covencraft 04 - dry spells (12 page)

“Hmm. Maybe three days. Maybe three hours, maybe three weeks. Depends on where you are.”

“Based on where Medusa may be, what does that mean for me?”

“Oh, Possum, it’s not that simple.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Nor will you. It’s not meant to be understood. We have many rules on our side: laws, rituals, ceremonies, customs. But time is not one of the rules we follow.”

“But, then, how does it all work?”

“Perhaps it’s magic.” Seth winked at her.

“What about space? How is that different?”

“Here, there, everywhere. It’s all mashed up. Today it took three hours to get to a place that took me three weeks the last time I went.”

“But you showed up here when I called. Were you close?”

He smiled. “Your pantry is different.”

“How?”

“All inter-dimensional travel is special, but your pantry…” He rubbed two of his fingers together. “My world and your world are like concentric circles constantly revolving. Sometimes we match up, sometimes we don’t.”

“Like planetary alignments.”

“No,” Seth replied. “And yes. Remember, only one side conforms to the rules of physics as you know them. Your world is bound by them. Mine is not. Sometimes you’re close. Sometimes you’re far away. But then, we add in magic.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“I told you you wouldn’t,” Seth said. Jade took a deep breath and a large gulp of wine to fight against her inclination to leap across the barrier and throttle him. “Sometimes, magic warps the rules of physics even more on my side. Your portal has done that. It started out as a weak spot, a sort of worn place in the fabric of space-time, created by the hex Matthew was trying to put on you. At the time, that was enough for me to worry at, to make a portal to your side. After that, it was like a path; once taken, it could be trodden upon and made worn, easier to travel. But you, Possum, you add even more to the mix.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Jade protested. She’d never once messed with the portal in her pantry. She’d known better. She’d always left it alone.

“You didn’t have to. Simply by being you, you’ve hardened the portal. Made it permanent. You continually leak out just enough magic to add to it, bit by bit.” Jade opened her mouth to protest and Seth cut her off. “You can’t help it. You’ve been gifted with far too much magic to be contained by your body. There’s always a little escaping out, here and there: while you sleep, while you make your coffee, while you go about your daily life. All that magic corroding the barrier between our worlds, all the time. You’ve made a hole in space. Now I’m able to access it any time I want, from anywhere I want.”

Jade didn’t know what that meant. If she could believe Seth, she didn’t know how or why she was leaking magic all the time. No one had mentioned it. Did anyone else know? Did Paris? She needed to talk to him. Find out what he knew, what he thought of all this. For now, she shook her head; she couldn’t get distracted.

“What about other portals? You can’t do that with them? Travel to them when you want, as you want, access them at all times?” she asked, pretty sure the answer would be yes, but needing to clarify.

“Correct. Just the one in your pantry is open to me.”

The way he said ‘pantry’ was distasteful to her, like it was a naughty word. “Just you? What about other demons?” The thought of her pantry being some kind of border crossing for demons, accessible at any time, made her heart beat against her chest. She’d warded her cottage. Was it enough?

Seth winked at her, his dark eyes glittering. “Just me. For now. You can thank me later.”

“Thank you for what?”

Seth smiled, his eyes glittering in the light. “I’ve warded my side, very much the way you’ve warded yours. My side lets only me through. At the moment. Access
verboten
to all other demons.”

“Why would you do that?”

Seth took another sip of his wine. “To have you all to myself, dear Possum. I can’t have anyone else trying to woo you.”

Well, shit. That was actually kind of a relief. He wasn’t a complete unknown to her. He was the devil she knew.

“So,” she stated, swirling her wine in her glass, feeling the need to have her hands busy. “What you’re saying is, with the way portals work, even if I knew where Medusa was, or if Sakkara knew, if I go over to your side, I won’t necessarily end up anywhere close to her.”

“Bingo.” He winked at her.

“So this can’t be a dine and dash kind of errand,” she added. “There’s no way for me to jump over there, face Medusa, get the… thing, and get out.”

Seth shook his head, drinking his wine. “Exactly. Still think it’s worth learning demon magic from Sakkara?”

“No,” Jade answered truthfully. She’d thought that if it was something that could be done quickly, then maybe,
maybe
she’d consider it, but the way Seth talked about the demon side… Jade wouldn’t know where to begin. She felt bad. A part of her wanted to do Sakkara’s errand if only because she was Paris’ mother and she felt like she owed him a solid.

