Mystics and Mental Blocks (Amplifier 3) Read online

  I tackled her.

  We rolled through the crusted layers of snow, laughing. Paisley chortled even more madly when I came up on top, pinning her.

  Opal launched herself at us. I flipped onto my back, sliding off the demon dog and catching the young witch before she hit, then effortlessly holding her aloft over me. She squealed. I lightly tossed her to the side, where the snow was deep and still pristine.

  Paisley playfully lunged forward, pressing her snow-covered nose to Opal’s bare neck.

  Opal shrieked again.

  Aiden was laughing, leaning back against the new section of fencing and watching us. His deep, warm chuckle made it easy to ignore the snow melting down my neck.

  I grinned at him. Then I crouched, scooping up two handfuls of snow.

  His smile widened, teeth white against his tanned skin. Magic glinted from his blue eyes. He was desperately, utterly beautiful. And looking as if he felt the same way about me, though I knew I had snow melting in my hair as well as my clumsy boots.

  Opal, still laughing, crouched beside me, dutifully adding to my steadily growing cache of snowballs. Paisley prowled forward, systematically arming herself from our stash, one snowball per tentacle. All three of us sized up the sorcerer loitering at the fence.

  He laughed, raising his hands to the sides. “It’s like that, then? Three against one?”

  “You’re going down, sorcerer!” Opal shouted.

  He flicked his fingers, murmuring under his breath. Magic shifted across the snow in front of him, layering, building …

  “He’s fortifying!” I cried, scooping up as many of the snowballs as I could carry. “Go. Go. Go!”

  I ran — slowly so Opal could keep pace with me — pelting the sorcerer with the bulk of my arsenal.

  Aiden snapped a shield into place, deflecting my assault. A wave of power rippled out across the distance between us, churning through the snow, building height and momentum as it neared.

  “Jump!” I cried, clearing the wave.

  Opal, caught at calf height, went down. Gently swept back, she tumbled through the thick snow, laughing.

  Paisley lunged, swiping at the wall of simmering blue magic between her and the sorcerer. Aiden dropped his defenses at the last moment, stepping to the side. The demon dog went flying past him, skidding in the snow and sliding into the fence.

  I closed the distance between the sorcerer and me, crumbling my last snowball in my hand. Then I reached up and washed Aiden’s face with it.

  Instead of knocking my hand away, he grabbed my wrist, yanking me close enough to wrap his other hand around the back of my neck. Still laughing, face still dripping with snow, he tugged me forward into a chaste kiss.

  I leaned into him, licking the melted snow from his lips. Then I double-checked that he hadn’t gotten any in his mouth. Thoroughly. With my tongue.

  “I win,” he murmured.

  “Illegal tactics!” Opal screeched from behind us. “No magic allowed.”

  I sucked lightly on Aiden’s bottom lip, murmuring, “I agree. Dastardly tricks, sorcerer.”

  Aiden threw his head back, laughing. Then he glanced over my shoulder. “Let that be a lesson to you, little witch.”

  Laughing and still cradled in Aiden’s arms, I looked back at Opal.

  She was grinning at us, patting Paisley’s shoulder with one hand and holding a snowball in the other. The bulk of the property spread out behind her, the red roofing of the house and barn standing out against the snow that still blanketed the entire area.

  Aiden tugged a glove from his pocket and wiped his face with it. “Were you looking for us for a reason?”

  I nodded. “Ember needs your signature, and Capri would like to see Opal. Again.”

  “Of course,” Aiden said stiffly.

  Opal’s gaze darted between us, her expression growing serious. The snowball fell from her hand, and she swallowed harshly. “I want to stay.”

  My chest constricted. The idiotic notion that I was glad I was still wrapped around Aiden flashed through my mind. He would stop me from faltering, from saying the wrong thing.

  “Emma?” Opal whispered, glancing between me and Aiden. “I don’t want to go.”

  I took a step away from the sorcerer. He kept one hand on my back. “We’d … Opal …”

  She clenched her hands into tiny fists. “You care about me. You feel responsible for me. You and Christopher …” She settled her gaze on Aiden. “And you, even though you’re a sorcerer.”

