Water, p.15
Water, page 15
I grabbed Beck’s arm. “Come on!” I shouted so he’d hear over the tremendous noise coming from the mighty wind crashing through the trees in the neighboring Abney Park. “We better get inside out of the storm.”
Beck looked at me as if he’d just remembered something, and then he looked back up at the sky. A second later, or perhaps two seconds, the rain stopped and the wind dropped.
“Wow!” I looked up. “You did that.” The clouds remained, but they didn’t release their load; instead, they started to move away in all directions. “That’s mad. What happened, exactly?”
“I brought the rain, but I don’t control the wind. I think you made the squall.”
“What do you mean? I can’t do that.” Raindrops trickled down my face, and I shivered.
“No?” He frowned. “Let’s go in. And talk about that. Your aura, did you sense it?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
If elemental magic was a game of rock paper scissors
Beck Colborn
I WAS JUST A TYPICAL male elemental witch. There was no way I had the unique ability to see an aura. I knew I didn’t. I’d met plenty of air witches, and I couldn’t tell them apart from lower-order witches or mundane humans.
But there was something about Haydn and something about Malka. Under certain circumstances, I could sense the magnitude of their power, and this ability seemed to require water magic. They were the only witches I’d been sexual with, and they were also the only fire and earth elementals I’d ever met. And I did not understand what this all meant or how to begin to make sense of what just happened.
“I can make it rain, but I had nothing to do with that tornado of wind that wiped up out there.” I handed Malka a large towel. She took it and started rubbing her hair.
“I don’t see how I’m to blame.”
“Look, this is just an idea, and I’d like to check it out with Varu, but the storm may have arisen from the way the rain reacted to your aura.”
“But I’ve been rained upon many times before without a storm blowing up.”
“Yes, but has magical rain fallen at the same time that you were hauling up your aura?”
“As I’ve never done that to my aura before today, I can definitely say no, even though I’m not sure whether I have been in a magical rainstorm before. So, did you see my aura? Was I doing it right?”
“I’m not sure.” I had outlandish thoughts and wild theories, but I didn’t want to share them. “I’m so sorry, I can’t give you a better answer. How did it feel to you?”
“Like I was folding up a vast silk skirt. No matter how much I pulled it in, there was more. It was too big. Is that how it’s supposed to feel the first time?”
No.
But it is consistent with my theory.
“Yeah. Maybe. I think so. As I said, it takes a lot of practice. You can’t expect to do everything the first day you try. Normally I’d have expected that rain to fall straight down. Whatever caused that squally wind stretched in every direction for as far as we could see. Certainly beyond our wall. Whatever caused it was massive.”
It seemed arrogant to speculate that I might be the only witch who could see an aura by using water magic.
It also seemed impossible that Malka’s would be so big. I’d have dismissed the notion of an aura the size of a town as ridiculous until I experienced her immense power.
One thing was sure, Malka was an exceptional woman, truly one of a kind, and she must have a huge fucking aura to shield. However, for all I knew, that might come with an excellent capacity for hiding it.
Without a vampire around to tell us, we didn’t know whether she’d made much progress. Young witches rarely get feedback from vampires, but they usually have the freedom to practice these skills for weeks, months, and years before needing them.
I wouldn’t mind keeping Malka trapped inside our house for years, but that wasn’t a healthy or safe way of approaching the problem.
Essentially, she needed to learn to control and rein in her power even before she’d mastered it or understood its full unleashed potential. And even though she did not understand it, her full potential terrified me. I hoped it would never be triggered.
If elemental magic was a game of rock paper scissors, earth and water extinguished fire, air fed fire. Water soaked the earth, but then it depended on how much water and how much earth. A shower of rain soaked in r evaporated, either way it dried up pretty quickly. Wind and rain erode rocks over time, but the earth was always there, solid and resilient underfoot in some form. Earth always won.
I wanted to know not just why a witch would abandon her daughter in the mundane world where there was a risk she’d develop before she was trained, but I also wanted to find out more about the ancestors behind such powerful magic. Who was her father? Her grandparents? Their parents?
Malka peeled off the top sodden layers of her clothes — my clothes — until she appeared dry and much smaller, less like a hockey player.
“You can take your jeans off too if you want to feel more comfortable,” I said after looking down and noticing that they were soaked.
“I will.” She proceeded to remove them. “Your clothes hang on me like dresses, so I’ll still be decent. Can I put my stuff in your washing machine?”
“Yes. My washing machine is your washing machine,” I said with a flourish. I gathered up her jeans and popped them in the machine along with our clothes from earlier, and turned it on.
“Look, Malka, you made terrific progress today. If you are up for it, have another go at the aura folding thing. Try exactly the same way as before, but in here. No rain. And no fresh earth beneath your feet.”
She sighed. “You’re right.”
“So, what’s wrong?”
“Apart from feeling stupid?” she said.
I silently waited for her to continue.
