Mind Games (18 page)

“I’m sure I’ve had plenty of experience fighting your particular gift.” Not as much experience with a full grown sorcerer, though, because even saying so had me out of breath. I took a sip of water in an attempt to cover the reaction, but when the sip turned into several large gulps, no one was fooled.

“Look, Alexander,” Matthew said, turning the conversation away from me. “Say what you have to say and be done with it, but I’d appreciate not having my name appear on any more lists. I like to keep a low profile around here.”

“I’m sure it helps you to prey on regular mortals if they don’t know about your power.” Evan was talking to Matthew, but his eyes were squarely fixed on me. “It’s harder to control people if they know what you’re doing, isn’t it?”

“Oh, it depends.” Matthew touched a finger to his lips in a mocking salute to Evan’s second gift. “Some powerful but temporary spells can be overwhelming regardless. Of course, even powerful men can get entangled. Or won’t your father admit to this day that he let Belinda Hewitt put a love spell on him?”

“I’m sure you know all about love spells,” Evan replied.

“Evan, stop.” I looked straight into his crystalline blue eyes, which was probably a mistake, but I didn’t look away. “No one is putting a love spell on me. I’m not even in love with Matthew. We only started dating last week, after all.”

Evan frowned. “You’re not in love with him?”

“I don’t think we need to press that point,” Matthew said.

Wincing, I turned to him to apologize. “No, of course not. I only meant – it’s too soon.”

He smiled, reassuringly. “Of course it is.”

“Oh please!” Evan cut in.

Alexander held up his hands. “Please, gentleman, I can see that there are some deep local hurts that need healing. But putting rules in place protects us all. Don’t you think, Ms. Scot?”

I started to say that I had all the protection I needed, but of course, the protection wouldn’t be for me. Others did need protection. Others, like my mother and her sisters. Like my cousin and her friend, kidnapped by slave traders back in July.

“Government doesn’t keep the strong from preying on the weak,” Matthew said. “Only individuals can do that.”

“I agree,” Alexander said quickly. “Good, strong people make up the core of any successful movement. It is the community as a whole that needs to protect one another, not to mention those who can’t protect themselves. Why, just last week Evan was telling me about how he saved two young girls from magical slave traders.”

As ways to change the subject went, I’d heard worse, but somehow it made me want to seek out approval from this stranger. “I helped. I took on one of the sorcerers when Evan was unconscious.”

“Did you?” Alexander turned his attention to me. “Just a humble deputy?”

My cheeks went a little pink. “We mere mortals aren’t as useless as you seem to think.”

Alexander frowned.

“Go on,” I urged him. “You were saying something about slave traders?”

After a moment’s hesitation, he plunged into what sounded a bit like a well-rehearsed speech. “Stopping the magical slave trade is one of the primary reasons that I want to unite, not just small local communities, but the entire country. People often turn a blind eye to things that aren’t happening locally, so all a practitioner has to do is go out into the countryside. And believe me, they do. This is more common than many people realize, despite the pain inflicted on both parties.”

I knew how painful it felt, though I tried not to think about it while Alexander continued his tirade.

“This is a painful topic for Cassie,” Evan said finally, interrupting Alexander.

“This has happened to someone you know?” Alexander asked.

“My mother.”
Alexander nodded, knowingly. “Then was she sold?”

Sold as breeding stock. My father may have rescued her, but in the end she had given birth to six powerful children. And me. “Didn’t work out for her anyway. I don’t have an ounce of talent.”

The look of surprise on Alexander’s face could not have been faked. “You’re not gifted in any way?”

“No.” I didn’t bother to hide the note of bitterness in my voice.

“Cassie,” Evan said. “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head, not wanting to answer and needing not to stay. Standing shakily to my feet, I planted a quick kiss on Matthew’s cheek, acutely aware of the look Evan seared into my back and oddly pleased about his reaction.

“I’m sorry to cut this short, but I have to go. Maybe tomorrow we can get together someplace more private?”

“I’ll drive you.” Matthew stood.

“No.” I shook my head. “I can walk.” I couldn’t explain why, but I needed to walk. I needed some fresh air and some time to think.

He glanced at my feet. “In heels?”

“They’re more comfortable than they look.” In fact, Juliana had been practicing infusing objects with magic the previous week and had hit upon the novel idea of making heels feel like tennis shoes. The spell was starting to wear off, but I figured I could make it twelve blocks.

“I’ll call you tomorrow, Matthew. It was nice to meet you, Alexander, Tyler, and I wish you luck. You’re going to need it.” Finally, I turned to Evan, but nothing I could think to say to him came close to expressing my feelings, so I settled on, “Go to hell.”

“J
ENNIFER ADAMS DOESN’T HAVE MUCH MAGICAL
talent,” I told Wesley as we approached her apartment building, not two blocks from the one Kaitlin and I had occupied earlier in the summer. “She couldn’t have set that fire if she’d wanted to and with as little power as she has, she’d need twenty-one like-minded and focused people with similar abilities to start that blaze. It’s pretty hard to get that many people to focus on the same thing at the same time.” It would have to be exactly twenty-one people, since that multiplied the magic of seven and three. Twenty-seven, or three cubed, might be slightly better, but not by much.

“Doesn’t sound very likely, no,” Wesley said.

“She’s also only been in town for a couple of years. I think she was hoping someone would take her on as an apprentice, but she doesn’t have much to offer in either money or power and we tend to distrust strangers.”

“I’ve noticed,” Wesley said.

“Oh?” I gave him a sideways glance. “Have you had problems?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

I did worry, but with so many other things on my plate, I didn’t have much anxiety to spare for this one.

