“Oh I’m armed. I got thunder and lightning right here,” Charlie says. I know he’s talking about his fists so I bring my hands together and conjure a bow for him. A bow is good, it means he’ll be a way away from the main fight.
“Here, use this and if you see the fight going downhill, I want you to get out of there.”
Charlie takes the bow and quiver of arrows from me. “Is this your way of calling me a Ranger?”
“A what?”
“You’re right I’m more of a rogue, but I don’t know how to use a bow. What am I supposed to do with this?” he asks, looking at the bow and arrows like they’re alien artifacts. “Throw them at them? I mean, wrangling a rat demon on a stick is one thing but this? I have no idea what to do.”
“Let me fix that for you.”
“What are you do-”
I click a finger against Charlie’s forehead. “Boop.”
Everything that Jaak knows about bows, I know. Now, courtesy of my magic, so does Charlie. He goes cross-eyed when I remove my hand from his head and I start to worry that maybe I overdid it. It’s not like I have a manual for any of this, I’m flying blind. Oh my gods, why did I boop him?
“Charlie, are you…okay?” He shakes his head and blinks a few times, and thank the gods his eyes uncross. “Charlie?” I ask again when he doesn’t answer me.
He slings the quiver over his shoulder and adjusts his grip on the bow. “Ohhhh, I’m a god now! An archery god.” He looks down at the bow and cackles. “Is this how you and Buffy feel all the time?”
“Um, maybe? How do you feel?”
“Like a bad bitch.”
“Yes, that’s exactly how I feel.”
“Wondrous.”
Chapter Thirty Four
The walk to Bitter Root takes longer than I remember but maybe it’s just my nerves. We will stop the end of the world. We will stop the World Eater. We have to.
There’s no option for failure.
I run through every possible scenario of what might happen when we arrive at Bitter Root while every step I take feels like it’s a mile.
“Isn’t us rolling up with weapons a total giveaway that we are there to kill the head mage?” Charlie asks.
I look down at the swords I’m holding. They’re short swords, twin blades that made more sense when it came to me fighting than something big like Jaak has. Next to me, Jaak has a double-sided battle axe strapped to his back.
I stop and look between the three of us and twirl my swords. “You’re right, but don’t worry. I’ve got us covered.”
“Uh, how?” Charlie asks while Jaak shushes him.
“Let my witchling work her magic. She will know what to do.”
Jaak’s right. I know exactly what to do. I close my eyes and think about the Halloween catalogues I saw on the counter at the bakery. They were Ms. Donna’s costume catalogues that she got, saying we were going to need options for this holidayto go off without a hitch. There had been so many different costumes in there. In my browsing, I’d been the most interested in the knights and princesses, anything fairytale, like fairies and dragons, were high on my interest list as well. I raise my hands up and think about those costumes. I think about what would work best to make our weapons seem like nothing more than props, accessories to a well put together costume and not the demise of that damn head mage.
I bring my hands down and release magic in every direction and when I open my eyes, it’s not Charlie and Jaak that stare back at me. It’s a knight and a rogue. Charlie is outfitted in close fitting leather and a dark green cloak. Jaak is naturally the knight, leather armor and metal pauldrons make him cut a fine image of a hero. The battle axe at his back looks natural on him and I smile at my handiwork.
“You’re handsome,” I tell him.
“Thank you, my heart. You are, as always, a vision.”
I don’t know if vision is the right word for how I look but I’ll take it. I’m dressed a lot like Charlie with the addition of a metal breastplate.
I move and tap it experimentally with the side of one of my swords. “Neat.”