“If someone had told me to do this two days ago, I’d have felt silly unless I signed up for an interpretive dance class. And now, it’s something you and Haydn do easily. I should be able to do it too. And on top of that, you all know so much about me and my family, and I know nothing. It’s making me question everything. Stuff I took for granted, like why did my mom kill those men? And who is my father, really? Was he nothing more than a sperm donor? Am I really the result of a chance encounter with a stranger on a one-night stand, which is what I’d been led to believe?”
I shrugged. “So many good questions. So many reasons to contact your mother. You should arrange it with Air as soon as possible. But right now, practice.”
She stood in the middle of the room, looking uncertain. “Here?”
I nodded. “Yes. There. Concentrate, turn, and fold, just as you did before.”
She shut her eyes and stood still. Her fingers stretched and wiggled. Slowly, she moved. Steadily, she increased the speed while her hands made tiny movements. Her face screwed up with concentration. Whether or not she had any success, I had no clue. Creating rain indoors was within my capabilities and cleaning up the mess afterward was easy for me too; that was why I had the cleaning job for the Selby business. Every adult living in the community had to pay their way. But I’d promised her no rain, and she was making a valiant attempt.
A hammering on the front door interrupted everything, causing her to halt. She opened her eyes but didn’t move. The banging didn’t let up. Someone was very eager for us to open the door.
“I’ll get it.”
When I did, Chet pushed past me. He rushed inside with a big gust of air and looked calmer when he saw Malka standing in our living room. She had that effect on people.
“What’s going on?” He looked around the room.
Except for the earth witch standing in a T-shirt dress in the middle of the room, everything appeared as it always did. “Hello, Ch... Chet,” she said.
“Hi.” He’d avoided looking at her until she spoke, I noticed. But then his gaze lingered on her. Perhaps I wasn’t the only witch in the street controlling inappropriate desires toward her.
Chet walked over to the backdoor. “There was a freak wind outside a few minutes ago.”
“Was there?” I didn’t want to explain myself to him right then. I hardly knew the three Air witches who’d been away with Malka. We’d met a few times briefly, but that was all. They all had friendships dating back to childhood and a shared sense of belonging within the community. Those who didn’t know me viewed me as an outsider. I was. Before anything, I preferred to confide in Haydn or Varu.
“Never mind. I’ve come because I’m worried about Haydn. He isn’t back yet, is he?”
“Are you telling me or asking me?”
“Asking. Er, both. We’ve been watching and listening out for him, but perhaps we missed him.”
“He’s not back.” I hadn’t realized how late it was, and once Chet brought it to my attention, I worried too. Outside, the windows it had become a lot dimmer than I wanted it to be. “Don’t worry. He’s perfectly capable of looking after himself after dark. If anything, it’s the muggers and vampires you need to worry about.” I smiled in a way that I hoped looked reassuring and didn’t reveal the rising panic in my stomach.
Haydn should have been back. He’d said we’d all meet at dusk.
It was true, Haydn wasn’t a man to be trifled with, but having attacked vampires the night before, Malka’s gigantic aura out of control, and the Supreme Council on their way to visit, we faced unprecedented times.
Treating the house like his own, Chet had already unlocked and opened the back door. “Just listening out,” he said.
Malka’s face showed her concern as she moved from her spot and joined Chet at the back door. “Where did Haydn go? I mean, was it far away?”
“The other side of London. It shouldn’t take too long to get there. It’s more what he went to do that might be the problem,” I told her.
“Why?”
“He’s gone to collect the Turlock blades.” I braced myself for the questions and answers.
“And these blades weren’t buried in a graveyard, were they?”
“No, they were not.” I had already given some thought about what to say when she asked about the weapons, knowing full well that she would ask. “Under normal times, they are safely housed in a police storage unit, because your mother used them in that event.”
I let it sink in for a moment.
“Malka, it’s almost dark. We should go and see Varu now. If we leave it any later, there’s a risk other vampires might be around.” It was already dark enough that we were unlikely to make it back before full darkness descended if we spent any time with Varu. But then, at least he would escort us to safety.
From just outside the patio door, Chet looked alarmed. “You’re planning to visit the vampire?”
“Yes, Chet. Don’t worry. We’ll be perfectly safe with Varu,” Malka said.
“I don’t think that’s wise. He’s our neighbor. But you can’t be too careful.”
Malka walked over to the front window and glanced outside. “We won’t be long. We need to ask him about my aura and about the people who turned up at Emma’s house with mysterious marks on their bodies.” She obviously hadn’t understood Chet’s concern about us visiting a vampire. “You should stay here for when Haydn returns. You can tell him where we are,” she said.
“I don’t think the two of you should go alone. I’ll come — I’ve had training in fighting vampires, but if you wait, I’ll get a few other witches as a backup too.”
“No, Chet. We’re perfectly safe with Varu. He and I are longtime friends,” I insisted.
I glanced at Malka and saw her bite her bottom lip.