  “Yes,” I said.

  Aiden chuckled quietly, but there wasn’t any joy in the sound.

  Opal continued, barreling over everything I was trying to figure out how to say. “Paisley wants me to stay.” She patted the broad head of the demon dog. “I belong here.”

  Words, logical arguments — all of it clogged my throat. I struggled to sort through them, to find the right thing to say. Aiden remained quiet, steady at my side. We had already talked about Opal. We already knew the witches would never accept us.

  “We’re going to look after you,” I said. “Make sure you want for nothing —”

  “I don’t need money,” Opal spat. “Capri says there’s a trust fund already set up, from those assholes who tried to kill me in San Francisco.”

  There certainly was. And I should probably have chided her for the language, but I was no role model. Not in any way. “I mean … connections …”

  “It’s family … I want … I want to be part of your family.”

  “It’s dangerous around me.”

  She opened her mouth to protest.

  I cut her off. “It’s dangerous around all of us. You already know that. And we aren’t witches. We can’t train you properly.”

  “I don’t care. I don’t care about stupid magic.”

  “You will. It’s part of you. It’s who you are.”

  “No.”

  “You need to go back to the Academy.”

  Her bottom lip quivered. She glanced between me and Aiden again. “Emma —”

  Magic shifted across the blood tattoos on my spine. Magic I hadn’t felt in almost eight years. Magic that shouldn’t have been anywhere near me or Christopher. It settled on my T4 vertebra.

  Zans.

  Aka Tek5.

  Aka Samantha Williams.

  I’d only known her by that name for a few minutes, before we’d parted ways after destroying the compound in Peru. Tek5 shouldn’t have been in Lake Cowichan, and certainly not without warning.

  I spun, swiftly scanning the property.

  “What is it?” Opal cried.

  I didn’t answer. Aiden was already stepping back to flank the young witch, switching places with Paisley.

  I paused, gazing into the forest beyond the fence line that separated the property from the lake. The magic on my spine intensified, but didn’t reach anywhere near its normal level of power.

  The door of the house banged open, loud enough that I expected to hear glass shattering. I was glad I didn’t. The French-paned doors had already been replaced once in the last year.

  Christopher’s magic thundered out across the snow-covered yard in an intense wave, then snapped back to him. I didn’t have to look to know he was running down the patio stairs and into the yard.

  I hadn’t replaced my blades. Christopher didn’t have his sword either. The weapons had been lost to the pocket of the demon dimension.

  Still unable to pinpoint what direction Tek5 was approaching from, I glanced toward the house. Samantha, I corrected myself. Even if she was arriving without permission, she deserved to be properly named. So it was Samantha. Not Tek5, not Zans. She had always hated that nickname anyway, as she should.

  The white of the clairvoyant’s magic blazed from his eyes as he crossed toward me. He was barefoot, striding through snow up to his calves instead of using the cleared pathway beside the garden fence line. He slowed his pace as he approached, scanning the forest as I had done.

  Using Christopher’s t
rajectory, I slowly crossed to the center of the yard, feeling Aiden keeping pace behind me. He had Opal tucked to his side.

  Paisley padded silently along beside me until we met up with Christopher. The clairvoyant paused three strides from the fence, gazing at the stretch of woods that separated our property from Cowichan Lake. Most of the heavy wet snow had sloughed from the fir and cedar branches. His magic was tightly coiled, sharply outlining his irises.

  “Samantha?” I said, trying to read his expression.

  He nodded, face tight.

  “Attacking?” I asked, incredulous. Samantha had always been the most temperamental of us all, but the idea of one of the Five attacking without provocation was absurd.

  “No. But something’s wrong.”

  “She wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

  “Try to be nice, Socks.”

  “I always try.”

  He chuckled, though there wasn’t much humor in the sound. “Liar.”

  A tall, slim figure appeared within the trees, crossing steadily toward us. She was dressed head to toe in black, and no doubt laden with a multitude of items that — when paired with her telekinetic abilities — could be used as deadly projectiles.

