The Wizard Divide

The Dog Problem

Mal had spent considerably more time than she cared to admit developing a spell for the sole purpose of seeing a dog.

Granted, calling Hath a dog was stretching the definition to its absolute breaking point.

Hath was a hellhound.

More specifically, according to Hades, he was Hell's Royal damn dog, which had apparently been important enough for Mal's father to emphasize while simultaneously scratching the enormous creature behind the ears.

Mal had heard plenty about Hath since he'd decided Evie belonged to him.

She had felt Hath.

She had heard Hath.

She had been pawed by Hath.

She had watched objects move around Evie and Robby's house because an invisible creature roughly the size of a Massiff had decided they were inconveniently placed.

What Mal had never actually done was see Hath.

That ended today.

Mal walked beside Aiden toward Evie and Robby's house, looking down at the faint emerald glow still lingering around her fingers.

"The spell should hold."

Aiden glanced at her.

"You said that ten minutes ago."

"I'm reassuring myself."

"That inspires confidence."

Mal shot him a look.

Aiden smiled.

The spell itself had been surprisingly annoying.

Making something invisible visible wasn't particularly difficult. Mal had done variations of that before.

Making something invisible because it was an ancient infernal creature visible to two specific people without interfering with the creature's natural state?

That had taken considerably more work.

Hath wasn't using an invisibility spell.

There was nothing for Mal to dispel.

He simply existed in a way ordinary mortal perception wasn't equipped to process.

Evie could see him because Hell recognized her as its Queen.

Robby could see him because Ghost Rider and Celestial Rider were bonded to him.

Hades could see him because he was Hades.

Mal and Aiden?

Apparently they didn't qualify.

Until now.

Mal had finally managed to build a spell that adjusted their perception instead of affecting Hath himself.

The eventual goal was to expand it.

Parker needed to be able to see Hath.

Lydia needed to be able to see Hath.

Chief absolutely needed to be able to see Hath, if only because Mal desperately wanted to witness Master Chief's reaction to discovering exactly what had been wandering invisibly around him.

But first?

Testing.

They rounded the side of the house.

Mal stopped.

Aiden took another step before realizing she wasn't beside him anymore.

He stopped too.