“No, Beck. I can’t allow it,” Chet said firmly as if he had some authority over me, which he didn’t. “I know you’ve lived here with Haydn for a few years. But you haven’t been raised to fight vampires as we have. You don’t understand the dangers. While you were growing up with ordinary kids and playing in the park, we trained to deal with monsters. And Malka is too important to go to a vampire’s house.” As if his words didn’t say it all, he glared at me in a way that took me by surprise before adding, “And, frankly, her safety is too important to leave with a less experienced witch.” He clearly wanted me to know my place was somewhere lower down the ranks than him.
I was not about to indulge him in that argument. I was used to experiencing the same kind of respect that witches showed to Haydn and that vampires showed to Varu, simply because of my close association with those men. Apparently, Chet didn’t like that, and things were about to change.
All the things I’d shared with Malka raced through my mind; how in a brief time, she’d gotten to know me better than anyone except perhaps Varu and Haydn.
She was disappointed that I didn’t defend the vampire and my friendship with him in the face of the other witches’ prejudice earlier that day. Things were changing around Summer House Road, and if she stayed, there would be tremendous changes, so it was time for me to make some changes too.
Malka smiled at me, warmly. I had her support, and I knew I had to say more.
“I know you want to help, Chet, but you’re wrong this time. I know we’ll be fine visiting Varu because we’re lovers. Varu and me, we are lovers.”
Chet’s face was a picture as his jaw dropped open in disbelief and his eyes went wide. The possibility of a witch with a vampire simply wouldn’t commute as a possibility in his mind.
Malka nodded at him as if to say, it’s true. “Varu has a spare set of clothes for me. And I desperately need to change.” She started to pull her sodden boots on to her feet, apparently happy to walk over there wearing my clothes as layered dresses.
Making no physical movement to use my gift, I drew all the water from her footwear, so they were dry again.
She glanced at me but said nothing. Once her footwear was in place, Malka took my hand, and we left Chet alone with his shock.
He followed us to the front door. “Good luck, I’ll wait here,” he called to our backs after we’d walked away.
As we crossed the short distance to the opposite house, I outlined my idea of a plan. It was possible Varu wouldn’t be at home, and it was possible Maria wouldn’t recognize Malka.
When Maria opened the door, she gazed at Malka blankly before familiarity registered in her eyes when she looked at me.
“Hello, Maria, I’m Beck from across the road.”
“Yes, I know who you are.”
“This is my apprentice, Malka. I left my tools here last week when I did some plumbing work in your basement, do you remember?”
Of course, she didn’t, but Varu had told her always to allow me access to the house. His power to manipulate her didn’t require his presence.
She opened the door wide. “You want to get them.”
“Yes, and I’ll check up on my work while I’m here. I don’t want any unexpected leaks.”
“No, neither do I.” Maria opened the door wide and allowed us free access to her house as I knew she would.
We only had to go and find Varu in the basement. With many stairs and closed doors, that might seem a daunting prospect that might take all night; however, vampires had super-hearing and super-speed. If Varu heard us, he’d be with us as soon as we entered the house. On the other hand, if he was asleep, vampires sleep like the dead. He might not hear us in his slumber, we knew where he slept.
As we walked down the basement staircase toward the small earth cupboard he called his bedroom, my spirits fell. If all was well, Varu should have greeted us before that door was in sight.
Malka’s eyes were wide with fear. “If he’s not here, other vampires can come through Abney Park, and they might even now be lurking in the lower levels of his basement.” Her voice trembled with fear. “They could surge up here at any moment.”
Whatever happened last night in Varu’s house, she hadn’t told me about, but on hearing her fearful tone, I had to wonder.
I’d never felt vulnerable in Varu’s home, but I wondered what we’d do if hordes of vampires charged up the stairs toward us, which was not something I’d ever worried about before.
“Beck, I’m worrying about Haydn not being back and Varu not being here. When he left me at your doorstep, he warned me he might not get back before sunlight. If so, I wonder how he stayed safe and when he’ll get back.”
There was nothing I could say to comfort her or answer her questions. “Your spare clothes are in the bedroom?” I asked but didn’t look at her. My eyes were taking in every detail of our surroundings, watching for signs of trouble.
“Yes.”
“When we’re in there, we’ll be safe. It’s protected by magic.”
I had so many questions.
CONTINUE THE STORY in book 3, Fire.
Earth
Water
Fire
Air
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EXTRACT: Fire (book3)
#Haydn Byrne My neck stung as if it were being attacked by a swarm of bees, stabbed with a knife, and poked by a hundred sharp needles. Bruises were undoubtedly forming at each tender point where I’d made violent contact with the cold concrete steps as I tumbled into the dark basement. I didn’t fall; I was pushed. And no part of my body remained unscathed.
I’d barely caught a glimpse of the gloomy cellar around me before my captors closed the door at the top of the stairs and plunged the room into darkness.
Without a single photon of light, I’d have to feel my way around in the hope of finding a light switch, but I wasn’t moving any time soon.
Uncomfortable and in pain, it should have been impossible to sleep, but remaining alert was a struggle. There was no point in fighting the urge to close my eyes, I couldn’t see anything, and I wasn’t sure I could have kept them open if I’d wanted to.
