The First Fight: The Weight of Magic, Episode 5 Read online

  As the bell tinkled above our heads, we heard Gran’s voice from the back room.

  “Coffee’s ready. Anybody hungry?”

  The four of us walked into the room.

  “Hi, Gran.” I kissed her on the cheek.

  “He didn’t bring his potion. That’s a good sign,” she murmured into my ear with a smirk.

  “I heard that,” said Nate. “Just to make it clear,” he gazed at Gran. “I didn’t say it’s not okay to have a few days apart. But this was a different situation. Okay?”

  Grinning, Connie and Logan exchanged a glance.

  “It was just a misunderstanding.” Looking at Gran sideways, I smiled.

  “Hey, I’m just glad he’s in his right mind again,” she chuckled.

  Nate rolled his eyes.

  We all sat down, and Gran put a plate loaded with sandwiches on the table.

  “I’m starving.” Connie grabbed one. “Thanks, Mrs. Callahan.”

  “You’re welcome, dear. Here,” said Gran, putting a mug of coffee in front of her.

  “Bree, you shouldn’t leave the door unlocked when you have the Closed sign up,” said Nate.

  “You’re just like Vincent.” She shook her head. “He said it to me every time he came here after hours.”

  “Gran, you need to be careful.”

  “Don’t worry, honey. You heard Murphy. They think I’m dead.”

  “Things are different now, Bree. That man could be anywhere.” Nate pulled his phone from his pocket. He called Brian and dropped the phone on the table with the speaker on.

  “We’ve called you several times,” said Brian after we greeted each other. “You didn’t pick up.”

  “Then I called Nicky,” said Sam. “But she didn’t say much. What’s up?”

  Nate cleared his throat. “We needed a few days off.”

  Gran and Connie chortled.

  “But,” Nate gazed at them, “before that, I took some precautionary measures so that Murphy’s accomplice wouldn’t get alarmed.” He told them about the message. “I don’t think Murphy told him there’s another Callahan,” he continued. “There were no calls made that day, and there’s nothing about Nicky in his last message. And it didn’t look like Murphy knew she existed until he did that locator spell using the barrier.”

  “Do you think it’s true? Was Murphy just trying to sell Kenneth’s books?” asked Brian.

  “No. I’ve checked the previous messages. They were short and were sent between a couple of phone calls, and that’s why it wasn’t easy to understand the meaning of most of them. But from what we got, it seems that Kenneth’s books were Murphy’s ticket into the Order.”

  “So, how do we find that man?” asked Sam.

  “We need to set up a meeting with him. Send him a message that we, which means Murphy, want to hand over the books,” said Nate. “Catch him, get out of him as much information as we can, and then get rid of him.”

  On the words get rid of him, Connie and I exchanged a glance.

  “It wouldn’t be easy,” Nate continued. “I’m sure he’s already told the Order everything he knows. So he wouldn’t come to the meeting alone. That’s why I’ll need the two of you to join us this time.”

  “Finally I’ll get to kick some ass,” said Sam with satisfaction.

  Of course he was ready for a fight. I was sure that he’d waited for such an opportunity since the day our parents were killed.

  “We’ll contact you when the plan is ready.”

  “Nate, Murphy was a warlock,” said Brian. “When you . . . Did you use the sword on him?”

  “Yes,” said Nate, glancing at me.

  We hadn’t told Brian the details yet.

  “Did it work?” asked Brian. “Was your theory right?”

  “Yes. The silver glow is gone.”

  “So the game is on?” said Sam.

  “How do you . . . Brian told you?” asked Nate.

  “Well, duh. You were the one who told him to fill me in.”

  “Right,” said Nate with a curt nod. “Now, we need to improve the sword. That will be the hardest and most dangerous part of the job. But when it’s done, it won’t take long to finish this mission.”

  “Nicky, does this mean you know where the tomb is?” asked Brian.

  “No, not yet,” I said. “But I know where to look for the map. I’ll tell you more after the sword is ready.”

