Chapter 9
Yesterday,when I tried to walk inside, Betty's wards swatted me like a fly. Today, I felt only the prickle of the containment spell as I stepped across the threshold and flipped on the light.
The windowless library was as large as Betty's bedroom. Three of the walls were floor-to-ceiling bookcases. A heavy antique desk with matching file cabinet and a love seat took up the fourth wall.
The floor was hardwood, like the master bedroom, but a large rug lay in the center of the room. I felt a distinctive itchiness and a sudden urge to back away and walk around it. I gritted my teeth, lifted a corner of the rug, and flipped it back, revealing an inscribed circle. Even though Betty had been gone for months, it still hummed with stored energy. My fingers went numb from touching the spelled rug.
Natalie appeared in the doorway, a mug in her hands.
"Don't try to come inside," I told her.
"I never knew that was there." She stared at the circle. "I never even thought to look under the rug."
"There's an aversion spell on the rug." I rubbed my tingly fingers on my jeans. "She didn't want you to look."
Natalie sighed. "Here's your tea."
I came to the door and took it. "Thank you. Where were the missing books?"
She peered into the room and pointed, staying clear of the doorway. "Bottom shelf, second bookcase on the right. You see how the books all have gaps between them? It looks like someone took some books and then spread the rest of them out so there wasn't a big hole. I know that shelf was stuffed full."
"When did you notice the gap?"
She frowned and thought. "I'd say about two weeks ago, but I can't say for certain when they might have disappeared. All these books and papers were my grandmother's. Most of my books are on my e-reader or in the bookcase in my room. I've really never looked at any of these books. There's no reason to."
The sudden flat quality of her voice made me look at her in surprise, then stare suspiciously at the bookcases. I immediately got a strong feeling that I didn't need to look at any of the books.
I scowled. "Aversion spells on the bookcases too. Malcolm, would you be so kind?"
"No problem." After checking for hidden spells, Malcolm went to work unweaving the aversion spells in the library, starting with the rug, and then moving on to the bookcases.
"Start with the shelf where the books are missing." He dutifully went to the bookcase Natalie indicated.
I turned back to my client and sipped my tea. "With those spells in place, I'm surprised you even noticed the books were missing."
She pursed her lips and thought. "I was sitting in the love seat reading. I remember I just saw it out of the corner of my eye and thought it looked wrong. All those shelves were always crammed full. I used to tease my grandmother about it because she always bought more and never seemed to give any away." She smiled at the memory.
"That's probably why it worked. The aversion spells kept you from looking at the books directly or too closely until the last few days, but out of the corner of your eye, your subconscious saw what the spells kept your conscious mind from seeing. Without her here to maintain the spells, they probably lost some of their power. There's really no telling when the books might have been taken. It could have been any time in the last three months."
"How did someone get past the wards?" She asked the question that had been bugging the hell out of me. "And the aversion spells on the bookcase?"
Malcolm piped up. "I think I can answer that. Something I noticed last night but forgot to mention in all the excitement, but here it is again." He motioned me over to the bookcase, then held out his hand.
I closed my fingers around his. I felt a moment of disorientation, and then he was showing me what he was seeing in his mind. Betty's aversion spells had exclusions: herself, obviously, and one other. At first, it looked like Betty's own magical signature, but I realized it was slightly different. This person's fire magic was stronger than Betty's, his or her air magic weaker. The magic was so similar, though, I knew it had to be a close relative: a parent, sibling, or child. I closed my eyes and reached for that strand of magic, committing it to memory so that if I encountered it again, I would recognize it.
When I was done, I let go of Malcolm's hand and staggered, suddenly out of his head and back into mine. "Go ahead and unweave the aversion spells." Malcolm got to work, and I rejoined Natalie at the door. "Are Betty's parents still alive?"
"No, they died a long time ago."
"Does she have any brothers or sisters?"
"One brother and one sister, my great-aunt Helen and my great-uncle Robert. They're both in their late seventies."
"What about your aunts and uncles?"
Natalie narrowed her eyes. "What's this about?"
