Page 41 of Twisted Fates
If the magical community had more people like me, nonmagical support, or even friends who needed regular law work, maybe that could be my in. I mean, I couldn’t do magic, but I could help with contracts. It all hurt my head to think about. What was I doing? I didn’t fit into this world or, at least, not well.
I lived here with Damian, a legacy wizard, who owned a house full of ghosts, who were all a bit pissy, and apparently, that was my fault since Damian had invited Cary for me. Then there’s the firm I had moved to Seattle to work for, and they were a bunch of witches, meaning I wasn’t needed.
God, what a strange mess. I ended up going to my bed and lying down. When I fell asleep, I dreamed of odd shapesflowing around me. It was almost as if they were trying to lure me out of the house and into the street.
I was woken by a sound outside my door. I quickly opened it to see Damian standing in front of me, his face full of concern. “Did they get to you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Get to me? Who?” I asked at once, thinking of the ghosts.
“The dark forces?” I heard Orville say behind him, and Damian began studying me, not answering Orville. He sighed and pulled me into a hug.
“Orville, I just spoke to Elias,” he said as he held me. “We need to reinforce the perimeter, but this time with essence. The dark has started their offensive, and,” he said, pulling me back and assessing me again, “it appears they’ve decided to attack me through Owen.”
Chapter twenty-nine
Damian
Iwas working withElias through the parchment, reviewing how his alliance with the ghosts had helped keep the balance between dark and light. When I told him about my encounter, he explained just how close to blowing up the alliance I’d come.
“Ignorance isn’t bliss here,” I’d told him.
“True, but I assure you, even though this felt dire, your effort to reconciliate likely endeared you to the residents. I feared the relationship with them could be in jeopardy once I passed.”
We’d spent the morning reviewing the dos and don’ts of working with them, and he helped me distinguish between working with the ghosts and taking advantage of them. Wizards made alliances, sorcerers used them.
Apparently, sorcery was not good as it often involved using the ghost’s essence against their will. Not cool, and doing it also damaged the sorcerer’s soul. Nope, not interested in that.
We were just about done with our lesson when the back of my brain began to itch. I know that’s a weird way to explain it, but it’s exactly what it felt like. “Um, Elias, I-I think we’re being invaded.”
I closed my eyes and focused on the source of concern, explaining it to Elias. “Owen,” we both said at the same time.
“Get to him now,” Elias said, but I was already running toward the attic door.
I got to the first floor, where I could feel the invasion the strongest. Someone was trying to influence Owen. I immediately invoked my staff and severed the source of the attack, quickly adding wards to prevent it from happening again. When Owen opened the door to his bedroom, I could tell he’d been asleep.
I checked him over, and besides feeling elements of the dark magic still surrounding him, I could see he was confused and sleepy, but otherwise he looked to be okay. I got Orville to help me pull essence into the property’s wards. I just had to thank all that was good I’d had a chance to make things better with the ghost, so he’d be willing to help.
“The witch,” Orville said once I was done.
“Maybe,” I replied because it was a bit suspicious that energy was allowed into the home that shouldn’t have been able to come in through the wards. “I don’t think so though, Orville. The witch, Cary, wasn’t allowed in Owen’s room. You all kept the boundaries around the rest of the room intact. In fact, I know you added your own,” I said, chuckling.
Orville nodded but then looked at Owen. “I don’t trust the witches for reasons you already know, but I agree, something else happened here. Someone got through Elias’s wards, not to mention yours and ours. Young Owen, you should take this as a warning,” he said, and I turned around to see a concerned expression on Owen’s face.
“What…what happened? Did you see anything?” I asked.
Owen nodded. “Yes, sort of. It was in my dreams though. Something or someone was trying to get me to go outside.”
“Wait,” Orville said. “I know how we can tell for sure. I don’t want it back in this house, but we’ve buried the talisman the witch gave us yesterday in the backyard. You should be able to use it to track whether his energy was used to invade us.”
I nodded as images filled my mind of how to do that very thing. “Yes. Owen, I’ll need you too,” I said. Owen threw on shoes, not bothering to dress, and we followed Orville out the back door and into the garden. He pointed at a patch of disturbed ground, and I quickly dug up Cary’s necklace.
It was covered in mud, so I apologized to Owen, but I wanted to do this before the energy that still encircled Owen dispersed. “Sorry,” I said as I put the necklace over his head, mud and all.
Nothing happened except that Cary’s necklace seemed to absorb the rest of the energy surrounding Owen. A sure sign that Cary’s magic was from the light, and whatever attacked Owen had been dark.
“Was it Cary?” Owen asked.
I shook my head. “No, but I think you could use one of these if Cary is of a mind to make another one for you,” I said.
