Forging Day (Crucible of Change Book 1) (16 page)

Tessa walked in, and everyone got quiet for a minute. “Don’t all stop on my account,” she said. “I heard what you were talking about, and no, it wasn’t me. I don’t play with my food—at least, not like that.”

Nobody denied what we’d all been wondering, but I did feel guilty.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I get it. The demon is always on top of the list. I’ll save you some trouble at the meeting tonight, though. You all go and I’ll stay here and guard the house.”

She walked up behind my chair and trailed her fingers down my neck, and then lower, cupping my breast. “Wish I could have played too, last night. Who knew Kat was such a screamer?”

Kat excused herself, mumbled something about the kitchen, and took off.

It took every ounce of my willpower to pull her hand away while every nerve ending begged me to drop my clothes and give myself to her, right here and now. She tweaked my nipple and licked my neck before slowly removing her hand from my shirt. “Maybe later I can make you scream.”

Korembi actually shook his finger at her. “You be doin’ no such thing. Berto, he tell all of us. You and Olivia not be playin’ or you be killin’ her.”

She pouted at him. “I never get to have any fun. No, wait. That’s not true. Those pretty, green-haired Elf boys were a lot of fun. I can’t wait until they have another night off together.” She licked her lips and smiled.

I excused myself and rushed outside to get some air. Kat was out back, watering her herb garden.

She didn’t look at me. “Oh no, Olivia. How am I going to show my face in there?”

I hugged her around the waist. “Nobody said anything, Miss Kitty. We’re all adults here. I love the sounds you make when you come.”

My heart was pounding with the aftereffects of Tessa’s touch. I wanted Kat, urgently. I slid my hand up under her shirt, stroking her breast while my other hand reached for her warm cleft. I pulled her back against me, rubbing up against her backside.

“Olivia! What the hell are you doing?” She took a quick step away, putting a few inches between us.

“I want you. I want you so bad.”

“I’m not having sex in the garden with you in the middle of the afternoon.” Her words didn’t really register, and her shirt was half open when I got a face full of cold water.

I spluttered, grabbing for my sunglasses as she turned the hose on me. We were both stunned for a second. She looked horrified. I burst out laughing. “Oh Miss Kitty, I needed that. I’m sorry.” I collapsed onto the wet grass, still laughing. “If we could bottle what Tessa does, we’d be rich. Instant orgasm−just add demon.”

She started laughing too, at the absurdity of it all. “I’ll get a squirt bottle.” She made a fake squirting noise as she pointed her finger at me. “Bad Olivia! No public sex for you.”

After one more quick kiss, I went in to get dry clothes.

* * * *

Thinking about the last few days, I wondered what might come up at that meeting tonight. Berto had his healing magic. What if I could harness whatever it was I did against Derek when I thought he was going to kill me?

I went down to the library and fired up one of the computers. We still had internet. That was a good sign. Searching
how to learn magic
turned out to be useless. I think it brought up a few hundred million sites. All of them dealt with stage magic, at least the ones I looked at before giving up.

Logically, what did you always hear about apprentice mages learning to do in stories? They lit a candle. I got a decorative candle off one of the side tables and stared at the damn thing, willing it to light. Nothing happened. It was taunting me. I could tell.

Knitting needles clicked together from the sofa behind me. I turned and saw knitting needles and yarn, hanging in mid-air. “I promise to not burn the house down, Grammy. I’m just trying to learn a little magic.”

One of the knitting needles waved back and forth, as if she were wagging her finger at me. I sighed, and picked up the candle. “Right. I’ll go practice outside on the driveway. I’ll take some water with me.”

A gentle breeze ruffled my hair, and I felt like I’d made a good decision.

Thirty minutes later, with candle, camp chair, umbrella, camp table, and pitcher of water at hand, candle-lighting practice resumed—out on the driveway and away from the house. I stared at that candle. I thought about matches. Thought about flame. Pictured a laser beam shooting from my finger to the wick. Nothing. I tried to reach a state of calm focus, like you supposedly reach during meditation, and only felt sleepy.

Angry and frustrated, I kicked at the gravel. “Damn it. What can’t I do this?” As I glared at that damn candle, there was a
whoosh
of energy and the candle exploded, sending glass and molten wax everywhere. I jumped up and down, screaming, “Yes!” as people poured out of the house.

