Wicked Magic Read online

  Monica: The leftmost is hazel I think. I hope. If not, you’re screwed

  Nathan: It better be or you’re never getting the playstation

  Monica: Noooooo!

  Monica: It’s defo hazel, I googled it

  Blindaz was a nice small rune in the runic dictionary, so he grabbed a vaguely round piece of wood and stole sandpaper from his uncle’s DIY supplies.

  It took Nathan an hour of painstaking work to sand the hunk of wood into a passable amulet and carve the rune into the front and back. That was the easy part; he’d done that quite a few times in training. The bit that movies and books always managed to wuss-out of showing was the real hard work: imbuing the amulet with magic. Real magic wasn’t clean or quick or efficient. It was messy and imprecise and involved a lot of believing in yourself.

  Believing in yourself was a surprisingly tricky skill to master.

  Nathan’s believing involved lit candles, filched from the bathroom where his aunt kept a supply with strange scents. It also involved closed eyes and chanting. He did it at two AM so no one would walk in on him, and it took a clean two hours before the rune looked even slightly gold to his magically sensitive vision.

  A witch would have dipped it in some kind of tincture and waved their hands and chanted in Latin, but none of that was an option for humans. Exhausted from two hours of intense self-belief, Nathan collapsed into bed and slept through his alarm.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “WAKE UP! AUNT ANNA SAYS TO WAKE UP! YOU’RE LATE FOR TRAINING!”

  “Jess?” Nathan rolled over and peered sleepily at his eleven-year-old sister. “What time is it?”

  “Seven-fifteen.”

  “Crap!” Nathan tumbled out of bed, taking half the bedding with him and landing in a tangle on the floor. Jessica laughed.

  “Get out!”

  “Don’t be rude, Nathan!”

  Nathan trained at his mentor’s house, a fifteen-minute cycle from home. That Saturday, he arrived sweaty and out of breath. Grey was unimpressed.

  “If I had been late to training, my mentor would have sent me home again.”

  “Graham, please,” Nathan said between pants. “It won’t happen again.”

  “I’m sure I’ve heard that before.”

  Nathan groaned. “Fine, well, I could do with another, oh, six hours sleep, so—”

  “On second thoughts, maybe it’s more of a punishment to let you stay.”

  Should have kept my damn mouth shut, Nathan thought sourly. Rumour had it that Grey was capable of being nice, once a year on Christmas day. Seeing as Nathan got Christmas day off, he had never had the privilege of experiencing it.

  Saturdays, the Saturdays when Nathan didn’t go to London to see his parents, were dedicated fully to training: self-defence in the morning, followed by weapons training, finishing off with skills in the afternoon. The latter included the warding he had done the night before, as well as all manner of other tricks for tracking vampires.

  “Dad said he’s on a hunt in Liverpool,” Nathan said when they sat down for lunch. Mrs Larson had made sandwiches. “Is it an important target?”

  “If it were, do you think I’d tell you?” Grey replied.

  “Course not,” Nathan said dejectedly. He didn’t even have to know who it was—he was just curious what his father got up to. But, of course, no one told him anything.

  “Eat your lunch,” Grey said. “We’re working on languages this afternoon.”

  Brilliant.

  Most other teenagers would probably think it was cool to be able to speak five languages fluently, but they didn’t have to do push-ups every time they made mistakes.

  “Can’t we do more knife work? Or start on guns? I’ll be eighteen in October. It’s not that far off.”

  “No guns until you’re eighteen,” Grey replied sternly. “Your parents want you to start on Arabic.”

  Another language? Seriously?

  “What do I even need Arabic for? No vampire worth their salt is gonna live in the Middle East—they’d fry!”

  “Don’t question orders, Nathan.”

  Nathan wanted nothing more than to fall into bed by the end of it, but he had to shower and dress to head to the cinema. He cycled into town and locked his bike outside Pembroke College. Matt was waiting for him, wearing chinos and a shirt.

  “You’re looking smart,” Nathan said dully.

  “Do you mind if Poppy joins us?” Matt asked. “I promise if she starts making a fuss we’ll leave.”