“Also, were I you, I would trust Sakkara about as much as I trust a rickety bridge over an eternal abyss. Which is to say, not at all.”

Jade rolled her eyes. “Says the demon in my pantry.”

“Ah, but I’ve never lied to you.”

“Yet.”

“Tsk. So mistrustful. We could be grand friends, you and I. And if you are interested in learning more demon magic, I’d love to tutor you.”

Jade’s stomach turned over at the way he said the word
tutor
. It must have shown on her face because Seth laughed. “Oh my dear, nothing of the sort. I’ve no interest in mortals in that way. You’re all so very breakable.”

Jade shot gunned the remainder of her wine, finishing it in one large gulp. She shook her self a bit, the motion helping the wine slosh down her throat to pool hot in her stomach.

“Were you worried about that all this time?” Seth continued, looking at her as though she were a small, wild animal he’d brought in from the cold. “Poor Possum. I had no idea. You do rather a good job of hiding your feelings for someone that has such a great many.”

Time to say goodbye. She wanted to talk to Paris about this, bounce some ideas off him. Jade set her empty glass down and took out a sprig of dried sage, breaking it apart with her fingers and then mashing it together in her palm.

“Our tête-á-tête over so soon?” Seth sighed, downing the rest of his own drink and sliding the glass through the portal to her side. “I hope you’ll call again. It’s always lovely to speak to you.”

Not replying, Jade blew across her palm, sending the sage out with a burst of magic. It splayed across the barrier, sparking and shimmering where it hit.

“I send you back from whence you came, nothing bargained for, nothing gained.”

“Blah, blah, blah,” Seth said, making a wrap it up motion. “I take nothing from you, witch, and have given you nothing in return.”

Jade frowned at him.

“I can’t be bothered to make it rhyme like you mortals. Besides, it only rhymes in one language. What’s the point in that? Show me something that rhymes in English, French, Latin, Arabic, and demon tongue. Now
that
would be a neat trick.”

“Goodbye, Seth.”

“Now you sound like a schoolmarm. Fine, fine,” he said at her look. “Goodbye. See you soon, I hope.”

He shimmered out of existence, his form wavering like heat coming off pavement on a hot day. Jade was left alone in her kitchen, staring at the glass he used. Was it contaminated somehow by him? Would it be enough to put it in the dishwasher? Ugh, she’d think about that tomorrow. She took both glasses and deposited them in the sink, tossing the empty bottle into the recycling bin. She crept back up the stairs, her steps quiet and then climbed into bed next to Lily. Bruce’s nose poked briefly out of the closet where he was nested with a pile of blankets. He sniffed inquisitively in her direction and then made a hissing sound, spitting three times.

“I only talked to him, Bruce.”

Bruce huffed. “Pffffttttt.”

“He knows things. Things… things I might need to know. It doesn’t matter anyway. I’ll tell Sakkara to take her errand and… well…” She didn’t want to be totally rude. Not to Paris’ mother. Or if she was, she’d apologize to Paris for it. Not to Sakkara herself. Somehow, Sakkara didn’t seem as worthy of an apology. “Tell her we decline.”

“Pfffffffttttt.”

Jade snorted. “Yeah, I have a feeling she’ll have some strong words about that. I guess we’ll find out.”

Bruce’s snout retreated back into the dark closet and Jade settled down into bed. She would talk to Paris tomorrow and get it all sorted out. She curled her body toward Lily’s back, just barely touching her forehead against Lily’s scapula. Once she had that small connection, she felt she could sleep.

CHAPTER SIX

The next morning Jade’s sleep schedule was still suffering the aftereffects of her long migraine-induced nap. She woke up before the alarm, slipping out of bed. All attempts she made to be quiet were off-set by Bruce as he barreled after her, thumping down the stairs in her wake like he was made of solid lead.

“Nice, Bruce. Nice.”

“Pffffttt.”

She cast a quick fire spell for the hearth and he happily veered away from her, settling himself down, wiggling closer to get his belly near the flames. He’d be in the kitchen as soon as Jade was finished making the coffee, she was sure of it.

