Spells I understood. They were words meant to manipulate the Plane. Totally made sense to me. Potions on the other hand? Let’s just say I didn’t get an A in chemistry in high school. Incantations, wards, stones were a little easier, but still not as natural to me as spells.
Navia had me set up on the terrace with two of her friends. Lynn and Lan are twins—another unusual development since twins were incredibly rare. Lynn was great with spells, while Lan’s specialty was incantations.
“Aren’t they all the same thing?” My brain hurt. Everything involved saying certain words a certain way or waving my hands. There was so much I kept confusing them all.
Lan frowned. “Are you joking? Is she joking?” He looked to Navia and Lynn.
Lynn was just as exasperated with me. At least Navia seemed amused. The twins wore outfits very similar to Navia’s. Lynn had a burgundy coat with asymmetric gold buttons. Lan wore a long, dark gray coat that buttoned down his left side and hung over his knees. It also had a pretty rad high collar. Of all the Houses I was connected to, I vibed the most with the style of the Nalas.
The Axles loved their frilly shit too much. Lots of lace and gold and trains. Oh, and the tiaras and crowns. Although I kind of enjoyed a good tiara. Their exact opposite were the Wrens. All woodsy and down to earth, they wore a lot of jeans, flannels, and leather.
But the Nalas had style. Style that was functional. I might have to try one of these coat-and-boot combos one day.
“She’s not joking,” Navia answered. “She’s unaware of the subtle differences.”
“You say words, the Plane does things. What am I not getting?”
I thought Lan might flip the table.
Navia shot to her feet, somehow diffusing the situation by putting herself between me and the twins. “What’s something you know a lot about?”
“Human psychology.”
Navia grimaced. “Something less complicated?”
What else did I know a lot about? I knew how to defend myself in creative ways. Oh, and I knew how to eat on a very tight budget. Pasta was my friend through freshman and sophomore years.
“What about chocolate? Do you like chocolate?”
Who doesn’t love chocolate? “Of course.”
“What’s your favorite kind?”
Picking a favorite chocolate was like picking a favorite child. But if I had to pick… “The hot fudge they drizzle on cold ice cream.”
Her head quirked and she nodded. “Nice. And a perfect answer for what I want you to understand. There are a lot of different kinds of chocolate out there. Dark, milk, white. It comes in bars or liquid form. It can be mixed into other things.”
I put my hands in the air. “All praise the chocolate chip cookie!”
“And brownies,” Lynn chimed in.
“And frosting,” Lan added with a smile. “I get where you’re going now. May I?”
“Take it.” Navia stepped away.
“Pouring hot fudge over ice cream is entirely different from eating a bar of milk chocolate, no?”
I mean, chocolate was chocolate, but I got what he was saying. “I wouldn’t pour hot fudge directly into my mouth.”
“I would,” Navia murmured with a shrug.
“But it could burn your mouth if the temperature was too hot,” Lynn called out.
“Proving my point. You could pour the hot fudge into your mouth, but there could also be dire consequences. There are many other options. You might even be in the mood for white chocolate.”
Navia blew a raspberry and made a thumbs down motion, which I totally agreed with. Why bother with white chocolate when there was any other chocolate available?
“So,” Lan said, his deep voice rumbling the air as he made motions with his hands, “think of spells, incantations, potions, wards, and enchantments as different kinds of chocolate. The differences may seem subtle to you now, but as you grow to understand the nuances, you’ll see that you cannot pour hot fudge into your mouth when what you really need is a brownie.”
The analogy was incredibly imperfect but highly effective. My brain definitely hurt less. And now I had a language I could share with my friends when I had questions. “Like, explain the difference between a spell and an incantation using chocolate.”
For a split second I thought Lynn might strangle me.
Lan gave a subtle shake of his head. “A spell uses words and some hand motions to pull the Plane into the words, but it’s really the mental energy and focus that makes the spell work. It’s a perfect cake. Delicate and moist, not too sweet, and with a perfect layer of frosting. By contrast, an incantation is rote. The words and motions themselves create the same results each and every time. Very little mental energy or focus is needed. It’s the pre-made cookie dough.”
“Oh…” I did love a good cold, right out of the weird plastic condom wrapper cookie dough from time to time, even if it might kill me. “Wait, do samhain get food poisoning?”
Navia choked on her laugh, doubling over, shoulders shaking.
Lan shook his head slowly and sighed. “In very rare instances. It has to be rancid.”
Navia wiped tears from her cheeks. “So yes, you can eat raw cookie dough until you give yourself a stomachache.”
Another benefit of not being human. “Is that why I never got sick growing up?” All the other kids caught the stomach bug or the flu. They had colds and sore throats. But I never did. I just thought I got all my shots and had an amazing immune system.
Lynn massaged her temples. “The things you don’t know are crushingly painful.”
“So is that a yes or a no?”
Lan remained the calm one. “We do not catch many human viruses.”
“Smallpox.” Navia shuddered. “That’s why we eradicated it.”