  “That’s a relief,” said Brian. “You never said anything about the map, and I was wondering . . . I was getting worried.”

  “Don’t. I assure you I have all the necessary information. Guys, there’s something I have to say.” I took a deep breath. “During the past few days, I tried, as my father wanted us to, to find a way around. To improve the sword without killing anyone.”

  “You found a solution?” Brian asked with excitement.

  I looked at Nate. He stared back, frowning slightly.

  “I know that to improve the sword we need to siphon into it the powers of thirteen witches. We have to stab the witches with the sword to do so, there’s no other way here. But it doesn’t mean we have to stab them to death. After we gather their powers, they won’t be witches anymore, and they won’t be dangerous to us, so we can still heal their wounds, even erase their memory if it’s necessary.” I glanced at Nate, who was absently looking into his mug. “Nate, would it still work?”

  “The thing is,” he said, “this is magic we’re talking about. It’s all very complicated. Kenneth sacrificed those thirteen witches, and in theory we should do the same. So I’m not sure. But we can try.” His eyes smiling, he nodded to me.

  There was a muffled sound of a ringing phone. We all looked at each other, waiting for whosever phone it was to answer it.

  Nate clapped his hand to his jacket pocket.

  “It’s Murphy’s.” He pulled it out. “Brian, I have to deal with this. We’ll talk to you later.” He disconnected the call with Brian. “Don’t make a sound,” he warned us. Then he raised the volume on Murphy’s phone and without putting it to his ear, he pressed the Answer button.

  “Murphy?”

  Holding the phone close to him, Nate cleared his throat.

  “Murphy, it’s Zack,” came a husky voice.

  Nate cleared his throat again.

  “Where the hell are you?” Zack continued. “Did you find the map?”

  Nate hung up. “I need to send him a message.”

  “And say what?” asked Gran.

  “Say I can’t talk right now and I’ll call him back. We need to buy some more time.” He got up and went toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “I need to unlock the phone. It’s in my car,” he said, walking away.

  “What’s in his car?” I stared at Logan.

  “Murthy’s thumb,” replied Logan, sipping from his coffee.

  “Eww.” Connie wrinkled her nose.

  Don’t freak out. It was necessary. I grabbed my cup and took a sip too.

  “Why did you take the call if you weren’t going to speak?” I asked when Nate came back.

  “Zack’s number didn’t show. I had to make sure it was him.”

  “And? What now?”

  “Now I need to see Alan. He’s a council member, he can ask the sheriff to track down the call. That Zack guy could’ve done the same. Or he might’ve been tracking Murphy some other way. I need to make sure he’s nowhere around. Logan, are you coming?”

  “Yep.” Logan got up.

  “Nicky, I don’t know how long this will take.”

  “We can wait for you at the Grill,” offered Connie.

  “See you there,” said Nate, and he and Logan headed to the door.

  “So, Gran, how are things? I noticed a new owl on the shelf. Where did you get it from?” I grabbed a sandwich.

  4

  “Two cappuccinos, please,” said Connie to the waitress at our table.

  “Connie, we never talked about what happened in the
woods,” I said as the waitress left.

  “Here we go again.” She shook her head. “Girl, you have some issues.”

  “Not about that. About Logan. When he saw the blood . . . I think if Nate wasn’t there . . .”

  “I know,” Connie sighed. “He apologized a million times for losing control like that.”

  “But that’s the thing. He is who he is, and I just want you to be careful. What if you cut yourself in his presence? If you want, I can ask Gran to make more of that potion for you.”

  “No need for that. Look,” she pulled down the collar of her turtleneck, and I saw a bandage on her neck.”

  “What’s that?” I stared at her. “Connie, you didn’t—” The waitress came and put the cups in front of us.