  Nathan thought longingly of his bed. “If you want to postpone…”

  “No! No! Don’t leave me alone with her! She might start crying again!”

  Nathan had zero interest in Matt’s relationship drama. He sighed. “Fine.”

  Lily texted as they were walking up Cornmarket.

  Lily: Are you in town yet?

  A really wicked idea occurred to Nathan.

  “Hey, Matt, you mind if I invite a friend as well?”

  “As in a female friend?” Matt asked.

  “Yeah, but not a girlfriend, just one of Monica’s friends. I have to give her something, so I said she could meet me.”

  “Wait,” Matt said. “You have female friends?”

  “Focus, Matt.”

  “Ooh, I want to meet her!”

  Nathan: Do you want to join me and my friend for dinner and a movie? He invited his girlfriend and I need moral support

  Lily: Yes, please :)

  Okay, maybe it was a little cruel to take advantage of Lily’s desperation for friends, but she was the only person Nathan knew who was more socially awkward than he was.

  Nathan: We’re going to the Noodlebar now.

  Lily: See you there!

  By the time they got to the restaurant Lily was waiting outside, looking cute as a button in a blue dress. She beamed at Nathan, and Matt gawked.

  “She’s your friend? Are you serious?”

  “Matt, meet Lily,” Nathan said, feeling very cool. “Lily, this is Matt. He goes to school with me.”

  “Hi,” Lily said sweetly and shook Matt’s hand. Matt was still staring. Nathan tried to see Lily through his friend’s eyes—untainted by the knowledge that her father was eight hundred years old and probably ate Lily’s suitors for breakfast. Yeah, she was cute. Lily was petite, with generous curves and very long blond hair. She had blue eyes and pouty lips and perfect skin.

  Of course, she would look perfect. It hid the bloodsucking monster inside. Nathan wondered what Matt would think if he realised the girl he was drooling over drank human blood as the price for beauty and eternal youth.

  That was when Poppy arrived, which basically set the tone for the entire evening.

  Poppy was pretty too. Actually, Nathan used to have a bit of a crush on her, which had been killed stone-dead when Matt started dating her and she turned out to be a massive psychopath. She had black hair and very green eyes, and she liked to wear short skirts. She kissed Matt like she was trying to eat his face, then frowned at Lily.

  “Who are you?”

  “Nathan’s friend,” Matt said, having apparently got over his tongue-tied-ness.

  “I’m Lily.” Lily smiled.

  “Charmed,” Poppy replied coolly. “I’m Poppy.”

  “Shall we get dinner now?” Nathan asked.

  “What are we watching?” Lily asked once they were sitting down.

  “The latest Maze Runner movie,” Matt replied. Poppy latched herself onto his arm.

  “I checked, there’s a viewing of Sleeping with Other People at the same time…”

  “No way.” Matt rolled his eyes.

  “Oh, come on, you never want to watch the movies I like!”

  “Because Maze Runner is great, and chick-flicks are lame!”

  Leaving them to bicker, Nathan reached into his pocket and pulled out the ward. He’d wrapped it in tinfoil to stop it from absorbing any foreign magics before it got to Lily.

  Lily’s smile grew as he handed it over. She
unwrapped the foil immediately. “Oh, it works!”

  “You could not sound so surprised,” Nathan said. “I stayed up to four AM making that.”

  “Monica said she didn’t think you could get it to work.”

  “Monica’s a bitch.”

  “What’s that, then?” Matt asked. “You giving each other gifts already?”

  “It’s ugly,” Poppy observed.

  “It’s a magical amulet to keep away the supernatural,” Nathan said, which got him wide eyes from Lily but, predictably, sniggers from the other two. What would they do if they knew he wasn’t joking? But Matt loved laughing at Nathan’s vampire jokes.

  “I think it’s cute,” Lily said. She strung the leather cord around her neck then stood up. “I’m just going to the bathroom. Nate, will you order a sweet and sour chicken for me?”

  “She’s cute,” Matt said as soon as Lily was out of sight. Nathan covered his face with his hands.

  “Matt, shut up.”

  “Oh, come on. I think she’s into you.”