“Perhaps we should get back to work. Rhysa has much to learn in a very short time.”
Learning, learning, learning. All I ever did was learn. I was really glad I was done with college in a couple of weeks so I could focus fully on my samhain education.
“You should teach her how to banish,” Navia offered.
Lan cocked an eyebrow, staring at Navia before nodding once. “A basic banishment can be done with an incantation. We should start there.”
“Basic?”
“The most simple and easiest way to rid yourself of an unwanted presence. Given our possible future, it does seem wise to start there.” Lan moved around the table and came to stand in front of me. Lynn and Navia joined him.
“What’s a more complicated banishment?”
“That involves casting a spell,” Lynn said simply. “The more powerful or complicated your needs, the more complex the spell.”
Simple sounded good to me. “All right. Teach me the basics.”
Lynn and Lan slowly walked me through the words and motions. For kicks, I banished worms, ants, and then Lan. It was pretty fun watching him get kicked off the terrace. He was not amused, but we sure were. Then Lynn and Navia taught me how to un-banish so Lan could come back. I felt confident I could remember how to do this without their prompting. I was in the middle of promising to practice when Bo showed up out of the blue.
“What are you doing here?” I kissed his cheek and introduced him to the group even though they all knew each other.
“Uh, it’s kind of embarrassing, actually.”
“Oh goody!” Navia clapped. “I love embarrassing things!”
Bo shot her a look.
“How can I help you?”
The taller, leaner version of Dray actually blushed! He nodded towards the trees and I followed, my curiosity slowly killing me from the suspense.
“I, uh,” he cleared his throat and pulled out a piece of paper. “I got a parking ticket.”
I tried, really, really hard not to laugh. “Why is that embarrassing?”
“I don’t know what to do with it.”
“You…pay it.”
His frustration and embarrassment twisted all his features up until he finally sighed and asked, “How?”
“Wait…you have a car, a license, and a license plate, but you don’t know how to pay a parking ticket?”
He pulled me even closer to the tree line. “Interacting with the human world is generally frowned upon. There’s no law saying I can’t drive a car, but as a shifter it is severely discouraged.”
“So you’re in trouble?”
He huffed, clearly frustrated that I wasn’t getting what he was laying down. “It’s all fake, Rhysa. My license, my license plate, all of it.”
Oh, that was bad. “So where do they come from then?”
He licked his lips, looking everywhere but at me. “Lelani.”
“Who?”
He huffed again. “Lelani handles everything. Fake identities, registrations, she hacks databases if we need it. She’s our human liaison, so to speak.”
“And Lelani can’t help you with this?” This wasn’t that complicated. I didn’t see what the problem was.
Bo toed the dirt and looked everywhere but at me.
“Bo?”
He sighed. “Lelani isn’t speaking to me right now.”
Interesting. “And why isn’t Lelani speaking to you? What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
There was only one possible explanation. “You two dated?”
He winced. “It’s that obvious?”
“Plain as the nose on your face.”
He wrinkled said nose. “Huh?”
“Nothing. A human expression. So you two dated and it didn’t end well?”
He shook his head quickly.
“And you’d rather not disturb that nest of vipers?”
He shook his head even more, eyes widening.
“I did not take you for a scaredy cat. All that bluster during training sure had me fooled.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I know I’m being ridiculous. I know this looks pathetic, Rhysa. I just don’t want anyone getting hurt right now. There’s enough chaos going around without me adding to the mix. Can you help me?”
I laughed as I tucked the silly little ticket into my pocket. “This is a piece of cake. It’ll take five minutes when we get back.”
I suddenly found myself in a crushing hug. “Thank you, Rhysa! You’re the best!”
Yes, logging into a website and paying a fine was somehow magical to the samhain who had actual magical gifts. But that was life, wasn’t it? Funny and weird. “Want to check out my new skills?”
“Of course.”
We rejoined the group that had watched us every step of the way. Navia wanted all the juicy gossip but didn’t pry too hard. “I take it the embarrassing problem has a solution?”
“Rhysa may be younger than all of us, but she’s still somehow wiser than all of us combined,” Bo said.
“Laying it on thick,” Navia teased.
“You got to watch out for this one.” I pointed at the male who just asked for help with one female problem while flirting with his next. “He looks all smooth and chill but he’s trouble.”
Navia looked him up and down. “Oh, I’ve heard.”
Lynn snorted.
Bo’s shoulders dropped. “What have you heard?”
Lynn and Navia traded a look. “Lelani had a lot to say at the solstice. Is any of it true?”
Their excited interest had me more confused than ever. What on earth happened that had Bo unwilling to speak, Lelani blabbing, and Navia and Lynn fascinated?
Bo turned bright red. “Lelani should not be speaking of private matters.”
“Ohhh!” Navia jumped up, hand over her mouth, and ran over to Lynn. The two of them traded a look and a little scream.
