Page 21 of Son of a Witch

Loco smiled like the cat that got the damn cream. He knew how to entice me with something I couldn’t resist. A brand of chemistry outside of my magick.

“What do your powers do, exactly?” I navigated fallen remains to stand beside him.

“I can tear things apart and put them back together again,” he replied, deep lines cutting through his forehead as he concentrated on replacing the next partition.

Curious, I leaned in. “Do you mean you break down the chemical bonds between molecules and restore them?”

He glanced at me like I was mad. “I’m not that technical,” he huffed, “but yeah, I suppose so.”

Damn. Sounded like we had similar powers, although I’d only ever been able to break molecular bonds of a substance and change it into another form like solid human flesh into water. I guess transforming it was a means of restoring them, but I’d never been able to flat-out repair rock.

Guild familial lines didn’t often express similar powers. It depended on what Archangel Michael gave his warriors in the fight to battle the Brotherhood of Serpents and their Luciferian minions. To have related magick to my father was rare and we could learn from one another.

I traced a fractured edge of stone hovering in the air in front of him. Chemical equations flitted about us, building blocks rather than destructive forces, leaving me curious how his powers worked. “How do you bind the stone together? That’s incredible.”

His shoulders twitched from his laughter. “I dunno. I just do.”

That didn’t help me. Instead, I studied the equations flashing before me, orange strings of letters, numbers, and formulas. The opposite of those I’d seen before. My formulas involved using heat and energy to break apart molecular bonds to melt, boil, evaporate, sublimate, and condensate chemical elements. Loco’s equations were like nuclear fusion, where the sun fused hydrogen to form helium, creating heat. Something I’d never achieved, and the chemist in me salivated.

“You don’t see the chemical equations?” I flicked one at him, but he didn’t seem to see it even though the amber of it glowed on his face.

He shrugged, grunting, straining as he shifted the wall back into place. “Nope.” Maybe our brains were wired differently.

“Magnificent work.” I jumped at the voice. Cheyanne marveled at Loco’s progress. “Think you could help me with the main exit point?”

Loco crossed his arms, highlighting the small tattoos on his hands and wrists. My name and my sisters. A Labrador that looked a lot like our dog Bosco, but slimmer. Bosco’s mom, Gemma. Stars, skulls, crowns. “Depends what’s in it for me.”

“A good word with the warden?” Cheyanne like to bargain too.

“You got a deal, young lady.” Loco followed her, but stopped, waving at and waiting for me.

Intrigued, I hurried after him.

Cheyanne stopped in front of the biggest breach, a hole about the size of a troll. “Think you can repair this one?”

Loco turned to me. “Wanna help your old man?”

My lips twisted at his use of the name. “Sure. What do I do?”

He shrugged again. “Just will it.”

I huffed. “That’s not how my magick works. I see equations and pick one.”

“So, find the right one.” Great, thanks. A lot of help.

Cheyanne and Loco got to work, the first doing the heavy lifting, while the second united the two largest fractions. Working well as a team, the Sorcerer shifted the wall back into position and Loco locked it into place with a grind of stone and flash of coalescence. Amazing.

Testing it for myself, I brought two small fragments together, flashing through the equations, finding just one to merge them. I gave it a try, disappointment threading through me when it didn’t work. I was going about this the old way, disintegrating instead of joining. To be successful, I had to think about this differently, switch it around. Orange light flashed in my head and I sorted through all possibilities, choosing a calculation with other probability. I gasped when I sealed the portions together.

Fuck, I did it!I couldn’t believe it.

Loco smiled, proud, beside me. “Good work, kiddo.” I cringed at my childhood nickname.

I raised my palms. “Don’t. I’m not a kid anymore and not ready for that shit.”

Loco shifted to face me, his heavy frown scolding my curse. “You know I didn’t want to leave you girls or your mother?”

Irritated, I swiped two larger pieces, slamming them together, bonding them together with a loud flash.

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