Wizard in a Witchy World Read online

  "Seriously, Slade?" Gabriella asked. I wasn't sure what her problem was, so I ignored the comment.

  "You mind?" Amak asked Gabriella before sitting next to her.

  Gabriella pursed her lips. "Fine."

  I heard a low, dangerous growl and turned to see Joe on the verge of coming across the table.

  Amak took a step back. "What's going on, Slade?" She'd crouched defensively and was looking directly at Joe.

  "Shit. Joe. Stop," I said, stepping between him and Amak.

  "What is she?" he asked, through clenched teeth.

  "She's a friend, Joe. And, you can't do this here," I said. "Get ahold of yourself."

  "She smells," he replied, through the same clenched teeth.

  "That's rich coming from you, mutt," Amak answered.

  "You want some of this?" he asked.

  "Anytime. Anywhere," she replied.

  "This is stupid," I said. "We're trying to find a missing girl and you guys want to have a pissing contest?"

  "Lycan and troll are mortal enemies. It's in their blood," Gabriella said. "I told you this was a bad idea."

  "Knock it off, Joe. I shouldn't have surprised you, but I didn't know it'd be such a big deal." I considered it a good sign that he stopped growling. I slid back into the booth next to Joe and Amak slowly lowered herself in next to Gabriella.

  "Aren't we a happy group," Amak said.

  "I ordered you a burger," I said, trying to change the subject. "I got two different ones, you can choose."

  "I'm sorry. I don't know what got hold of me," Joe said.

  Amak nodded, looking at the table in front of him. "Several centuries of war between our people, for starters."

  "Camille know where you're at tonight?" I asked.

  "No. But I'll tell her if she asks," Amak said. I would have liked her to have said she wouldn't share the information.

  "I told you," Gabriella said.

  We were rescued by the waitress delivering our drinks.

  "I got you a draft. Wasn’t sure if you drank beer or not," I said.

  Amak warily accepted the tall glass, still keeping an eye on Joe.

  "It's moving," Gabriella said. The needle in the glass still pointed roughly south, but appeared to be moving east.

  "Neat trick," Amak said. "So fill me in on the plan."

  I explained the situation as we watched the compass move. Wherever Shaggy was going, it wasn't toward Happy Hollow.

  ***

  "Talk about dysfunctional teams," Amak said. The two of us had settled on taking the first shift and sent Joe and Gabriella home.

  I pulled my jacket closer around my shoulders. "Agreed." The temperature had dropped to forty degrees and Amak's jeep didn't have any doors. "Why didn't we get my truck? I'm freezing."

  She pulled a blanket from the back and I gladly accepted it. I vowed to look into spells that would keep me warm as soon as I got a chance. We'd parked near enough to a street light that we could just see the needle within the jar. It had been moving all night.

  At around one in the morning the sound of a motorcycle jogged me from my stupor.

  "He's close," Amak said, starting the engine, but not turning on the lights.

  I looked at the needle. It was swinging from right to left. She turned the jeep around in the street so we faced Happy Hollow Boulevard from the side street where we sat. Two motorcycles crossed in front of us doing thirty-five miles per hour and the needle followed right along with them. I didn't need to prompt her as she turned her lights on and pulled out.

  The motorcycles had already disappeared, but that was the beauty of the compass, we didn't need line of sight to follow. We were both surprised as the needle swung wildly to the right as we drove. In the dark and not close to a street lamp, it looked like they'd driven into a heavily wooded area. Not at all what you'd expect from someone on a motorcycle.

  "Drive on past. We'll circle back and go in on foot," I said.

  Amak nodded her agreement and pulled into another side street. This section of Happy Hollow only had houses on the east side. The west side was a greenbelt that eventually joined with a golf course backing onto Leotown University.

  My feet were numb with cold and it felt good to get out and walk. "Right through there," I whispered, pointing at a thickly wooded area. I pulled my phone out and looked at the map.

  "What are you doing?" Amak asked.

  "Need the address, just in case we have to call the cavalry," I said.

