“Did it?”
“Yes. I decided my first priority was not getting caught.”
“You are a man of questionable morals, Shamus Flynn,” I said.
“You have no idea. Well, then.” He stood, stuck one hand in his jean pockets, and brushed hair out of his eyes with the other. “Thanks for lunch. I have to run. See you soon.”
I had a mouthful of fries. Zay was finishing his too. I held up my hand to tell Shame to stop, but he spun and was across the room, weaving between a noisy crowd of college kids pouring into the place. He was out the door before I could call his name.
The waitress saw my hand and came over with our ticket. Zay reached for it, but I got it before him. “You cover next time.”
“How about we just make Shame pay for a month?” he said.
“Does he ever pay for anything?”
Zay finished off his Coke. “Nope. That’s one of his special talents.”
I pulled out the cash, left it and the ticket propped next to the condiment basket. I stood. “Ready?”
For a second, just the briefest of moments, a wave of dizziness hit me. The entire building felt like it shuddered, like a liquid earthquake rumbled far beneath my feet, and echoed up my body and rolled through my head.
“Allie?”
I rubbed at my temple and the sudden headache. “Headache.” But it couldn’t be from magic use.
The last time I’d used magic was two weeks ago. A Hounding job that had nothing to do with the police or Detective Stotts. I had tracked back a spell for a lady in my building to make sure no one was putting Attraction on her car. Turned out no one was. The parking tickets and the speeding and seat belt violations were all nonmagical and all her.
Maybe this was just a regular headache? Regular people did get regular headaches. I was regular people too.
Zay put his hand on my arm and I walked with him out the door. The headache hung on despite the cool air. By the time we were halfway across the parking lot, the pain was less, and I felt stable on my feet. Normal.
Zay’s hand was still on my arm. I didn’t have to concentrate to feel his concern.
“I’m okay,” I said. “Just a little dizzy. It’s gone.”
He didn’t let go of me until we were next to his car, which he unlocked. “Maybe you should stop wearing the void stone.”
I hadn’t thought of that. “Can it make me dizzy? Give me headaches?”
He shrugged. “No one holds magic in their body like you do. It’s hard to know what the long-term effects are.” He paused, looked at me over the top of the car. Probably saw my panic as I scrambled to get the necklace off.
“It won’t bite,” he said.
“Right.” Visions of the stone sucking magic out of me like a leech filled my mind. “Nothing about you secret magic users or your secret magic toys is dangerous.”
I tugged the length of leather off over my head and held it out in front of me like I had a snake by the head. The void stone swung in the breeze, a dark heart wrapped in copper and silver wire like fire and moonlight, glass beads flashing like stars.
Zay grinned. “Want me to tie it in a knot or kill it and put it in the trunk?”
“Shut up.” I ducked into the car and plunked the thing down into the empty cup holder.
Magic stirred in me, a tingling warmth that grew hot, flushing across my skin, then sinking back down, warming my bones and filling me. It moved within me with promise, with desire. I closed my eyes, wanting to lose myself to it. Wanting to use magic in every way I could.
But that would be bad. I had enough magic inside me, I could burn down a city.
And I didn’t want to do that. I liked the city.
I took a deep breath and worked on letting the magic move through me without me touching it. I am a river and magic is the water. It pours through me, but it does not change me. I closed my eyes and repeated that litany until the magic backed off and settled like a layer of lead over my bones.
Several minutes had passed. Zay had already started the engine and was heading toward Maeve’s through traffic that was starting to thicken up for pre-rush hour. It was still light out, and a misty rain ticked against the windshield and roof. Other than the rub of the windshield wipers and the hum of the engine, it was quiet in the car.
I knew Zay could Ground me to help me keep the magic at controllable levels and could ease the pain I carried from using magic. But ever since we’d stepped into each other’s minds, we’d tried not to use magic together.
Grounding was extremely difficult and carried twice the pain for the user-in this case, Zay-as other spells did. It was one of the spells I’d never been good at.
No, let me be blunt: I sucked at Grounding. Always had, and it looked like I always would.
Zay could Ground like he was strolling through daisies.
It would be easy to ask him to Ground me, but I had to do this, learn to quiet the magic inside me on my own.
“Hint?” I finally asked.
“You learned it with Victor.”
Okay, Victor was Zay’s boss. Head of the Closers, who followed the magic discipline of Faith. Tall, elegant older man. Cultured, intelligent, and ruthless. He had a sort of calm and deliberation about him that I liked. It was a little like Zayvion’s Zen mode, and I wondered if Zay picked up that particular habit from him.
I may not fully trust Victor-issues; I have them-but other than Maeve, who taught Blood magic, he was my next-favorite teacher despite the fact that he taught Faith magic.
Faith magic was the same magic Dr. Frank Gordon had used to dig up my dad and try to kill me. Well, Frank had used a lot of disciplines, Faith, Life, Death, Blood. He’d probably used everything he could to try to open the gates between life and death. Wanted to control dark magic. Sacrificed a few innocent girls to do it.
I did not regret that he was dead.
“Allie.”
Oh, right. I was supposed to be dealing with the magic that was trying to burn its way out of me.
Victor. What had he taught me? That magic was a river, a constant flow. But it could be thought of as shape and form too. As glyphs. And every glyph had a beginning and an end. Every glyph had break points, corners, places where you could block and stop magic.
So what I needed to do was think of the magic in me as a glyph, find a corner, a break point where it flowed through me, and block it.
Good thing using magic was so easy.
Not.
I imagined myself as a river. Magic flowed up through my feet, filled the pool I held inside me-the small magic I was born with that was now a raging sea-and then magic poured out, too slowly, through my fingertip and into the ground again.
Where was there a break in that?
“Another hint?” I asked.
Zayvion placed his hand high up on my thigh, his long fingers curving downward. I sighed as cool mint washed along all the rivulets and pathways magic had torched through me. Swallowed and tasted mint on the back of my throat, and breathed deep to make room for Zayvion to tap into the magic I carried. I wanted to close my eyes and savor the feel of him within me. I licked my lips, shifted in my seat a little, and drew my fingertips up the back of his hand.
“Hey,” I said all breathy-like.
“Hey. Are you going to pay attention to what I’m doing?” he asked.
Spoilsport.
I rolled my head to one side and looked at him. I didn’t draw Sight. Using magic right now was sort of the opposite of what I was trying to do.
Still, there was that whole soul-to-soul thing between Zayvion and me. When we touched, I could sense him. I concentrated on that, felt what he was doing.
Sweet hells, the man put the multi in multitasking.
He held himself in a very disciplined, meditative frame of mind. He had sort of opened himself up, a lot like how I breathe deeply to let magic move through me.