"Someone else in your family is a mage with the same skills as your grandmother. As far as I can tell, the spells haven't been disturbed since your grandmother passed away, so whoever is the mage is probably the same person who took the books. So tell me about your aunts and uncles."
She rubbed her forehead. "Well, there's Elise, of course, who you met yesterday, but there's no way she's a mage. All I ever heard about from her was how evil mages are, about how all supes should be put in camps or killed on sight. She joined a bunch of those anti-supe hate groups years ago."
"Still, I'd better check her out. She could be hiding behind all that hot air." I doubted it, though. Elise's hate seemed pretty sincere.
Natalie shrugged. "Her name is Elise Browning. I've got her address."
"Who else?"
"My mom had two other sisters and a half brother: Deborah Mackey, Kathy Adams, and Peter Eppright. He was my grandmother's son from her first marriage. They all live in the city."
"I'll get their addresses from you and start checking them out. Any guesses as to which of them it might be?"
Natalie shook her head. "Honestly, no. If you'd asked me that yesterday, I'd have said none of them could possibly be mages, but it's becoming increasingly apparent that I don't know nearly as much about my family as I thought. What will we do when we figure out who stole the books?"
"Well, we'll find out what they took, and why. They're your books, so we'll try to get them back. At some point, you need to decide what to do with Betty's books." I gestured at the library. "You could keep them, or put them in storage, or sell them to collectors. If we find Betty's spellbooks, you might want to save those in case you want to hand those down." Spellbooks were usually family heirlooms. Even if Natalie didn't want her magic, someone else in the family might want those books. I coveted them myself.
I went to the bookcase where the missing books had been kept and knelt in front of the bottom shelf. I closed my eyes and reached out tentatively, focusing on what my senses might be able to tell me about the books that were still here, and the ones that weren't.
As I lowered my shields and stretched out my senses, I gasped as a punch of residual power and a wave of orange, gray, and black magic rolled over me. Dimly, I heard Malcolm asking if I was all right, but I couldn't answer. I had to focus on not being swept away. I could feel my knees on the hardwood floor in the library, and that physical sensation kept me grounded. If I could ride it out, I'd be able to extricate myself.
It took a lot of effort to think, but I was able to make some sense of what was happening. I was caught up in the echo of something incredibly powerful that had been in the library at one time but wasn't here anymore. The magic trace, as formidable as it was, felt diminished. If this was the amount of energy it had left behind, I shuddered to think what the actual object might feel like.
Slowly, the power receded, like a tide going out, and I started to surface. I became aware of my body, especially the pain in my knees from kneeling on the floor. My neck had a cramp from my head hanging down for so long.
The low, indistinct sounds I'd been hearing were becoming recognizable as voices. Now that the power wasn't rushing through me anymore, I raised my shields slowly, and my hearing and vision cleared.
"Alice, can you hear me?" Malcolm's voice came from somewhere near my left shoulder. He sounded worried but calm.
"I can hear you," I mumbled. I took a deep breath and raised my head.
Malcolm hovered nearby, but not close enough to have gotten caught up in the same surge of energy that had snagged me.
"What did you see?" I asked him.
"There was a massive power surge from the area of the bottom shelf. It was like nothing I've ever seen before. I thought I saw fire magic, but most of the trace was black and gray. I don't even know what that is."
"Yeah, me neither." I looked at the books on the bottom shelf. I saw Bradshaw's History of Fire Magic, Air Magic and Storm Cycles by Ann Lewis, and a bunch of other unremarkable texts. I ran my fingers carefully over each of the books. It felt like they had soaked up some of the power that had swept over me, but none of them were the source of it.
I stacked the books on the floor and hunkered down to look at the shelf itself, running my fingertips along the bottom edge of the bookcase. About six inches from the left side of the shelf, it felt like I ran my fingers over a razor.
"Ow!" I jerked back, looking at my hand. I expected to see blood, but there was nothing. What the hell?
"Malcolm, can you see anything right here?" I pointed.
Malcolm bent down next to me. "It looks like a blood ward lock. Hang on." His fingers danced in the air. "It's been opened, but the spell is still in place. Just a second." I felt a puff of magic. "Okay, it's gone."
