Elemental Flame (12 page)

I
didn't remember leaving
Ina's house. Ivan took the keys and drove Grey and I back to my shop while Dharma drove her own car back. She made tea while I sat at the head of the break room table. Grey sat beside me, her head in my lap. My stomach growled, but I'd gone so far past hunger that the thought of food nauseated me.

I couldn't eat. Not until I had Crwys safe with me.

"I think that says a lot if a Faerie queen is begging a Witch for help," Dharma said as she set the tea in front of me and sat to my left, where Ivan usually sat. He sat in the chair beside her, online and moving his hands in the air. I had asked him to keep an eye on what the police were doing at Ina's house. "Are Dragons that powerful?"

"I don't think any of us know," I said. "I mean, I don't know that much about Dragons. Other than what I've read in fantasy books or seen in the movies. We don't even know if Crwys can physically shift into a big huge flying…lizard."

"I'm pretty sure he can," Dharma sipped at her tea. "Given the level of fear you two saw with Tzariene, I'm willing to bet that's what they're afraid of. But for some reason he's not."

"Because she stuck an arrow through his heart," I said. I noticed the odd tone in my voice. It sounded dead in my ears and probably sounded the same in everyone else's. "I'm pretty sure the book Brendi wants is the Hammer."

"You mean the Malleus Maleficarum?" Dharma's brows arched. Her blue and pink hair looked extra shiny. "That book's with Parliament under lock and key and some seriously high powered spells. There's no way you'd be able to get to it without telling Cromwell what's going on. And even then he discourages all contact with Faeries."

-You really think the Parliament would help you?-

I cringed inwardly at the resurgence of that damn voice. Just when I thought it was gone, it always reared its ugly…uh, voice.

-Because I'm always here. Listening. I'm part of you now. But you already know if Cromwell discovers a Dragon exists, he'll do everything in his power to contain it, to control it, and to make it his, just as he would Ivan if he learned of that boy's true magic.-

"Don't ever mention that man's name," I said in a very low voice. I made sure it was filled with venom and hatred. It was meant for the voice inside of me, but since no one else could hear it, Dharma took my comment to mean her own suggestion of the Grand High Master's help. The little Water Witch sat back and chewed on her lower lip. "We're not talking to Parliament. Not ever about this. Parliament knowing about Crwys would be as dangerous as them knowing about Ivan." I was a terrible person, playing on Dharma's feelings for Ivan to keep her mouth shut.

She slowly nodded. "You're right. But I don't see how you're going to get your hands on the book."

I had a flashback to another deal for trade I'd been a part of a year ago when I helped a friend try to trade a prophetic mantle to Medbh in exchange for his daughter, Brendi.

I sighed.
And we all know how well that went.

-Use the same tactics you used then.-

I didn't know what the voice meant. And it seemed to sense that.

-The mantle, Medbh's mantle, had been a fake. A creation of Arcane Magic and Faerie dust. You have the means to create a duplicate book. What do you care if the Queen takes it, as long as Crwys is safe?-

"Sam?" Dharma said. "You spaced out on us."

I blinked at her. "I was thinking of using a fake book. We have the means to make one. Then we just have to lure her here with Crwys."

"I know you're avoiding going into
Alfheim
," Ivan said as he blinked and lowered his hands. His eye color shifted from green to brown. "I've seen Crwys in action and I've seen his power. That arrow's got some kind of power over him and that arrow is obviously the linchpin between her control and
Alfheim's
destruction. I doubt very seriously she's going to risk bringing him here."

"He's right," Dharma looked at me. "And…how are you going to make a fake Hammer? I mean that'd be some serious magic."

I looked at Ivan. "You get anything?" I avoided answering Dharma.

Ivan answered. "Installing the electronic surveillance was a good idea on Crwys's part. That helped me take a look in. But what I'm not understanding is why they're concentrating on an area of the garden in the back."

"The back?" I frowned. "You mean where the old shed used to be?"

"I guess? It's straight back if you were to come out of the sliding doors of the house. They've got hazmat and CSI all over the place. There aren't any good cameras in that area. Luckily, the crime scene photographer's camera is on a network cloud for the police so as soon as he uploads his pictures I can grab copies."

