impressive. And beautiful." "Thank you," he said, obviously pleased with my reaction. I sat back and smiled at him. "Do you have any idea what you''re getting yourself into?" "Hey!" Mom quipped, "I''m right here!" Jonathan nodded, playing along. "I know, but what''s a guy to do? I''m helplessly smitten. I may as well accept my doom with grace." "Doom?" Mom asked, giving him an evil look. But I saw her eyes twinkling with much the same mischief Jonathan''s had a few minutes earlier, and I could see the last of the tension easing out of her body. "I meant it in the traditional sense of the word, my love...that of fate or destiny," Jonathan said quickly. I gave him a ''nice save'' thumbs up. I don''t know why Mom was surprised and relieved though. Jonathan Tremane had been my Master - my teacher in the ways of Hermetic magic - for ten years. We had always gotten along very well, though by necessity he had kept things entirely professional between us during the six years of my apprenticeship and four years of my Journeyman studies under his tutelage. But as professional as he had kept things, he had also been my friend. Those years would have been very lonely otherwise. There had been nights out at the theater, day trips to excitingly arcane locations, museums and libraries. There had been four prank wars that I was pretty certain he had allowed me to win - especially having now seen what he was capable of in a snowball fight a few months ago - and endless conversations over meals about every conceivable topic. He had been there for my successes and failures, celebrating the former and shoring up my resolve after the latter. He had sat up late with me during my first few days with him at the tender age of thirteen, when I had been terrified of being away from home for the first time and unable to sleep. He¡¯d celebrated my birthday every year without fail, and exchanged Yule gifts with me. Jonathan had even gently scared my first date into behaving like a real gentleman when I was seventeen. Though he hadn''t known I''d been aware of his doing so until several days later when I thanked him, much to his chagrin (and my amusement). In other words, he was already my father in every way that mattered except blood. Perhaps it''s different in other master/apprentice relationships, but I can''t imagine it working otherwise. Pretty much the only part of the father-daughter relationship he hadn''t covered was talking to me about sex...he had instead sent me to do a three month work-study program with a group of Tantric Mages when I turned eighteen. I''m pretty sure that what I learned from them was more comprehensive than any mortifying conversation he and I might have had on the subject. Come to think of it, I''m positive that what I learned from them was both more comprehensive and more mortifying than any conversation he and I might have had on the subject. Those three months are permanently and indelibly imprinted in my memory. Nearly six years later, thinking about that time still makes me blush. Anyway, his asking my mother to marry him felt like a perfectly natural continuation of my relationship with him. In essence, formalizing his parental authority over me - for all the good it would do now that I was twenty-four - as much as his courtship with Mom. So I smiled at them and raised my hands in benediction. "My children, you have my blessing. Be happy together." If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Jonathan flashed me his quick, happy grin, and my mother reached out and swatted my hands down. "Stop that," she said with a smile. "This is serious." "Terribly serious," Jonathan agreed, smiling gently now. "Obviously," Athena said, giving me a teasingly repressive look. "Mistress, you really should treat the situation with more gravity." "I think there''s plenty of gravity in the room already," I quipped. "Any more and we''d all be flattened." Artemis groaned, put her chin on the floor, and put her paws over her eyes. The miles rolled past in happy, silly banter. We discussed their wedding plans - a simple, quiet little civil ceremony with a few friends - and where they planned to live afterwards (Dublin, at least for the time being). Mom and I joked about how elaborate her wedding dress should be, resulting in gown of such extraordinary complexity and size that it passed the boundaries of absurdity and set Jonathan to joking about needing to find a hall large enough for it. Athena chimed in then, jokingly suggesting that perhaps she should go in the other direction. We could, Athena said, take mom to the tailor in London who had made Athena''s clothes and my under-armor. You must understand the humor here. Fashions designed for familiars were - by both necessity and aesthetics - a bit more brief than most humans would want to wear in public. Athena''s clothes - a sleeveless leather bodysuit, thigh-high leather stockings that left most of her feet uncovered, and optional gloves - were designed as much to present an appealing (or perhaps distracting) appearance as to protect the areas where her already short coat of fur was thinnest. The flexible striking plates and blade-resistant fabric woven into the lining of the outfit (and into my nearly identical under-armor, worn beneath my clothes at all times since my encounter with Brenna) also provided excellent protection against attack. Her toes, the balls of her feet and heels were left bare to give her better traction and grip with her retractable claws and the paw-like pads of her otherwise very human feet. The only time she wore shoes or boots was when it was raining or snowing. (Is it wrong for me to admit that I''m a little bit jealous of her feline traits? I''ve seen her run and bound flat-out up a rocky hillside that took me twice as long to climb because I couldn''t find good footing. And her hearing and night vision are both amazing compared to mine. Artemis, of course, outperforms us both in all of those areas and has been known to rub it in a bit.) Jonathan approved with a cheeky grin and gallantly offered to help her pick something out. He was, I knew, teasing (mostly). He''d never expect mom to wear something like that in public any more than he believed that the insanely gaudy and overblown dress we were joking about was a serious discussion. But the look in Mom''s eyes suggested that she might pay me a visit to pick up something to drive him nuts with later. I thought I''d probably oblige. It might provide me with a measure of revenge for having sent me completely unawares and unprepared to those Tantric Mages when I turned eighteen. Through all the banter and good-natured laughter, I saw a shadow behind my mom''s eyes, and a tightness to her smile that hinted at the strain she was feeling. It was no longer related to any worry she might have had about my reaction to her marrying Jonathan, so for a while I wasn''t sure what could be causing it. Finally, I realized that she was probably upset about the loss of her home and the destruction of the town. That town had been her home and, in a very real way, the boundaries of her world all her life. I had next to no emotional attachment to the place - I felt sadness thinking that I''d never see the house I grew up in again, or help Mom tend to her garden, but aside from that I felt merely a twinge of sadness for the people who had been hurt and all the destruction that had been done. For me, it was sort of like hearing about a town I''d never heard of before being destroyed. I thought about saying something, but in the end decided not to. Mom probably had her own mixed feelings to sort through. We arrived in Dublin in high spirits. At least, Jonathan and I were working to keep Mom in high spirits, since he seemed to have noticed her mood too. The train brought us into town in time to have a late-ish dinner at our usual pub before retiring to his townhouse. I was a little surprised by the warm feeling that came over me as we walked through the door into the familiar foyer, lined with the same Medieval Breton tapestries on one side, and African tribal masks on the other that had been there since I¡¯d first arrived years ago. As I took off my boots, I shook my head in amusement at the very nice oriental rug he''d put down as a boot mat. I noticed that there were now several large antlers nailed to the wall that were being used as a coat rack. Those were new. I wondered if they were real. That was Jonathan in a nutshell. Eccentric, eclectic, and reveling in it. I wouldn''t have it any other way. And neither would my mom, from the looks of it. She didn''t blink at the odd mix of decor, simply tossed the light jacket she''d been wearing onto an antler and said, "I''m going to go make some hot chocolate. Anyone else want some?" Jonathan nodded. "Please." "Me too, thank you," Athena added. "Likewise and thank you," I finished. Artemis sighed. Mom smiled. "I''ll bring you a treat too, Artemis." She ruffled the snow leopard''s ears and disappeared down the hall to the kitchen. Artemis purred contentedly and looked around. I hung my coat on an antler and looked at Jonathan. "Where..." He smiled. "I haven''t touched your room. I was afraid it might be booby trapped." "Would I do that?" I asked with feigned innocence. "Come on, pets. I''ll show you where we''re sleeping. We''ll be back down in a few minutes," I added as we walked past Jonathan towards the stairs. My old room still had the little sign I''d hung on it before I''d left. A sheet of paper with the words "Danger, experiments in progress" scrawled on it. I smiled. Athena raised an eyebrow. "Really?" I shook my head. "No, just a last practical joke. I wasn''t expecting to be back." With that, I opened the door and stepped inside. It was, as he had said, exactly as I''d left it. A bit untidy, boxes of books stacked next to empty bookcases, a footlocker that held various and sundry magical reagents that I hadn''t needed right away packed away neatly in containers, and the closet hanging open to reveal the clothes I''d packed and not taken. The four-poster bed I''d slept in for so many years sat neatly made with a couple of stuffed animals - snow leopards, amusingly enough - sitting on the pillows. The long window seat was still buried under piles of unsorted books and packages. My old roll-top desk was closed. I had pretty much emptied it of useful contents when I''d left anyway. I made a mental note to disarm the color-changing spell I''d laid on it before opening it. I had built up more stuff than I''d remembered. Still, ten years is more than enough time to gather quite a lot of clutter. "Huh. He hadn''t even shipped any of it to my mom yet." "I guess that''s a good thing," Athena said quietly, taking my bag from me and walking in past me, heading for the desk. "If he had..." She trailed off, not needing to say the rest. If he had, it''d be gone. There was, however, a more pressing matter. "Athena, wait..." There was a soft *twang* from the closet, and several things happened so fast the only reason I could follow them is because I had set it up almost eight months earlier. Had it really been such a short time? A water balloon whizzed out of the darkness of the walk-in closet. It was a bright, hot pink to make it impossible to miss. It was immediately wrapped up in a time-delayed spell, set to trigger when the balloon passed through the closet''s doorway, turning the contents - plain water - into bright pink paint. As it crossed through the mid-way point of the room, I felt a second time-delayed spell go off, magically enlarging the balloon to roughly the size of a large pumpkin¡­and its contents with it. Finally, one last time delayed spell went off, wrapping around Athena and freezing her in place. Right in the line of fire. The balloon struck her and burst, drenching her, our gear, the floor and the desk, and finally me with hot pink paint. Behind me, Artemis made a choked noise that might have been something approximating a cut-off laugh. I had most assuredly not included that engorgement spell. The rest was all of my own doing. I sighed and wiped some of the paint from my face. From somewhere downstairs, I heard Jonathan start laughing. Clearly, I had been outclassed all along. "Don''t worry," his voice drifted up the stairs to us, still laughing. "It''ll disappear in a few minutes." Athena turned to look at me with a dour expression, her disapproval and disgust radiating across our bond. I can''t imagine that paint felt good on fur. I shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry pet. Let''s take a lesson from this...Never get into a prank war with that man," I said. "He''s patient and devious." She made a soft sound of agreement and set my bag down on the floor, tried to shake some of the paint from her arms, then started unbuckling her gear. Fifteen minutes later - dry, back to our natural colors and none the worse for wear - we were cozily ensconced in what Jonathan jokingly referred to as his den. It was a comfortable room that he''d decorated to look sort of like a rustic log cabin hunting lodge (sans stuffed animal heads, thank goodness). The walls had been paneled with very convincing fake logs, on which hung a few anonymous landscape paintings and a couple of pieces of native Vinland tribal art that had probably cost him a small fortune. The floor was bare hardwood with a gorgeous woven multi-colored area rug on it. There was a desk in one corner of the room - just in case, Jonathan said - and a table just large enough for four friendly people to share a meal at. And, of course, there were bookcases. Just about every room in a Wizard''s home has them. There was only one window in the room, hung with heavy dark red drapes, which looked out onto the small walled garden behind the house. The wall opposite the window was dominated by a fireplace large enough to roast an entire pig in, before which were set two overstuffed chairs on either side of a matching sofa. They were arranged in a semi-circle around a small coffee table which was currently inhabited by four still-steaming mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of little frosted cakes. Yes, I kind of love interior design. The decor of a house can tell you as much about the people who live there as the way they dress. Mom and Jonathan had claimed the sofa, and I had settled into the chair to its left. As was becoming her habit, Athena settled on the floor at my feet and leaned back against my legs. I hadn''t ever suggested she do it...I would have been just as happy if she''d taken the other chair. But there was something so warm and affectionate about the way she did it that I couldn''t find the heart to tell her I thought it was just a bit demeaning for her to sit at my feet. She was, of course, aware of all this. Every time she sat down that way, I got a hint of amused affection from her, as if to say, "This is my chosen place, Mistress, and I''m quite happy with it. Get used to it." I am perfectly aware of the fact that most Wizards treat their familiars - normal or Elevated - like pets and servants. Which was, at the end of the day, precisely what they were I suppose. But it felt fundamentally wrong to me. Athena and Artemis were my closest friends and confidants, with me every minute of every day, extensions of my heart and soul. How could I treat them as if they were somehow less than me? Maybe I''m just weird. Artemis, being Artemis, had sprawled full-length on the flagstones of the raised hearth in front of the fireplace. Her fore paws were draped over the edge, lazily curling and uncurling as she purred like a rusty engine. We didn''t really need a fire, but a fireplace of that size looks empty without one, so a small one had been built. Just enough to warm the oversized kitty. Mom''s familiar, Apollo, a handsome snowy owl who was a relatively recent addition to the family, was perched on the mantle above the fireplace. His head slowly turned this way and that, watching each of us in turn with the uncommon intelligence of an animal raised to be a familiar. He and Artemis had reached an understanding on their first encounter - he would ignore her, as long as she left him alone. We both had a feeling he might come out on top if she tried anything, so she left him alone and he paid her no mind. In spite of all this, I found I could not completely relax. Somewhere out there was someone who didn''t actually want me dead, but was crazy enough to consider eradicating my home town in revenge for a perceived insult. The only person I could think of who fit that description was Brenna, a young woman about my age who bore a striking resemblance to me in spite of her black hair and very gothic fashion sense, and who had an Elevated panther as a familiar, not unlike my own Athena. And who had insisted on referring to me as ''cousin'' while we fought over possession of an Aztec dagger that had been used for ritual sacrifices for hundreds of years. I had destroyed the dagger - and probably burned her arm in the process - with a phoenix constructed of elemental fire magic. And in return, she had - assuming it had really been her - burned my hometown to the ground. I shivered a little and felt Athena squeeze my ankle reassuringly. Looking down at her, her eyes met mine and she pointedly glanced over at the sofa. I looked over at my mom, cozily tucked against Jonathan''s side, his arm around her shoulders. I thought of Hollis Ellister and his familiar Elsie back in London. My family and closest friends. Whatever happened, I was not alone. I finally relaxed, taking a moment to caress Athena''s hair and ears gratefully. She always knew what I needed. Thicker than Blood - Chapter 3 This wasn''t exactly house arrest, I reminded myself for the hundredth time, and it was entirely voluntary. Jonathan, mom and I had all agreed that the best thing for me to do would be to keep my head down, stay in one place, and not do anything to draw attention to myself. Which meant I had pretty much been stuck inside Jonathan''s house in Dublin for the past three days. Voluntarily. I had fired off a Sending to Hollis Ellister, my employer/mento in London, to let him know what had happened and that I would be delayed. His response to me - brought by a ghostly translucent mouse that became an image of Hollis himself - was a terse, "Keep busy." The rest of his response - comments about where I was in my studies and what he''d planned on covering next - went to Jonathan. Of course, a Wizard (or Mage) worth his (or her) salt is never without things to do. Part of the joy of being a dedicated spellcaster is having the opportunity to delve into the deeper mysteries of magic, and there are always new things to study and learn. For a Wizard, there are always more things to learn than there are hours in the day. I filled my hours with my studies. Athena and I spent an entire morning hunched shoulder to shoulder together over an enormous legal dictionary that I''d fit into my bottomless bag, attempting to memorize the legal boundaries of the use of magic in psychological medicine. My mom taught me to brew an energy potion that was both longer lasting and had less after effects than the one I was familiar with (its base liquid: coffee...gotta laugh). At the insistence of both Hollis and Athena, I had begun taking lessons in how to handle a sword. After lengthy discussion and experimentation, I had settled on a variant of the smallsword as my preferred weapon¡­I found the thrusting-only design of the standard smallsword limiting, so had found one with a slightly wider, edged blade which allowed for slashing and cutting moves. So Athena and I spent an hour every afternoon sparring. She was - and would likely always remain - better than I was with a sword in every way...but it was good exercise, and might save my life in a pinch. Jonathan gave me a slim, hand-written volume that went into disturbing detail describing the dangers and side-effects of practicing Necromancy. When I asked why, he had said simply that Hollis wanted me to read it, and that I''d understand why when I did. So I read it. I''d already known that Necromancy was one of the darkest and worst forms of magic that can be practiced. It involves using the bodies of the dead (recently deceased or long-dead) as a medium for divination and for learning esoteric or forgotten knowledge. It also delved into communicating with, raising and controlling the dead for the purpose of doing harm to the living. It wasn''t flowers and puppies and rainbows. What I hadn''t known were the side-effects it had on the human mind and body. According to that slim little volume, extensive use of Necromancy would whittle away at a person''s sanity and physical health alike. The descriptions called Brenna to mind immediately. Her unhealthily pale complexion tinged with gray, her sunken eyes with the dark shadows beneath them, and the wild mood swings from manic to polite to a level of vindictiveness that was completely out of proportion. So yes, I understood why Hollis had wanted me to read it. I was also pretty sure when I gave it back to Jonathan that I would never, ever resort to Necromancy, no matter how dire the situation. It was a branch of magic that was fundamentally wrong. The little walled garden behind Jonathan''s house needed its spring tending. We spent an entire morning - all four of us working together - taking care of it. That was a lot of fun, in a strange sort of way. I''d done plenty of planting in my mom''s garden, but it had always just been the two of us. Somehow, with a pseudo-sister and almost-father there (Artemis, true to her nature didn¡¯t help, but instead sprawled in the sun), it felt less like work. Weird. On the afternoon of the third day, I had one of those parent-child conversations that was both amusing and embarrassing. "You never told me you made the paper!" my mother said excitedly as she entered the kitchen where Athena and I were cooling off after fencing. She was waving a page from an old Daily Mirror at me like it was a report card she was particularly happy with. "I''d pin it to the fridge if it weren''t for all the dead bodies in the pictures. I still might...at the very least this is going in your scrapbook! Did you know, according to this, one of the bodies they found belonged to the Thames Slasher from back in the 50s? They were calling him the new Ripper back when I was a teenager. I even dyed my hair one summer because word got out he liked red-heads. Did you meet his ghost? What was he like?" I stared at her incredulously for a long moment. Then a flush of embarrassment spread across my face as I realized Jonathan must''ve been keeping tabs on my exploits. "Honestly, mother! You can''t believe half of what you read in that rag, it''s all sensationalism. The last time I checked they haven''t even found all of the records from the old asylum, so they can''t claim to know exactly who was down there...and by the time I found the ghosts they were all barely holding it together. Only one of them even seemed to be fully aware of what as going on and he gave me this lovely little scar on my cheek." I touched the faint, thin white line there. "Besides," I added, "That asylum closed up shop around 1932. I can''t imagine why they''d think the Thames Slasher would''ve been there." She actually looked disappointed. Well, I suppose it had been an exciting and scary part of her teen years. "That''s true. Well, either way this is going in your scrapbook. I''m so proud that you made the papers." I put my face in my hands. "Mother..." Athena giggled. At any rate, by the morning of the fourth day I was ready to go crazy. It''s not like there wasn''t enough to do, and there had been times during my apprenticeship when I hadn''t seen the light of day for a week or more because I was buried in some research or experiment that couldn''t be interrupted. I''m not sure precisely why I felt like I had to get out of the house, but it was very similar to what I imagined claustrophobia must feel like. As soon as breakfast was done, I rose and looked at Athena. "We''re going out," I declared. "You can bring your sword, but leave your revolver." Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, but she nodded and rose. "Yes, Mistress. Your staff?" I shook my head. "No, I doubt I''ll need it." Jonathan was smiling, his expression suggesting that he''d been expecting this. My mother looked a little alarmed. "Are you sure this is wise, honey?" "Wise or not," I replied, gathering my dishes and Athena''s and taking them to the sink, "I need a break. I''m going to show the girls around town a little, do a bit of window shopping. I just need to take a walk. We''ll probably be back after lunch." Jonathan nodded. "That''s fine. Keep a wary eye out and try not to do anything even remotely threatening. I wouldn''t be surprised if the police had a spotter watching you." Huh. I hadn''t thought of that. When I said as much, Jonathan shrugged. "I''m not saying it''s definite, it just wouldn''t surprise me," he said. "It''s what I''d do. Like it or not, you''re still a suspect until they conclusively prove otherwise. Which could take a while." I grimaced. "It''s not like they''re ever going to catch Brenna. And we don''t even know it''s her who did it." "But you''re intuitively certain it was," he replied. I nodded and sighed. "Yeah." "Then you''re right, they''re not going to catch her," he agreed. "Which means they''ll be keeping an eye on you for at least a few more days. Remember, until they tell you you''re free to leave the country, it''s wisest not to do anything that might rouse suspicions." "Okay," I agreed with forced good cheer. "I''ll try not to demolish any small towns while I''m out for my walk." "That''s not funny," my mother said quietly and with an edge to her voice. "People were hurt, and people died...the whole town was destroyed, and we don''t know if they can rebuild it." I sighed. "I know. I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to sound callous. I''m just frustrated. I should be out there trying to track her down, and I can''t be." "And neither can we," Jonathan agreed with a nod. "Maddening, isn''t it?" I nodded, lips twisted into what I was sure was a frustrated grimace. "I''d have Athena leave her blade here too," Jonathan said. "Don''t give them any reason to suspect that you''re out for anything more than a bit of window shopping and lunch." Athena, who had just returned with her shieldblade harness slung over one shoulder, set it down by the door. "It''s good advice, Mistress. Besides, we''re both fairly capable of protecting ourselves bare-handed now. And we''ll have Artemis along." Artemis rose from her indolent pose by the hearth and yawned ostentatiously, showing off her obviously very dangerous fangs. I smiled. "Good point." Anyone who voluntarily angered 85 pounds of muscular snow leopard was, in my opinion, insane. My mother stopped me at the door, taking my arm and pulling me around to hug me gently. I returned her hug for a moment before she said, "I didn''t mean to snap at you, honey. I''m upset is all." "You lost your home," I said. "And you had friends - or at least pleasant acquaintances - who were hurt or killed. I''m sorry I made a joke about it, I shouldn''t have." I stepped back a little, holding onto her arms. "But you''re alive, and you''re unhurt, and that''s all that matters to me." She smiled a little. "I understand. You never liked that town, did you?" I made a face. "I won''t lie, I''m not particularly upset it''s gone. I''m sorry people were hurt, I wish they hadn''t been...but that town held few good memories for me. Only our home did, and most of those memories involve you. So as far as I''m concerned, the one thing that really matters is right here and safe." I squeezed her arms gently. She nodded and smiled, wiping unshed tears from her eyes. "I love you too, honey." She hugged me again, then sent me on my way with a gentle push. It was a beautiful, perfect spring day. Sunny, just warm enough to eschew jackets but not too warm to be comfortable in casual denim pants and a short-sleeved green tunic. Every once in a while, a gentle breeze blew across us, bringing the scents of growing things from the outskirts of the city. So we walked, almost at random. Up this street, down the next one. We stopped to look in shop windows at dresses and accessories, the latest magitech devices from Nippon - strange little toys that moved on their own, new wireless radio devices for listening to music broadcasts, that kind of thing - and more. One apothecary had a display of African tribal fetishes that I just had to go in and take a closer look at. We stopped in five separate book stores and came away with a bag from each, so many books that I was starting to wish I''d brought my bottomless bag along just for that. Perhaps Artemis could be fitted with saddlebags...the mental image was so funny that I shared it with the girls. Athena was amused, Artemis not so much. I bought her a catnip toy by way of apology and promised she could demolish it in the garden when we got home. Throughout, both Athena and I kept our eyes open, and I know that Artemis - as blithely as she trotted along with us - was on high alert. Because all of us silently agreed that we were being followed. I wasn''t surprised, and none of us felt any sense of alarm about it; the feeling was one of patient watchfulness. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. We finally came to a halt for lunch at a little restaurant I liked and were lucky enough to get outdoor patio seats near the sidewalk where we could watch people going by. I''ve always loved people-watching, as Jonathan jokingly calls it ("Like bird-watching, only without binoculars and a log book.") It''s an interesting intellectual exercise, trying to figure things out about a complete stranger by what you can observe of their clothing, bearing and behavior. As we ate, I telepathically explained my weird little hobby to Athena and Artemis. Artemis, of course, took little interest in it beyond quickly determining if a given person was a threat or a friendly. Athena, on the other hand, was fascinated, and we quickly took to bouncing ideas back and forth. <> Athena asked as she chewed another bite of the burger she''d ordered. Through our bond, I knew immediately which person she was referring to: a young woman who was crossing the street nearby in a hurry. She had a light sweater on over a pale cream blouse and a slim skirt that came to just below her knees. Her shoes were sensible low heels, she had a modest purse, and very little in the way of visible jewelry. Her brown hair was done up in a tight bun from which a few wisps had escaped, and her expression suggested emotional strain. <> I replied, sipping my tea. < > <> Athena added thoughtfully. <> I blinked. <> Athena smiled smugly and purred around her last bite of burger. < > she teased. I laughed, drawing a few weird looks from people at nearby tables until they realized I had an Elevated familiar with me. < > <> she demurred. <> I blame what happened next at least partly on the fact that both of us were busy looking across the street and not paying much attention to what was going on around us. I heard the quick footsteps approaching, but gave them no thought at all, assuming - naturally - that there was a jogger about to pass or that someone was in a hurry to get somewhere. None of us had anticipated that the hurrying person was coming directly to us. "Miss Kinnear? Alys? I have good news!" A hand landed on my shoulder. In my defense, I''ve been trained at great length in how to protect myself, and I don''t know anybody who likes being grabbed - however gently - without warning. Maybe I was just too keyed up from recent events. I didn''t think about what I was doing...Before I realized it, I was rising, grabbing the wrist attached to the hand on my shoulder and doing what I''d been taught. Twist, extend hip as a brace and pivot... Ben Donovan, Detective Inspector from Scotland Yard, landed - on his back and with a startled grunt - in the low shrubs that bordered the little caf¨¦. Before he could recover, Artemis was right in his face, snarling and planting a paw on his chest right below his throat, flexing her claws to make her point. As if the big fangs didn''t. "Artemis!" I hurried forward, embarrassed. "It''s all right. I think it is, anyway. Detective?" "Sorry!" Donovan gasped out, freezing in place to keep the nice kitty from ripping his face off. "I didn''t mean to startle you!" "I sincerely hope not," Athena said quietly as she rose to stand beside me. All activity around us had ceased and a waiter approached tentatively. I waved him off, mumbling something about a misunderstanding, and reached out to Donovan as Artemis released him and backed away. Donovan took my hand and let me help him up, then carefully brushed himself off. "Detective," I asked warily, "Have you been following me?" "No! Well, yes, but no!" Thankfully, he lowered his voice before continuing. "I just got word that you''re no longer considered a suspect, so obviously I had to find you and let you know, but you weren''t at the flat...so I had to follow you a little until I could catch up...but not in, like, a creepy way..." <> Athena giggled. <> Artemis added. <> Athena asked. <> Artemis replied. "That would imply," I said aloud, ignoring my familiars for the moment, "that you''ve been keeping an eye on me for the last few days." "Well, of course," Donovan said bluntly. "Surely you knew you''d be under observation..." He trailed off, eyes widening. "I mean...I didn''t mean...No, I was watching you for official reasons..." He stopped, his face comically distressed. "I''m going to shut up now." I felt my lips twitch and quickly stifled the urge to laugh. "Probably a good idea. Take a deep breath and start over." "Sound advice." He smiled weakly. "May I join you?" He gestured to the table we''d been sitting at. "People are still staring at us and wondering why you just flipped me into the bushes." I considered him for a long moment. He''d seemed friendly enough back in Killarney and had voluntarily taken my side rather than playing along with the local police, when doing so probably would have made his time there easier on him. Jonathan had apparently worked with him in the past and evidently trusted him. "Of course," I said, gesturing to the table. Athena and I returned to our chairs, with Donovan taking a third with his back to the street, halfway between us. "So," I said once we were all sitting, "Please explain, Detective Donovan." "The Killarney police insisted someone maintain surveillance on you," he began, "until you''d been ruled out as a suspect. They obviously wanted me out of their way, so I volunteered. Would you rather a complete stranger follow you around, or someone who doesn''t consider you a real suspect? And call me Ben." "Is that entirely professional?" I asked. "Not entirely," he admitted. "But since you''re not a suspect anymore, we don''t really have to worry about that. And honestly, Miss Kinnear, I don''t think you were responsible. You''re just not the type." "If I''m going to call you Ben, you should call me Alys," I said, relaxing a little. "I am glad to hear I''m not on their watch list anymore. Thank you for letting me know. Do they have any other suspects yet?" He held up a finger and waggled it back and forth in gentle reproof. "Just because you¡¯ve been eliminated as a suspect doesn''t mean I can discuss the case with you. But between you and me," he added after a moment, "no, they don''t. They have enough evidence to rule you out as a reasonable suspect, in spite of what that half-crazed Druidess -¡° ¡°Druid,¡± I interjected. ¡°The term ¡®druidess¡¯ went out of fashion years ago.¡± ¡°Ah, yes¡­in spite of what she spouts every time she''s questioned. I was just here as a precaution until this morning, when they finally cleared you." There was, I decided, another reason. Something about the way he said it, the set of his body and the expression on his face suggested that he was hiding something. Athena silently agreed. <> I nodded ever so slightly. Artemis had moved to sit beside his chair on her haunches, and now he held out his hand for her to sniff. She did, then butted her head imperiously against his hand until he laughed and scratched her ears. <> Athena and I exchanged amused glances before I returned my attention to Donovan. "Well, if Artemis approves of you, I suppose there''s no reason not to be friendly." "The feline litmus test," he agreed jokingly. "Cats are notoriously difficult to trick. If one trusts you, you''re probably a trustworthy person?" "In a nutshell," I nodded. "Detective..." "Ben," he interjected with a shy smile. Was he flirting with me? Nah. I might not be a suspect anymore, but I was still involved in the case. And as casual a person as he seemed to be, he didn''t strike me as unprofessional. "Ben," I started again, "Since I''m heading for home, why don''t you walk with us?" He smiled. He had a nice smile. "I''d be happy to." We strolled down the street together, Athena behind us and Artemis a little out in front of us. After a few minutes of this, Donovan said in an amused voice, "They''re like an honor guard." I looked at him, confused. "Sorry?" "Your familiars," he said, smiling. "They''re behaving like an honor guard. Point and rear guards. If I made any untoward moves, I suspect I''d be in a lot of trouble." "That would depend on your intentions," Athena said from behind us in a mock-stern tone. "And whether or not you brought flowers." I''m pretty sure I didn''t actually turn bright red, but my cheeks flamed with heat anyway. "Athena!" Damn her for being able to sense that I found him attractive. I''m a Wizard-in-training, not dead! He was handsome, kind, a bit weird but obviously intelligent and seemed to have a quick sense of humor. Under different circumstances, I probably would have asked him out by now. Sometimes it can be awkward, having familiars whose actions are occasionally influenced by my subconscious mind. Athena didn''t always know when acting on my impulses was appropriate. It wasn''t usually a problem, but once in a while... She giggled. "Sorry, Mistress. Just teasing." ¡­Or more likely she was doing it on purpose. She didn''t sound in the least bit repentant. Not that I wouldn''t have done the same thing in her position, but now was really not the time. To my surprise, Donovan didn''t appear to be the least bit put out by the joke. Instead, he looked over his shoulder at her and smiled. "What kind of flowers?" I blinked. So did Athena, both of us caught flat-footed by his question. "Um," Athena said. "I''m really not sure..." Still smiling, he turned his attention back to me. "Flowers?" "Wild flowers, mixed variety," I said faintly. He nodded. "I''ll remember that." Odin''s beard. He was flirting with me. "Detective," I began slowly. "Ben," he interjected with a warm smile. "Please?" "Detective," I repeated gently, "I''m flattered, but is that really appropriate right now?" He stopped walking, and it took me a couple of steps to stop and turn to face him. Athena ended up standing beside him and Artemis padded back to sit beside me. "Alys," he began, then paused. "May I still call you Alys?" He asked the question so gently that I couldn''t find it in my heart to say no. So I just nodded. "Alys," he began again, "I''m no longer here in an official capacity. I volunteered to keep an eye on you and they were happy enough to let me do it because I''d be out from under their collective feet. They don''t think you''re a suspect anymore, and I''ve let you know. I''m still here because I want to get to know you a bit better." Artemis tipped her head and took a deep breath. <> she said slowly, <> I considered his words and Artemis''s read of his scent very carefully. Finally, I said, "You''re not being entirely honest with me. And frankly, it''s a little creepy to think you''ve been lurking outside my house for three days so you could follow me around if I went out." He looked startled, then glanced at Artemis. "Snitching on me?" Athena smiled faintly. "Be honest, Detective." She touched the side of her nose. "You''re under some stress." "And talking to pretty girls wouldn''t explain that?" He asked in a jokingly plaintive tone of voice. "Ordinarily yes," I said. "Under the circumstances? Just a little bit creepy." He acknowledged the point with a nod. "All right. Total honesty, then. You''re pretty, smart, quick-witted and not easily intimidated or embarrassed. I find those qualities attractive. Getting to know you better would also allow me to provide the Killarney police with a profile of you that would definitively rule you out as a suspect. Or at least it would have, if they hadn''t ruled you out as a suspect before I could file it..." He was babbling a little, but I wasn''t ready to let him off the hook yet. "You tell me," I said. "What''s official Yard policy about fraternizing with someone involved in an active case? Even if I''m not an suspect anymore, which is a relief." I knew perfectly well that they frowned on it a little. I''d just studied their rules about it a couple of weeks ago. "As long as I''m doing it for the purposes of providing a psychological profile of the suspect, and as long as the witness isn''t the prime suspect in a case, I might get a slap on the wrist but they''d let it slide," he said with the certainty of someone who worked with those rules every day. "And there''s nothing that says I can''t continue to fraternize with you after you''ve been ruled out." He paused for a moment. "Perhaps we could find a word to use other than ''fraternize'' though. It''s so...cold." I stared at him, bemused. "That''s splitting hairs rather finely, don''t you think?" Donovan shrugged. "My ethics instructor at the Academy used to say, ''Rules may define the world, but technicalities keep it turning.''" I snorted a little laugh, which must have reached him in stereo since Athena did the same thing at the same time. "Fair enough. I suppose I can''t argue with that. You''re just lucky I already know that men can get a bit tongue-tied when approaching young women." We started to walk again, Athena falling in on my left this time with Donovan on my right and Artemis still out ahead of us. "You''re right," he admitted. "And you''d know. You studied with a group of Tantric Mages a few years ago, didn''t you?" I gave him a surprised look. "How did you know that?" "It''s in the educational transcript for your Hermetic Mage''s license," he replied. "We looked at it while you were in custody. That must''ve been quite an experience." "You have no idea," I said dryly, my cheeks warming a little. "And no, I won''t tell you about it. I''d have to know you a lot better before I''d even think about doing so." "A few drinks might help too," Athena added. "Quite likely," I agreed. "Too bad I don''t like to drink much." Donovan chuckled at our antics. "Fair enough," he said, echoing my words back to me. "I''ll have to settle for dinner. And maybe the theater?" I gave him a long look, during which we reached the stairs that led to Jonathan''s front door. Just as I was about to reply that I wasn''t comfortable going out on a date with him as long as I was even peripherally involved in a case he was working, the door opened and Jonathan stepped out. "Alys, I''m glad you''re back. We just had a message from the Killarney police," he said. "They have two witnesses who independently described their assailant as a gaunt young woman with black hair and an Elevated panther familiar." His expression didn''t change as his eyes moved to Donovan, but I saw the surprise and a hint of amusement in them. "Detective Donovan also reported traces of illusory magic in the area, which supports the theory that the assailant was trying to frame you. They''ve eliminated you as a suspect and said you''re free to go about your business." Jonathan trailed off and smiled at Donovan. "Of course, you probably know that already. Donovan smiled up at him. "Yes, sir, I let her know. So, Alys, how about dinner and the theater? Athena and Artemis can come, to make sure I''m a perfect gentleman. No more police-induced creepy behavior, I promise." I looked up at Jonathan, whose shrug made it clear the choice was mine. Since I knew that he''d worked with Donovan at least once before, and since he seemed to trust the man, I got no warning signals from him. So I looked back at Donovan and nodded. "All right." I smiled. "It sounds like fun. You have a show in mind?" Donovan smiled and nodded. "I do. It starts at eight." "There''s a nice little Italian restaurant on Abbey Street. Do you know it?" I asked. He nodded. "I do. I''ll pick you up at six?" "Six it is," I smiled. "I''ll see you then." "I''ll be here," Donovan said with a smile that sent a pleasant spark down my spine. Athena grinned and I studiously avoided her gaze as I started up the stairs. "Don''t forget the flowers," Athena added over her shoulder as she followed me inside. Thicker than Blood - Chapter 4 I am not by nature a ''girly girl.'' I rarely wear skirts, I don''t do much (if anything) with makeup, I don''t giggle over boys or gush about the latest perfumes and jewelry. I''ve always found examining a person''s clothing to be useful in learning about their personality, but I''ve never been overly concerned with fashion myself. I just try to look neat and reasonably professional, even when I''m dressing casually. When I moved to London, I did take the time to update my wardrobe a bit¡­but not really all that much. That said, I do still like to dress up a bit for a date. Who doesn''t? And a night out at the theater qualified for dressing up a bit. "Why am I doing this again?" I asked Athena as I smoothed my stockings one more time and rose to put my dress on. "What?" Athena asked. "Making yourself pretty for a date?" I shook my head. "Going on a date at all." "Because you find him attractive," Athena said, adjusting the (much simpler, damn it) dark green skirt that went on over her usual clothes. Though she''d swapped her usual sleeveless bodysuit for one with belled green silk sleeves. "Funny, charming, obviously clever and just as obviously interested. So, why shouldn''t you?" "Because someone just demolished my home town," I replied, "and I was a suspect. I''m still peripherally involved in the case, and it was probably Brenna who did it. I feel like I should be trying to find her." I stopped, then slipped my dress over my head and wriggled into it. It was one of the nicest things I owned as far as clothing went. Pure silk in a rich forest green (Athena and I did often match colors, but it wasn''t intentional) with silver filigree at the neckline (lower than I usually wore), wrists and hem. The bodice was tight, the sleeves gracefully loose at the shoulders but tight at the wrists, and the skirt flared out from my hips to just below my knees. "Trust me," my mother said as she came in, "I know the Killarney police. They''ll be happier if you stay well away from the case at this point. Here, you can wear these." She set a pair of silver earrings - small studs with an exquisitely detailed little feather hanging from each one - on my desk. "But I bought you those for your birthday last year," I protested. "I guess it''s a good thing you''d already started to move your things here." "Nary a baby picture lost," she agreed, "and you certainly can wear them. I know for a fact that you don''t have any earrings with you that go with that dress." I glowered at her for a moment, but she was right. Just like I''d left most of my fancy dress clothes packed up at Jonathan''s flat when I went to London, I hadn''t brought any of my small collection of jewelry with me when I''d left Hollis'' home to visit Mom. "Thanks, Mom. Am I doing the right thing?" "Relaxing and having a good time after a period of stress?" she joked, sitting down in my desk chair and looking at me with a soft smile on her face. "Definitely. Alys, you look beautiful. Go and have a good time." "I hardly know anything about him," I protested, and realized that I was making excuses. I hate making excuses. What was my subconscious trying to tell me? Mom tipped her head. "Why not go out, honey? Shed the last of your stress, relax, enjoy the night out. Who knows, maybe you''ll like him. Besides, Jonathan says he knows and trusts Donovan. That''s good enough for me." "You''re very tense, Mistress," Athena added. "And not because you''re worried about this date." She moved to me and smoothed my dress, tugging it into place across my shoulders. "A night out is just what we need." "Listen to her," mom said with a smile. "She''s right." "She usually is," I agreed, smoothing the silk down my front. <> Artemis said from where she was relaxing on my bed. <> Yet another unexpectedly insightful comment from my supposedly more mundane snow leopard familiar. I needed to stop underestimating her intelligence. "All right, you three can stop ganging up on me. No more protests." My mom shot a curious look at Artemis, who smugly began to groom her right paw. "What''d she say?" "That Mistress needs to forget her troubles for a little while, and Detective Donovan is the perfect person to help," Athena said as she brushed my hair into place. "Mistress, you really shouldn''t hide your ears tonight. I saw a green silk ribbon in your old dresser that would match this dress, and your pointed ears make you look even more elegant." I gave my mom a doubting look, and she nodded. "She''s right. You''d look like a fairy queen with your hair back from your ears." I prevented myself from grimacing with an effort. I dislike being reminded of my (probably) half-Sidhe heritage for a variety of reasons, and ordinarily wore my hair - a pale blond that was almost white and shimmered like gold - styled to cover my ears and their delicate points. If I could wear dark glasses all the time to hide my equally golden irises - yet another reminder of my half-Human nature - I probably would. Was I standing knee deep in that old Egyptian river? Most likely. Mom sighed. "Honestly, Alys...it''s long past time for you to accept that part of yourself. Consider this the first step in doing so." <> Artemis agreed. <> "I''m being ganged up on again," I protested weakly. "All right, I surrender. Do what you will, Athena." Athena beamed and went to my old dresser, returning a few moments later with a green silk ribbon that she used to tie my hair back, allowing the longer bangs on the right side to hang loose in the sort of artfully absent almost-disarray that can only be achieved intentionally. "There," she said, moving to stand in front of me. "How''s that?" She asked my mother. Mom nodded. "Lovely, Athena. Just right." I looked at myself in the mirror and decided that they were correct, I did look prettier that way. Then I carefully put on mom''s earrings and turned just in time to see Athena setting down a pair of ankle boots in the same shade of green as my dress. They had three-inch heels, but that wasn''t significantly higher than what I usually wore, so I smiled and nodded. "Perfect." Ten minutes later I stood staring at myself in a full-length mirror in the hall. I was used to seeing myself in day-to-day clothes¡­leather and heavy cotton, sometimes stained, sometimes with smudges of different substances on hands and cheeks. If not that, then in professional clothes, neat trousers and blouses for visiting a client. I was not used to seeing myself in silk, with my hair carefully done and with a few extra inches of height added by heels. "Wow," Jonathan said. "You never dressed up like that when I took you to the theater." He grinned. "Should I be jeal-oof." He was cut off as Mom dug her elbow into his ribs, leaving him rubbing his side and grinning unrepentantly. "Stop teasing her, Jon. Alys, you look amazing. Donovan will be speechless." "I still can''t believe I agreed to go out with him..." "He''s a thoughtful, hard-working young man," Jonathan said thoughtfully. "I''ve worked with him a couple of times when the Yard needed an expert here in Dublin, and he''s impressed me each time." He grinned. "You could do a lot worse." "I''m not marrying him!" I protested. "It''s a date! And he was assigned to keep surveillance on me!" "That was before they eliminated you as a possible suspect," Jonathan replied gently, then grinned. "If he starts pumping you for information about yourself, match him question for question. He''s a bright lad, he''ll get the hint." "Besides," mom said as she handed me a knitted white shawl, "Finding out about a person is what first dates are for. Unless you''ve been dating without telling me, this is the first date you''ve gone on since you turned eighteen." "Nineteen. And I''ve been busy," I muttered. Athena slipped into a light cloak and smiled. "We''re going to have fun tonight," she said firmly. "Right, Mistress?" Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I was being silly and I knew it. Of course, I''d had a few different reasons for not dating over the past few years. The foremost reason really was that I had been extremely busy. First with preparations for my Mage exams, then with beginning my Wizarding exam studies and with my new job in London. Add to that the lingering after-effects of the time I spent with that group of Tantric Mages - a lifestyle I am frankly not well-suited for - and the fact that young men tend to be rather intimidated by a young woman with the amount of power I have at my fingertips, and dating simply didn''t happen. It''s not that I wasn''t interested. It just...didn''t happen. But here I was, behaving like I was sixteen again and it was my very first date. "All work and no play..." Jonathan quoted quietly. I gave him a startled look and thought about it for a moment. Then realized that he was probably right. The last time I''d really let my hair down - metaphorically speaking - had been months ago. Before that? Probably before I turned eighteen. I''d been going full-steam ahead since then. Don''t get me wrong, I love my work and studies...but if that''s all life is, then eventually they''ll stop being fun. It was, I suddenly realized, one of the reasons why Jonathan indulged his love of old pulp novels and comic books. Why he got a kick out of dressing up like the Shadow when he went out. "Point taken," I said aloud, then slipped the shawl around my shoulders. "Clearly, I need to relax a little." Athena, Jonathan and my mom all beamed at me. Athena and my mom in relief, Jonathan in a mixture of pride and amusement. Artemis, sitting by the front door, made a weary sound. <> Before I could reply, a soft but pervasive chime filled the entry hall. The doorbell. I was suddenly extremely nervous. What if he was only doing this to build a psychological profile of me for the police? The whole thing could be a ploy to get me to lower my guard and admit to... Athena nudged my elbow and stage-whispered, "The door, Mistress." I shook myself and viciously squashed my nerves and paranoia, squared my shoulders and strode to the door with a swish of silk and the click of my heels on the hardwood floor. <> <> When I opened the door, D.I. Ben Donovan smiled down at me. Even in my heels, he had a half a head on me. He was dressed in a semi-formal suit, black with a green shirt that was almost the exact shade of my dress. I raised a bemused eyebrow at the sight. Had he done that on purpose, having seen me in green earlier, or was it entirely coincidental? And he had flowers. A bouquet of mixed wild flowers. He started to offer me the flowers, got a good look at my neckline - I don''t have much in the way of cleavage, but this particular dress was designed to subtly accentuate what I did have - and blushed furiously. His eyes moved down - waist, hips, legs - then snapped back up and locked onto mine. "Ah...flowers..." He smiled and held them out to me, glancing over my shoulder at Athena. "As promised." Behind me, Athena giggled. <> <> I shot back, taking the flowers from him and smiling. "Thank you. You look handsome this evening." "You look amazing," he said, with such simple, uncomplicated honesty that I felt my cheeks warm up a little. My mother silently took the bouquet from me, murmuring, "I''ll just put these in some water..." And stepped back. From a little way down the hall, Jonathan interjected, "Do I need to intimidate you, Ben?" That seemed to restore some of Donovan''s equilibrium, but his blush remained as he laughed. "No, sir. I''m sure Athena and Artemis will keep me in line." From beside his legs, Artemis mrowled softly. Mind you, even a soft meow from an 85 pound snow leopard can sound like a threat, and her meaning was clear. Donovan smiled down at her, bending a little to ruffle her ears gently. "Don''t worry, you won''t have to." His eyes returned to mine, and he offered me his arm. "Shall we? I made reservations at the restaurant you recommended." I slipped my hand into his arm as he turned. "Let''s." We started down the stairs together, Athena and Artemis following behind. From the still-open doorway, Jonathan jokingly said, "I want her home by ten o''clock, young man." Donovan grinned. "Okay, sir." He bent a little and whispered, "He''s not serious, is he?" I shook my head and smiled. "I''m a big girl now. I stay out all night for work on a regular basis." Also, we could hear my mom giggling right up until the door closed. "I think the whole thing was a joke at my expense, really," I said. "It''s been a few years since I actually went out on a date." He looked surprised as he handed me into the cab that was waiting for us. A horse-drawn cab, mind you...automobiles were still a rarity in Dublin. "Really?" I nodded as he waited - to my surprised pleasure - for Athena and Artemis to climb in and sit down facing me before climbing in to sit beside me. He was a gentleman indeed. "Really," I replied. "I haven''t had much time for it, with my studies, and frankly most young men are intimidated by a young woman studying to become a wizard." Donovan - Ben, I mentally amended. I was out on a date with him, I might as well start using his first name. Ben snorted derisively. "They''re fools, then." "How so?" I asked, surprised. "Because they''re clearly afraid of dating someone who''s their intellectual equal or superior," he said. "Which is silly. There''s nothing I hate more than dating vapid eye-candy. I''d much rather have intelligent conversation than a supermodel." He paused for a moment, then looked a little embarrassed. "Not to suggest that you''re anything less than stunning, mind you. Clearly, I''m lucky enough to get the best of both worlds, so to speak." <> Athena said, smiling in amusement. <> I agreed, smiling at him. "Fortunately for you, I''m inclined to agree...I''d much rather intelligent conversation than a handsome slab of meat myself." I winked. "Not to suggest that you''re anything less than handsome." He grinned. "Touch¨¦. Truce?" I nodded, smiling. "Truce. I''m smart and pretty, you''re smart and handsome, and we''re both clearly lucky." He blew out a relieved breath and pretended to wipe nonexistent sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "Thank goodness." I was relieved to find that the little Italian restaurant I''d suggested still had excellent food. We talked about everything from our educations to our work, dodging only politics. I learned that he''d gone to Oxford University to study both law enforcement and Hermetic magic with the intention of becoming a police-Mage. He''d had a second in literature and an interest in mythology that matched my own studies, so we had more than enough to talk about. He told me that had only been with Scotland Yard for three years, having worked for the London Metropolitan Police before that since his graduation, which told me without having to ask that he was somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty, only a few years older than me. We talked and talked, drifting from topic to topic as whim and curiosity took us. What was special to me was that throughout dinner he made sure to include Athena - and Artemis, with some translation from her sister - in our conversations, and seemed to expect that they were at least as intelligent as I was myself. As common and accepted as familiars and Elevated familiars were, a large number of people - maybe even a majority of people - who didn''t have familiars tended to treat them like animals or servants. Ben seemed to view them as just a different sort of people, and treated them accordingly. I had joked about being charmed in the cab. By the end of dinner, I genuinely was. To my intense amusement, the play he took me to was a stage adaptation of one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes stories. Ben was genuinely pleased to have chosen our entertainment well, saying, "I saw the way you took in everything around you, the way you paid attention to even small details, and guessed that you were a fan." Which made him at least as observant as I tried to be. There was more to this young man than he allowed to show on the surface. I went from charmed to interested. The play was delightful, the actors excellent and the adaptation well done. Athena enjoyed it as much as Ben and I did, and Artemis enjoyed the opportunity to curl up and nap in the box Ben had bought seats in. Seriously, box seats. This guy did not mess around, and I was duly impressed. Afterwards, we ended up at a little coffee shop that was open late, sitting at a small round table. Artemis dozed at our feet, while Ben, Athena and I sipped tea and picked our way through a plate of small cakes. "I hope you''ve had a good time tonight," Ben said finally. "I know I have." Athena, aware of the fact that he was speaking directly to me, hid her smile behind her teacup. She knew through our bond that I had. "I have too," I said with a warm smile. "It was nice to be able to forget about everything for a while." "Is that the only reason?" Ben asked in a teasingly mournful tone. He batted his eyelashes at me, then grinned when I laughed. "No, not at all," I replied. "I couldn''t ask for a better date." "Do you think we could do it again?" He asked hopefully. "I''d like that," I said, a little surprised by how much I meant it. "But I''m probably only going to be in Dublin for another day or two, now that I''m free to go. I have a job and studies to get back to in London." He nodded. "I figured. But maybe we could go see another show tomorrow night, before you go? The same theater is putting on one of Shakespeare''s plays." "Which one?" I asked, leaning forward a little. "A Midsummer Night''s Dream," he said. I grinned. "One of my favorites. I''d like that very much." Athena made a contented little sound, causing both of us to look at her. She blushed, and said, "Sorry." <> she explained to me telepathically at the same time. <> I blushed a little. <> Ben looked at her for a moment longer, then looked back to me, his smile growing a little. His gray eyes sparkled with mischief. "I guess what they say is true...you can judge a spellcaster''s emotional state by watching their familiar." I laughed. He was teasing so ostentatiously that I couldn''t help it. "It''s true," I agreed. Athena relaxed again, still blushing. <> <> "Well, I''m glad you''re happy," Ben said to me. "I''m glad you''re happy too," he added a moment later to Athena. "It means I''m not likely to get tossed down the stairs later if I kiss your mistress goodnight." Athena giggled. "That still depends on her," she replied teasingly, though she could tell that I wasn''t averse to the idea. "She''s just as likely to do the tossing as I might be." He looked at me for confirmation, eyebrows lifted in amusement. I nodded. "Athena and I have been studying self-defense hand-to-hand together." "Yes, as I learned earlier today. I''d best be careful then," he said cheerfully. "Do you think I''ll be in danger?" I pretended to consider the question carefully. After a minute, I saw him fidget nervously and let my serious, thoughtful expression melt into a smile. "I think you''re probably safe." Ben, it turned out, was a good kisser. I was still a little breathless as his cab rolled away a little while later, leaving me standing on the top step of Jonathan''s home with Athena and Artemis. Ben stuck his arm out the window and waved, so I returned the gesture. He had not been tossed down the stairs. As first dates went, I counted it as a success...especially since it had been a while since the last one. Thicker than Blood - Chapter 5 "Well, it''s about time you got back," Hollis said in mock-gruff tones as I set my bag down by the door and slipped out of my coat, shaking off the water that still clung to it. "I told you to take a couple of days off. If you wanted a couple more, you didn''t need to get arrested and have to spend a week there. You could''ve just asked." He smiled to soften the joke. "Are you all right?" Athena closed up the umbrella we''d been huddled under as we''d dashed from the cab to the house through the rain. Artemis shook herself off outside the door before she came inside, took a grumpy look around, and padded over to Elsie. Hollis''s familiar/housekeeper had just arrived with a towel, and knelt down to make a big deal out of drying Artemis off. "We''re fine," I said, helping Athena out of her coat. "A bit damp, but none the worse for wear. I didn''t realize Briton had a monsoon season in late April." "It''s quite a storm you arrived in, and no mistake," Hollis agreed. "Elsie has a pot of tea on and some soup waiting for you in the kitchen. Come and warm up. Did the airship have any trouble docking?" Elsie rose from drying Artemis and beckoned for her to follow. Artemis''s fur was sticking out in every direction, and she still looked grumpy as she headed for the kitchen - and the kitchen''s oversized fireplace - in Elsie''s wake. Athena and I kicked our boots off as I replied, "Just a bit. There was a strong cross-wind, so it was kind of a rough landing." We followed him into the kitchen, where Artemis was already basking in front of the fire, and sat at the little breakfast table as Elsie arrived with bowls of chicken soup. "Eat up while it''s hot," she said with a smile. "I''ll have tea for you in a moment." Then she was gone again. She''s too efficient sometimes. It makes me feel lazy. "So," Hollis said as he sat down across the table from me, "A little test for you, in the wake of your frustration. What is your first step?" I swallowed a spoon of Elsie''s (really amazing) soup and considered. "How much do you know already?" "Jonathan kept me up to date on everything." His eyes twinkled. "Including your new contact in Scotland Yard. Very clever of you to foster that." I frowned at him over another spoonful of soup. "That''s not why I did it." He smiled. "I know that, dear girl. Jonathan speaks very highly of the young man, in terms of both personality and integrity. However, don''t overlook the possibility of using his resources as well as your own." In point of fact, Ben had offered two days ago, during our second date. He''d picked us up for lunch, and we''d spent the whole afternoon and evening together roaming around Dublin. When we stopped for tea mid-afternoon, we had quietly discussed the case, which sounded like it was going nowhere fast. "I know you''re going to start looking into it as soon as you get back to London," Ben had said. "I don''t blame you, and I won''t tell you not to¡­although as a Scotland Yard detective I should probably warn you off having anything more to do with the case. But you certainly seem to have a personal stake in what happened, and I doubt someone crazy enough to destroy a whole town will let it go at that. If you need anything at all, don''t hesitate to Send me." "I won''t," I had answered him then, as I answered Hollis now. "It would be foolish to overlook Ben''s value as a resource," I added, then shrugged and took another spoonful of soup. "But I don''t want to use him either." Athena coughed politely. I kicked her shin lightly under the table, and she giggled. "You know what I meant." She smiled innocently. "I have no idea at all, Mistress." Hollis cleared his throat. "I don''t blame you for not wanting to take advantage of his goodwill towards you," he said. "So what is your first step? I believe you said to Jonathan that you felt it was time to find out who your real father is." I nodded. "I guess my first step would be to hit the Albion Central Library of the Arcane. I remember reading somewhere that they keep records of all reported encounters with the Sidhe. Perhaps one of them will give me a place to start." His lips thinned into a line and, for a moment, I thought it was going to say something. Then he nodded. "That''s a reasonable place to start. What about Brenna?" "I don''t really have anything to go on with her, and finding him will inevitably lead me to her," I said. Then added, "If she''s truly my cousin." "Eminently logical," he agreed. "So if you have no leads on one..." "I''ll get to work on the other," I finished for him, then finished my soup and cupped my hands around the mug of tea Elsie had made for me. "Well, since you have the beginnings of a plan, I''ll leave you to it," he rose from his chair. "I may have some work for you to do as well, especially if you''re going to the Central Library." I smiled and nodded. "I must earn my keep," I agreed. The next three days were gruelingly dull, even by the standards of research into Hermetic wizardry. The Albion Central Library of the Arcane was an enormous complex that sprawled over about thirty acres of land not far from Stonehenge. The main building resembled a medieval castle - and in many ways it was one, since the first sections of it had been built nearly four hundred years before - constructed around a moderately sized central amphitheater that could be opened to the sky. The Central Library often hosted lectures and classes there, amongst other things. And in addition to seemingly endless rows of books, the building housed the High Council of Hermetic Wizardry''s offices, which was the workplace of some of the finest minds in the modern Hermetic community. In lieu of a card catalog (which would have probably taken up an entire floor by itself and been impossible to find anything in), the Central Library had a friendly and extremely helpful staff of Intellect Spirits, which were spiritual entities that had been summoned up and given form of some sort. In this case, each one took the form of a large tome. All you had to do was ask for help, and one of the spirits would immediately fly over to join you, pages flapping. The sight of so many Mages and Wizards being led around by flying books was occasionally comical. Sometimes I think the Wizards who created the system did it on purpose, to remind us not to take ourselves too seriously. Not that it always worked. Or even usually. Anyway, to my surprise, Athena and I learned on the first day that the Central Library didn''t just record verified Sidhe encounters. It recorded every last report of an encounter with the Sidhe, verified or not. Since 1960, which was as far back as I felt I needed to go (having been born in 1962), there had literally been thousands of reported encounters. Quite a lot of them could be discounted immediately, for a variety of reasons. In many cases, witnesses were reported to have been severely intoxicated at the time of the sighting. Some were known to suffer from psychological disorders that could cause delusions or hallucinations. In other cases, it was obvious that the supposed Sidhe had actually been another entity entirely, either mistaken for a Sidhe or intentionally posing as one for its own purposes. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. None of which made the task of sorting through twenty-six years worth of such reports any less onerous. It just made it easier to eliminate a large number of them relatively quickly. There were endless reports of Fairy Circles found in cornfields turning out to have been man-made hoaxes, and a few people had even confessed to having made some of them. One man''s claim of having witnessed luminous dancers on a moonless night in Dartmoor was proved to have been caused by phosphorescent gasses. Athena and I were flabbergasted by how many reports there were from rural areas of Greater Britannia and Vinland of people being abducted and sexually abused by the Sidhe, most of whom were discredited almost immediately. And don''t even get me started on the reams of material written about the ¡°Sidhe airship¡± that supposedly crashed in the deserts of southwestern Vinland in the 1940s. Thousands of pages of absolute rubbish. Elfin autopsy indeed. It staggers me how gullible some people can be. Both Athena and I were somewhat disheartened when we returned home on the evening of the third day of research, Artemis trailing behind us. Hollis met us in the foyer. "Well?" I shook my head. "In the last twenty-six years, there were only five encounters with the Sidhe that could be confirmed as real. And in all five cases, the beings that were encountered, male and female alike, were either golden or black-haired, golden-eyed, and had pointy ears." He smiled faintly. "Indeed. And the rest?" "Were either cases of mistaken identity, hoaxes, misunderstandings of natural phenomena, or just plain drunk and crazy." I looked up at him, narrowing my eyes a little. "But you already knew all of this." "I looked it up while you were away," He replied with a nod. "Then why...?" I started to ask, trailing off. Athena sidled away a little. He smiled gently. "You didn''t ask." I blinked, thought about it, then blinked again. "Oh." He nodded. "Lesson learned?" I smiled wryly. "Never overlook a resource," I replied. "Especially one that''s right in front of you." "As long as you remember that and live by it, I will not consider the last three days wasted. So don''t hesitate to ask Detective Inspector Donovan for his help," Hollis said gently. "Especially if he offered it. I hate to say it, but I honestly don''t believe that chasing after your father will get any results. The vast majority of real Sidhe encounters - and I doubt there were more than fifteen or twenty in the last fifty years - go unreported for a variety of perfectly valid reasons. Not of the least of which is the Sidhe are able to exert tremendous control over mortal minds, to make us forget or simply have no urge to speak of encounters with them." "Then it''s back to Brenna," I said tiredly. He nodded. "Indeed. But not tonight - you look just about done in - and probably not tomorrow. Come to my study, I have a job for you." Athena and I rose to follow him, and after a moment - with a hefty sigh - Artemis rose and joined us. As we walked down the hallway, I very quietly said, "There''s two other things I could do to track down my father. There''s Blood Tracing..." Hollis stopped and half turned, a thoughtful look on his face. "Yes, that crossed my mind as well. I have a few feelers out to colleagues who might have tried doing Blood Traces on Sidhe before. I mean, we know they have blood. I just don''t know if it would work with a Blood Trace ritual, or if their inherent magic would scramble the spell. Not to mention the fact that the maternal bond is much stronger than the paternal one." "You could try tracing my blood to me first," I offered. "If I''m actually half-Sidhe..." "Of which there is little doubt," Hollis interrupted gently. He knew very well how much the thought bothered me, if not precisely why. Heck, I wasn¡¯t sure I knew precisely why it bothered me. "Right," I said, "Anyway, if I''m actually half-Sidhe, then my blood might have some of the same properties." He considered it for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "Yes. Even if it bears no fruit, it might be a useful experiment to run anyway. Perhaps tomorrow or in a day or two. What''s the other option." I braced myself. "Speaking to contacts within the Spirit World..." "No!" He turned towards me, the rejection coming so emphatically and coldly that Athena actually backed up a step in surprise. I had been ready for it, so I didn''t budge. "Absolutely not," he continued, "I forbid it. I think very highly of you and you''re a very skilled and talented young woman. But you''re far too young and inexperienced to be trying something that foolish and dangerous. I didn''t try it for the first time until I was in my late thirties, and I still paid for it dearly." "Then you could..." "No," he said again, still firmly but more gently this time. He rested his hands on my shoulders. "Alys, that is very much a method of last resort. Beyond last resort and into life-threatening desperation. It''s true that there are many kind and even helpful spirits you might summon, but even the kindest of them demand a high price for their information and services." I knew from my lessons that summoning any non-human spirits was a potentially troublesome proposition, even under ideal conditions. What I was suggesting was probably outright dangerous...summoning, for the purpose of communication, specific denizens (not necessarily spirits) of the Spirit World, the completely paranormal dimension that resides alongside our own. That might not sound like a big deal, but think about it for a minute. All residents of the Spirit World have some knowledge of the Mortal World (that''s our world). Many of them are positively fascinated by us, since they are effectively immortal and find the frantic pace at which we live our lives intriguing. But which ones will have the really useful, really obscure information? Knowledge, as the saying goes, is power, and that''s literally true for denizens of the Spirit World. So the ones with really useful information tend to be the most powerful, and therefore potentially the most dangerous to deal with. Also, they don''t like to be bothered. They like to watch, to spy and lurk and gather. But not to interact. As such, the cost of information from them tends to be high - and not necessarily in material goods. They aren''t all like the Loa...tobacco and whiskey don''t usually cut it when you need really obscure information. Like who a Sidhe Lord had relations with twenty-four years ago. So if Hollis said I wasn''t ready, he was probably right, and I should probably listen. "All right," I said, holding up my hands in a gesture of peace. "I had to float the idea." Hollis cooled a little, but his eyes narrowed. "I don''t want you going behind my back and doing it without supervision. I''ll have your word on it." "You have it," I replied without hesitation. He was serious, so I''d take him seriously. "I promise, no spirit summoning without proper supervision." He cooled the rest of the way, nodding. I believe I saw relief on his face, too. "Thank you, Alys. Now that I''ve had my heart attack for the day, come in." He opened the door to his study and led us inside. Where Jonathan''s house is a study in eccentricity, Hollis favored controlled, quiet, staid pseudo-Victorian decor. Dark woods, rich carvings, area rugs, paintings, and lots of bookshelves. His study felt like a real office. Jonathan''s felt like an interior decorator''s shop exploded in it. A shop that belonged to a slightly insane interior decorator. Hollis settled into the overstuffed chair behind his desk while Athena and I took our seats across from him. His huge desk was (as usual) covered in papers, books, and magical tools of every description. Some I didn''t even recognize. "You remember the Fishers," he said without preamble. I nodded. "Of course." I''d saved their son Billy from a spiritual predator several months earlier, set up defensive wards around their house for them, and helped them find a master for Billy when he decided he wanted to become a wizard too. Cute kid, really bright and very funny. I made a mental note to go and see how he was doing soon. "Something set off their wards last night," Hollis said. My attention immediately rallied and focused on that single statement. "What?" "It wasn''t a normal burglar, and the wards didn''t record what set them off," he replied. "It might not have been a physical entity like the last one. Whatever set them off didn''t get past them, but did make enough of an impact to set off the alarms you wove into them. They let me know immediately, and I promised to send you to take a look as soon as you got back from the Central Library." I rose from my chair. "I''ll go right now..." "You''ll go in the morning," Hollis said firmly. "I was out at their house first thing this morning to check things over. Your wards did their work and kept out whatever it was, and I''m sure they can do it again tonight. Their integrity is still secure. Incidentally, nice work there. Your notion of engraving the ward runes directly into stones you placed around the house worked like a charm. You should be proud of the idea...frankly, I''m surprised nobody tried it before now." "Norden Runecasters do it all the time," I said. "I got the idea from them." "Hmm. Good point," he nodded. "A blind spot in Hermetic training, not that the average Hermetic spellcaster would admit it. Be that as it may, the Fishers will be safe tonight if something tries again. You, on the other hand, are tired and obviously muddled. You''ll do your best work if you''re well rested. So, shoo." He gestured dismissively with both hands. "Go get some sleep." Thicker than Blood - Chapter 6 Athena, Artemis and I departed for the Fishers'' early the next morning. The Fishers'' home was a lovely little two-story brick house near Chiswick Park. It had gabled windows on the second floor, with cozy-looking burgundy drapes just visible inside and matching shutters on the outside which blended nicely with the bricks. It was surrounded by a yard that was coming into full bloom. The last time I had seen it, the lawn and beds had been groomed for winter - now everything was green and growing. As we got out of the cab in front of their house, I felt the energies that indicated an approaching Sending. A moment later, a spectral wolf appeared several yards away and trotted over to me. It stopped in front of me, sat down, and became a life-sized translucent image of Ben Donovan. "Alys," his image said, "There have been some developments in the case that''ve caused the Yard to step in and take over. I''ve been made lead investigator because of my involvement to date, which means I''ll be back in London in a couple of days to give a report. I was hoping we could get together, maybe go out and do something." He actually paused to nervously toe the ground. He was so cute when he was being shy. "Also, I was hoping to hire you as a consultant on the case, maybe Wizard Ellister too. I have a feeling I''m going to need help with this one." He smiled his most charming smile at me and something in my stomach fluttered pleasantly. "Send me when you have a chance, let me know what you think. I hope to see you soon." He lifted his hand in farewell, and the Sending faded away. "He''s sweet on you," Athena said beside me, grinning a little. I felt my cheeks heat up. Athena giggled. "I take it you''re..." "Hush," I said gently, still blushing. "We can discuss it later. It''s time to work." She nodded, but she was still smiling as the three of us approached the Fishers'' big oak front door. I could feel the energies of the wards I''d raised around the house, still strong and solid, but there was something a bit off about them - as if part of them was wobbling and ready to fall. "Athena, let Mrs. Fisher know we''re here," I said, slowing. "I want to get started checking the wards right away. Something feels wrong." "Yes, Mistress." Athena continued on towards the door as I veered off towards the front left corner of the house, Artemis close on my heels. I began by walking the perimeter of the wards. When I was setting it up last autumn, I''d made use of a small pile of flagstones the Fishers'' had left over from bordering their flower beds the previous spring. Four goodly sized pieces (about seven or eight inches square and an inch thick) were more than sufficient for my purposes. Onto each one I ''d used magic to engrave a different rune: Thurisaz, for protection against adversaries; Elhaz, for protecting people and property; Dagaz, for stopping harmful energy while allowing beneficial energy to pass through; and Sowulo, for shedding light in dark times. I felt the first three made a powerful base for the protective layers, while the fourth anchored the alarm (so to speak). Once that was done, the stones had been planted in the ground at the corners of the house with the runes visible, facing the sky. I hadn''t been using geomancy in the wards, so having them facing skyward would make it easier for them to channel energy. Now I checked each runestone in turn, both visually and with my magical senses. I walked counter-clockwise around the house with my left-hand outstretched, letting my natural energies interact with those of the wards so that I could feel their overall integrity and hopefully find any weak spots. The runestones themselves were undisturbed and in perfect condition. I had felt pretty confident that they would be, since very few Hermetic Mages would even consider doing what I had done in using them. Most Hermetic spellcasters preferred to use colored chalk (which is very temporary) or different colors of paint when laying the foundation for a ward. I preferred something a bit more permanent, if less flexible. By the time I made my way back around to the front of the house, I had spotted two points where the wards felt...not weakened, but strained, as though something had been pressing on them for an extended period. As I came around the front left corner of the house, I saw Athena and Margaret Fisher - a pretty, black-haired woman in her mid-forties wearing wire-framed glasses and a casual outfit of blue denim pants and a cream-colored blouse - standing together on the front steps and talking softly. I paused for a moment and looked down at Artemis. "Did you smell anything out of the ordinary, pet?" Artemis shook her head and blew out a frustrated breath. <> She twitches her nostrils and whiskers, then rubbed her nose with her paw. <> She huffed. <> "Ozone," I supplied. <> she said slowly, testing the word and nodding. <> she agreed firmly. "That''s the wards," I said thoughtfully. "Or more likely the wards interacting with whatever hit them." As I approached the front door, Athena and Mrs. Fisher turned to face me. I smiled at them. "Good morning, Mrs. Fisher." Up close, I saw the strain on her face and the dark circles under her eyes. "Good morning, Alys," she replied. "It''s nice to see you again, even under the circumstances." She clasped my hand warmly before continuing. "Athena was just telling me about the letter you got from Billy." I smiled. Billy had decided to correspond with me as a sort-of-mentor figure, someone he could brag to about his accomplishments who wasn''t his parents. Maybe it was because I''d saved his life, but he seemed to crave my approval...maybe I''d just made that big of an impact on him. Either way, it was fun to get the occasional letter from him. "He was so proud of having cast his first light spell," I said with a smile. "I remember the feeling myself. The moment where you learned that you were really going to be able to do it, by yourself, using your own power. It''s a pretty spectacular feeling." Mrs. Fisher nodded. "I can imagine. Did you find anything?" She asked with a mixture of hope and fear in her voice, gesturing towards the nearest runestone. "Yes, and no." I pursed my lips and frowned a little, half turning to look at the stone she''d indicated. "The runestones are all intact and undisturbed, and the wards I put up are holding strong. But I found two places where they were a bit...warped, for lack of a better term. Was the alarm set off again last night?" Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. "It was," she said quietly. "A little after three o''clock this morning. Only for a few moments, but long enough to wake us. None of us got back to sleep." "I don''t think I''d''ve been able to get back to sleep either," I said with a sigh. "It had to be a bit frightening." "More than a bit," Mrs. Fisher agreed. "Do you think it was similar to the thing that took my Jane?" Jane had been the Fishers'' youngest daughter. Her life force had been completely drained by a conjured spiritual predator, which had then gone after Billy for reasons as yet unknown. Artemis, Athena and I had dealt with it, but it hadn''t left enough evidence behind to trace back to whoever had summoned it. What she was really asking me was if the same person was behind it. I thought hard and came up empty. "I want to take a closer look at the wards," I said finally, evading the question for the time being and hoping she wouldn''t call me out on it. "Thanks to the way I wove them, whatever''s been hitting them should have left some traces behind. Are Phil and Rose around today?" Phil and Rose were Billy''s older siblings, seventeen and fifteen respectively. In spite of several visits to the Fishers'' home, I had yet to actually meet them in person. Mrs. Fisher either hadn''t noticed my evasion (unlikely) or was willing to take my answer for what it had been: temporizing. I was willing to lay odds that she understood my reluctance to answer her question without having more information. "They''re off to school for the day. They won''t be home until dinnertime. Joseph should be home by then as well." I nodded. "Good. I''ll get to work, then." For the next three hours I poked and prodded the wards - metaphysically speaking - to learn as much as I could from them. I''d woven the most sophisticated recording and identifying spells I knew into the wards when I raised them. Which, granted, aren''t the best - I know for a fact that there are more sophisticated and detailed ones I have yet to learn. But I did the best I knew how, and even modified one of them to give what I hoped would be clear images of whoever (or, more to the point, whatever) had tried to breach the wards. Evidently, I had even more left to learn about wards than I thought. My image-recording modification hadn''t worked at all, and had effectively short-circuited that part of the wards entirely when it was triggered. It hadn''t weakened the wards'' defenses at all - I was clever enough not to tie them together that closely - but the end result was disheartening. Just shy of noon, I stopped at the back of the house, planted my hands on my hips and growled a soft, frustrated sound. "Bugger. The wards didn''t record so much as an energy signature. The recording spells are still active, they just didn''t do anything." I sighed. "I must have mixed them into the wards wrong, and they''re just plain not working." "Could that have been done intentionally?" Athena asked curiously. "I mean, could whoever was doing this have...I don''t know...put a spin on the spells they were lobbing at the wards to cause the disruption?" Although my darling Athena wasn''t a spellcaster herself - familiars rarely had enough Anima left after being Elevated to do more than light candles with magic - she was my study partner and knew almost as much about magical theory as I did. Some of that knowledge she''d...inherited from me, for lack of a better term, when I Elevated her. The rest she''d picked up along the way as she''d helped me study. "It''s technically possible," I replied slowly, running the idea around in my mind. "But it would have been very difficult. It''s hard to disrupt wards like that." "Without tearing them down, anyway," Athena finished the thought for me. "True." Artemis, who had been sniffing around the back yard, loped over to stand on my other side. <> "That''s an excellent question," I said, rubbing her ears gently. "Tightly woven wards can take either a lot of time to bring down, or a lot of brute force to tear down. It could be that whoever''s doing it doesn''t have the raw power to simply destroy them, and hasn''t learned enough about them yet to unravel them and bring them down." "Or that they¡¯re trying to determine how much brute force it''ll take to bring them down without damaging the house or killing them in the process," Athena added quietly. "Didn''t one of those books we were looking at a few weeks ago say something about overloading wards?" I grimaced and nodded. "I''d forgotten about that. Thank you, pet." She was right. We''d read a footnote in one of the books in Hollis'' library, to the effect that brute-force removal of wards could sometimes cause them to overload instead of come down. The result being explosive and relative to the size and power of the wards. For wards like the ones I''d put up around the Fishers'' home, the result of overloading them would be - if I may be completely immodest for a moment - sufficient to destroy the house, the houses on either side, and leave a fair-sized crater. So it was quite possible that someone was testing them to determine how much power was needed to bring them down without making too much noise. Why put up wards if they''re potentially that dangerous? Because the Anima feedback from destructively bringing down wards like that would be more than sufficient to turn the spellcaster doing it into a pile of smoking ash along with whatever was near the wards. Intentionally destroying large wards is pretty much guaranteed suicide. I haven''t heard of it ever being done outside of wartime conditions in desperate situations. Perhaps it might be worth trying to figure out WHY someone was trying to get through their wards. What could they possibly have in their house that was worth killing their children for? Or was it motivated by revenge for some reason? I pinched the bridge of my nose and squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. I felt Athena''s hand gently squeeze my shoulder, and Artemis press against my leg. Their complete confidence in me was a balm, soothing my nerves and easing my tension. I smiled, reached up and laid my hand atop Athena''s, reaching down on the other side to rest my other hand on Artemis''s head. <> How had I ever made it through the day without them? We sat down to a light lunch with Mrs. Fisher a few minutes later. As we ate, I slowly explained that the wards were still strong and that I hadn''t found anything of any particular use. I then carefully went over the different reasons why someone would disrupt and test wards that way, trying not to alarm her. But she realized the seriousness of the situation and took it with a quiet, strained gravity that impressed me. "So, what do we do now?" She asked as Athena quietly gathered up our lunch dishes. I folded my hands on the table in front of me. "Before I answer that question, there''s a few questions I need to ask you." "Of course," she replied immediately. "Ask." "Is there anything of great value in the house?" I asked. "Of either monetary or magical value?" She considered the question carefully, her eyes losing their focus. I guessed that she was mentally running through the contents of her home, trying to think of something that fit the bill. After a few minutes, during which Athena returned and sat beside me, Mrs. Fisher spoke slowly. "There are a few items of jewelry that would be worth a tidy sum," she said, thinking out loud, "And one or two pieces of art. But nothing I can think of that would be worth the death of a child." That was, I thought, a personal opinion. But I agreed with her, so I didn''t say so out loud. "What about of magical value?" Mrs. Fisher shook her head. "Nothing that I know of." "Would you mind if I had a look around the house?" I asked gently. "It''s possible that you have something here that''s a lure for whoever or whatever is doing this." She shook her head again. "Not at all. Please, go over the house with a fine toothed comb if you feel it''ll help. Do you think it could be that?" Now it was my turn to shake my head. "I''m not jumping to any conclusions yet. Even if I find something, I think we should be prepared for me to stay the night." "Of course," she said immediately. "You can stay in Bobby''s room, if you''d like, or..." "I''ll probably set up shop in your kitchen or living room," I replied. "I''ll need to be up all night, keeping an eye on things." "Oh..." She smiled sheepishly. "I should have guessed that." I reached across the table and took her hand, squeezing it gently. "You''re under a great deal of strain right now," I said softly. "Let me worry about this. You worry about your family." She closed her eyes for a moment and tightened her grip on my hand, then released it and opened her eyes again. "I''m so glad you''re here, Alys," she said quietly. "I know I''m in good hands." I smiled reassuringly. "We''ll get this sorted out," I replied. "And we''ll stop whoever or whatever is trying to hurt your family." I hoped that I was right. Thicker than Blood - Chapter 7 Leaving Artemis to stay close to Mrs. Fisher and alert us if she needed anything, Athena and I decided to search the house by starting in the basement and working our way up. Finding an item of magic in an otherwise non-magical house sounds like a pretty simple task, doesn''t it? It isn''t. In a household run entirely on electricity (thank you, Nikola Tesla) it can be hard to pick out a single small item from all the background noise of ambient magic, so you have to learn to filter that out. In a warded home like the Fishers'', any spells designed to detect magical items also had to take the wards and runestone anchors into account. Otherwise, all I¡¯d detect would be the wards and their anchors. Then there''s the fact that unless you''re dealing with an item that has a tremendous store of magical energy in it (the ritual dagger that Brenna tried to steal from me immediately came to mind), it can be difficult, or even impossible, to detect it from more than a few feet away. Detection spells therefore have to be finely tuned and customized on the fly, and often have to be held active for extended periods of time. Like, for three or four hours, as you walk around with your hands held out towards the items you''re walking past. It¡¯d be even worse if I tried using a visual detection spell, the kind that overlayed a visual representation of ambient levels of Anima onto what you''re looking at, similar to viewing auras. Considering how much Anima is used daily for even mundane things - like toaster ovens and electric lights - those spell can very quickly give you a headache. They did me¡­and I''m not talking a little headache. I''m talking full-blown migraine. Finally, everything needs to be checked, from the lowliest tennis ball to the most expensive-looking painting. Some spellcasters could be pretty indiscriminate about what they enchanted when they were in a hurry, as long as it would hold what they need it to. Okay, I''m exaggerating a little. Tennis balls don''t have the material resources to hold much Anima and wouldn''t be good for holding serious, long term enchantments. A little common sense needed to be applied...but nothing should be overlooked. I use tennis balls as an example because Jonathan once used an illusion of one to disguise a heavily enchanted sphere of platinum with gems embedded in it. I spent hours trying to locate the damned thing, and must have walked past it without checking it a dozen times. Looks can be deceiving. So I wasn''t all that surprised when - as Athena and I were carefully working our way through Mrs. Fisher''s sewing room - we were called to dinner a little over five hours after we started, without having found a thing. And we hadn''t even made it to their small attic. I exhaled and released the detection spell I''d been holding on and off for hours. Fortunately, they don''t require much energy. "Is it worth picking up after dinner?" Athena asked, sounding as weary as I felt. "Probably not," I admitted. "I doubt we''ll find anything. It was kind of a stretch to begin with." We started downstairs as I continued, "I think we should catch a quick nap after dinner. Sleep for an hour or two and then stay up all night." "You think there''ll be another...incident tonight?" <> I asked her telepathically. She nodded. <> <> I agreed reluctantly. <> Athena smiled. <> Over dinner, we finally had a chance to get to know Rose and Phillip. Rose was fifteen going on twenty, and for some reason the word ''vivacious'' came to mind the moment I met her. She was pretty, with dark hair framing delicate features and bright green eyes, and there was a vibrant energy about her that told me she had as much magical talent as her little brother. I had a feeling she''d be breaking hearts soon enough. Phillip, the eldest of the Fishers'' children, was on the cusp of eighteen and ready to leave the nest. He had his father''s short black hair and brown eyes, and was already of a height with Joseph; in fact, they looked so alike that there was no question they were father and son. It had crossed my mind that perhaps one of the older children had become involved in something that had set off this round of attacks on their family, so I spent a lot of time talking to them as we ate. I learned that Phillip had applied to both Oxford and Cambridge to study physics, and wished him luck getting into them. He had plenty of magical potential and a quick mind, like his younger siblings, so he wouldn''t have much trouble getting into any university he wanted. Rose wasn''t as scientifically minded as her big brother. She was fascinated by literature and poetry, excelling in her secondary school English classes and admitted - in a conspiratorial whisper - to not trying hard enough in math and the sciences. Both of them were quick to laugh and neither rose to the bits of conversational bait I laid out as we talked, mentioning my own studies and how they related to magic. Neither seemed to have Billy''s interest in magic. Both of them seemed like good kids, and cursory searches of their bedrooms hadn''t turned up anything that led me to believe that either had an interest in the occult. Kids, especially teenagers, love to read about and experiment with the darker aspects of the supernatural. Anyone of that age who says they don''t like to occasionally wrap themselves up in a blanket and read a book of ghost stories by flashlight (magelight or candle optional, but much more fun) is pulling your leg. And I''m told that kids love to tell one another scary stories during sleep-overs and at summer camp. I wouldn''t know. My childhood wasn''t exactly normal. I never really had any friends my own age. If I made a new friend, it didn''t last long thanks to parental influences. I confess to being a bit bitter about it...I feel like I missed out on things I shouldn''t have. But it is what it is. Anyway, that (very natural) fascination with ghost stories and spooking one another is one step away from playing with a spirit board, or chanting ''Bloody Mary'' in front of a mirror by candle light. Jonathan had taught me that it wasn''t uncommon in poltergeist cases to find books on the occult and spirit summoning in the bedroom of one of the family children. I''d already seen it twice myself. Frankly, you''d be surprised by how often it happens. Kids don''t know any better, or don''t think the warnings are serious, or are even feeling rebellious and simply want to do what they''ve been told not to. I did it once or twice myself while I was Jonathan''s apprentice. I came bloody close to doing an amateur performance of the old ''Sorcerer''s Apprentice'' story when I tried to clean with magic at the tender age of fourteen, barely a year into my apprenticeship. Jonathan had a good laugh about it and took the opportunity to teach me some actual household cleaning magic. But an unsupervised child with enough Anima - like Philip or Rose - could inadvertently summon something genuinely nasty while playing with the occult, however innocently. And, of course, there were some teenagers who were angry enough at their parents and the world (however silly their reasons might seem to the rest of us) to do it on purpose. I''d already seen that once too. It hadn''t been pretty, and the end result wasn¡¯t something I liked thinking about. Fortunately, as I said, neither Philip or Rose seemed at all interested in such things. Athena and I bedded down in the Fishers'' guest room to get a few hours of sleep, secure in the knowledge that we weren''t resting in a hidden den of dark magic. I was gently shaken awake by Rose a while later, the clock beside the bed telling me that it was a few minutes past 9:30. The sun had set and all was dark outside the window. I seemed to have been woken last, since Artemis and Athena were both yawning and stretching already. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Rose smiled. "Sorry to wake you. Mom said to give you a little shake when we went to bed, and I won the coin toss." I sat up and returned her smile. "Thanks, Rose. Sleep well." "Thanks," she started towards the door, then stopped and turned to look at me again. "I''m going to sleep a lot better tonight knowing that you''re here. Phil won''t admit it, but he will too." "Hey!" Phil''s voice protested from the hall outside. "I was never worried." Rose giggled and I smothered a laugh, then raised my voice a little to bid him good night as well. Both of them made their way to bed as Athena and I readied ourselves for our vigil. Athena buckled her gunbelt and sword harness back on, then sheathed her sword on her back and spent a few moments checking her gun. Produced by a small French arms dealer, her LeMat revolver was distinctive in its use of a larger than normal cylinder that held nine .44 caliber shells around a larger barrel that took a single 16 gauge shotgun shell. It was a big, heavy gun, and looked almost comically oversized on her slender frame - but she handled it like a born gunslinger after only a few months of practicing with it. She carried a variety of shells with different payloads, marked with colored bands to indicate what they held so that she could recognize them at a glance. Now, I saw her making sure that the center chamber held what I recognized as a silver buckshot round, which had proved incredibly effective last time we''d spent the night at the Fishers'' home. I checked my under-armor briefly, then buckled on the birthday present I''d received from my mom and Jonathan. It was something they''d worked on together, a home-made belt with several pouches and slim round tubes on it. The pouches were similar to my bottomless bag, in that each one could hold a couple of cubic feet of cargo, considerably more than they appeared able to, and would deliver the desired item into my hand by reaching in and thinking about it. I just had to remember what was in each pouch, which was easier than it sounded. As a wizard-in-training, my memory was honed to almost photographic quality. The tubes were similar, but designed to hold potion vials, wands and rods, and then a foot-long one on my right hip for my staff. My bottomless bag was invaluable for keeping all manner of things needed for spellcasting handy, but that''s not really what it was designed for and it had left me fumbling through it once or twice. My new utility belt had been purpose-made for quick and convenient use. After a moment''s debate, I added a silver-bladed dagger in a sheath to my belt, just in case, then turned to Athena. "Ready?" She nodded. "Shall I prepare the kitchen?" I considered for a moment. Kitchen or living room? The living room would be more comfortable, but the kitchen opened onto both the back and one of the side yards, where the living room only opened onto the front yard. It had been the wards at the back yard and that very side which had been stressed, so... "Yes, let''s set up in the kitchen," I replied finally. "I''ll take a turn around the house with Artemis while you do that." She smiled. "Yes, Mistress." While Athena carefully cleaned the small kitchen table and counters - one never knew when one would need a clean, flat surface to mix components on without risking them being contaminated - and started boiling some water, Artemis and I slipped out into the back yard. The hot water was primarily intended for tea, but it could prove useful for a variety of things. It was a dark night. The moon was a waning sliver that would be gone completely in two more nights, which could account for the timing of these attacks. The new moon was traditionally a time for working dark magic, though not for any real metaphysical reasons - it was just harder to spot people doing things they shouldn''t be. There were a couple of new moons during the course of the year that were times of power, but they were more useful as times of renewal than anything else. I considered calling up a magelight, then decided there was no point in making myself an easy target or announcing my presence if it had somehow been missed. I would have to rely on Artemis''s superior senses to guide me, and made a mental note to buy - or make - a good pair of night-vision goggles as soon as I could. Artemis - sensing the direction of my thoughts - stayed close by my side as we slowly prowled the perimeter of the wards again. I didn''t expect that anything would have happened to them since I''d examined them that morning, but it couldn''t hurt to check, and we needed to make a circle around the house anyway. As expected, they were strong and solid, and we found nothing out of the ordinary. As we returned to the kitchen through the back door, I was surprised to see Mr. Fisher sitting at the little table, sipping a mug of tea. I glanced at Athena, who shrugged, then came all the way in and closed the door, leaving Artemis outside to prowl the yard. "You''re up late," I said in a conversational tone. I am not the most subtle of people conversationally speaking. I prefer to be straightforward and if not blunt, at least honest. Even years of magical study - a field in which subtlety is vital - only mildly softened that edge of my personality. "Why am I still up, you mean?" He asked with a tired smile. I shrugged, unruffled. I was used to people seeing through my conversational gambits. "I wasn''t expecting you to be," I said, taking a steaming mug proffered by Athena and sitting at the table across from Mr. Fisher. "I can''t sleep," he admitted. "I''m worried about my family." Athena moved to stand by the window as I smiled gently across the table at him. "I''m sure we''ll get it all squared away tonight," I replied, doing my best to be reassuring. "Do you think so?" He asked quietly, setting his mug down. "Maggie told me you didn''t really find any clues when you examined the wards earlier. Did you find anything when you searched the house?" "I do think so," I said firmly. "It''s true, I don''t have much to go on, and I didn''t find anything while going through the house." I smiled a little. "I didn''t really expect to, but I want to make sure I leave no stones unturned. I''m here to ensure the safety and health of your family, and I take that very seriously. Since I didn''t find any clues, my job tonight is to be a bodyguard." "Which we already know you''re very good at," he agreed. "Do you have any ideas about what we might be dealing with?" "Lots of idea," I said wryly, "No evidence." I sipped my tea. "I don''t think it''s the same sort of thing as last time, though." "Oh?" I felt a sudden wary attention from Athena and half turned to see her peering out the kitchen window into the night. At the same time, I replied, "The stress that was placed on the wards feels more like they were being tested by counter-spells with the eventual intent of bringing them down." I slowly turned my mug in my hands. "If someone starts that again tonight, I''ll feel it and be able to back-track the spells to them." Athena''s tension eased and she snorted quietly to herself, so I returned my attention fully to Mr. Fisher. Artemis must have been playing mind games with her. "At any rate," I said, "I think we''ll get it sorted out tonight." "How far away could someone be and still challenge the wards like that?" he asked. I considered the question seriously for a moment. "Well, theoretically they could be hundreds or even thousands of miles away. But it would take a tremendous amount of power to do it at that distance and still accomplish what you could do with a considerably lesser amount of power while being a block or two away. I don''t think they''d be far." Mr. Fisher nodded and lapsed into silence. I sipped my tea, then quietly asked, "Mr. Fisher, can you think of anyone who''d want to hurt your family?" He shrugged. "I''m a prosecuting attorney," he replied. "I''m sure there''s quite a few criminals who I helped put away that would like a piece of me. But I don''t recall any of them being magically talented on this sort of scale." I nodded, and we sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Mr. Fisher rose and put his mug in the sink. "Well, thanks for taking the time to talk with me, Miss Kinnear." He smiled. "I think I''ll be able to sleep now." I returned his smile. "I''m glad. Rest easy, we''re on guard." When he was gone, Athena half turned from the window to look at me. <> I gave her a startled look. <> <> she repeated. <> She frowned. <> I sat back in my chair and chewed on my bottom lip as I considered her question. Finally, I sighed. <> Athena nodded and returned her attention to the window. <> I smiled and reached out to Artemis. <> <> Artemis replied smugly from wherever she was lurking in the back yard. <> I rose and went to stand beside Athena at the window. <> Artemis said. <> I peered out the window at the big oak tree in the Fishers'' back yard. Its leaves had already grown in thick, and I couldn''t catch even the faintest glimpse of my familiar''s white fur. <> I replied. <> She chuckled softly. <> I waved my left hand dismissively. <> Athena laughed out loud at that, drawing startled looks from a few passers-by. Including one teenager whose gaze was so appreciative and arrested by Athena¡¯s appearance that he nearly walked into a column. I chuckled softly. <> Athena snorted. <> By the time we reached the second section of the West Wing, and were on our way up the staircase, I had decided that it might be worth risking the troublesome lift. My knee was aching fiercely and I had to stop at the third floor landing to rest for a moment. Athena frowned and knelt down beside me, checking my knee brace. ¡°Maybe you should take Trish up on that second round of physical therapy.¡° ¡°I don¡¯t need any more PT,¡± I snapped. She looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. Her concern washed over me, and I realized that I was simmering with resentment and anger. I grimaced and closed my eyes, then took two deep breaths and began slowly counting to ten. By the time I got there, the negative emotions were gone...or at least dampened to the point where they wouldn¡¯t cause me any trouble. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said quietly. She rose and looked into my eyes. ¡°I think you really ought to talk to Dr. MacMoran about these lapses.¡± I pursed my lips and ignored the wave of irritation that rose up in me. ¡°I can handle it. She said it¡¯d take time for my mind to finish healing. With you and Artemis to make sure I know when it¡¯s happening, I¡¯ll be all right.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s what bothers me about it,¡± Athena replied, resting her hands on my shoulders. ¡°We don¡¯t feel them coming on anymore. They¡¯re just...there, suddenly, without any warning. I don¡¯t think Dr. MacMoran was expecting that.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll think about it,¡± I said. Athena looked at me for a long moment, and I felt her uncertainty as clearly as if it were my own. Heck, some of it probably was my own. But finally she nodded. ¡°All right. For now.¡± On the fourth floor, we made our way past the entrance to the Astronomy Tower - a set of double doors covered with astrological symbols and a diagram of our solar system engraved on them - and down the hallway. Four doors down, we reached one which had the words ¡°Office of Mnemonitranscribing¡± on a sign beside it. Below the sign was a smaller one which read ¡°Department Chair: Phillip J. Absolom, Wizard, D.Phil, PsyD, D.Mem, D.Mnem...¡± and continued on for several more. Most wizards live to be at least 150, and many live to 200 or more. That¡¯s plenty of time to pick up degrees by the bucket-full. ¡°See?¡± I said, smiling. ¡°Alphabet soup.¡± Athena shook her head and laughed softly. I knocked on the door, and almost immediately a male voice called out to us, ¡°Coming! Just a moment!¡± The door opened to reveal a wizened old man with short white hair and a neatly trimmed white bead. He wore thick round spectacles and an old-fashioned tweed suit, and was just my height. ¡°Yes?¡± he asked. I smiled. ¡°Good morning. My name is Alys Kinnear, I¡¯m a Mage employed by Wizard Hollis Ellister of London. My familiars and I encountered a creature we haven¡¯t been able to identify, and were hoping your services could help us do so.¡± He squinted at Athena, then looked around. ¡°I only see one familiar.¡± I nodded. ¡°This is Athena. My other familiar, Artemis, is an un-Elevated snow leopard.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t pull memories from animals,¡± he said sagely, and started to close the door. ¡°So I¡¯ve heard,¡± I said patiently, reaching out to hold the door open. ¡°That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t bring her along.¡± He frowned. ¡°You left a familiar behind somewhere?¡± Patience, Alys. ¡°No, sir, she¡¯s in the main building socializing with the other familiars there.¡± ¡°Ahhh.¡± He nodded. ¡°Very good, that¡¯s very good. What can I do to help you?¡± Oh boy. ¡°We...encountered a creature last night that we haven¡¯t been able to identify yet.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want me, I do memory transcription,¡± he said, sounding a little annoyed. ¡°You want Allizoology, over in the East Wing.¡± ¡°No, sir, we need to have a clear image of the creature first,¡± Athena said, sensing my growing irritation and stepping in. ¡°Ahhh,¡± he nodded. ¡°And you want me to create an image of it from your memories?¡± ¡°Please, sir,¡± I said politely. He nodded, starting to look like an elderly drinking bird. Athena evidently caught the stray thought, because her lips twitched and she put her hand over her mouth, her eyes twinkling with mirth. I was glad she was amused, because I wasn¡¯t sure I had the patience to deal with this man. ¡°Come in, come in,¡± he said cheerfully, stepping aside and opening the door all the way. ¡°Have a seat by my desk, and we¡¯ll get to work right away. Shouldn¡¯t take very long if the memories are fresh.¡± ¡°Less than 72 hours old,¡± I said. ¡°Oh, very good!¡± he beamed. ¡°This will only take moments, then.¡± I took a moment to look around in amazement as I moved an untidy stack of papers from one of the chairs and place it carefully on another pile nearby. His office looked like a tornado had hit it. Books, files and stacks of loose paper were haphazardly piled as thick as two feet deep on every available surface. The walls were lined floor to ceiling with bookcases that were crammed with books of every shape and size, in no order I could immediately recognize. Between that and his rather batty performance at the door, I was seriously questioning his qualifications. But he wouldn¡¯t be here if he didn¡¯t know what he was doing, would he? The receptionist¡¯s warning about the lift in this wing floated through my thoughts, and I wondered. Did any of us really know what we were doing? That was a disturbing thought. He sat down in the other chair and turned to face me. ¡°What I need you to do is just lean forward a little so I can touch your temples. Then I¡¯ll cast the spell, while you focus on the memory you want to draw information from. Once you have that memory fixed firmly in mind, I¡¯ll have you guide me through it to the object you want to visualize, and we¡¯ll create a real-world image of it.¡± ¡°When you put it that way, it doesn¡¯t sound very complicated,¡± Athena said uncertainly. ¡°Oh, it isn¡¯t,¡± he agreed. ¡°Not really. Not after doing it for fifty years, anyway. Now, sit very still, and think very hard about the memory you want to use. Closing your eyes can help with the visualization.¡± I did as he said, taking a deep breath and trying to relax as I called up my memories of the creature before it had assaulted me. I¡¯d always had a nearly perfect memory, and my recent therapy had been helpful in improving both my recall time and clarity, so it didn¡¯t take me long to have it fixed in my mind. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°That¡¯s lovely,¡± Dr. Absolom murmured. ¡°You have a fabulous memory, young lady. So clear and precise. This won¡¯t take long at...¡± He trailed off into silence and then sucked in a little breath. ¡°My goodness, what a disturbing looking creature. Very distinctive.¡± I felt him shift slightly. ¡°Excuse me, I didn¡¯t get your name...¡± ¡°I¡¯m Athena,¡± my sister said with unflappable patience, ¡°and this is Alys.¡± ¡°Oh, yes, you did tell me that, didn¡¯t you.¡± He laughed. ¡°For someone who works with memories, my own is shockingly bad. Athena, would you be so kind as to hand me one of those quartz crystals? Yes, those on the shelf there, any one will do. Thank you.¡± One of his hands left contact with my head. ¡°All right now, Alys, just keep the image of the creature clear in your mind...just like that...this is going to feel strange, but please try not to fight it.¡± He began to chant softly in a language I didn¡¯t recognize, and I felt a strange pulling sensation in my mind. Instinct told me to try to stop whatever he was doing, but this wasn¡¯t the violent sort of intrusion I¡¯d experienced at Brenna¡¯s hands. Dr. Absolom¡¯s touch on my mind was gentle, cautious and focused on one specific thing. He tisked softly as he worked. ¡°Goodness, but someone did some damage to your mind, didn¡¯t they.¡± My eyes snapped open in surprise, and he smiled a little. ¡°Concentrate. I¡¯m almost done. I was a mind healer a long time ago before I shifted my specialty to memory transcription. I recognize the signs of recently healed psychic damage. You really need to work on your defenses, they¡¯re very weak.¡± I nodded slightly. ¡°I know, Doctor.¡± ¡°Call me Phillip. I try not to stand on formalities. It seems rather silly when I¡¯m working inside your head.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± With a flourish, he sat back and cradled the crystal Athena had retrieved for him - a rough-cut chunk of smoke-colored quartz - and smiled. ¡°Ta-da! The magic is complete.¡± I felt him press a bit of Anima into the crystal, and an image of the creature we¡¯d confronted in the Swindon park sprang to life above it. This was not the colorless, insubstantial sort of image I¡¯d created of the Thames Slasher¡¯s ghost back in April. This was full color and as solid as if the thing were in the room with us. It showed the creature with its face down on the ground, its oily black skin gleaming. I shuddered a little, and felt a surge of revulsion from Athena. ¡°Magnificent. Young lady, you have one of the best memories I¡¯ve had the pleasure of working with.¡± Phillip said. ¡°With an effort of will, you¡¯ll be able to zoom in, though because you were at a distance you¡¯ll lose focus and resolution past a certain point. You can also...¡± he gave the image a little prod and it began to move, its legs pumping slowly as it moved across an unseen landscape. After a moment, its head rose to show its blank face and gleaming teeth. I pressed back into my chair and watched in mute horror as my features slowly formed on its face. The image finally stopped moving when my...when its eyes opened. Phillip smiled gently. ¡°Sorry, I know that¡¯s probably disturbing for you, but you should know the extent of the recording I made. If you¡¯re going to take this over to the Allizoology department, they¡¯ll need the best possible view of it and what it¡¯s capable of doing.¡± He waved his hand through the image and it vanished. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said quietly, a little shaken. It had been impossibly unsettling watching that face form. ¡°I¡¯m not glad I had to see that again, but I am glad I can demonstrate it rather than having to describe it.¡± He nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why people come to me, my dear.¡± He handed me the crystal. ¡°What do I owe you for this?¡± I asked. He shook his head. ¡°Not a penny. My services are covered by the Library, and are free to all. If I may ask you one question, though?¡± he added hopefully. I nodded. ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Have you had one of the Sidhe in your mind?¡± I looked up at Athena, who looked surprised, then returned my eyes to him. ¡°Why do you ask?¡± ¡°The damage that was done to your mind,¡± he said. ¡°It was very recent, yes?¡± ¡°Just this past April,¡± I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve seen damage like that before, caused specifically by Sidhe mind magic,¡± he said. ¡°It...it wasn¡¯t a Sidhe who did it, but a Changeling,¡± I said quietly. ¡°My half-sister, actually.¡± Phillip tipped his head to the side, examining me more closely. ¡°Yes, I see it now. I didn¡¯t notice your ears or that very unusual eye color before.¡± He smiled sheepishly. ¡°Surprisingly, I¡¯m not the most observant of people. Interesting. Though I suppose there¡¯s no reason why a half-Sidhe couldn¡¯t learn certain types of Sidhe magic.¡± I leaned forward a little, both excitement and trepidation fluttering in my belly. ¡°Can you tell me anything about that sort of magic?¡± He shook his head with regret. ¡°I¡¯m afraid not. Not my area of study. I saw the effects of similar magic on people two or three times when I was a mind healer and learned to recognize it from that, but that¡¯s all I really know of it.¡± He smiled wryly. ¡°Except that it¡¯s next to impossible for a mortal spellcaster to learn to do the kinds of things the Sidhe can do to our minds.¡± He cupped his hands around mine where they held the crystal and patted them gently. ¡°I imagine it was amazingly unpleasant.¡± ¡°Cripplingly so,¡± Athena said quietly from where she was still standing by the door. She hadn¡¯t been able to find a place to sit or where she could stand without risking the tottering piles of books and papers. ¡°Well,¡± he said, leaning back and smiling reassuringly. ¡°The human mind is an incredibly resilient thing. You seem to be managing admirably, and I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be fully healed in no time.¡± I smiled lopsidedly, unable to muster any real enthusiasm for his reassurance. ¡°You saw people fully recover from this sort of damage?¡± He hesitated, then admitted, ¡°Not exactly. There were always lingering side-effects, and one of them was catatonic and never came out of it...but you seem to have passed that crisis point, at least.¡± > I murmured to Athena, feeling a surge of hopelessness. <> Athena said firmly. <> ¡°Of course,¡± Phillip said thoughtfully, ¡°It¡¯ll probably be rather different in your case. After all, you¡¯re half-Sidhe. Your mind will probably be better able to bounce back from Sidhe magic.¡± <> Athena smiled a little. It made sense, and some of my despair retreated. ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± ¡°Now,¡± he said, businesslike again, ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll want to take that crystal over to the folks in Allizoology. You¡¯ll find them in the East Wing, first floor. The whole first floor.¡± He smiled. ¡°They¡¯re a bit higher priority than I am.¡± I put the fist-sized chunk of quartz into my bag and smiled. ¡°Thank you very much for your time, Phillip. You¡¯ve been very helpful.¡± ¡°My pleasure, my dear,¡± he sighed. ¡°Sometimes I think the Library¡¯s forgotten I¡¯m here. Of course, most wizards can do this sort of thing for themselves these days.¡± He smiled sadly. ¡°My own fault, really, for codifying and simplifying the process all those years ago.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve learned to use a rudimentary version of it,¡± I said. ¡°But this is far more detailed than anything I know how to do.¡± He smiled warmly. ¡°Well, if you ever have the time and the desire, you come back and I¡¯ll show you a few tricks. It¡¯d be nice to have someone to teach again.¡± I returned his smile. ¡°I might just take you up on that.¡± Athena opened the door and stepped out into the hall as I carefully picked my way back over to her. ¡°Oh!¡± he said suddenly. ¡°Have they fixed the lift yet?¡± I looked over my shoulder at him and shook my head. ¡°The receptionist warned me about it, so I¡¯m guessing they haven¡¯t.¡± He sighed. ¡°Bother. Not that it wasn¡¯t stunningly beautiful to have it open onto a world with three moons in the sky, but I shudder to think what might happen next time. I guess I¡¯ll be taking the stairs for a while yet.¡± He lifted his hand in farewell. ¡°Good bye, ladies! Do come again sometime!¡± Athena and I both waved and closed the door behind us. <> Athena said as we headed for the stairs. <> I agreed. <> She nodded. <> I smiled. <> We made our way back down the stairs - down, fortunately, is usually easier on my knee than up - and headed for the East Wing of the Central Library. We got a little lost. I¡¯m not ashamed to admit it. No matter how many times I¡¯m there, it never ceases to amaze me how complicated, complex, and confusing a building the Central Library it is. After a half-hour of blind turns and twisting corridors - and many hurrying wizards dodged - Athena and I ended up in the South Wing, staring at a sign indicating we¡¯d found the Department of Thaumaturgical Studies. I sighed. ¡°This building needs teleportation stations or something.¡± Athena snorted. ¡°You hate teleportation. Besides, it¡¯s not like we could use them anyway, with our bottomless bag and your belt pouches.¡± I grunted. Mixing any kind of dimensional shifting magic - like teleportation - with the kind of dimensional magic used to create my insanely spacious bag and extra-deep pouches could result in a fairly impressive amount of very localized destruction. Not explosive, but implosive. They¡¯d used purpose-built weapons made like that - called D-Bombs - during the second World War. It was safer to just not risk it. ¡°You¡¯re right on both counts,¡± I confirmed, then sighed again. ¡°Maybe something like that spatial folding trick Jonathan showed off the other day. Well, come on, if we go through here we should loop around to the East Wing before much longer.¡± About ten minutes later we saw a sign for the Allizoology department, and followed it like a lifeline. <> Athena asked as we walked past a second sign for the department. <> <> I said, <> I smiled. <> Athena chuckled softly and shook her head. <> <> It turned out that Dr. Absolom was a bit behind the times¡­the Allizoology department took up not one but three floors. After all, there¡¯s at least as many types of otherworldly creatures on Earth as there are ¡®natural¡¯ ones. It¡¯s an enormous field of study. Big enough for the department to have its own reception desk. A teenager, not much older than my young friend Billy Fisher, was sitting behind it with textbooks strewn open in front of him, copying passages from one of them into a spiral-bound notebook. He looked up as we approached his desk and smiled at us. ¡°Good morning! What can I do for you today?¡± ¡°We just came from Mnemonitranscribing, and need someone to help us identify a creature.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± He smiled and pointed to the hallway beyond him. ¡°Down the hall, third door on the right. Ask for Professor Strickland.¡± The door to Professor Strickland¡¯s office was open and he was sitting behind the desk as we paused in the doorway. His office was much more what I¡¯d expected from a professional wizard...still overloaded with books, files and papers, but everything was neatly organized on the shelves and in tidy piles on the desk and worktable. Strickland himself was a classical wizard. He looked to be a tall man, even sitting down, and was old enough that his dark hair - neatly trimmed and brushed back - had turned a very distinguished-looking iron color. He had a full beard, neatly trimmed and combed, and wore a tidy dark blue three-piece suit with Norden runes embroidered on the collar of the white shirt beneath. He looked up and smiled politely at us. ¡°Good morning. Can I help you?¡± I returned his smile. ¡°Good morning, Professor. My name is Alys Kinnear, I¡¯m a Mage in the employ of Wizard Hollis Ellister, and this is one of my familiars, Athena. We encountered - ¡° To my surprise, he interrupted me. ¡°The same Alys Kinnear who handled that haunted asylum block in London last year?¡± I nodded. ¡°Yes¡­¡± He rose and came around the desk, offering me his hand to shake. ¡°Very pleased to make your acquaintance, young lady. Ghosts and hauntings aren¡¯t at all my field of study, but I was very impressed with what I read of how you handled the situation, and so were many of my colleagues here at the Central Library. It sounded like quite a little mess.¡± ¡°It was,¡± I said, smiling as I shook his hand firmly and feeling both proud and a little embarrassed by his praise. ¡°Thank you very much, sir.¡± ¡°You¡¯re very welcome, Mage Kinnear.¡± He went back and sat behind his desk, steepling his hands and smiling at me. ¡°Now, what can I do for you today?¡± ¡°My familiars and I encountered a creature two nights ago that we were unable to identify,¡± I said, pulling out the crystal that Phillip had prepared for me. I put it on Professor Strickland¡¯s desk and activated it with a little surge of Anima. ¡°I was doing some work for D.I. Ben Donovan of Scotland Yard. After the creature attacked us, we were forced to destroy it, as it demonstrated impressive regenerative capabilities.¡± Professor Strickland drew the crystal closer to him and slowly turned the unmoving image. ¡°I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ve ever seen anything quite like it,¡± he said thoughtfully, then gave it a little push and started its loop of movement and replicating my face. ¡°Those are very impressive claws and teeth.¡± He leaned in and looked at the face it formed, then up at me. ¡°Interesting. Some sort of psychic attack?¡± He gestured to the chair across his desk from him. ¡°Tell me all about it.¡± For the next hour, Athena and I took turns describing our encounter with the creature in as much detail as possible. Professor Strickland took copious notes, frequently pausing to examine the magical image of the creature for reference. Finally, feeling rather drained, I sat back in my chair and sipped the glass of water the professor¡¯s aide had brought for me. Athena was drinking hers as Strickland skimmed through his notes with a thoughtful look on his face. ¡°This doesn¡¯t sound like any supernatural creature in our catalogue,¡± he said slowly, looking up at the image still floating above the crystal. ¡°Fascinating, though. It has characteristics of several different types of creature we¡¯re already familiar with: predatory attributes, like the claws and teeth; the psychic attack and apparent draining of either emotion or energy - or both, I suppose; vulnerability to bright light, especially sunlight...¡± He trailed off and scratched the side of his nose. ¡°Mage Kinnear, do you mind if I make a copy of this crystal and enter these notes into our archive? You will, of course, be credited with the discovery, if it turns out to be a naturally occurring entity. I have a feeling, however, that this may have been a new type of magical construct.¡± I thought briefly about the creature which had attacked Billy Fisher after killing his older sister. It had, I believed, been a magical construct. Had it been similar to this one in any way? ¡°I don¡¯t know a lot about magical constructs,¡± I said slowly, ¡°mostly just theory and some contact with automatons - ¡± ¡°Not the same thing at all,¡± Professor Strickland interrupted me absently, busily copying the enchantments and information from the original crystal into a new one. ¡°Automatons are very impressive, but they have no life of their own. Constructs can mimic life to the point that some very complex ones can pass tests of sentience.¡± ¡° - And with one other entity last year that might¡¯ve been a construct,¡± I finished. Professor Strickland looked up. ¡°Oh? Like this one?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Nothing at all like it, except that I¡¯m pretty sure it was man-made.¡± ¡°Will you tell me about it?¡± he asked hopefully. So I explained about the essence-draining creature that Athena, Artemis and I had dealt with at the Fishers¡¯ home the previous year. I described it in great detail - making a point to emphasize how awful it had smelled, and how my familiars had ¡®smelled¡¯ it in a metaphysical sense before I¡¯d been able to physically - and explained how I¡¯d found evidence of damage to the energy centers in Billy¡¯s body when I examined him. With Athena adding occasional details, I told Professor Strickland about how the thing had finally been destroyed - messily - by a blast of silver buckshot from the center chamber of Athena¡¯s LeMat revolver. Professor Strickland sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ¡°Yes, that does sound like a magical construct, especially the way it left an ectoplasm-like substance behind it when you destroyed it. This creature,¡± he indicated the image still hovering above the crystal on his desk, ¡°bears many of the same hallmarks.¡± ¡°But it was regenerating in the dark,¡± Athena pointed out. ¡°Yes,¡± Strickland nodded. ¡°If it was, as I believe, a magical construct, it would have taken an enormous amount of skill and energy to bring to life.¡± He frowned. ¡°You found no other traces in the immediate area?¡± I shook my head. ¡°We thought it was a living predator of some sort, so we did a cursory search of the surrounding area for any others and left the rest to the police.¡± He nodded again. ¡°Of course, that was very wise. Perhaps I¡¯ll follow up with them and see if they found anything else. Who was in charge of the investigation?¡± I gave him one of Ben¡¯s business cards, writing the phone number at Hollis¡¯ home on the back. ¡°Excellent!¡± He smiled at us, rising and shaking our hands, then handing me the original crystal. ¡°I¡¯ll be in touch if we learn anything new about your mystery creature. Do please get in touch with us if you think of any other details or learn anything new about it. And do come again anytime. You might even apply for a fellowship here when you get your Wizard¡¯s license, especially if you¡¯re interested in travel. We can always use young people with your skill and intelligence.¡± I smiled, pleased by the offer. ¡°Thank you, Professor. I¡¯ll consider it.¡± ¡°Do that.¡± He sat back down. ¡°Have a good day!¡± Athena and I wound our way back to the main entrance, pausing to collect Artemis from the lounge where she¡¯d been rubbing elbows (so to speak) with other familiars. I ruffled her ears as she emerged from the room. ¡°Did you have a good time?¡± She purred and rubbed against my leg. <> I rested a hand on her neck as we walked, smiling. ¡°Yeah. Yeah, we did. And a little more, I think.¡± A Very Merry Yule - Chapter 1 (December, 1986) Yule has always been one of my favorite times of the year. Aside from the fact that I''ve always loved winter (really, I love all of the seasons in their own ways...but autumn and winter are my favorites), Yule has always represented to me the very best that humanity has to offer. When I was a little girl, it was pretty much the only time of the year when everyone in town was nice to me. Adults laid no ridicule on me, and the town kids let me join in the snowball fights and help make snowmen. Maybe it was easier to forget how odd I was with a thick woolen hat covering my pale golden hair and pointed ears. Maybe they just felt that nobody should be left out of the celebration. I''d like to think it was the latter...but realistically, I know the former is more likely. During the ten years I was apprenticed to Jonathan Tremane in Dublin, Yule was pretty much the only time I got to see my mother for any significant length of time. For the first couple of years, Jonathan sent me home alone for the twelve day holiday, saying it was important for me to keep my connection to my roots and with my mother without his interference. Later, after I turned sixteen, he finally gave in to my mother''s annual invitation to join us...the first year, only for two days at the end of the holiday for the big Yule feast. The following year, having discovered how amazing my mother''s cooking is, he stayed for four days. Then six days the year after that, and by the time I was reviewing for my Mage exams he was staying for pretty much the whole holiday. I didn''t realize it then, but he was already subtly courting my mother. Mom thinks it''s cute that I never noticed. Yule has always been a special time of year for me. So much had happened since last Yule that I was rather relieved when the joint Sending arrived from Jonathan and my mom. Late one evening in the first week of December, a spectral snowy owl - which looked very much like my mother''s familiar Apollo - swooped into the room I shared with Athena and Artemis and changed into a translucent image of my mom and new step-father standing side by side. My mother looked happy. Jonathan looked almost comically nervous. I knew from a conversation with him earlier in the year that he wasn''t entirely comfortable with the ''family'' thing yet. "We''ve just finished moving into our new place in Swindon," mom began, "And wanted to invite you to join us for Yule." "We''re not really done unpacking," Jonathan interrupted, running his fingers through his hair, "And we know you were in Swindon just a few months ago - you all spotted the house for us, after all - but this is your home too, and we''d love to have you here for the holiday¡­" My mom elbowed him gently before he could really get to babbling. "That includes your sisters, of course," she said smoothly, "And you should extend an invitation to Hollis and Elsie if they want to get away from the city for a couple of days." "The house is big enough," Jonathan explained. "And do invite Ben," My mother continued as if he hadn''t said anything. "We haven''t seen either of you since you returned to London, and we''d hate for anyone close to you to be stuck in that dreary city during Yule." The city was hardly dreary, and was especially festive during Yule¡­but mom had never liked cities. That was one reason why they''d compromised by settling in Swindon. There was a small Druidic community nearby in Avebury that mom could open up relations with (and who weren¡¯t aligned with the Eire Druid¡¯s Circle), and Swindon itself was just large enough for Jonathan to "feel like he was in civilization" (as mom jokingly put it). As for Ben...it''d probably be a good experience for him. I''d asked him a few days before if he had any plans for Yule - the leading sort of question one asks when one''s boyfriend never mentions any family - and his response had been noncommittal and uninterested. When I''d pressed gently, he''d admitted to never having had much use for the holiday, as he''d always seen it as a family holiday, and he never had any family to speak of. That had been a revelation, and maybe helped explain why he''d worked so hard to help me piece myself back together after having known me for such a short time. When you''d never had anybody, suddenly having someone would make that person so much more meaningful. I kind of understood that, since for many years the only family I''d had was my mother. May the gods help anyone who tries to harm the people I now considered family. So...perhaps it was time to show Ben what having a family meant. If it didn''t terrify him into fleeing, he''d definitely be a keeper. (As if he weren''t already.) "Anyway," Jonathan said, "Do let us know your plans, and we''ll get rooms ready for anyone who wants to come. We won''t even stick Ben in the cellar." "Decent of them," Athena said dryly from where she was lounging on the window seat. At the same time, my mother dug her elbow into Jonathan''s ribs again. "Jon! Ignore him, Alys. Try to bring Ben along. We love you honey, and we''ll see you soon." Jonathan smiled and nodded, as close as he''d actually come to admitting he loved me thus far. But that was okay. Part of his mind - a large part - still saw me as his apprentice. And I had a hard time thinking of him as anything other than my former Master. So it would have been a little weird if he did anyway. Their translucent image faded away. "So," Athena said, sitting up and putting her feet on the floor. "Are we going to invite Ben?" "Are you kidding?" I asked with a smile, getting up from my desk and stretching. "Absolutely we''re asking him. If I have to tie him up and sling him over my shoulder to get him to go, I will." Ben is a good six inches taller and about three stone heavier than I am, and it''s all muscle. The mental image of me carrying him - bad knee notwithstanding - must have been too much for Athena. She almost collapsed laughing, her amusement suffusing me. I grinned at her. Artemis, sprawled on her back on the bed with her fore paws curled under her chin and her hind paws splayed without any thought for dignity (when a cat - any cat - relaxes, they really relax), sighed gustily. <> "True enough," Athena said between giggles, wiping her eyes. I smiled. "I''m going to go ask Hollis if he and Elsie would like to join us." "Do you think they will?" Athena asked. I grabbed my cane and headed for the door. My limp wasn''t as bad as it had been, but improvement was slow, and having had plenty of warnings I now preferred not to risk it even indoors. "Probably not," I admitted, "But I''d like to make the offer anyway." Hollis smiled at the offer and politely declined. "Elsie and I like a quiet Yule," he explained. "We might go to the theater once or twice, but otherwise we take the opportunity to shut out the world for a few days and just enjoy the peace. But I really do appreciate the invitation. It''s very kind of you." Sitting across his desk from him, I smiled and shrugged. "You''d be very welcome. But I don''t blame you. Yule seems to be a time of peace and reflection for a lot of people." "I assume you''ll be burning a Yule log?" He asked with a smile. "I''d be surprised if we didn''t," I returned his smile. "Mom always liked to get the biggest one she could, and her old fireplace was pretty big. I imagine she''ll bully Jonathan into getting one." Hollis laughed. "Yes, I can see that. I was absolutely charmed by your mother when I met her in May, and I can definitely see her keeping my old friend under her thumb. Dear girl, go home, enjoy the holiday. Take your boyfriend and let them torment him a bit." I giggled. "Oh, I''ll get him there if I have to drag him by the ears." ¡°Don¡¯t forget to collect some of the ashes of the Yule log,¡± Hollis added. ¡°They¡¯re a powerful component for protective and luck enchantments, and it¡¯s the only time of the year you can obtain them.¡± "I don''t know about this, Alys," Ben''s voice said in my ear the next morning. I had reached him by telephone in his office at Scotland Yard (a rarity in and of itself...his office tended to collect dust and closed files, and not much else) and immediately sprung the invitation on him. "Come on," I cajoled gently. "It''ll be fun. We can build a snowman, have snowball fights, drink cocoa in front of a roaring fire¡­" "As long as it''s not me on fire," Ben said dryly. "Bentley Donovan," I said, my voice rippling with amusement, "Are you scared of my parents?" It felt strangely good to say ''parents'' instead of mother. I''d have to find some way to tease Jonathan with the statement while we were visiting. He sighed. "Isn''t every guy afraid of his girlfriend''s parents?" "But you already know my parents," I said in a soothing, reasonable tone. "I respect Jonathan a lot," he replied, "And your mother was a godsend during the first few weeks of your therapy...but I''m not sure about spending several days with them as your boyfriend¡­" He trailed off into silence, then sighed again. "Will it make you happy?" "Yes," I said without having to think about it. "I finally have more family than just my mom, and I want as many of them there for the holiday as possible." When he replied, his voice was warm and affectionate. "For you, love, I''d move mountains. All right, when do we leave?" His words warmed me deeply. "I''ll let you know as soon as I''ve finalized arrangements. You''ll be able to get away?" "I have enough vacation time stacked up, and have covered it for others often enough to take the holiday," he said. "You just let me know when you want to leave, and I''ll be there to pick you and your sisters up. But don''t be surprised if I get called in to do something." The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "I won''t be," I said with a sigh. I was well aware that because of the regular increase in supernatural activity that occurred around major holidays, Ben - and therefore I - might get called to look into something. "As long as nobody asks us to investigate sightings of the Wild Hunt," I added. "The idea of having anything to do with Herne or the Erl King really doesn''t appeal to me." Especially since I now knew that they might, technically, be relatives on my father''s side. That was just too creepy. "Fervently seconded," Ben replied with a laugh. "No Wild Hunt, check. I''d better go. Am I still picking you up for dinner and the theater tonight?" "I hope so," I replied teasingly. "Otherwise that new green silk dress I bought is going to go to waste." "Is that the one you picked up while we were out two days ago?" "Yes it is," I smiled. While relatively modest, with a high halter-style neck and bare shoulders, it was tight and came scandalously close to being too short for current styles...which meant it stopped about an inch above my knees. My mother probably would have had a heart attack if she saw me in it...either that, or gone out to get one herself. Thank goodness Hollis was generous with my salary. There was a long pause, and when Ben spoke again he sounded a little breathless. "We can''t have that going to waste. I''ll see you at six?" "I''ll be waiting." I practically purred it into the receiver and was rewarded with a gulp and a clatter as he fumbled the phone while trying to hang it up. Athena, sitting nearby, giggled as I hung up the phone. "He''s going to explode soon if you keep doing that." "Fun, isn''t it?" I gave her a wicked grin, then sat back and sighed. "I wish you could''ve been there when I studied with those Tantric mages." She blushed. "I''ve seen some of your memories of them. I''m not sure I could''ve handled it." "Oh, I thought I was going to die of embarrassment for the first couple of weeks," I laughed and closed my eyes. "I never thought I''d look back on those months with fondness. But I find myself very glad of the lessons now." "Because they let you drive Ben up the wall?" I opened my eyes and smiled at her. "That too." Athena looked at me curiously, cocking her head to one side, her feline ears shifting thoughtfully as she considered my statement. Then her tail twitched and she smiled. "Because you can enjoy flirting with Ben without being embarrassed by it." I nodded. "Precisely so." I stretched and rose. "I want to cast a Sending to mom and Jonathan so we can start making plans. Then we still have time to do a bit of research before lunch." Three weeks later found us waiting out in front of Hollis''s townhouse for Ben to pick us up. It had snowed heavily the previous day - a minor miracle in London - coating everything in a pretty layer of clean white and reminding me powerfully of precisely why I was looking forward to getting out of the city for a few days. Don''t get me wrong, living in a city has its benefits...quite a lot of them. But it also had a tendency to dull your sense as a self-defense mechanism against all of the sights, smells and general noise that a city generates. I was looking forward to getting out into the countryside, reconnecting with nature and letting my senses run wild and free again. And giving my familiars more room to play in the snow. Athena sprinted past, wearing boots and a jacket for a change and giggling madly. A moment later, Artemis - already covered in snow, thus the chase - caught up to her and tackled her into the low snowbank I''d made while using magic to clear the sidewalk and a path to the door and street earlier that morning. There was a brief scuffle that resulted in Athena reclining in the snowbank, laughing gleefully as Artemis padded regally back over to sit beside me where she''d been before Athena''s snowball had struck her. <> she reported, shaking the snow from her fur. <> "I''ve heard that can happen," I replied with a smile, bending to brush some of the snow from the top of her head. "Take pity on her." <> Artemis groomed one of her fore paws pointedly. I chuckled. The one thing my familiars differed on opinion-wise were the benefits of Athena''s being Elevated. Athena was of the opinion that it was the best thing that had ever happened to her - not only because it brought her that much closer to me¡­ And here we get into a problem of semantics. Traditionally, familiars refer to their owners (and I do - legally - own them, however odd that feels to me) as master or mistress. I had grown uncomfortable with that, having a closer relationship with my familiars than many spellcasters, and had asked them to use my name or call me ''sister,'' since that''s how I thought of them. They had taken to it like fish to water...but I occasionally got strange and sometimes disapproving looks when Athena was so familiar with me in public. Pardon the pun. Anyway, Athena felt being Elevated had not only brought her closer to me, but had made her life easier in many ways. After all, she could now pick things up, use tools, read and write, communicate with anyone effortlessly, and all of the myriad other benefits that being humanoid brings. Artemis, by contrast, felt no need to communicate with anyone but me or Athena - unless you counted getting Ben to pet her or her friendship with Hollis''s housekeeper Elsie, an Elevated mouse familiar (wrap your mind around that one for a moment). She felt that doing anything which required tools was what humans were for, along with providing for her care and comfort. In other words, she was very much a cat, and took every opportunity to tease Athena - lovingly - about not really being one anymore. The debate was usually fun to watch, and neither of them took it seriously. Sometimes I thought that maybe there were doing it for my amusement. Athena approached, brushing snow from her jacket and bodysuit beneath. She was dressed in largely the same style she usually did, her only concessions to the cold and snow a pair of warm boots and a matching jacket. Otherwise, she simply didn''t seem to feel the low temperature unless it was wickedly cold or if there was a strong wind. Only once or twice the previous winter had she bundled up, and both times it had been at night and during stormy conditions. By common consent, we had packed all of our tools for work - including her shieldblade and gun - in my bottomless bag, which was sitting on the ground by my feet, with my utility belt wound around the outside of it. The only tool that hadn''t gone into the bag was my cane, for obvious reasons. Athena looked me up and down and raised an eyebrow. "That''s a different look for you." I shrugged. "I lost the bet. And you have to admit, he chose good colors for me, at least." Athena looked me up and down again, then smiled. "True enough. It''s a good look for you. And those leggings are doing wonderful things for your calves." Ben was very taken with the fashion of women wearing cotton-lycra leggings and oversized sweaters during the winter. I had never seen the appeal...I didn''t usually wear clothing that was either too tight or too loose, as prior to arriving in London ''tight'' had been synonymous with ''leather'' and ''tough to move quickly in,'' and loose meant ''easy to snag on things or be caught by.'' Discovering that there were fabrics that could be both tight and comfortable to move in had been something of a revelation. (Which makes the suburb of Killarney I''d grown up in sound more backwards than it really was - it was just very traditional, and I''d had no time or interest to waste on fashion during my apprenticeship.) Two weeks earlier, Ben had managed to get me involved in a case involving a family group of trolls that had taken up residence beneath one of the bridges that runs across the Thames. Since it wasn''t the bridge, the city had passed it off to Scotland Yard to deal with, and Ben had received permission from his superiors to ask for my help. Going into it, we''d made a bet - I won''t go into the specifics of what the conditions were - with the stakes being that if he lost, I got to choose his outfit to wear when we went to Swindon, and if I lost, he got to choose mine. I lost. It had been kind of embarrassing, and I''d had to replace the coat I was wearing at the time. Note to those who are interested in doing this sort of thing for a living: Troll slime feels foul, smells awful, and doesn''t come out of oilcloth. Also, don''t burn it to dispose of it. Really, just don''t. Ben had shown up two days later bearing several boxes from a clothier he knew I liked in downtown London - the same shop which made most of Athena''s clothes and all of my under-armor, in fact. They''d already had my measurements, so he''d had no trouble getting an outfit custom-made for me. The outfit in question? Dark green leggings that were perfectly fitted for my legs, an oversized cable-knit turtle-necked sweater in dark browns and reds, and a pair of low-heeled leather ankle boots that matched the sweater. To go under the sweater, he''d had the shopkeeper (a lovely older woman named Mrs. Fenley, who always made me think of what a grandmother should be like - plump, friendly and always fussing over her customers) make a special bodysuit for me. At a glance, it had appeared to be a simple cotton-lycra bodysuit in a dark green that matched the leggings, with a full back, bare shoulders and a mock turtleneck. But there was a shimmery quality to the fabric that had told me at a glance that there was something unusual about it, and when I''d touched it I''d felt the magic in the fabric. There was a note included (in Mrs. Fenley''s elegant handwriting) letting me know that it was a new fabric she was experimenting with and that she''d appreciate my feedback once I''d been using it for a while. The fabric itself was woven with a mix of Kevlar fibers and finely extruded titanium mesh, then heavily enchanted for flexibility, durability, all-weather comfort and stain resistance (seriously). The end result was a garment that was as thin and light as silk, as form-fitting as a fitted racing-style bathing suit, and highly resistant to penetration. According to her note, it would be extremely difficult to cut or penetrate with blades, and would stop most