Page 19

Chapter 19

Bis

R iver knew I was in his backpack.

I was supposed to stay home where it was safe. Momma would be really mad when she realized I was hitchhiking. But I was sick of always being left out of things. Just because I was small didn’t mean I was a baby. I think Andy forgot, sometimes, that I was probably just as old as she was… maybe even older, since no one knew exactly when I was created. I could have been down in that lab for a decade before she was even born.

And also, just because I was little didn’t mean I was stupid. In fact, the Lovells who made me probably wanted their man-made familiars to be the smartest creatures on earth. So they probably made sure I had above average intelligence. They wouldn’t bother to create anything unless they could brag about their invention being the best. I needed to be here, just in case.

I knew how to hide. I knew how to keep myself out of physical danger. But what if Andy needed me? I was her familiar, after all—even if she refused to learn about our bond and all the amazing things we could do together. It was my job to make sure she had the ability to access magic in a way no witch without a familiar ever could. If there was an emergency, I would be here for her.

Even though she was lifebonded to the necromancer, and she had all these partly-formed bonds with others, that didn’t make me useless. They couldn’t help her see the things their eyes and senses couldn’t see. Like the crack in the wards holding the pocket world together. If it wasn’t for me, Andy wouldn’t have noticed that until it was too late. I had saved everyone. And yet they told me to stay behind while they went off to battle. As if I was a useless kid, when maybe it would be me who saved them. Again.

Maybe if I’d been with them the last time they went out, Hasumi would still be alive.

“Stop squirming,” River breathed, so quiet no one else could hear him. We were at the back of our group, carefully creeping down alleys and into the center of Hearthfire—the heart of the magical community. A small group of rebels had portaled in with us, on the outskirts of town where the entry point was less likely to be noticed. But they were a bit behind us, and they wouldn’t care if River was talking to himself.

I huffed, but stopped moving around. My spines were poking into the fabric of the backpack, and I was probably prickling River. I needed to be good for him, because I knew he was the only one who would have been willing to smuggle me along. River understood that being animal-shaped didn’t make you any less of a person. It didn’t make your opinions matter less than everyone else’s.

I felt guilty even thinking that. Andy always tried to treat me like a person. But darn it, I was mad at her! She wanted to leave me behind where I would have to sit and wait and wonder if any of them would ever come back, or if I’d be left alone in a pocket world for the rest of my life. I’d rather be out here getting set on fire or whatever. Waiting was the worst.

“Still squirming,” River whispered.

“What?” Aahil said softly. I couldn’t see him through the little crack where the flap of the backpack covered my hiding spot on River’s back, but it sounded like he had turned back toward us. “Did you say something kitty cat?”

Crap. Not Aahil. If he found out I was here, he’d definitely tell Momma. He’d find it funny. And he’d want to get on her good side by ratting me out. Darn it all. It was too soon to get caught. We were still too close to the portal, where she could easily turn around and send me back home.

River huffed. “Just talking to myself,” he said pleasantly. “It feels like my guts are squirming. I really hate that feeling right before you put yourself in mortal danger, you know? Gives me gas.” Then he shrugged. “I read a really interesting book once about all of the physiological changes that happen when people of humanoid body types are placed in situations of extreme stress. Did you know, for example, that there was a sad—though amusing—anecdote about a spy who got caught because his nervous gas gave him away? He farted really loudly when he was supposed to be hiding and—"

Aahil snorted. “Were you dropped on your head as a cub?” he said, forgetting to keep his voice down.

“Um, guys,” Andy whisper-shouted from up ahead. “Can we maybe tell fart stories later? We’re almost there. People are going to try to kill us soon.” Her energy felt anxious, humming and fluctuating along the familiar bond. I knew how she felt, and not just because of our bond. I could hear what they all could now—the sounds of fighting. Shouts. Explosions. We were nearing the heart.

I stood on my back legs so I could look out of the backpack again. Witches called this part of the city the heart, but that wasn’t really an official name. It was just the old, rich part of the capitol city of Hearthfire—the city the Lovells had called home, where our mansion hideaway used to be located in the countryside just outside the city limits. For thousands of years, this had been the place all the hoity-toity old family magic users had come to shop and meet up, and conduct politics and social demonstrations. It wasn’t as modern looking as some of the human cities I’d seen when I lived with Andy in the Planus realm… bits of its ancient history peeked through as we crept down the side streets and dark alleys which were narrower than any modern town.