“Quick, get me another candle,” I yelled to Kat.

She came back with a whole box of tea lights.

“Line ’em up, Miss Kitty.”

She did, and took several big steps back.

I focused my anger, sending my will at each little wick. The first few blew across the driveway, and the next few melted into sticky puddles on the table, but the last one was intact and burning merrily.

Everyone cheered, and I felt like I’d just run a marathon. I wanted to do my winner’s lap. Instead, I settled for helping clean up the broken glass and chunks of candle. Mikah probably wouldn’t notice the scorch marks on the ground. “Thanks Grammy,” I said. “Glad you didn’t let me burn the house down.”

Blog−Regan’s Rants

It’s happening, just as I predicted. They’re coming to get us. You all know about the Event, unless you’ve been living under a rock, in which case Uncle Regan can’t help you. I was on the red-eye from Vegas when it happened. Weird shit, man. Who knows what they’re been putting in the water.

We got a few pointy-eared types on our flight, and one little kid that went furry all over. The stewardesses, excuse me, flight attendants—no, fuck that, stewardesses— kept their cool and moved ’em all up to first class and pulled the curtain.

We waited a really long time after we landed. Uncle Regan knows it was a long time, because Uncle Regan needed to whiz and they wouldn’t let us out of our seats. We finally get off the plane and I see TSA goons leading off all of them. The only Human was the kid’s mom.

When are they coming for the rest of us? Uncle Regan will be prepared. You know that. I hope you are too.

Monsters Among Us

We had an early dinner of sandwiches and tea, and then it was time to leave for the neighborhood meeting. Mikah and Berto still hadn’t gotten home. I left a note along with the flyer we got this morning. Surely Cordie would understand. This was a special circumstance, and it wasn’t like I was going anywhere alone.

“I’ll make sure Mikah gets it,” said Tessa. “Don’t have too much fun without me.” She blew me a kiss.

We still had an hour, but there was no way to know how many people would actually show up for this. I wanted to make sure we got good seats by the pavilion, so I pushed people along. Politely.

Fine. Fairly politely.

The house is right on the edge of the park, so it wouldn’t be too bad of a walk. We carried an assortment of camp chairs and blankets so we wouldn’t have to sit on the ground.

It was still full light out, this early, and I had my sunglasses firmly in place. I vetoed the floral umbrella Kat had wanted me to bring. “I’ve been in the sun before. The glasses will be fine. The umbrella would be in people’s way. And besides that, I’m not going to give any other Dark Elves a reason to laugh at me.”

She rolled her eyes, but the umbrella stayed home.

Kat, Ted, and I led the way. Korembi, Razaini, and the rest of the Troll contingent followed. The path would have taken us the long way around, so we headed east, cross-country, to the meeting spot. Even this early, other people were heading toward the full-size white replica of the Parthenon. We weren’t the only ones wanting good seats. The most striking thing was how few Humans there were compared to the number of Changed. There was no way of knowing if the Humans had mostly decided to stay home, or if we really did have such a high level of Changed in this neighborhood.

When we reached the large shallow fountains in front of the pavilion, there were police cars parked on an access road around back. I nudged Kat and gestured. I actually felt a little nervous, and I hadn’t done anything wrong. Well, at least since we got home.

A really hairy Dwarven dude—think bushy red beard and something out of a fantasy game—was passing out bottled water. “Welcome, everyone.” I couldn’t help staring. He was nearly as wide as he was tall, and looked like solid muscle.

“Bless you for the water,” said a red-faced woman, trying to catch her breath. She was one of the few Humans here, at least so far.

“Crom bless you and give you strength,” he replied.

We claimed our spot, and I told Kat, “Just a sec. I’ll be right back.” I went over to the Dwarf and said, “Ingve?”

He turned, and gave me a curious look. “Do I know you?”

“Sort of. You stopped me on the street Thursday morning and said I looked like I needed help.”

He stared at me a few beats, and recognition dawned in his eyes. He let loose with a belly laugh of pure joy. “You don’t look dead yet. Does that mean you’re a bad-ass?”

“Not quite yet, Ingve, but I’m still alive where others aren’t, so I guess I’m getting there.”

