Natural Witch Read online

Fire rose within me and my power stones pulsed. What little nature I could feel whispered to me, and I closed my eyes to listen to its calls. Emery’s fingers curled around my wrist, amping my power with his electric touch. The energy swirled around and between us, frenzied.

  Listening to impulse, I slapped my hands against the wall, cupping the opal, and sank down until my fingertips could feel the dirt at its base. This was what my mother had meant. Plant seeds. Seeds of destruction, to be harvested later, once I knew how to sow them.

  Emery wasn’t the only one who had yet to claim vengeance. I wanted to punish them for what they’d done to my father. And for what they’d done to everything and everyone inside of this compound. I wasn’t a hero, but I was done hiding in closets, pretending it wasn’t my business. They’d made it my business.

  This time, there were no tears. Rage boiled up and slithered along my skin before meeting the threads of magic at my fingertips. It sank down into the ground before spreading out. I wanted to push. To pump in more magic. But Emery’s hand pulled, tearing me away.

  I sucked in a breath. My heart hammered and sweat beaded on my forehead. I felt like I’d run two marathons back to back.

  Emery’s lips met my ear. “Pull it back. You can’t expend all your energy in one place.”

  The mages passed within five feet of us, their eyes scanning. Their hubris obvious.

  The one closest to us pulled a fistful of powder from his pocket. He threw it, murmuring something with barely moving lips. The powder burst into color and texture. The murmured words kept coming, and the elements spun, weaving into a haphazard sort of spell. Still, it must’ve worked as intended, because it spread out and coated the wall.

  Emery leaned back, as though about to be seen. I leaned forward, wishing I’d brought a knife.

  The mage’s badly realized spell splattered against mine, then slipped off and pooled into a ball of colorful muck. The magic on the walls stuck, and I held my breath, wondering if the mages would notice part of their spell had failed. Surely they could feel it, even if they couldn’t see it.

  The mage walked on, strutting like a peacock with burned tail feathers.

  “You are magnificent when you’re riled up. We go this way.” Emery pointed across the way and started forward.

  I followed without hesitation, the rage from a moment ago draining away, leaving me shaky and confused. I wasn’t sure where that had come from. Or what had come over me. Yet the throb around us was still present, and the bubble I’d created moved with us.

  A grin spread across Emery’s face as we reached the next building and he paused, analyzing. “Very clever. Darius would pay you handsomely for that spell. I need to make friends with some stones. Maybe you can introduce me around.”

  I couldn’t tell if he was making fun of me or not.

  He peeked around the corner before taking me by the wrist and pulling. Clearly it was easier than words. I had to agree.

  The pressure above intensified and a warning crackled against my skin. Emery must’ve felt it, because he glanced back at me in confusion.

  I pointed upward. He followed my finger with his eyes, his brow furrowing as he pulled us down to a crouch beneath a suffocated and dying tree hugging the wall of another building.

  A young man in a green robe hurried along the path, holding a satchel at his side. He hunched like he didn’t want to be seen, something I understood pretty well. A woman dressed in red approached from the right, her straightforward stare denoting confidence. The air around her shimmered, wafting importance and authority.

  “Sheriff,” Emery whispered, watching her. He held his hands out toward them, both sets of fingers moving, spinning magic between them. I’d never seen this method before, but it looked more intense than doing two spells at the same time.

  “Where are you going, boy?” the Sheriff called out, stopping the young man in his tracks.

  His back bowed deeply. “I am late for my meeting, Sheriff.”

  “I see. How late?”

  “I will make it if I run.”

  “But then you won’t learn.” She pulled a couple of things from the satchel at her side, raised them to her mouth, and murmured words to form the weave.

  “I need to learn that,” I muttered, watching the waves awkwardly twist together.

