Page 2 of Witch

But he would be ready soon, Kana swore to himself. He just had to practice.

A cleanliness spell was easy, only a couple of runes. Kana fixed what he wanted in his mind, then slowly and carefully pointed one finger and moved it through the air to draw it out.

One day he wouldn’t need to actually draw the circle, Kana realized as he completed the last rune and the lingering sour smell of unwashed human and cat faded from inside their magical cocoon. He ought to be able to push the circle held in his mind directly into action without the extra steps of drawing it out, and Kana knew he would one day. For now, though, he needed to stop thinking such lofty thoughts and focus on getting the most basic aspects of this new magic down exactly. He could only build up to the stronger versions he was envisioning if he had a solid base to work from, which meant lots and lots of practice was in his future.

More thunder rumbled overhead, and a flash of lightning obscured the next circle Kana was writing. This one was just for practice—and to see if he could dissipate the circle without casting it as easily as wiping his hand through a chalk-made one.

Kana grinned when the spell vanished, the magic dissipating exactly as it should.

With this magic, Kana had a future again, and his grin didn’t fade until he drifted off to sleep, images of circles dancing through his mind.

Chapter One

“HEY, KANA?” JOHANNA called as she walked into Kana’s workroom. Kana quickly held up a finger to stop her, focusing intently on the potion gently bubbling in the center of a spell circle hovering about six inches above his worktable.

The spell circle itself was taking most of Kana’s concentration. He had invented it only recently, after both electric and gas stoves as well as a real fire had all proved to have too many inconsistencies with their heating, thereby leaving some of his potions lacking in power or simply not working at all. After six months of research, failed attempts, and a good bit of grumbling, Kana had worked out his mobius strip-style circle.

Normal spell circles vanished once they completed the tasks written into them via runes and Kana’s intent. His mobius strip made the spell incapable of completing itself, constantly spinning back to the beginning without end. The only problem was how much concentration and magic the spell required. Kana’s channels between himself and Mika and Sora were wide open and starting to ache as he continuously pulled magic from his familiars for the spell.

Thankfully, the potion was just about at the right consistency. He only needed another minute for it to be perfect. Kana watched carefully, and the second it looked exactly right, he reached out with a gloved hand to take the hot potion away and cut off the magic powering the spell. Mika and Sora both let out relieved sighs when Kana tightened the channels between them again.

Kana set the potion aside to cool, and finally turned to Johanna, pulling the glove off to drop on his worktable while he waited for her to stop staring at him and collect her thoughts again.

Johanna was Kana’s research partner and boss at the hunter’s compound. She was over six feet tall, and every inch of her body was toned muscle. She might spend most of her time sitting at a desk doing research for the hunters, but she was as capable of wading into a battle as anyone. Her skin was deep black, and her thick braids were dyed red. She was beautiful, but she definitely appreciated that Kana wasn’t interested in her.

“That spell—” She cut herself off and shook her head.

“I don’t recommend it, and I don’t think I’ll be using it again any time soon,” Kana replied, and his voice sounded as tired as his magic felt. “It’s not practical, even though it solves the heat source issue. I’ll keep looking for a new solution for that, instead.”

Johanna shook her head, her grin wry. “If it’s too difficult for you, it’s an impossible spell for the rest of us,” she replied with an easy shrug. “You’ll find it eventually. Anyway, didn’t you once work as a journalist or something? Before you started here?”

Kana nodded, wondering where she was going with this. He had worked for one of the local news stations, which had TV, online, and newspaper, and was part of a national conglomerate as well. About a year ago, the station had interviewed a hunter for their morning news segment, but a vindictive witch had magically erased the footage and ensured all fingers would point at Kana as the culprit. Kana hadn’t been upset to lose the job, despite how hard he had fought to get it in the first place, because his life had completely changed at that point. He had gone from being alone, and in hiding, to living openly as a witch with the local werewolf pack. The job that had helped spring him out of poverty had served its purpose, and Kana was ready to move on. Luckily, his current position as a researcher with the hunter’s association had come around not long after, and using his magic in addition to his research skills—finding research interesting had led him to a journalism degree in college—had been too exciting to pass up.

“Oh, good,” Johanna continued with a smile. “Looks like one of the local news stations finally figured out we’re here. They’re sending somebody over first thing tomorrow to inquire about doing an interview, and we need someone who speaks the lingo to tell them to shove off.”

Kana frowned, having flashbacks to how he had gotten involved with the werewolves in the first place. His previous job had callously sent him on a very similar fact-finding trip to the local vampire coven, starting the journey that had eventually led him to where he was now. He wouldn’t take any of it back, but he wasn’t about to put someone else through a similar situation.

Also, there was only one station that seemed interested in regularly interviewing the magical community, and Kana wasn’t certain he was ready to face his old coworkers again. Nor was he willing to do them any favors, considering how his old boss had written him off so completely when he was forced to quit. Although it was gratifying to hear Johanna wasn’t interested in moving forward with any sort of interview.

Kana sighed. “I don’t know if my being there will only encourage them. Especially if they’re the people I used to work with.”

Johanna shrugged. “You at least know the lingo. If it was me, I would think I was telling them to pound sand, and next thing I knew we would be front page news.”

Kana giggled and Johanna laughed with him. “All right,” Kana replied. “I’ll do it, but you’d better be ready to jump in and save me if they get aggressive.”

“Please,” Johanna said with a snort. “You could shove them out of the house and back into their cars before they blinked, and you know it. Now, finish whatever you were doing with that potion and head on home. Your wolf is probably waiting for you.”

Kana laughed again. He reached out and gingerly touched the side of the flask, and when it was cool to the touch, he picked it up and handed it to Johanna.

“It’s a strengthening spell for your weapons. I followed your recipe, but I changed the main herb combination.”

“Oh?” Johanna asked as she took the flask from Kana. She carefully sniffed the mouth. Her nose wrinkled, and she frowned as she thought. “I can still smell the ginseng and peppermint oil, but what is that horsey smell?”

“Ashwagandha,” Kana answered.

“Indian ginseng?” Johanna mused. “Interesting idea. You mind if I run some tests on this combination to see if it’s more effective?”

“That’s why I gave it to you.” Kana smiled at her, but Johanna didn’t notice, her eyes focused on the viscous liquid in the flask.

---