A Wisp of Fire

2

“Good to see you, Kasper,” Averi greeted the large man as she stopped outside the guard post for the construction site. The bolder of a man did not say anything back but waved her ahead even as the human guard asked her business. She cycled through and parked up next to the office. The human guard was complaining at Kasper, but the man ignored him. A flutter of light and she was getting out her chain and lock. Even for a few moments, unguarded in places like these could have her bike stolen or worse.

“It’s safe, Miss Averi,” Kasper grunted. “I have my eyes on them.”

“You know who we have to answer to if my bike is damaged or stolen,” Averi reminded, putting the chain away. It would be rude to lock it up now. Incredibly rude, but the trolls weren’t best known for their intelligence.

“Fenix,” Kasper answered a shiver of something in his voice. Not fear, Kasper did not fear anything beyond a warm bath and a sunny day but respect. Fenix was kind to Averi, as he was to anyone willing to accept their place in his world. It did not stop him punishing people who broke the rules or those who had led his people to do so. The trolls were not part of Fenix’s court, but they were faefolk, they came under his banner of influence. “You should tag the bike. Would keep pests off it.”

“It’s plastic. His name rolls off.”

Kasper frowned deep at that, the air heavy as the man thought that over. “Stone doesn’t make a good bike,” he grimaced.

“No, it doesn’t,” Averi agreed, rapping her knuckles on the office door. Plastic came from oil. It was man-made and unnatural. Iron burned Fenix as silver did to the wolves, but both would hold a name. Plastic couldn’t save a meaningful name. Her boss would have loved to have her riding on a metal frame emblemed with his name, but at times she needed to move fast. Some messages were more potent than others, and desperate people had attempted to interfere once or twice in the past. Plastic could cut through the air far easier than metal. And much more so that the stone than the trolls preferred to use to create.

“Would an amulet not work?” Kasper tilted his head, looking at the bike again. Averi could almost hear rock grinding as he shifted. Kasper’s glamour was never perfect.

“Possibly,” Averi allowed.

“Miss Averi,” the doorman greeted, letting her into the office.

“Oskar,” Averi nodded, walking in and over to Emilia, the desk girl for the site. Emilia was a tough woman who was able to pull her weight in the heavy lifting work just as easily as in the office. Her human side made her twice as bright as the average troll and the only one outside of the bosses that could use a computer without wrecking it convicting her sadly to the office manager. “Emilia, I like your new haircut.”

The woman ran her thick fingers through the buzz-cut on the side of her head and smiled almost shyly. The rest of her hair curled to the side neatly, and hints of a spiral pattern curved into the shaved portion. “It kept getting in the way. I like it like this.”

“Should dye it fancy colours,” Averi teased as she offered the clipboard. Technology was not a good idea with supernaturals. Too many made it fritz, and even those who had no harmful effect on it were more often than not afraid of the thing. “Have a bit of fun with it and give your Pa a shock.”

“Maybe,” Emilia chewed on her lip as she read over the paper and signed it. Her words were slow and thoughtfully, a touch of mischief in her eyes. “Could you see if the coven has any suggestions?”

“Natural ingredients, right,” Averi nodded, taking the full envelope from Emilia and check the first few pages.

Occasionally people would give her the wrong documents or items, and then things got a little confusing. The trolls wouldn’t care; the court types might. Some of the dodgy stuff was marked and noted, so Averi took no responsibly for failure to deliver. Most of the community knew she was under Fenix’s protection. All of them acknowledged that the job she did was too important to have one of the few humans willing to do it die from a misunderstanding.

“Maybe, pink? Can you get pink in natural ingredients?”

“If you’re fine with a touch of magic mixed in. Your hair is pretty dark.”

“I’d like pink,” Emilia nodded, biting her thumbnail.

“It’s a good colour,” Averi nodded, putting the envelopment in her bag. “I shall this to its destination,” Averi intoned, bowing her head slightly before saluting with two fingers as she left the door. The doorman patted her arm as she felt, a touch of magic glittering over her as she left. A bit of luck for the night never hurt. She grabbed her bike, checking the wheel for shadows before heading off—Gasping Kasper’s hand as he reached out for her.

The road was clear as Averi cycled towards the coven’s headquarters. The streets were busy with cars, but Averi knew how to weave between them all as she zipped to her destination. A burst of wind surrounded her and blew her on course, the magic of the city protecting her as she moved through it. People moved out of the way as she shifted onto the pedestrian streets, cutting through the high street, knowing that the road works made the path ahead dangerous for cyclists. Lights flickered around her as she passed a mixture of closed and closing shops. She dodged passed a few black bags and around a dog, the bike rattling against the uneven surface of the road.

