Page 17 of Swords and Curses

"Have you not felt your magic grow in the last few weeks?"

Vincenzo's smile slipped. "I thought it was the winter."

"It's not just the winter! Heed my warning. Search through those 'supernatural mists' for yourself, brother, and start taking this seriously." They switched to Unseelie and continued to argue, leaving Balthasar to guess what they were talking about.

"Arrivederci,my nephew," Vincenzo said and smiled sharply at him. "Be patient with my crazy brother."

The call went dead, and Eli picked up the laptop and tore it in half.

"He won't come. If we are under attack, he might rouse himself, but until then, we are on our own," Eli growled.

"What about Zalan?"

"Wandering about the Russian wilderness for all I know. No one has heard from him in a hundred years."

Outside,Rosa huddled in her hoodie and still sweaty track pants. Eldon had refused to let her shower and instead taken her outside into the freezing parkland.

"What the hell are we doing out here?" she asked.

He stopped to touch the oaks one at a time as they passed by them. "We are going to unlock your magic, and I can't risk doing it in the house where you could break the place," he replied.

"Unlocking magic might be tricky while I am wearing this," Rosa said. She took off her new necklace and tossed it to him.

Eldon turned it over between his fingers, studying the patterns. "This won't dampen your power. It only makes sure you don't get overwhelmed with its resurgence. It also ensures it doesn't leak when you least expect it." Eldon frowned and studied it closer. "It's very well made actually. I know a shamanitsa who could have used something like this a while ago. Her power was unstable and unreliable for a long time. It almost drove her mad."

"How did she learn to deal with it?" Rosa asked, slipping the chain back over her head.

"Vodka mostly," Eldon replied grimly. "That's why I couldn't let you be turned and not come to help you learn to control your new abilities. Magic can be incredibly destructive to your mind and body if you don't have the proper guidance straight away."

"In that case, thanks again for coming to my rescue," Rosa said with a wink. "What now?"

"Now you defend yourself." A stick flew off the ground and hit her in the face. "I said defend yourself."

Rosa clutched her nose to make sure it wasn't broken. She picked up a rock and threw it at him angrily. Eldon held out his hand and the rock stopped mid-air.

"Rule one: Anger," he said, and the rock crumbled to pieces. "You don't need it. It's not one of your strengths, Rosa Wylt, so it won't serve you here. Be done with it."

"Anger can get stuff done," Rosa challenged.

"It can, but you don't want it to be your trigger. Magic will heighten your strengths, so choose wisely which ones you wish to encourage."

"You shouldn't have thrown a stick at me."

"You should've shielded and protected yourself. Self-preservation is a strong instinct. Perhaps I should get Caruthers to come and chase you about."

"Caruthers! I can barely get that guy to talk to me, let alone chase me in that penguin suit of his."

Eldon's smile was infuriatingly smug, "You don't know what he is, do you?"

"Eli's driver," she said stubbornly.

"He's aloup garou,silly girl. He's Eli's ultimate guard dog."

"You're kidding me! Stop trying to be funny, wizard."

"I'm not a wizard. I'm a magician, and I'm not kidding you. You are too distracted by the Lord of the Manor to notice how strange Caruthers is."

"I noticed how strange he is, but it's Gwaed Lyn. Everything is strange here." Rosa brushed the dirt from her pants. "So did you train your other friend by throwing things at her?"

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