It should have been a bustling, crowded area. Usually cars, motorbikes, pedal bikes, and pedestrians all crammed in on streets that were originally built to accommodate a single hose-drawn conveyance. But now… everything was quiet. A soft breeze sent a bit of litter tumbling along the sidewalk nearby. Which was also strange, because the cleaning crews in Magean cities used magic to keep everything tidy. Just that bit of wrongness would have been enough to raise my hackles. But it was worse than that.

It was too silent. There were no people or cars moving around. There was no engine noise, or chatter, or car horns. Nothing but the sound of River’s soft breathing as I pressed closer against his back, and the distant sounds of a fight up ahead.

We reached a main street, and I was able to catch a glimpse of why it was so quiet. People lay on the sidewalks, their limbs at awkward angles, sometimes piled on top of one another, as if all the crowds had fallen where they stood. Cars had crashed, slowly, thanks to the congestion on the main street. But they had trundled into lampposts and storefronts. And into each other.

“Shit,” Andy breathed, and I felt a pang of sorrow through our bond.

I got a glimpse of what she had seen, and I wished I hadn’t. A car had run up onto the sidewalk before crashing into a building. But there had been people lying on the sidewalk when that happened. Those people weren’t just sleeping, like most of the others.

“Okay,” Bella said in a stern voice, drawing attention away from the disaster around us and demanding that everyone focus on the fight ahead. “Clearly, the sleeping beauty spell worked for them. If what our hostage told us is true, we should be safe. But keep an eye out for patrols. Get the lay of the land before you charge into the fight. I’ll see you again as soon as I can.”

Bella jogged past us, returning back the way we’d come. She was going to open a portal to her people. They were waiting on the outskirts of town, ready to come rushing in to help once the rebel force’s most powerful weapons were in place—us.

I gripped the edge of the backpack tighter as River continued walking, slow and deliberate, his shiny black hair was tied back to keep it out of his eyes, and it swished across the flap of the backpack as he turned his head this way and that, keeping a keen eye out for trouble.

This was so exciting. And terrifying. We were about to make history and stop the cruelty the witch supremacists supported. But I wasn’t an idiot. I could see just how dangerous it was.

I couldn’t look away from the sleeping people that littered the sidewalk, slumped over benches, or slumbering behind the wheels of stalled cars. The cult apparently had an artifact they called the “Sleeping Beauty Charm,” because it had the ability to put humans and low-to-moderate-level magic users into a deep, coma-like state for days at a time. They had used it to knock out all the locals who might have helped defend their city.

“I’d love to know the particulars of how that charm works,” I whispered.

River hummed softly in agreement. “The area of effect, and the way the curse lingers so long after the artifact is removed from the area… I’m no spellcaster, but it’s fascinating magic.”

Dyre dropped back to walk beside us, clearly overhearing River and thinking he was speaking to him. I ducked down and tried to pull every last bit of my own magical aura inside myself where the terribly powerful necromancer wouldn’t sense it.

“Sunny says dark magic,” he murmured, his deep voice soft as he pondered. He liked magical puzzles too. And learning new tricks. “If I were to guess, I’d say whoever made that artifact stole something from a creature like Sunshine. Blood. Soul essence. Maybe they even found a way to entrap the creature and harness its lifeforce….”

I wrinkled my nose. Awful. Bad witches were never just a little bad, they were awful.

What Dyre suggested was probably close to the magic we suspected was used to make me. I was created by taking a bunch of different animals and mashing them together, then stealing part of some human’s soul or consciousness and fusing it to the result.

It was the only way I could think of to explain how I was a little bit skunk, a little bit rat, a little bit hedgehog, and a lot sentient, thinking, rational being.

But I still didn’t like to think about it. Because then, I’d have to think about how horrifying things had to happen just for me to exist. I liked being alive. I didn’t like feeling guilty about it.