  "This way." Amak found a seam in the dense overgrowth. I picked up the smell of engine exhaust, a telltale of the motorcycle's recent passage.

  "I can't see very well," I said, stumbling on a rock.

  "Hand on my shoulder," she whispered back.

  I was surprised at how the urban neighborhood disappeared behind us and how quickly we'd transitioned to dense woods. The canopy of trees above was so tight that little light made it through. I desperately wanted to light up my ring, but there was no doubt in my mind that Shaggy was up ahead. My mind turned with different problems. What if we called the police – would they do something horrible to the girl before we could get to her? What if they had a guard patrolling the forest? What if we didn't find the girl?

  WOLVES AT THE DOOR

  Dim lights illuminated the eerie outline of a gothic structure - big for a house, small for a cathedral. I had no idea what we were looking at. All the same, I appreciated the small amount of light which made it easier to follow Amak without tripping as much.

  Without warning, Amak sank to a crouch and I followed suit. She looked back at me with a finger on her lips, then pointed at her own eyes before pointing at the edge of a multivehicle garage on one side of the mansion. A man stood in shadow next to one of four motorcycles, puffing a cigarette. After a few minutes, he threw his head back and made a big point of sniffing the air. I hoped he hadn't made us already. I wasn't sure that trying to sneak up on werewolves was such a good idea. After a few minutes, he flicked his cigarette onto the ground and ground it out. With a final look, he disappeared around the side of the house.

  I tried to see through the arched window openings. Whoever was in the building was occupying the first floor. Dark shapes moved in front of the windows but it was impossible to make out details.

  "We've got to get closer," I whispered.

  "Make sure your phone is off," Amak answered.

  I turned away from the house and pulled my phone out, hiding it inside my coat. I'd missed a message.

  GABRIELLA: What's going on?

  ME: Shaggy just pulled into a creepy old house. 230 Happy Hollow. It's on the wrong side of the boulevard.

  GABRIELLA: Any sign of Clarita?

  ME: Not yet. Going in for a closer look. Looks like four lycan.

  GABRIELLA: Wait for backup.

  ME: Hold on. We're going to look for Clarita first. Don’t want to spook 'em.

  GABRIELLA: I'm calling Lozano.

  ME: Fine.

  "Let's go," I said to Amak, turning off my phone.

  We crossed through a brick courtyard and stepped over a fallen iron fence, not stopping until our backs were against the cool stone blocks of the house. Amak didn't have to instruct me to remain still as we waited to see if we'd attracted any unwelcome attention. After a few minutes, we cautiously moved along the wall in the direction the werewolf had gone and came upon what was left of a breezeway connecting the garage to the house. If the structure had once been enclosed, it wasn’t any longer. Most of the side walls had been cleared away. Only rusty, bent nails and an occasional piece of old wall or window frame hung crookedly from the old support posts, testifying to what used to stand here. The ground was clear except for leaves and masses of vegetation attempting to reclaim the structure.

  It was two steps up to a side door, which was in surprisingly good shape. Initially, I felt it was due to the protection it received from the breezeway's mostly intact roof, but when I grabbed the handle, I knew better. The brass handle warmed to my
touch, causing a not unpleasant exchange of energy.

  "Magic," I whispered as lightly as I could. Amak looked at me with surprise.

  I'd never found a lock I couldn't open, so I released the handle and waved my hand across where I suspected the lockset was located. It took me a few tries to home in on the tumblers and they finally moved on my command, but before they were able to seat themselves in their final position they simply stopped.

  I tried a second time and experienced the same response. When I grabbed the knob again, it had warmed even more. I was certainly missing something.

  "Altum Visu," I said, bringing up my second sight. The lock rippled with a warm, blue energy. I found it interesting that the signature was similar, although not identical, to my own. I wondered if that meant this lock had been crafted by a wizard.

  Waving my hand again, I followed the progress of the lock's tumblers, this time adjusting for a jog in the mechanical path. I lifted the tumbler up onto a second track instead of allowing it to get trapped on the lower track which was a dead end. Triumphantly, I twisted the knob and swung the door open a fraction.

