Page 16 of The Magic of Discovery
“Oh? Did you find someone in town already? We do have quite a few single people around our age. But Fischer,” she playfully teased, slapping my shoulder, “you know that isn’t how potions work. We never make or cast spells to take away someone’s consent.” She flicked her eyes toward the idiot behind her.
I grabbed her hand, giving it a light squeeze. She looked back to me immediately, then down to our joined hands.
Not understanding how she was able to completely shield from me, I studied her face. Did I dare to even hope that I might have found someone I could have a normal relationship with? Not even romantically, not that I wouldn’t jump on the opportunity. I’d be happy with anything at this point. Suddenly, I felt the need to get close to this woman. Opening my mouth, the words just spilled out.
“Saige, would you like to go out to dinner with me?” I smiled and watched her emotions play across her beautiful face. Shock, happiness, and excitement danced across her round cheeks and plump lips.I wonder what those taste like?Emotions weren’t so bad if I could watch them like this instead of being pulverized.How is this possible?I couldn’t tear my gaze away from her, wanting to study every movement she made. Standing there, I stared at her like a fool as she lifted her lips in a shy smile.
“Excuse me, asshole. She’s not single.” Douche had reached his boiling point; I could practically see the fury blowing out of his ears.
Ignoring him, I kept my eyes on the woman in front of me.
“Say yes.”
“I would love to go out with you, Fischer.” She smiled so big, her perfect grin made my stomach flip and my dick start to wake up.
Why am I doing this? What is it about her?
“Like FUCK you will,” Douchebag roared, taking three big steps to grab her around the upper arm, attempting to yank her away from me.
I saw red. Swinging my left fist at his head, I was so fast he didn’t have time to try and block me, and there was an audible crunch as his cheekbone cracked. He stumbled backward, and I immediately advanced. Rallying, he tried to land a punch, but I grabbed his fist and punched him right in the fucking throat. Dropping like a sack of shit, he started choking and wheezing for air he didn’t deserve to breathe.
Ah, there it is. Fear.
I inhaled deeply, my eyes fluttering shut, then a tired sigh puffed out of my mouth, like I was really bored as shit and being put out by this waste of creation. Reaching down blindly, I grabbed him by his hair and pulled his sorry ass back up.
“You motherfuc-” Nope. My hold on his hair tightened forcefully enough to get him to shut his poisonous trap, and I waited until he looked me in my eyes. He was still pissed, but once his pathetic brain caught up with what he was looking at, I saw the realization in his eyes. He withered.
There’s a fucking reason why I was the best at what I did. I was the king at switching my humanity on and off, and right now, I could only imagine what my face must look like. If I had to guess, my eyes were probably solid black. When I shut myself off like this, things... changed. My eyes go blacker than the sky on a starless night, and it’s like the fear that people feel when they cower in front of me fuels me. With a lot of practice, I learned how to control myself, how to keep the beast at bay, and that really was in everyone’s best interest.
I don’t play games. I am the fucking monster in this room.Allof the rooms. I’m the nightmare you don’t want dipping into your mind, and I want to fuck up this sick bastard’s brain so badly he won’t be able to close his eyes again without pissing his pants. But that will have to wait. I don’t want to reveal everything I’m capable of, not yet.
“Do not ever come in here again. Do not ever look at Saige again. Do not talk to her, do not think about her, and definitely do not fucking touch your sad little penis while imagining her beautiful body. So help me gods, if you ever think about touching her again, I will get my three brothers down here. We will fucking dance, and it will be your last, you shit stain. Now get the fuck out of here.” My voice was so deep and rumbling I almost didn’t recognize it as my own.
He ran out of the shop and didn’t look back.
No, no, no!
I raced outside, abandoning my coffee by the kitchen sink, disbelief overriding all of my senses. Throwing myself down on my knees, I swiveled my head around to fully take in what I was seeing. The brightness of the new day was too much of a contrast with the shock and sheer outrage that hit me.
What the hell is happening?
“Gran! Come out here!” I yelled, loud enough for her to hear me from her cottage behind mine.
My magic was vibrating with the need to heal these plants.This shouldn’t be possible. Who ever heard of the gardens of a green witch shriveling up and dying for no reason?
“What is it, child?” Gran called out, but when she rounded the corner and saw for herself, she stopped in her tracks.I guess the old girl is still capable of being shocked speechless.“Merciful moons,” she gasped, her tone betraying how confused she was.That’s not good. She’s supposed to know everything about this shit!
Maven was sniffing around like a fox possessed, frantically digging his paws into the dirt, high-pitched whines escaping his mouth. He lifted his head to look at me, dirt clinging to his whiskers.
I don’t fucking think so. This is my gods damn garden.
I called my powers to the surface, gold cyclone-like swirls sparked out of my palms. Snapping my hand out to the right, I started calling out incantations. Now that I was an older, more practiced witch, I didn’t actually need to say the words aloud. As long as I visualized the outcome, I was golden. For me, witchcraft was honestly eighty percent mental, ten percent repetition, and ten percent stubbornness. I could picture what I wanted the earth to give me, and it gave. But when you needed a little extra dramaticoomph, there was nothing like yelling out the words.
“Crescere! Cresco!”Grow! Rise!A strip of St. John’s Wort exploded from the ground. “Excresco!”Enlarge!It grew larger and larger.Perfect, because I’m going to need all of this to unfuck my life.Fuck, I feel powerful right now.It’d been too long since I’d let my magic flow so unrestrained, and I smiled to myself. I couldn’t recall a time that casting magic had felt this satisfying, and I was drowning in the sudden hunger to let more power race through my body.This feels so fucking good. More, I need more.
“Crescere, adulesco!”Grow, more!Valerian root.Yep.Gonna need that to chill my stressed out ass later.
Focusing on the sick flowerbeds, I had held out both hands, preparing to cure the fuck out of these poor babies. I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder, snapping me out of my magical rush. I was breathing hard.My power still works. Thank fuck. If it’s not me, then what?