I reached back in and felt around carefully. This time, instead of a sharp pain, I felt a raised edge. I lifted up and a lid opened, revealing a compartment hidden in the bottom of the bookcase. The lid was covered with runes that looked like an intricate containment spell, designed to shield whatever was in the compartment from being sensed when the lid was closed.
"Well, whatever was in here, it's gone now." I sat back on my heels. "It looks like they took something out of this compartment and a couple of books, then rearranged the shelf to hide the fact that anything had been taken. Since it doesn't look like any of the spells have been broken, whoever took the stuff was the person who these wards were designed to allow in."
Natalie pulled the wooden chair over from the other side of the bedroom and settled in to watch us work. "So, one of my aunts or my uncle."
"It looks like it." I pushed myself onto my hands and knees, then staggered to my feet. "Ugh. Jeez." I shook my head to clear it. "Whatever was in that compartment, it's a hell of a thing. I hope whoever took it can contain it."
"What could they want with it?" Natalie asked.
I shrugged. "Hard to tell until we know what it is. Your grandmother had it well hidden, but somehow this mystery mage knew about it and came and took it, we can assume after Betty died. Whatever it is, it's extremely powerful. I'd feel a lot better if I knew what it is, and what they intend to do with it."
"Me too," Malcolm said. "How do you want to go about looking for it?"
"Well, we've got a definite list of suspects." I glanced at Natalie. "How are you doing with all of this?"
"Honestly, a lot better than I thought I would be," my client said. "I think the big shock was finding out about my grandmother. The rest of this is just…." She shrugged. "My grandmother was a mage, I've got some weird magic situation going on, and someone in my family broke into my house and stole some mysterious thing out of my grandmother's library. Oh, and my grandmother's magic could have killed you." She made a pfffft sound. "I guess I'm all out of surprise at this point."
"Speaking of, any thoughts on what you want to do about your magic?" Malcolm asked.
"Whenever you're ready, I'm ready to find out what kind of magic I have. At least then I'll have enough information to be able to make a decision about my future."
I looked at Natalie. Yesterday, she'd been pale and fragile-looking; today, there was color in her cheeks, and though she was still painfully thin, there was an aura of vitality that hadn't been there before. I hoped I was right about her deteriorating health being tied to the weakening spell that bound her magic.
I gave her a smile. "I'm really glad to hear it. You want to do it now?"
She finished off her tea. "Sure, no time like the present, right?"
"You want to use the circle in here?" Malcolm asked.
I glanced at the floor. "No. Too many residual spells in here, and I don't trust anyone else's circles but mine. And yours," I amended. "Let's go into the bedroom again."
We stepped out of the library. I looked at Malcolm. "What do you think? I draw the circles, you power them?" He was still super-powered; might as well take advantage of it.
"Sounds like a plan," Malcolm said.
I pulled out my chalk and got to work, drawing a nested set of three circles. I was reasonably certain we'd be fine with just one, but I was cautious enough to have two backups in case things got out of hand. I'd had just about enough of surprises in this house.
"Let's do this," I said.
Natalie, who'd been sitting on the bed while I worked, stood. "Stand in the center of the circle," I told her. She moved into place and fidgeted.
I gestured at the circles I'd drawn. "The first thing I'm going to do is close this circle. When I do, you'll feel a tingle, like a small electric charge, but it's harmless. Then I'll charge the circle so it's strong enough to contain your magic. You'll feel the tingle get stronger. Malcolm is going to be out there to close and charge the other circles if we need to."
Natalie looked at Malcolm. He grinned and waved. "He's waving at you," I said.
She let out a nervous laugh. "Then what?"
"Once this circle is ready, I'll remove your grandmother's binding spells from you, leaving just my own. When her spells break, you'll feel a…pop, I guess is the best word for it. Nothing will happen because my spells will still be there. Then I'll start letting your magic out."
"What will that feel like?"
I thought about that. "For me, it feels like I'm exhaling. It feels wonderful. It will feel weird to you since you've never done it before, but if I do a good job with my spells, it will be gradual, like breathing out."
"Will I be able to hurt you?" Her eyes were wide.
