Sunday, unfortunately, looked like it was going to be a repeat of Saturday. Long hours in the cold, trying to blend in and be invisible, but mostly just waiting. We’d sent Drew and some other dark magic users from the patrol out along the edge of the fairy community along the other side, hoping that if the witch saw them, she’d move along quickly until she located the “easier” target that was Ren. Beatrice was still nearby, of course, as was I, but it was beginning to look like this whole thing was a wash.
I could feel Sorrel’s mixture of worry and relief with that idea in his texts. On the one hand, he was concerned like I was about how we’d trap the construct if this didn’t work, while on the other hand, he was kind of glad his brother wasn’t in immediate danger.
As the sun started to set, I sighed and sent out a group text indicating we might as well go home. I wasn’t sure if we’d miscalculated how long the construct needed to recharge or whether the witch had realized it was a trap, but either way, nothing was happening.
I gathered up my things and went to my car, but rather than leaving immediately, I sat inside it and tried to figure out what the next step was. Finding a new empty space and figuring out disguises for Ren and Knox. Back in the agency, I knew someone who was into special effects and could literally make different faces for people via makeup and silicone and foam and paint and whatever “magic” went into that. I couldn’t go back to that person, but there would probably be some other special effects people in the area we could hire to make some disguises without explaining the reason for it. Get them some different clothes, help hide their body shapes – maybe make Ren look like an older fairy? No, no, fairies didn’t get old – but we could make Knox look like an old human. Ren would have to look like just a different fairy.
My musings were interrupted by a call from Riven. Surprised, I accepted it, but didn’t speak immediately, waiting to hear him talk first – habit from the agency, to make sure it was safe for someone to talk before potentially breaking their cover.
As it turned out, that habit worked in my favor.
“ – old saying’s true – if you want something done, you have to do it yourself,” an unfamiliar woman’s voice was saying in the background.
“You can’t actually hurt me, you know – or have you forgotten the protection mark?” Riven sounded like he was trying to be confident, but I could hear the concern in his voice.
As I listened to the conversation – right up until there was something that sounded like an explosion and the line went dead – I headed on swift, silent feet towards the old orchard where we’d set up our trap. I wasn’t running, but almost. I was willing to bet my life’s savings that the woman who’d been talking to Riven was the witch – which also meant the construct would be there.
Not to my surprise, therefore, when I reached the orchard, I immediately spotted Ren and Knox in combat with something invisible. They were still here then, good. And they’d engaged the construct. Not quite as planned, but close enough.
My eyes searched for Riven and the witch. They were not in the barn, as I’d expected – the gaping hole in the wall might explain both that and the explosion noise from earlier. I could see the witch across the orchard, though, looking like she was pouring forth magic at someone crouched at the base of a tree.
The boys could handle the construct for now. I needed to help Riven. Besides, if we killed the witch, that would stop the construct, anyway.
On silent feet, I darted past the boys and the construct and leapt straight into the witch like a snow leopard pouncing on its prey. She had been so wrapped up with attacking Riven that she never noticed me, which gave me the chance to freeze her in a block of ice before she’d even realized what – or who – hit her.
This wasn’t a normal witch, though. She was powerful and she was angry. Many witches would struggle to free themselves from a solid block of ice like that, and while it was clearly not something she was thrilled about, she was still able to break the ice and start to melt it. She responded by sending a cloud of dark electricity at me, which I broke with frost blanket, making it fizzle into nothing before it could reach me.
Then Riven shouted something at me. “Left ankle!”
For maybe half a second, that made no sense, but then it dawned on me what he meant – he could see the witch’s marks. He was telling me where they were, which meant he was telling me how to defeat her.
Burn away a witch’s marks, and they lose their power. Instantly, I switched my focus towards sending as cold a gust of wind at her ankle as I could manage – far below freezing, enough to burn skin with the sheer iciness of it.
The witch screamed as the ice started to burn her skin, and I saw the change in her demeanor. Suddenly, she was less concerned about beating us than just getting away. Knowing that I knew where her marks were – and that my magic could burn them off – she realized that she was facing the possibility of losing her magic if she stayed.
Clearly, she wasn’t interested in that, so instead she let off an explosion of magic that made my ears echo for a moment and I had to blink to clear my eyes, frustrated at myself for not just killing her outright when I had her in that block of ice when I realized that the witch was now on the edge of the orchard and was swallowing an invisibility potion.
Invisibility, I could deal with. Tracking an invisible witch through the dark was a lot harder. There was a good chance I’d lose her, far more of a chance than that I’d be able to successfully track her. It irked me to just let her go – given that she was really responsible for all the deaths of the fairies and she needed to be stopped – but there was a more important matter nearby that I could help with, while the witch was already as good as gone.
A bit reluctantly, wishing I had a more effective way to track an invisible witch, I turned my attention back to the boys and the construct before joining them in their fight.
Comments (20)
See all