“Bullying, she means,” Dizzy murmured.
“Fine. Bullying. Whatever.” Callie reached into her bag for another item and motioned me up. “If I sit down, I’ll never get back up.”
“I’m right there with you.”
“Quit whining. You’re tired, not old. Get up.” She motioned me up again, more forcefully this time.
I rose and stood beside her. No way was I getting between her and a spell. It seemed dangerous.
She emptied the contents of her hand over my head, getting leaves and stuff in my hair. It would be hard to wash out. Next she crushed some other sort of plant, took the pouch from Dizzy, and pinched out wet, gooey stuff that smelled like—
“Please tell me you aren’t going to rub poop on me.” I winced when she smeared it on my arm. “Did you just wipe poop on me?”
“You’ll feel better.”
“Eating and sleeping would make me feel better. Smearing poop on me isn’t the answer.”
“Oh hush. I need you to help me, and for that, you need to be healed. It doesn’t smell that bad.” She rubbed her hands around a chalky stone.
“Does sense of smell wither with old age? Because it does smell that bad.”
“Bullying, see?” Dizzy handed her another leafy plant of some kind.
“I get the job done. Why is that called bullying?” Callie swatted me with the leafy plant. When it hit my skin, a chill spread through my body, making my teeth chatter. I hugged my arms around my torso before yanking my hand away from my arm. Too late—the gooey, foul-smelling stuff was now on my hand.
“Do you have any baby wipes in there?” My body started to shake. “Also, this doesn’t feel right.”
“I’m counteracting your magic,” Callie said as Dizzy handed over a wet wipe. “It will nullify the magic to its full potential much more often. It’ll help build up your magical muscles, so to speak. In fact, when I train the new recruit, I should let you sit in. That might help you develop your own abilities.”
“We don’t know if she’ll want to be trained,” Dizzy said.
“Of course she’ll want to be trained. Who wouldn’t?”
“People who hate being bullied?” I asked innocently.
“Would you two stop with the bullying comments?” Callie frowned at me, waiting.
The bite of cold worked its way out of my limbs, tingling my fingertips. Warmth took over, my normal body temperature. The aching was gone, along with the fatigue. I swung my arms, feeling fresh as a daisy.
“It would’ve been nice if you’d done this before the vampire stole my mark.” I tapped my weapons.
“We’ll plan your vengeance after we’ve had some rest. Now.” Callie stepped back and pointed at the door.
“I saw you levitating, by the way,” Dizzy said as I motioned fire over the spell. “That was really something. I didn’t know humans could do that. Can you go anywhere, or just up and down?”
“It was a gift from her father,” Callie said. “And I mean gift. There is no spell that can duplicate that. Only fifth-level demons and above can harness that power, and possessing a fifth-level demon and maintaining your sense of self is unheard of. Hollywood glorifies plenty of things, but some demonic possessions are really that extreme. Demons of that magnitude eat a person from the inside out. And yes, she should be able to move from one place to another, though I’m not sure how far she could make it. Amorette saw Reagan’s father do it.”
“My mom saw him, but she couldn’t teach me,” I said. “He needs to, or I need to figure it out on my own. Right now, I just can’t. I can will it, but I don’t move. I might not have enough power.”
“You have the power; you just haven’t completely grown into it. I think using it more often is the key,” Callie said.
“Why don’t demons just take their own human shape?” I asked, amping up the magic slowly. It sparked and sputtered as it worked through the woman’s defenses. She’d upped her game this time around, altering the spell to withstand another attack from my magic. I wondered if she even knew what she was doing, or if it was unconscious knowledge.
I made everyone take a few steps back, then threw up another fire shield just in case.
“Don’t touch that,” I said as Dizzy stuck his finger in.
“Ouch!” He yanked his hand back and stuck it in his mouth.
“It is actual fire. It hurts. Don’t touch it.” Callie shook her head at him. “Genius.”
“Darius went through it! He stood in it,” Dizzy shouted back. I was learning that that was his defense against the bullying. It all made sense now. There was a reason they were dual mages.
“Darius won’t allow himself to show pain,” I said.
“Creating and maintaining a human form takes substantial energy,” Callie said, finally answering my question about demons as she watched my magic work. “Crossing out of the underground does, too. When they surface on this side of the boundary, they immediately seek a human body to hibernate in for a time, regaining their strength.”
“Here we go.” I ripped the shards of the woman’s spell away and moved the curtain of fire just in time. The spell exploded, blasting the curtain and sparkling through. “Pretty.”
“I don’t wish I had your dad, but I do wish I had that ability.” Dizzy stared at it.
“I have a book that will teach you how to magically make fire, I think.” I stepped up and pulled the door open, quickly swinging to the side as I did so.
A spell streamed out, shooting past Callie and barely missing Dizzy, who jerked too late.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, we’re not here to hurt you!” Callie put her hands up. “The show is over. All the bad guys are dead.”
“Except the escaped werewolf, but don’t worry about her.” Dizzy smiled in a good-natured way. “She is terrorizing the closest town. We’re but a distant memory.”
I shook my head and looked at the sky. He wasn’t letting the gravity of the situation get to him, I’d give Dizzy that.
“What are you people?” the woman asked, huddled in the closet. She clutched her mostly empty canvas bag.