  "Finis." I released the planar view.

  I hesitated while opening the door, listening for movement on the other side. Once through, I closed the door and the two of us stood in a ten-foot square mud room. Broken shelves littered the slate floor and we carefully picked our way through the rubble.

  I pointed to the right and entered the kitchen. It smelled of lycan, although not overly fresh. A breeze wafted in from an adjoining hallway and we crept along, entering an informal dining area that had once been enclosed in glass. Only now, the glass was missing and weeds were encroaching.

  The sound of voices ahead caused us to freeze.

  "What are we doing here, Brand?" I didn't recognize the voice. "I'm tired of playing babysitter."

  "We've lived in worse crap holes." A female voice responded.

  "You need to let me get an air-hammer tomorrow, Brand. That kid has no idea how to get through the door," the first voice said. "Maybe the boss will let us off the little shit if we can prove she can’t do it."

  "Damn it. Let me do her and we can get out of here," the female voice said.

  "Nobody's killing the kid. Boss doesn't want her messed up either, so back off." Shaggy's voice was thick with alcohol. "Air hammer is a good idea, though. We’ll get one tomorrow."

  "You smell that?" It was the first voice we'd heard.

  "What?" Shaggy asked, sniffing. "I don't smell anything." I shook my head in disbelief. The smell of stale smoke, urine and wet-dog was so overpowering I couldn't imagine how they could smell anything else.

  I heard a noise from the kitchen so continued down the hallway and pushed through a swinging door. I briefly considered taking a staircase on our left, but moved through the dark room, deeper into the house. We hunkered down behind a caved in couch. I pulled out my phone and shot off a text.

  ME: Clarita's in the house.

  GABRIELLA: Stay put, we're coming.

  "Well. What have we here? What kind of idiot troll would walk into a wolves' den?" Shaggy asked, flipping on the light. Amak stood to face him.

  "And, it’s a two for one sale! I didn't even smell the baby wizard."

  "We've already called the cops. Just leave the girl and go," I said, thumbing 911 as a text message to Gabriella.

  "Shouldn't take us too long to deal with you two," he said as two men entered from the hallway behind him.

  He continued, yelling, "Sue, get the kid. We’re on the bounce."

  I didn't hesitate as they were bottled up in the doorway. "Adoleret!" I threw a thick stream of flame from my charged ruby ring into the center of the group. "On me!" I yelled as I barreled forward, following the flame's path.

  Shaggy and one of the other lycan dove out of the way. The third, having been caught in mid-change, received the blast full in his chest. The half-man, half-beast howled in pain as I lowered my shoulder, bowling him over as we ran through. I caught the fleeting view of a woman running up the staircase we'd passed only a few minutes before.

  "Clarita's upstairs," I said.

  A heavy body crashed into me from behind and I fell to the ground. Amak and Shaggy rolled off the top of me, grappling and focused on each other. I didn't have time to think as the other, still-human lycan, lunged for me. "Scutum." I raised the invisible barrier and deflected him off to the side. He adjusted, twisted and launched over me, landing on his feet.

  For a moment, I watched as Shaggy and Amak battled it out, her strength easily a match for his own. I marveled at the speed with which they traded blows, then redirected my attention to my own attacker who'd been just as distracted as I had. He leered confidently and reached into his belt, withdrawing a long knife.

  I twisted my right hand and released an old picture frame hanging on the wall. The motion of the large, falling object startled him and he jumped to the side. I used the distraction to move past him to the staircase, which he'd been blocking.

  "Adoleret." I fired a smaller ball of flame, which he easily dodged.

  "Amak, the stairs," I yelled, backing into the stairwell that led to the second floor. I had no other plan other than to try to find Clarita and hope that help would arrive shortly.

  "Adoleret." I flamed off a concentrated cone, trying to conserve my rapidly depleting ring. "Lucem!" My silver ring burst forth with a brilliant, white light. Both Shaggy and the other lycan dived for cover, my ruse working as I'd hoped. Their instincts were so finely attuned to danger that they'd mistakenly believed the ring's light was another fireball.