  “Lily is not ‘into me’,” Nathan said. “And even if she was, I am not into her.” He was quite attached to living, after all. “Anyway, you wanted me to ask Cynthia out just the other day.”

  “Cynthia Rymes?” Poppy asked. “When did you see her?”

  “At her lacrosse game,” Nathan said.

  “You were at the lacrosse game?” Poppy demanded, her voice going shrill.

  “Nathan, you traitor,” Matt said.

  When Lily came back, the ward was pulsing a bright, vibrant red to Nathan’s magical sight. That meant it had successfully imprinted on her when she added her blood. Nathan pretended he wasn’t relieved that it had worked. Lily didn’t need to know he doubted his own skills.

  After dinner, they headed to the cinema. Poppy kept up a litany of complaints, but Matt was a good friend and sat between her and Nathan so that he got the worst of the tirade. When the movie was over, they stood outside the cinema and contemplated what to do next.

  “Dang, if we were eighteen, we could get a drink,” Matt said.

  “Babies.” Lily grinned.

  “Don’t be mean, Lily,” Nathan told her.

  “Oh, that’s Adrian’s fault, he says I’m too nice and he told me to practice on you.”

  “Adrian’s such a prat.” Nathan groaned. He could imagine his uncle’s face if he realised Nathan had wrangled Lily into a double date, too. Considering that, he really ought to do the gentlemanly thing. “Should I, uh, walk you home or something?”

  “You can walk me to Oriel, Damien should be done with his fellows’ dinner by now.”

  At the High Street, they separated from Matt and Poppy, who were taking the bus home.

  “It was nice to meet you, Lily,” Matt said.

  “And you,” Lily replied shyly. She looked like she was blushing, though that might have been because Poppy was trying to set her on fire with her eyes.

  Once the two had boarded their respective buses, Nathan and Lily headed for Oriel College, which was tucked away behind Christ Church.

  “You really didn’t have to walk me,” Lily said.

  Yes, he did, because when Adrian found out he’d made the anti-scrying ward, he was going to murder Nathan. Nathan didn’t say that, though. Trying to be cool, he said, “I was walking in this direction anyway. Show me the inside of Oriel College and we’ll call it quits.”

  “Sure,” Lily said. The porter was just closing up the front gate, and they ended up running for it.

  “Cutting it fine there,” he told Lily, then frowned at Nathan. “No visitors after hours.”

  “Please, can’t I just show him the quad quickly?” If cuteness were a superpower, Lily would have it. The porter caved.

  “Quickly,” he said. “Or you’ll get me in trouble.”

  “Thanks!”

  Monica had shown Nathan enough of Oxford University to have worn down the mystique. Oriel College was quite pretty, though, and Lily explained its history to him as she let him peek into the two quads and the hall.

  The hall was silent, so they headed up a staircase to Damien’s office instead. The door opened before Lily could knock.

  “Good evening, Lily, Mr Delacroix.”

  “Hello Damien,” Nathan said breathlessly. His sixth sense, the one that picked up magic, was going wild, screaming ‘Vampire! Vampire! Vampire!’ at him. Damien always seemed to suck all of the air out of the room.

  Damien was a good two inches taller than Nathan, about six foot one. He had buzzcut blond hair and a sort of old-fashioned militaristic air around him, like soldiers in the old portraits Nathan had seen of his ancestors. Damien would have fit right in. When he smiled, it didn’t reach his eyes.

  He was dressed in one of the long gowns fellows sometimes wore, over a grey suit.

  “Are you ready to go?” he asked Lily.

  “Yes,” she said brightly. Damien locked the door before Nathan could glance into his office. He’d never seen inside—in his head there were coffins and gothic arches, and the décor tended towards skulls and bloodied knives. Adrian swore it was just filled with old books, though. Nathan had seen Damien’s house, which had turned out to be disappointingly normal, so Adrian was probably right.

  “Did you enjoy your film?” Damien asked as they descended the stairs. It was a completely normal thing for a dad to ask his daughter, which made it utterly jarring coming out of Damien’s mouth.

  “Yes,” Lily answered. “We watched the Maze Runner.”

