The Magic of Shadows

Chapter 3

Helaine's POV

"What do you mean you have to introduce us to your house?" North demanded skeptically. He was probably going to end up having issues with my home, as well as the four mischief makers I've identified—Sean, Luke, Gabe, and Raven. The first three are an educated guess, the fourth is a certainty. The house can be... particular. And it doesn't have the sense of understanding or compromise that a reasonable person would.

"I don't need your middle or whispered names, only your first and last. In fact, you don't even have to tell me your name. All you have to do is step through the door and whisper your name." I thought his concern was in his worry for his teammates. Names are powerful and I'm a complete stranger to him and his family.

Most witches and warlocks have three to four names, depending on where they're from. In the United States the majority had a first, middle, and last like most mundanes do, but then there's the whispered name. It's a name that only the parents and their child know, if you're born into a magical family. It's an added layer of safety, something not written in ink that protects a person from magic controlled by the use of a full name. There's a ceremony with the coven that even the most modern witches still participate in that includes the parents whispering their child's full name into the wind. The name is bound to the child through the mingling of the natural force of the world's magic and the magic produced by the coven. Then the whispered name is rarely mentioned ever again.

When someone marries, they can choose to share their whispered name, but few do. It requires absolute trust. Knowledge of a name allows someone to work some of the worst magic on you with no way for you to know that it's happening. First and last names can be bad, even for humans. Middle names are even worse. But the knowledge of a whispered name can have deadly consequences.

Witches born into mundane families go through the naming process later in life, but for those years where they don't have a whispered name, their life is at risk. A witch's full name alone can be a powerful spell. I've heard horrible stories of witches and warlocks being controlled, forced to do horrible crimes by a witch with knowledge of their full name.

I'd never ask for someone's whispered name. I wouldn't ask for a middle name for a mundane or a witch, either. I've even heard of witches lying about their middle name on official documents, just to be safe.

Members of the Academy share their whispered names with their chosen families. It's not required but it is a symbol of absolute trust and is generally performed once members of a team are completely confident in one another. There are benefits, of course. Not all spells performed with a full name are inherently bad. In the Academy they're most frequently used for tracking spells.

I've never had a team, though, and I can't imagine sharing my own name, even with someone who is Academy. Brandon knows my legal middle name, just in case I ever needed to be found, but I wouldn't dream of asking for any of theirs.

North's growl was meant to be intimidating but it's hard to find him scary when I can sense his uncertainty. It's more than just their names. He's stressed and he's scared for his brothers' safety and now he's being told that my house has a personality. "It's a fucking house, we don't need to introduce ourselves to it."

From the kitchen came a hardy, clattering crash, most likely the silverware drawer being thrown from the cabinet. All five of the men flinched and I heard shouts of alarm from inside the house. Smiling tightly, I tell North, "The house has preferences." And, quite frankly, it's not polite enough to care that they've most likely had a difficult day.

As I stepped through the door, the walls began to creak and groan, doors slamming shut upstairs. Protesting even more people coming inside. I glared up, snapping, "You knew they were coming. If you were so against it, you shouldn't have made room for all of them!" I had gone to sleep with the house looking like a house and woken up to the house resembling a mansion turned bed and breakfast.