Tripping Magic

4.4

Once home, after taking every back road I could think of to avoid being seen driving naked, I crawled into the shower. The hot spray washed over me until it ran cold, and I scrubbed up twice to get rid of the dirt. In my head I made a To Do list: call Misha, check in on Alice’s house, feed Anubis, rescue Mira.

I was no closer to finding her than I was prior to going into the woods. Now I didn’t even have her bracelet to attempt any other tracking spells. Her house contained loads of personal effects, but none would harmonize with me in the same way as that bracelet. That was the point of her spell placed on it — to make it easy for me to find my way back to her through the mirror. Or to find her anywhere else for that matter.

I needed food. Turning oneself into a medium-sized incendiary device took a few calories. My stomach growled in agreement as I threw on clean clothes and made my way downstairs into the kitchen. Halfway into making an impressive roast beef sandwich with a mountain of trimmings, the phone rang. I let it ring. The answering machine would take care of any telemarketers. The annoying beep sounded, louder and more piercing to my ears than usual.

“Alex, it’s Misha—”

Licking a glob of mayo off of my finger, I picked it up. “I’m here.”

“Where the hell have you been?”

“Hello to you too,” I replied with a weak chuckle, rubbing at my temples with a hand as I listened to Misha berate me. With luck, the food would help the headache.

“I’ve been trying to reach you.”

“You’ve got me now,” I said while staring at the sandwich waiting to be eaten. “I’ve been a little….” My voice trailed off as I thought of Julia tressing me in the vines like a Thanksgiving turkey. “Tied up.”

“And I’ve been left out of the loop.”

“Not intentionally.”

“Then why don’t you bring me up to speed. Even with a broken arm, I still can be useful.”

“All right,” I said, tucking the phone between ear and shoulder so I could cut my sandwich in half. “I’m starving, so you will have to deal with me eating and talking.”

“Fine.”

I told him everything around bites of sandwich — he drew a hard breath when I spoke about Alice.

“Small mercies. What does Ian say?”

“No idea. I need to check if he’s returned.”

“I can do that,” Misha offered. I knew he was anxious to see if the mirror still held any power to call Alice.

“Are you even supposed to be driving yet?”

“I’ll manage.” I heard the shrug in his voice. “Any word about Mira?”

My hand moved on its own to touch my wrist where her bracelet had been. “I thought I had a lead, but it turned into a ruse.”

“Oh?”

I relayed the entire tale around eating, from my location spell and its reaction to the phylactery, to Julia and her designs on Mira and my bones. Memory of the vines tightening against my throat moved my hand to pull at the non-existent choke hold.

“You did what?”

“Uh, became a bomb,” I said in a quick exhale.

“And Julia?” When I didn’t answer, Misha prompted again. “Alex, what happened to Julia?”

“Dead,” I answered quietly. “I think she’s dead.”

Admitting it drove a spike of adrenaline through my body to knot in the pit of my stomach. No longer hungry, I pushed the plate away. My anger at Julia had blinded me. There was no doubt she would have done everything she threatened, but I should have found other means of solving it. That rage had removed my one link to Mira — unless Julia could raise a barrier in the split second after I cast the conflagration spell, the fire would have consumed her. Self-defense or not, it was murder.