“Good to hear it. Crom tells me He has big plans for you.”

“Seriously, Ingve? Your God told you He had plans for me?”

“Indeed He did. His voice was a whisper that morning. Now it’s a shout that rings through me like a hammer striking steel.”

“I’ve seen a lot of weird things, I guess. What’s one more?”

He cocked his head to the side, as if listening, and his enormous beard bristled. The hair stood up on my arms, and the air had a metallic tang. “Hold out your hand,” he said, in a voice richer and deeper than he’d just been using.

I held out my hand like a child catching raindrops. There was a crash of thunder, and blue lightning struck my hand from a cloudless sky. “Shit!” I should have been dead, but my hand only tingled, and something rested in my palm. I ignored the screams and shouts, and had a look at my gift from the sky. It was a necklace with a charm—a hammer and anvil suspended on a silver chain. It fit easily around my neck, and when it dropped into place, I felt strong and confident for the first time in a very long time. Maybe since before my mother died.

“Olivia, what the hell happened?” Kat pulled me into a hug, and then looked like she was checking for burns.

“I’m fine, Kat. Really. I’m better than fine.” I held the tiny anvil toward the sky. “Crom!”

Ingve grinned. “You coming to the open full moon this week? It’s on Saturday.”

“You know what, Ingve? I might just do that. See you there?”

“See you there, Olivia. Strength and honor.”

“Strength and honor, Ingve.”

Kat and I walked back to our spot. It was funny, but suddenly there was a good three feet of open space around us on all sides. You’d think something was making people a tad nervous around me.

Korembi had a huge smile on his face. “It never be dull around you, Olivia. Now you callin’ the lightnin’ to play wit’ cha?”

“Not exactly, Korembi, but I’m pretty sure I just converted from Wiccan to Crom.” I twirled the hammer between my fingers a moment. A thought ran across my mind and I looked back at Korembi. “If you don’t mind me asking, what beliefs do you follow?”

He grinned. “Pastafarian, mon.” Razaini elbowed him in the ribs and he laughed again. “The lovely Miss Rosanne and I be Jewish. I converted when we married, and our faith is the only thing she insists I be serious about. Drives a hard bargain, my girl does.”

“The man has a collection of T-Rex porn,” Razaini said. “I had to get him to be serious about something, just one thing, or I’d never make it.”

My jaw dropped. “T-Rex porn?”

“Hey, mon, that be all in the name of science.”

The closer we got to six, the louder the crowd got. More Humans showed up, but always with the Changed, never alone. I recognized the two green-haired Elf boys who were on gate duty the other day. One of them noticed me looking and his cheeks flushed a dusky green. I had a pretty good idea what Tessa had been doing with them, but at least they looked none the worse for wear.

The surprising thing was the amount of press turnout for a neighborhood watch meeting. Promptly at six, a group of people came out on the steps, along with four uniformed officers. I recognized Officer Curtis, and her partner, Officer Webster, but not the other pair. I guess it shouldn’t have been a surprise, but one officer was Human and the other was Dwarven, like Ingve.

A Dark Elf woman in an impeccably tailored suit turned on her microphone. I think she was the first other Dark Elf I’d seen so far. She had to shield her eyes from all the flashing cameras.

“Thank you all for coming this evening, especially on such short notice. I’ll make introductions, and then we’ll get started. I’m Vivian Davis. I’m with the Denver District Attorney’s office, and I live here in the neighborhood. This is Gerald Merrik.” She gestured to the arrogant looking blond Elf at her right. “And this is Udell Orinson.” She nodded toward the pale man to her left that looked Human, with something a little off. “Gerald and Udell are also residents. Gerald owns the U-Post-It shipping office, and Udell is a retired school teacher.” They both nodded and waved. “They’ve both volunteered their time to help us get organized.”

She smiled at the cameras and I knew the next bit wasn’t for us. “Community safety is a top priority for me. Even though some people have experienced Change, all of Colorado’s citizens have the right to equal protection in the eyes of the law, and with that right comes responsibility, which is why this community is banding together for the protection of all.”

“Kind enough to join us this evening are Officers Curtis, Webster, Gable, and Stonefield.” She pointed to each of the officers in turn, naming the Dwarven man last. “And now, Officer Curtis.”