the invisible fingers pulled the life spark of the fox away, separating it from its physical body.
I’d done this with animals before, but for a moment the fox seemed almost to resist me, which was a first. I pulled harder, and the spark of swirling light came away in my fingers, immediately turning a sickly, yellowish-brown color, the color of death.
But it was still swirling with black.
I could absorb death magic into myself for a power boost, but I instinctively knew I didn’t want that blackness anywhere near me. Gritting my teeth with concentration, I allowed the vaporous color to dissolve through my ghostly fingers until it was gone. Then I blinked away the mindset and climbed to my feet.
Well, that was the idea, anyway. I’d forgotten how much playing with death essences affects me. As I tried to stand, the surge of power hit me, and I stumbled, pausing to savor the dark sweetness of boundary magic. Mine, mine, mine pumped my thoughts, and I felt a great burst of exhilaration and greed. More . I wanted to do it again, but this time—
“Lex?” Lily’s voice was tentative, a little weak, almost . . . afraid. Of me?
I shook my head violently, clearing the fog of death magic from my mind. When I looked at Lily, she was standing near the fox’s corpse, staring at me with concern and, yes, a little fear. My insides twisted with guilt. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “Haven’t done that in a while. Caught me off-guard.”
“It’s okay.” Lily’s eyes dropped to the small body at her feet. “You drained him?”
I nodded. Lily hadn’t actually seen me do this before, but she knew about the time I’d accidentally sucked the life out of all the fish in a small pond during a magic lesson with Simon. “Well, good,” she said shakily. “I’m glad it still worked with the tattoos.”
Right. Lily had created the griffin tattoos on my forearms as a way to help me focus my magic. “I didn’t even consider that it might not,” I admitted. “I just sort of reached.”
She nodded. “We gotta tell Simon the training’s paying off.” She squatted down to get a closer look at the fox, rubbing her ankles with one hand. “Oof. I don’t know what that position would be called—”
“Upside-downward facing dog?” I suggested.
She barked out a laugh. “Yes. Change approved. Anyway, I’m gonna feel it tomorrow.” She leaned forward, peering at the fox’s corpse, until her closeness started to make me nervous.
“Don’t touch it, Lil.”
“I won’t. We’re thinking rabies, right? Should we, like, call someone? Animal control?”
It was such a normal, nonmagical question that it took me a moment to process it. Something had to have infected the fox, and if there were animals running around with rabies, informing animal control would be the right thing to do. Then again . . . “Do you want to explain how we killed it?”
“Uh, good point. I guess we better call Simon, anyway.”
I checked my watch. Nine-thirty. “He’ll probably be, um . . . working.”
Lily snorted and went to the steps to get her phone out of her bag.
Leaving the fox corpse where it was, I began straightening the furniture while Lily talked to her brother. When he wasn’t doing stuff for the witch clan, Simon worked as an evolutionary biologist at the university. This wouldn’t be the first time I’d called on him for biology help. Nearly six months earlier, an ancient snakelike creature called the Unktehila (or the sandworm, if we’re being informal) started eating people in Boulder, and Simon was a huge part of figuring out what it was and how to kill it. Afterward, he had asked my boss Maven if he could study the remains as part of his ongoing research into Old World biology.
Maven had done him one better. She’d set him up with a small basement apartment in one of the buildings she owned, and refitted it into a sort of makeshift laboratory, although Simon actually lived there as well. I hadn’t spent much time
I’d done this with animals before, but for a moment the fox seemed almost to resist me, which was a first. I pulled harder, and the spark of swirling light came away in my fingers, immediately turning a sickly, yellowish-brown color, the color of death.
But it was still swirling with black.
I could absorb death magic into myself for a power boost, but I instinctively knew I didn’t want that blackness anywhere near me. Gritting my teeth with concentration, I allowed the vaporous color to dissolve through my ghostly fingers until it was gone. Then I blinked away the mindset and climbed to my feet.
Well, that was the idea, anyway. I’d forgotten how much playing with death essences affects me. As I tried to stand, the surge of power hit me, and I stumbled, pausing to savor the dark sweetness of boundary magic. Mine, mine, mine pumped my thoughts, and I felt a great burst of exhilaration and greed. More . I wanted to do it again, but this time—
“Lex?” Lily’s voice was tentative, a little weak, almost . . . afraid. Of me?
I shook my head violently, clearing the fog of death magic from my mind. When I looked at Lily, she was standing near the fox’s corpse, staring at me with concern and, yes, a little fear. My insides twisted with guilt. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “Haven’t done that in a while. Caught me off-guard.”
“It’s okay.” Lily’s eyes dropped to the small body at her feet. “You drained him?”
I nodded. Lily hadn’t actually seen me do this before, but she knew about the time I’d accidentally sucked the life out of all the fish in a small pond during a magic lesson with Simon. “Well, good,” she said shakily. “I’m glad it still worked with the tattoos.”
Right. Lily had created the griffin tattoos on my forearms as a way to help me focus my magic. “I didn’t even consider that it might not,” I admitted. “I just sort of reached.”
She nodded. “We gotta tell Simon the training’s paying off.” She squatted down to get a closer look at the fox, rubbing her ankles with one hand. “Oof. I don’t know what that position would be called—”
“Upside-downward facing dog?” I suggested.
She barked out a laugh. “Yes. Change approved. Anyway, I’m gonna feel it tomorrow.” She leaned forward, peering at the fox’s corpse, until her closeness started to make me nervous.
“Don’t touch it, Lil.”
“I won’t. We’re thinking rabies, right? Should we, like, call someone? Animal control?”
It was such a normal, nonmagical question that it took me a moment to process it. Something had to have infected the fox, and if there were animals running around with rabies, informing animal control would be the right thing to do. Then again . . . “Do you want to explain how we killed it?”
“Uh, good point. I guess we better call Simon, anyway.”
I checked my watch. Nine-thirty. “He’ll probably be, um . . . working.”
Lily snorted and went to the steps to get her phone out of her bag.
Leaving the fox corpse where it was, I began straightening the furniture while Lily talked to her brother. When he wasn’t doing stuff for the witch clan, Simon worked as an evolutionary biologist at the university. This wouldn’t be the first time I’d called on him for biology help. Nearly six months earlier, an ancient snakelike creature called the Unktehila (or the sandworm, if we’re being informal) started eating people in Boulder, and Simon was a huge part of figuring out what it was and how to kill it. Afterward, he had asked my boss Maven if he could study the remains as part of his ongoing research into Old World biology.
Maven had done him one better. She’d set him up with a small basement apartment in one of the buildings she owned, and refitted it into a sort of makeshift laboratory, although Simon actually lived there as well. I hadn’t spent much time
Similar Books
The World Above
Cameron Dokey
Arsonist
Victor Methos
Jack in the Box
Hania Allen
Por qué ganaron los aliados
R. J. Overy
An Unlikely Friendship
Ann Rinaldi
Sparrow Nights
David Gilmour
Her Dark Knight
Sharon Cullen
WANTON
Cheryl Holt
The Tudor Secret
C. W. Gortner