  “You don’t have to speak magic, because you can will it,” he whispered, glancing around us, probably wondering if the spell would deaden our wards. “She aspires to do what you do, but doesn’t have the ability or discipline. Probably both. The power has gone to her head, like the rest of them.” Emery glanced down at his hands, but didn’t stop working, creating the most complex weave I’d ever seen. He was a loom of magic, and it was extraordinary.

  “There.” The woman threw the power in the young man’s face. He flinched as the magic wrapped around him. “That’ll wear off in three minutes, give or take. Maybe next time you’ll watch the clock a little closer.”

  “Yes, Sheriff,” the man said miserably.

  Emery lowered his hands to the ground and then swooped them back up to the wall. The spell attached to both before soaking in and disappearing.

  I gave him a questioning gaze, earning a grin. “I can’t let you plant all the seeds, now can I? I, too, like to create havoc.” He winked, and we were up again, running across the complex.

  Vicious intent pulsed from the records facility, a medium-sized building on the back corner of the compound. We’d skirted by three more fools, strutting around, throwing dust and whispering words. I couldn’t tell if they were security, or if someone had assigned a few flunkies a made-up job to keep them out of sight.

  Emery knew his stuff, though. He’d said most of the guild didn’t really get going until about noon or thereafter, their workdays, so to speak, reaching into the night—when the other magical creatures in the Brink were most active. Judging by the overall lack of activity, the place did seem like it was in its off hours, similar to an office facility at night.

  Unlike the other buildings, the records building had a protective spell stretching over it like a spider web. It pulsed with power, and the various weaves intermingled expertly. A lot of time and effort had been expended on this spell.

  Emery crouched at one end of the wall, staring down at the door, which was covered with both another pulsing spell and a camera. They weren’t just trusting magic with their secrets—they were using technology as well.

  A grouping of benches formed a circle a ways in front of the door. Two other buildings helped surround them, making this area a little nook away from the rest of the compound.

  “What do you feel?” Emery asked quietly, sparing a glance for a woman in an orange robe meandering through. She stopped near one of the benches and hesitated before sitting and bending to her phone.

  “Spikes. Painful. This is an attack spell. A very good one.”

  “Very good, yes. The natural helped. The power rivals mine.” He frowned as he looked it over, splaying his hand and waving it in front of the building as if feeling the various textures of the spell.

  The woman straightened up and stretched, looking around. She wiggled her shoulders, as though something bothered the upper middle of her back.

  “Crap-filled cupcakes…” I put my hand on Emery’s shoulder. “Work fast. We got a us a woman.”

  “What does that mean?” he asked, following my gaze.

  I slapped his shoulder. “Don’t look! She already feels our presence. She’s in tune with her magically enhanced intuition. Looking will just bring her around faster.”

  “She’s only middle tier. She stands no chance.”

  “Of fighting us? No. Of blowing our cover? She certainly does. Half a brain and she’ll know someone is crouching here.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “Because I have half a brain. Haven’t you ever just felt someone lurking? Someone watching you? Someone keeping close?”

  “Yes, but that’s because I’ve lived in the wild.
She’s in relative safety here.”

  “Women are never in relative safety, you moron. We train to watch out for danger from girlhood. Spoiler alert: the danger is menfolk. Dark streets and parking lots to us are like the wilds for you. Trust me, she knows when hidden eyes are on her. Look at her. She keeps looking around. I bet there are some power-tripping creeps with wandering hands in the Mages’ Guild.”

  Emery spared one moment to meet my gaze, his way of gauging my severity, before nodding and turning back to the spell.

  The woman in orange bent to her phone before lowering it again and tilting her head. Her shoulders tensed, and she looked back at the records facility pointedly, scanning the front door before looking up at the camera. She scanned the front again, her expression uneasy, before pausing, probably opening herself up to her surroundings.

  Emery had been wrong. I wasn’t one in a million. I just knew better than to shrug off the first magic I’d ever learned for recipes and ingredients. I kept my temperamental third eye firmly in the mix, and so did this girl.

  Her eyes flicked our way.