small and medium caliber bullets entirely. Additionally, it had some minor defensive magic woven into it (using the titanium mesh) that would disperse some of the energy of heat, cold and electric-based spells that struck it, as well absorbing some kinetic energy. It must have cost Ben a small fortune, but by the time I''d finished getting dressed I''d already resolved to try to get a few more. All told, the outfit was surprisingly comfortable and warm enough for cold weather. Comfortable, sexy and practical. When you''ve got a boyfriend who can think in terms of all three at once, you wear what he buys for you and thank the gods that he''s more intelligent and sensitive than 90% of men. Also, he had accepted the habit I''d gotten into of wearing my armor all the time, in spite of it having come about due to feeling vulnerable after my injuries...and found a way for me to wear something that was lighter and more comfortable for casual-wear than my usual reinforced leather bodysuits, while still providing some protection. I really did love him. As if thinking of him had summoned him, Ben pulled up to the curb in an unfamiliar car - probably drawn from the Scotland Yard motor pool - and waved before climbing out and coming towards us. Until a year ago, automobiles had been something of a novelty to me. Sure, they''d had some in Dublin...but where I''d grown up outside Killarney they were almost completely unheard of. Steam and magic-driven cars were still a bit too expensive for everyone to own one, but the prices were coming down quickly. There had been a couple of attempts over the years to expand into the use of refined oil as a cheap fuel source, but it had never caught on - it smelled bad, generated more pollution than any sane person would be comfortable with, and the refining process had been too easy to gain a monopoly over. The three companies that had tried to make a go out of it had driven themselves out of business within five years. It had taken me a few months after arriving in London to get used to the idea of being to simply call for a cab (or flag one down) to take me somewhere for a fairly reasonable fee. Cab services; making life easier for professional Mages every day. Ben stopped a few feet away, his eyes drifting down to my legs and back up. "I wasn''t really sure you''d wear it. You look good." I smiled up at him. "It''s very comfortable, actually. Shall we go?" I bent to pick up the bag...only to discover that Athena had silently scooped it up already. She gave me a winsome smile and trotted lightly down the walk towards the car, her tail swishing back and forth jauntily. Artemis rubbed up against Ben''s leg before following her sister. "She''s going to have to start letting me do things for myself again eventually," I said quietly. "She will," Ben assured me, "When she''s ready. And when you stop being agitated by it." "I¡¯m not¡­" "You''re tapping your cane," he said gently. I looked down and realized he was right. I was rhythmically tapping my cane on the walk. "Damn," I muttered, forcing myself to stop, then sighed. "I don''t know what''s wrong with me today. I''m all out of sorts." He took the last couple of steps to me and hugged me, bending to give me a warm kiss. "You''re allowed. It''s Yule, and I''m sure that somewhere in the back of your mind you''re thinking ''I didn''t have to walk with a cane last year,'' or something of the sort." "You know me far too well, Ben Donovan." He smiled and turned, looping an arm around my shoulders and leading me down to the car. "It was in the job description. ''Wanted,''" his voice turned into a theater announcer''s voice, "''Boyfriend, must be tall, handsome, strong, and psychic.'' I have to work hard to fill the requirements, but it''s worth it." I laughed and gave him a one-armed hug, then let him hand me into car''s passenger seat. Athena and Artemis had already taken over the back seat, and Ben hurried around to climb back in on the driver''s side. He turned up the heat a little to warm the inside of the car back up, put it in gear, and slowly pressed the accelerator down carefully to pull away from the curb without sliding on the slippery streets. Then he grinned and picked up speed, heading for the motorway. "We''re off!" A Very Merry Yule - Chapter 2 Swindon was only about an hour and a half from London on a clear day. But what had been a few inches of snow in the city turned out to be almost a foot once we left the city behind, and it was still snowing. The roads were slippery, and on three occasions we had to stop while overturned carts (or cars) were dealt with. In the end, it was almost four hours before the motorway poured us into downtown Swindon. If you''ve never been there, Swindon is kind of a curious place. It''s halfway to nowhere in particular, and not on a direct line to anywhere if you''re traveling south-west from London¡­unless you¡¯re following Ley Lines, of which there are two small ones and one large one that cross there. Yet somehow it managed to become a hub of travel and commerce alike, hosting train and airship stations, a warehouse district for companies that moved cargo, and all manner of stores and services. It was what Jonathan called semi-urban, and what mom jokingly referred to as ''not as awful as an actual city.'' Because it''s essentially an enormous crossroads - and because of the conjunction of Ley Lines - it''s also kind of a hub of general weirdness. Crossroads have always been a magnet for supernatural entities and events, so a city that''s both literally and metaphorically a crossroads for travel and industry naturally (pardon the pun) attracts the supernatural. Swindon had one of the highest concentrations of hauntings in the country, at least two werewolf packs (possibly three) made their homes there, and no less than a half-dozen European vampires lived within a few blocks of one another rather than hundreds of miles apart, as was their usual modus operandi. That''s not to say it isn''t a safe place to live. Quite the contrary. There was, as I understood it, the same sort of tacit agreement between the natural and supernatural communities of the city which existed in London (and many other large cities in Greater Britannia). Basically, it was in everyone¡¯s best interest to live together peacefully, so live and let live. Additionally, as nothing had come of the extended investigations surrounding our encounter there in late September - that is, no trace of similar creatures or any kind of lair or den had been found - it had been concluded that the creature had to have been a magical construct of some sort. The people trying to find out why it had been created or summoned, and who had done it, had completely dead-ended. Since nobody except me had actually been hurt by it, the case was effectively closed and set aside for intellectual study by specialists at the Central Library. Swindon was, therefore, perfectly safe. Ben turned into the driveway of my parents¡¯ new home and pulled his car into an empty bay in the open-front carriage house that sat to one side. Only one other bay was occupied: Jonathan''s car, nearly identical to the one Ben had borrowed from the Scotland Yard motor pool. The overgrown yard - which would have to wait for spring to really be cleaned up - was now buried under more than a foot of freshly fallen snow, giving the grounds a pristine look. Warm, inviting lights glowed from the house''s windows, and a heavily cloaked figure wearing a broad black fedora and a red scarf strode briskly across the cleared drive towards us. Jonathan. He really loved that look. He lifted a gloved hand in greeting and arrived at the car just as I was trying to get my right knee - stiff from the long drive - to behave. He tugged down his scarf and gave me a warm smile. "Need a hand?" I sighed, shifted my cane to my left hand and held out my right. "Stupid cold weather four hour drive idiot moron drivers¡­" I went on like that for a good thirty seconds as he helped me out of the car and balanced me while I got my knee working again. "Thanks, Jonathan." To my surprise, he gave me a hug. "Any time, Alys." He stepped back and looked me over. "That''s a different look for you." "I lost a bet. Ben chose the outfit. What do you think?" "It''s very fetching on you," he said. "Hello, Ben!" "Sir," Ben said politely with a nod, coming around the car with his bag slung over one shoulder. "Thanks for the invitation, it means a lot to me." Jonathan smiled and shook his hand. "You''re practically part of the family. I imagine it won''t be too long before one of you decides to make it official." Ben turned a fabulous shade of red, and I very deftly brought my cane down on Jonathan''s shin, making him grunt and hop a little. "Well," Athena said from behind Jonathan, "At least I know where Alys got it from." Jonathan turned and smiled. "What''s that?" "Her burning desire to tease Ben," she grinned, briefly displaying her cute little fangs. "Hi, Jonathan." "Hello, Athena." Her face took on the same look of surprise I imagine mine had as he gave her a hug, then bent to ruffle Artemis''s ears. "And hello to you too, Artemis." He straightened a looked around at us, smiling. "All joking aside, I''m very glad you''re here. Come inside where it''s warm. We''ve got a blaze going in the kitchen hearth, and we''ll give you the grand tour after lunch." Ben fell in beside him as he headed back towards the house, the two most important men in my life (sorry, Hollis). Shaking my head a little in amusement, I started after them, leaning heavily on my cane with Athena and Artemis walking on either side of me. "How was the drive?" Jonathan asked in the foyer as we all shed our heavy coats and boots. "Lousy," Ben replied honestly, taking my jacket and hanging it beside his. "Three accidents...a car, a truck, and - swear to god - a huge caravan that was being drawn by a pair of hippogriffs. The roads are miserable." I settled creakily into a chair to remove my boots. I missed being able to take my shoes off standing up. "It could have been worse. It could have been ice instead of snow. We''d still be in London." "Good point," Ben and Jonathan said at the same time. They gave one another bemused looks. <> Athena murmured as she knelt to help me with my right boot. My knee was stiff enough that I couldn''t bend my leg far enough to reach the damned thing. "Thanks, sis," I said out loud, silently adding, <> She smiled up at me, set my boots beside hers, then took my hands and pulled me to my feet again. Ben and Jonathan had watched this little performance with similar looks of concern. I glared at them. "Stop it, both of you. I''m not a frail, delicate little flower¡­" "No," Ben said, handing me my cane from where I''d leaned it against the wall. "You''re a strong willow tree that was bent but unbowed." He gave me a little kiss, holding my hands. "It''s just taking you a bit to spring back." I smiled up at him, wondering - not for the first time - how he always knew the right thing to say. Jonathan was giving him an amused look. "What happened to the stammering, shy and uncertain young man I worked with six years ago?" Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Ben turned a little, not releasing my hands. He nodded in my direction, smiling warmly. "She happened." I laughed. "Flatterer." "Guilty," Ben said, gave me another kiss, then released my hands. Athena was shaking with silent laughter. Artemis just looked bored. Jonathan smiled. "Good answer. Come on, the kitchen''s nice and toasty. Once you warm up, I''m sure your knee will feel better," he added to me before setting off down the hallway. We followed him, almost silent now except for the thump of my cane, having left our boots behind. I should have known to expect something slightly out of the ordinary as Jonathan opened a door and gestured us into the kitchen. He, like most wizards, is very precise in his use of language. The words ''blaze'' and ''hearth'' should have tipped me off. The kitchen was a large room, and probably had become my mother''s domain. It felt like her...earthy and warm, filled with a vibrant but restful sort of energy. The cabinets and floor were some darkly-stained hardwood, the counter tops dark marble shot through with veins of quartz. There was a butcher block style island at one end of the big room near the stove and oven, a round table in the middle of the room...and the other end of the room was dominated by a fireplace that went from wall to wall and was large enough for me to stand up in (I tested it the next morning while helping mom get the fire started, and just barely had to bend to keep from brushing my head against the brick). It most assuredly had a blaze in it, warming the whole room effortlessly, but it was a relatively small one that left plenty of room on either side for old-fashioned hooks to hang pots and kettles from. Mom probably loved it...she''d always enjoyed cooking over an open fire, and now she''d be able to do it year-round. She was just rising from taking a steaming kettle from a hook and smiled at us. "Tea''s up. Come and sit down." She moved towards the table where five mugs sat in a small circle. I spotted her familiar - Apollo, a snowy owl - perched on top of one of the cabinets, watching us curiously. "Great Thor," I murmured, awed by the size of the fireplace. "That''s...wow." "You could cook a whole cow in that," Ben said, sounding just as awed. "I was thinking about trying," mom said, smiling as she poured the tea. "But I have no idea what we''d do with all of it." Artemis prowled towards the hearth, looking back and forth at the breadth of it in something like wonder...then flopped over on the heated floor in front of it, purring happily. <> I snorted a laugh. "Where would we put it?" Everyone but Athena - who giggled - gave me strange looks. I gestured to Artemis. "She wants us to get one." Ben grinned. Jonathan laughed and Mom came to me, hugging me tightly before stepping back with her hands on my shoulders, looking at me closely. "You look more yourself," she said finally, smiling warmly. "How''s your knee?" "It''s a pain in the arse," I said frankly, thumping my cane on the floor for emphasis. "It gets stiff when it''s cold, aches when it rains, and the post-PT exercises are getting tiresome." I smiled. "But it''s better than it was, so¡­" "Everything balances out in the end," Mom said with a smile and a nod. "Come and sit, have some tea. That outfit is really very attractive, but it''s not your usual style¡­" she added in a leading tone. "She lost a bet," Ben said with a grin as he came over. "I got to pick it. It even includes a new protective bodysuit...lighter, thinner, and tougher than her usual one." "More comfortable, too," I confirmed. She smiled up at Ben and gave him a hug. "Well done on winning the bet and making her break out of her fashion mold. And thank you for taking such good care of her." "It''s entirely self-serving, I assure you," he joked, then grew serious. "I couldn''t help her when she needed me...that won''t happen again." Mom reached up and patted his cheek. "That''s sweet. But don''t make promises you might not be able to keep." He looked embarrassed. "Well...let me rephrase, then. Even if I can''t be there to help, at least I''ll know I did something to help protect her." "Not a delicate flower," I reminded them, but smiled when I said it. Mom laughed and Ben smiled. "Never said you were, love," he said, then nudged me towards the table. I sat down between him and Athena as Mom finished pouring the tea. "How''re you getting settled in?" I asked a few minutes later, once I felt like I''d defrosted suitably. The ache in my knee had dulled to a faint throb as the heat from the fire sank into it, relaxing the muscles, and my mood had improved accordingly. Jonathan smiled. "Well, this place has quite a bit more room than my old house, so we''re still trying to figure out how to decorate some of the rooms." "But some of it fell right into place," Mom added, smiling at her new husband. "Like your study." Jonathan grinned and nodded. "There''s a room at the back of the house on the first floor that looks out on the garden. I''ll be able to watch your mom gardening while I''m working." The dichotomy of a Druid and a Wizard living together struck me, not for the first time. Mom was and always had been part of the Druidic culture, if not always the most traditional of druids. Jonathan was a life-long member of the Order of Hermetic Wizardry. He did most of his work indoors, she did the vast majority of hers under the open sky. I grinned. "It''s important to find that balance, right mom?" "Precisely, dear," she smiled and nodded. "And maybe I''ll get Jonathan to come outside and help me plant come spring. He could do with a bit of sun," she added teasingly. "I''m not half as pale as Alys," Jonathan retorted with mock defensiveness. "I come by it naturally," I replied placidly. "And I find it very attractive," Ben added, shifting his chair closer to mine and draping his arm across my shoulders. For someone who''d been joking about being afraid of my parents, he wasn''t shy about showing his affection for me. I leaned against him a little. "I thought it was the pointed ears." "Those too," he agreed, reaching up to trace his index finger along the upper edge of my ear to its delicate point. The sensation sent a pleasant shiver down my spine. "Honestly, it''s the whole package," he added a moment later, so quickly that it sounded like he was backpedaling to make sure I didn''t think it was any single feature that drew him to me. I smiled up at him. "There''s the flattery again. You don''t need to flatter me, Ben¡­" "But don''t stop," Athena interjected with a teasing smile. "It makes her feel good." "Snitch," I said without any malice and without looking away from Ben. Athena simply purred contentedly and hid a smile behind her tea mug. "Perhaps we should give them one room instead of two," Jonathan said thoughtfully. "That might not be a bad idea," Mom replied. "It would save space...¡± Ben blushed. "Th-that''s really not necessary," he stammered, his hand dropping back to my shoulder as if he''d suddenly realized we weren''t alone in the room. I watched him carefully out of the corner of my eyes, waiting until he had taken a sip of his tea to hide his embarrassment before murmuring "Might be fun, though." Ben almost sprayed the mouthful of tea across the table, covering his mouth at the last moment and swallowing hard, blushing furiously and unable to look at any of us. Athena''s full-throated laughter mixed with mom''s, Jonathan grinned and passed a napkin across to Ben, while I sat back in my chair and smiled smugly. "My work here is done," I said contentedly. "One day, little girl," Ben said warningly, "I''m going to get you back for that." "Do your worst, big boy," I replied comfortably, leaning against his side. Mom wiped tears of laughter from her eyes and smiled across the table at us. "It''s so easy for me to forget that you''re not an innocent little girl anymore, Alys." "Oh, there''s nothing innocent about this little imp," Ben said lightly, giving me a one-armed hug. "She delights in making me blush." "You turn such fascinating shades of red," Athena said with absolute and unassailable innocence. Then grinned. "You two are so much fun to watch together, and Alys always feels better when you''re around." "Just give me enough warning to plan the wedding," Mom said with an impish grin. At least I knew that I came by it honestly. "I think we''d better elope," Ben stage-whispered to me, making Jonathan laugh as my mom brandished a spoon threateningly in Ben''s direction. "Don''t you dare!" She said, then laughed and set the spoon down again. "Well, that''s some time off, I imagine." "Some," Ben and I agreed at the same time. Athena snickered. <> Artemis commented from her lazy sprawl in front of the huge fireplace. <> Athena snorted. Neither of us bothered translating that one for the others. The idea of me having children would probably make both my mom and Jonathan faint. Or maybe try to kill Ben. Either way, it wasn''t worth mentioning. "Honestly," I said, "Things haven''t been settled enough to give it any thought." "I do plan to propose," Ben admitted, "But not until Alys feels completely comfortable in her own skin again." He looked down at me and smiled. "Maybe I should get you a promise ring." I laughed. "Maybe you should!" The laughter was good. The camaraderie was better. Best of all was the love that filled the room. Family. They''re the ones who''re there for you no matter what. They share in your joys and increase them. They share in your pain and help ease it. My mother and I had always been close, but now I had a step-father, sisters, and a boyfriend too. My boss was more like a tolerant uncle than an employer, and he was in my thoughts even if he wasn''t there with us. I looked around the kitchen and felt something inside me I hadn''t realized was tense and knotted unwind and relax a little bit. Maybe this trip home - to a new home that already felt like home - for Yule was going to be even better for me than I''d thought. A Very Merry Yule - Chapter 3 To my intense frustration, the psychic damage that Brenna did to me during our fight back in April had left me emotionally unstable for several months. During that time, Dr. Morgana MacMoran - my mind healer/psychologist - had done her very best to undo the damage and teach me better control over my emotions. I''d never had a quick temper before, but I did now, and even eight months later it sometimes took an effort to control it. Likewise, I was still suffering from what amounted to a mild bi-polar disorder, resulting in the occasional fit of depression. Often after experiencing intense happiness. As such, I''d gotten into the habit of spending a few minutes in the morning and evening meditating to center myself for the day and put it all away at night. Unfortunately, I was in such a good mood (and we were all so tired after the drive and fun afternoon) that I forgot to do my evening meditation before going to bed. The result was waking up feeling off-kilter and down, and my usual quick morning meditation wasn''t sufficient to re-center myself. So, after a light breakfast, I retired to the sitting room, making up the excuse of having a headache and wanting to take a nap. From the way Artemis, Athena, my mom and Ben watched me as I left the kitchen, I didn''t think any of them bought it. Actually, I knew that Artemis and Athena didn''t¡­they could sense what was wrong, but played along because they also knew that I didn''t want to make a big deal out of it. Having bought myself a little alone-time at the cost of a small and harmless lie, I settled into an overstuffed chair by the fireplace, stretched out my right leg, stared into the fire and let my mind go blank. ¡°Alys, take a walk with me.¡± I looked up to find Jonathan standing over me, already wearing his heavily mantled black coat, his red scarf looped lightly around his neck. In his left hand, he held the broad-brimmed black fedora he often wore when going out. Draped over his other arm was my coat, my boots dangling from his fingers. His face brooked no argument, and I knew the tone of voice he¡¯d used from days gone by ¨C he was speaking Master to Apprentice, and I was expected to comply immediately. For a moment, I actually considered saying no. I was comfortable. I could feel Athena and Artemis nearby, amused about something, and knew that Ben probably wasn''t far off either. I didn''t want to go outside. It was cold, there was a ton of snow on the ground... I''m not a naturally surly or contrary person, and I''d always enjoyed taking walks with Jonathan when I''d been his student. The fact that I was even considering saying no told me enough about my state of mind that I knew refusing would be unwise. Jonathan cleared his throat, startling me. "Alys?" Again, I was startled. That wasn''t like me at all. With a little grunt, I rose stiffly and stretched. "Sounds like a good idea," I agreed, picking up my cane from where it was leaning against the arm of the chair. He helped me into my coat without a word, dropping my boots so I could step into them. In moments, we were ready to go. "Let me get - " "Just the two of us," he interrupted me gently. "Athena and Ben are helping your mom bake cookies, and Artemis is absorbing all of the warmth thrown by the kitchen fireplace. Let them be." "All right," I nodded and followed him to the front door, pausing long enough for him to get his staff and for me to grab a thick woolen cap to pull over my hair and ears. We went out into the chill of late morning. The day was gray, heavily overcast and threatening snow again at any moment. To my surprise, rather than heading for the street he turned and started to walk along the front of the house. I hurried to catch up with him, putting a little extra weight on my cane. Jonathan led me around the side of the house and into the snow-filled back yard. He went ahead of me, easily clearing a path through snow that was almost thigh-deep on me. He stopped just short of the middle of the large back yard and turned to face me, and even with his scarf wrapped around the lower part of his face, I could tell that his expression was serious. "You know I''ve always been very proud of you," he began, speaking quietly. "You were the best student I could have hoped for, and I''ve come to love you like a daughter." I blinked. "Is something wrong?" I asked, alarmed. This was entirely unlike him. Not that he was ever cold or distant, but he wasn''t the type to speak his feelings - he had always preferred to show them through his actions. Jonathan nodded. "Something is wrong. You and I are going to fix it." He lifted his right hand and held it out towards me. I didn''t see his first strike coming. Didn''t sense the gathering of Anima or even suspect what he was about to do until the blast of invisible force lifted me off my feet, knocked me through the air and deposited me roughly on my back in the snow several feet from where I''d been. I grunted as I hit the snow, the wind knocked out of me by the impact. Instinctively, I began to roll to the left, only to be scooped up by a second force spell and tumbled sideways through the air to land in the snow again. Face first this time. I came up sputtering and spitting snow. My face felt half-frozen by the stuff, and some of it had worked its way into my coat and down the front of the tunic I was wearing beneath. "What the bloody - " My startled, angry cry was cut off by yet a third force spell. This one launched me straight up in the air a good five feet before dropping me back into the snow. Face first again. "Are you going to fight back sometime today?" Jonathan taunted from somewhere nearby. "What happened to the strong, active, self-sufficient young woman I helped raise?" "She had the crap beaten out of her," I shot back, feeling my anger rise as I struggled to my feet. I''d lost my cane and was trying to put most of my weight on my left leg while assessing the situation. I found my cane almost immediately. Jonathan was holding it in his left hand, his hawk-headed staff pointed at me from the other. "I need that back," I said quietly. "Then take it," he challenged flatly. As he said it, a bolt of fire leaped from his staff and shot towards me. I lunged to the left, tumbling into the snow and coming up on unsteady legs. Across no more than ten yards of snow-covered ground I faced him, my temper making a strong bid to boil over. But I was not going to let it get the better of me. I needed to keep my wits about me. Two more bolts of fire zipped through the air and splashed against the shield I threw up in front of me with my left hand. The heat from the fire bolts melted the snow around me, clearing away some of it and making the ground more slippery at the same time. A fourth bolt of fire came towards me and I stepped to the left to avoid it, retaliating with a cry of "Fulmen!" and sending a bolt of lightning crackling through the air towards him. Jonathan caught it with my cane, using a bit of Anima and the metal of its head to attract the electricity. It arced across the space between my cane and the metal hawk-shaped top of his staff...then lanced back towards me. I stepped to the left again and let it flash past me to gouge a steaming, hissing furrow in the snow and the ground beneath. My right knee ached, and I knew beyond any doubt that it wasn''t in any condition to take my weight right now. He had intentionally put me at an enormous disadvantage by taking my cane away from me - not only in terms of mobility, but also because it was as potent a tool for spellcasting as his wizard''s staff. I was hampered by my knee, missing a tool I relied on - maybe too much - and covered in half-melted snow. I felt a brief stab of frustration and despair. At my best, I''d never come close to winning one of these practice duels. I''d never even managed to fight Jonathan to a draw unless he let me. Even though he''d frequently commented during my apprenticeship that I had more raw power at my disposal than he did, he had two decades of experience on me, and had always said that the focus and control I needed to channel Anima - my own and that drawn in from the world around me - would come with time and experience. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Control... "Master," I called, falling back on old habits without meaning to, "I''m not ready for a duel! It''s too danger - " I was cut off as he threw his own bolt of lightning at me. It went to my left, forcing me to either dodge to the right or try to deflect and diffuse it with a shield. The first seemed like a non-starter, so I threw up a rough shield and angled it towards the ground off to my left. The bolt struck it, skittered along its surface with an intensity that made my fingertips tingle, then burned through the snow and blasted a small hole in the ground. My relief was premature. His second lightning bolt blew through my hastily erected shield and struck me squarely in the chest. Practice duels can get out of hand, so one of the first things every spellcaster learns is how to moderate the amount of power going into a spell. The worst I''d ever gotten from one of our duels had been bruises, small burns, scrapes and scratches - nothing that wouldn''t heal in a day or two. So it wasn''t much as lightning went, a lot more flash than bang. But if you''ve never been electrocuted, you can''t imagine how painful even a little is. The muscle spasms knocked me off my feet as I cried out, the pain arching my back and leaving me lying on the ground, panting and shuddering. I heard a bang as the kitchen door slammed open, followed by Ben''s alarmed "Alys!" and Athena''s strained, "Ben, stop! It''s just a practice duel!" I struggled to my feet, aching all over from the jolt Jonathan''s lightning had given me. "Why is it dangerous?" Jonathan asked me. "Because you lost control of your emotions and magic while you were fighting that creature back in September? Because you think your knee''s not healed enough?" "Yes!" I cried, staggering a little as I regained my balance. "I don''t..." "You don''t trust yourself," Jonathan finished for me. "Which isn''t like you at all! In all the years I¡¯ve known you, you¡¯ve never backed down from a challenge! Any challenge!" He cast another lightning bolt at me, then a second and a third in quick succession. He was right. It wasn''t like me, not at all. After all the intervening months, we still didn''t know precisely what sort of spell Brenna had cast on me at the end of our fight. All we really knew about it was that it was of Sidhe origin, and had produced crippling psychic pain and debilitating despair. Despair. That wasn''t me either. That was the lingering effects of her spell, and I had vowed not to let it control me anymore. I clenched my jaw and deflected the first bolt of lightning with a roughly cast shield that shattered under the impact, cast a force spell straight down to help me jump up over the second, then lunged to the right and cartwheeled away from the third through the melting snow. Wait, what? I landed lightly on my feet. My whole body still ached from the bolt that had struck me...to the point that I''d momentarily forgotten the ache and weakness of my knee. I''d acted instinctively and was now standing with my feet apart, legs braced...and felt no unusual amount of pain from my right knee. Jonathan grinned wolfishly. "I knew it!" I gritted my teeth, contained my anger, and gathered Anima to me. I used my anger to focus and channel the energy, but didn''t let it take control of me as I cried "Ignis celer!" and began throwing bolts of fire with both hands. Back and forth, one after another in quick succession. Jonathan was laughing with genuine delight as he held his staff out in front of him, calling up a glowing blue shield that deflected the firebolts away from him into the ground. "That''s my Alys!" He dropped my cane and spun his staff in front of him, sending a spinning vortex of wind straight at me. I retaliated by spreading Anima before me, creating a matching vortex and sending it twisting in the opposite direction. The two whirlwinds - spinning counter to one another - struck and dissipated. He threw chunks of ice. I threw fire. He was simply too experienced for me to gain the upper hand...but that wasn''t the point of the exercise. The point was that I was successfully countering his spells with my own. My knee wasn''t bothering me anymore, and I reveled in the restored freedom of motion, dodging and ducking the spells that I wasn''t sure I could counter. I had done this before. And even if the lesson had hurt like hell, Jonathan had shown me beyond any doubt that I was still perfectly capable of doing it now. I didn''t take another hit, though there were a couple of close calls. I''d let myself fall out of practice and gotten rusty as a result. Such duels are a vital part of every wizard''s training, and while precautions are taken to keep them from being lethal, they can still be harmful. This one didn''t hurt as much as some I''d fought, but I''d have bruises tomorrow. That was fine. I''d earned them. Finally, we stood facing one another, both of us out of breath. Jonathan grinned at me, and my temper finally boiled over for a moment. "What the bloody hell! That was stupid!" "Was it?" He stooped to pick up my cane, then came towards me, smiling warmly. "I couldn''t stand the shaken girl who came to visit. I wanted Alys Kinnear back. Sometimes all it takes is a good sharp shock. Pun intended." Athena and Artemis appeared on either side of me. Athena looked annoyed - she was doubtless feeling a dull echo of the ache that suffused my body - and the fur of Artemis''s tail was bristled out, making it look twice as large as normal (which is pretty impressive). Jonathan held up his free hand palm outward in a gesture of warding. "Don''t hurt me. You know it had to be done." Athena glanced at me, and I could feel her taking stock of my mental state. After a moment she nodded. "I don''t like it...but it worked." Artemis hissed. <> Ben came up on Athena''s other side. "That''s not exactly standard psychiatric procedure, sir." "It isn''t," I agreed, then took a deep breath and let it out, purging my anger with it. "But I needed it. Maybe not quite so emphatically painful," I added. "But I needed the push." Jonathan tossed my cane to me. I caught it my right hand and held it loosely at my side. I didn''t need to put my weight on it, at least not at the moment. My knee was definitely in better shape than I''d thought, though it was probably going to be sore later. And I was in better control of my magic than I''d thought. I''d never managed to successfully cast and control that rapid-fire fire bolt spell before. Jonathan walked the last few feet to us and rested a hand on my shoulder gently. "Point taken, apprentice?" I smiled up at him and nodded. "Point taken, Master." Mom came up on Artemis''s right and looked us over. "Are you two done tearing up the back yard? It¡¯s a good thing we hadn¡¯t had time to clean it up yet." Jonathan nodded. "At least for now. Still fancy that walk, Alys?" I stared at him incredulously for a moment, then took stock of myself. My boots and jeans were covered in quickly-freezing muddy water. The front of my tunic was soaked where the snow had gotten down the front of it and melted. I''d lost my woolen cap at some point, and my hair was probably a mess. One corner of the hem of my coat was blackened and still smoldering a little. Most disturbingly, there was a charred hole in the center of my coat and a roughly circular blackened scorch mark on the tunic beneath where his lightning bolt had struck me. I fondled the charred cloth, feeling the pain of what was probably a burn underneath it, and looked up at him. "That was a bit more intense than your usual assaults." Jonathan nodded. "It was, but I needed to make a point. Do you feel I was unnecessarily harsh?" It was a question he''d asked after almost every practice duel we''d fought over the years. Before, I''d always thought he''d been asking to make sure he hadn''t really hurt me. Now, for the first time, I understood that the question was as much a lesson as a way of checking on my state of mind. As always, I shook my head. "No, sir. I''m sorry I''ve been - " "Shush," he said, cutting me off. "You have nothing to apologize for. Brenna roughed you up like a pro, and you''ve discovered what it''s like fighting a real duel against a dangerous opponent. You were hurt, badly, both physically and mentally. We''ve been patient and done everything we can to help you heal." He smiled. "This was just another step. Right?" I''d taken stock of my physical state. Now I took stock of my mental state. Athena and Artemis had found it improved...what had changed? I could tell immediately. There''d been a darkness hanging over me for the last few months, one which I hadn''t been able to shake and wasn''t sure I''d been consciously aware of until now. Self-doubt. But I had no reason to doubt myself, and Jonathan had shown me that beyond all question. I smiled. "A big step. But I don''t think I''m interested in that walk. I think what I want is a hot shower, some burn salve and a change of clothes. And you owe me a new coat and tunic." Jonathan laughed softly. "Consider it done." "I''ve got water on for hot chocolate or tea," Mom said. "By the time you get out of the shower, I''ll have lunch ready and the cookies should be done. Come on, Ben, you can help me in the kitchen while she gets cleaned up." She caught him by the arm and tugged him back towards the house. Ben looked a little bit mystified as he paused to give me a kiss before following her. Athena smiled after him. <> <> Artemis huffed and turned to follow them inside, her tail still lashing with fading agitation. <> I watched them go and Jonathan came to stand beside me, his hand still on my shoulder. "You''re the common thread in this family, you know. You brought us all together." I nodded a little. "I know." He squeezed my shoulder gently. "Incidentally, I don''t think I''ve said as much before, but you found yourself a good partner in Ben. I''ve never seen a young man be as patient as he''s been the last few months. He has my respect." I looked up at him and smiled teasingly. "Are you that eager to marry me off, Dad?" Jonathan buffeted my shoulder lightly with his fist. "Imp. Go get cleaned up. We''ll do this again tomorrow." "I''d like that." Athena, who had stopped to hold the door for us, smiled warmly. <> A Very Merry Yule - Chapter 4 The days that followed were some of the best times in my life to date. As I said before, I''ve always enjoyed Yule, but somehow it was even more special now, and not just because I really felt like myself for the first time in months. With a newly-minted step-father, two pseudo-sisters and a boyfriend to share it with (in addition to Mom, of course), it was somehow more than it ever had been before. A wise man once said that sharing love causes it to grow rather than diminish and he was right. Jonathan and my mom had gone all-out to decorate the house for the festival, especially considering they were still moving in. The house was filled with fairy lights (that appeared to be real fairies, but which Jonathan admitted were just a very detailed illusion), and Mom had somehow convinced real mistletoe to grow around the house''s lintels without digging its roots into the house itself. Somewhere - perhaps in the woods on their new property - they had found a Yule log that took up a huge part of the kitchen hearth and looked like it might take the whole twelve days to burn completely. Ben, who had never really had anyone to celebrate the holiday with before and who had come with me - as he had admitted - just to make me happy, quickly discovered how much fun it could be with people you cared about. After the first couple of days, he relaxed and threw himself whole-heartedly into it. I knew he was fitting in when I found him staggering down the hallway behind mom, covered in an enormous pile of evergreen garlands as she strung them along the walls and singing an old Gaelic song with her. Ben knew old Gaelic folk songs. Who knew? On the fourth morning, a snowball fight erupted when Artemis tackled Athena into a snowbank (I was beginning to see a pattern there). Ben and my mom quickly got involved, but I had to beg off after only a few minutes because my knee was still causing me too much trouble in the deep snow. Jonathan came out then, handed me a steaming mug of cocoa, and proceeded to give me a fresh lesson in the use of telekinetic magic in snow. He''d showed me a trick the previous winter for shifting large amounts of snow with kinetic magic...now he showed me the trick he''d used to pelt me with a seemingly endless stream of snowballs. Mom noticed us conferring and quickly detached herself from the mock-battle, getting out of the way just before the first wave of snowballs hit. Ben, Athena and Artemis spent the next few minutes frantically trying to escape the deluge of snowballs Jonathan and I sent at them. Snowmen were made, and some crafty Wizard-in-training who shall remain nameless contrived to add an exquisitely detailed and curiously familiar-looking ice sculpture of a large cat beside the snowman her boyfriend had jokingly given a tree-branch cane. And so it went. We ate too much every night at dinner (Mom is a fabulous cook, a talent which I fear I didn''t inherit), resulting in Ben, Athena and I going out for a walk every day right after breakfast, after which Jonathan would challenge me to another bruising practice duel. Almost every room in the house had a fireplace, so Ben and I resolved to spend time snuggled cozily in front of each one (except the one in the master bedroom - too weird and kind of intrusive) and made a good start on it. Artemis could almost always be found sprawled on the floor in front of the kitchen''s enormous hearth, and we all took turns sitting with her...it was a nice place to just sit and be for a while. On our sixth day there, I was thrown for a loop when a package was delivered for me. It was book-sized and wrapped in simple brown paper with a very artistic sketch of a lacy bow drawn on the front of it near my name, and my mother and Jonathan''s new address in Swindon, in Brenna''s distinctive spidery script. There was nothing attached to the outside of it, but I could sense a vague and diffuse feeling of magic from it. After some mildly panicked consultation, Jonathan, Ben and I went over it with a fine-toothed magical comb, sweeping it for any enchantments that might be hostile, destructive or in any way damaging. Nothing in our recent correspondence suggested that Brenna had any desire to cause me or my family any more harm than she already had, but it never hurts to be careful. What is it they say in Rus? ''Trust, but verify.'' Words to live by¡­or at least words to keep from being letterbombed by. What we found was confusing¡­preservative magic, designed to protect and maintain the integrity of whatever was contained within. The spells themselves were old, not cast any time in the last fifty years or more. So I carefully unwrapped it, keeping my senses finely tuned to the faint magic I could feel in it. It turned out to be a first-edition copy of Lewis Carroll''s Alice''s Adventures in Wonderland in perfect condition. Someone had managed to get it autographed - the title page had "Charles Lutwidge Dodgson" scrawled on it in a slanted hand that I immediately wanted to get validated. I had no reason to believe it wasn''t his, I just wanted to be sure. "Can we be sure who sent it?" Ben asked, leaning over my shoulder, as fascinated as I was. "It''s her handwriting on the wrapping paper. There''s nothing in the book," I added, carefully flipping through the perfectly preserved pages. With it directly in my hands, I could sense the magic in it and understood what it meant...someone had gone to the trouble of carefully layering preservation spells on it. "Here," Athena said, slipping a thin sheet of folded paper out of the brown wrapper. "This was taped to the inside." I took it from her and unfolded it. The elegant handwriting on it read simply: With love, happy Yule. Brenna, Hecate and Hathor I handed the paper back to Athena, who blinked in surprise. "And here we didn''t send them anything¡­" I''d been corresponding irregularly with my half-sister since the end of June, but little had come of it other than uncomfortable attempts to get to know one another a bit. It had never occurred to me to send her a Yule present, and I felt a bit bad about it. She was very lonely and had only her familiars for company, with whom she was struggling to rebuild a relationship that wasn''t defined by them being afraid of her. I looked up at Ben, who shrugged. "Don''t look at me, I''ve never actually met her." "But how did she know where to send it?" I asked. Ben shrugged again. Jonathan shook his head slowly, then shrugged. "It''s not like our move was done confidentially, and the records of our purchasing the house are a matter of public record," he pointed out. "It wouldn''t be hard to figure out where to find you this time of year." Artemis propped her paws on my leg and peered curiously at the book and paper. <> She loved being read to. "It''s one of my favorites, actually," I said, petting her ears gently. "When I was a little girl, I always pretended that it was about me." "Alys''s Adventures?" Ben asked, smiling in amusement. "Something like that." I brushed my fingers over the cover of the book. "This must have been amazingly hard to find." "Do you want me to check with the office and see if a copy was stolen from somewhere?" Ben asked quietly. I thought about it for a moment, then sighed and nodded. "I think you''d better, just in case." "I''ll call the Yard." He kissed me and went to find Jonathan''s telephone. (It remained "Jonathan''s telephone" because my mother hated the things and had no use for them.) "Should we send her something?" Athena asked when he was gone. I shrugged. "All we have for her is a post office box in London. I suppose we could try...but what?" We were all silent for a moment, then Athena sighed. "I have no clue." <> Artemis suggested. She was slow to let go of her grudge against Brenna and her familiars. I suppose I couldn''t blame her, really. After all, I hadn''t completely let go of my own anger just yet. "I don''t think the postal service would appreciate that, love," I ruffled her ears. "Well, let''s make sure that there''s no magic on this for tracking it, just in case, then I''ll start reading it to you, hmm?" I stroked her ears again. She purred and licked my fingers. <> Ben returned not long after to report that as far as anyone knew, no original copies of the book had been stolen from anywhere. And so, the next day we had an epic reading of Alice''s Adventures, with Ben, Athena and I trading the book around and Artemis listening in rapt fascination. She did, of course, adore the Cheshire Cat. My mother took a turn reading at lunchtime, and Jonathan - whose occasionally intimidating baritone turned out to be a surprisingly gentle reading voice - did the reading through tea time. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. In the early evening of our eighth day there, real life finally intruded, as we''d feared it would. Frankly, I was amazed it had waited that long. Ben and I were...relaxing...in front of the fireplace in the den when we felt the approaching energy of a Sending. I sat up, tugged my tunic back into place and frowned. "Call for you, I think." Ben sighed and sat up, quickly doing up the top three buttons on his shirt. "Probably. I was afraid something would come up that they''d need me for." I curled my left leg under me, once again admiring the basic utility of the leggings Ben had bought me. Comfortable, flexible, and completely out of the way. I really needed to add more of them to my wardrobe. "Well, we knew it was likely," I said, smoothing my hair back into place. "We''ll take whatever comes and roll with it." He smiled and leaned in to kiss me. "As always." We felt the Sending grow closer, and a few moments later a spectral basset hound trundled in through the wall and stopped in front of us. There was a brief flash and an image of an older man stood in front of us. He had close-cropped iron-colored hair and a matching full beard, and wore a neat three-piece business suit. Something about his bearing - the way he held himself - suggested that he''d been in the military at one time and had never completely shed the habits of those days. Ben''s boss, Superintendent John Reid. It must''ve been important for him to be Sending Ben directly. "Donovan," the image of Reid said in his rough tones, "I hate to bother you while you''re on vacation, but we need you back in London as soon as Yule is over. There''s a cold case we need your special talent to help with." "Well," Ben sighed, "That could be worse. At least it''s not an immediate problem. But I hate cold cases." "Special talent?" I asked curiously. "When you come back," Reid continued, his tone just a bit teasing even if his expression was serious, "Please leave your satellite at aphelion. No offense to Mage Kinnear, but after your reports about the incident in Swindon and the mess with the trolls, we''d like to keep her limited to research consulting until she''s been checked out by a Yard psychologist and has spent some time with a Yard S.M.R. trainer." I winced, but I couldn''t honestly argue with him. Reid was right to want to make sure I was psychologically sound enough for field work, especially after the way I lost control back in June (losing control of a fire spell in London would be the end of my career as a Yard consultant, at best). And the idea of training with a Scotland Yard Special Magical Response officer was kind of exciting. I was probably going to get the tar beaten out of me, but I''d learn an awful lot about magical combat in the process. "Call in as soon as you get this so I can brief you," Reid went on, "and so you can let me know when you''ll be back." As Reid''s Sending faded away, Ben sighed. "I guess I''d better go call in." "Special talent?" I asked again. "I''ll tell you later," he said as he rose and offered me his hand. I took it and let him pull me to my feet...and then, to my pleasure, he gathered me close and into a kiss. I returned it warmly, smiling against his lips and meeting his eyes as he pulled away. "What was that for?" I asked teasingly. "I need a reason now?" He retorted with a smile. "I''ll have to have Athena help me work up a list." His smile faded and he gave me a serious look. "Are you okay with what he said?" I almost blew the question off¡­but this was Ben. Not just my boyfriend, but also my partner when I worked for the Yard. He deserved the complete, unvarnished truth. I sighed a little. "Yes¡­and no. I mean, he''s right to do it. I''ve come a long way, and getting some help to go the rest of the way won''t kill me. But¡­" He picked up right away when I trailed off. "But it still hurts to hear it said." I nodded. Ben smiled gently and brushed my cheek with his fingertips, making my skin tingle. "A wise man once said ''Getting knocked down is a small hurt. Getting up again can be a big one.''" I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "What does that even mean?" Ben''s smile grew a little. "I''ve never been completely sure. Sounds profound though, doesn''t it? But seriously, sometimes recovery''s the hard part, yeah?" I thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah." He grinned. "Good thing you''ve got such patient helpers." I smiled. "Yeah." *** On the morning of our last full day there, we all went out for one last walk together. Another few inches of snow had fallen the night before, and it was flurrying lightly from clouds that seemed to threaten a fresh blizzard. But the air was peaceful, with no wind, so I had a feeling that we wouldn''t be stuck there when it was time to head back to London. Ben and I held hands as we walked, not talking, just enjoying the peaceful atmosphere that fresh snow seems to bring to the world. I often felt that winter was my favorite time of year, and Ben seemed as comfortable with it as I felt. Jonathan and my mom were out in front of us, also walking hand in hand, and I could feel Athena and Artemis close behind us. The roads were well plowed and we were far enough out on the edge of town that we didn''t see anyone else as we walked. My cane tapped rhythmically on the pavement, though I was barely putting any weight on it by then. Jonathan''s daily beatings¡­practice duels, rather¡­had improved my confidence in my physical recovery by leaps and bounds. The snow-covered silence was broken by a fearsome yowl from behind us. Athena was suddenly driven past us, face-first into the snowbank beside the road with Artemis on her back. Artemis quickly hopped back and looked smug as Athena lay there for a moment, then pushed herself up, sputtering and spitting out bits of snow. "Why you¡­" Artemis made a distinctly laugh-like sound and bolted away down the street, past my parents, who had turned to see what was going on. Athena struggled to her feet, scooped up a double handful of snow and started packing it into a snowball as she chased after her sister, calling, "You are in so much trouble!" Ben started laughing, and my own laughter mingled with his a moment later. They say laughter is the best medicine. I have empirical evidence that it''s true. By the time we reached home, the snow was getting heavier and the cold had finally stiffened my right knee up to the point that I was almost reduced to hobbling up the front steps. Ben looked like he was about to scoop me into his arms until Athena swatted the back of his head, apparently having spotted it too, resulting in the eruption of a fresh snowball fight between the two of them, probably just for the sake of lifting my drooping spirits. Mom shook her head and headed inside. "I''m going to put on water for tea, soup and cocoa. Get your wet things off and warm up." Artemis followed her inside towards the promise of a blazing hearth as Jonathan and I stood in the doorway to watch my sister chasing my boyfriend up the driveway with a bread loaf-sized snowball held over her head. Jonathan smiled warmly. "It''s nice to have a family." I glanced at him, realizing that I didn''t know much about his life before we met. "You don''t have any other family, do you?" He shook his head. "Just yours," he said, sounding introspective. Then his expression lightened. "Ben and I have a lot in common, actually." He elbowed my shoulder gently. "You know what they say about girls marrying boys who''re like their fathers¡­" "That''s creepy as all heck," I shot back, but I smiled too. "I could do worse, though." "Much," Jonathan chuckled softly. I smiled a bit more, watching as Ben - now covered in snow - walked back up the drive toward us with Athena beside him. Ben reached the top of the stairs and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry." I chuckled softly. "I think you''ve paid sufficiently for something you almost but didn''t quite do." By the time we''d all changed into dry clothes, had some lunch and were settled comfortably around the kitchen table, the snow was coming down hard enough to qualify for storm conditions. "At this rate, we''re going to have another foot by morning," mom said, turning away from the window and picking up her mug of cocoa. "This is the heaviest snowfall I''ve seen in years." Jonathan made a thoughtful sound, idly toying with his mug of tea on the table. "You think the Winter Court - the Unseelie Court - is moving?" Beside me, Ben shifted and for a moment I thought he was going to say something. When he didn''t, I gave him a curious look and he shook his head. Mom''s eyes turned towards us for a moment. "I suppose it could be," she said slowly. "There''s some weird things going on back in ¨¦ire, now that the Druid Council there is fractured and unable to uphold parts of the ancient agreement." Then smiled. "More likely, it''s just a really bad winter. They do happen." "We might get stuck here for another day or two if this keeps up. Two feet of snow in a week is pretty brutal," Ben said. "I''m glad I''m not in London right now. The city''s probably paralyzed. Also, I hate working cold cases¡­I''m not looking forward to going back." "Have you thought about leaving the force?" Jonathan asked curiously. "You''ve got the talent to become a practicing Wizard, with a bit of application." Ben looked surprised. "You think so?" Surprise faded into a thoughtful expression, then he smiled and shook his head. "No, I like working for the Yard. Maybe in a few more years I''ll think about it, but for now I''m pretty happy where I am." I turned my own mug in slow circles on the table. The idea of working with Ben all the time appealed to me, but it was his decision, not mine. Besides, once I finished getting my act back together and passed whatever qualification tests Scotland Yard wanted to give me, we''d probably be working together pretty frequently anyway. ''Leave the future to sort itself out,'' Jonathan had said to me once, ''But don''t be afraid to nudge it in the right direction once in a while.'' Well, I''d put a bug in Ben''s ear later and let him know I liked the idea. Eventually. There was still the potential for travel in my future, too¡­ "Last day of Yule tomorrow," Jonathan said, interrupting my musings. "Are you sure you won''t stay for New Year''s?" I exchanged a look with Ben, then another with Athena. Artemis was mostly asleep on the floor in front of the fire, but I knew she''d go along with whatever we decided. Finally, I shook my head, "No, I think we''d better head back tomorrow as planned. Ben has to get back to work, and so do I. And I have Yard-mandated therapy and training to arrange. The sooner I get that rolling, the sooner I can go back to doing more than running Hollis''s errands." Mom smiled. "You''ll get both licked in no time, I''m sure." Ben and Athena murmured their encouragement as well. I nodded. "Now that I''m feeling more like my old self, anyway." Jonathan smiled. "It''s very good to have you back." "It''s very good to be back," I said emphatically. I eyed Ben thoughtfully for a moment, then smiled to myself. Sensing my thoughts, Artemis yawned ostentatiously from by the fire and flopped over on her side. <> she muttered. <> Athena smiled and stood up, stretching. <> I rolled my eyes, then stretched and yawned. "Well, I think it''s time for bed." I elbowed Ben gently. "First though, you have one more Yule present to open." "Oh?" He looked interested. "What''s that?" I rose, Athena already halfway to the door. "If you want to unwrap it, you''ll have to come to our room in about¡­oh¡­twenty minutes." Ben blinked in confusion, then blushed and gulped. Jonathan choked on his tea and Mom gave me a thumbs-up. It was, I felt, the perfect way to end the day. It was indeed good to be back. Circles - Chapter 1 (April 25th, 1987) Not for the first time - and probably not for the last - I wondered why I''d agreed to this¡­torture. The pragmatic, reasonable and completely truthful answer came to me right away, of course: Because going through this would not only improve my skills and physical fitness, it would prove to Scotland Yard that I was ready to help Ben in the field again, in an official capacity. The purely emotional and not entirely logical reason came to me a moment later, as I landed hard on my back with a grunt and all the wind was knocked out of me: Because I was never going to be completely unprepared for a fight again. A little over a year ago, my half-sister Brenna had challenged me to a fight, and had beaten me so badly that the resulting physical therapy had taken months. There were still occasionally days when my right knee was so stiff and sore that I ended up putting most of my weight on my cane¡­but they were a lot less frequent than they had been, and I''d managed to regain the vast majority of my mobility. The psychological therapy and mental healing had lasted until March of this year, but had left me with less visible scars. And I had to pass a final psychological exam. That was going to be fun. Oh, sure, I still had the occasional minor anger management problem¡­but lots of people contended with worse every day. And it was nothing at all compared to the several-times-a-day emotional breakdowns I''d had during the first couple of months after Brenna had hit me with whatever that piece of Sidhe mind-magic had been. "Son of a¡­" I rolled to my feet, grasping my cane in my left hand and starting to circle again. The Scotland Yard Special Magical Response trainer I was sparring with - a middle aged combat Mage named Sergeant Riley Malone - grinned at me in response. His black hair, just starting to show hints of silver in it, wasn''t even mussed. I was under the impression from Ben that Malone had seen service during the second World War. "Come on, girl," he called mockingly, brown eyes twinkling with obvious mischief, "What''s wrong? Did you take slow pills this morning or something?" I growled and struggled to keep control of my temper. Four solid months of lessons with Malone - three days a week for at least four hours at a time - had toughened me up in a lot of ways. I was stronger, faster and more flexible than I had been before my injuries, and my cane had become more of an affectation than a crutch. Of course, it was still a powerful magical tool, even more so than my old staff, which Brenna had destroyed. I gathered Anima into it and thrust it towards him, focusing on the image of a bolt of lightning. I¡¯d been working with Hollis on silent casting over the past year, and my proficiency had grown by leaps and bounds, to the point where I could cast many spells without needing a verbal focus. The snow leopard-shaped head of my cane crackled with visible static for an instant before the brilliant blue-white bolt leaped out towards him. There were only two rules to these practice duels: First, no fire. It was simply too dangerous and hard to control in a confined space. Second, lightning needed to be kept below lethal voltages. My lightning bolt was about as powerful as a police-issued ¡®Stun Gun¡¯ Magearm pistol¡­just enough to knock someone off their feet and temporarily immobilize them. He dodged out of its way and sprinted across the mats towards me, closing in before I could throw another spell. There¡¯s magic you can use to make a bolt of lightning ground itself through a specific person - and thus follow them - but it required the lightning to be quite a bit more powerful. So instead of casting another spell, as I would have a few months earlier, I blocked his low kick with my cane, which was made of ironwood. It wouldn''t break even if he''d hit it with a wrecking ball, and I snapped the cane in hard enough that it cracked loudly against his shin. He retaliated with a strike to my face, which I slapped aside with my free hand. Then we were right in it, and this was where he had taught me more about fighting with magic than any other teacher I''d ever had. Hands and feet moved almost too quickly to follow, blows enhanced by force magic or crackling with electricity. I used a spell that boosted the speed and impact energy of a punch which he deflected aside with his hands and a small curved surface of invisible force. His fist came at me, suddenly sheathed in glistening ice, and I swatted it aside with the top of my cane, then used the momentum to spin the cane in a circle so that the other end of it only missed clipping his jaw because he lunged backwards away from me. We started circling one another again. My right knee was beginning to ache¡­heck, my whole body was starting to ache. We''d been at this for two hours already without anything resembling a break except for me getting up after being thrown. I eyed him warily, looking for an opening in his defenses while thinking about the idea he''d just given me. I''d never worked extensively with ice magic. It''s not very destructive in the traditional sense, and it can be troublesome to call sufficient moisture to form enough ice for a spell. But it had been raining a lot recently, and we were practicing outdoors that day. I had an idea. Malone seemed to notice because his eyes lit up and he grinned. "Come on then, I see the cogs turning. Bring it, girl!" I did. And while I was much more proficient in silent casting than I¡¯d been a year earlier, this was new territory¡­to be safe, I decided to use a verbal focus. Which was one reason why I¡¯d switched to Latin from Gaelic. Gaelic is a beautiful language, and I love speaking it, but it¡¯s not a fast language. For spellcasting, I was prepared to sacrifice elegance for speed. I gathered Anima and channeled it into my cane, whipping it around and calling out, "Gelus!" There was a crackling sound as moisture condensed into a glaze of ice beneath his feet. A second cry of "Frigus celer!" resulted in me pelting him with rough balls of ice about the size of my fist. The look of surprise on his face was incredibly satisfying. He caught the first three balls of ice on a translucent blue Anima shield, and they were moving hard enough and fast enough that they shattered on impact and sprayed bits of ice everywhere. He took two steps back and I felt him call up fresh Anima, but the ice beneath him had finished congealing and his right foot slipped and almost shot out from under him, throwing off his balance and his concentration. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The fourth ice ball broke through his shield and hit him in the stomach hard enough to double him up for a moment. The fifth caught him in the left shoulder, spinning him around, and the sixth caught him in the right hip, completing the spin and sending him face-first to the now-icy mats we''d laid on the ground. There were a few ragged cheers from around us as Scotland Yard recruits (and officers) who''d come out to watch got back a little of their own. Most of them had been beaten up by Malone''s training over the years just as surely as I was being. Malone rose to his feet, shaking off a bit of water from the rapidly melting ice and grinning. "That was a wicked trick. I''ve never seen you use those spells before. New ones?" "You gave me the idea when you threw that icy punch at me," I replied, returning his grin. He nodded. "Good on you, girl. It''s not everyone who faces me on these mats that can take me down like that. I wasn''t prepared for those spells, and you pressed an advantage. Not to mention whipping out two new spells off the cuff like that. Well done." I must''ve looked as startled as I felt, because he started laughing. "Praise where it''s due, girl. You earned it. Now¡­can you do it again?" I groaned and took up a defensive posture again as he started circling to his right. I moved with him, and we began again. An hour later, I lay on the mats staring at the sky, out of breath and aching all over from a blast of force that had knocked me to my back. I groaned a little as Malone came to stand over me, grinning. "Gotcha." He held out his hand to me, and after a moment I grasped it and let him pull me to my feet. "Mage Kinnear," he said in a formal but obviously pleased tone that I''d never heard from him before, "I believe you are one of the finest students I''ve ever had on these mats. You''re a quick study, you''ve worked hard to improve both your physical and magical stamina, and you actually paid attention to most of the advice I''ve given you. Which is more than I can say for a lot of the cadets I train. You''ve done your teachers proud." "Thank you, Sergeant," I replied, my spirits lifted by the unexpected praise. "I do my best." He nodded. "Yes you do. Which is also more than I can say for a lot of the cadets I''ve trained." He flashed me a brief lopsided grin, which I returned tiredly before he continued, "Which is why I''m going to clear you for field consulting work. Well done." He offered me his hand again, this time to shake it. I blinked in surprise, then smiled broadly and shook his hand warmly. "Thank you, sir!" "Don''t thank me," he shook his head. "You did the hard work, I just showed you what to do and how to do it. I wish we''d had a chance to do this before you went and got the crap beaten out of yourself. I think you could''ve taken that girl with what you''ve learned from me, or at least held her at bay. You''re ready now, though." I nodded my agreement. I''d thought myself well prepared for any duel - and really, in a formal duel with strict rules of conduct I probably would''ve been fine. But an all-out spell battle against a more experienced spellcaster without formal rules? I''d been in way over my head. Now¡­now I''d learned to fight dirty myself. "And," he went on, "you just remember everything old Sergeant Malone taught you when it''s time for your Wizard''s licensure exams¡­I hear they have a magical combat component that can be brutal. But after what I''ve taught you and some more practice, I think you''ll lick it. If you ever need a sparring partner, you know where I am...in fact, I¡¯d like it very much if you¡¯d keep coming ¡®round a couple of times a week. With a few more months of practice, you''ll be a serious challenge, and I haven''t had a challenge in a while." I laughed. "I''ll do that, Sergeant. Thank you." The loud clash of steel on steel drew our attention, and we both turned to see Athena - in her usual reinforced leather bodysuit and detached leggings (her ¡®work-clothes¡¯) - locking blades with a young woman in a Scotland Yard trainee uniform. Both were breathing heavily, and the young woman was straining to keep Athena''s shieldblade trapped between her two smallswords. She leaned forward into it, teeth bared, almost growling with the effort. Athena, by comparison, barely looked like she was straining at all. Of course, she had the heavier blade in this confrontation, which gave her an edge (pardon the pun) at that moment. Athena¡¯s weapon of choice was a shieldblade, a new type of sword developed in Vinland, that was having trouble catching on, because only a few people - my Athena among them - had really figured out how to use it. It was a straight blade a little larger than a bastard sword, with a two-handed grip, a wedge-shaped tip...and one edge that was thicker and squared off. It made for a very strong sword, one which could be used as a blunt weapon as well as a hacking and slashing one, and it could even double as a shield if used properly. Thus the name. Athena had worked with a sword master to develop her own fighting style with it, and the one I¡¯d purchased her was made of a new alloy called Vinderst¨¢l, developed in Vinland by Norden metalsmiths. It had magical properties that made it vastly lighter for its size and mass than normal steel, without sacrificing any of its durability or ability to hold an edge. I''d added a few enchantments to it, too. The end result was a blade that - in her hands - handled almost as easily as a smallsword and had an incredibly sharp edge that didn''t dull. Not that she sparred with it on the practice mats. She was currently using a blank - a heavier, blunt-edged version of the same type of sword. As I watched, the young woman twisted away to her right, pulling her swords free and thrusting one of them at Athena''s left leg. With a speed that belied the size and weight of the blunted practice blade, Athena slapped the thrust aside and twirled her blade, catching her opponent''s left wrist with the squared-off side of the shieldblade. The blow wasn''t hard enough to do any real damage, though I suspected the girl would have a nasty bruise later¡­but it was more than enough to numb the girl''s hand for a few moments. She cried out, and the smallsword in that hand clattered to the ground. The girl reacted quickly, turning the right side of her body towards Athena and dancing back a couple of steps, holding her remaining smallsword in front of her and tipped towards Athena. "Yield?" the girl asked teasingly. Athena grinned and settled into a ready stance, gripping her sword in both hands. "No. You?" The girl, whose name I finally remembered was Abigail, shook her head. "I''m not giving up just yet." They stood facing one another for a few moments longer, then lunged forward at the same time. On Abigail¡¯s part, it was a tactical mistake. The greater reach of Athena¡¯s shieldblade was a huge advantage. Or at least, I thought it was. So did Athena. We were both mistaken. Abigail twisted and dropped to her knees, causing Athena¡¯s slashing swing to glide over the top of her head. A moment later, the tip of her smallsword was pressed to Athena¡¯s stomach. Athena grimaced and slowly lowered her blade, spreading her arms wide. ¡°I yield.¡± Abigail blew out a relieved breath and lowered her sword. ¡°You almost had me. And I wouldn¡¯t have been able to pull that move off on rough ground. I would¡¯ve destroyed my knees.¡± She took Athena¡¯s offered hand and rose slowly. ¡°Ow. As it is, I¡¯m gonna feel that in the morning.¡± Athena shook her head ruefully. ¡°I got cocky at the end there.¡± ¡°Yes, you did,¡± Sergeant Malone said as he walked over to them. ¡°However, in a real fight you also wouldn¡¯t have stopped to ask one another to yield. A formal duel, yes, but not an actual fight. I think that would¡¯ve changed things.¡± He smiled. ¡°I think you¡¯re ready for field consulting too, Athena. Excellent work.¡± Athena bowed politely, then shook Abigail¡¯s hand and thanked her for her help as Malone returned to me. ¡°You two are welcome here anytime. Stop by and beat the crap out of my cadets whenever you like.¡± He flashed a quick grin. ¡°You might even learn something from them.¡± I shook his hand warmly. ¡°I was serious when I accepted your invitation to keep coming to train with you. I¡¯ll see you in a few days.¡± Circles - Chapter 2 "Well, it sounds like that was a rousing success, at least." Dr. MacMoran said at my therapy session that afternoon. I felt profoundly lucky that in addition to being my therapist, she was also certified to act as a counselor for Scotland Yard, which meant I hadn''t had to bare my soul to a total stranger for their mandated therapy. I wanted that license to act as a field consultant for the Yard back. It was a pretty big deal to have gotten one in the first place at my age, and I was determined to live up to the confidence Ben had shown in my skills and talents. And, by extension, the confidence his boss - Superintendent John Reid - had subtly expressed by not simply kicking me to the curb or telling me not to darken their doorstep again. I nodded in response to her cheerful statement. "It¡¯s been a good day." She smiled across the low coffee table at me from where she was sitting in one of her office''s big, comfortable armchairs. "You have more good days than bad now, eh?" I returned the smile. "Quite. Though I can still tell when it''s going to rain¡­" I tapped my right knee. "Even after a year of physical therapy and exercise, it''s not 100%. But Trish - Dr. Kestrel - thinks it''s about as good as it''s going to get." I was pleased to note that I neither sounded nor felt particularly bitter about it. "Yes, but you got back what¡­95% of its flexibility? And it can take your weight now," Dr. MacMoran pointed out, watching me closely. I nodded. "If you''re dancing around asking how I''m feeling about it¡­" She gave me a quick, amused grin. "Caught in the act. I''d say you know me almost as well as I know you now. That''s what I was getting at, yes." I shrugged. "I''m not annoyed at myself; I know I''ve done all I can, with Trish''s help, to rehab my knee. I''m not annoyed at Brenna either," I added thoughtfully. "Ten months of exchanging letters with her has given me enough insight into how messed up she is to know that she had very little control over that particular outburst of anger¡­" I''d shown Brenna''s letters - and my responses - to Dr. MacMoran voluntarily. Partly because I thought it might help her help me recover, and partly because I''d wanted her advice about how to communicate with my profoundly disturbed half-sister. "Mainly," I said finally, "I''m just a little bit irritated with my knee." Dr. MacMoran laughed softly. "I''d say that''s understandable enough. But you''re still young, and you''re a Changeling. This too shall pass, in time." "So Trish assures me," I said. She must''ve heard in my voice the disquiet I felt. "Your half-Sidhe heritage bothers you." It wasn¡¯t a question. We''d had this conversation a couple of times before. I sighed. "Yes, and no. It''s a hell of a thing to have to carry around, you know?" She smiled a little. "Not really, but I think I have a glimmer of understanding on the matter. Tell me what really bothers you about it, Alys." I met her eyes for a long moment. I''d been sorting this out in my own mind for the last few months, and thought I''d finally put my finger on the crux of the problem. "Well," I began slowly, "you know that I met my biological father last year, at least for a few minutes. There''s no doubt in my mind anymore that I''m half-Sidhe." "I suspect you''re the only person who ever doubted that, Alys," Dr. MacMoran replied gently. "A bit of denial, perhaps?" I nodded. "Perhaps. Anyway, there''s no doubt anymore. He never would''ve been able to provide what little healing he had time to do before Brenna¡­before he died¡­unless we shared a direct blood relationship." Dr. MacMoran nodded a little when I didn''t continue. "All right. Go on." "Well¡­" I sighed, looked down at my hands, then met her eyes again. "I''m going to live a very, very long time." "That''s a given as a Changeling. I''m sure Dr. Kestrel has had a few words with you about it," she smiled, "since I asked her to." "I think she would''ve anyway," I chuckled softly. "She''s not the type to let anything remain unsaid." "One reason I like her," Dr. MacMoran said. "So what''s bothering you, Alys? Surely for a wizard, an unusually long lifespan is a good thing." "Oh, it is! All that time to study and learn¡­but¡­" I sighed again. "I''m going to have to say goodbye to so many people. Heck, if I have children, I''m likely to outlive them by a century or two. Or three. Or who knows how many." I slumped back in my chair, my heart aching. She gave me a sad but knowing smile. "Ah. That I can understand." She sighed softly. "Death is the most difficult part of life for most people accept. But it''s a simple fact¡­everybody dies. Even the Sidhe can die, as Brenna demonstrated so brutally. It''s all right to mourn the people you''ve lost, Alys. That''s perfectly natural." She leaned forward, setting her notebook aside. "But don''t mourn them before their time. Live and love. There''s not enough joy in the world as it is to pass up the opportunity to experience some just because it will lead to heartache much, much later on." "That''s what Trish said too." "She''d know better than I would," Dr. MacMoran agreed. "But I think what you''re feeling is quite natural, and it''s something that I''m confident you''ll adjust to as you get older. You''re a strong young woman, Alys, and I believe that time and experience will only make you grow stronger." I blushed a little, surprised by the intensity of her praise. "Thank you, Doctor." She sat back in her chair, putting her notebook in her lap again and opening it to where her pen was holding her place. "Tell me about the dreams Athena says you''ve been having." Athena and Artemis were in the waiting room outside the doctor''s office. I could sense them there, and could feel Athena''s apprehension. I''d been feeling it on and off since she''d come out of the office earlier, her session having been before mine, as usual. Now I understood it. "Do I have to?" I asked, hoping we could let that slide. "I think you should, just because you asked that question,¡± Dr. MacMoran nodded firmly, though her expression softened a little. "Are they bad?" "They''re¡­" I trailed off into silence and tried to find the right way to explain it. "They don''t feel like dreams," I said finally. "They''re too vivid. Too detailed. They feel more like memories¡­but they''re not mine." She met my eyes, her focus entirely on me. It had been a bit intimidating, the first time I''d seen that expression. Now I found it comforting, knowing beyond a doubt that all of her formidable attention was focused on my problems. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. "What do you mean, they feel like memories?" "It''s like¡­" I thought about my words carefully. "You know how dreams always have a slightly ephemeral quality to them? Like you''re sort of outside your body watching what''s going on, and part of it at the same time?" She nodded. "That''s an interesting way of describing it. You''ve studied dreams?" "Jonathan and I studied dream imagery and meaning together a few years ago," I said. "I''d been having dreams that were unusually clear and very detailed. He was worried I might be experiencing precognitive dreaming. Turns out it was just an after-effect of the three months I''d just spent with some Tantric Mages he knew." Dr. MacMoran raised an amused-looking eyebrow. "Do I want to know what sort of dreams they were?" "Similar to these, actually," I said in surprise, wondering why I hadn''t made the connection before now. "Only¡­inverted." "Inverted?" I nodded. "That''s the best way I can think of to describe it. Both those dreams and these were very erotic¡­but the old dreams were pleasant, and these aren''t." "Do you want to talk about them in detail?" she asked slowly. "More to the point, do you think the details are important?" I considered the question very seriously. "I don''t think I''d be comfortable going into detail," I replied. "Frankly, I''d like to bleach the parts of my mind where my memories of them are stored. But¡­Doctor, you were involved in removing Brenna''s spell, weren''t you?" "Yes, I was," she confirmed. "It was a very complex and unusual piece of spellcraft. I''ve never see anything quite like it. Frankly, I hope I never see anything like it again." "From the way Brenna was talking about it at the time¡­" I thought about the words she''d used, describing the spell as magic her father - our father - had ''given'' her. "And from what Dr. Absolom, the mnemonotranscriptionist at the the Central Library, said¡­could it really have been Sidhe magic?" Dr. MacMoran looked thoughtful, but there was no surprise on her face. I guessed she''d been thinking along the same lines herself. "I believe that¡¯s the most likely explanation, yes. It was certainly like no mortal magic I''ve ever seen. And I''ve dealt with spells that were designed to do enormous damage to the human psyche." She rested her elbows on the arms of her chair, steepled her hands in front of her and looked at me over them. "I worked with your mother to finish removing the spell from her mind as well," she continued. "We discussed it at some length, and she''d never seen anything like it before either. Nor had Jonathan. You might be interested to know that it didn''t have the same effect on her that it had on you." That startled me. Mom and I had never discussed what Brenna''s spell had done to us in detail. "What do you mean?" "In your mother, the spell enhanced the negative emotions she was feeling. I think that may be all it was ever designed to do - paralyze a person by enhancing their self-doubt, despair, anger, or through other similar emotions." She pursed her lips. "It left no real lingering after-effects in her. Could it have -¡± I cut her off, thinking out loud. "Sympathetic magic." She tipped her head to one side. "Pardon?" "Sympathetic magic," I said slowly, putting the pieces together as I went. "Everything I''ve read about the Sidhe suggests that they''re big into sympathetic magic¡­magic that''s based around connections between people," I added when I saw the confused look on Dr. MacMoran''s face. "That''s one reason why they like to make deals with mortals. It gives them a profound connection - debt - to the person they made the deal with. As long as they''re not the ones incurring the debt, of course." Dr. MacMoran nodded. "I think I understand where you''re going. You think that because you and Brenna share a direct blood connection, her spell acted differently on you than on your mother." "What it did to my mom is probably how the spell''s actually supposed to work," I said. "It was meant to cripple its target by amping up the impact of their darker emotions: fear, doubt, despair, and so on." "Which it did to you, but also so much more," she nodded. "It sounds plausible to me." "I''ll have to bounce the idea off of Jonathan when I see him," I smiled. "Thanks, Doc." "I was just the sounding board," she said with a smile. "You came to the conclusion all by yourself. But I''m glad I could help, especially if understanding it makes you feel better. In fact, if you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯ll go have a word with Dr. Absolom about it. I met him a number of years ago, when I was in training. If he¡¯s seen something like this before, perhaps he can provide some insights. If you don¡¯t mind." I nodded. "I don¡¯t mind at all. I hate not being able to understand this." She laughed softly. "Yes, I think I got that." She wrote something down in her notebook, then flipped the page. "So, next topic¡­how are the anger management issues?" I grimaced. "Mostly under control. I had a little outburst last week when I got frustrated with a spell that was giving me trouble, but the techniques you taught me and Athena had it under control before it really got rolling." She nodded, smiling a little and writing in her notebook. "That''s good. What about what we discussed about learning to channel your anger constructively, like you described doing in Swindon last September." I held up a hand and rocked it back and forth. "Some days very well, some days not so well. I''ve learned to do it on command easily enough¡­it just requires me to get angry about something. But the results of spells cast when I''m channeling my anger are a bit uneven at best. Sometimes they''re tightly focused and impressively powerful, other times it''s like sticking your thumb over the end of a garden hose and turning it on all the way to get a wide spray." Dr. MacMoran winced. "Ah. That doesn''t sound very good at all." "Let''s just say I''m glad that Hollis lets me use his spellcasting chamber. If I were doing it anywhere other than in a room specially designed to contain energy, some of my attempts would have been absolute chaos." I drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "As it is, there''ve been some pretty wildly unexpected results. I think - and Hollis agrees with me - that it''s best done when I''m not just angry but focused on something specific. Like when I was dueling Sergeant Malone this morning¡­I was able to do it then without any trouble." "That sounds very reasonable," she agreed. "Hopefully you won''t have to try it very often anyway." "Indeed," I said fervently. "And how are you feeling about your half-sister these days?" I felt a myriad of emotions at the thought of Brenna. Anger and hate, over the way she had harmed and threatened to kill my mother and the closest thing I had to a real father. Fear, because of how close she''d genuinely come to killing me, and how woefully unprepared she''d shown me I was for a serious challenge. Those were the emotions I expected. But I also felt sadness, for opportunities lost. Had we grown up together, how different would our lives would have been? For good or for ill, there was no way to know¡­but like all people presented with such news, I''d played the ''What if'' game more than once. What would it have been like to have had a sister while growing up? I liked to think we''d''ve grown into a relationship not unlike the one I had with Athena. And I felt pity, for a young woman who hadn''t had the same opportunities I''d had. Brenna had grown up abused¡­desperately abused, if what I''d pieced together from her rambling rants and the fragments of memories and nightmares her spell had embedded in my brain for a while was accurate. Nobody had ever loved her or showed her any kindness. Even her familiars were, by her own admission, afraid of her. Though with a bit of advice from Athena, Artemis and me, she''d been improving that relationship slowly but surely. Those emotions still surprised me. "Ambivalent," I said finally. Dr. MacMoran tipped her head. "Oh?" I nodded. "I''m still angry at her, and I''m still kind of afraid of her¡­but I also feel sorry for her, and I regret the opportunities she never had that I did." Dr. MacMoran smiled. "That''s a very healthy attitude, Alys. I''m glad to hear it. Are you still exchanging letters with her?" "Yes, once or twice a month usually. Sometimes more often, when she''s feeling particularly chatty." My lips twisted into a lopsided smile. "I still don''t have any idea where my letters go when I post them, or where hers are coming from. Her address is just an anonymous postbox in a London office. Ben quietly looked into it for me, and as near as he can tell my letters never actually get to that address, and nobody has ever seen anyone leaving the mail that¡¯s sent from there. They just appear and disappear." I also hadn''t asked how he''d found out. It was none of my business, and I was pretty sure his knowing that information wasn''t entirely legal without having gone through the courts to get a warrant first. "Well," Dr. MacMoran said with a smile that seemed almost as uneven as my own must''ve been, "don''t hesitate to recommend me to her if she decides she wants professional help. She sounds frightening at times, but she also sounds like she needs someone like me to talk to." Her smile became a bit more genuine, touching her eyes. "I think you''d agree that it helps." I nodded fervently. "It most assuredly does. It was tough at first, but I''m glad I stuck with it." "I am too," she closed her notebook and set it aside. "I''m also pleased to declare you about as stable as any Wizard I''ve spoken with, and quite a bit more sane than some." She winked and rose, offering me her hand. I rose as well and shook it warmly. "Thank you, Doctor. I think." "I''ll let Superintendent Reid know that I feel you''re fit for field consulting again. I''m sure you''re eager to get back to exciting work." "I''m a bit weary of running errands for Hollis," I agreed. "But the time to heal was important. I recognize that now." "As I said, a very healthy attitude." She walked me to the door. "Don''t be a stranger, Alys. Call me any time you need an ear to bend, or even if you just want to meet for lunch sometime. I''d like to catch up with how you''re doing once in a while." I smiled. "Thank you, Doctor. I''d like that too." Circles - Chapter 3 (April 27th, 1987) Habits picked up during physical therapy tend to last, at least in my opinion. For example: I¡¯d been given a series of stretches and exercises to restore the flexibility and strength of my right leg, and even though I¡¯d long since passed the point of needing to do them as part of my recovery, I still did them. I¡¯d even expanded them to encompass my left leg, and had added on similar exercises for my upper body as well. Ten minutes worth of stretches had turned into an almost ritualistic thirty minute low-impact workout every morning before breakfast. It had done wonders for my flexibility and overall muscle tone. Another example: During one of the rougher stretches of my recovery, my physical therapist - Dr. Patricia Kestrel - had gotten into the habit of dragging me out to breakfast once or twice a week. On the worst days, it was brunch or an early lunch instead of breakfast. Once she¡¯d even had to draft Athena to help literally, physically drag me out of bed and toss my depressed, mopey ass into an ice cold shower. That had been eight months ago, and I was very, very pleased to be well past it. Since then Trish and I had become pretty close friends, and we continued to meet for breakfast at least a couple of times a month. Today we were meeting at an outdoor cafe we liked - mainly because we knew that it could always be counted on to deliver delicious (and no doubt highly fattening) breakfasts - just a couple of blocks down from Harrods. I was running a little late this morning, and could see that Trish was already sitting at a table in the warm morning sun as I approached. But then, she was hard to miss. She was a couple of inches taller than me, but built along the same lines...slender and lithe, with golden blonde hair that was a few shades darker than my own, amber-colored eyes, and the delicately pointed ears of a Changeling, just like me. The children of a human mortal and one of the Sidhe, the immortal beings who ruled the Spirit World that existed alongside our own. It wasn¡¯t uncommon for people to mistake us for sisters. Trish was, however, at least a couple of hundred years older than me. She hadn¡¯t told me precisely how much. And we were at least reasonably certain that we weren¡¯t related, except perhaps very distantly. Trish was also a bit more¡­flamboyant than I was. She was dressed for work in sneakers, dark red spandex leggings and a matching cropped top, with a gray sweatshirt (probably with some sort of snarky comment printed on it) draped over the back of her chair. I watched in some amusement as the eyes of people around her, and those passing by, drifted over to linger on her for a moment, quite unconsciously. She spotted me, pushed up her sunglasses and lifted a hand in greeting. Then started to smile as I slipped through the cafe¡¯s gate and approached. By the time I sat down, she was grinning. ¡°Good morning, hot stuff.¡± I blinked in surprise. Sure, I was wearing fitted jeans and a fairly tight shirt, but I hardly qualified, especially not sitting at a table with her. ¡°Huh?¡± Athena - dressed in an outfit identical to mine, as was our habit - sat down between us at the little round table. ¡°Don¡¯t bother, Trish. She hasn¡¯t noticed yet.¡± Artemis wound her way around the table for a moment before sprawling beneath it at our feet, her tail flipping lazily. She yawned. <> Her telepathic comment was heard only by me and Athena. The magical bond shared among the three of us was, I was told, deeper than that found between most spellcasters and their familiars. I had no reason to doubt it...Athena and Artemis were closer to me than my own sister. Trish looked amused. ¡°Seriously?¡± I gave her my very best blank, confused look. It wasn¡¯t hard, since I had no idea what they talking about. ¡°It¡¯s been going on for a few weeks now,¡± Athena explained. ¡°Ever since Ben gave her that Claddagh ring for her birthday.¡± ¡°What has?¡± I asked, confused, idly playing with the ring in question. Ben had jokingly called it a promise ring when he¡¯d given it to me, saying that neither of us was ready to get engaged...and joking aside, he was right. He was hard at work at Scotland Yard, and I was just as hard at work for Wizard Hollis Ellister, as both employee and student. I was intent on earning my Wizard¡¯s license before my thirtieth birthday. We were both enjoying what we had together, and felt no need to rush things. Trish laughed. ¡°You didn¡¯t see the way you were turning heads as you walked in here?¡± ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°No, I didn¡¯t.¡± Out of curiosity, I glanced around, and caught sight of men and women alike quickly looking away from our table. Admittedly, we were quite a spectacle; two half-Sidhe - rare enough to see one, let alone two together - sitting with an Elevated snow leopard who looked very nearly like my twin sister and a normal snow leopard who weighed in at a comfortable (and sometimes intimidating) 85 pounds. Trish shook her head, smirking. ¡°Congratulations, you¡¯ve come into your Glamour at last. Let¡¯s order some breakfast. You can tell me what you¡¯ve been up to, and I¡¯ll fill you in on how to deal with this latest development.¡± ¡°My...what?¡± I was familiar with the term, of course...Glamour was a type of magic that Sidhe used to befuddle and bewitch the senses of humans. It was like illusion magic, only much more profound in a variety of ways. The most common use of it that I was aware of was seducing mortal men and women, leaving them with vague, fond, dreamy memories of the encounter. Like the way my mom became pregnant with me 25 years ago. Athena sighed. ¡°Oh boy.¡± A cute brunette waitress wearing black shorts and a red t-shirt approached and gave us a perky smile. ¡°Ready to order, ladies?¡± Trish looked up. ¡°Let¡¯s go wild. Waffles with strawberries and cream, side of ham.¡± Athena purred. ¡°Make that two. That sounds great.¡± I chuckled softly. ¡°Three please. Artemis?¡± <> Artemis yawned ostentatiously. <> ¡®Mousie¡¯ was Artemis¡¯s nickname for Elsie, Hollis¡¯s Elevated mouse familiar housekeeper/secretary/etc. They had an interesting relationship. I smiled at the waitress. ¡°Nothing for my other familiar, thanks.¡± She finished scribbling on her pad and beamed at us. ¡°Rad! Ten minutes or so, ¡®kay? Want anything to drink?¡± Trish looked like she was getting a headache. ¡°English breakfast tea, please.¡± ¡°Hot cocoa,¡± Athena said, smiling. ¡°Irish breakfast tea for me, and a bowl of water.¡± The waitress giggled. ¡°Cool! I¡¯ll be right back!¡± She flounced off, hair bobbing, hips swaying. Trish finally gave in and pinched the bridge of her nose. ¡°Brigid have mercy.¡± That was interesting. It was the first sign I¡¯d seen of Trish showing any religious bent, and she¡¯d called on an ancient Celtic deity. Athena laughed softly. ¡°Slang getting to you?¡± ¡°Slang, insane energy levels...too perky!¡± ¡°This from the woman who introduced herself to us by yanking open the blinds in our hospital room and telling us we were being lazy at eight in the morning, while our injuries were still healing,¡± I teased. ¡°I¡¯d already had my breakfast and tea,¡± Trish said plaintively. ¡°I can¡¯t take perky before tea.¡± There was a moment of silence, then all three of us burst out laughing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw people turning to watch us again. As we calmed, Trish sighed happily and leaned back in her chair. ¡°You know, a year ago I was afraid I¡¯d never get to hear you laugh. I¡¯m glad you found your balance again.¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Mostly,¡± I said. ¡°I have some anger management issues I never had before...¡± Trish made a dismissive gesture. ¡°Something most of us live with all our lives. You¡¯ll adjust.¡± ¡°She is,¡± Athena confirmed. I met Trish¡¯s eyes. ¡°So...Glamour?¡± She nodded and smiled, and I thought that the expression might be a little bit sad. ¡°Most Changelings come into their Glamour around their twentieth birthdays...you¡¯re running a bit behind, in that respect, but you¡¯re also the only Changeling I¡¯ve ever known who was studying to become a Wizard. That might¡¯ve had some effect on it.¡± <> Athena observed thoughtfully. I glanced at her. <> <> <> I admitted wryly. ¡°You know about Sidhe Glamour, right?¡± Trish asked. Athena and I both nodded. ¡°Good. Well, we Changelings get a small measure of it. We can¡¯t do the kind of total sensory override that our Sidhe parents can pull off, but it¡¯s enough to befuddle weak-minded people.¡± Trish hesitated. ¡°Mostly we just unconsciously make ourselves more attractive to the people around us.¡± Something inside me twisted up. Was that how I¡¯d gotten Ben¡¯s attention? ¡°Generally it¡¯s not something you do intentionally,¡± Trish continued hastily, probably reading my expression, ¡°and it doesn¡¯t usually have much of an impact on people who already have positive feelings for you.¡± I breathed a sigh of relief, and felt the twist in my stomach un-knot. Trish flashed a quick grin. ¡°Worried about Ben?¡± ¡°Worried about having taken him against his will,¡± Athena clarified. The waitress returned then, deposited our mugs in front of us and bent down to slide the bowl of water under the table to Artemis, who bumped the girl¡¯s hand in thanks and received an ear-ruffle in return. When she was gone again, Trish nodded. ¡°Yeah, I get that. The first two times I was married, I was afraid I¡¯d influenced them into doing it.¡± She smiled lopsidedly. ¡°I realized about halfway through my second marriage that I wasn¡¯t.¡± I raised an eyebrow. ¡°And how many times have you been married?¡± Trish smirked. ¡°Trade secret.¡± ¡°Woman of mystery,¡± Athena muttered, and sipped her cocoa. Trish¡¯s smile grew. ¡°I have several human lifetimes worth of experience under my belt. Forgive me if I don¡¯t share all of it at once.¡± She winked. I huffed out a little laugh. ¡°Fair enough.¡± ¡°Anyway,¡± Trish said, ¡°It¡¯s not something you really need to worry about or pay much mind to. Just be aware of it. When you¡¯re out in public, you¡¯re going to turn heads, but that¡¯s about all it really amounts to. Like your anger management issues, you¡¯ll adjust.¡± ¡°Not that she didn¡¯t turn heads already anyway,¡± Athena said, amused. ¡°Like that guy who was so busy watching you that he walked into the side of a taxi shelter.¡± I snorted a laugh at the memory. ¡°All right, so I didn¡¯t accidentally use it to seduce Ben...¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go that far,¡± Athena said, smiling behind her mug. ¡°You certainly left him gobsmacked when you told him to come and ¡®unwrap his present¡¯ last Yule.¡± Trish, who¡¯d heard the story, started laughing. ¡°You might¡¯ve hit him with a bit of it then, but believe me honey, if he hadn¡¯t wanted to, he wouldn¡¯t have. Eventually, you¡¯ll learn how to control it well enough to turn it on at will...and pretty much all you¡¯ll be able to do with it is soften up someone in your favor.¡± I set down my tea mug and held up both hands in surrender. ¡°I¡¯ll put it out of my mind and not worry about it.¡± Trish nodded. ¡°Good. It¡¯s just another aspect of being half-Sidhe. Think of it as the Sidhe equivalent of going through puberty. And you might find it useful at times. Just don¡¯t try too hard to use it to bend minds the way the Sidhe can. I¡¯ve never met a Changeling who could. And maybe that¡¯s a good thing. Keeps us humble...keeps us human.¡± I snorted and picked up my tea again. Trish was many things, most of them - to my knowledge - wonderful. But humble? Not so much. ¡°So, how goes the physical abuse at the Yard?¡± Trish asked. ¡°I am free!¡± I said, spreading my arms wide and grinning. ¡°At least, officially. I¡¯m still going to go back regularly to keep working on my skills. But two days ago, Sergeant Malone said I was ready for field work, and Dr. MacMoran said the same thing. I¡¯ve passed both my physical and psych evaluations, and in a few days I¡¯ll go back to Scotland Yard to do the paperwork to get back my consultant¡¯s license.¡± ¡°Congratulations!¡± Trish leaned across the small table to give me an awkward but heartfelt hug. ¡°Girl, that¡¯s a really big deal! I can¡¯t believe you weren¡¯t bursting to tell me that news as soon as you sat down.¡± ¡°I was,¡± I smiled, ¡°but I kinda got sidetracked.¡± ¡°True.¡± Trish smiled warmly across the table at me. ¡°This is cause for celebration. You¡¯re more than ready to get back to work, kiddo. Don¡¯t you doubt it for a minute." "She will anyway," Athena said with a sigh. "Artemis and I have been trying to shore up her self-confidence for months." I kicked her shin lightly under the table. "Well, we have!" she said. I huffed a little laugh. "Yeah, I guess you have. Sorry." Athena waved it off. "We don''t mind." <> Artemis contradicted her, but without any malice. Just kind of lazily. She''s such a cat. <> Athena chuckled as I grimaced. "I just missed a smart-ass comment from Artemis, didn''t I?" Trish asked with a grin. "She was commenting on how stupid my self-pity-period was," I said, "thus obliquely letting me know that she feels the same way about my current lack of confidence." Trish reached under the table and ruffled Artemis'' ears. "You tell her, kitty." Artemis made a contented sound and subsided into silence. Evidently, she felt she¡¯d made her point with Trish¡¯s help. I guess she had, too. I¡¯d been working hard to both recover and improve, and nobody could deny that I¡¯d done both. The question was, would I be ready for whatever came next? ¡°Whatever¡¯s on your mind,¡± Trish said, ¡°you¡¯re thinking about it way too hard. It¡¯s a beautiful morning, relax. And here comes our food.¡± The arrival of our absolutely sinful (delicious, delectable, delightful¡­) repast halted all conversation and took undeniable priority over even my lingering self-doubt. Fifteen minutes later, feeling replete and with my good mood restored - it¡¯s funny how a really good meal will do that - I sat back and sipped my tea. ¡°Anyway,¡± I said, ¡°I guess we¡¯ll see soon enough what Hollis has in store for me. If anything. Sometimes I think he likes giving me mysterious instructions to stand ready for the sake of seeing how long I¡¯ll hold out before my curiosity gets the better of me.¡± Trish laughed. ¡°From what I hear, that¡¯s not uncommon in your line of work. Someday, you¡¯ll get to do it to your own apprentice or employee.