"No," I said, though there was a chance. Uncontrolled magic was never safe for anyone, but I needed Natalie calm and feeling as secure as possible so she didn't panic. Panic would be bad. "I'll be protected within my circle, and with my own spell. Nothing you can do can hurt me."
Malcolm frowned at me. I gave my head a tiny shake to tell him not scare her.
I continued with my explanation. "Once your magic is freed at least partway, I'll be able to tell how strong you are. Then I'll bind your magic again until you make a decision about what to do, and we'll break the circle. Are you with me?"
Natalie took a couple of deep breaths, then nodded. "Okay. I'm ready. Let's do it."
"Okay. Here we go." I activated the protection spell on my bracelet, then closed the center circle around Natalie. She gasped.
"How does it feel?" I asked her.
She was quiet for a moment. "It feels so weird, like an electric charge, but really faint. It doesn't hurt at all." She looked immensely relieved.
"I did tell you it wouldn't. Now I'm going to charge the circle." I closed my eyes and reached out so I could feel the circle. In deference to Natalie, I transferred the energy slowly.
She sucked in a breath but stayed quiet as the power built. When I was happy with its energy level, I stopped the transfer and opened my eyes to check on my client.
Natalie's red hair floated in the air from the charge in the circle. "That feels amazing," she breathed. "It's like standing on a power line. Oh, I can see why people do this," she blurted out.
I laughed. "Malcolm, you ready?"
"Yep." Malcolm was in the third circle, ready to close it at a moment's notice if Natalie's magic broke out of hers.
"Natalie?"
"Let's do it." Her eyes were huge but she held her ground.
"Stand still. Here we go." I closed my eyes and reached out toward Natalie with my mind. Slowly, I lowered my shields and focused my senses toward my client. I could clearly see my binding spell as well as her grandmother's layered spells. They were degrading quickly. Some of the strands were sickly gray-green. Suddenly, my theory about the binding spells being the cause of Natalie's mystery illness was almost a certainty.
I began plucking at the strands of Betty's binding spells. They were weak and began falling apart faster than I could unweave them. In a few seconds, my gentle pulling tore clean through them like someone had taken a knife and cut them away. Natalie yelped in surprise.
"Are you all right?" Malcolm asked.
"Y-yes," she said. "Was that my grandmother's spells?"
"Yes." I opened my eyes. "Now I'm going to start removing mine. You're going to feel the magic coming out of you. Try to stay calm, and remember that you can't be hurt by your own magic, and you can't hurt me. Deep breaths."
I began unweaving my binding spells. After the first few strands fell away, I started to feel the magic rising in a breath of warmth with strands of cool white.
"Fire magic," I said quietly, knowing Malcolm would hear me. "And air as well."
"As we thought." Malcolm was equally quiet.
Natalie made little fearful sounds.
"You're doing fine. Everything's good. Stay relaxed." The magic I could sense dammed up behind my spell didn't feel like an overwhelming amount of power. I found myself hoping that would be the case. Natalie would probably be happier as a low-level mage.
I felt a rush of heat and air, and Natalie gasped.
I opened my eyes. Magical fire and air swirled around Natalie in the center circle. It was mild, but her eyes were wide with terror. "You're fine. It won't hurt you."
Natalie wasn't hearing me. Panic shone in her eyes. She was losing it.
"Natalie, don't—"
Several things happened pretty much simultaneously. Malcolm sensed trouble and closed the third circle. Natalie stumbled and hit her circle, which discharged energy and somehow broke instantly, releasing her fire and air magic into the larger second circle where I stood. Even protected by my spell, I felt the heat as the firestorm raged around us.
Startled by the power surge, Natalie shrieked and flailed blindly, striking me in the stomach. I saw a flash of telltale bright yellow just before I collapsed in a heap, my magic snuffed out like a candle.
In a split second of clarity, I realized Natalie was a null, and a strong one. I'd had no way of knowing that until now, and it was going to cost me big-time.
With no magic to sustain it, my protection spell failed. In the next heartbeat, Natalie's binding spell broke, and the full force of her fire and air magic tore free and roared through the circle—
—where, without a drop of magic in me, I was completely unprotected, and in the middle of an inferno.