  “Hurry, hurry, hurry.” I bounced where I crouched. We had a long way to run back to the pickup point.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “Help me.” He held out his hand. “And add more power to your cloak and dagger spell.”

  I entwined my fingers within his, feeling the sizzle roll up my skin and soak down into my middle. This time, it kept going, blistering through my legs and all the way to my feet. It bled into the ground.

  Magic rolled and boiled within our circle as I poured energy into whatever Emery had been doing.

  He shot me a wide-eyed, fearful glance. It lasted only a moment before he shifted his attention back to the spell, and I was left wondering what had happened.

  I focused on his splayed hand, and for the first time, I saw the small tendrils connecting his palm to the spell coating the building. More, I felt them, each individual little strand like a tiny shock to the skin.

  I put my hand up with his, trying not to notice the girl on the bench, who was still looking in our direction with a pronounced frown.

  “We’ll need to counteract this, or maybe burn a hole through it.” He moved his palm, covering more ground.

  I felt the evil and corruption of the spell sink into my palm. Emery used his other hand to create a weave similar to that of the poisoned protection spell. He was trying to duplicate it so he could work out how to reverse it.

  Logic. It didn’t always rush to my aid.

  The girl lifted her phone and pointed it in our direction. She was taking a picture.

  “Can photos see magic?” I asked.

  “A picture will help the eye focus on a spell designed to confuse it. This isn’t that type of spell. It is more advanced than that. That picture won’t help her.”

  I closed my eyes again, feeling the pulse from above us. It bore down, pressing. I still had no idea what it was supposed to do. The general idea—to spot intruders—was clear, but the detail was so beyond my experience that I couldn’t go much further.

  “What is the problem, Jessica?” A large woman in a purple robe stalked toward the benches. Beside her, a tall, spindly man kept pace, his eyes scanning.

  “Let’s get to the front door.” Emery stood and pulled me with him. If not for that, I would’ve spooked in the other direction.

  “There isn’t any upkeep planned for the records room, is there?” Jessica asked, her head tilting as she stared at our former position.

  “No. Last month, you’re thinking,” the woman said.

  “You called us all the way down here for a memory lapse?” The man scoffed.

  “I beg forgiveness, sir, but I simply asked—”

  “I know what you asked.” The man looked around. “No, there are no scheduled drills, and no, there is nothing scheduled for the records room. It is business as usual. What’s prompted this?”

  “Here.” Emery pulled me down beside him. “Hurry.”

  Oh sure, now he was a believer.

  I turned toward the door, feeling the spell as I heard, “I feel…something…here.” Feet scraped against concrete. The woman was turning. She sensed us, and she was really good at doing so.

  “Where, Jessica?” the other woman asked.

  “Just…”

  Another scoff, from someone who thought Jessica’s intuition was ridiculous, but who clearly knew better than to ignore it. That guy was a turd.

  Footsteps sounded, and I had no doubt they were coming in our direction.

  “Focus,” Emery whispered, squeezing my hand. “Focus on me, Penny.”

  I did, and the feelings from the spell came through more strongly. The prickles on my palm helped me pick out the elements in the weave. He used his eyes. I used my feelers. He seemed to think it was two halves of the same coin. We could sense what the other was doing through the energy flowing between us.

  Canvas scraped canvas and something rattled.

  Emery shook my hand, bringing me back. The clink of rocks interrupted my thoughts.

  The mages were close. They would cast that spell and find us. I knew that as sure as I was sitting there.

  We needed a distraction.

  I tore my hand out of Emery’s and stood. He’d have to figure out the weave while I covered us. We’d have to come back another time to break through, but at least I could buy him as much time as possible to come up with a solution for when we returned.

  The two mages in purple faced us, pushed up close, equipped with rocks, sticks, and basil. Their mouths were moving and magic curled into the air around them like smoke. A weak discovery feeling came to me, and I knew they still had a ways to go. Ish.