The men grew silent as we crept closer to the sounds of battle. I could feel everyone around me powering up, calling their magic to the ready, preparing for a fight. I had overheard Bella, Andy, and the others when they were discussing their plans for how to go about taking down the cult—and probably the SA as well. It all sounded simple when they discussed it logically, in the comfort of our nice, safe pocket world refuge. In our nest.

But now that we were here, I realized how easily everything could fall into chaos. Plans were nice and all. And we had a bunch of intel from the spy Bella had kidnapped. But when did life ever take anyone’s nice, tidy little plans into account?

The first part of the plan was for our group to get as close as possible to the fighting without actually entering the fight. If at all possible, we were supposed to get inside the SA building before we revealed ourselves, and use that as a sort of fortress from where we could fight off the cultists. Andy and the rest of our family, along with the handful of powerful magic users the rebels had loaned us, were supposed to lie low and get themselves positioned so they could have maximum impact when the SA and the cult were surprised by the large force of rebels and citizens that would show up in a distracting wave.

We weren’t supposed to do any fighting until the rebels got here to take some of the attention off our group so we could stay out of the skirmish and focus on bigger goals. That way, Andy and crew could take out the leadership and end the fight with less loss of life.

It was a pretty good plan. At least as far as I could tell, with my limited knowledge of tactical strategy. No one here was well versed in war. But they were all doing the best they could.

Until we reached the site of the fighting. Then everything went right out the window.

A large force of SA agents protected the SA building. They were decked out in full gear, loaded up with every technical and magical advantage the government agency could afford, as they fought off what was probably just the first wave of the cult’s attack. They fought with deadly force, but some of them hesitated, only to get mowed down themselves.

They hesitated because their attackers weren’t what they had been expecting. The surprise caught them off guard, and made those among them who still had morals more susceptible to defeat. Because the enemy they fought was—

“Children,” Zhong breathed, from somewhere up ahead, his deep voice laced with horror.

I forgot about hiding and pulled myself up onto River’s shoulder so I could get a better view of what was happening. Because I could feel the sudden turmoil through Andy’s bond—the shock, the pain. The horror, and the furiously building outrage. Now wasn’t the time to lose control of her magic. She needed me.

Bodies littered the area around the SA building, and it was hard to keep track of what was going on, to see through the smoke and the flashes of magic as the two sides battled. But I could see enough to know what had Andy’s magic suddenly flaring through her aura, lighting her up like an avenging angel from a human Bible story. There were children out there, fighting against full grown, geared-out adult SA agents.

Little bodies littered the ground beside the adults.

And I saw what I was sure the others hadn’t even registered yet. That the scattering of adults who were fighting for the cult, alongside the children, moved like robots. Like Dyre’s animated corpses. Like…

“They’re being controlled,” Aahil said evenly, his voice oddly flat and lacking its usual huskiness. “All of them.”

The cult’s first wave against the SA was made up of children and helpless slaves.

“Shock value and cannon fodder,” Niamh said between clenched teeth.

Everyone shifted uneasily around us, and I could feel the magic in them flaring and fluctuating, as they were all overcome with rage and the need to do something. We were supposed to sneak in and stay out of the fight until the last moment. We were supposed to wait for the rebels to come back us up and take care of most of the actual fighting…

“Bis, get in the backpack,” River said softly. “Get in the pack and don’t come out until Andy or one of us comes to get you. I’m sorry. But I need to keep you safe.”

I peeped in protest as he forcibly stuffed me into the backpack, drew the drawstrings closed with jerky motions, and put me inside what sounded like a metal dumpster. “River?” I shouted as loud as my stupidly tiny lungs would let me. “No! Don’t leave me here! I want to help! I need to help Andy!”

But I could feel them moving away. I tried to call to Andy through our familiar bond, but she had never practiced listening for me. And she was so distracted by her rage and her building magic that it was probably drowning out her finer senses.

I tried to get the backpack flap open, but it was useless. River had tied it so tight I couldn’t get it to budge from the inside. Growling to myself, I started gnawing on my fabric prison.

All the while, I could feel Andy’s horror, and fury, and the wild magic she had never really let herself tap into before. I needed to get to my witch before she unleased her full magic well and fried herself alive with power…