Concentrating in the back of the garden? Why?

"I wouldn't worry," Ivan said. "Crwys was pretty confident he got rid of all the biological matter from those dead bodies."

"And has Crwys ever been the victim of over confidence?" I asked.

He smirked.

I pushed my chair back and stood. "Ivan, I need to talk to you. Upstairs."

He nodded and followed Grey and I up the stairs. Once in my living area, I threw up a sound ward by using a bit of Spirit as Ivan sat on the couch. Grey jumped up with him and put her head in his lap. I sat on the coffee table, facing him. "Ivan, I need a favor—"

"I was listening." He didn't look happy as he raked his thick black hair from his face and fixed his dark eyes on me. "You want me to make another copy of the Hammer. But I told you, I didn't keep any of it when I made that last copy for you."

He meant the one Parliament had under lock and key and heavy spells.

"You don't know where the original is." Ivan said.

The original Hammer became a pendant jump drive. The last time I'd had that thing was when I went to my dad's house to confront the other Cyber Witch turned rogue Shadow Person. And now that house was gone and so was the jump drive. At first, Crwys thought the odd symbol on my chest was the Hammer because it rested where the pendant did. But later we both suspected that wasn't true. I now believed the symbol was my Witch's mark and the original Hammer was lost.

I sighed. "There's nothing you can use?"

Now he looked down at Grey and scratched the back of her neck. But he didn't say anything.

"Ivan?"

He let out a short sigh. "There is something, but I haven't wanted to point it out."

"Point what out?"

"Remember how I can see Arcane?"

"Yeah?"

"Well," he looked at me. No…he looked at my chest. "I can see a lot of it. And it's all concentrated right there." He tentatively pointed where his eyes focused. "I still see it all over you. It started out in patches but lately it's looking like a second skin."

I put my hand over the odd scar on my chest. "You mean…I'm covered in it now?"

"Pretty much."

"Still look like worms?"

He made a face. "Yeah. Sometimes though, when I see you use it, it looks like sparkling glitter. But it still smells bad and it creeps me out."

"Do you think you could use it to make a copy?"

"I could try. But I don't know how close I'll come. I'd be working from an old pattern in memory. Now if I could rescan the copy I made, then I could make a copy of that."

"Is that possible?" I leaned forward.

"Is what possible? Scanning that copy? Yeah, but I'd have to touch it and you heard Dharma. That thing's locked away with a million spells on it."

I considered the added danger of trying to break into wherever the Hammer was—and that was a sticky point right there. Where? No one but Parliament and Clerics knew where they kept—

Wait. Clerics.

Ivan watched the thought progression on my face and sat forward with a finger pointed at me. "No. You are not involving her in this."

"But she's a Cleric. She'll know where it is."

"I won't do it. You can't make her an accessory to this. If she's caught, the punishment for Clerics is warlocking."

He was right and I felt deflated. Getting to the copy of the book would be great, but risking everyone else wasn't a good idea. I wanted Crwys home. I wanted him with me. But I wasn't so far gone that I wanted to destroy my friends to do it. I held out my hand to him. "How do you want to use this Arcane?"

"I'm not gonna bite your wrist like a Vampire and suck it out." He smirked at me when I blinked at his joke. Ivan was adorable. "I need you to create something with it. Just something. Make it a ball or a square, but dense enough that I have enough material to work with."

Make something? I straightened and put my hands on my thighs. Creating objects out of the Elements but
of
the Elements had been a simple enough trick when I was ten. So making something with Arcane seemed reasonable.

I pivoted on the coffee table and moved a few magazines aside. I held my hands a few inches apart. I sought out the subtle hum I'd noticed recently and let it increase in volume. My arms and hands tingled as the power coursed down my arms like red vines until it leaked from my hands. I directed the power flow and found myself lost as I stared at my forming creation. I admired the deft brush strokes and solid build as it came together from black and red glitter until I somehow knew it was finished.

Blinking rapidly, I leaned back and felt Ivan's hand on my shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah that was…that just felt intense."