  “Actually I tried,” said Connie, nodding thanks to the waitress. “I asked him about that thing.” She watched the waitress walk away, then said, “The intimate bite we talked about. He looked at me like there were horns growing out of my forehead right in front of his eyes. Then he started shouting at me, saying that if I wanna die, there are much easier ways to do it than having my throat ripped out.”

  “You’re insane, you know that?”

  “I told him I know he can control it because he loves me and he won’t hurt me. He broke into a hysterical laugh, saying that sure, it wouldn’t hurt at all if he sticks his fangs into my throat. Then I took a knife and cut my neck.”

  “You did this to yourself?” I gaped at her.

  “So what? You cut yourself for your spells all the time.”

  “Yes, but I’m not cutting my throat, and I’m not doing it when I’m alone with a vampire.” I looked around. I held my palm above the candle on the table for a second, and then quickly drew a circle in the air with a wave of my hand, whispering, “Muta prout aream.”

  “What are you doing?” Connie frowned.

  “Casting a spell so that no one can hear us. Nate does it differently. I learned this one from my dad’s grimoire.”

  “You need to teach me things.” She pointed her finger at me.

  “I will. Then what happened?” I asked. “Did Logan drink from you?”

  “Yeah, right.” Connie smirked. “He was gone before I pulled the knife away.”

  “So you were home alone, bleeding?”

  “Relax, it was just a scratch. And he came back at once, stood behind the door, asking if I was okay.”

  “A scratch?” I looked at her suspiciously. “Then why do you still have the bandage?”

  “Okay, it was a deep scratch, and he insists that I keep the bandage on so he won’t see it. He even slept on the couch last night.”

  I got up and sat next to her.

  “Let me see the cut.” I ripped the bandage off. Connie winced. “Hold the collar over my hand so no one can see the glow,” I said, holding my palm over her neck. Nate was the one who healed my wounds, and I hadn’t used the spell much, so this pleasant, and at the same time overwhelming sensation, like I had that same glow inside me, was still strong and new to me.

  The wound vanished.

  “I need to learn that one too.” Connie grinned, examining her neck. “You’re getting better and better at this.”

  “Connie.” I gazed at her. “Why would you do that? You could’ve hurt yourself. And look what it’s doing to him.”

  “I’ve already told you why. And, I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I’m not afraid of him. Not even a little. I just wanted to do something for him. There’s also this thought that . . . I know I said that I wouldn’t think about it until . . . But it keeps popping up in my head.”

  “What thought?”

  “How long will this last? He’s twenty-one. Well, he’s much older than that, but you know what I mean. And I’m already eighteen. What’s going to happen in five, ten years?”

  “You too, ha?” I heaved a sigh, returning to my seat across the table. “I talked to Nate about it last night. It didn’t go well.”

  “You did? What did he say?”

  “What do you think he said?” I rolled my eyes.

  “Let me guess. He said he doesn’t care. That it doesn’t matter to him how old you are.”

  “So you’ve talked to Logan too.” I smirked. “You know, I think maybe we just need to enjoy the time we have.”

  “Sure. And then, when the time is up, you marry Sam and have twelve children.”

  We both laughed.

  “They’re here,” I said, looking at Nate and Logan walking toward us.

  “That’s one impressive privacy spell.” Nate dropped into the seat next to me. “Couldn’t understand a word.” He kissed me.

  Oh, I hope you didn’t.

  “What were you laughing about?”

  “Just some silly jokes.” I smiled.

  The moment Logan landed next to Connie, she pulled down the collar of her turtleneck.

  “See, it’s gone, thanks to Nicky,” she said.

  “You’re a savior.” Logan glanced at me, beaming. Then he took Connie’s face in his hands and kissed her. “Please don’t do that again. I don’t want to sleep on the couch anymore.”

  “How did it go?” I asked Nate. “Did you find out anything?”

  “Yeah,” Nate sighed. “The call was tracked to Florida. Zack, who I’m sure is not alone, definitely looking for Murphy.”

  “So what now?”

  “First, we need to check out the place. If they know Murphy’s address, then that’s exactly where they’ll be waiting for him.”