  The blood tattoo on my T4 vertebra hummed at her approach. But again, more quietly than I remembered.

  I expected Christopher to step forward, arms opened in welcome.

  He didn’t.

  The magic in his eyes expanded into white, intense orbs of power.

  I glanced behind us at Aiden and Opal, murmuring to the clairvoyant, “She can’t mean us harm.”

  “Of course not. But …”

  “But?”

  “I should have drawn cards when you suggested it.”

  “Opal?” I asked tensely.

  He shook his head. Once. “Everyone is going to be okay. Just … just don’t do anything you’re going to regret.”

  I turned to watch Samantha stride toward us, finally understanding the looming future that Christopher had been trying to sort through. The problem he was trying to untangle.

  Me.

  “I never do anything I regret. Because I never do anything that isn’t necessary.”

  Christopher’s lips thinned. “I know. I’m with you. Always.”

  I stepped forward, the clairvoyant at my left and Paisley on my right. Samantha stopped just beyond the fence. Even if I were to lunge for her, she’d be just out of arm’s reach. None of the Five were idiots.

  Her tight-fitting tactical gear was only a few shades darker than her skin. Knee-high laced boots. Pants and top — at least what I could see of it — riddled with pockets. Smirking, Samantha pushed back the hood of her jacket. She’d grown out her hair into a dark halo of spiraled curls.

  Her smirk expanded, specifically aimed at me and gleefully anticipating my response to her sudden appearance. Primed for violence, even though she’d never come out ahead when pitted one-on-one against me. Not once.

  And she certainly wouldn’t be gaining the upper hand in this showdown. Because there was something wrong with her magic.

  She stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets. I had no doubt they were filled with coins or ball bearings.

  I judged the space between us. It would have been easy enough to vault the fence and slam both my feet into her chest before she could react.

  Samantha’s smirk turned into a smile, and she removed her hands from her pockets. Holding them up in mocking surrender. She flicked her gaze to Christopher, then took in Aiden and Opal behind me. Her gaze lingered, narrowing thoughtfully, but I couldn’t tell if she was looking at the sorcerer or the young witch.

  “Knox,” she finally drawled, looking back at Christopher, “no hugs and kisses?”

  The clairvoyant tilted his head. His magic slithered across my shoulder, coalescing around two of the blood tattoos on my spine — his and Samantha’s. “Why are you here?”

  “Seriously? You tell me.”

  Christopher didn’t respond. His magic was shifting, writhing, unsettled.

  Samantha took another step, hands raised, trailing her fingers across something invisible before her. Aiden’s wards. Even with how much time he’d put into fortifying the perimeter boundary, it was still thin along the back of the property.

  “Is this your work, sorcerer?” Samantha asked. “So you aren’t just a pretty face?”

  No one answered her.

  “Is it this moment you were struggling to see in the kitchen?” I asked Christopher quietly. “Or is that something else?”

  “I see what’s about to happen clearly enough.” His tone was gruff. “But yes, Zans’s arrival will trigger something else, someone else …”

  “Oh, my God,” the telekinetic snarled. “You two have turned into even bigger assholes. I wouldn’t have thought it possible for you to corrupt Knox, but I shouldn’t have underestimated your ability to be a cold bitch, Amp5.”

  Christopher sighed. Heavily.

  I smiled. Finally feeling freed for the first time in a long while, I toed off my boots. It would be easier to deal with the telekinetic barefoot, even in the snow. I glanced back at Aiden. He nodded once, laying his hand on Opal’s shoulder, then murmuring something to her. She nodded in return, allowing him to draw her back toward the house.

  The clairvoyant called after the sorcerer, “Wait, Aiden. You might want to —”

  Samantha, executing the same move I’d just been contemplating, leaped over the fence, knifing her body through Aiden’s wards. I actually heard the magic sizzle, feeling it snap back into place as Samantha cleared it.

  Aiden hissed. Pained.

  But I was already lunging forward, feet sliding in the snow, hammering a right hook toward the telekinetic’s face. She managed to get an elbow up to block me, but the blow still staggered her.