  I racked my brain and closed my eyes, trying to think of something to do. Throwing a ball of fire might work. If only I knew how to make fire. Lighting them on fire would help. Still needed fire for that, though.

  I let magic sizzle through me, wishing them away. Wishing for them to get bored and wander off. Another option would be to create a spell that crawled across the ground and then sprang up ten feet away. That would give us the ability to run.

  Magic coursed through me. It turned and spun, pulling out determination from my middle. I shook with it, wanting so badly for them to leave.

  I gritted my teeth and my heart sped up. My nails dug into my palms. The string in my middle yanked on my ribs. I let go of the spell and opened my eyes in anticipation.

  The purple mages had their discovery spell hovering in the air. Ready to go.

  My spell wrapped around me, swirling with purpose…and then bled into the ground. Gone.

  “Uppity, gerbil-loving—” I clenched my teeth to cut off the words.

  The mages bent to blow the spell at us.

  Desperate, I punched the older woman in the face.

  “We gotta go!” I grabbed Emery by the hair and yanked him up.

  “What happened?” the man yelled.

  “I saw a fist. Someone is there!” the younger woman hollered.

  “My nose! My nose!”

  “Run, run, run!” With a fistful of Emery’s hair, I took off.

  “Let go,” he yelled, staggering after me. “What happened?”

  “I created a diversion.” I let go of his head and put on the jets. “Keep up or this spell protecting us will pop.”

  “I don’t think it works like that.”

  “Who’s to say? Just keep up.” I turned a corner and hopped to the side at the last moment, nearly running full sprint into a guy with a huge belly. I would not have won that battle.

  Emery tore around the corner right after me, not nearly as nimble. He bowled into the guy, the weight of his muscle no match for the other man’s fat.

  The guy let out an “Arrrrgh,” which made me giggle manically, before falling backward and rolling twice. I grabbed Emery’s arm as he staggered back. I held on, staying with him as he caught himself and straightened. We picked up speed as the man yelled out obscenities be
hind us. Together we ran, Emery’s long legs the only thing keeping him in pace with me. We reached for each other at the same time, clasping hands right before we turned the corner, keeping close to stay in the bubble.

  The pressure from above bore down harder and small points of pain tickled my awareness. The intent became clear. The blood we’d given was a guest pass, allotting us a certain amount of time.

  Time had run out.

  “Hurry, hurry, hurry,” I yelled, putting on a burst of fear-inspired speed. I yanked Emery to keep up even though I was pretty sure the guys in the movies didn’t do that to the girls. Call me a butthead, but I didn’t want to die.

  “What is that?” Emery asked. We turned a corner, almost there. Two people in red robes stood in the way, magic stretched out in front of them. “Nope.”

  Emery tugged me the other way. Sight was helpful, because I hadn’t been able to feel the spell. Had I been relying on feel alone, I would’ve sprinted right through, Red Rover style.

  An invisible hand slashed my arm. The pressure from above throbbed in my chest, squeezing my lungs. Invisible teeth bit at my back thigh.

  “Where is this coming from?” Emery asked, and then grunted in pain.

  I cried out, magic stabbing down through my shoulder.

  “Faster, Emery. Everything you have.”

  He staggered. I grabbed his wrist with both hands, keeping us together (and yanking—once a butthead, always a butthead).

  “Right.” His yank was much more effective. “We have to go right. Then left. Pain is better than death.”

  Not always, but it wasn’t the moment to split hairs.

  I followed his lead. Pain stabbed my leg. I wobbled, pulled upright by Emery. He staggered, but kept going. My breath wheezed out of my chest, my lungs closing down. His breathing was labored as well. My stomach clenched and sight left my right eye. Razors clawed down my arms.

  “There. Just there.” The ward draped down in front of us, twenty feet away.

  The air dried up in my lungs. I’d run out of time.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I pushed on with everything I had. Black spots danced in my vision. Agony welled up through my body.