Page 34 of Shadowed Spirits

Her smile is filled with bitterness and self-loathing. “I’m aLucina, so my affinities are nightmares, phantoms, and madness. You can see why the othercurasteered clear of me when one wrong move and my magic would drive them insane. That’s why I never wanted to have children. I never wanted them to be haunted by the dead like I am.”

“I’m a spirit mage, but I’m not haunted by the dead, Gran. Sure, some of them follow me around, but none of them really bother me anymore.” I don’t tell her how much I hate my magic, because I’m trying to make her feel better. I get where she’s coming from, though. It’s hard to feel anything other than defective when your magic thrives on death and is universally hated. Sure, I can do good things with my spirit magic, like I’m sure Gran can with hers, but it never feels like the good outweighs the bad.

Most days, I’d give almost anything to be as magicless as I pretend to be. Days like today, however, I’m glad I have my magic to protect those I care about. I’m sure Levi or Bishop could’ve stepped in to keep Mira away from Cain, but it feels good to be the one protecting him. I couldn’t have done so without the magic I’ve spent most of my life hating.

Gran lets her hands drop from my arms and balls her hands into fists. “But you have to hide what you are. I’ve felt the power pouring off you and could never figure out why you pretended not to have any magic. Now I know it’s because of what I passed on to you.”

“It’s not your fault, Mel,” Levi jumps in to try to reassure her. “Magic is neither good nor bad. It simply is. What matters is what you do with it.”

“And I’ve done some horrible things with it.” Gran stares off into space, her eyes pinched around the corners as she gets lost in her memories. She shakes herself out of them after a moment or two. “I’m happy to talk to you about our magic all you want, Izzy, but I assume there’s a reason you and all your mates came to my shop today?”

I scrunch my nose in confusion. “How’d you know they’re my mates?”

Gran huffs a laugh and gives me a small but genuine smile. “I can see mate bonds, since they’re bonds between our spirits.”

“Why can’t I see those bonds if you can?” I resist the urge to pout. Everyone else has super cool powers, like stopping time or seeing mate bonds. All I can do is see ghosts and heal them, which is the least useful magic I can think of.

“We’re related, but we don’t have exactly the same magic,” Gran explains. “I’m also fullycura, while you’re half.”

I narrow my eyes in thought. I’m incredibly bad at math, but even my horrendous math skills tell me that doesn’t add up. “Wouldn’t I be a quarter?”

Gran shakes her head. “It doesn’t work that way forcura. If anyone is partcura, they’ll donate entirelycuragenes to their children. If your father hadcurain his family, you and your brothers would’ve been fullycurae.”

“So, you knew I was partcurabut not that I had spirit magic?” I ask.

“Yes.” Gran nods before she disappears in a flash of white and black light. When I can see her again, she’s back to her Melinoe form. I wonder if that form is the most comfortable because it’s her natural one. It’s a little weird that my grandma looks the same age as I do, but it’s definitely not the weirdest thing to happen today. She hops up to sit on the front counter before turning back to me. “But it shouldn’t matter, as long as you and your mom and brothers don’t drink water from the Styx. While you four will get a power boost from yourcuraside, you shouldn’t have too many unusual abilities as long as it remains dormant.”

“Uh, too late for that one. Hades spiked my drink yesterday with water from the Styx.” I have yet to discover any new powers, so that’s good. Of course, it’s only been a day, so who really knows yet. Here’s hoping I get a badass power, like being able to vaporize my enemies with just a thought.

“Papa did what?” Gran gapes at me.

I look at her sheepishly, like it’s somehow my fault Hades almost killed me. Okay, maybe not almost, but close enough to be extremely rude.

Levi sighs. “Hades thought that was the best way to tell if Izzy wascura. We all put him in his place for it.”

Gran blinks at Levi in shock a few times before shaking her head. “Why were you even down there?”

“Doyle found out Izzy’s a spirit mage with anobrussa.” Levi’s eyes flicker between black and red as he remembers how close I came to being executed. “We went toInfernusto find out who he had given them to so we can figure out how Doyle got it and who’s helping him. Hades said you were the last person he gave one to.”

Gran curses under her breath. “I didn’t give it to him. That man is a spineless weasel without any morals. However, I know who did.” She’s not even slightly wrong about Doyle. Although,comparing him to a weasel is offensive to weasels, who can be super cute.

“Who?” Levi demands.

Rolling her lips between her teeth, Gran’s eyes flick between Levi’s a couple of times before she reluctantly answers, “Lua.”

“Fuck.” Levi looks like he wants to punch something at the mention of his mom being responsible. I hesitate before walking over to him, unsure whether he wants comfort right now or not. I offer him my hand. He grabs it in one of his much larger ones and squeezes it as he tries to calm down. “What happened?”

“Papa kept getting reports of disturbances in the mortal realm. Strange wars, conflicts, and fights between groups that were previously extremely peaceful. I begged him to let me come to Earth to investigate. It took me a hundred or so years, but I finally figured out the cause was Lua. She somehow escaped Tartarus and came to Earth to increase her power. When I tried to stop her, she stripped me of my ability to create rifts.” Gran’s face falls as she talks about her fight with Lua, looking like she feels guilty for losing. “I don’t know why she’d give theobrussato a mage, though.”

Levi’s mouth opens and closes as he tries to figure out something to say to that wild account. “How did she strip you of your ability to open a rift?” Levi asks.

I didn’t even know stealing powers was something that could be done. Obviously, Aggie mentioned that yesterday, but I still don’t know how that’s possible. Our magic is an innate part of us. I’m not sure magic users can even survive without it.

Gran shrugs. “I don’t know, exactly. She used some spell that took parts of my magic for herself.”

Her mentioning a spell helps me put some of the pieces together. “I’m guessing I know why she gave it to Doyle. He’s probably helping her collect magic from lower mages and all the people they’re experimenting on.” That orange glowing stuffflowing from the unconscious boy in the council basement might’ve been the magic she’s using Doyle to steal. “Why does she need more magic? Aren’tcuraalready super powerful?”

“Yes, we are. However, we’re still able to be overpowered by othercura. That’s how we were able to lock up LuaMaterin the first place. She’s probably trying to grow her power to keep us from imprisoning her again. Fates help us all if she succeeds.” Levi mutters the last part to himself. That’s not concerning at all.

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