Lily stumbled into the kitchen before the coffee was finished brewing and Bruce made his re-appearance. Her hair was wild around her head and shoulders and she was clumsily yanking it back and securing it with an elastic as she squinted in the kitchen light. Jade fixed them both cups, handing one to Lily.

“No matter what magic you learn, nothing is better than the magic that is coffee pots that pause brewing so you don’t to wait for the entire carafe to fill.”

“Amen,” Jade replied, taking a sip.

“Is there a witchy version of ‘amen?’”

Jade pursed her lips. “So mote it be, I think. But I’ll have to ask Paris.”

“And when you say ask Paris…” Lily trailed off, waggling her eyebrows.

“Oh my god, I just woke up.”

“You say that like there’s some rule against talking about sexy times first thing in the morning.”

“I’m not having sexy times with Paris.”

“Well. Not yet.” Lily winked, making a kind of clicking noise with her tongue.

Jade shifted, the back of the counter digging into the small of her back.

“And not ever if you don’t do something about it.”

“I-“ Jade began, pausing with her mouth hanging open. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Okay. Let’s talk about Sakkara instead.”

“Ugh, I don’t want to talk about that either.”

Lily looked past Jade, into the sink. “Why are there two wine glasses out?”

Jade debated lying, her brain going back and forth with lightning speed. Lily’s eyes narrowed and Jade felt the barest touch against her brain. “Fine!” Jade exclaimed. “I called Seth.”

Lily’s shoulders slumped.

“You’re not angry,” Jade said, feeling a bit surprised.

“Meh. He’s the devil you know. I’d kind of hoped maybe it meant Paris had stopped by, had some wine, and then maybe you were all shy about saying so. Seth is…” She wrinkled her nose. “Demonic. I don’t particularly like him, but he’s like Wikipedia. Useful, but you gotta consider the source.”

“Yeah.”

“Learn anything?”

Jade shrugged. “Just. Seth things.” Jade sighed. “I dunno. I think I’m just going to say no. Probably.”

“Probably?”

Jade thought about what Sakkara had said when she last visited. About how Jade could learn things. Things that could maybe be useful to the Coven. To herself. To Paris.
A witch of your power is an instrument of use to this Coven, to my son.

Or maybe Sakkara was just making shit up. Jade rubbed at her face. She needed to clear her head. She needed to let her subconscious chew on all this.

“I’m going for a run. You want to come?”

“Gross. It’s cold. And windy. Also, running.”

“Now you know how I feel about yoga.”

“Yoga is inside! And you get a face towel when you’re done,” argued Lily.

“Yeah, but no one asks me to
be the tree
when I run.”

“I like trees. Trees are stationary.”

Jade shook her head as she gulped down the rest of her coffee. Bruce ambled into the kitchen, snorting at both of them.

“You can lick the mug, but that’s it,” Jade said, setting her mug down on the floor. Bruce toddled over and laid down, using his long tongue to clean the inside of the mug. “Make sure that ends up in the dishwasher because if it goes on the counter, I’ll make the mistake of thinking it’s clean.”

Lily crossed her heart with her finger. “I solemnly swear. Dishwasher.”

Half an hour later and Jade was pulling the car up to the entrance of the Preserve where she liked to run the best. It had a couple of good paths she and Daniel used often. She should have asked him to join her. She’d been missing their runs. He was an excellent running partner. Chatted a bit, but mostly just there to run and keep pace. She’d check in with him tonight and see if he wanted to join her tomorrow. There wasn’t supposed to be any fresh snow for a couple of days, and the paths were clear and mostly dry.

But it was still cold. Colder than Jade would have liked for a run, but the urge to get out of the house and move outweighed her reluctance to be outside. It could be worse, she figured. It could be that kind of cold that burned your nostrils and your lungs, forced you to take short, sharp breaths, made your scarf wet with icicles from your own exhales, which then made the wool damp and clingy.

So, yeah, it was cold, but she could manage. Besides, she was in layers. She’d warm up once she got going. She had her mp3 player on loud. Loud enough to drown out her own footfalls and the sounds of her own breathing as she tried to even it out and fall into a rhythm. The first part of a run always sucked. It was the time she struggled with the most - waiting for enough endorphins to be released that everything didn’t feel stiff and sore. She really should have called Daniel. His easy companionship was nice and he wasn’t a talker. But she was already at the Preserve and half a kilometer in. No going back now.