Unsurprisingly, Jennifer had nothing of value to tell us, though she seemed almost a little too eager to find out what had led us to her doorstep. She’d been thrilled that her name had been on the list and proudly displayed her invitation to Alexander’s conclave. “Of course, I knew about Alexander because he was putting together a magical underground in Chicago when I was there, but Chicago’s not a very good place for magic. There’s no node close by and most of the witches who live up there are either not serious, a little weird, or pretty hopeless. We get a lot of New Age type stuff going on, but most of the people in the covens don’t have any magical ability. I joined one in college but I’m not even sure if they believed that I could read auras.”

“What kinds of things did Alexander do?” I asked. It had nothing to do with the case, but the sheriff had specifically ordered us to drag our feet. Besides, I wanted to put off visiting the fourth name on that list.

Jennifer leaned forward eagerly, giving us a nice view down her shirt. “Oh, you know, he set down some rules and made sure that there were people in the police department who could enforce them. The best thing, though, was that he set up a commission to identify and help young people with magical abilities so they don’t hurt themselves or someone else. That’s how they found me. I mean, I knew I could read auras – not that anyone believed me – but until they came knocking on my door, I had no real clue about magic except for a little kitchen witchery, most of which is bunk.”

“Don’t be so sure,” I said. “Yeah, some of it is pure superstition, but some of it isn’t.”

Jennifer’s face lit up. “Thanks, I’ll remember that.”

“So how do they know who has magic and who doesn’t?” I asked.

“They have a bunch of people whose talent it is to sense magical talents in others. It’s not too far off of my aura talent. They even thought they might be able to train me to sense magical energies, but I guess it doesn’t quite work that way for me.” She frowned. “The things I see in people’s auras are more like a whisper of who they are and what they’re feeling. Like you.” She turned to face me. “You’re stubborn and independent. You don’t like it when people help you, but you feel like you have to help everyone else. Right now, you’re mixed up about something, like your loyalty is torn or something.” She paused and looked at me expectantly, like a puppy who wanted a treat.

“Um, yeah, I guess. Can you do Wesley?”

Wesley shook his head. “I’m not comfortable around all this stuff yet.”

I looked at him, surprised. “Really? You’ve been taking it so well.”

“I haven’t said much about it one way or the other,” Wesley said. “I told you I’d withhold judgment, but that’s it. So far, I have to admit that I can’t quite explain how your brother went into that burning building and came out alive, even if he didn’t manage to save Sarah Roberts. But other than that it’s all hearsay.”

“Oh.” For some reason, his revelation disappointed me. “What would it hurt to have her tell you about your aura, though? If you’re going to keep an open mind-?”

“It’s okay,” Jennifer said quickly. “Listen, I guess I’ll see you at the conclave next weekend?”

“I won’t be going,” I said.

Jennifer looked at me askance, and I had the distinct impression that she was struggling to read the why in my aura. I don’t know if she saw anything or not, but I didn’t help her.

After we left the home of Adams, Jennifer, we moved on to Atkins, Bethany, a 47-year-old wannabe who had gone to school around the same time my father had. According to Dad, she’d been jealous of him and his peers then and had never grown out of it. I gave Wesley the rundown as we approached her small three-bedroom house on the east side of town. Eagle Rock doesn’t exactly have slums, but if it did, these homes would be it. Bethany struggled to raise two children alone on the salary of an elementary school PE teacher. She had never married.

“No wonder she’s on the list,” Wesley said as we approached her house.

I could see what he meant. Wannabe or not, Bethany had picked up a few usable tricks here and there. Her front porch was dripping in ivies, a highly useful protective plant, as well as a number of runes that would have kept out everything from evil spirits to unwanted in-laws if she’d had any magic to infuse in them.

Bethany wasn’t nearly as amused about being on that list as Jennifer had been, and she didn’t waste a minute to call it as she saw it. “This isn’t a suspect list, it’s a witch hunt, and you know it.”

“Hm,” I said noncommittally.

“Look, this is my weekend with the kids, so I’ll make it quick. I couldn’t have started that fire without explosives, and I really don’t know how to use them. You should talk to your father about that.”

“Hm.”

“Not sure why anyone would have wanted to kill the pastor’s wife anyway. Not that I knew her, but it seems to me if someone wanted to lash out at those creeps, they’d go after the pastor himself.”

She had a point. Under any other circumstances, the first suspect probably would have been her husband, but in this case we didn’t have proof of arson or of any mortal means to begin a fire, which left him out of the suspect pool. Besides, he had been in church in front of hundreds of witnesses, including me.

“Thanks for your time,” I said politely to Bethany as I turned away.

We stopped next at the home of Bane, Eric, who was actually a distant relation of mine. My parents kept an extensive family tree in their library that went out to ninth or tenth cousins. I’m not sure exactly where Eric fell on that tree, but he had called on that relationship to try to get some magical training when he was a teen. My parents tested him, told him there wasn’t much they could do for him, but they did help him find his quiet place and gave him a beginner’s book on making the most of minor magic.

Eric was in college now, but home for the summer, staying with his parents. He must have read the book my parents had given him, because his parents’ porch contained all the useful protections that a person with a breath of magical ability could employ. His mother answered the door when we rang the bell, a gray-haired woman who didn’t seem at all pleased to hear about the reason for our visit.

“I never understood why those people stayed in this town if they’re so upset about witches,” Mrs. Bane said. “Yeah, there’s a nice bit of money to be made in tourism here, and some of them own hotels or resorts, but this isn’t exactly the only tourist town in the Ozarks and frankly, the sorcerers got here first.”

“Yes ma’am,” I said, although I did manage a tiny amount of sympathy for the regular folks in town. We were just trying to make a living, and recent events aside, the sorcerers did tend to live above the law. “Is your son home?”

“No, he’s not,” Mrs. Bane said. “He’s out of town with some of his college friends doing a two-week camping trip. They left last weekend.”