¡± My lips stretched into a smirk at the idea. I couldn¡¯t help it. The idea really did sound like a lot of fun. Athena chuckled. ¡°She gets it,¡± she informed Trish. Trish smiled, then lifted a hand to flag down the server. ¡°Breakfast is on me this morning, you got the last one.¡± I nodded. ¡°I believe I¡¯ll go see what¡¯s in store for me today.¡± As it turned out, Hollis hadn¡¯t had anything specific in mind for me¡­but, as is usually the case in the life of a professional Wizard, something had come up. We¡¯d barely had time to close the front door behind us upon returning before he was calling our names from his office. He leaned back in the chair behind his desk, folding his hands over his stomach (which had, thanks to Elsie¡¯s ¡®tender¡¯ mercies, decreased in size significantly over the past year), and gave me a long look. ¡°I received a call from a colleague this morning, who in turn received a call from an old friend in York.¡± He jabbed a finger at me. ¡°Which is why networking is so important, as I¡¯ve said many times before.¡± I nodded. There was no point arguing. He was right, it was something I needed to work on improving. ¡°A teenage girl has gone missing, and I¡¯m given to understand that the police are reluctant to look into it,¡± he said, then rolled his eyes a little. ¡°Apparently, she¡¯s run away three times in the last two years, but her parents are convinced that this time is different somehow and want a Wizard - or, in your case, a Wizard-in-training - to try to track her with magic.¡± He tore a sheet of paper off the notepad by his phone and held it out to me - his desk was simply too overloaded with tomes, alchemical reagents and loose scraps of paper and parchment to safely put it down there anywhere. It would¡¯ve just vanished into the scrum. So I took it from him and read a name - Wilhelmina Rein - and an address in York. ¡°You have a ticket waiting for you for the 11:00 train,¡± Hollis said, ¡°which gives you about an hour to get there. You¡¯ll be in York by one in the afternoon. See what you can do to help find the girl. Work with the police if they get involved, and for the sake of all that¡¯s good don¡¯t fight over whose responsibility it is. They¡¯re the police. Follow their lead if they want to take charge, and back off if they decide they don¡¯t want you involved.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± He smiled slightly and looked at me more closely, then nodded to himself. ¡°Good. You¡¯re ready for this...more than ready for it, if you ask me. You¡¯ve spent too much time doubting yourself. Are you doubting yourself now?¡± Athena smirked, no doubt remembering our earlier conversation with Trish. I shook my head firmly. ¡°No, sir. Not even a little. I¡¯ll find her.¡± His smile grew. ¡°Good. Get going, you¡¯re on the clock.¡± That sort of abrupt introduction to a job was why Athena and I kept our Bottomless Bag packed with basic gear and ready to go at a moment¡¯s notice. We stored a few of changes of clothes in it - including a very professional-looking pantsuit for me, and a more formal version of Athena¡¯s bodysuit outfit for her - along with all of the basic tools and common bits and bobs that made up many Hermetic ritual circles. The outside pouches held several backup weapons, extra ammunition for Athena¡¯s big LeMat revolver, snacks and drinks, and a variety of first aid items. To make a long story short (I know, too late), it saves a lot of time on packing. In less than fifteen minutes, we had changed into work clothes, I was adjusting my utility belt, and Athena was slinging her sword and it¡¯s harness over her shoulder as we headed out the door. Artemis bumped her head affectionately against Elsie¡¯s hip as she saw us out and closed the door behind us. On the cab ride to the station, I cast a Sending to Ben, letting him know where we were off to and that I¡¯d let him know when we got back. We were already getting settled in the private compartment Hollis had reserved for us - he spared no expense for comfort, his own or ours - before Ben¡¯s response reached us. Artemis had just claimed one of the two cushioned bench seats when the Sending arrived; Ben¡¯s spectral wolf entered through the outside wall of the train. It quickly turned into an image of my boyfriend sitting behind his desk and smiling. ¡°Congratulations on getting back in the saddle,¡± his image said with a slightly tinny sound to it, almost like a radio transmission. ¡°I¡¯ll see you soon. Love you.¡± Then his Sending faded away. Athena and I sat down on the bench across from Artemis, smiled at one another, and settled in to enjoy the train ride. We ate a light lunch on the train and arrived in York a little under two hours later. Before long, a cab had taken us to the address Hollis had provided, and we stood before the door of an old but well cared-for home. Circles - Chapter 4 The door was opened by a middle-aged woman a couple of inches taller than me with long, dark hair that was streaked with gray. Her face was angular and a little pinched, her eyes narrowed and her lips drawn thin. She looked at me, then at Athena, then past us with a hopeful look on her face¡­then back at me doubtfully. ¡°Can I help you?¡± ¡°Wilhelmina Rein?¡± I shifted my cane to my left hand and offered her my right to shake. ¡°I¡¯m Mage Alys Kinnear. These are my familiars, Athena and Artemis. Hollis Ellister sent us.¡± She gave me a doubtful once-over and shook my hand uncertainly. ¡°Oh? I was expecting someone a bit¡­older.¡± She gave me another head to toe glance. ¡°I get that a lot,¡± I said with what I hoped was a reassuring smile. ¡°Wizard Hollis Ellister came highly recommended by a friend,¡± she said slowly, ¡°and when I spoke to him on the phone this morning he said he¡¯d be sending an expert.¡± <> Athena murmured over our bond. I sighed mentally. This was a conversation we¡¯d had several times over the last few months. It had begun with Hollis politely suggesting before Yule that I enhance my ¡®professional wardrobe¡¯ to include clothes suitable for active work while still looking a bit more upscale than my usual leather trousers or denim pants. I had just as politely argued that such clothes were both more rugged and less expensive to replace than the sorts of items I¡¯d thought he¡¯d meant, especially if they were frequently going to get covered with substances like the troll goo that had resulted in my having to burn one of my favorite oilcloth coats. Troll goo doesn¡¯t come out of anything, especially oilcloth. And don¡¯t ever try to burn it to dispose of it. Gods, the smell¡­ Trish and Ben had both chimed in on the subject over the next few weeks as well, resulting in Trish dragging me out on a shopping expedition to find me new ¡®professional¡¯ wear. I had been pleasantly surprised by the results, both in terms of not horribly depleting the savings I¡¯d accrued from the salary Hollis paid me and in the quality and quantity of clothing I¡¯d been able to acquire. In my rush that morning, I hadn¡¯t given it a second thought, and now stood before Mrs. Rein in fitted denim pants, flat-heeled ankle boots, a dark green shirt and a short brown leather jacket. I sighed mentally again, really seeing myself from a client¡¯s perspective for the first time. I probably did not look anything like her mental image of an expert Mage. Perhaps appearances really were as important in making a first impression as skill and reputation. We live and learn. <> <> Athena replied, amused. <> Artemis huffed and bumped my leg with her shoulder. <> I ignored that comment as gracefully as possible. When one¡¯s feline familiar is chiding you about your appearance, it was probably past time to update it. ¡°May we come in?¡± I asked Mrs. Rein. ¡°We¡¯re here to do whatever we can to help find your daughter.¡± Mrs. Rein nodded and stepped aside for us. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know where my manners are this morning.¡± ¡°You¡¯re worried about your daughter,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s perfectly all right. When did you last see her?¡± ¡°Two days ago, when she left for school,¡± Mrs. Rein said, guiding us into a kitchen that had all the earmarks of being well-organized, but was currently in a state of mild disarray. ¡°She wasn¡¯t home in time for dinner, which isn¡¯t all that unusual - she likes to go hang out with her friends after school - but when she wasn¡¯t home by full dark¡­I started to get worried.¡± The way she said the word ¡®friends¡¯ made me think these were friends she didn¡¯t wholly approve of. Or approve of at all, maybe. ¡°I called the police last night when she wasn¡¯t home by her usual bedtime,¡± Mrs. Rein continued as we sat down around the small kitchen table, ¡°and they said they¡¯d keep an eye out for her and to let them know if she hadn¡¯t returned by this morning. My husband went out to check the places she and her friends hang out, but didn¡¯t find any of them.¡± I slid a small notebook and a pen out of one of the pouches on my belt, and began taking notes. ¡°We might need to get a list of the most common ones later,¡± I said, ¡°as well as the names of her friends. What did you do after that?¡± ¡°We went to bed,¡± she said, spreading her hands to indicate her helplessness. ¡°The police couldn¡¯t - or wouldn¡¯t - do anything, so what could we do? We sat in bed most of the night, unable to sleep and unable to think of anything else we could do.¡± ¡°When you say the police ¡®wouldn¡¯t¡¯ do anything,¡± Athena asked, ¡°what do you mean?¡± Mrs. Rein gave Athena a weird look, then turned to me. ¡°You let your familiar do your talking for you?¡± she asked in a disapproving tone. Sitting on her haunches beside my chair, Artemis made an almost inaudible sound of displeasure. Oh, wonderful. One of those. Normal familiars hold a weird and admittedly uncertain place in society, as they¡¯re magically bound - permanently - to the spellcaster who claimed them, but for the most part people (translation: non-spellcasters) usually just treat them like pets. That is, very basically, what they are, after all. Elevated familiars, on the other hand, tend to be treated as servants by many non-spellcasters. Or, worse, slaves. People look at them and see a creature that¡¯s not entirely human, and definitely not a wild animal anymore¡­and don¡¯t know what to do. Human nature being what it is, those who aren¡¯t able to accept Elevated familiars as our equals treat them as our inferiors. Some days I¡¯m more unhappy with the human side of my heritage than the Sidhe side. There¡¯s a movement to improve the legal standing and rights of Elevated familiars, but its slow going. Athena and I had been blessed to have very limited contact with the slowly shrinking portions of society who didn¡¯t consider Elevated familiars to be intelligent, thinking, feeling beings. I met Mrs. Rein¡¯s eyes steadily and didn¡¯t say anything. Finally, as the silence - and her disapproval - was becoming uncomfortable, I quietly said, ¡°I¡¯d appreciate it if you¡¯d answer the question.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t remember a question being asked,¡± Mrs. Rein replied loftily. I sighed a little. ¡°Mrs. Rein, I am trying to be polite and respectful. I would appreciate the same consideration in return. That extends to Athena, who is my very highly valued partner.¡± Which was as close as I could get to chastising a client. At least, until they were my clients, and not Hollis Ellister¡¯s. ¡°If you want us to try to find your daughter, you need to help us by giving us all the information you can.¡± She huffed out a breath and looked mildly offended¡­but did, at least, answer. ¡°Fine. Mina - that¡¯s my daughter - has run away several times before. At first, she didn¡¯t get very far, or came back after a day or two. But that was when she was thirteen. When she was fifteen, she fell in with these new friends of hers, and they showed her places to hide and ways to get by on her own. The first time she didn¡¯t come back for two days, we called the police and they went looking for her. But she came home before they could find her. That happened the second time she was gone for two days as well. The third time, they said they¡¯d keep an eye out for her and look into it as soon as possible, and of course she came back the next day, but since then, we¡¯ve had a hard time getting them to help! Imagine, the police not being willing to look for a missing girl!¡± Her voice had grown agitated as she spoke until she sounded nearly hysterical by the time she finished, and it took her a minute to pull herself back together. ¡°What makes you think she won¡¯t come back this time?¡± I asked, carefully keeping my voice calm and level. ¡°We had a fight the day before she disappeared about what university she was going to go to,¡± Mrs. Rein said. ¡°She thought she was going to Oxford and talked about getting a degree in art and a Mage certification, but I told her she was going to stay right here and study law or medicine. The University of York is an excellent school. Honestly, art? No, she¡¯ll study something sensible. And what good is getting a Mage certification in a career where you¡¯ll never need it? I suppose I wouldn¡¯t mind, of course¡­my side of the family has always had talents in that area, and it can be a very prestigious thing to have.¡± I was beginning to understand why Mina might try to run away. For an instant, I thought about putting my two cents in¡­then Athena gently stepped on my toes under the table. <> she thought to me, <> <> My mental voice sounded sour even to me. Out loud, I said, ¡°May I ask where your husband is today?¡± ¡°At work,¡± Mrs. Rein replied, looking surprised I¡¯d even need to ask the question. ¡°Providing for his family, like a good husband should.¡± Oy vey, as a rabbi I¡¯d studied under during my apprenticeship would¡¯ve said. I got the emotional equivalent of an eye-roll from Artemis, and a muttered <> ¡°Of course,¡± I said. ¡°I think that gives us a picture of events to work with. What I really need is some personal item of hers¡­something that she values very highly, or that she¡¯s handled very recently. The more closely connected to her it is, the better. Hair from a hairbrush would work very well, for example.¡± Mrs. Rein nodded and rose. ¡°I can get that for you. Do you need a lot?¡± I shook my head. ¡°A few strands will do, especially if they¡¯re long enough for me to tie around something.¡± ¡°Oh yes, she has lovely long hair. Just a moment, I¡¯ll go get it.¡± She hurried out of the kitchen, and a moment later we heard her going up a flight of stairs somewhere close by. <> Athena observed. <> <> I shook my head. <> Athena shrugged. <> I grunted. <> Athena shuddered. <> Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. <> Artemis observed, <> <> I asked, teasing. <> Artemis yawned. <> We heard Mrs. Rein¡¯s footsteps on the stairs then, and a moment later she came back into the kitchen, holding several long strands of hair in one hand. She laid them on the table, just as the doorbell sounded and she looked up, surprised. ¡°I¡¯m not expecting anyone else. Let me just see who¡¯s there. Maybe it¡¯s Mina and she forgot her key¡­¡± She hurried out of the room again. I scooped up the hairs and slid them into a pocket. <> <> Athena agreed. ¡°Mage Kinnear,¡± Mrs. Rein called down the hall, ¡°would you come here, please?¡± <> I rose and scooped up my cane. <> Athena muttered as she and Artemis followed me. At the front door, we found Mrs. Rein talking to two uniformed policemen. It sounded like she was going over her story again, so I listened carefully for inconsistencies. It never ceased to amaze me how the average person could give you the same information two or three times, and provide different details each time. Of course, spellcasters do the same thing. But because our minds are trained to organize and retain details, it¡¯s generally because we left something out on purpose. ¡°¡­And that¡¯s where we are right now,¡± Mrs. Rein finished, gesturing to me. ¡°Mage Kinnear was sent by her employer to try to track my daughter, but now that you¡¯re looking into it -¡° ¡°Actually,¡± the older of the two patrolmen - whose rank badge marked him as a sergeant said, ¡°if Mage Kinnear wouldn¡¯t mind working with us, all of our Mages are busy on other cases. We could use her help finding Mina.¡± I shook my head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind at all.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Mrs. Rein said, her face pinched in distaste. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I like that idea. I don¡¯t approve of paying for services the police should be handling as part of their civic duties¡­¡± ¡°The York police department will be perfectly happy to pay Mage Kinnear¡¯s retainer and fees to assist us,¡± the older patrolman said, the soul of conciliation. ¡°It all comes back around to my taxes in the end,¡± Mrs. Rein complained, ¡°doesn¡¯t it.¡± The younger patrolman caught my eye for a moment and smiled faintly. I returned the little smile and nodded slightly to let him know I understood. ¡°Well, get on with it then,¡± Mrs. Rein said finally. ¡°You have what you need, Mage Kinnear?¡± I nodded. ¡°Thank you very much, Mrs. Rein. I¡¯ll do everything I can to find her.¡± ¡°See that you do.¡± She ushered us out without another word and all but slammed the door behind us. We were all silent for a moment, and the two patrolmen looked as embarrassed by Mrs. Rein¡¯s behavior as I felt. <> Athena said, taking a deep breath and letting it out to release her frustration. I did the same thing and nodded slightly. ¡°Well,¡± the older patrolman said, ¡°I¡¯m Sergeant Brian Chase. This is my partner Constable Paul Meyers.¡± ¡°Pleased to meet you, Mage Kinnear,¡± Meyers said with a smile. ¡°I remember reading about the haunting you dealt with a couple of years ago at that old asylum in London.¡± There¡¯d been a lot of police involvement to get that cleaned up towards the end, and it had been in all the papers, so I wasn¡¯t surprised he¡¯d heard about it. ¡°Call me Alys, please. This is Athena, and Artemis.¡± We all shook hands, and Meyers even bent to shake Artemis¡¯s paw when she jokingly offered it. I liked them already. ¡°You need a place to cast a tracking spell, yes?¡± Chase asked. ¡°I¡¯ve worked with Mages on the Force, and that¡¯s usually what they do. Make a circle and cast the spell.¡± I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. Mrs. Rein gave me a few of Mina¡¯s hairs from her hairbrush¡­that should be plenty for me to get a fix on her location and lead us right to her.¡± ¡°Excellent,¡± Chase said. ¡°There¡¯s an empty lot several houses down, new construction. Will that work?¡± ¡°Perfectly. Lead the way.¡± ¡°Thank you for agreeing to work with us,¡± Meyers said as we walked. ¡°Our department¡¯s not as large as London¡¯s¡­we only have a few fully certified police Mages, and their time is in high demand.¡± ¡°I can imagine,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m a little surprised you¡¯re willing to take up my retainer and fees so freely, though.¡± I had, after all, effectively been banned from consulting for Scotland Yard until I completed their six-month Special Magical Response training program. There was no doubt that information had filtered down to police departments throughout the country by now. ¡°Like Meyers said, we¡¯re short-handed,¡± Chase replied. ¡°And we¡¯re just looking for a runaway girl, not clearing out a nest of trolls from under a bridge or anything.¡± I winced and felt my cheeks heat up. ¡°You heard about that?¡± ¡°D.I. Donovan¡¯s report about it made the Police Gazette in the ¡®Humorous Calls¡¯ column back in December,¡± Meyers said, giving me an amused look. I was going to have to have a word with Ben about that. More specifically, about not telling me about it. I sighed. ¡°I suppose it is pretty funny, in retrospect. I had to destroy a good coat, though. Troll goo.¡± Chase winced. ¡°You didn¡¯t try to burn it, did you?¡± ¡°She did,¡± Athena confirmed. ¡°Is that bad?¡± Meyers asked. He must¡¯ve been as new to his work as I was to mine. ¡°Very,¡± Chase, Athena and I all said together. Artemis made a disgusted gagging noise at the same time. Meyers chuckled. ¡°Here we are, then,¡± Chase said, gesturing to a vacant lot. The foundation of a new house had been poured, but nothing beyond that had been built yet. The yard was bare dirt, which would be fine for building the circle for a simple tracking spell. I nodded. ¡°This will do nicely. Let¡¯s get to work.¡± Tracking spells sound like a fairly simple thing, and in fact they¡¯re frequently one of the first types of spell that any spellcaster learns while training. But not because they¡¯re in any way simple; quite the opposite, in fact. They¡¯re one of the first types of spell taught to young spellcasters because of how potentially complex they can be. Learning to successfully cast a tracking spell - even to do something as simple as locate your misplaced keys - actually takes quite a bit of effort. Not in terms of magical energy. Most tracking spells take very little Anima to actually make work. The effort comes from successfully constructing a surprisingly subtle spell, which will go out into the world and locate something based on the often tenuous connections between the caster and their desired target. Because tracking spells are based on Sympathetic Magic, which is all about creating links between the caster and their target. Finding misplaced keys is relatively easy. You imagine the keys in your mind - ideally, they¡¯re your keys, so you know them very well indeed - then send your Anima out into the world to locate them. With something as simple as your own keys, a link already exists between you and them, so it¡¯s usually pretty easy to find them. Casting a tracking spell to find a person, especially one you¡¯ve never met before, is considerably more complicated. ¡°Athena,¡± I said as I coiled the bit of hair we¡¯d found on the girl¡¯s hairbrush around a small piece of quartz crystal, ¡°Can you set up a basic ritual circle for me? A circle in the dirt and my rune blocks will be plenty.¡± ¡°Consider it done,¡± she replied, unslinging our bottomless bag from her shoulder and rummaging in its outside pockets. ¡°Do you mind telling us what you¡¯re doing?¡± Meyers asked. ¡°Not at all, Constable. What I¡¯m doing is creating a channel for me to use to find the girl. Her hair has a strong sympathetic bond with her, and quartz crystal is an excellent amplifier. The end result,¡± I tied the quartz to a length of plain white string, ¡°is a pendulum that should orient itself on her once the spell is cast.¡± ¡°The ritual circle,¡± Athena said as she finished tracing a circle in the dirt with a knife and began sorting through the small cubes that made up my collection of pre-made rune blocks, ¡°will help focus and channel the initial energy of the spell, which should make it easier to cast.¡± The two policemen looked at us like we were speaking a foreign language. Artemis made a sound suspiciously like a snicker. I smiled. ¡°I¡¯m reminding this bit of hair which head it belonged on, and it¡¯s going to show me where that head is.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± Meyers said, looking relieved. ¡°You really haven¡¯t worked with police Mages much, have you,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°I have, but Meyers hasn¡¯t,¡± Chase said. Meyers smiled sheepishly. ¡°You¡¯re my first, ma¡¯am.¡± I thought about making a naughty joke there, but refrained. There¡¯s a time and a place for such things, and it¡¯s usually not when talking to the police. <> Artemis observed, pacing lightly around the circle Athena was building. <> Athena hid her smile by bending over one of the rune blocks. <> I shot back. <> Artemis bristled the fur of her tail and shuddered. Athena snickered quietly. ¡°Anyway,¡± Chase added, ¡°they never take the time to explain things to us. It makes a nice change of pace.¡± ¡°Do you gentlemen have a plan for finding her if she turns out to not be within walking distance?¡± I asked. ¡°We can have a car here within ten minutes,¡± Chase said. ¡°Do you think that¡¯s likely?¡± ¡°I think she¡¯s not likely to be close by,¡± I answered, then considered the question for a moment. ¡°Unless she¡¯s just hiding from her mother.¡± From the look Chase and Meyers gave one another, I suspected they¡¯d spotted the same potential problems within the family I had. ¡°Out of curiosity, have you guys dealt with this family before?¡± ¡°Twice,¡± Meyers said. ¡°And got a lot of grief about not doing our jobs right from her both times.¡± ¡°What about the husband?¡± Chase shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ve only spoken with him once. He seemed pretty detached from the whole situation.¡± I sighed. ¡°Which is worse, growing up with a parent who doesn¡¯t care, or without one at all?¡± I¡¯d grown up without a father, until Jonathan Tremane took me under his wing as his apprentice, and eventually filled that role. Athena looked up from where she was placing a rune block and frowned at me slightly. The two patrolmen gave me weird looks. I waved them off. ¡°Rhetorical question. Almost done there, sister?¡± Athena nodded and rose, brushing dirt from her knees. ¡°All set. Containment, enhancement, gathering, direction and guidance,¡± she said, pointing at each of the five blocks she¡¯d used in turn. ¡°Excellent.¡± To Chase and Meyers, I said, ¡°This should only take me a couple of minutes.¡± Then I stepped into the center of the circle Athena had prepared, careful not to disrupt it or the placement of the rune blocks. I bent and touched the block which stood for containment. Previously, I¡¯d used cubes engraved with just Norse runes, since those were the ones I was most familiar with. Over the past year - with plenty of time on my hands during my recovery - I¡¯d broadened my horizon. The term ¡®rune blocks¡¯ was no longer entirely accurate, but I hadn¡¯t come up with a different name for them yet. In this case, the sides of the containment ¡®rune¡¯ were covered with miniature magic circles and other shapes from various magical systems, all of them designed to contain energy or entities. In this particular case, to represent containment, Athena had chosen to have facing up one of my own design, a circle containing a triangle containing another circle. It was a combination of elements from the Lesser Key of Solomon and a protective design I¡¯d found in the incredibly obscure and confusing Spells of Astaroth. A good choice. It would work nicely. With an effort of will and a bit of Anima, I closed the circle, which immediately began to glow with soft green light. Then I began gathering my own Anima and some from the world around me. Anima - also known as Ki, Mana, Spiritia, and a dozen other names - is the ultimate renewable energy source. Every magical tradition around the world uses it to power their spells and rituals, and modern science uses it to power almost all of the technological advances from the past century. It is limitless, constantly being renewed by the simple presence of living things on the planet, and incredibly versatile in its uses. It takes a lot of training to channel it properly - for a spellcaster - and it had taken decades for scientists to figure out a way to safely use it to create electricity for technological marvels. For all that, it can be exhausting to channel, shape and use it. Like any muscle, it gets easier with practice and time. ¡°Do you mind telling us what she¡¯s doing?¡± I heard Chase ask Athena quietly. ¡°Not at all,¡± Athena replied. We¡¯d discussed the ups and downs of explaining my work to observers, and had decided that it wasn¡¯t at all a bad thing to do. It would, among other things, keep them from interrupting¡­ ¡°The first thing she did was close the circle,¡± Athena began, ¡°which will make it easier for her to focus the Anima she¡¯s gathering to cast the tracking spell. It¡¯s like putting up a wind screen¡­it lets her work with the energy of the spell without risk of it being disrupted by other energies. Which is what she¡¯s doing now¡­gathering Anima for the spell. It¡¯s not a big spell, and the circle helps focus it, so it shouldn¡¯t take long.¡± Indeed, I was already done. With my right hand, I held out the hair-wrapped crystal on its string and let it fall, keeping the other end of the string wound around my middle finger. I lifted my cane in my left hand and channeled the Anima I¡¯d gathered into it, then touched the snow leopard-shaped head of the cane to the crystal and poured the energy into it. ¡°She¡¯s channeled the energy through her cane,¡± Athena was saying, ¡°which is set up to work like a wizard¡¯s staff for focusing and enhancing energy, and into the crystal. It lets her do more with a smaller amount of Anima. Next she¡¯ll cast the actual tracking spell - they¡¯re delicate, which is another reason to start it inside a circle - and we¡¯ll see if she can use the girl¡¯s hair to create a connection to her. Once that¡¯s done, she can break the circle and we can follow the pendant to the girl.¡± The two patrolmen made sounds of understanding. I murmured a few words in Latin and concentrated on shaping the spell. In my mind, I saw the hair connected to the crystal, the hair connected to the girl, the crystal connected to the girl¡­these are the basics of sympathetic magic. Creating, finding, and using connections between things. The crystal began to glow faintly blue, and through the string I felt it vibrating gently. It swayed back and forth a few times, then swung up and to my left at an angle, glowing more brightly¡­but not too brightly. ¡°Got her,¡± I said with satisfaction. Then the crystal swayed and dipped, its glow dimming slightly. I frowned at it. ¡°What does that mean?¡± Chase asked. ¡°It means she¡¯s off in that direction, not too close but not too far either,¡± I said slowly, trying to work out why the connection was unstable and the glow flickering dimmer and brighter by turns. ¡°It¡¯s odd, though. I expected it to be steadier.¡± ¡°Why would it do that?¡± Meyers asked. I shook my head, feeling a bit unsettled, then looked at them and put on a smile. ¡°Let¡¯s go find out, shall we?¡± Circles - Chapter 5 As promised, their car showed up in less than ten minutes, and with the addition of a third constable to our little group - one Samuel Paulson, who looked even more wet behind the ears than Meyers - we struck out in the direction indicated by the crystal. Its connection to Mina Rein remained more unstable than I¡¯d have liked, but the glow grew steadily (though it still flickered, which worried me) over the next fifteen minutes as we crossed town and left the city proper. We ended up pulling off to the side of the road and parking along a stretch of woods. I got out of the car and held up the crystal, which immediately shot out straight towards the woods, glowing brightly. Then it flickered, swayed and dipped¡­and suddenly went out completely, dropping straight down on it¡¯s string. I winced. ¡°What does that mean?¡± Sergeant Chase asked, coming to stand beside me. ¡°I hope it just means that my spell wasn¡¯t as stable as I¡¯d thought and the connection broke,¡± I said, feeling a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. ¡°What else could it mean?¡± he asked softly. ¡°That she just died,¡± I replied just as quietly, looking up to see him watching me closely. His lips tightened and he nodded. ¡°All right. Meyers, I know you can handle a Magearm pistol¡­break out two for us. Paulson, can you?¡± ¡°Not yet, sir,¡± the driver said. ¡°I haven¡¯t learned how yet.¡± Wow. This guy was deep in rookie territory. I thought everybody who graduated from the police academy knew how to handle a Magearm. Maybe that was just the London Metropolitan Police and Scotland Yard. ¡°All right,¡± Chase said, ¡°stay with the car, then. Meyers, grab a shotgun while you¡¯re in there.¡± Constable Meyers had just unlocked and opened the police car¡¯s boot, which I guessed was filled with various and sundry useful equipment - including, apparently, weapons. I supposed it made sense. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°Mage Kinnear,¡± Chase said, turning back to me, ¡°you and your familiars are coming with us. We might need your help or expertise. But if I tell you to stay back, you do so. Without question. Understood?¡± Suddenly, he reminded me a little of my Special Magical Response trainer at Scotland Yard. I nodded. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± He nodded in return. ¡°Good. Let¡¯s go, then.¡± As we followed the two policemen into the woods - which were dense and shadowy, and the day already cloudy - I was suddenly and powerfully reminded of the last time I¡¯d followed someone into a forest. I shivered a little. This was nothing like that. We were with two police officers, at least one of whom I was confident knew what he was doing, and the other seemed competent enough. Athena and I had been working hard to improve our fighting skills, both physical and magical (in my case). And besides, we had only the vaguest of reasons to believe anything was wrong. My tracking spell could have failed. Sure¡­a spell I¡¯d known how to work successfully for the better part of fifteen years¡­ I shivered again, then frowned a little. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up, and when I glanced over at Athena and Artemis I saw their tails were lashing with agitation and bristled out. ¡°Sergeant,¡± I said softly, ¡°hold up a second. Something¡¯s wrong.¡± Sergeant Chase stopped immediately and turned to look at us. He quickly saw the agitation my sisters were displaying and looked at me more closely. ¡°What is it?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. One moment.¡± I lifted my cane in my left hand and drew in a bit of ambient Anima¡­and shivered a third time. The energy here felt¡­I don¡¯t know, wrong somehow. I¡¯d never felt anything like it before. It was almost as if the Anima I¡¯d pulled in was warped, or moldy. ¡°This is weird,¡± I said softly, resisting an impulse to cast my aura sight spell. If the energy around here was so weirdly twisted, trying to view auras here might do damage to me. ¡°Something is¡­off. The Anima here is warped somehow.¡± Chase tightened his grip on his Magearm pistol and nodded slightly. ¡°Can you tell which direction the worst¡­warping is in?¡± I turned slightly, holding my cane out and using it as a buffer between me and the local Anima as I reached out to touch it. After a moment, I pointed in the direction we¡¯d been going. ¡°Straight ahead that way. Not too far, either.¡± Another ten minutes of careful walking brought us to a clearing of sorts. It was an uneven circle of land where no trees grew, and the canopy above seemed to almost draw back from it. Trees around the border of the clearing were actually leaning away from the center of it a little. The ground was overgrown and weedy, but only grasses grew there; no saplings, no wildflowers, nothing but grasses, and those looked anemic and brown in spite of it being the height of spring. In the center of the clearing stood the ruins of an old, old building. It appeared to have been built from local stone, held together - once upon a time - with rough mortar, and had been just a single story tall. The eastern wall had collapsed outward at some point, and half of the roof had fallen in. On the side of the building that was open to the sky, what appeared to be a spiral staircase rose up about three stories and stopped abruptly. It was made of some black material - I guessed iron - and at a distance the stairs looked unbelievably white and clean. ¡°That¡¯s¡­kind of weird,¡± Chase said quietly. Athena laid a hand on my arm and turned me gently. Artemis was crouched down at the edge of the clearing behind us, her ears flattened back and her tail lashing back and forth in agitation. I¡¯d been so caught up in my own impressions of the clearing that I hadn¡¯t felt hers. < > Artemis hissed. <> ¡°Wrong?¡± I asked aloud. ¡°Pardon?¡± Chase asked, turning to look at us. He spotted Artemis and froze. ¡°Problem?¡± ¡°She says this place is bad,¡± Athena explained. ¡°That it¡¯s wrong, somehow.¡± ¡°Can you tell us how, Artemis?¡± I asked. She shook her head side to side, a fair approximation of a human ¡®no¡¯ gesture. Then she shook herself all over, from her head to the end of her tail, a feline ¡®no¡¯. < > She sounded very frustrated. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that means she can¡¯t clarify,¡± Chase said. ¡°You speak cat?¡± I asked, trying - and largely failing - to lighten the mood. ¡°I have two cats at home, actually,¡± Chase replied, smiling faintly. ¡°But even if I didn¡¯t, I can recognize frustration when I see it.¡± ¡°Good call.¡± I turned back to look at the single-story building and its entirely paradoxical three-story spiral staircase. Then I looked around slowly, taking everything in again. Withered grass. Half-collapsed building. Weirdly clean-looking wrought-iron spiral staircase with white stairs, way too tall for the building. Circular clearing, open to the sky¡­ Wait. Circular? ¡°Athena, am I seeing things, or is this clearing almost perfectly circular. Look at the opening in the trees above us.¡± I pointed up. Athena looked up. Chase and Meyers did too, looking confused. After a moment, all three of them looked back at me. ¡°It definitely is,¡± Athena said. ¡°At least, the opening in the canopy is.¡± ¡°She¡¯s right,¡± Meyers agreed. ¡°Is the whole clearing circular? And did you notice the way the trees seem to be leaning away from the center of it?¡± I nodded. ¡°I noticed.¡± ¡°So did I,¡± Chase said slowly. ¡°You think this place was used for magical rituals of some sort?¡± ¡°That would seem likely,¡± I said. ¡°Probably not good ones, considering how twisted the energy here feels, and the way it¡¯s agitating Artemis.¡± And Athena and myself, for that matter, though to lesser degrees. ¡°You think this is where your spell was leading us before it fizzled out?¡± Chase asked. I nodded, hoping against hope that that was the reason my spell had failed. ¡°I¡¯m willing to bet on it. If she entered this area - or was in this area already - it could account for my spell having trouble keeping a lock on her and finally collapsing.¡± Athena gave me a look that told me very clearly she wasn¡¯t buying it. But I refused to entertain the more obvious explanation for more than a few seconds at a time. That Mina was dead. Sadly, it made a lot more sense than energy disruptions causing my spell to fail. Yes, the ambient Anima in this clearing was weirdly twisted¡­but that wouldn¡¯t cause a spell to fail. It might make a spell behave in unexpected ways if you weren¡¯t prepared for it - which I might not be, come to think of it, so caution might be warranted if I had to cast any spells here - or even cause it to do something totally different than intended. But fail altogether? No. I was deluding myself a little if I let myself believe that. At least I had an excuse. I wanted to find Mina alive. I felt something brush against my leg and looked down to see Artemis crouched there, tense and unhappy. <> I crouched down and wrapped an arm around her. ¡°This is where my spell led us. We have to see if the girl we¡¯re looking for is actually here.¡± ¡°You can stay here, if you want,¡± Chase offered. ¡°Meyers and I can check out the building.¡± Athena and I exchanged an uneasy look. ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°I think we should come with you. Artemis is right¡­there¡¯s something very wrong here. You might need us¡­and I feel like we should stick together.¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Artemis rose from her crouch and shook herself. <> She huffed out a noise that sounded a lot like a sneeze. <> I ruffled her ears and rose too. <> <> she replied glumly. ¡°Let¡¯s go, then,¡± Chase said, drawing his Magearm pistol and starting into the clearing. I heard the soft leather-on-metal rasp of Athena drawing her shieldblade, and gripped my cane a bit more tightly as we followed them. As we moved towards the building, a weight seemed to settle on me. My mood began to sink, and I had to shake myself slightly the same way Artemis had to get rid of it. This place was definitely not right. Even the grass showed it, thinning to just bare, dry soil about halfway to the building. ¡°Wait,¡± Athena said, ¡°stop!¡± We all did, and all of us turned to look at her. She was pointing to the ground a couple of yards ahead of us. I¡¯d been focused on the building - or, more to the point, the weird spiral staircase. Athena, always the practical one, had been watching the ground. I saw what she was pointing at immediately. The wide curve of a line drawn in the dirt. When I moved forward a little, I saw that it curled around either side of the building. A circle. A large one. That was probably not good. ¡°Do you see any ritual objects?¡± I asked her quietly. ¡°What is it?¡± Chase asked at the same time. ¡°It¡¯s a circle,¡± I answered him, ¡°a large one. Until we have an idea of what it¡¯s for, we shouldn¡¯t try to cross it.¡± ¡°How do we figure out what it¡¯s for?¡± Meyers asked. Not a bad question, that. ¡°We start by trying to find any ritual items used to enhance and focus it - crystals, prisms, mirrors, totems, that sort of thing.¡± Athena had taken a few steps forward and was peering along the curve of the circle. ¡°I don¡¯t see anything. I don¡¯t even see any other markings on the ground.¡± ¡°That¡¯ll make it harder to identify,¡± I said, going to stand beside her. <> <> Athena said. ¡°How much harder?¡± Chase asked as he and Meyers moved up even with us. ¡°If she¡¯s hurt, we may not have a lot of time.¡± A master of understatement, that one. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t take me long,¡± I said. After all, a ritual circle of this size was rarely used for anything more complicated than containing or redirecting energy. A circle this large could be made insanely complex¡­but the more complex you made a circle, the more difficult it was to use properly. For example, the amazing circle that Hollis Ellister had embedded in the floor of his spellcasting lab - with its concentric rings of platinum, copper and silver, its woven bands of gold and steel, prisms, tuning forks, mirrors, quartz crystals and more precious gemstones - was a work of art. But if I hadn¡¯t had a decade of training under Jonathan Tremane¡¯s careful tutelage, I never would¡¯ve been able to use and control it to heal and Elevate Athena after claiming her. As it was, I¡¯d almost lost control of the Elevation ritual, and had slept for most of a day after completing it and passing out. A ritual circle large enough to encircle a building could be made very complex indeed. But at that size it would be incredibly difficult to control it without several spellcasters working together to do so. Finding this large a circle out in the middle of the forest meant one of two things: Either it was a simple circle meant to contain energy, or it was the outer ring of something considerably more intricate. I gathered up a bit of Anima and held out my right hand, palm up. I shaped a simple spell - a bit of light wrapped in a bubble of force - and watched it form above my palm. Then, with a flick of my wrist, I sent it spinning towards the building. ¡°Hey!¡± Chase said. ¡°What¡­¡± The little sphere of force and light passed harmlessly over the circle. I closed my hand before it went too much further, and it snuffed out as if it had never been. ¡°I don¡¯t know what the circle was for,¡± I said, ¡°but it¡¯s not active now. If it had been, my spell would¡¯ve interfered with it, and we¡¯d¡¯ve seen a visible disruption of some sort. It¡¯s safe for us to cross.¡± I hesitated a moment, then added with a lopsided smile, ¡°Or, rather, it¡¯s no less safe for us to cross it than it is for us to be in this clearing.¡± Artemis grumbled agreement, still close by my side. ¡°Come on, then,¡± Chase said, starting forward again. ¡°I want a look inside that building.¡± We skirted around to the collapsed side of the building first to get a better look at it. The wall at the end of the building - and part of the front and rear walls near it - had collapsed inward, bringing the ceiling down on top of it all. In spite of that, the spiral staircase rose out of the rubble, evidently untroubled by the chaos around it. Up close, it really was a work of art. Its structure was made of wrought iron, twisted and woven together to form the stairs, rail and decorative bits between, all of it winding around a central support that had been molded in the shape of a Doric column. The iron was pristine, painted black and as rust-free as if it had just been installed instead of being standing in the open for who knew how long. The stairs were covered in clean white carpet and showed no sign of ever having been used, or even of being exposed to the elements. Artemis rumbled uneasily and pressed up against my leg. <> <> <> <> I assured her. Even as I thought it, Meyers started to step forward toward the stairs. Athena caught his arm and pulled him back. ¡°Don¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Meyers asked, then pointed up with his shotgun. ¡°Look at that! The stairs just¡­disappear. It¡¯s not capped or anything, it just stops. There might be something up there.¡± ¡°If there is,¡± Chase said slowly, ¡°we¡¯re totally unprepared to deal with it. If Mage Kinnear and her familiars think we shouldn¡¯t go near it, we don¡¯t go near it.¡± ¡°Artemis says it¡¯s bad, whatever that means,¡± I said. ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Chase asked. Athena smiled a little. ¡°Her senses are often better about that sort of thing than ours. Felines and canines are very sensitive to the supernatural.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll say one thing,¡± I added. ¡°Finding a three story staircase rising out of the remains of a one story building, open to the elements but showing no signs of rust or mold¡­that¡¯s not natural. I¡¯d love to study it, but now isn¡¯t the time, and it might be more dangerous than we¡¯re ready to deal with, like the Sergeant said.¡± Meyers sighed. ¡°All right.¡± ¡°I saw an open doorway around front,¡± Chase said, ¡°in the uncollapsed part of the building. It looks pretty sound up-close. Let¡¯s go see what¡¯s inside.¡± The atmosphere in the clearing was starting to make my skin crawl a little. Or maybe I was getting sensory overflow from Athena and Artemis. Either way, I was more than ready to be done with this spot. The spot, however, was not ready to be done with us. Above us, and not far enough away for my comfort, something¡­screamed. A moment later I heard the flutter and snap of cloth overhead. ¡°What was that?¡± Meyers asked, pointing his shotgun at the sky and looking around nervously. I shook my head. ¡°No clue.¡± ¡°Sounded almost feline,¡± Athena murmured. ¡°Like a cougar, maybe?¡± ¡°Except cougars don¡¯t fly,¡± I said. ¡°Point.¡± We stood there in tense silence for a moment before Chase pointed to the door. ¡°No point lingering, and every minute we spend out here is a minute longer that girl might be in trouble.¡± Or dead, I didn¡¯t say, then forcefully stuffed the thought down and buried it. No pun intended. Chase and Meyers took up positions on either side of the open doorway and gestured for us to stay back. Then Chase swung around and through the door, his Magearm pistol held before him. After a moment, his voice came back to us, firm and strong. ¡°Clear. Bloody dark, but clear. Alys, you and your familiars come in next, then Meyers.¡± ¡°All right,¡± I said. ¡°Do you want me to send a light in?¡± ¡°Yes, please.¡± I shifted my cane to my right hand, gathered a bit of Anima and a moment later a fresh bubble of glowing force drifted above my cane¡¯s head. It was almost exactly the same spell I¡¯d cast a few minutes earlier, but I¡¯d strengthened it to make it last. I gestured with my cane, and the magelight darted through the open door, illuminating the small room inside. It was, I saw as I entered, a foyer of sorts, and looked much newer than the building¡¯s rough stone exterior would seem to indicated. There were a few rusty old metal chairs sitting against one smooth wall, their leather seats long-since rotted away. The walls - I thought they might be relatively modern drywall, which was really weird - had been painted, but the paint had peeled and flaked away in several places, and was too mold-spotted to make out whatever its color had been. There was another door that lead further into the building, and it did not fit. It was much newer than anything else here, made of shiny metal and heavily reinforced. I suspected it would be easier to go through the wall on either side of it rather than trying to get through it¡­it looked like it belonged in a bank vault. Behind us, another shrieking scream echoed through the clearing, and I turned just in time to see Meyers - standing just outside - get hit broadside by a black mass and vanish without a sound. His shotgun banged against the door frame and clattered across the floor as he was yanked away. ¡°Chase!¡± I called, leveling my cane at the doorway and gathering Anima for a spell. The sergeant was beside me in a moment as Athena sheathed her shieldblade and scooped up the fallen shotgun. ¡°What happened?¡± He asked. I shook my head. ¡°I have no idea. One second he was there, the next second some dark mass hit him and then he was gone.¡± Artemis made a strange whining sound in the back of her throat and backed up out of my line of sight. <> She was almost babbling. In the two years - gods, but it felt so much longer - since I¡¯d claimed her and her sister as my familiars, I had never seen her express fear like this. Athena glanced down at her, just as surprised - and unsettled - as I was, then aimed the shotgun at the open door that led outside and flicked off the safety. We¡¯d both learned quite a bit about handling firearms during our training with Scotland Yard¡¯s Special Magical Response teams, and I was very glad we had. Silence. Nothing but the rustling of leaves in the wind and the soft creaks of the building around us. Then Meyers - uttering an entirely understandable scream of fright - thudded to the ground outside, several yards from the doorway. He lay there, dazed and staring up at the sky. ¡°Meyers!¡± Chase took a step towards the door, then stopped. ¡°What the bloody hell¡­Meyers, are you all right?¡± ¡°¡­Yes¡­¡± Meyers said weakly. He sounded like he¡¯d had the breath knocked out of him. Or the crap scared out of him. Probably both. With a small effort of will, I shaped the Anima I¡¯d gathered, and flickers of electricity began to dance around the head of my cane. Lightning was a long-standing favorite of mine. It might be more difficult to create and control than fire, but it was much easier to regulate the amount of damage it did once you knew how, and it was therefore - paradoxically - easier to keep it from doing more damage than you wanted. Fire had a way of growing, whether you wanted it to or not. ¡°What do we do?¡± I asked Chase in a hushed voice, deferring to him. He was, after all, a police sergeant, and Hollis had urged me to let them take the lead if I ended up with them. ¡°Wait a moment,¡± Chase replied quietly, then called out, ¡°Meyers, stay where you are. Don¡¯t try to move yet.¡± ¡°Ok, Sarge.¡± ¡°Do you see¡­whatever it was?¡± Chase asked. Meyers turned his head slowly from side to side, then shook it. ¡°No¡­I don¡¯t know where it went after it dropped me.¡± Silence again. After perhaps two minutes, there was a frustrated-sounding scream from outside and above our heads. Then, almost faster than the eye could follow, a black, fluttering mass swept down into the open doorway. Violence can be very loud. We made a tremendous amount of noise. The thunder of Athena¡¯s shotgun drowned out the cracks and snaps as my lightning bolt merged with the smaller bolt that leapt from Chase¡¯s Margearm pistol. The black mass in the doorway lunged backwards with another spine-shivering scream - it almost sounded human, but at the same time was distinctly not - and swirled unevenly away across the clearing. It reached the edge of the circle, just before where the grass began to grow¡­and rebounded off of something we could neither see nor feel, then shot in a drunken swaying line off to the right and out of our sight. During our concussive barrage, Meyers had evidently decided to take what cover he could. He was now lying on his stomach with his arms covering his head. As the noise died down, he lowered his arms and lifted his head to look at us, wide-eyed. ¡°What the bloody hell was that?¡± Chase asked. I shook my head. ¡°I have no idea,¡± I said. Then I realized I was shaking a little and took a deep breath to steady myself. ¡°None at all.¡± <> Artemis said firmly, <> ¡°Not until we know if the girl is here or not,¡± I said firmly, sounding more confident than I felt. ¡°What?¡± Chase asked. ¡°Artemis says we need to go.¡± ¡°That sounds like good counsel,¡± he said, ¡°but I agree with you. Not until we know about Mina.