Venom And Vice

21

I spent the next two hours going through a manuscript my boss had sent for me to review. The book wasn’t my kind of reading, so it had taken all my concentration and willpower to pay attention. By the time I allowed myself a restroom break, I decided it was time to beef up on the caffeine. I made my way to the tiny single-stall bathroom, where I quickly did my business. As I washed my hands, I started to feel woozy. With my hands firmly planted on the white porcelain sink, I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. When I opened them and gazed down at the basin, I yanked my hands away with a gasp and flung myself backward, almost falling into the toilet. In a writhing ball of legs and furry bodies, hundreds of black spiders poured out of the silver faucet and scurried around the bottom of the sink. Air was racing in and out of my lungs so fast darkness threatened my vision, but the last thing I wanted was to pass out on the floor of a bathroom filled with spiders. I forced my breathing to slow but almost screamed when one of the spiders made it to the top of the basin and leaped onto the floor. I glanced desperately toward the door, but it was situated right next to the sink, and I was terrified of stepping any closer to the ever-increasing pile of spiders. Needing to defend the small spider-free space I occupied, I stomped my foot on the escapee. When I pulled my foot back, though, I saw no evidence of smashed guts on the ground. Lifting my foot, I discovered my shoe was also squeaky clean. My heartrate slowed enough for a moment of rational thought. Lifting my gaze back to the vanity, I surveyed a perfectly ordinary sink. Not a single wriggling spider. What the hell just happened? Am I hallucinating now? My head rested back as I took in a lungful of air. Maybe I’d been working a little too intently. Considering all that had gone on in recent days, my brain had to be on overload. I peered at the sink, deciding to use the hand sanitizer in my purse rather than touch the faucet, just in case. Once I was back at my table, I packed up my things and decided to head home. The walk would clear my head, and caffeine had lost its appeal. I was already plenty on edge. Knight accompanied me home, where I was able to get more work done before getting ready for my nightly training session. Becca popped in briefly before giving some cryptic excuse for needing to do some shopping, then left again. I still got the sense she was keeping something from me but was no closer to figuring out what it might be. However, I didn’t spend too much time overthinking it because my mind was overrun with curiosity about how my night would go. This was the first session I was approaching with more cautious optimism than dread. Our outing earlier in the day had been comfortable and productive. I was hopeful training might yield the same results. My eagerness was evident when I showed up at the gym a full ten minutes before Casek arrived. With nothing else to do, I stretched while I waited, greeting him with a smile when he joined me. He didn’t return the gesture. “You practice any today?” he asked, only briefly making eye contact. I tried not to let his surliness bother me. “No. I figured if my magic was easily drained, it would be best to conserve my energy until I trained with you.” Sound reasoning, in my opinion, but Casek appeared unimpressed. His lips thinned. “Let’s start with some sparring, then we’ll see about the magic.” I was disappointed—both in his mood and the delay in testing my magic —but I didn’t argue. Things with Casek had been moving in the right direction, and I didn’t want to erase our progress, though it took no small amount of control to keep my normally vocal opinion to myself. Hoping to catch him off guard while I was leaning down to the floor in a stretch, I swept my leg out toward the back of his knees. He caught on to my strike just in time. I made contact, but he was already on the move, so my attack didn’t take him down as I had hoped. He leaped to the side, and I spun to keep him in my sights. We circled each other, and I wondered if my eyes showed the same feral glint as his. He lunged forward with a clear size advantage and grabbed my hand, pulling my back to his front in a tight bear-hug. I whipped my hips to the side to give my right arm room to swing back into his groin, then I wrenched myself from his grasp. Before I could delight in freeing myself, he swept my legs out and had me pinned to the ground in the span of two seconds. Our eyes locked as we found ourselves in the same position as two nights earlier. I didn’t move a muscle, too terrified I’d repeat the same mistake. Casek remained equally motionless, though his reasons were a mystery to me. I wouldn’t have faulted him for flinching away from me. Instead, the only movement in the room was the push and pull of our ragged breaths. We teetered on that icy precipice for countless seconds before Casek’s phone began to ring. Even then, he didn’t move to answer until three urgent tones had broken the silence. “What is it?” he barked softly into the receiver, rising to his feet. Just like the night before, the person on the other end rattled off some information, and with an assurance he would be right there, Casek hung up. “You’re leaving again?” I blurted, all previous intentions of being agreeable lost in a jumble of emotions. “Yeah, something came up.” “And that’s all the explanation I get?” “Why the hell do you need to know anything more?” “Because!” I yelled, all my impatience and frustration bubbling to the surface. “I’ve been waiting months to learn my magic—to have any magic at all—and you seem to be finding every excuse in the book to keep me waiting. Why teach the silly human girl if you can postpone indefinitely.” My words were carved in the anger and uncertainty I’d grappled with for the past six months.