“Guns?Really?” Marcus asked skeptically. “This is stupid. Magic’s much more powerful.”
“These aren’t your typical pistols. They shoot magic, not bullets,” Kallie said.
She took her pistol and aimed it at a target. When it went off, I jumped in my chair. I watched as a bolt of purple illusion magic burst out of the gun and hit the target, completely obliterating it to pieces.
Well, I guess it was effective. And it was just like casting a spell, except you had to pull a trigger instead of wave your hands, so I guess it wasn’tthat bad. Just magic with fewer steps. Basically a wand, right? Witches used those all the time. It wasn’t a big deal.
Charlie turned the pistol in his hand, observing it. The speculation on his face was curious.
“Do you think it’ll help?” I asked him quietly.
Charlie nodded. “Marty was shot by someone carrying a gun. If I have one, too, I can stop that from happening to someone else.”
I didn’t know if that logic really worked out, but for Charlie, it was his way of justifying keeping the pistol.
We agreed that we’d have to make some tough choices in order to save the world,Oberi reminded me gently, and he put a paw on my knee.This is one of those decisions.
I nodded. “I know, Oberi. I just wish it didn’t have to be this hard.”
Kallie fired off a few more rounds, then turned to us. “They have silencers, so they shouldn’t be as loud.”
She paused, before she reached into the box and handed a pistol to me. I knew she’d added the silencers for me, but they didn’t completely take away the sound of the gun as it went off.
I slowly took the pistol. The weight of it in my lap reminded me too much of what I’d done in Cellblock 9. It almost sent me careening back there again.
Marcus put two hands on the pistol and fired at a target. He screamed as it went off, and nearly fell over. The magical stream that had come out of the gun hit the top of the wall, and Rishi scattered out of the way as stone came crumbling down.
“Marcus, comeon. You need to know how to do this,” Kallie snapped. She stomped over to him and began teaching him, showing him the right stance and adjusting his arms so he knew how to shoot.
Charlie raised the gun. “Pidge, where should I aim?”
I indicated through our magical connection where he should fire, and the gun went off. Charlie’s Air magic hit the target and made it explode instantly.
Charlie had practice knowing where to throw his magic, due to the three of us working on his general awareness through our magical bond. Oberi and I worked as an anchor for him, so he could understand his surroundings even though he couldn’t see. Every time Charlie fired the gun off, the magical stream hit its target dead-on.
Charlie waswaytoo much of a natural at this. But honestly, it was kind of sexy. He was a mob boss, so it made sense for him to carry a pistol. I was turned on by the sight of him firing the gun. It was so compelling to watch him shoot, because it made me view him in a light of power. The dominating aura he emitted while he shot at targets reminded me of how in control he was in the bedroom. It was hot.
Well, if I was attracted to the sight of my husband shooting a gun, I might as well give this a chance, right?
“Ava, do you want to try?” Kallie asked gently.
She seemed a little worried. It was wrong to make my best friend concerned. I needed to show her I could handle this. I lifted the gun and aimed, putting my finger on the trigger to fire.
Try as I might, I couldn’t pull it. My hands shook, and I found my aim was unsteady.Just do it. If Charlie can, you can, too.
Though I attempted to force myself to pull the trigger, the movement wouldn’t come. I sighed and lowered the pistol without success. This was much harder than I thought it was going to be. I still didn’t understand how I really felt about this. How could I be perfectly fine with Charlie using a gun, but I still hesitated to aim? We were supposed to be one and the same, soul partners and equals. I needed to be comfortable with this if we were going to beat the Warden, so why couldn’t I be? I was perfectly okay with Charlie using the pistol— even attracted to the idea. The temporary fantasy of him putting the gun to my head while we fucked in the Sanctuary immediately mademe swoon, and I daydreamed about how pleasurable that would feel, no matter how messed up it was.
The thought ofmepulling the trigger, though, and using a pistol to hurt someone again? Practically impossible. I didn’t understand how I could find this romantic and traumatizing at the same time.
I didn’t know how to feel.
“You don’t have to right now,” Kallie said. She took the gun from me and put it back in the chest. She sighed as Marcus fired his pistol again and missed.
Eventually, I grew somewhat desensitized to the sound of the pistols. They were going off, and nobody was getting hurt, so that was okay.
Maybe I was getting over it.
The doors to the training room opened a little while later, and we put the pistols back inside the chest as Professors Wykoff and Amber entered. Wykoff glanced at the guns, but she didn’t say anything before Marcus subconjured the box. She didn’t seem bothered by them— it was confirmation for me that pistols were basically the same as wands to witches.