  “I take it that is one of those dystopian futuristic films with a high ration of explosions per minute,” Damien said. “Did Mr Delacroix pick the film?”

  “I think his friend did,” Lily said. “You don’t need to be so disdainful. You know, girls can like movies with a… high ratio of explosions, too.”

  Nathan grinned to himself.

  They crossed the quad and Damien held the door for them at the gatehouse. Outside the streets were mostly empty.

  “Do you need a lift somewhere, Mr Delacroix?” Damien asked.

  “No, I came by bike,” Nathan said. “It’s locked over on St. Aldates.” He turned to Lily. “Thanks for keeping me company. Sorry Matt’s a bit of an idiot.”

  “It’s alright,” Lily said. “He’s a charming idiot.”

  “Hah, that’s just because you don’t know him that well,” Nathan replied. “When you get to know him, he becomes a dumb idiot.”

  Lily smiled.

  “Goodnight,” Nathan called, heading for St. Aldates. He’d barely rounded the corner when a little kid came flying out of a backstreet and barrelled straight into him.

  “NO!”

  Then the girl was off again, sprinting towards St. Aldates. Two men emerged from the same direction she had, and they were covered in ugly, stinky dark magic. It clung to them like tar, invisible to anyone who wasn’t magically sensitive, but clear as day to Nathan.

  “Did you see a kid?” one demanded. “Where’d she go?”

  “There she is!” the other yelled. They took off. Nathan made up his mind in a split second. He dived in front of them, swiping one’s legs out from under him and wrenching the other’s arm in a way which probably dislocated the shoulder.

  The man screamed in pain. The other staggered to his feet and began chanting in some guttural language. Nathan grabbed him and drove his head against a wall, hard enough that when he dropped the man, he didn’t get up. The other one pulled out a knife, but he obviously had no formal training. Nathan disarmed him swiftly and knocked him out the same as his mate.

  The knife was pulsating with black magic and covered in strange markings. He pocketed it to examine later and set off to look for the little girl.

  She was smart. Nathan found her at a bus stop, huddling close to a group of lost-looking tourists. He might have missed her, if it wasn’t for her aura.

  She had a bird in her aura.

  It looked like a swan, only black. A black swan. That looks familiar.

/>   He’d thought he’d imagined it, with Cynthia. Maybe he’d been bone tired last time, but with adrenaline coursing through his veins, Nathan couldn’t have been more awake now.

  “Hey, kid,” he said. She spun around and gasped, throwing her hands up in defence. She couldn’t have been older than seven or eight. Her clothes were a mess, a school uniform for sure, but it looked like she’d slept in them. Nathan wasn’t sure which school, but then there were tonnes of primary schools in Oxford.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said softly. “Can I call someone to get you?”

  Her eyes filled with tears. Uh oh.

  “Or I could take you somewhere.”

  “No, you have to go away,” she whispered. “You’re going to lead them right to me.”

  Nathan snorted. “Those guys aren’t going anywhere fast, ‘cept maybe a hospital. I knocked them out.”

  “Do you know, like, kung fu or something?”

  “Nah, I’m a vampire hunter,” he joked. Her eyes widened.

  “Vampires don’t exist,” she said seriously, which was honestly the most unexpected thing she could have said. She was managing to be a bird and a human at the same time, but she didn’t believe in vampires?

  “Okay,” Nathan replied slowly. “Well, I know krav maga, and I knocked them out, I promise you that. I have a phone—do you want to call someone?”

  She bobbed her head uncertainly. Nathan passed her his phone. If she tried to nick it, he was pretty sure he could catch her.

  She plugged in a number and pressed the call button. The phone rang a few times, and then the tension drained out of her body when it was answered.

  “Mummy, Mummy, I need you to come and get me,” she wailed. In about two seconds flat, she was full-on sobbing. “I don’t know, I just ran away! I don’t know, a nice man lent me his phone!”

  “Why don’t you let me speak to your mum?” Nathan asked. “I can tell her where you are.”

  The girl peered at him through teary eyes, looking distinctly distrustful. After several moments, she held out the phone.

  “Hello?” Nathan said cautiously.

  “Hello? Hello? Emma?” asked a frantic-sounding female voice.