¡± <> Athena murmured. <> <> I said. <> ¡°Then we go outside and get Meyers, for starters. Me first, then Alys close behind, followed by Athena.¡± Chase looked over his shoulder at Artemis, then back out of the open door. Meyers had rolled onto his back again, craning his neck awkwardly to look at us now and then as he scanned the sky. I noticed that he¡¯d drawn his Magearm pistol and was holding it at his side. ¡°Do you think we hurt it?¡± I asked. ¡°You¡¯re the expert here,¡± Chase said. I thought he sounded just a little bit sarcastic. ¡°Do you?¡± It had fled from us, its path had been unsteady¡­but I didn¡¯t know if we¡¯d just surprised it, or if it moved that way normally. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Chase nodded. ¡°Me neither. Let¡¯s go find out.¡± Circles - Chapter 6 Sergeant Chase stepped through the doorway first and off to the right, pointing his Magearm pistol in that direction. I stepped out right behind him and moved to the left, swinging my cane in a wide arc, ready to unleash another bolt of lightning. Athena came out between us, lifting her shotgun to point straight up and looking in that direction. Silence. I was starting to hate the silence in this clearing. Less than a hundred yards in any direction I suspected we¡¯d find birds, squirrels, probably some deer¡­but in this clearing, nothing. We couldn¡¯t even hear the life outside of it. It was absolutely eerie. As a generality, eerie isn¡¯t a good thing in the supernatural world. Sure, sometimes eerie can be harmless, or even fun. But most of the time, it just means something nightmarish is about to happen. At least, in my experience. ¡°Anything?¡± Chase asked. ¡°Clear,¡± I reported. ¡°Clear,¡± Athena agreed. ¡°Clear,¡± Meyers added, then rolled to his knees with a little groan. ¡°Ow. I think that thing wrenched something in my back when it pulled me off my feet.¡± From behind us, still inside the doorway, Artemis made an unhappy sound. Based on that, I decided to revise my statement. ¡°Not entirely clear, but nothing in sight.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Chase said. ¡°What happened when it reached the grassy area? Why didn¡¯t it flee into the trees?¡± Good question. I didn¡¯t really have enough information to go on, so I made my best guess. ¡°I¡¯d say it hit a boundary created by that large circle to keep it contained here. It¡¯s just a guess, but it¡¯s a reasonable one. Whatever the boundary was designed to do, it obviously wasn¡¯t meant to stop spells or people from crossing it¡­just that thing, whatever it is.¡± After a moment, Chase said, ¡°That sounds complicated.¡± ¡°Maybe, maybe not,¡± Athena replied. ¡°Setting up a circle to keep a single entity contained while letting everything else through is tough, but not really compli -¡° She was cut off by one of those ear-piercing, spine-shivering screams, and a moment later the creature dropped out of the sky and landed in front of us, giving us a good look at it finally. The bulk of its black mass appeared to be made up of a billowing, constantly shifting cloak of some fabric that was so smooth and dark that it almost seemed to absorb light. It had no hands that I could see, but its face was just visible beneath the voluminous cowl. Its skin was pale¡­not the same healthy pale of my own fair complexion, but a pasty, sickly, fish-belly white. It had no eyes or nose. Just empty, skeletal sockets. Without a word to one another, Chase and I blasted the creature with lightning again, and Meyers joined in from off to the side. It staggered away from us, but the bolts didn¡¯t seem to have much effect on it other than that. Then Athena¡¯s shotgun boomed, and I caught myself ducking slightly as it fired just a couple of feet away from me. That was a habit I¡¯d need to curb. But Athena¡¯s shot was at least more effective than the lightning bolts Chase, Meyers, and I had hit it with. The creature¡¯s cloak - or maybe the voluminous folds of black cloth were actually part of the creature itself - fluttered and rippled with the impact of the buckshot. The shot didn¡¯t do any visible damage, but the creature staggered drunkenly for a moment before darting away to our right, rebounding off the invisible wall of the circle again, then vanishing around the side of the building. ¡°That was bracing,¡± Chase said breathlessly. ¡°Why didn¡¯t our spells have any effect on it, but the shotgun did?¡± ¡°Even if it wasn¡¯t much,¡± Athena muttered, handing the shotgun to Meyers as he approached and pulling out her LeMat revolver. ¡°Silver?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Try it. It¡¯s worth a shot, no pun intended.¡± I looked at Chase as Athena broke open the revolver¡¯s center chamber and replaced the shell there. ¡°If it¡¯s from some other realm, then I suspect it¡¯s reacting to the metaphysical mass of the ammunition. Which means we need to try something that channels energy more efficiently than lead. Silver is good for that, so is iron. But we probably won¡¯t kill it that way.¡± Frowning, I turned to face the doorway where Artemis was crouched, her eyes on the sky. ¡°This creature, whatever it is¡­I don¡¯t think it¡¯s native to this plane¡­this dimension,¡± I added, seeing the blank looks on Chase and Meyers¡¯s faces. ¡°We need to figure out how it got here, and undo it.¡± I pointed into the open doorway. ¡°Our answer is probably in there somewhere.¡± Chase nodded. ¡°You go and look. We¡¯ll keep that thing out here.¡± I nodded, then hesitated. ¡°As long as there isn¡¯t another entrance to the building that we didn¡¯t see.¡± ¡°Point,¡± Chase said. ¡°All right¡­you stay here, I¡¯ll go in and look. Meyers will stay here with you. If I find something that looks likely, I¡¯ll come back and get you.¡± ¡°Sounds like a plan,¡± I replied, trying to sound confident and upbeat. A moment later, Chase had stepped around Artemis and disappeared back into the building. <> Artemis said uneasily. <> ¡°We got that,¡± Athena said, tension rippling in her voice and in her presence in the back of my mind, as her tail lashed back and forth. She thumbed back the hammer on her revolver and flipped the lever that dropped the centerline hammer into place. ¡°I hope silver has more of an effect on it.¡± ¡°Me too,¡± I said, moving back a little so that I was standing out of her line of fire no matter which way she had to shoot. I didn¡¯t have far to go¡­after only a couple of steps, my back bumped into the wall of the building. At least that should be solid enough to protect us. I hoped. ¡°Meyers, if that thing comes back, let Athena shoot first.¡± ¡°Will do.¡± He finished reloading the shotgun and moved to stand on the other side of the open doorway from me, with Athena between us. ¡°I really hope you¡¯re right about silver being more -¡° With an inhuman shriek, the thing shot out from around the building to our left - it must¡¯ve circled all the way around - and rebounded off of the large circle¡¯s invisible barrier a third time. Its momentum and angle carried it straight at us, its cloak stretching out towards us like two arms as it came on, still shrieking. Athena¡¯s LeMat might be more versatile than a pump-action shotgun, but it didn¡¯t have the same range. She let the creature approach almost to within arm¡¯s length before blasting it¡­so close that I felt a wave of intensely cold air rush across us from the force of its approach. But the silver buckshot she¡¯d loaded had as dramatic an effect as we could¡¯ve hoped, entirely out of proportion with mass of silver discharged, in fact. There was a brilliant flash of light that emanated from each point of impact, and the creature was actually blown all the way back from where we stood to crash against the invisible barrier that kept it trapped in the clearing. It crumpled to the ground, seeming to deflate into a pile of deep shadows. Athena quickly reloaded her revolver, hissing softly as she dropped the still-smoking spent shell casing before sliding in a fresh one. ¡°Think that killed it?¡± Meyers asked, taking a tentative step forward. I shook my head grimly. ¡°No way are we that lucky. I could try fire¡­¡± ¡°With all this dead grass around? Great way to start a forest fire.¡± Athena sighed. ¡°Still, it¡¯d be better than getting¡­eaten, or whatever.¡± ¡°Well said.¡± ¡°Alys!¡± Chase¡¯s voice called from inside the building. ¡°You¡¯d better come and see this!¡± I looked over at Meyers. He smiled and gestured to the door. ¡°Go on. I¡¯ll keep an eye on that thing and holler if it starts moving again.¡± ¡°All right,¡± I said, reluctant to leave him alone out there without checking to see if that weird creature was still alive or not. Athena nudged me gently. ¡°Go, I¡¯m right behind you.¡± Artemis was already up and moving deeper into the building as I turned and hurried through the doorway. We passed through the inner door and into a dark hallway. With a small amount of Anima and the slightest of efforts, I created a second wispy ball of magelight and sent it up over our heads, lighting up the hall. There were a few old picture frames hanging here and there, but the pictures had long ago been destroyed by mold and mildew, and now showed nothing but vaguely ominous yellow and brown stains. I stopped at a second door - this one much older and made of half-decayed wood, which fit the exterior better - near the end of the hallway, which led deeper into the building, and a moment later Athena bumped into my shoulders. I glanced over my shoulder and saw she¡¯d been walking backwards, her revolver pointed warily down the hallway. Her head turned and her eyes met mine for a moment, during which I felt her fear as strongly as my own. She flashed me a brief, uneasy smile, then turned back to her defensive vigil at my back. ¡°Sergeant?¡± I asked the open doorway. ¡°In here,¡± he said. ¡°Bring that light, would you?¡± The circle of a small flashlight beam played across the floor just through the door. I hesitated. There were all manner of things that could mimic a person¡¯s voice perfectly, and several that could even have projected the beam of light. The atmosphere of this place was making me paranoid. Artemis looked up at me and flared her nostrils. <> This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I bent and ruffled her fur as I brushed past her into the room. <> The room we entered was a large one, and probably took up most of the rest of the undamaged part of the building. It was big enough that my magelight wasn¡¯t enough to show us all of it, so I pumped more Anima into it and brightened it until the whole room was lit up. Sergeant Chase was standing at the outer edge of what appeared to be the remains of an incredibly complex ritual circle, putting his little flashlight away and staring at a red and pink mass at the center of the design. After a moment, I realized that a hand was sticking up out of the mass. And a bare, bloody foot. At angles that were impossible for a living human to achieve. Then the rest of the shape sank in, and I gagged as my lunch tried to claw its way back up out of my stomach. ¡°What is this?¡± Chase asked quietly. ¡°This is¡­I¡¯ve never seen anything like this before.¡± I swallowed a couple of times and coughed to clear my throat. ¡°I¡­I¡¯m not sure. Give me a minute.¡± I walked over to him and started examining the ritual circle, trying desperately to ignore the mound in the center which had once been a living person. In a twisted way, it was a work of art. I say that about a lot of greater ritual circles, because in a very real way they are. But this one was impressively complex, even if most it had apparently been laid down with chalk. There was a single large outer circle, about fifteen feet in diameter, drawn in yellow, with two curving lines that arced from the inside of the circle and looked like they might touch under all of the blood - semi-circles, with a large piece of quartz placed at each of the four points where they touched the outer circle. A ring of thick Norden runes ran around the inside of the main circle, and as I moved closer I saw that the half-circle lines within weren¡¯t actually solid, but were made up of small, densely printed Latin, which read ¡®Open the doors. Tear down the walls. Break the chains that bind.¡¯ Over and over again. That sounded ominous. Within the nearest semi-circle were two concentric circles about two feet in diameter, drawn to resemble a compass rose, except I was pretty sure it was reversed, with the arrow pointing south. On the far side of the¡­remains¡­the chalk had been smudged and smeared away, but there was enough left to guess that it had probably been a mirror image of what I was looking at. That was pretty common in ritual circle design. There were two smaller circles touching the outside edges of the main circle, and based on their placement I guessed that there had been a third on the far side. With a third there, they would¡¯ve been spaced evenly around the outside edge of the big circle. The two that remained each contained a single graceful-looking pictograph of some sort, which felt familiar to me, but which I couldn¡¯t place immediately. There were two more prisms where the smaller circles touched the larger one, and the melted remains of black candles opposite the prisms. The nearest small circle had a ring of repeated Hebrew surrounding the pictograph, which read ¡®Tear down the walls,¡¯ several times. A repetition of part of the Latin within the main circle. I hurried over to the other intact small circle, and found a ring of Greek text, which again read ¡®Tear down the walls.¡¯ The pictographs were the same in both of the smaller circles. Interesting. Finally, I saw the remains of yellow and green candles that looked like they¡¯d been placed at the Cardinal points. There had probably been a fourth around the other side, where the circle had been destroyed. And the gods alone knew what had been in the middle, beneath the dismembered remains of whatever poor soul had been sacrificed. Considering the complexity of the rest of it, I imagined that the center had contained something equally ornate. ¡°What is this?¡± Chase asked again. I shook my head. ¡°Beyond it being a complex ritual circle, I¡¯m not certain. At a guess, I¡¯d say it was a summoning circle of some sort. But the construction is all wrong. They¡¯re usually designed around concentric rings, to keep whatever is summoned trapped. This is¡­¡± I shook my head again. ¡°I really don¡¯t know. I¡¯ll need time to study it.¡± Outside, the creature shrieked. The walls barely muffled the inhuman sound, and a shiver ran down my spine. The shriek was closely followed by three quick reports from Meyers¡¯s shotgun. Then a scream of pain that was all too human. ¡°Meyers!¡± Athena turned to go to his aid. ¡°No!¡± Chase snapped. ¡°Stay here and cover the hallway. If that thing comes in, you¡¯re all that¡¯s between us and it.¡± He looked at me. ¡°I don¡¯t think we have time for you to study the circle in detail. Does this,¡± he gestured at the floor, ¡°have anything to do with that thing being here?¡± I knelt down and reached out to touch the large main circle. As soon as my fingertips brushed against the chalk line, I sensed the power flowing through it. The sensation shot up my arm like a jolt of electricity and made me jump back slightly. The Anima there felt even more greasy and damaged than the energy out in the clearing. I shook my hand and flexed my fingers, trying to make the tingling go away. ¡°Oh yeah, I¡¯m pretty sure it does. Though how a broken circle could be anchoring something to this plane¡­that makes no sense at all. If the circle was keeping that thing here, it should¡¯ve vanished as soon as the circle was damaged.¡± ¡°How do we get rid of it then?¡± Athena asked from where she stood, just through the door and in the hallway. Another shriek sounded from outside and she glanced at me. ¡°Do something quickly, I think it¡¯s coming, and I¡¯ve only got four silver buckshot shells left on me.¡± I rose and looked back down at the ritual circle. ¡°Damn it,¡± I whispered. Then, louder, I said, ¡°Chase, help me destroy what¡¯s left of the main circle. If we can break up what¡¯s left of that, it shouldn¡¯t be enough to anchor that thing here.¡± I hesitated, then added, ¡°Assuming that¡¯s what¡¯s keeping it here, of course. If not, we¡¯re back at square one.¡± Chase grunted, dropped to his knees, and started scrubbing at the chalk with one sleeve of his jacket pulled over his hand. ¡°I don¡¯t have any better ideas. If you think of one, let me know.¡± I nodded and got to work myself. After a moment, I saw Artemis scrabbling at the chalk with both forepaws¡­it was slow going for her, but she was making progress, and every bit counted. ¡°Oh sh-¡° Whatever Athena had started to say - I had my suspicions - was drowned out by the boom of her gun and inhuman shriek. Within the confines of the building, the two sounds made me duck my head and instinctively cover my ears for a moment. ¡°Sweet Jesus¡­¡± I heard Chase begin praying in the wake of it as he frantically scrubbed at the chalk. ¡°Poor Meyers¡­¡± ¡°Work faster!¡± Athena yelled, frantically reloading her revolver. Figuring it couldn¡¯t hurt, following Chase¡¯s lead, I silently sent up prayers to Brigid - from the Celtic pantheon that my mother followed - and to Odin. I¡¯m not very religious, but I have a soft spot for those gods, and it never hurts to ask for a little help when you¡¯re doing something under pressure. Another ear-piercing shriek filled the air, making Artemis flatten her ears and causing Chase and I to clap our hands over our own. It was cut off by the boom of Athena¡¯s revolver. ¡°Hurry up! I¡¯ve got two shots left!¡± I heard her reloading as I stared at the floor. This wasn¡¯t working. The energy was still pulsing through what was left of the ritual circle. ¡°There must be something in the center holding the construct together,¡± I said. ¡°The body?¡± Chase asked, stopping his frantic scrubbing. I shook my head. ¡°No. A dead body doesn¡¯t have the metaphysical mass to hold together a spell like this once the circle has been disrupted.¡± Except in Necromantic rituals, I added silently. Fortunately this didn¡¯t look or feel like one of those. ¡°There must be something underneath it.¡± We stared at the bloody mass of body parts. ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°Let me see if I can use the existing energy paths to destroy whatever it is.¡± ¡°Sounds good,¡± Chase said. His face was absolutely expressionless, but he sounded strained. Ignoring the remaining chalk lines on the floor - there was still quite a lot, we really hadn¡¯t gotten very far at all - I reached out with my magical senses and touched the Anima in the room. Immediately I could sense the warped energy wrapped around and through the ritual circle, so I quickly cast my Aura Sight spell. It¡¯s one of the first spells every Hermetic Mage learns: to literally see energy. It makes learning new spells tremendously easier if you can actually see what went wrong when you tried to cast it. In this case, it let me see the Anima flowing around the ritual circle, filling in the blank spaces where it had been wiped away with bands of dark violet energy. That made me shudder a little¡­under ordinary circumstances, Anima - even Anima that¡¯s been channeled into a ritual like this one - appears as a bright blue-white color to me. The dark violet color of this Anima told me that the ritual had either had a very destructive intent, or had gone badly wrong. Either way, a large blob of it pulsed darkly in the center of the circle, beneath the remains of the sacrificial victim. It was a concentration of energy considerably greater than that in the rest of the circle, more than enough to both hold the ritual together and anchor our mystery creature on this plane of existence. ¡°Got it,¡± I said, shifting my cane to my right hand and rising. ¡°This might be a little bit messy¡­¡± ¡°Quickly please!¡± Athena shouted. ¡°If you rush a miracle worker,¡± I shouted back, paraphrasing a book we were both fond of, ¡°you get lousy miracles!¡± ¡°Ha ha¡­hey, it just headed back out the door rather than rushing me again,¡± Athena said, and I felt her confusion through our bond. ¡°You still might want to hurry.¡± ¡°I¡¯m hurrying.¡± I was reluctant to draw on the local Anima, so I quickly considered my options, even as I mentally prepared the spell I was going to cast. Everyone has their own Anima resources. Every living plant and animal on the planet generates Anima constantly, not to mention the planet itself; the result is an effectively unlimited amount of energy. From a practical standpoint, there¡¯s a finite amount of Anima any one living thing can contain - or use - at any given time. Plants, animals, and the planet itself ¡®shed¡¯ Anima at all times, and that energy is freely available to anyone who can tap into it. Spellcasters have more than most; like any muscle, the more you use it, the more you can. As such, I have a fairly large amount of Anima available to me at any given time. That said, I - like most spellcasters - still preferred to draw on free Anima in the world around me. With so much energy available, there¡¯s no reason to exhaust yourself needlessly, and using up your own reserves of Anima is like any other kind of exertion¡­it¡¯ll flatten you, and leave you in desperate need of rest. There are, of course, ways of drawing Anima directly from living things and places of power, but they tend to be harmful, or even outright destructive. I don¡¯t do that. Which meant that if I didn¡¯t want to touch the ambient Anima around me - which was warped and twisted by the ritual and whatever darkness had existed in the clearing before that - I was stuck using my own. So be it. That¡¯s why spellcasters work on building their own reserves. A couple of lightning bolts and my aura sight weren¡¯t enough to leave me exhausted and without resources. ¡°What¡¯re you going to do?¡± Chase asked, rising from his crouch. ¡°I¡¯m going to destroy whatever focus is holding this ritual together and keeping that thing - whatever it is - here.¡± I grimaced. ¡°I just hope it¡¯s not organic.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to make it go ¡®splat,¡¯¡± I said. ¡°At least, if it¡¯s organic.¡± ¡°Ah. Gotcha.¡± He prudently took a few steps back. I pointed my cane at the bloody mass in the center of the circle and sent my Anima flowing down its length. I gave it a half-turn and made a lifting motion with it, my spell extending from it to wrap around whatever the anchor item was¡­and a moment later, with a rather horrible squelching noise, it poked through the top of the pile, then lifted free and floated up into the air, dripping blood and bits of something that I tried very hard not to identify. Thankfully, what rose out of the mess wasn¡¯t part of the mess. As the gore slid and dripped off of it, a chunk of crystal the size of my head - it looked like raw amethyst - was revealed. ¡°Okay, this is good,¡± I said, examining it with my magical senses. ¡°So you can destroy it?¡± Chase asked hopefully. ¡°It¡¯s amazingly complex,¡± I said slowly. ¡°It could take me hours to safely unravel all of that energy.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have hours,¡± he said, stating the obvious. ¡°Is there some way you could disperse it or disrupt it quickly?¡± ¡°Without it blowing up?¡± I hesitated. To my eyes, with my Aura Sight spell active, I could see the energy woven into and through it. The streamers of black, brown and dark violet energy binding it to the remains of the ritual circle on the floor, to the bloody human remains, and to¡­ My eyes widened. A streamer of glowing black energy writhed and rippled straight up out of the crystal and into the ceiling. As I watched, it quickly whipped away from me, arcing towards the back wall of the room. It stopped, pointing almost directly away from me. ¡°Uh oh.¡± ¡°What ¡®uh oh¡¯?¡± Chase asked. ¡°Athena!¡± I called. ¡°I think the monster¡¯s about to¡­¡± A section of the back wall suddenly¡­decayed, for lack of a better term. The paint peeled and flaked away, the drywall rotted and collapsed, and the timbers within splintered, blackened and shriveled up. The black-cloaked creature came in through the hole it had made, black and dark violet energy pulsing around it in unsteady waves. Circles - Chapter 7 Frantically, I cut off the trickle of Anima going to my Aura Sight spell. I did not want to see that creature in any more depth than I already had. Its arrival had already left a greasy stain on my memories that would take a long time to get rid of. The creature paused across the room from me. It swayed back and forth slightly, hovering above the ground, the crystal floating between us. The folds of its cloak - its body? - rippled in a phantom breeze that only it could feel. ¡°If you¡¯re going to do something,¡± Sergeant Chase said, ¡°do it fast!¡± If the enchanted bodysuit I was wearing under my clothes didn¡¯t absorb moisture, I¡¯d¡¯ve been sweating like mad. Do something? What could I do? The ribbons of energy flowing into and weaving through the crystal were formed into an incredibly complex knot of power. If I did this wrong¡­tugged on the wrong thread of energy, or accidentally combined streamers of energy that weren¡¯t meant to be, very bad things could happen. If I destroyed it without understanding how it was held together¡­ The last time I¡¯d done something like that had been during my first encounter with my half-sister Brenna. Athena, Artemis and I had been tasked with bringing home an old ritual dagger that had been extensively used for dark magic, so that Hollis could destroy it. Brenna had attacked us on the train back from Edinburgh, stolen it from us, and used the dagger to summon an enormous snake made of smoke and shadow. I¡¯d countered it by casting an enormous fire spell in the shape of a phoenix. It had destroyed the shadow snake almost effortlessly, and I¡¯d guided it to ¡®bite¡¯ the dagger, disrupting the Anima woven into it. The resulting explosion had knocked us all out for a few minutes and blown open the back half of the train car. That had been a fraction of the total amount of energy that was woven into this big chunk of quartz crystal. I froze. The creature threw its cowled head back and screamed, then visibly gathered itself to lunge at me. ¡°Alys!¡± Athena shouted from behind me. I was hit from the right by a large, furry wrecking ball. Artemis tackled me to the floor as Athena shouted, ¡°Sergeant, get down!¡± When I looked up, she was standing over me, legs spread and braced, her big LeMat revolver lining up to shoot. But she only had two silver buckshot shells left. She could delay the thing, but¡­ She started shooting. One of the reasons she¡¯d chosen the LeMat revolver was because of its versatility. Yes, it had a chamber for a single shotgun shell, but it also had an oversized cylinder that packed nine .44 caliber bullets. Athena unloaded all nine rounds into the crystal. I had just enough time to throw my Anima into creating a force bubble around the crystal before it exploded violently. I managed to catch most of the blast¡­but it was an awful lot of kinetic energy concentrated into a fairly small space. My makeshift shield collapsed quickly, but held long enough to keep us from being sprayed with hundreds of sharp crystal slivers moving at high speed. It did not hold long enough to absorb all of the shockwave of force that rippled out from the exploding crystal. Fortunately, we were already on the ground¡­but it flattened the human remains beneath it and destroyed a fair bit of what was left of the ritual circle. It also knocked the creature back a few feet. Athena was already back up on one knee and frantically reloading her revolver as the creature shrieked again and charged towards her. But there was already a visible difference in it: it had become translucent. I could just see the hole it had made in the wall through its cloak-like body. Instead of hitting Athena, it washed over her and passed through her, barely causing any ripples in its body. Then it dissipated, coming apart and blowing away like smoke, leaving behind one last fading, keening howl of anger. Athena shuddered. ¡°That felt really nasty.¡± I rolled out from under Artemis and crawled to Athena¡¯s side. ¡°You¡¯re all right?¡± I asked, frantically running my hands over her arms and back. Everything felt normal, and I couldn¡¯t sense any damage to the flow of energy in her body. She gave me a little smile. ¡°Just freaked out.¡± Her expression shifted into one that was half exasperation, half concern, and I felt those emotions wash over me from her in equal parts. <> I winced and sat back on my knees, feeling drained. Using your own Anima - like I did for the shield - was considerably more tiring than channeling external Anima. <> <> Athena said quietly. <> Most of the time, I love the bond I share with my familiars. Sometimes, however, it can be awkward. For one thing, it means I can never lie to them without them knowing. Athena pursed her lips, but said nothing. I could feel her disapproval and concern anyway, and sighed. I knew we¡¯d be talking about this later, and that probably wasn¡¯t a bad thing. ¡°Job well done, ladies,¡± Chase said as he approached. ¡°Everybody all right?¡± Athena nodded, rising. ¡°We¡¯re fine.¡± I pushed myself to my feet, leaning on my cane a little as I got my feet under me. ¡°No harm done. Sorry about¡­about freezing up there.¡± Before she could reply, Meyers¡¯s voice - and it was a relief to hear it - drifted in through the opening the creature had created in the back wall. ¡°Hey! The spiral staircase just vanished! Is it over?¡± Chase sagged with visible relief, then called back. ¡°It¡¯s over. You all right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m stuck on the roof,¡± Meyers called. ¡°Other than that, I think that thing dislocated my shoulder on its second pass. Ow.¡± I headed for the hole in the wall. ¡°I¡¯ll get him down. Athena, start sketching what¡¯s left of the circle, please.¡± ¡°On it!¡± Athena said from behind me. Chase met me at the hole and we stepped out together, turning and looking up. Meyers was leaning over the edge of the roof, looking a bit dazed. He waved weakly with his left arm. ¡°Hey.¡± ¡°Hold tight, Meyers,¡± I lifted my cane in my left hand. ¡°I¡¯m going to levitate you down.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± He slumped over a little. I reached out with my senses to touch the ambient Anima in the clearing and was relieved - deeply relieved - to feel the greasy, dark, twisted aura of it fading towards normal. It would take a while, but the Anima in this clearing would be mostly natural again in time. The grass might even start to grow again. I gathered Anima, resisting the urge to replenish my natural reserves from this place, and channeled it into my cane. ¡°All right, hold still now.¡± With a little effort of will and a murmured ¡°Movere,¡± I cast a complex little force spell that was a variant on the one Jonathan had taught me to move snow. Lifting my right hand as a visual focus, I carefully scooped Meyers up off the roof with an invisible ¡®hand¡¯ of force, wincing as he grunted in pain. ¡°Sorry!¡± Slowly, I moved him over the edge of the roof and lowered him towards the ground. Chase was there to meet him, getting under his good arm to support him as his feet touched the ground and I released the spell. ¡°Thanks,¡± Meyers said, looking pale and drawn. His right arm dangled loosely and the joint definitely looked dislocated. ¡°I¡¯m going to take him back to the car and call for a forensics team,¡± Chase said. ¡°Will you be okay here for a few minutes?¡± I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m going to help Athena sketch out as much of that ritual circle as we can. Maybe we can figure out what whoever set it up was trying to do here. And how long they¡¯d been at it.¡± ¡°All right. You¡¯ll have to come back to the station with us to answer some questions and fill out a report, of course.¡± ¡°Of course. The endless onus of paperwork.¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Chase smiled lopsidedly. ¡°Goes with the territory. I¡¯ll be back shortly. Come on, Meyers, one foot in front of the other.¡± They started off around the side of the building, avoiding the collapsed part, as I went back inside through the hole the creature had made. Athena had dug a notebook and pencil out of our bottomless bag, and was busily sketching what was left of the circle. ¡°The clearing¡¯s Anima is starting to¡­to unknot already. It¡¯ll be a while before it¡¯s really back to normal though.¡± Artemis was sitting near the door we¡¯d entered through. <> She gave me the sort of narrow-eyed, arch look that only a cat can really achieve. <> I winced. ¡°I¡­¡± I struggled to find the right words. Dr. MacMoran had insisted that it was important for me to talk to Athena and Artemis whenever something like this happened to me. Yes, they instinctively knew what had happened and why¡­but it was healthy for me to acknowledge it out loud and not ignore it. They waited, Athena continuing to sketch the circle. Dr. MacMoran had been equally firm with them about not talking for me in this instance. It was, she¡¯d said, important for me to figure it out for myself. Bah. I may acknowledge the importance of self-assessment in such circumstances, but that doesn¡¯t make it any easier or less uncomfortable. Even if I already knew why I¡¯d hesitated. ¡°I froze because I was afraid that if I did the wrong thing to destroy that crystal - dispelled the wrong enchantment, tugged on the wrong thread of Anima - that I¡¯d blow us all up,¡± I admitted finally. ¡°And the solution to that fear is?¡± Athena asked, looking up from her sketching. She had a serious, frowning expression on, but I could sense her concern fading to be replaced by an impish amusement. ¡°Ask Hollis for lessons in safely destroying heavily enchanted items,¡± I said, as if repeating a lesson, then nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to for a while anyway. It¡¯s his specialty, after all.¡± ¡°Mmhm.¡± She looked down at her notebook and frowned, then started writing beside her sketch. ¡°You¡¯ve been meaning to ask for those lessons for more than a year now.¡± She pointed to the last intact exterior circle with its strange, curling symbol in the center. ¡°I don¡¯t recognize that one, do you?¡± I shook my head, moving around the edge of the circle, being careful not to step on it. ¡°No. It feels familiar, but¡­I can¡¯t place it. Just copy it down exactly as it is. No,¡± I corrected myself, ¡°make a small change to it and note the change, just in case it¡¯s a wizard¡¯s Sigil.¡± Athena nodded. ¡°Good idea. You¡¯re going to ask for those lessons, right?¡± My turn to nod. ¡°Yes, mistress.¡± She shot me a look that was half-amused, half-annoyed, then went back to work. Instead of pressing the matter, she asked, "Do you think this is a wizard''s Sigil?" I shrugged. ¡°In the absence of any evidence either way, safest to treat it as if it is one.¡± A wizard''s Sigil is a unique pictographic design that is used - basically - like a signature. Except they''re internationally registered, and it''s not only illegal to use a wizard''s Sigil without their permission, it can also be very dangerous. Many wizards protect their Sigils with all manner of unpleasant and potentially lethal spells. My own Sigil, chosen when I achieved Journeyman Mage status, is made up of an arc radiating rays over a series of shortening horizontal lines; the resulting symbol is meant to evoke a sun setting over the ever-distant ocean. The reflection of the sun on the water makes up the bottom of a curved, stylized ''A.'' Unfortunately lots of people mistake it for a rising sun instead, which is understandable, and I don''t really mind. Amusingly enough, the three lines beneath it which were meant to represent waves also look somewhat like claw-marks. The caution Athena and I had agreed upon in copying the symbol down was well placed. If it was a Sigil, it would be the matter of a few hours of research to identify the person who''d created the circle. The small deviation Athena made in copying it down would protect her against any potential magical backlash from the possible owner, without making it any harder to identify. By the time Sergeant Chase returned and informed us that he''d called for a forensics team, Athena and I had reproduced as much of the circle as we were going to be able to. It amounted to a little more than half of the circle, rendered in both Athena''s notebook and one of my own in as much detail as we could manage. We''d compare them later, looking for any discrepancies. "You will, of course," Chase said as we packed up our things, "provide copies of those sketches in your reports." I nodded. "Of course. Do you think we can wait a few days before submitting them, though? I''d like to have enough time to at least be able to point out any elements of the ritual that would be blatantly dangerous." Chase nodded. "Of course. You work out of London, right? You can give your reports at Scotland Yard, and they''ll forward them up to us for our records." He sighed and looked at the remains in the center of the circle. "I have a feeling this is going to be bigger than our local department is equipped to handle anyway." "Do you think that," Athena gestured to the bloody mess in the center of the circle, which I was still trying not to look at (or smell), "is...are...the remains of Mina Rein?" Chase sighed. "I''m afraid so, lass. The behavior of Mage Kinnear''s tracking spell is certainly indicative. The forensics team will tell us for certain. I''ll be sure to let you know...and I''ll handle things with Mrs. Rein." "Thank you," I said, a little relieved that I wouldn''t have to face the woman again. Even in the face of her grievous loss, I''m not sure I could''ve kept my tongue civil a second time. "I''ll have someone give you a lift into town once our backup arrives," Chase said. "You can give initial reports at the station, then catch your train back to London." I hesitated. I didn''t want to leave this work unfinished. I wanted to know if Mina Rein was really dead. But that was no longer work for a consultant...now it was a police matter, end of story. And it would probably take a couple of days for them to identify the remains anyway. "All right," I said finally. "Thank you." Chase looked at me, then offered me his hand. "No, Mage Kinnear, thank you. If it weren''t for you and your familiars, I doubt Meyers and I would''ve survived finding this mess." I shook his hand, and was pleased when he shook Athena''s hand as well. "You''re welcome, Sergeant. Any time you need our sort of specialized help, feel free to call on us." "I''ll do that." On the train home, Athena and I pulled down our compartment''s little table and compared our sketches of the ritual circle. "I think we got everything we could," I said finally, examining the two sketches side-by side. "What we both drew matches up, at least." Athena was sitting with a copy of Gallow''s Spectral Almanac open on her lap, and a reference-style copy of the Galdrab¨®k open in front of her. She had a pocket copy of The Lesser Key of Solomon in her left hand, and a hand-bound edition of the Pseudo Monarchia Daemonum open on the window bench beside us. The first was a general collection of Hermetic spellcasting information related to the position of the Moon, planets and stars, the tides, and other less mundane tidbits. It was published annually and was an invaluable tool for setting up rituals of all kinds. The Galdrab¨®k was a basic grimoire of Norden rune magic. I suspected she was using it to try to identify some of the runes in the circle. Likewise, the Lesser Key of Solomon was the primer for all Hermetic and the vast majority of Abrahamic religious summoning magic. It was a good place to start when trying to identify any ritual circle. The last book, the Pseudo Monarchia Daemonum, was little more than an indexed and heavily referenced list of known demons. My Athena was in full research mode. Artemis was, as had become her habit on trains, stretched out across the doorway. Since the door opened inward, any unexpected visitor would have to move 85 pounds of snow leopard to get in. No easy feat, especially if she was angry. "Mmhm," Athena agreed absently, flipping a page in the Lesser Key of Solomon, then leaning over to compare it with something in the Galdrab¨®k. "Find anything?" She sighed and shook her head. "Not really. You''ll want to look at this, of course, but so far it''s not making any kind of sense to me. The thing we fought doesn''t really fit the demonic classifications, the runes don''t seem to be of Norden origin, and the circle itself is..." She laid the Lesser Key down on top of the Galbrab¨®k and shook her head again. "It seems pretty nonsensical to me. It doesn''t add up to anything I''m familiar with." "Which is most of what I''m familiar with," I said, "but I''ll go over it with you. Let me have the Lesser Key and I''ll get started." We traded books - I gave her back her notebook in exchange for the Lesser Key of Solomon - and went back to work. Two hours later, with several more learned tomes extracted from our bottomless bag to be spread out on table and benches, I sat back and made a frustrated sound. "You''re right, this thing is nonsense. I don''t know what the person who made it was going for, but it doesn''t seem to add up to anything." "Then the elements of it have to be symbolic, right?" Athena turned the Lesser Key toward her and flipped pages, finally tapping one. "Here, there''s a section about building a symbolic circle rather than a traditional one." "I''m sure they are," I agreed ruefully, "but that''s going to make it even harder to figure out what it was meant to do. And we don''t even have the whole thing. What about the symbol we thought might be a sigil?" She shook her head. "It''s not in the registry. Of course, neither is yours...we really need to get an updated copy." I waved a dismissive hand. "It''s almost not worth it. There''s plenty of spellcasters who create one but never register it. The registry is just a...a way of being polite to the community." Athena sat back in her seat and sighed. "Well, we haven''t made much progress then, have we?" "No, but it''s early days yet." I pulled out a pad of lined paper and tapped my pen on a clean page. "Let me write everything up that we''ve got, so I can send it off to them as soon as we get in to London. An initial report, with detailed drawings of the circle and notes covering what we do know about it will have to suffice for now. Considering the condition of the circle when we got there, it may be all they ever get." <> Artemis rumbled grumpily from her place at the door. I exchanged a look with Athena, and sensed her emotions as clearly as my own¡­we were both upset about not finding the girl in time to save her. Artemis had just moved through the stages of emotion faster than we had, and focused on the more pragmatic part of it. "I know, and I agree," I considered the blank page, then started re-drawing what we had of the circle. "But that part is their job, and we were told - very politely and respectfully, I might add - to get out of it." <> Artemis put her chin down on her paws with a sigh. I couldn''t argue. I didn''t like it either. But I figured we¡¯d better get used to it. It was probably going to be a frequent occurrence if we were going to work with the police a lot. ¡°I suppose the important thing is that we kept those policemen alive,¡± Athena said, putting books away. ¡°They¡¯d¡¯ve found their way out there eventually, and if we hadn¡¯t been there, that¡­that thing, whatever it was, would¡¯ve killed them.¡± I smiled. ¡°That¡¯s true, sister. I suppose this means another trip to the mnemonotranscription department at the Central Library.¡± ¡°Time to learn some of Dr. Absolom¡¯s tricks?¡± Athena smiled. I nodded. ¡°Definitely. Who knows, maybe he can even help us fill in more of the circle from our memories.¡± Circles - Chapter 8 (May 15th, 1987) It was with some trepidation that I stared at the door of Superintendent John Reid, Ben¡¯s boss at Scotland Yard. The last time I¡¯d been in his office, it hadn¡¯t been pretty. Not that I hadn¡¯t deserved it. I¡¯d been a mess, and I hadn¡¯t been facing up to it, even with all of the prodding from Athena and Artemis. Now, thanks to their patience and care - and Ben¡¯s, and that of a few other people - and with a little more than a year of knitting my fractured psyche and self-confidence back together, I was confident that I was whole again. Mostly. <> Athena nudged me gently. <> <> Artemis added. <> She pressed up against the back of my legs, forcing me to take a step towards the door. I have learned, at great length and with enough repetition that it¡¯s finally sunk in, to heed the wisdom of my sisters. I knocked. ¡°Come in!¡± Reid¡¯s voice called through the frosted glass door. I opened it, but didn¡¯t step in. After a moment, Reid looked up and smiled faintly, his iron-colored beard flexing with the motion. ¡°I said ¡®come in,¡¯ Mage Kinnear. Have a seat.¡± He gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk. Well, he used my proper title. That was encouraging. The last time we¡¯d spoken, he¡¯d called me ¡®Miss¡¯ instead. I got nudges from both Artemis and Athena when I hesitated, and a moment later Athena and I were sitting in the chairs, while Artemis settled to her haunches between us. Reid shuffled some folders and papers on his desk. ¡°I¡¯ve had a very good report about you from Sergeant Brian Chase and Constable Paul Meyers of the York police force.¡± He opened one of the folders and flipped pages until he found what he was looking for. ¡°Here we are¡­¡¯very amenable to taking orders, intelligent and clever, and an asset in high-stress situations.¡¯¡± He looked up at us. ¡°He was including Athena and Artemis in that comment, by the way. You three made a good impression up there. It reflected very well on the training you¡¯ve done with the Yard¡¯s Special Magical Response division.¡± He closed the folder again. ¡°I¡¯ve also had a positively glowing report about you from Sergeant Malone of the SMR - ¡° I snorted. I couldn¡¯t help myself. Athena hid a smile behind her hand. Reid shrugged and smiled a little again. ¡°All right, what passes for a glowing report from him. Which is to say it¡¯s not overly critical, beyond saying that you have more to learn and are aware of it. Believe me when I say that¡¯s high praise from him. But he has, as he noted here that he informed you, cleared you to work for the Yard again. ¡°So has Dr. MacMoran,¡± Reid continued, flipping open another file. ¡°Her report was slightly less glowing, but she says that she feels that, and I quote, ¡®Only additional time and experience will finish the work of restoring Alys¡¯s confidence in herself and her decision-making processes.¡¯¡± He looked up at me. ¡°Would you agree with that assessment?¡± I nodded. ¡°Yes, sir. A lot of the uncertainty I was feeling was due to the fragmentation of my psyche that Brenna¡¯s spell caused. Once we finished knitting that back together - with a bit of help from Dr. Absolom at the Albion Central Library - I was able to see how¡­off¡­my behavior had been.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Reid¡¯s smile returned, more amused than ever. ¡°Ah yes, Dr. Absolom. I received a letter from him the other day, informing me that I was several types of fool if I didn¡¯t allow you to resume consulting for the Yard.¡± His lips twitched. ¡°He was very forceful.¡± Athena coughed behind her hand, hiding a smile again. ¡°I¡¯ve never met the man,¡± Reid said, ¡°but I got the impression that he¡¯s not¡­¡± He hesitated. ¡°All there?¡± Athena asked with a gentle smile. Reid shrugged. ¡°That¡¯ll work. His letter was three pages long, and I swear he wrote the same things four or five times in different ways. What¡¯s he like to talk to?¡± ¡°Fascinating,¡± I said, ¡°but often frustrating. His short-term memory is not the best. But we learned some very useful things about transcribing memories into specially prepared crystals from him.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Reid looked curious. ¡°You¡¯ll have to tell me more about that later. That skill is very useful for suspect interrogation and court transcription.¡± I hadn¡¯t thought of that. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Reid sat back in his chair and drummed the fingers of one hand on the table, watching us. After a minute, he nodded. ¡°All right, Mage Kinnear. Consider yourself reinstated as an official Scotland Yard consultant.¡± He opened a drawer and pulled out three laminated cards, sliding them across the table to me. ¡°Make sure you wear those prominently when you¡¯re at a crime scene.¡± I reached for them, then hesitated. ¡°Alys,¡± Reid said firmly, ¡°I would not be giving you those if I didn¡¯t think you were ready for them. Heck, I wouldn¡¯t have given them to you originally if I¡¯d known how wet behind the ears you really were.¡± ¡°Then why¡­?¡± I tried to frame the question, and couldn¡¯t quite find the right words. ¡°Well, for one thing,¡± Reid said with a sigh, ¡°Donovan can be hellishly convincing when he puts his mind to it, and he was certain that you just the thing we needed. Also, frankly, you were - as Ben pointed out - already involved in the situation, and it would be easier keeping an eye on you if you were working for us.¡± Athena chuckled. ¡°He¡¯s got you there, sister.¡± I nodded ruefully. ¡°And now?¡± ¡°Now you¡¯ve earned them, or at least the right to carry them and to work for the Yard when we need specialized aid.¡± Reid spread his hands. ¡°Of course, if you¡¯re still planning on continuing on to become a fully licensed Wizard, you¡¯ll be getting the equivalent of a private investigator¡¯s license at the same time.¡± I nodded again. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°Good. You have potential and talent, and I hate seeing both wasted.¡± He smiled. ¡°Now¡­are you going to take those?¡± I reached out again and scooped up the three laminated cards, handing Athena¡¯s to her. ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome, Kinnear.¡± He sat back. ¡°Now, unless there¡¯s anything else¡­¡± ¡°There¡¯s one thing, sir,¡± I said. ¡°If I may ask¡­have you heard anything about the investigation in York? Have they found any leads?¡± He shook his head grimly. ¡°I¡¯ve been keeping appraised of that one, since you were involved in it. They haven¡¯t found any leads yet, but they¡¯re still working on it. There¡¯ve been rumblings about asking the Yard to send up one of our Special Magical Response teams, and maybe a specialist or two, to help with their investigation. I imagine Mrs. Rein is pretty upset about their lack of progress.¡± He smiled faintly. ¡°If they ask for a specialist¡­if, mind you¡­I¡¯ll consider sending you and Donovan up to have another look around. You¡¯ve proved you work well together in spite of your growing relationship. Which, by the way, I will be keeping an eye on. I don¡¯t disapprove, I think you two are good for one another, but if it starts to interfere with your work¡­¡± ¡°Understood, sir,¡± I said. Athena smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t think you have much to worry about, sir. They¡¯re very professional when they¡¯re working.¡± ¡°Mmhm,¡± Reid said, obviously not quite believing her. ¡°As long as the job gets done and nobody¡¯s put out by their behavior, I won¡¯t say anything. Consultant Mages and Wizards have an unusual standing in the Yard, so we make allowances.¡± He turned his attention back to me. ¡°I know you think you understand, but let me be perfectly clear. As long as working together isn¡¯t disruptive, I have no problems with it. If your relationship starts to get in the way of either of you getting your jobs done on-scene, then - ¡° ¡°Then you¡¯ll withdraw these,¡± I said, holding up the passes. Reid tipped his head. ¡°No, Kinnear. I won¡¯t withdraw those unless you turn out to be considerably less competent than you appear to be. No, I¡¯d just find you a different liaison with the Yard.¡± He smiled a little. ¡°That¡¯s all.¡± I blinked. ¡°Oh.¡± Athena snickered behind her hand. I kicked her ankle. Artemis sighed gustily. <> Reid smiled a bit more. ¡°You don¡¯t think we¡¯d get rid of a valuable asset just because of a relationship, do you? These things can be worked around, believe me.¡± He sat back in his chair. ¡°Now, unless you have more questions¡­?¡± I shook my head and rose. ¡°No, sir. Thank you very much for this opportunity.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome, Kinnear,¡± Reid said. ¡°I have a strong feeling that you¡¯ll live up to expectations now.¡± Circles - Epilogue June 1st, 1987 My employer, Wizard Hollis Ellister, had many things delivered to his house on order - like groceries - so that he and Elsie, his Elevated mouse familiar/housekeeper, wouldn¡¯t have to go out to do the shopping. Groceries are a mundane purchase though, and a wizard - even a wizard-in-training like me - doesn¡¯t ask someone else to do certain types of shopping for them. And while Hollis kept a more than sufficient supply of most magical reagents on hand in his own workshop, I had recently begun building my own stock of certain things. Fortunately, Harrods had the best apothecary and alchemical supplies in all of Albion. And I loved Harrods. ¡°I found the Agrimony,¡± Athena said as she came down the aisle towards me, a wicker basket hooked in the crook of her elbow. ¡°Dried whole, powdered, and as an oil infusion.