A few more turns down darker allies and through a looming tree-filled park. The coven’s headquarters came into view. An old building that at first glance, was rundown and need of repairs but at closer look was intentionally so. It loomed ominously over people, discouraging people from hanging around with its mere presence. The coven’s view on the world was that the easiest way to hide was to be in full sight. People didn’t look twice at an old building half boarded up and a half in use. The odd person would try to peek, but a well-placed guard or two kept them back.

Averi looked around herself as she stopped in front of the building. The streetlights flickered, and two eyes gazed down at her curiously. She smiled at it but rolled her bike into the doorway. Pests, the lot of them. She rapped her knuckles three times against the door and pushed it through into the hallway beyond. She put it against the wall out of the way of anyone passing by and took off her helmet.

The hall was dark and foreboding, keeping the air of a place people weren’t supposed to be poking about in too quickly. Averi grimaced as a whisper moved through the air. A shimmer of power and magics wading the place from dangers. Averi murmured a chant under her voice, tracing the hidden symbol on her hand. The magic danced around her, nuzzling for a moment before chittering amused by the little protection charm trying to fight a ward.

“Averi,”

“Kourtney,” Averi smiled up at the witch on the staircase. She took a step, swallowing as the magic wrapped around her legs like sludge and stopped her from moving further. “Did the wards change recently?

“The last moon,” the woman breathed, drifting down the stairway. She was draped in layers but seemed to float as she moved. She had her black hair tied up in turban decorated with chains and pendants, and a crystal pendant rested on her chest. Kourtney was one of the receptionists for lack of a better term. One of the women who greeted non-witches who entered their turf. “The imps had been causing trouble again. We have a nest in the nearby transformer, and they are growing up quickly.”

“Dangerous too.” If they were left in the transformer too long, they could cause a power surge. Someone would have to deal with them soon. Luckily that wasn’t in Averi’s job.

Kourtney laughed, the sound echoing in the space. A hand tightened on Averi’s ankle as she shifted but as she remained in place didn’t do anything. Kourtney’s eyes turned black as she glanced over Averi, fixing on her bag for a brief moment. The pitch-black eyes met Averi’s, the world focusing in on them as something pushed through Averi’s soul. “You are always welcome in our house, Averi. For work or leisure.”

The hand disappeared with the sludge around her ankles. The uneasy feeling that emanated from the room did not fade, but the chains that had been fixing Averi in place vanished. “The welcome is appreciated and will be remembered.” As a messenger, Averi was always welcome to walk in the halls of foreign clans and houses, whether they wanted her to or not. For leisure offered an open invitation for her to visit as a friend too. Or to come searching knowledge should she choose to walk down the path of a coven witch. They would like her too.

The brown-skinned witch stopped Averi as she approached, an unhappy look forming on her face as she studied Averi. “You have ash beneath your nails,” Kourtney pulled Averi’s hand up to check it. She examined each of Averi’s fingers intently as her eyes returned to normal. They were still dark brown, but the whites had returned. They flashed up at her demanding an explanation.

“It is nothing,” Averi tried to tuck her hand away, but Kourtney’s grip was firm. She should have washed her hands before coming to the coven. They divined fates. Of course, they would spot the results of careless seeming. “I was distracted.”

“You should be more careful.” Kourtney scowled at her, dragged her up the stairs by her elbow. “We need to have this checked before something comes seeking you.”

“I’m on the job, Kourtney.”

“We shall complete that first,” the witch huffed, unimpressed with Averi’s reluctance. “You should remain here tonight. It will be far safer than if you go wandering. What you saw may come looking.”

“Except I am expected at the bar,” Averi pushed. All the communities got like this with people like her. Protective if anything they saw as a threat started to flit around their souls. Humans brought up knowing what lay beyond their world were rare commodities. “Fenix will not allow harm to come to me.”

“Fenix is,” Kourtney paused, swallowing her words. She was not influential Insulting a being such of Fenix was not wise for someone of her standing. It was not smart for anyone, but in her covens halls, there was a touch of armour around her. “I’ll send for a car to take you.”

Averi kept her mouth shut. She’d argue after Kourtney had done whatever the witch was planning to do. A few of the baby witches rushed passed, a few giggling as a boy stood looking at a notice board. The lights brightened slightly, now multiple colours as one of the classes had created lanterns enchanted with different shades of light as art pieces. Some of the pictures were rather beautiful, but Kourtney kept the pace too brisk for Averi to admire any of them.

A touch of homesickness washed over Averi as pots of lust green plants decorated the inner staircase, the centre of the building a courtyard filled to the brim with herbs and flowers. Soon there would be a new intake of children with power from homes with magic in their blood like hers. Or from families hoping that while a child had not taken their own power on, the witches would find them a different but useful gift. Averi’s father hadn’t bothered to let Averi try.