Turning up the radio, I tried to shake off the feeling of being unarmed. Nothing bad was going to happen. Not only did I have my wand, but Natalie had assured me that she’d finish her evaluation by the time I finished with my grocery shopping. I usually did my own maintenance, but those bags were special order, spelled for containment and stability. What that meant in practical terms was that the bags were designed to keep different magical things from interacting with one another. Plus, if an interaction did occur, the bags would do their best to keep it from spreading. To keep the warranty in effect, they and their contents had to go in for inspection once a year. I’d put it off as long as I could, but it was time.

  Knowing how important those bags were to me, Natalie had come in on a Sunday morning just to work on them. It was the best we could do. With most of the town’s residents safely tucked into their church services, odds were I’d get through the time without an emergency.

  A few minutes later, I was sitting at a red light, blinker on, only one turn from my groceries. The bright-blue sky and blinding sun made me wish for the warmth of summer rather than the chill of early spring. The radio was so loud that I didn’t hear my phone ringing until the song ended. It was probably my mom, wanting to reassure me that my kit was in good hands. She’d been using Natalie for years and knew her to be a capable and reliable witch. I answered without looking to see who was calling. “Oaks Consulting. Michelle speaking.”

  “Ma’am, this is Officer Kent.”

  My stomach knotted. Officer Kent was with the local sheriff’s department. “What can I do for you?”

  “We have a situation involving magical creatures. Can you assist?”

  The light finally turned, and I hurried into a parking spot. “What’s the address?”

  He quickly provided the information. I didn’t bother writing it down. I knew exactly where I was going. “Has Officer Rodriguez been informed?”

  “He’s on scene, but he’s unable to take the time to contact you directly. Last I heard, speed was requested.” There was a crack and a muffled voice. “Dispatch requests that you stop at the ambulance and head through the field to assist officers on that side.”

  “Got it. I’ll be there soon.” I ended the call and tossed the phone on the passenger seat. Shopping would have to wait.

  I got on the road and headed to the emergency. There was no time to go back for my kit. It was just me and my wand. Though, if memory served, I had some healing charms tucked in the car.

  The light ahead of me turned red, and I slammed on the brakes. While I waited for it to turn, I scrounged around in the center console and glove compartment. I dug up one healing charm before the light changed—a small wooden disk infused with runes and herbs. A couple miles later, when I got stuck behind a line of cars, I shoved the charm in my pocket. Every time I had a chance, I was digging around in the car, trying to find additional charms, but no such luck. It would’ve been good to have a backup in case the one in my pocket got damaged, but I’d have to make do with what I had.

  When I passed the big Baptist church, the traffic thinned out and I pressed down on the accelerator. The speed limit sign I zipped by reminded me that I was breaking the law and by a healthy margin at that. But considering the phone call I’d gotten, I wasn’t worried about getting pulled over.

  I would’ve appreciated a few more details about the case. The term “magical creature” covered a lot of territory. I could be coming to help with anything from a run-of-the-mill flying pig to an angry dragon. The spells I’d need to use would depend entirely on what I was up against, and walking in blind would slow my reaction times and make it more likely that I’d miss something and the beastie would find a new way to make trouble.

  It didn’t escape my notice that this wasn’t the first magical creature I’d dealt with in the past two months. Two might’ve been a coincidence, but three was a pattern. Sure, the bugbear and fire-breathing cow had both been magical, but the real similarity was that someone had disrupted their normal lives. Perhaps this next creature would clear things up. Honestly, I just wanted to know if everything connected.

  I slowed down as I navigated around another switchback. This looked like the spot. That there were two ambulances rather than one only highlighted the need for my services. I slammed on the brakes, threw the car in park, and leaped out. I left my keys and purse in the car and started looking for the magical creature.

  I charged up the hill, sticking to the dirt path. The grass around me was scraggly and filled with rocks. Trees surrounded the field and blocked my view of what was beyond this rise, but I could hear shouts. There was a pause before a gunshot rang through the air. Two more shots followed.

  Swearing, I kept jogging up the hill. The smart thing to do would be to stop and find cover, but I wasn’t here to play it safe. I was here to solve the problem.

  Two officers started down the path. One of them was moaning softly and his side was bleeding. I dug the charm out of my pocket and handed it to the able-bodied officer. “Here. It’s a midlevel healing charm. It should at least help with the pain.”

  “Thank you.” The officer activated the healing charm by rubbing it in the blood saturating the injured officer’s shirt below the wound and pressed it into the bleeding man’s hand. “The beast is fast. Watch out for the horns.”

  “Got it,” I replied automatically.

  The two officers headed down the hill, the injured man leaning heavily on his coworker. My feet carried me up the hill, and when my brain registered that the officer hadn’t actually told me what was ahead, it was too late to ask. It didn’t matter what I was walking into, and anything that could do that to an armed officer was worth my respect. Taking a calming breath, I continued toward the danger.

  Nearing the top of the hill, I slowed to a walk. I’d thought that the field would continue, but I was headed into the woods. I paused behind a tree. The shouts I’d been hearing were gone, leaving silence behind. This wasn’t a comfortable silence. I summoned my wand with a quick twist of my wrist and then edged forward.

