I saw the hole from which I’d retrieved the sack of spells. Not burned.
I turned back toward the living room, more pieces of the puzzle fitting into place. “I bet he was in here looking for something”—the book of spells, most likely—“and whatever he wanted wasn’t there, so he freaked out.”
I stepped too far into the living room. The sound of cracking wood made me flinch, but it was too late. The floor gave way. My foot went down.
My hands came up to protect my face. Gravity ripped at my body, but my backward fall was cut off abruptly—pain cinched my stomach and air greeted the crack of my ass.
Darius held me in the air by my belt.
“Once again, this strange form of security has proven effective,” he said. He didn’t sound taxed. “And Reagan, you should know that I only buy the best quality.”
“It seems so, yes. Fancy putting me down?”
I appreciated that he set me down gently. I didn’t appreciate the smile on his face.
“Suddenly you gain a sense of humor?” I dusted myself off out of habit.
“I have always enjoyed circus performers.”
“Lovely.”
Back to analyzing the hole in this room, it seemed I had missed an item hidden in the floor—why else would another cubbyhole exist? Judging by the lesser destruction in this room versus the other, I’d taken the most valuable prize. That was good to know. “Our mage has a rage problem. He wanted something that wasn’t here, so he fried the place. Childish.”
“Possibly that was the demon at work.”
Who had taken the item from this room?
Another light bulb went off.
“Could be,” I answered Darius, marching toward the door. His reflexes were as fast as ever, thankfully, and I didn’t have to rip out of his grip, or pull him behind me. “Depends on the demon. With all the mage’s power, though, that demon must be constantly trying to take over.” Outside, I swung my gaze to the side. No curtains moved. “I bet the mage is playing the dangerous game of demon pack and play.”
“What is that?” Darius followed me across the dead grass and to the neighbor’s house, my original destination.
“He creates a spell to contain the demon in a circle of some kind, one that can coerce the demon into giving information or power at the mage’s behest. Those spells are extremely complex, require a lot of power, and unwavering confidence and focus to maintain control. When the mage needs to take the power on the road, like he clearly did here, he performs a forced possession, pulling the demon into his body. At the end of his errand, he uses an exorcism to put it back into the circle. There are a few very dangerous points. Getting the demon into the body without it escaping, getting the demon out of the body and back into the circle, and keeping the demon from overtaking the body while the possession is in progress. Lots of work, but our mage clearly thinks it’s worth the crazy power boost. It’s just a matter of time before one of those three issues goes wrong.”
“Or else the circle falters.”
“Or that, sure. The demon could eat away at the circle over time, and if our mage is primarily concerned about the more dangerous situations, maybe he gets complacent with the finer details and upkeep. But wow. A true demonic possession for power. I haven’t seen this in a while. It totally fits, though.”
I felt the wards protecting the property, paltry things designed by a hack.
Or maybe playing with the powerful mage had made me forget what lower-level magic looked like.
“You have magic, you know all about magic…” Darius paused beside me, watching me feel my way around the spell. “Reagan, I have never heard a mage speak like this. The Banks are at the top of the power spectrum in the area, and they have never sounded this confident and insightful. In addition to being extremely aroused, I am certain you could be the best mage I have ever met.”
“My mother thought the same thing. Had she lived longer, she would’ve taught me more. But her time was cut short.”
“I hear the sadness in your voice. I would like to revisit this conversation in a quieter time. But for now, why don’t you learn magic?”
I stood, whipped out my sword, and sliced through the spell. Immediately I felt the small tug of the sword, asking for a little bit more power to keep it completely stocked. I resisted, to see what would happen. After a moment, the feeling died away.
“I really like this sword. Thank you.” I tried to step forward, but felt his hand on my shoulder, stopping me. “You want to soak in the moment of me thanking you, huh?”
“You’ve cut a ward. Usually some sort of defensive measure happens afterward.”
“Yes, professor, that is true. So why are we standing still, waiting for it?”
His hand disappeared from my shoulder.
I stalked forward, waiting for the ball to drop. “I am learning to be a mage, after a fashion. Did you not hear me in that mage’s house? I study spells and incantations, but there’s a lot of information, not to mention tons of spells that are virtually the same other than their names. A spell that shocks people can be performed in ten different ways, did you know that? Ten!”
“Pick one and then you can shock a person.”
“Yes. That is the logical conclusion. The problem is, I’m a perfectionist when it comes to magic. Maybe one is better than the other. Maybe the versions are different because of climate or environmental differences. I don’t want to try each one, because I’m also cautious. I’ve seen what happens when an idiot with too much power tampers with unknown spells. So then I look up each variation and try to figure out why it’s different from the others. All that takes time.”
“I assume you are the idiot with too much power?”
“I am not the idiot with too much power because I’m not tampering with spells I don’t understand. But thanks for the finger pointing, ass.”