Page 44 of The Nowhere Witch

“You visualize it. You let the magic flow through you. You don’t try to control it. You are it. It is you.”

“What if it doesn’t want to be me and I can’t seem to make it?” I was squeezing in every free moment to practice with him, even when that meant almost no sleep. “My magic doesn’t like to do what it’s supposed to.”

“Then you practice until it does.”

It all sounded good. Somehow I was supposed to be able to leap over his back as he lunged for me. Then hit him from overhead as I landed.

I tried to let the magic flow freely through my body. And when he lunged, I crashed into the snow on the side.

* * *

A few hours later, I sipped on something that tasted like tequila as I stood behind the bar at Zark’s. It wouldn’t fix the soreness of my muscles and bruises, but it would make me forget about them for a while.

It was only an hour into my shift when Hawk strolled into the place, walked up to the bar, and said, “We need to go somewhere.”

The line of his jaw told me that whatever this was about, it wasn’t good.

“I can’t just leave. I’m working.” Even if my working was standing in the vicinity of Gregor as he served most of the drinks. It was still a paycheck.

“Zark, Tippi’s done for the day,” Hawk said, not breaking eye contact with me. “Shall I get your jacket, or would you like to?”

I was well aware we had a crowd listening in, because as we talked, they didn’t. Gregor also inched closer. I shook my head, telling him I had this under control.

Gregor didn’t back up, but he also didn’t pursue it. We’d already done this rodeo once before. He knew the ropes.

“I have a job to do,” I said to Hawk with steel laced in my tone. This was it. This was the hill I would die on. He would not take control of my life again. If that meant an all-out brawl in the middle of Zark’s with an audience, then that was the way it was going to happen.

A hand holding my jacket shot out in front of me.

“Here you go. See you tomorrow,” Zark said. “Best be on your way.”

Okay, maybe this wasn’t the hill I’d die on, since the owner of said hill seemed to be pushing me down it. But that hill was coming. Seemed there were hills all around me, just waiting for someone to die, and that would be me. Just not today, maybe.

I took my coat as Hawk smiled.

I didn’t ask what Hawk wanted until we got outside. And then he was too far ahead of me to ask. I looked back at Zark’s, knowing I’d only get shown the door again if I attempted to go back. I looked down the street, toward the broker’s office, debating on going there. But then I’d have to watch Bibbi working at my table. Might as well follow him and find out what he wanted, since work was done for the day.

“Keep up,” he said, not bothering to look back or realize that maybe I wasn’t keeping up for a reason. The more space, the better. He was testy, I was angry, and together we were on the brink of something much worse.

I wasn’t going to ask him what his problem was because it was his, not mine. As soon as I asked, I’d take ownership on some level. That was what always happened when I asked about someone else’s problem. It was like buying stock in a company that you knew was about to nosedive, and I wasn’t doing it. He could be as quiet as he wanted and hold it all in, the way he probably preferred.

He kept moving at his pace, and I continued at mine in the direction of the wall. Not sure why we were walking the whole way, but I wasn’t asking about that either. If he had to wait for me to catch up once he got there, then he waited. I wasn’t his employee. I was here because I chose to help, and he’d have to deal with that whatever way I chose to do it.

He stopped again, further up the hill, watching me move at my slower pace, as if his steely stare would speed me up.

Not.

They must’ve put salt in his morning cocoa the way he was acting. All the shit he’d done to me, and here he was with the attitude and no explanation.

I passed him on the hill, wondering when he was going to decide to walk again but not really caring. I could go look at the cracks myself, and there were definitely either new ones or worsened ones. The feeling of dread hadn’t been this bad here yesterday.

I got to the wall, and there it was. You didn’t need to run a hand over this one to see how badly it was breaking. One side jutted out several more inches than the other.

I laid a hand on the break anyway, trying to feel for something, a way to heal it or a magical signature. Anything.

“How does this keep happening?” I asked, not specifically talking to Hawk. He didn’t have any answers either.

“I think it’s sabotage,” Hawk said, answering anyway. “Feel over here,” he said, pointing five feet away. “There’s a strange feeling.”

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