  “You want me to go back to Tampa?” asked Logan.

  “No. I was thinking to use Kate for this one. She could go tomorrow morning.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Why not?” said Connie. “She feels isolated. She keeps telling me how bored she is in every text.”

  “Yeah, I know,” I said. “She messaged me too. I’m sure she would be happy to help. It’s just last time you said you weren’t sure she could do it.”

  “This time it’s different,” said Nate. “She doesn’t have to stay there overnight or do research. All she needs to do is to watch the apartment from outside for an hour or two to see if there are people inside, and look around, take a few pictures if she sees anything suspicious. Logan, could she do that? What kind of place is it?”

  “Yeah. It’s a three-story building, and his window looks at the street. Across the street there’s a small parking lot, so she can park between cars and watch the building from there.”

  “I think that’s good enough. In the meanwhile, we’ll plan our trip. I’ll send a message to Zack, set up a meeting, and we’ll see if it works.”

  “What if he keeps calling?” asked Logan.

  “Then I’ll have to come up with something to keep him on the hook until we get there. We need to be careful not to scare him off. If he disappears, we might not be able to find him again. And this time the Order will start looking for the one who sent the messages, because they’ll know who ever it is, that person got rid of Murphy and has the books. That’ll make us, the ones left from the coven, the first suspects, which will put Brian and Sam in immediate danger.”

  “Guys, what’s so important about those books?” asked Connie.

  “They contain very dangerous information,” said Nate.

  “About what? I mean, If it’s okay to ask.”

  Nate glanced at me and cleared his throat.

  “She needs to know what she’s risking her life for,” I said, nodding.

  “About everything Kenneth was working on. Including the information on how to open the gates to the land of the dead.”

  Connie stared at me and Nate with wide eyes, like an owl.

  “To the land of what?”

  “Yeah,” Nate sighed. “That’s what this whole hubbub is about.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “During the witch hunt, he lost his coven of dark witches. He wanted to bring them, and the hundreds of other dead witches, back, to create an army and unl
eash them on the non-magical world.”

  “How is that even possible?” asked Connie, looking even more shocked. “Could he do that?”

  “It’s why he spent decades practicing necromancy, creating spells, and gathering required powers. And yes, he was ready to do it, and that’s why our ancestors locked him up.”

  Connie gazed from Nate to me and back, like she had just met us. I knew how she felt. I felt the same way when I stepped into the New Orleans house. Like only then did I see, appreciate, and understand the true meaning of the mission.

  “Wait, he wanted to get revenge for the murdered witches, but he killed thirteen of them himself?” Connie asked.

  “I heard they were willing victims,” said Nate. “He probably promised to bring them back.”

  “Then why don’t you just destroy those books?”

  “We can’t. Not until the mission is fulfilled. We might still need them.”

  While Connie sat digesting the information, Nate pulled out his phone and found Kate’s name in his contacts.

  “Hi, Kate. How are you?” After Kate’s short answer, he said, “Yes, and we need your help. Do you have a car? Great. So listen carefully.” Nate explained to her everything she had to do, then added, “Don’t improvise. Don’t do anything else. Stay in the car. And if you notice that something is not right, drive away immediately. Okay? Keep me posted.”

  “I think our privacy spell is attracting attention,” said Connie. “The bartender has been staring at us for a while now.”

  We all looked at the young woman behind the counter, and she turned her gaze away at once.

  “Oh, that one,” said Nate. “Don’t worry, it’s not the spell.” He grinned. “She just has a thing for me.”

  Logan chuckled.

  Smiling, I shook my head.

  “I better remove the spell,” I said, and waved my hand above the candle.

  Nate’s hand landed on my neck. Stroking my cheek with his thumb, he kissed me.

  Nate stopped the car on the dark, quiet driveway in front of my house, and I glanced at the porch, illuminated by a yellow light.

  “Nate.” I looked at him. “You’re not angry with me, are you?”