¡± She made a face. ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure which would work best for the protective amulets you¡¯re making, so I got all three.¡± ¡°We can use all three,¡± I said, putting a jar of Sandalwood powder into my own basket. ¡°We¡¯ll use them at different phases of the enchanting process, and it¡¯ll increase the potency of the final enchantment.¡± Artemis, lurking by my feet, leaned in and carefully sniffed a big stone jar on the bottom shelf. Then she made a face, turned her head, and sneezed. I smiled. ¡°I told you not to sniff those.¡± <> She rubbed her nose with her paw and made a disgruntled noise in her throat. I reached down and ruffled Artemis¡¯s ears gently. ¡°You know the saying about curiosity and cats.¡± She made a distinctly dismissive ¡®feh¡¯ sound. <> Athena laughed softly. ¡°She¡¯s probably right.¡± I didn¡¯t argue. They were both probably right. ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± Athena asked, stretching up on her toes for a moment and bouncing a little. We¡¯d started the morning sparring with police at the Scotland Yard Special Magical Response Unit training yard, and we were both feeling a bit sore for having done so. But it was good for us, so we kept right on doing it. ¡°Um¡­¡± I closed my eyes for a moment, referring to my mental list of components for the protective amulets. My memory is very precise, and very well organized, so the list came into focus quickly. ¡°We need some White Ash and Aromatic Cedar chips for the brazier we¡¯ll be using. They have the right properties of protection and blocking unwanted forces.¡± <> Artemis noted. <> I smiled. ¡°That too. Come on. I think the wood chips are in the next aisle.¡± Artemis rubbed against my leg as I started walking, then wound around Athena¡¯s, apparently trying to trip her. This was a new game of hers¡­one which she found endlessly entertaining, and which was driving Athena to distraction. ¡°Come on, Artemis, cut it out.¡± I laughed¡­and promptly collided with someone as I rounded the corner at the end of the aisle. That¡¯s what I get for not looking where I¡¯m going. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry¡­¡± I looked up. Black hair, cut in the same style as mine. Golden eyes, pointed ears, pale skin, dark clothes. Brenna? What in the name of all that¡¯s holy was she doing there? ¡°Brenna?¡± ¡°Alys?¡± She sounded as surprised as I felt. Athena yanked me back away from her and stepped between us. At the same time, Hecate - Brenna¡¯s Elevated panther familiar - did the same to her. They growled at one another, baring fangs and claws. At our feet, Artemis and Hathor - Brenna¡¯s other panther familiar, purchased expressly to match Artemis - both crouched, hissing and snarling at one another, tails lashing in agitation. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a security guard take a step forward. I didn¡¯t blame him for not approaching any further, we were probably a sight to see. But at the same time, we were in danger of becoming an exciting part of his day. ¡°Athena, Artemis, stop it!¡± ¡°Hecate, Hathor, stop it!¡± Brenna and I blinked at one another. We¡¯d spoken simultaneously, startling all four of our familiars into silence. After a long and uncomfortable silence, Brenna lifted her hands, palms upwards. ¡°We¡¯re unarmed¡­just like you, we had to leave our weapons at the front door.¡± Somehow, I doubted that they were completely unarmed. The guards were very good, but also very polite, and it was an accepted thing that spellcasters were never truly unarmed. Spells aside, I, for example, still had my cane, which I had prepared at great length to function as a wizard¡¯s staff, in addition to having a smallsword hidden inside it. I nodded slowly. ¡°Pax?¡± ¡°I have no desire to run afoul of the guards,¡± Brenna said, the corners of her lips twitching into something that was almost a smile. ¡°I like being able to shop at Harrods. They have the best apothecary in southern Albion.¡± ¡°They do,¡± I agreed. ¡°Pax?¡± I asked again. It was a politely formal way of asking for a brief cessation of hostilities, not quite legally binding, but the next best thing, and under the Code Duello, the formal dueling code followed by Albion and most of the other countries in the region, breaking it was considered a forfeit. For what that was worth. Brenna grimaced slightly, and I remembered that asking the Sidhe a question three times was considered extremely impolite. Due to some quirk of either magic or biology (which might be both, in their case), being asked a question three times compelled them to answer it honestly, whether they wanted to or not. Brenna was probably a lot more used to having to tip toe around that, having grown up with our Sidhe father. ¡°Yes, sister dear, pax,¡± she said dryly. ¡°I came to shop, not to fight.¡± She peered at Athena¡¯s basket, then mine. ¡°So did you, from the looks of things. Protective charms? How very¡­boring.¡± ¡°We¡¯re going to be learning to safely destroy enchanted objects,¡± I said flatly. ¡°Building a few simple ones is a prerequisite.¡± Her left eye twitched. ¡°Ah.¡± Evidently, she remembered the outcome of our battle on the train a year and a half earlier, where I¡¯d been forced to use a powerful fire spell to destroy a ritual dagger she¡¯d been trying to steal from us. It had resulted in half of the train car we¡¯d been in being blasted to bits. She and Hecate - she hadn¡¯t owned Hathor then - had been blown clean out of the car. ¡°Yes, I can see how you might want to learn to do that properly,¡± Brenna said dryly. We stared at one another again, the silence stretching. What the hell was I supposed to say to her? Even after a year of therapy and exchanging letters with her regularly, I still had no idea how to approach her. She killed our father right in front of me¡­though he was a Sidhe Lord - a member of the ruling class of the spirit world that existed alongside ours - and based on what I¡¯d gleaned from Brenna¡¯s comments, letters, and memories (before my therapist and I successfully excised them from my mind), he wasn¡¯t kind to Brenna. And, you know, there was the whole ¡°Having sex with my mother and leaving her the same night¡± thing. You¡¯ve heard the old total nonsense question about ¡°Is it really rape if she enjoyed it,¡± right? Try this one on for size: ¡°Is it rape if she was seduced, taken, and left with blissful memories of the experience, thanks to an innate magic that was one step removed from mind control?¡± That¡¯ll make your head ache. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. So I couldn¡¯t really blame Brenna for having killed him. Sidhe morality was a bit bent under the best of conditions. But she¡¯d demonstrated at length that she was neither entirely sane nor entirely safe. I didn¡¯t trust her any further than I could¡¯ve thrown her without magic. We came, almost literally, from different worlds. What did we have to talk about? I fidgeted a little in spite of myself. ¡°Oh!¡± Brenna said suddenly, ¡°did you really like my Yuletide gift?¡± I smiled. ¡°The signed edition of Alice¡¯s Adventures in Wonderland? Very much so. It was a wonderful gift.¡± I clasped my hands on my cane in front of me, squeezing the grip. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t send you anything¡­honestly, I had no idea what to get you.¡± She smiled, a lopsided, not-quite-right smile. ¡°I¡¯m difficult to shop for. But you were easy¡­actually, I found that in Father¡¯s library. I think he meant for you to have it.¡± That made my skin crawl a little. But¡­how many opportunities are there to have an early edition of such magnificent stories, signed by the author. That it existed at all now made more sense to me. Our father had been an immortal, after all. ¡°So,¡± I said, desperately searching for something to say, ¡°would you like to get some lunch?¡± What? <> Athena asked, her jaw dropping open a little. <> Artemis said. Judging by their expressions, Hecate and Hathor were as boggled as my familiars. Brenna gave me a wide-eyed stare for a moment. ¡°Really? I¡¯d like that very much.¡± She giggled. The sound was not quite right, somehow. ¡°It would give us a chance to really get to know one another a little better.¡± I felt sweat break out on my forehead. What had I just done? Maybe Artemis was right, and I had gone mad. Very quickly, I checked my feelings on the subject, and discovered that I really did want a chance to sit down and try to get to know her a little better. Isn¡¯t there an old saying about how you can¡¯t choose your family? Like it or not, comfortable with it or not, Brenna was my half-sister, and I didn¡¯t have enough blood relations to go around throwing them aside because I wasn¡¯t comfortable with them. So I nodded. ¡°Really. That¡¯s why I suggested it.¡± I gestured around. ¡°We¡¯re on neutral ground here¡­why not take the chance, eh?¡± Our familiars were still staring at us like we¡¯d gone insane. <> I said gently to Athena and Artemis, <> <> Athena shot back. <> I said. Artemis looked up at me. <> I looked back and forth between them, seeing Brenna doing the same with her familiars out of the corner of my eyes. <> <> Athena said with a little nod. Artemis grunted. <> I looked up, and found Brenna watching me with a small, sad smile on her face. ¡°Trust is going to be a problem for us, isn¡¯t it.¡± I returned her little smile with a lopsided one. ¡°Probably all our lives. Come on, let¡¯s get something to eat. I don¡¯t know about you, but I¡¯m hungry.¡± Twenty minutes later we were all sitting at a round table in the Harrods cafe. Artemis and Hathor had settled beneath the table at our feet, and seemed to be getting along better than Athena and Hecate, who continued to eye one another uneasily as we ate. As spellcasters, Brenna and I had quickly found common ground. ¡°So,¡± I was saying between bites of a really delicious turkey sandwich, ¡°you¡¯re saying you can use a blend of essential oils for protective enchantments?¡± Brenna swallowed a bite of her salad and nodded eagerly. ¡°Oh yes. Try a mix of black pine, holy basil, and rose geranium. I¡¯ve never seen it for sale anywhere, I have to make it myself, but it works wonders for sealing mirrors against hostile entities.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t it need to be refreshed after it dries?¡± I asked. She shook her head. ¡°The effects linger for months, as long as you don¡¯t wash the mirror.¡± She gestured with her fork. ¡°You¡¯re making protective amulets, right? Have you thought about adding Frankincense to your recipe?¡± ¡°No, I hadn¡¯t, but it makes sense,¡± I said. ¡°For what, luck and protection? How about geranium, for defending against incoming negative energy?¡± Brenna nodded. ¡°Oh yes, definitely. Just be careful about what you mix together.¡± She giggled. ¡°Some combinations can become toxic.¡± She forked up a bite of salad and crunched loudly to punctuate the statement. ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡± Athena and Hecate, both working on burgers, continued to watch one another suspiciously. ¡°Is this as weird for you as it is for me?¡± I asked Brenna, drawing their attention. Brenna nodded. ¡°Oh yes, very much so. My tutors always focused on how things could harm and destroy, leaving me to research protective things for myself. And Father never wanted to socialize with me.¡± She smiled. ¡°This almost makes me feel like a real girl.¡± I tipped my head a little. ¡°Like a real girl?¡± ¡°Well, we¡¯re not really human, are we,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re half-Sidhe. That makes us different.¡± I thought I saw a sad look on Hecate¡¯s face for a moment. ¡°I suppose,¡± I said slowly. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean we aren¡¯t ¡®real.¡¯ It doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t do normal things.¡± Brenna shrugged. ¡°What¡¯s normal for me isn¡¯t normal for someone else.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± I agreed. Her ¡®normal¡¯ definitely wasn¡¯t like anyone else¡¯s. ¡°But - ¡° She cut me off by waving her fork around. ¡°All of this¡­Harrods, having lunch, having a friend¡­¡± Did she think of me as a friend? ¡°It¡¯s not normal,¡± she said. ¡°This is¡­¡± She hesitated, pursing her lips and frowning a little. ¡°This is a dream. Am I dreaming?¡± She put her fork down and pinched herself. ¡°Well¡­it could still be a particularly vivid dream.¡± I stared at her, feeling like the entire world had just tipped out from under me. One moment we¡¯d been having what was - to me - a very mundane conversation about the best ways to assemble protective charms and spells, and the next moment she was¡­where was she? Hecate touched Brenna¡¯s shoulder lightly. ¡°Mistress?¡± Brenna¡¯s eyes refocused, first on me, then on Hecate. ¡°Thank you, dear. What was I saying?¡± ¡°You were saying that some combinations of essential oils could be toxic,¡± Hecate said, shooting quick, warning looks at me and Athena. ¡°Oh yes, thank you.¡± Brenna smiled at me. ¡°You¡¯ll want to be very careful about that, of course.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± I said faintly, feeling a bit light headed. What the heck had just happened? I opened my mouth to say something, and closed it again when Hecate gave me a quick, pleading look. Brenna glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed. ¡°Bother. I have an appointment I can¡¯t afford to miss. We¡¯d best get going.¡± She smiled at me. ¡°Lunch is on me today, okay?¡± She picked up the bill, rose, and headed for the cashier before I could say anything. Hecate wilted a little. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said in a soft, surprisingly warm contralto. Somehow, I¡¯d expected her voice to be harsher. ¡°Thank you for playing along there.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± Athena asked softly. Hecate hesitated, glancing after Brenna, then looked at me again. ¡°I suppose it¡¯s not being disloyal, since you¡¯re family and trying to help her. Sometimes her sanity¡­slips. Hathor and I haven¡¯t figured out what sets it off, and we can usually bring her back from it, but¡­it can be bad, too.¡± Understanding dawned in me like a light bulb being turned on. I¡¯d been experiencing similar moments of cognitive dissonance for a while after Brenna¡¯s psychic spell had ripped through my brain. Well¡­at least now I knew why. As she¡¯d accidentally transferred some of her memories to me with that spell, a bit of her psychological problems - whatever they were - had been reproduced as well. I made a mental note to let Dr. MacMoran, my mind healer and psychologist, know. I wondered, not for the first time, if our father had set that Sidhe magic up specifically to help me understand Brenna better. On impulse, I quickly dug in my wallet and pulled out one of Dr. MacMoran¡¯s business cards. She¡¯d done such a wonderful job, both of removing the effects of Brenna¡¯s spell from me and piecing me back together through normal therapy afterwards, that I¡¯d taken to carrying a few of her cards around with me. My job frequently brought me into contact with people who¡¯d experienced particularly traumatic events, and needed a professional to talk to. I held the card out to Hecate. ¡°Put this someplace safe¡­it¡¯s the name and contact info for the Mind Healer who helped me. When Brenna¡¯s ready, you¡¯ll have it for her.¡± Hecate took it from me with only a moment¡¯s pause, gave me a quick smile, and made it disappear. I¡¯m no slouch with sleight of hand, but for the life of me I wasn¡¯t able to follow where she put it. ¡°Thank you,¡± she whispered. If Hecate was any indication, and I thought she was, Brenna was worth trying to save from herself. It might even be possible to do so. ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± Athena¡¯s gaze, I noticed, was no longer suspicious. Now it was sympathetic. And under the table, I could sense Artemis quietly talking to Hathor, though - in the way familiars have of communicating with one another - I couldn¡¯t quite hear the words. It was kind of like listening to very badly tuned foreign language radio. Brenna came back then, and Hecate and Hathor rose, the latter emerging from under the table. Brenna smiled at us. ¡°This really was nice. I¡¯d like to do it again sometime, if we can.¡± I nodded. ¡°I¡¯d like that too.¡± ¡°Good.¡± She bobbed a little curtsy. ¡°Enjoy the rest of your shopping! Come along, pets.¡± And with that, she was gone, her calf-length black lace and satin skirts swirling as she turned, her familiars following in her wake. But before they left the cafe, Hecate glanced back and nodded to me once more. I sat back in my chair, suddenly exhausted. Athena rubbed her face with both hands. ¡°That was really, really strange.¡± <> Artemis emerged from beneath the table and sat looking at the exit. <> She looked up at me. <> I ruffled her ears gently. ¡°You¡¯re welcome, Artemis.¡± A waitress approached uncertainly. ¡°Um¡­excuse me, Miss. You were having lunch with the dark-haired woman, right?¡± I nodded uneasily. ¡°Yes¡­¡± The waitress glanced at the door. ¡°Well¡­um¡­the gold and silver coins she paid us with aren¡¯t of any mint or nationality we can identify, and while their weight is correct - which is why we took them - they set off our enchantment detectors when we went to put them in the till.¡± She held up a small velvet bag. I sighed a little. ¡°I suppose you¡¯d better let me have the coins.¡± ¡°Is that safe?¡± she asked. I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m a professional Mage. I¡¯ll get them someplace safe where they can be examined.¡± She immediately placed the bag on the table, putting it down as carefully as if she was handling a live grenade. ¡°Thank you! Um¡­about the bill¡­¡± I smiled and pulled out my wallet. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it. With normal currency.¡± Her relief was almost tangible. Broken Circle - Teaser 20th October, 1987 ¡°Lords and Ladies, Mage Alys Kinnear and familiars.¡± The announcement of my presence I¡¯d been expecting. Not giving Athena and Artemis their proper names¡­well, that irked me a bit. I probably shouldn''t have - the way he''d phrased it was socially acceptable - but I gave the doorman a sideways glance nasty enough to make him back up a step as Athena, Artemis and I entered the room. Athena nudged me and gave me a reproving look, that melted into another look which clearly said I could not afford to be off-balance tonight. I sighed a little and nodded, making a mental note to quietly apologize to the doorman when I had a moment. In the meantime, I did a quick breathing exercise to center myself, and took in the room. I had never been to anything even vaguely resembling this sort of...of soir¨¦e, for lack of a better term. I¡¯d heard the term ¡°grand ballroom¡± used in conversations and in literature, but I had honestly never seen one before. Not like this. It was vast. There¡¯s no other way to put it. The arched and intricately painted ceiling had to be at least twenty-five feet above our heads, probably more. The room was so long that there were four huge chandeliers hanging at regular intervals down its length, and wide enough that there was room for a large dance floor with space on both sides of it to walk past without getting in the way people dancing. At one end of the room, there was a raised dais on which a smallish chamber orchestra had set up to perform. By smallish, I mean there were only twelve performers, including a pianist on a grand piano. At the other end of the room there was a long buffet, and tables set up for people who wanted to eat while schmoozing. The whole affair was lit with candles. Candles on the chandeliers, on ornamental wall fixtures, and floating in mid-air above our heads. They were obviously magical...not only could I feel the magic radiating off of them, the showed no sign of melting. I had to learn that spell. I loved to read by candlelight. I was, however, completely unable to comprehend why someone would have decorated the room with what appeared to be magical soap bubbles. They drifted around the room, always just out of reach, and each one contained images of dancers swirling about inside them. Weird. The walls were draped with red and gold velvet, the wallpaper inlaid with what I thought was real gold filigree. The floor and walls appeared to be made of a very dark and highly polished wood that I thought was mahogany. Finally, the room¡¯s outside wall was a long row of enormous glass French doors. Everybody was dressed to the nines. Tuxedos with tails and even more archaic formal wear was common amongst the men. The women in the room displayed quite a bit more variety, but everything was elegant and - in my opinion - completely overblown. I saw hoop skirts and bustles which had gone out of style more than a century ago, corseted gowns, trailing skirts and cloaks, and enough expensive jewelry to feed a small nation for a year, if not longer. In my simple and understated green silk dress, with my cane, silver and emerald teardrop earrings, and silver bracelets, I felt completely out of place. I wasn¡¯t intimidated by any of it...I just felt like I didn¡¯t belong in a place so full of rich and elegant things. I also thought the whole thing was kind of gross, in an overblown and ludicrously opulent way, but I wasn''t about to express that to anyone here. Athena obviously noticed, because she leaned over and whispered in my ear, ¡°You¡¯re by far the prettiest thing in this room. You stand out, sister.¡± Of course I did, I thought ruefully. I was half-Sidhe, after all. My natural Glamour had a way of drawing attention to me, and I had little control over it as yet. ¡°Not because of that,¡± Athena whispered, smiling. ¡°Because you look self-possessed and sure of your own abilities and place in the world. You¡¯re going to be a Wizard soon, and they can all tell you¡¯re more than they are.¡± I looked over at her, confused. ¡°More?¡± She nodded and continued whispering, still smiling. ¡°More powerful, more talented, and more important to the world. Not that they''d admit it, but any one of these people could blink out of existence and someone would replace them...but you, like all Wizards, are unique.¡± I returned her smile. ¡°Thank you for reminding me.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t let it go to your head,¡± she teased. <> Artemis interjected from behind us. <> I laughed softly. ¡°Thank you. Now, let¡¯s circulate. We¡¯re here for a reason, even if we don¡¯t know precisely what it is yet.¡± We had been asked to attend this upper-crust gathering by the master of ceremonies, Lord Jeffrey Barsdale III. Old blood and old money, but I¡¯d heard enough about his charitable works - and nothing about any dalliances or anything similar - that I had more respect for him than most of Albion¡¯s current crop of nobles. Unfortunately, our invitation hadn¡¯t gone into precisely why we were being asked to attend. It said only that we¡¯d be meeting with Lord Barsdale afterwards, at which time he would explain everything, and that we should enjoy his hospitality in the meantime. Rationally, I knew it was a good opportunity for me to do a little bit of networking, which Hollis had been gently needling me to start doing in earnest. Once I finished my Wizard''s license exams, I¡¯d probably be striking out on my own, and it wouldn¡¯t hurt for me to have some contacts among Albion¡¯s elite. So, escorted by Athena and Artemis, I made may way around the room. We kept half an eye out for Lord Barsdale, whose pictures suggested he would be a rather distinctive presence in the room, but there were so many people that it was almost impossible to pick out an individual until they were on top of you. Fortunately, it seemed we weren¡¯t completely unfamiliar faces. We¡¯d been in the newspapers several times over the past couple of years, after all. But we were not of their status...we were curiosities. They showed us respect...but it was a distant, professional, detached respect. The kind some people display when viewing a piece of art that they know was respected in the community, but which didn''t quite meet their standards. ¡°I remember reading about that asylum you cleared of ghosts, child,¡± one elegantly gowned older woman said, literally looking down the length of her nose at me. ¡°Handily done, child. Though I¡¯m certain the Archmage could have done it better, his time is understandably precious...¡± ¡°You¡¯re Mage Kinnear, yes?" an elderly man in an elaborate old naval uniform asked. "Heard about that business up in Yorkshire two months ago. Sounded right nasty. I imagine a squad of Army Mages could have dealt with it better, but from the sounds of it you handled it well enough.¡± And so on. Athena and Artemis were addressed with varying amounts of disdain, or sometimes not at all, though on the whole people seemed accepting of Artemis¡¯s presence, and I saw one or two other familiars in the room. It was Athena - not her existence, but her presence - who made some people uncomfortable in these lofty, upper circles of society. Pets were acceptable, but not servants. To their credit, there were a number of retired soldiers in the room who greeted Athena warmly, and we met several artists and musicians who were equally accepting of her. As we made our way around the room, I began to feel like someone was shadowing me. Out of the corners of my eyes, I kept catching glimpses of a tall man with long white hair that was feathered and draped down his shoulders in front, and tied into a tail with a black bow at the nape of his neck in back. A surprisingly archaic style, even for this group¡¯s Victorian affectations. I saw enough of his face to know he was a man, but couldn¡¯t determine his age or even get a good look at him¡­whenever I turned to look, he was gone. And yet, he seemed to be reflected in the ridiculous magical bubbles that floated above our heads even after he¡¯d vanished. <> I asked Athena. She blinked. <> <> Artemis looked up at me with a dour expression. <> I could¡¯ve smacked my own face for not realizing that before I asked it. <> Athena asked, laying a hand on my arm. Then, I almost collided with him as we reached the edge of the dance floor. One moment a way was opening for us to pass through the crowd, the next he was inches away from me and I had to pull up short to keep from bumping into him. He was tall, over six feet and positively towered over me. His long hair was not just white but actually looked like spun silver, and his face was long and angular, thin but not gaunt, with a strong chin and sharp cheekbones. The most striking feature were his eyes¡­one was an impossibly brilliant sapphire, while the other was glittering silver like his hair. His costume for the evening was as Victorian as many others in the room, but it was not of modern make. I wasn¡¯t sure how I could tell, but something about his clothes felt¡­old. Well-preserved and elegant, but definitely vintage. Then he tipped his head slightly and his hair fell away from his ears¡­ears which came to delicate points, like my own. But somehow I knew at once that this was no Changeling¡­no half-Sidhe, like me. My breath caught in my throat, and I felt a surge of alarm from Athena. This was one of the High Sidhe, one of the lords of the spirit world that existed alongside our own. From beside my legs, Artemis shifted forward and sniffed, and I felt a moment of profound confusion from her. Well, we¡¯d never met a Sidhe Lord before. No doubt he didn¡¯t smell human. He smiled warmly. ¡°Alys, Athena, and Artemis Kinnear. I had so hoped to meet you here this evening.¡± His eyes glittered, but with obvious good humor, not with malice. And there was, to my surprise and discomfort, both familiarity and fondness in his voice. ¡°You¡­¡± My voice cracked a little, and I cleared my throat to swallow my nerves. ¡°You have us at a disadvantage, sir.¡± He extended his hand to me. ¡°I am Madoc.¡± I froze, halfway to automatically shaking his hand. He smiled a bit more, showing a glint of even, white teeth. ¡°Ah, you¡¯ve heard of me.¡± He reached the rest of the way, took my hand, lifted it, and kissed my knuckles. I¡¯d always wanted to have someone do that, but not this someone. Not the Lord of the Unseelie Court. Known in legends and lore to be the darkest and most dangerous of the Sidhe and the fairy folk they ruled over. I swallowed again and tried to smother my fear. ¡°Y-yes¡­¡± I winced inwardly. This was definitely not a being to show weakness in front of. ¡°Yes, I have.¡± His smile grew gentle. ¡°You have nothing to fear from me, Mage Kinnear. I am here as a guest of Lord Barsdale. Under the old laws of hospitality, no guest may bring harm to another, nor threaten harm, nor beguile or enchant.¡± He laughed softly. ¡°Of course, as a Changeling, you¡¯re mostly immune to Sidhe Glamour anyway, so you have nothing to fear on that account.¡± I tried to pull my hand away and he released it immediately, turning instead to take Athena¡¯s - done with such grace that it looked like she¡¯d given it to him, rather than him taking it - and kissed her knuckles as well. ¡°I am absolutely delighted to meet you all.¡± He bent and held out a hand to Artemis. Inwardly, I cringed. <> She leaned forward a little and sniffed his hand, then lifted her head a little to accept a few gentle strokes of her head and ears. <> Athena and I exchanged an uneasy look. That was just a little bit creepy. ¡°I¡¯ve been following your career with some interest,¡± Madoc said as he straightened again, ¡°since you appeared on the scene. I take it you¡¯ve recovered from the injuries your half-sister Brenna inflicted on you?¡± The little alarm bells that had been going off in the back of my mind became a full-blown klaxon. ¡°How did you know about that?¡± I clamped my lips together and instantly regretted the question. Madoc could easily take it as an open invitation to make a deal with me, and I absolutely did not want that. He laughed, evidently delighted by the question. ¡°Which part? That your injuries were sustained in a fight with Brenna that you weren¡¯t really prepared for, or that Brenna is your sister?¡± He smiled at me, a surprisingly warm expression. ¡°You have my word of honor that I will not attempt to trick you into making any deals with me, Mage Kinnear. At least, not here, tonight.¡± He winked. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. I breathed a little sigh of relief, remembering what he¡¯d said about being under the old laws of hospitality. The Sidhe took hospitality very seriously, to the point that violating it could be a lethal offense. ¡°To answer your very understandable question¡­¡± He smiled and laid a finger alongside his nose, then winked again. ¡°I know things.¡± <> Athena said. <> <> I said. Out loud, I said, ¡°I guess it¡¯s your job to know things.¡± "Part of my job," he nodded seriously. ¡°Most assuredly, my dear.¡± He smiled again and held out his hand to me. ¡°Would you do me the honor of having a dance with me?¡± Dance with the Lord of the Unseelie Court? My brain finally shorted out under the strain of remaining alarmed. How could I possibly say no without giving him offense? ¡°My leg¡­¡± I began, aware that it was a feeble excuse. ¡°I¡¯ll be very careful of it,¡± Madoc said gently. ¡°Perhaps just a waltz, hm?¡± Then he smiled again. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re nervous about having a dance with such an evil creature, however handsome, so I¡¯ll offer you a small deal, a harmless one. In exchange for one dance, I will tell you one truth that few alive today actually know.¡± In spite of myself, I was enticed. He was right, it seemed like a completely harmless deal, and as a Wizard-to-be I was fascinated by the idea of learning something that wasn¡¯t well known. Artemis seemed easy enough with his presence, having called him ¡®safe¡¯ and now sat at ease by my side, unconcerned by him. And Athena had observed that he seemed friendly enough. But he knew so much about us. Why was he interested in us? Maybe that was what he was going to tell me. He held out his hand to me. ¡°Please? It would make me very happy.¡± I took a deep breath, silently checked with my sisters who both promised to keep a close eye on me, and handed Athena my cane. Then I took his hand lightly. ¡°Very well. A dance for a truth.¡± He beamed. ¡°Lovely. Thank you very much, Mage Kinnear. May I call you Alys?¡± ¡°What will I owe you in exchange for it?¡± I asked dryly. He chuckled and lead me out onto the dance floor. ¡°No more deals tonight. I ask merely the pleasure of being allowed to use your given name.¡± The way he worded it made me profoundly uneasy, wondering what - exactly - he planned to use my name for. Or maybe it was just having him hold my hand. Or the fact that I was about to dance with him. What was I doing? This was mad. ¡°Let me rephrase that,¡± Madoc said, probably seeing my unease written all over my body language. ¡°That was disingenuous of me. I merely want to call you Alys, instead of Mage Kinnear.¡± ¡°All right,¡± I said slowly. ¡°If I can call you Madoc instead of ¡®my lord¡¯ or something equally formal.¡± He smiled and looked pleased. ¡°Oh, well done. Still wary, and a name for a name. You are going to go very far.¡± He laid his left hand on my hip and turned me to face him, his right hand holding my left. ¡°A waltz, yes?¡± I nodded As if he¡¯d commanded it - and maybe he had, for all I knew - the orchestra began to play a slow waltz. Madoc lead, of course, and did so very well. He was an elegant dancer, and his lead helped me - I¡¯m a passable dancer at best - look more elegant than I really was. Across the floor we turned, the other dancers parting around us and moving back away from us. We glided in graceful circles, moving so lightly that for a moment I was certain my feet weren¡¯t actually touching the floor. <> Athena said, sounding awed, <> I felt my cheeks warm. Madoc, no doubt misunderstanding the source of my sudden blush, smiled. ¡°Ignore the common folk, my dear, and just enjoy the dance. You dance wonderfully.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± I said almost mechanically. I had somehow failed to notice that everyone else on the dance floor had faded to the sides to watch us waltz. In a low voice, I added, ¡°Are you using your Glamour on them?¡± Then winced...why did I keep asking him questions when I knew they stood a good chance of costing me more than they were worth? He laughed softly, twirling me and steadying me again. ¡°Questions for questions? Otherwise, we can¡¯t possibly have a conversation, and I would like to get to know you better.¡± Ominous. Creepy. Kind of sweet. ¡°Agreed.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not...at least, no more than I am breathing,¡± Madoc said, evidently amused. ¡°It¡¯s not a conscious thing, it simply is. The Sidhe, and to a lesser extent our Changeling children, will always be enchanting to mortals, whether we try to be or not. In this case, the simple fact of the matter is that most of these people will never see two Sidhe together in one place...you and I are as close as they¡¯ll ever come.¡± He maneuvered me through another turn around the floor. ¡°Where did you learn to dance so wonderfully?¡± I blinked up at him in surprise. That was not the kind of question I¡¯d expected. ¡°Um...my master, Jonathan Tremane, taught me while I was studying with him.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad to see he didn¡¯t skimp on any part of your education,¡± Madoc said with an approving nod. ¡°I do so hate to see grace go untrained, and you are very graceful.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± I said. ¡°It took me a while to get back into shape after...¡± ¡°After Brenna¡¯s assault,¡± Madoc said, picking up where I¡¯d trailed off, his voice rich with sympathy. I nodded. It was still hard to talk about, especially with a stranger. Doubly so with a stranger I was uncomfortable knowing so much about me. ¡°How are you getting along with her now?¡± Madoc asked. I looked up and met his eyes, trying to decide if I should answer. It wasn¡¯t exactly private information, really, and I wasn¡¯t sure what harm it could do. Besides, it gave me an opportunity to learn something interesting. ¡°Our relationship is strained and awkward...mostly, we write letters to one another, but I had lunch with her at Harrods recently. Do you see much of your brother?¡± He laughed. ¡°Touch¨¦. I haven¡¯t seen Oberon in almost¡­oh, it''s been more than seven hundred years.¡± He bent close and whispered, ¡°Between us, if I never see him again it would be too soon. He¡¯s a pompous windbag, self-righteous and full of himself.¡± He straightened and winked. ¡°You aren¡¯t the only one with strained family relations, my dear.¡± The orchestra began to wind down and we slowed. As they finished, our audience - everybody else attending, probably - began to applaud. Madoc bowed to me, and I curtsied in return. He took my hand and kissed my knuckles, then smiled. ¡°Can I talk you into another dance?¡± His smile turned a little bit sad. ¡°No, of course not. I¡¯ve unnerved you enough for one meeting, I¡¯m sure. But I still owe you a truth.¡± He leaned in close and whispered in my ear, ¡°I created the Unseelie Court not merely as an act of rebellion against my brother, but also to protect humanity from the excesses and worst predations of our kin and offspring. All of the stories and legends about my Court...are wrong.¡± Without another word, Madoc straightened, bowed to me once more, and vanished into the crowd of guests thronging back onto the dance floor. I don¡¯t just mean he walked away...I mean he stepped into the nearest cluster of approaching guests and vanished, leaving me stunned and shaken on the floor. A moment later, Athena took my hand and guided me from the dance floor. <> <> Athena stopped walking and stared at me. <> I nodded. <> She smiled, feeling my equilibrium returning. <> ¡°Mmhm,¡± I said aloud, then added, <> After several people complimented me on how beautiful a dance it had been - and I begged off a few invitations to dance, using my knee as an excuse - we beat a hasty retreat to a spot near one of the sets of huge French doors. There, we were able to catch our breath and have a light snack from the buffet. ¡°How long do we have to stay, again?¡± Athena asked dryly, sipping a glass of sparkling wine. Artemis shook her head incredulously. <> she said. <> I chuckled softly. <> Athena snorted a little laugh. ¡°I expect that a lot of the country¡¯s business is done in rooms like this. Everything gets decided before it ever gets to Parliament and the High King.¡± I sighed. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine why Lord Barsdale would want us here for the whole thing rather than just meeting with us afterwards or tomorrow.¡± ¡°Nor can some of the rest of us,¡± a haughty voice said from off to my right. I turned to see a middle-aged man in a fine Victorian-style tuxedo, staring at us with undisguised disgust. His hair was silver at the temples, and his unpleasantly sharp features and glittering eyes seemed to radiate a sort of malice. ¡°Why our Lord Barsdale would want half-breed trash such as yourself...not to mention your familiars...at one of his events is beyond my comprehension,¡± he continued. Beside me, Athena tensed. While I had my temper mostly under control again these days, there were times... Now was not going to be one of them. Jonathan had taught me years ago how to respond in such a situation. ¡°You have me at a disadvantage, sir,¡± I said with cool politeness, for the second time that evening. I know Hollis had been harping on me to network, but if this was going to be the result¡­and then Madoc¡¯s words came back to me. We were all, technically, here under the old rules of hospitality. I smiled thinly and started again. ¡°You seem to know who I am, but I have never seen you before and have done you no wrong that I am aware of. I cannot imagine why you would choose to insult me so. I respectfully request that you apologize.¡± Athena sucked in a little breath, and so did a few other people within earshot. The words I¡¯d just uttered were part of the formal challenge to a duel. Usually they were sufficient to get most people to realize they were being a complete prat and back down. If they didn¡¯t, I was within my legal rights to call them out. Which actually overrode, as I understood it, the old laws of hospitality. Though if I became the aggressor, it would be frowned on. Archaic dueling laws. I¡¯d spent a week pouring over them with Jonathan when I was sixteen. They gave me a headache, but they were important to know in our line of work. The man¡¯s eyes widened incredulously. ¡°You little...how dare you!¡± He lifted his right hand, and I felt the Anima gathering around him. So did several other people near us, because they turned in surprise to get a better look at what was going on. He obviously had some talent with Hermetic magic. I could almost feel whatever spell he was about to cast forming. But I am a professional Mage, in training to become a Wizard, and I was now well within my rights to defend myself. I could also tell that I was more skilled than he was. It was taking him forever to pull the spell together. It felt like a blast of force. Impulsively, I decided to try a trick that Jonathan frequently used on me when we practiced, but which due to his experience and speed I had never quite managed to make work. Rather than simply shielding myself from this man''s spell, I would counter it and twist it back around on him. ¡°Alys...¡± Athena started to say in alarm. A moment later the stranger crashed through the French doors he was standing in front of in a shower of shattered glass and splintered wood. I honestly hadn''t meant his rebounding spell to hit him that hard, but might''ve put a bit of extra spin on it without consciously meaning to, and I don''t think he''d realized how much Anima he''d put into it in the first place. I didn¡¯t feel particularly bad about it either. While it had been enough to knock him off his feet, and his position had resulted in that sending him through the doors, his kinetic spell hadn¡¯t been nearly enough to do him - or me, had it actually hit me - any lasting harm. I stepped through carefully behind him, gripping my cane in my left hand. Jonathan had repeatedly told me ''Always take the fight outside at your first opportunity.'' ¡°That was unwise, sir,¡± I said politely. ¡°A largely untrained practitioner of the Art should never attempt to assault a Mage with magic. Again, I respectfully request that you apologize.¡± I held out my hand to him palm up, both a peace gesture and a polite offer to help him rise. Second request. I couldn¡¯t imagine why this madman was actively trying to provoke a fight here and now, especially when he had so firmly placed himself in the wrong. Having not actually cast a spell myself - countering an existing spell didn''t count, legally - this stranger was solely responsible for any reparations for the damage done to the doors. He swatted my hand aside and struggled to his feet. ¡°Miserable little half-blood tramp,¡± he snarled. ¡°I challenge you to a duel, here and now, without magic. Martial rules.¡± Martial rules, in this case, meant that we would fight with whatever we had on us at the time. He obviously assumed that my cane meant that I was in some way hampered by an old injury, and that the cane itself was just a focus. If it had just been a focus, I would have had to discard it before fighting him. Fortunately, Jonathan was more clever at giving gifts than that. I reached over with my right hand, found the release, and with a soft click and an almost silent rasp of metal on wood, drew out the concealed smallsword within the cane. I flipped the ironwood shaft around and held it like a baton in my left hand. ¡°Very well.¡± His eyes bulged and he looked around frantically. Behind me, a pleasant male baritone filled with rich laughter rang out, ¡°I¡¯d back down if I were you, Lord Chesterton. She has you at a disadvantage in every way, from preparedness all the way through skill and into intellect. In fact,¡± the voice drawled, ¡°I expect you to withdraw your challenge. It is ferociously uncouth to assault such a charming young woman at any time, let alone here and now when you are both here at my invitation.¡± A man stepped up beside me, and I glanced at him curiously. He didn¡¯t look much older than Ben, which would put him in his late thirties, and he was every bit as striking as his pictures made him look. The strong jawline, the dark eyes and aquiline nose, the dark hair swept back from his forehead into a long pony tail. He wasn¡¯t dressed as ostentatiously as most of his guests, but still looked every inch the nobleman. ¡°Lord Barsdale,¡± I said politely. ¡°I apologize for both the disruption of your party and the damage to your home.¡± He waved it off airily. ¡°No fault of yours, Mage Kinnear. You handled the situation with admirable restraint, as far as I¡¯m concerned.¡± He glared down at the stranger - Chesterton, he¡¯d said. ¡°You, however, I expect to pay in full for the damage done here tonight, first thing tomorrow. I also suggest you depart with all due haste. Your invitation is formally rescinded.¡± Ouch. If Chesterton had still had a leg to stand on, that would have yanked it right out from under him. ¡°But...she carries a concealed weapon at a party!¡± Chesterton protested. ¡°Indeed she does,¡± Lord Barsdale replied cheerfully. ¡°Which she very properly notified the doorman of upon her arrival and made the appropriate promises to keep it sheathed unless provoked.¡± He leaned forward slightly. ¡°Get your coat,¡± he said, all the warmth gone from his voice, ¡°And get out.¡± I immediately sheathed and locked my sword-cane, setting its tip on the ground and leaning on it. Chesterton all but snarled...then stalked past us back into the ballroom. Athena and Artemis arrived in a crush, having held back to give me room to fight if need be. Their attempts to make sure I was all right came in a rush so forceful that I only caught bits and pieces of what they were saying. Standing in the remains of the doorway with several other people, I saw Madoc watching us. He smiled slightly and nodded to me, tipping an imaginary hat in a gesture that clearly meant ¡®Well done.¡¯ Then he was gone again. Lord Barsdale smiled. ¡°I see you have good defenders.¡± His voice silenced them instantly, and he smiled more. ¡°Oh, be at ease. I was only a few feet away when that cad spoke out. I heard and saw the whole thing. Mage Kinnear, you have my respect for the way you handled the situation.¡± Athena moved to stand beside me. <> she murmured. <> I agreed. <> Lord Barsdale was examining us curiously. ¡°I say, your familiar - Athena, correct? - does resemble you tremendously. I¡¯ve seen the pictures in the paper, of course, but they don¡¯t do either of you justice. And I see now why Scotland Yard recommended you when I asked to have someone look into my little problem. Mage Kinnear, I apologize for Lord Chesterton having ruined your evening. The party should be ending shortly...I do hope you and your familiars will still stay to speak with me afterwards.¡± I exchanged a quick look with Athena, who shrugged, as if to say ¡®it¡¯s your call.¡¯ I smiled up at Lord Barsdale. ¡°We will be honored to speak with you, my Lord.¡± ¡°Please, call me Jeffrey. All of you,¡± he added, including Artemis and Athena with a gesture. ¡°All of that ¡®Lord¡¯ nonsense is for the older generation. Stuffy fools.¡± He bowed politely to me, then again to Athena and Artemis, surprising all three of us. ¡°I¡¯ll speak with you shortly then. Please try to enjoy the rest of the party.¡± Waving a hand to flag down one of the servants who had started tidying up the mess Chesteron had made of the French doors, Jeffrey disappeared back into the ballroom. ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°I suppose the night can¡¯t get any worse.¡± <> Artemis grunted. <> ¡°She¡¯s right,¡± Athena agreed, then sighed. ¡°Well, I guess we¡¯d better go back in.¡± New Story - Nexus Hi everybody! The first five chapters of Nexus are up, so go take a look! I hope you enjoy it! https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/49984/nexus ***** Caley Reid grew up without a home or family, an orphan in a system that was too busy protecting the children it watched over to actually care for them. To her, the words ¡°family¡± and ¡°home¡± carry a profound sense of loss and longing. She poured those feelings into her studies, walling herself off from the world and her emotions, becoming one of the best students her orphanage - and later her university - had ever had the pleasure of teaching. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. When she learns that her father has recently died, and that she is now due to come into her inheritance, it shakes her to the core. Desperate to learn about the family just beyond her reach, she puts her studies on hold to follow the trail her unknown parents have left for her. Now she must learn the secrets of her mother¡¯s ancestral home¡­a home beyond her wildest dreams. And she must discover why her father sent her away when she was born, what ended his life, and what happened to her mother - before those secrets kill her. The Kinnear Chronicles are back in print and Kindle! Re-publishing of The Kinnear Chronicles is finally complete! Whew! I''m not ashamed to admit it took me a while to figure out my way around Amazon KDP, but those of you who encouraged me to go that way were right...once you''ve got it all sorted out, it is really very easy to manage. And their customer support has been fantastic, helping me work out a few problems very quickly. So here they are again, revised and heavily edited (my readers here on Royal Road were incredible at finding typos and continuity problems). The books are presented individually, and there''s also an omnibus edition for people who prefer it that way. I''ve seen the paperbacks, and they are AMAZING. I highly recommend them. But for those who prefer Kindle editions, don''t click buy just yet! I mean, I won''t mind if you do (obviously), but...all three Kinnear novels will be free on Kindle from Friday, November 17th, through Sunday, November 19th! Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. (Personally, I''d still get the paperbacks. They''re gorgeous. But I''m biased.) That''s the good news. The bad news is, all of the reviews for the old Kinnear editions are gone. Poof! So if you reviewed them previously, I would really, really appreciate it if you did so again! (The free Kindle days will be really good for getting that "Verified Purchaser" tag on your review.) And if you read them, enjoyed them, and never reviewed them...well, now''s a really good time! Go forth and read! And yes...for those who''ve followed my other stories here on Royal Road, that means that Pluto will be going up next, followed by Nexus. Never fear, their time has finally come. Tales of Oakwood Hall - Book 2: Faeflight has begun!
For the first time in her life, Caley Reid has a home. Not just any home, a home filled with magic, ghosts, fairies, and other wonders that she never dared dream were real. For the first time, she has real friends, some close enough that she considers them family. Sure, many of them aren''t actually human, but what does that matter? And she''s part of a community that that welcomed her with open arms and made sure she knew she had support if she needed it. But home, family, and community come with responsibilities, and nobody can adequately explain to her what those really are. Some of those responsibilities seem straightforward: protect her home, Oakwood Hall, and the neighboring village of Oakwood, where a fair percentage of the small population are related to her by blood or marriage. Others are nebulous and confusing: being a bridge between the mundane world and the magical one, and taking up her family''s traditional work as a neutral party for mediations and negotiations.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. And some are new to everyone: guiding the growing clan of fairies who asked for her protection; dealing with the supposedly friendly International Consortium of Organized Arcana, who have enslaved the remains of a clan of dusk foxes who used to be vassals of her family; or doing an apparently large favor for Oberon, Lord of the Seelie Court of the Sidhe. Those she''ll just have to figure out as she goes¡­ Read it at: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/105354/tales-of-oakwood-hall-book-2-faeflight (The eagle-eyed reader might spot a reference or two to Alys Kinnear''s world as the story progresses...)