“Fucking hell,” Bo murmured. “Don’t listen to anything they say. Shit’s out of hand and everyone has lost their damn minds.”
My curiosity kept multiplying. It was entirely possible I might die of curiosity if someone didn’t throw me a bone. “Do I get a clue?”
He shot me a glare that would have turned my blood to ice if he had that kind of gift. “No.”
“You want a drink?” Lan clapped Bo on the shoulder.
“I’d love one.”
“Come on then.”
I almost wanted to disappear into the house with them. Navia and Lynn were so busy talking to each other that I felt like an outsider. Instead I banished the ants again. Then the worms. It was strangely satisfying to watch them fly out of my zone.
“You’re getting good at it,” Lynn said, suddenly beside me.
“Thanks.” I brought them back. “Is Bo okay?”
The females traded a look. Navia nodded. “He’s fine, I think. I’m sorry if we made him uncomfortable. He’s always been exactly as you described him. A smooth operator on the outside and trouble on the inside. I guess I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a dig at him.”
“Anything I should know about?”
Navia’s gaze moved to the house. “I mean he’s right. It is his personal business. But it’s not a secret that Lelani is a loner. She always has been. She works alone, she lives alone, she’s damn near a Heida. And you know the Wrens. They’re the polar opposite. They’re so up in each other’s business. I don’t think they know how to be any other way. Bo and Lelani were hot and heavy for a while.”
“A long while,” Lynn agreed. “And then they went boom.” She made exploding motions with her hands.
So, if I was interpreting the clues correctly, Lelani was good with the relationship until Bo wanted more. Or maybe he pulled some white knight shit. Someone like Lelani wouldn’t like that, I bet. I wouldn’t think Navia would either, but the way her gaze kept drifting back to the house, filled with curiosity, made me wonder if I was even in the right ballpark.
“I’m going to go apologize.” Lynn practically sprinted for the open door.
Navia rolled her eyes. “The handsome prick will be just fine.”
“I can’t let it go!” Lynn called over her shoulder as she disappeared inside.
“Whatever,” Navia mumbled, kicking a rock down the terrace. “His ego is so big he probably didn’t notice the hit.”
There was definitely some emotion running under her words. “You sound pretty salty.”
She shot me a look. “Everyone has had a moment with Bo at some point in their lives. I’m no exception.”
“But you do seem the most put out by it.”
She drew herself up and put her hands on her hips like I was about to get a talking to, but then her eyes went wide. “Whoa, are you okay?”
The world tilted a little and I reached out for a chair or the table, whatever might be nearby to steady myself on. “Vision.” It was the only word I got out before I crashed into the table just as Navia grabbed me to keep me from total disaster.
Then my vision blurred and Navia disappeared. Instead I saw water. Lots of water.
Blood Falls.
It was sunny and warm. Voices echoed in the distance. A young Dray and Gigi ran past me.
A memory.
I tried to follow them, but the dream-state held me captive right where I was. I could hear and feel them but not see them. Dray bounded through the grass laughing. Gigi tried to keep up. I couldn’t tell if it was seconds or minutes later, but the sky turned green and then a strange shade of red. I felt more than saw lightning in my mind. It tingled through me in a way that made me imagine my soul being twisted and split. The same feeling extended to little Dray and Gigi. There was a rush of incredibly cold wind and infinite darkness, then indescribable pain. It was death and change and hope and love, all at once.
And then it was light again. Only all the sound was missing. I was different. Dray and Gigi were different. Nothing was the same even though everything looked exactly as it was.
“Rhysa! Rhysa are you okay?” Navia’s voice jolted me back to the terrace. To the cool mist of spring in the valley. “Rhysa! What just happened?”
Tears sprang out of my eyes as the emotions I just felt overwhelmed me. “I’m okay.” First it was Dray’s thoughts, then shared visions, and now I could see the past. The gifts were changing faster and faster.
Navia had me by the shoulders as she examined me from head to toe. “You sure don’t look okay.”
“I’m physically okay. But mentally, I’m a bit devastated.”
Understanding washed over her face. “It’s hard to understand your power until you see it for yourself. Fuck, Rhysa. You scared the shit out of me.” She let me go and stepped back. “My magic is different than yours, but I know a full connection to the Plane when I feel it. The power that just ran through you is unreal.”
Bo appeared beside her. “What’s wrong?” His much deeper, masculine voice boomed and echoed off the brick.
When I didn’t answer Navia glanced between us. “She was connected to the Plane. It was…intense.”
Bo loomed over me, staring so hard it was like he really thought he could see what happened to me even though that wasn’t his gift. At least I didn’t think it was. The Gatlin blood was stronger than most of them realized until recently. “You saw something.”
See? Definitely some Gatlin in him. “Dray and I…we’ve been sharing dreams for a while now. But lately it’s been more. I…I see parts of the timeline. They come out of nowhere.”
“What did you just see?” Navia asked slowly. Lynn and Lan came to stand behind them.
“The Severing of Destiny,” I whispered. “I felt the other side.”