  The trees were rather sparse, and I could see two officers using trees for cover. Since they weren’t talking, I kept quiet. The two of them knew more about this situation than I did, and if they thought staying quiet was the right decision, I would follow their lead. Their backs were to me, but I could see that both of them had their guns in hand.

  Then I saw it. Honestly, I questioned the officers’ choice of weapons. That buck was the size of a horse, far larger than any whitetail deer should be. I didn’t think their pistols would be enough to stop the creature if it charged.

  The police might not have the right equipment to deal with the deer, but I was a witch. I pointed my wand at the creature and quickly encased it in a shield bubble. With a slight twist, the spell was anchored to the ground.

  The buck lunged sideways. Its antlers collided with the wall of the spell, and it went down on its knees before scrambling back to its feet. So far the shield was holding, but considering this deer had been magically enlarged, it might have been given some magical ability as well. I didn’t want to be close by if it figured out how to escape.

  A snapping branch pulled my attention away from the buck. The two officers had spotted me and were headed my way. Their guns were now holstered, but they kept shooting looks over their shoulders to check on the deer. I shared their paranoia. My wand was at my side, but I hadn’t relaxed my grip. If that buck so much as twitched funny, I was ready to cast.

  “Ms. Oaks, it is good to see you.” This officer was tall and lanky, with hair stuck in that indeterminate area where it could be blond or brown.

  “Glad to help. Is this the only problem?” I didn’t even finish the sentence before they started shaking their heads.

  “No, ma’am,” the shorter officer answered. “We got tasked with keeping tabs on this one. Rodriguez was working on containing the rest of the herd by the house.”

  “Herd?” I was really hoping I’d heard that wrong.

  “We can take you to the house.” Tall-and-Lanky glanced at the buck and frowned. “Though I don’t like the idea of leaving him here.”

  “I can bring him along.”

  He nodded. “Keep an eye out in case any of those monsters made it out this way.”

  “Give me a moment to get him moving.” As I headed over to the buck, I saw the men exchange an uneasy look. Poor guys. They must have thought that I was going to let him out of the spell, but I had no intention of giving the buck a chance to escape or injure us.

  I quickly investigated the creature with my eyes and my magic. While he’d obviously been spelled, there wasn’t any evidence that he had magical abilities. I figured there were two ways to do this, and neither was going to be fun for us. Reaching out with my magic, I felt the part of the spell that anchored the bubble to the ground. It took a simple twist of magic to sever that link. I pulled my power back into myself and glanced around. “Which way to the house?”

  “It’s over there.” Tall-and-Lanky waved off to the left.

  I rubbed my suddenly sweaty hands on my pants. One step. Then two. I could do this. Ignoring my fears, I kept my voice low and steady. “Easy there. I don’t want to hurt you, just get you moving.”

  The buck moved back a step and huffed out a breath, but he didn’t try to charge me. When I was a foot away from the sphere, I put my hands on the side and whispered, “Nazid.”

  The spell pulled at me, wanting to take enough energy to fully levitate the buck. I ruthlessly throttled the amount of power going into the spell. I didn’t want this guy to float away, I just wanted him to be light enough that I could get him moving.

  Feet braced, I shoved at the sphere with every bit of force I could muster. At first nothing happened, then I felt it wiggle before it started to roll. The buck scrambled around, bouncing off the interior. I felt bad for him, but the best I could do was make this a smooth ride. Now that I had it moving, I tied off the levitation spell.

  When the sphere slowed, the buck had managed to point himself in the direction of travel. I pushed the spell again, and this time he mostly moved with it. Now I could direct it with my wand by sending a burst of power after the buck. The spell rolled forward and he moved with it. This was going to work just fine.

  “Lead the way.” I motioned for the officers to go first. They shot wary looks toward me and the buck, but they started walking toward the house and that was all I needed. From time to time they glanced back at me and the buck. Every time their eyes landed on him, still stuck in the shield bubble, they gave a sigh of relief. In between those looks they kept their heads on a swivel, checking our surroundings. I did my best to look around, but I was also busy directing the buck. It was annoyingly difficult to find a path wide enough for that spell.

  The buck stumbled, going down to his knees. I stopped the forward movement of the bubble, giving him time to get to his feet. He stood up, shook his head, and took a step back. The shield started to roll toward me. Frowning, I stabilized it, putting energy into keeping it steady. The buck backed up until his rump was touching the spell. Shoving more power into holding it still, I tried to figure out what I should do. I wasn’t strong enough to force him forward, and if I took away too much weight, I’d have to set up several other spells to prevent the buck from rolling or floating away.

  He huffed, lowered his head, and surged forward. The tips of his antlers went straight into the spell. I thought it would shove him back and was getting ready to absorb the shock, but instead the shield cracked and the tips of his antlers broke through. I felt the shield waver and frantically threw power into solidifying it. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the officers drawing their guns. I had to keep him contained.

