Page 10 of Outlaw Witch

Zeph told me that’s how psychopaths think. You manipulate a situation so that you wind up looking good.

But it wasn’t like she was actually in danger.

I didn’t set anactualfire. I just used my illusion magic to make itseemlike the entire house was on fire.

Very different. Not psycho at all.

I’m pretty impressed with myself, actually. I haven’t done a full illusion, complete with sounds and smells andheat,in forever.

And it worked like a charm. Separated her from the rest of the coven so I could swoop in, get her out of there...

... until she ran away.

“What was she doing here?” I ask, glancing around at the increasing crowd of witches gathering outside.

We’ve been trying to track this particular witch for weeks now, but couldn’t find any official details on her. No full name, no workplace. The only address was one that I was convinced was a typo.

It’s like she’s a damn ghost.

Plus, when I found her, I discovered she had her own illusion spell going on. She must have bought a potion or something. But luckily, one of my talents is being able to detect when illusions or glamors are being used. I just needed to concentrate a bit and I could see right through hers. It’s a handy family trait that both my uncle and I share. Although, while I can see through all illusions, he’s able to detect people’s auras and can see the true face of the person hiding behind a glamor.

“Think she’s petitioning to join the coven?” From what our guys found out about her, she doesn’t belong to one. She never has.

Which is unusual for witches.

They’re a herd creature. They like sticking together so they don’t get burnt at the stake or whatever.

Mages are a little different. We don’t stick around in big groups quite the same way.

We’re also not so partial to an orgy, which is sad, if you ask me.

I’m intrigued by the lack of information on this particular witch. Unfortunately, my brain is kind of like a bouncing ball, never sticking to one subject for too long, so I don’t think too hard about it.

“Nah,” Zeph scoffs. “You saw where she lives. She’s probably a dealer here for some of the more stupid ones in the coven. The ones that don’t mind being peddled dodgy knock off Purple Haze.”

Jeez, for a guy who does what we do for a living, Z sure is snobby about committing crimes. It’s not like our clubs or our streets are drug free, either down in the Nexus District. The only difference is that we’re the ones that control the supply so we can make sure it’s not being cut with anything too noxious, and we don’t sell to kids.

There’s a whole lot of business we do that’s not strictlylegal. The authorities just turn their heads so long as we ply them with whatever it is they might need: information, drugs, illegal potions, smuggled artifacts. We’ve even recently had some interest in breeding and smuggling unsanctioned creatures.

So yeah, if anyone can’t be judgy about people doing less than legal shit, it’s us. But somehow Z’s on his high horse when it comes to this witch without even having met her.

He got this expression on his face as soon as he saw the place where she lives, since we headed there first. Not that I was planning on setting the fire illusion at her house or anything...

Or maybe I was. I figured, what better way to get someone to listen to you than by saving them from a house fire.

Then we saw the place and that plan promptly fell flat. If it everdoesset alight, it’ll probably blow up due to the exposed pipeworks and the generally dilapidated state of it.

So we followed her here instead.

“I guess we better head back to the death trap. See if we can talk to her there.”

I nod. “She might have calmed down by the time we get there.”

I hope so. I don’t think either of us wants to be chasing her around the city like a frightened little rabbit.

“You’re talking to the weird one if she’s still around when we get there,” Z says and I grimace.

‘The weird one’ is the witch’s sister, or maybe her friend? I got a little lost when she started delving deep into the full list of people that live in that hellhole. She had something brown caked all over her cheek and I couldn’t take my eyes off it and it meant I was distracted from listening to anything she said.

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