“Name one time telling someone to calm down actually worked. Just one,” I challenge, and Rogan thinks for a minute and then shrugs. “Fine, freak out all you want,” he says instead, and if I wasn’t in the process of doing just that, I might have laughed.
“You have demon markers in your blood,” Alora repeats as though I’m dense. “I can see they aren’t the foundation to your power, which shows me that it’s not genetically inherited. I’ve never seen it before, but at some point, it looks as though demon magic was bonded to your own.”
“H-how...how do you know?” I stammer, not sure where to even begin trying to process what she’s saying.
“These two branches are hawthorn and hazel,” Dave starts, pointing to the twisted twigs now in the center of my blood tornado. “These represent the foundation of all magic, which was originally bestowed upon us by the Fae. With mancer magic, these branches always stay on the bottom of the bowl. Demon magic will wrap around the branches, and mixed magic...will do this,” he tells me, gesturing to the bowl.
I stare at the swirling contents, my mind feeling like it’s doing the exact same thing in my head.
Demon markers in my blood?
Demon magic bonded to mine.
How the fuck?
And then it hits me.
Jamie’s demonic chant fills my mind as she used magic that wasn’t her own to try and steal power from the other Osteomancers. I can suddenly feel the painful jolt of magic as it transferred from the dead witch on Jamie’s altar...to me.
A sinking feeling crawls into my stomach, and for the first time since I woke up to find the tether broken, I’m glad Rogan can’t feel what I’m feeling. Desolation and anger war in my chest, and I don’t know if I want to scream or cry.
“That fucking, demon cock sucking, trifling, thirsty, magic whore!” I snarl, and the room goes quiet.
Crap. I did not mean to say that out loud.
Rogan looks over at me, his eyes filled with devastation as he reads my face. He knows what happened in that church.Ithankfully never had to tell him, but I know Elon provided him with the graphic details. He takes one look at me, and I see the moment he realizes what happened, and then I also see the moment that he blames himself for it.
Rogan shoots out of his chair and swipes the tray of cookies and other tea fixings off the table. It goes shattering against the window, cracking the pane with a loud boom. Alora, Dave, and Harmony all shoot to their feet, concern and shock written all over each of their faces.
So much for being calm.
Elon, Prek, Tad, and Cohen come running into the kitchen like we’re under attack. They look from Rogan to the Soul Witches to me still sitting in the chair, not sure what to do, and unease and aggression settles thickly in the air.
“What happened?” Elon demands, and Tad moves closer to me.
“What fucking happened is that my selfish bullshit let that human stain, Jamie, fuck with Lennox’s magic,” Rogan snarls, and the others’ faces blanch.
“What?” Tad snaps, turning to me as though he knows Rogan is too lost in his guilt and anger to get details from.
I blow out a deep breath, suddenly feeling less out of control now that Rogan is feral enough for both of us. “It seems when Jamie was using her demon’s magic to try and steal power from the other Osteomancers, either she or it somehow fused demon magic with that power and…” I trail off, feeling weird saying it out loud.
“And then that magic transferred to you because you were the source,” Elon finishes, and my eyes flick to him, and I nod in confirmation.
“Fuck,” Cohen exclaims, crossing his arms over his chest, his gaze looking far more distressed than I thought it would, given our heated exchange earlier.
“But what does that mean?” Tad demands, looking from me to Rogan.
Rogan doesn’t say anything but looks over at Alora and her mates. All eyes in the room shift to the three Soul Witches too, and Dave steps forward, his hands raised as though he’s trying to calm a volatile and dangerous situation. The look on Rogan’s face tells me Dave has the right idea.
“Obviously, no one wants to have their magic altered in such a violating and traumatic way,” he starts, and I flinch, unable to help myself, because he’s not wrong.
Rogan runs his hands through his hair, and I want to reach out and offer him some comfort, but I’m not positive my legs will work right now.
“With that said, however, these changes do not have to be a bad thing. We’ll need to do more research before we have exact answers, but ultimately magic is magic. We all have what the Fae bestowed on our ancestors, just in varying branches and dilutions. Right now, all we can tell is that Lennox’s magic is closer to that of the Original Source before the magic was broken up into separate lines for safekeeping. Some of that will be because there are only two Osteomancers left in the world, and the magic of that line is now extremely condensed. The other part of that will be because demon magic in its nature is wilder and harder to control. It’s more reminiscent of Fae magic at its purest, and therefore Lennox’s power will have similar qualities or markers,” Dave explains.
His words seem to be the drop of calm everyone needs, butIdon’t feel any better. Is this why my magic has been acting weird? Is this why I can now do things I couldn’t before? Is this the reason why I connect with my magic differently and feel more than just bones and blood when I’m wielding it?
I think back to what happened right before Marx was killed. How it felt like my magic was suddenly this wild thing and I barely had a hold of it. Dave’s words describe exactly how it felt, unruly, turbulent, and so fucking strong.