  Amak used the opportunity to jump past me onto the stairs. I pulled the door shut and waved my hand across it, snapping the rusted lockset back into place. This was a proud old house with heavy doors and I had some hope of holding both lycan back - until the first body hit. The sound of splintering wood was enough to spur us both to sprint up the stairs.

  Two thirds of the way up, I heard the cracking sound of the door giving way. I spun around and launched a fireball down the stairs. A yip of pain and the crash of a body was welcome feedback as I resumed my flight.

  "This way," Amak said, turning to the right. She'd transitioned to full-troll mode, her hips and legs wider and thicker. Probably more encouraging was that she'd grown almost a full foot in height and the look on her face was all business.

  We dashed down a hallway as the woman Shaggy had called Sue and I'd dubbed ‘Daphne’ emerged from a room, dragging a terrified child behind her. As soon as Daphne spotted Amak, she tried to violently shove the little girl back toward the room, only succeeding in knocking her to the floor.

  I had one good shot left in me, so I launched a cantaloupe-sized fireball slightly off-center of where Daphne stood, braced to fight. She dodged right, turned tail and ran away down the hall. From behind, I heard our pursuers clawing their way to the top of the stairs.

  "Back stairs," I said, running up to the sobbing girl. "Clarita, please trust me. Gabriella sent me." I reached down and pulled her up. There was no way to gain her trust in this environment, but I sure as hell wasn't leaving her behind.

  "Scutum." I erected a shield in the hallway just as Shaggy and the other two male lycan arrived. It took everything I had to maintain the shield as I held the child and backed down the hallway. Amak placed her hand on my shoulder and helped guide me backward, recognizing my overloaded cognitive functioning.

  "How long can you hold that shield, baby wizard?" Shaggy taunted. "Seems that you're running out of gas."

  Sweat ran down my face as we continued to retreat.

  "Down," Amak announced. "Step now." Her hand braced me as I made the stairs.

  I slammed the door at the top of the stairs and flicked the lock, quenching the shield. The relief I felt warned me of the effort I'd expended. I turned and carefully jogged down the steps, the splintering of the door behind us spurring me on.

  "Which way?" We’d arrived in a hallway with three doors - one directly ahead of
us and two leading back into the house.

  A dark wolf sprung from the staircase, ramming into me. I stumbled, falling to a knee as I turned protectively to shield Clarita from snapping jaws. Amak roared in fury. Her long arms grabbed the beast at its nape and she threw it back into another who'd just emerged from the same stairs.

  "Scutum." I hastily re-erected my shield, creating a barrier just in time as the wolves sprung.

  "We need to come up with something," I said to Amak as she helped me to my feet. "My shield won't last much longer."

  "Magic door," the small bundle I carried whispered in my ear, her chest shuddering as she drew breath. I dared a glance over my shoulder. Clarita was right, the arched door was identical to the side door from which we'd entered the house. Salvation was tantalizingly close, but there was no way I could redirect enough attention to open the door.

  "I can't, sweetie," I said, "It's too much. Get ready, Amak, this is about to get bad."

  The gray female wolf joined Shaggy and the two others. The crowded hallway was humming with anticipation.

  "I'm going to enjoy this," Shaggy said as he started to change.

  The shield sputtered. My heart sputtered with it. I had nothing more in the ring. Before it failed entirely, Clarita grasped my exposed wrist. Energy surged through my hand, renewing the shield's strength and then some. My shields had never visually coalesced before, but for a moment it appeared to gain the corporeal form of an ancient gladiator's shield. Elation spread through my being as Clarita's spirit joined with mine, something I'd never experienced before. Momentarily, tears blurred my vision and emotion threatened to overwhelm me.

  I looked back at the door, wishing my arms were free so I could attempt the lock. I must have communicated my desire to Clarita, because she straightened her legs and slid to the ground. With my right hand free, I manipulated the tumblers, hoping the sequence was the same as the door I'd opened on the way into the house. A mechanical clunk gave me hope and I reached for the door handle. The door swung easily inward, revealing a dark alcove.