Playing With Fire

Chapter Seventeen

I poured a cup of coffee, sipped the scalding black liquid, and sat down at the computer chair to wait. Fifteen agonizingly slow minutes later I was finally able to pull up google. I debated for a minute on whether or not to reach out to the old contacts my handlers had put me in touch with before they died, and finally decided it couldn't hurt anything. All of them were from earth and to my knowledge had no dealings with the fae.

After an hour of fruitless chatrooms and research I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. No one knew anything about a she-demon running loose on the planet. Granted I had not come out and asked directly, but you would think that someone would have noticed something amiss. From what I had been told though nothing unnatural had occurred, well anymore than usual. No more demon summoning related deaths than normal. No shadow-taint, no sulfur flares, no brimstone, no nothing. I couldn't imagine the Carothannach was overly concerned with keeping a low profile so I had been certain there would be some sort of trail, but there was no hint of her. None of my contacts had anything useful to say and I shut down the ancient computer in irritation.

I had one more job to do before I made my way to the Guild this morning, so I dressed and headed out to the back porch. I grabbed one of the dusty leather tomes from the trunk in the shed and strolled into the thick forest behind the house. Keira was weaving through the trees around me silently, chasing prey I couldn't hear. The forest was eerily quiet, but Keira's territory was fairly large and to my knowledge undisputed so I wasn't worried about stumbling across any dangerous creatures too close to the house.

A few miles in I finally saw a break in the trees and stepped out into a meadow, of sorts. The circle of trees that framed the empty spot of forest was unnaturally perfect, and the meadow was really more of a grown up crater. I couldn't imagine what had made the depression, but it was the only cleared spot for miles besides my own front yard, and that was too close to Flo for my liking.

I found a decent sized rock sticking up from the earth and sat down opening the book in my lap. I stared at a random page and debated if this was the right thing to do or not. Keira chased a butterfly across the field from me and I rubbed my palms against my eyes hard enough to see stars. Fuck it, there's really no other choice.

With a sigh I flipped to the first page and started reading.

"When you hit puberty the full extent of your magic will awaken..."

This was ridiculous. I was stuck reading a book they gave to fae youths when they came into their full powers, but I didn't know what else to do. My handlers had refused to instruct me in my magic other than how to control it, and there was no handbook for my kind. I was hoping it was similar enough to fae magic that I could get something useful out of this dusty old book, but I felt like an idiot. I bit back another sigh and kept reading though. If I was going to face the Carothannach I needed more than rudimentary control of my magic. I needed to be able to wield it.

I finished the first few chapters and stood setting the book down on the rock. I strode a little farther into the field, a little farther away from the dry tinder the trees would make and took a breath. I felt stupid but I did what the book instructed, feet shoulder length apart, dominant foot slightly in front of the other, back straight, chin up, arms loose, eyes closed and reached into the well of magic inside me.

This wasn't completely foreign to me. I used my magic. I could light candles and fuel flame throwers, but I didn't have near the ability with it that I should have at my age. I was wasted potential and I intended to correct that. I siphoned magic out of my core where it rested and envisioned it flowing down toward my hands. Immediately my palms lit with fire and I cursed quietly. The book said that I was supposed to pool the magic in my palms, but not use it. I concentrated and finally snuffed the flame, but continued to send my magic down my arms to my hands.