“Sure.” She shrugs. “They’ll probably be pissed they have to re-cast them, but we’ll be long gone by the time they realize.”
We press on, and at first I can’t tell if she’s actually doing anything. But when we pass what must be a particularly potentspell, I feel it. A sizzle against my skin. The faint hint of sharp, metallic magick on the back of my tongue, met by my star’s already familiar power rising up to meet it.
She shreds the wards as if they’re nothing.
Other than a briefly furrowed brow or a slight exhale of annoyance, Seren gives no sign of strain or effort. A testament to her power, how easily she leads us away from the Veil and to the edge of the warded section of the forest.
“Come on,” she says, turning toward a stretch of dirt road leading further into the woods. “It’s not too much further.”
Still on alert for any potential threats, all my senses cataloging this strange new realm now that I have the mental clarity to do so, I follow her down the road. It’s only a short walk until we reach our destination.
Or, at least what I assume is our destination, as Seren stops walking.
There’s nothing different about this place, nothing that marks it as anywhere special. But with a brief wave of her hand and another burst of magick in the air, she reveals a strange metal contraption sitting by the side of the road.
“My car,” she explains at my baffled look. “It’s a means of transportation. I’ll drive us somewhere we can get you help for that bruising.”
I hum thoughtfully. “I could just portal us.”
I’m sure I could. Probably.
The magick in this realm is not as readily available as it is in the demon realm. It’s… duller, somehow. Not as potent in the air.
Still, as I close my eyes and reach for the familiar demon magick that allows us to travel through the streams of power connecting one place to another in the realm, a portal opens without too much extra effort.
Seren lets out a strangled sound and grabs my arm. “Close that!”
I obey, the portal snapping shut in front of me. “What’s wrong?”
She lets out a shaky breath, face paler than it was before. “So, here’s the thing about the human realm. People don’t use magick here.”
“You use magick here. So do all the witches in the—”
“Correction.Mostpeople don’t use magick here. And most of them don’t believe in it.”
“Believe in it?” I scoff. “What’s there to believe in something that’s undeniably real?”
The comment earns me a chuckle as Seren reaches into her bag and pulls out a silver key connected to a small black box.
“Good question. Maybe because most people don’t use magick, or can’t, they don’t trust it. Anyway. It’s not exactly something we just do out in the open. At least not if we don’t want to start some kind of incident.”
“What about demons?” I ask. “Are humans used to seeing demons walk among them?”
“Again, no. And that would probably start an even bigger incident, or mass religious hysteria, or something. But we’ll fix that.”
“How?”
She shrugs, clicks the box in her hand, and then reaches to open a door on the side of the contraption—thecar.
“Haven’t figured it out yet. But get in. We’ll go somewhere that’s safe enough for now and I’ll try to think of something.”
Byget in, she must mean the small, cloth-covered seat inside the car. But how in any of the thirteen realms she expects me to fit, I have no idea.
Seren realizes it at the same moment I do. She looks from me to the car and back again, then gives me a rueful smile.
“It’ll be tight, but the drive isn’t far.”
I grumble a little as I try to fit into the small space.