"I'll say. Did you mean to do that?"

"Do what?" I looked at him and he cut his eyes down. I looked back at my creation and nearly pushed myself off the coffee table in surprise. I would have answered him no; I had no idea what I was creating. But I couldn't find my voice.

Standing, no,
digging
at the coffee table with its right hoof stood a six inch high, light purple unicorn. The horn in his brow sparkled white as did the beast's mane and tail. It looked up at me and issued a tiny neigh.

Unicorns fascinated me as a child. My favorite movie had been
The Last Unicorn
. I watched
Legend
so many times I could quote the movie by heart. Mom decorated my walls with murals of unicorns and dragons with spiral castle kingdoms and bright blue skies. But I hadn't thought of them since the day my dad told me my mom was dead.

But I'm not dead.

No. You're not.
But why make a unicorn?

"Sam," Ivan said as he pointed to it. "Look at its chest."

I slid off the coffee table and knelt on the floor, putting myself even with the tiny creature. It stood twelve inches high to its ears, maybe thirteen at the top of its horn. It took a few steps toward me as I focused on the tiny, five-colored pentagram on its breast. "I don't understand this."

"I'd take it as a good thing, maybe? Your subconscious creating something pleasant to combat all the stress?"

"Maybe," I said. But the sight of the unicorn didn't fill me with joy the way it once did. What I got is a sense of foreboding. A warning of danger. "Can you use it?" I pushed myself up on my feet and stepped back. I didn't want it there anymore. I wanted it gone.

"Yes. And the thing is thick, dense with Arcane." Ivan licked his lips as he moved himself to the edge of the couch and reached out with his hands. He didn't touch the unicorn, but placed an open hand on either side of it. I saw the familiar green lights play around his hands, and when he opened his eyes they were green. As the green lights danced toward the unicorn, red lights danced back to his hands. I'd seen Ivan do this before as part of his still developing magic. He magically digitized the unicorn, breaking it down into its components and into whatever he needed in order to transform it into something else.

But this time he gasped as the unicorn completely vanished. He gripped the edge of the couch and stared at the coffee table, his greenish eyes looking at nothing. "This…is this possible?"

"What?" I sat back down on the coffee table and put my hands on his shoulders. "What the hell's wrong? Are you okay? Is it hurting you? Come on, spit it back out!"

His smile caught me off guard when he focused those eerie eyes on me. "No…it's not hurting me. Sam…I don't think you lost the jump drive at your dad's house."

"Huh?" I let go and look confused. "Yes I did. I mean, Crwys sort of thought it melded to me when I used Arcane." I put my hand to the scar and felt it under my shirt. "But I didn't think that was true." I blinked. "Is it?"

Ivan held up a long index finger for a second before he pushed himself back on the couch. He held out his hands as he'd done before and this time red light moved and flowed from them. As he slowly moved his hands further apart a book started to form between them until the light finished, turning green in the end and the book dropped into Ivan's lap.

"The Hammer!" I nearly shouted as I reached out and grabbed it with both hands. I opened it and turned the pages. It looked like the real thing. I got up and dug my mom's athame from my bag under the table and moved it over the pages. Red script replaced the black as the true nature of the book revealed itself and old Arcane spells appeared. "You did it! I mean, Ivan, this is a perfect copy."

"It's not a copy." He stood and after steadying himself, went to my kitchen and poured himself a full glass of water.

I followed him. "What do you mean it's not a copy?"

He finished the water before he leaned against the fridge. "Man that always wipes me out." He rubbed at his nose. "That," he pointed to the book in my hand. "Is the original. That is the jump drive I made for you."

I looked at the book. "How—"

"I think Crwys was right. You absorbed it. That book's been a part of you since you made your dad's house vanish."

I set the book on the counter near the bowl of mushy ramen noodles and pulled my shirt down to look at my scar. It was still there, looking as ugly as ever. So…the Hammer wasn't part of it, but it was inside of me.

"What is that?" Ivan asked as he peered at it.

"We—Crwys and I—thought maybe it was this," I said as I let the shirt go and pointed at the book. "But I think it's my Witch's mark now."