  “Fuck!” She fell back against the fence. “You think I’d come to you if I had any other choice?!” She raised her hands, shielding herself rather than returning blows.

  I hesitated.

  Tek5 should have been battering me with her magic. She should have readied an assault before she’d made a show of jumping through Aiden’s wards.

  “Where’s Fish?” Christopher asked, laying a quelling hand on my shoulder.

  Samantha straightened, rubbing her arm where I’d connected. “What the fuck, Socks? You couldn’t have held back for old times’ sake?”

  “That was me holding back.”

  She looked at me, eyes narrowed in assessment. Unless she’d gained some new ability, Samantha couldn’t see or feel magic as well as Christopher or Daniel could. “You’re faster than I remember,” she finally murmured. Then she smiled nastily. “Stolen juice, hey? Typical.”

  “Say your piece and leave,” Christopher snarled, uncharacteristically harsh.

  Samantha blinked, as surprised as I was. She covered quickly though — and mockingly. “But I just got here. Don’t I at least get a ginger snap and some iced tea?”

  I stepped toward her.

  She shied back.

  I kept pressing until I was only a hand’s width away, nose to nose. Samantha was taller than me in her boots. As close as I was, I could feel her magic more acutely. It felt contained, bound. “We made a very clear deal when we parted ways.”

  “I know —”

  “You’re putting Christopher in jeopardy by showing up here.” I spared the clairvoyant a reprimanding glance. “By you even knowing where we are!”

  He grimaced.

  Samantha snarled. “I’m not some goddamn security risk!”

  I looked pointedly at Christopher. Samantha followed my gaze. The clairvoyant’s eyes were still full-blown white with his magic. So much so that he most likely wasn’t following the conversation, the present, that easily.

  Samantha grimaced again, understanding that Christopher’s magic was telling him she was an issue. Then she shook her head resolutely. “Fish and Bee are missing. I need Bee.”

  I glanced at Christopher, questioningl
y this time.

  He tilted his head. His magic rose and fell in a gentle tide. Then he shrugged. “Not as far as I know.”

  I turned back to Samantha. “Why would you assume they’re missing? Maybe they just don’t want to be found.”

  “You’re the only one who doesn’t want to be found,” she sneered. “The only one of us who wants to hide what she is.”

  “Don’t be an idiot,” I said coolly. “Both of them could have gone to ground, specifically from whatever you’re dragging with you.” I gestured toward Christopher, toward the future he was seeing unfold in his mind.

  “That’s … they wouldn’t …” Samantha steeled her expression. “I knew you wouldn’t help. You always were a stuck-up bitch.”

  I scoffed, turning my back on her, scooping up my boots, and striding back to the house. “Leave, Samantha. Don’t make me drag you out of town.”

  “Like that wouldn’t be a bigger spectacle!”

  Christopher stepped up to the telekinetic, blocking her from following me. “Just leave it for a moment, Zans.”

  I continued up to the house. Aiden and Opal were on the back patio. The young witch was wrapped around the post at the top of the stairs, watching us. I smiled at her.

  Samantha pushed around Christopher, scrambling after me. “You owe me this, Amp5. For stealing all my magic, all of the —”

  I rounded on her. She stumbled to a stop, almost running into me. Christopher had been keeping pace behind her, with Paisley at his side. “Stop using that name!” he snarled. “We don’t use those names here.”

  “Step back,” I said.

  Samantha took a step back, hands still raised to the sides. “Listen, I just need you to help me find Bee.” She cleared her throat. “I’ve got a lead. I just —”

  “I’m not remotely interested.”

  “Fuck, Socks!” she snarled with frustration. Her muted magic flexed, then snapped back to her. “At least give me the dog!”

  “Excuse me?” I was honestly confused by the request.

  She gestured toward Paisley. “The demon hybrid. She’s genetically programed to be able to find —”

  “No.” My tone was dark, even for me. Sharp anger pierced my chest, flooding my limbs.

  Christopher stepped to the side, tugging Paisley with him. Clearing a path behind Samantha.