Page 83 of Twisted Magic

“Jadren didn’t say what they planned to do?” he demanded of Quinn, yet again.

“Gabriel,” Nic said soothingly from her perch on the white-painted rail. “Quinn has already told you everything she knows.”

“I know, I know.” He held up a hand in apology, but Quinn only looked away unhappily.

She was berating herself for not lingering to get more than that single reply. “I heard something about a desperation move as I flew away,” she repeated. “I know I should have gone back to find out more.”

“Well,” said her sister and wizard, Sage, in her frank fashion, “the next time we’re transforming you rapidly in and out of your alternate form to use you as a messenger in a pitched battle, you’ll know better.”

“If there is a next time,” Quinn said, and burst into tears.

Nic gave him a mildly accusing glare and Gabriel raked a hand through his hair. “Quinn,” he started say, wanting to apologize and realizing in the same moment that promising her there would be a next time was absurd and not what any of them wanted.

“Look!” Nic exclaimed, hopping off the rail and pointing across the lake. “Magic. Big magic.”

He squinted unnecessarily, as extending his wizard’s senses told him much more, Nic’s acuity for sensing magic as always well ahead of his. “What magic is that?” he asked of no one, completely befuddled.

“It feels like healing and… yet not,” Nic answered, sounding similarly confused. “Wait, look at the hunters. What are they—” She broke off on a choking sound of surprise.

“They’re multiplying,” Gabriel said grimly.

“No.” Nic laughed, a shockingly joyous sound, one he hadn’t heard from her in what felt like forever. “They’re reverting to their composite parts. That’s a gang of weasels scurrying for the deeper underbrush.”

“And jackals,” Costa exclaimed. “We have those back home. I’d recognize them anywhere.”

“Are those rabbits?” Sage asked in disbelief, and Iliana laughed.

“Jack rabbits,” she confirmed.

“What a strange mélange of creatures,” Nic marveled.

“And not a one interested in attacking anyone,” Han observed with satisfaction. He slid a look to Gabriel, who stared at the chaotic scene in disbelief. “Though we may have a critter problem in the woods around here for a while, Lord Phel.”

Gabriel tore his gaze from the jumble of animals scampering as fast as they could for cover, finding the blond familiar grinning from ear to ear. Slowly, Gabriel shook his head, a smile of his own stretching lips that had been pressed in a flat line of despair for so long that it felt as if they might crack. “I’ll take that problem.”

“Yes, we will,” Nic declared, threading her arm through his, and beaming up at him. “It’s going to take a bit to process, but I think we may have survived.”

He covered her hand with his. “Maybe so. I don’t want to be hasty, but….” He gazed out at the area on the other side of the lake, rapidly clearing of animals, more of various species swimming to the banks of the lake and dashing away. “I don’t understand how they did it.”

“We’ll find out,” she assured him. “Meanwhile, we need to muster to deal with the injured.”

“Perhaps we can help with that.” A tall, dark-skinned man emerged from the side of the porch, followed by a considerable group of others, all wizards, all wearing long robes. “Lord and Lady Phel, I’m Lord Chaim Refoel. We’ve come to your assistance.”

“A bit late,” the dark-skinned woman just behind him said with a rueful smile. Both had the look of Asa, a distinct family resemblance. “I am Liat Refoel.”

Gabriel managed to recover from his surprise more quickly. It had been a day of turnabouts. “We’ll take all the assistance anyone is willing to offer,” he assured them, aware of Nic’s bemusement beside him. “But… House Refoel? I understood you would not violate your ethical code by taking sides.”

Liat and Chaim exchanged opaque glances, and Chaim cleared his throat, looking somewhat chagrined despite his cool ascetic demeanor. “It’s been pointed out to us—to me—that choosing not to interfere is also a choice. In standing back, we allow evil and injustice to flourish. As the new head of House Refoel, I am officially amending our policy. We will continue to offer aid and healing to any who need it, but we will also take a stand.”

“Upon careful consideration of all sides,” Liat amended with a ghost of a smile. “Now, it seems we have wounded to tend.”

Alise had never been so exhausted in all her life. It was enough to make her long for the crushing schedule of Convocation Academy. Utterly depleted of magic, injured in half a dozen places, and tired to her bones to the point she didn’t think she could so much as stand upright, she nevertheless found renewed energy at the sight of the group cruising toward them in a cadre of elemental carriages bearing the sigil of House Refoel.

Han and Iliana were the first to disembark, both showing signs of exhaustion and battle, but also laughing and shouting with joy at the sight of her. They raced to embrace her, seizing her in a three-way hug that solidified the lasting truth that this was her real home. She finally broke away to introduce them to a weary Cillian, who looked less like a librarian and Convocation Faculty than like some sort of mud-encrusted forest creature. The three of them already knew each other, it turned out, from Convocation Academy, since everyone else in the world was apparently more social than Alise.

Nic arrived on their heels, embracing her fervently, then taking her by the shoulders with a ferocious glare. “I clearly told you to stay put,” she said, shaking Alise a little. “You could’ve been killed!”

“You’re welcome,” Alise replied drily, then gave Nic’s protruding belly a long look. “Should you be out, running around and fighting beasties in your condition?”

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