Chapter 9

The file landed on Smith’s inbox with a thump at eleven. After a leisurely lunch, I was ready to go home and sleep. Since that wasn’t an option, I had to get to bed earlier tonight, or tomorrow was going to be rough. Back at my desk, sorting through old files to see what might need my attention, sleep was sounding better and better.

The phone rang, and I plucked it off the cradle without looking away from a diagram of wound patterns on a victim attacked two months ago by something monstrous with teeth. “Agent Pine speaking.”

“Agent Thomas. I have a situation in progress that would be best managed with your presence. Are you available?” he finished in a rush.

“Yes. What’s going on?” I snatched my purse out of the drawer and dug out my keys.

“Magic gone wrong.” He rattled off an address, which I copied down as quickly as I could. “Get here quick.” He hung up.

As I rushed out the door, I double-checked my wand, which was still in my thigh sheath, and punched the address into my phone. Twenty-five minutes of driving in midday traffic. A lot could go wrong in that time.

I settled behind the wheel of a department-issue car and wished it was Fabian as I flipped on the lights and headed out. The lunch rush clogged the streets, and even with the lights, I didn’t break any records getting to the address.

It wouldn’t have killed Agent Thomas to give me a bit more detail. They had codes for things, but when magic was going wrong, those seemed to fly out of their brain, and all I got was “magic problem.” It didn’t occur to them that some information would make me better at my job. No, that was too much common sense.

I darted down an exit off Highway 24 and ended up in front of an ugly building that proudly proclaimed GET MAGIC GOODS.

Half a dozen police vehicles formed a loose circle around the front parking lot, effectively blocking the entrances. The front of the shop had seen better days, the sheet metal showing rust in a few spots. The neglect extended to the sign, where half the plastic was missing out of the M, leaving only the light bulb visible.

There had to be at least as many officers on scene as there were cars, but the only one I could see was next to the door. With a long look over his shoulder, he started my way.

I jogged across the pavement to meet him half way. Up close, his short hair was gray and the lines on his face had been earned from years of seeing too much. I held my badge up for him to see. “Agent Pine, TBI’s witch. I got a call.”

He turned on his heel and matched my jog. “Jameson. There’s a person either doing magic or under its influence. We can’t get close enough to get cuffs on him and the only ones of us available for the call are humans.”

“What kind of magic have you seen?” I tugged my wand out of the sheath and hoped I had enough magic in reserve to deal with this.

“Stun guns don’t work. He can push things away without touching them, and he’s very angry. So far, we’ve kept it non-lethal, and we’d like to end it that way.” Jameson pulled open the door. “Last I heard, they were in the back.”

Inside wasn’t any more impressive than the name had led me to believe. The shelving was set too close together for the aisles to be comfortable, and every one of them was heavily laden with various magical and supposedly magical items. Given a choice, this wasn’t the sort of establishment I would frequent when buying supplies.

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I spotted a love potion. Last I’d heard, real love potions were impossible or illegal. Only a shelf over sat a self-heating and self-stirring pot for the low price of twenty dollars, I added a legalities check to this call’s itinerary.

“Through there.” Jameson pointed toward an open door between two sets of wall coolers.

A bright pink bottle caught my eye. I hadn’t known long-lasting beauty could be found in the refrigerated section.

Ignoring the other brightly colored and likely illegal bottles, I stepped between the wall coolers. Through the door were more shelves with stacks of boxes on them, and some debris on the floor, likely from the fight. I motioned for Jameson to hang back.

“Easy! Easy.” A man lifted his voice to carry above growls that I wasn’t totally sure a human could make. “We have someone who can help, but I need you to put the box down.”

It probably wasn’t the best time to step into the room, but that had never stopped me before. I ducked just fast enough to dodge the box that flew through the space my head had occupied hardly a second before.

I twisted around to peer between pallets at where it had come from, and it was hard to be sure exactly what had thrown the box. At some point, the creature had been a humanoid man. Now, he was hunched and distorted. It was as if his muscles had grown and didn’t fit his body anymore. They didn’t fit under his clothes either. His shirt had split at the seams, showing lines of skin down his biceps, forearms, and shoulders. The veins on his face and neck stood out sharply. He snarled, looking more beast than man, and bared his teeth.

The creature plucked another box off the pile beside him, though strictly speaking, his hands didn’t touch it, and propelled it across the room. Swirls of magic colored the space behind him and trailed through the air. “I said no more men!”

Wand in hand and ready to redirect any boxes, I stood up. “Then they kept their word. I’m Agent Kelsey Pine, and I want to help you.”

He tipped his head back and inhaled. “Magic.”

A chill crept down my spine. Humans couldn’t sense magic, not directly. “Witch. I can help you.”

“I like magic.” His tongue traced his teeth.

Somehow, I didn’t think he meant he liked working in a magic shop. As delicately as I could, I extended a probe and pushed it toward him. Ten feet away, the air began to flow with spells. Little bits of magic, like small charms that had been sucked out of where they belonged to orbit a larger spell.

He tipped his head to the side and looked directly at the air where my probe had encountered the spells. “I don’t like that.”

I flat out wasn’t sure what to say. I had to put effort into seeing exactly where the probe was, so how could he see it?

Magic gathered around him. Through all the spells, it was impossible to see what he was doing, though the pattern was simplistic enough that I didn’t think he was a witch. He caught my eye and growled. The magic exploded out.

I didn’t have time to cast a proper spell, but I pushed magic through my wand, forming a dome around me to reduce the shock. It would’ve worked, but a body slammed into me, shoving me behind a pallet.

Jameson slid past me into an open space, and I watched as the magic hit him. A quarter second more and I could’ve created another spell. As it was, all I could do was watch as the blast snapped his head back.

I’d never forget the crack as his neck broke or the way the life drained out of his eyes before he collapsed.

My fault. I hadn’t been fast enough. I hadn’t kept an eye on him. My fault he’d thought he needed to save me.

The man pounced on Jameson and yanked his gun out of the holster.

“Sowil.” A spherical spell designed to contain its contents formed around the creature. I leaned on a pallet as I got to my feet. The spell wasn’t strong enough to stop bullets, but one problem at a time.

The man cocked his head to the side. In one fluid movement, he touched the spell, which dissolved and started shooting at the other officers.

“Nazid.” I jerked my wand to the side as I cast the spell, yanking the now levitating gun out of the monster’s control.

He turned and snarled at me.

“Mannaz.” I hurled the sleep spell somewhat desperately. I could fix him, but not while he was fighting.

It collided with the spells in the air, mixing and reacting into a new spell. It would still put someone to sleep, but my orders weren’t directing it anymore. Now the sleep spell latched onto air molecules.

“Narzel blast it.” My lack of foresight had already resulted in one death. I couldn’t let any others suffer.

Even though I knew the risk, I turned away from the creature and blocked off the door and the rest of the room. “Sowil Haglaz, Sowil Haglaz.” This time I fed more magic to the spells, enough that they should hold through the creature’s attempts to pass.