  Cracks formed in the shield, radiating out from his antlers. The buck’s shoulders bunched as he pushed forward. I abandoned the spell around him, praying it would hold long enough for me to finish casting the next spell.

  “Sowil.”

  The cracks spread.

  “Haglaz.”

  The spell crumpled and the deer fell forward.

  “Esaz.”

  The new spell snapped into place, catching the deer before he had a chance to get away. This was a more advanced version of the last spell, stronger and designed to lock him inside.

  Beside me the shorter officer sighed and holstered his gun. “Ma’am, I didn’t think you would be able to hold him.”

  I sucked in some air. The fast casting of energy-heavy spells had made me a little light-headed. “I didn’t either.”

  The other officer relaxed. “Do you think you can prevent that from happening again?”

  “As soon as my head stops spinning, I’m going to wrap him up in so many spells he won’t even be able to attempt an escape.”

  He nodded but kept his focus on the buck.

  Shaking out my wand hand, I started another round of spells. I strengthened the shield, then added a compulsion spell to make the buck calm down and walk obediently in the shield. With both of those firmly in place, I redid the levitation spell and started him rolling again.

  The officers kept a sharper eye on him this time, and scouted around to find a large enough path so I could keep my attention on the buck. Among the three of us, there were always two sets of eyeballs on the buck, but this time he was as docile as he could be.

  After a few minutes, the trees started to thin, revealing the rough outline of a small log cabin. We were approaching from the side, but I could see a fence made of wood and wire out back, which was designed to keep a dog contained, and the rear end of another oversized deer. Apparently Rodriguez had figured out a way to keep at least one of them in there. As curious as I was about how he’d managed that, I was even more hopeful that the buck was the only escapee. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my week tracking these things through the woods.

  “Michelle, you made it! And you captured our runaway,” Rodriguez called out, leaning over the fence.

  “You know me. Always here to clean up the mess. Where should I put this guy?”

  “In here with the rest of them. There’s a gate on the other side of the house.” Rodriguez sighed. “Things should be rather straightforward from here.”

  “Let me get him in there and we can talk.”

  “Sounds good.” Rodriguez started across the backyard.

  I directed the deer around the front of the small cabin. Through the windows, I could see an officer talking to a couple. The woman had a young child cradled in her arms. Somehow I didn’t think this was the relaxing weekend they’d had in mind.

  With all the cars pulled close to the house, there weren’t many places large enough for the deer to pass. I ended up squeezing between the house and a big pickup truck. It was the only vehicle that didn’t belong to the police, so I figured the couple owned it. The license plate on the back of the car listed a county south of Atlanta, so these were either weekenders or they were renting the cabin for a mountain vacation.

  When we rounded the house, I was relieved to see Rodriguez manning a sizable gate. It was easy enough to direct the buck through, and I followed it in before anchoring the spell to the ground again while Rodriguez closed the gate.

  I opened my mouth to ask what happened, but the words died on my lips when I saw eight other deer in the backyard, each one of them only slightly smaller than the buck. Clearing my throat, I croaked. “What happened?”

  “Funny you should ask.” Rodriguez’s voice was dry. “Did you see the family when you circled around?”

  I had a terrible feeling that I knew where this was going. “Yes.”

  “Well, the mom, dad, and toddler came up for a short vacation. Did I mention they’re witches?”

  Shaking my head, I tried not to imagine what he was going to say next.

  “The little one found her dad’s wand, made her way over to the window, where she saw the herd of deer, and next thing you know they’re big, angry, and causing all sorts of trouble. The parents tried to fix the issues, but you know how deer are. As soon as the parents ran onto the porch, they took off. The mom managed to catch one, and then they called us.”

  “How’d you get them all in here?” If you’d asked me this morning, I would’ve said gathering a herd of deer was at the very limit of Rodriguez’s capabilities.

  “The couple helped me move the doe they captured back here, and I set up an attraction spell, you know, to attract like creatures. The officers were keeping tabs on a few of the deer, including that buck. All the does came back, but he didn’t.”

  I nodded absently as I examined the spells. He’d done a good job with the attraction spell. I’d give another scan to see if he’d missed any other deer, but I was pretty sure he had the rest of the herd. Rodriguez had also stunned the deer, which was why they were staying inside the fence they otherwise could’ve hopped over.

  On the bright side, I could work with this. “I’ll check for any fugitive deer, and then I’ll work on returning them to normal. Unless you’d rather I leave them be?”

  “No!” Rodriguez barked. “Shrink them down, and undo anything else that kid did.”

  “Got it.”

  Taking a deep breath, I let the magic flow out of me and bolstered the effectiveness of Rodriguez’s attraction spell. There was no magical echo of another creature or anything else to make me think that more of the deer were hiding in the woods.

  With my first check complete, I undid his spell, absorbing the energy. The next part was trickier. I built my own spell, similar to the one he’d had on the deer. Mine included the buck in case any other males had been affected. While Rodriguez had directed the spell to look for similar creatures, I had it look for deer that had experienced similar magic. After all, those were the only deer I cared about.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7