A Wolf at the Door

Not that Marty and I would ever have cuddled like that or anything. But you know what I mean.

Once everyone was safely inside, I stripped Cameron’s string ward down, carefully balling up the blessed thread and tucking it into my suitcase.

“I thought that was supposed to protect me.”

“It was. It may have been compromised now, so we’re gonna see if Tai can reset it on his own.”

Gretchen frowned in puzzlement. She made even that look stunningly beautiful. “Why aren’t you resetting it?”

“I can’t. I don’t have any magic.” I shrugged, and her confusion made me smile. Without warning, I tossed Ivan’s quartz crystal at her Maori bodyguard. He caught it on instinct, and immediately the white flaw within it sent out a strobelike pulse. Hunh. So that’s what it was supposed to do. “See that? Tai has more magical ability in one strand of his hair than I have in my entire body.” I held my hand up when she would have asked more. “He’s gonna need to concentrate, so no more questions. This may not even work.” I had no idea what I would do then.

Tai toyed with the crystal for a moment, the flashing settling down into a steady glow. When he handed it back to me, it faded into inert nothingness. “I don’t believe in magic.”

“Pretty sure that doesn’t matter now. Come with me.”

Standing on the stairs, I eyed the doorway, frowning thoughtfully. Tai moved up behind me, mimicking my stance. “You know I have no idea how to do this, right?”

“’S’okay, neither do I.” I wracked my brain for what little magical theory I’d managed to absorb over the years. “See, thresholds are the easiest things to ward. People have attachment to their homes. They want them to be safe. But because this is a hotel, a temporary dwelling, the attachment usually isn’t there. How long have you lived here?”

“A year,” Gretchen supplied.

“Hope it’s enough.” Next, I looked at Tai long enough that he got uncomfortable and squirmed. “How attached are you to your Maori roots, Tai?”

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I know the stories. My grandmother used to tell them to me all the time. They’re just stories.”

“Okay, well, think of those stories. Think of something that epitomizes strength and protection.” He opened his mouth to tell me, and I shook my head. “I don’t need to know. It just needs to be something that means something to you. Hold it in your head, okay? Think of how it looks, sounds, smells. Make it as real in your head as you can.”

After a moment, he nodded. “Got it.”

Now, here was the tricky part. “Stretch out your hand toward the doorway. Remember what it felt like before, when the string was there? Feel that again. Feel that tingle, picture it constructing your mental image into this doorway. Build a wall, build a barrier, make it real.”

I’ll give the man credit. Believer or not, he tried. I extended my hand beside his, I could feel the sparks of burgeoning magic over my palm. The aroma of cloves swirled around us with enough force to ruffle my hair. It built, gathered, and just when I thought it was strong enough to become visible, Tai gasped and it all vanished with a pop of pressure in my ears.

“Shit.” Tai sagged a little, bending to brace his hands against his knees. “Did…did it work?”

I walked through the door several times, just to be sure, then shook my head. “No. It almost did, but it slipped away.” Damn damn damn.

“Sorry.” Finally, he slumped down on the carpeted stairs. “Is it supposed to feel like this?”

“Like what?”

“Like I got hit by a truck?”

“Yeah. Unfortunately. The bigger the magic, the bigger the drain. Rest a little, you should be fine.” Defensive spells were easiest to set, easiest to recover from. I watched him for a bit, but other than being wiped out, he didn’t seem to be suffering ill effects.

“So now what?” Bobby came to look at the doorway. “I mean, if Tai can’t do this, what do we do now?”

“Tai can do it. Even untrained, he’s got the brute strength. I just gotta figure out why it didn’t stick.”

“Well…it’s a hotel, right? We’re not attached to it. Tai’s not attached to it.” When I turned to look at Gretchen, she shrugged. “You said that, just a minute ago.”

She was right. We needed something to connect Tai to the threshold. An anchor. It hit me like a slap in the face, and I decided that a good old face-palm was in order. “Dammit. I even said it! Bobby, get me some scissors.”

You shoulda seen the look on Tai’s face when I headed at him with those scissors. “Hey!”

“Oh, quiddit. I’m just taking a couple of hairs.” More magic in one hair than in my entire body. I was even careful and took them from the underside at the back of his neck, so it would never be noticeable. “Our anchor,” I told him, displaying the four raven black hairs in my hand. “Get me some tape.”

With the hairs taped at the four corners of the doorjamb, I coached Tai through trying again. “Picture it clearly. Think of all the things you want to keep safe, and picture anything else being trapped on the outside. Push that out through the palm of your hand.”

Like before, the power swelled around us, stronger than anything I’d ever sensed. Even Mira, the strongest witch I knew, paled in comparison to Tai’s innate talent. I could almost follow the seal with my eyes, watch as it crawled along the jamb. There was a faint flare each time it touched a piece of his hair, and the pressure in my ears snapped like a nail being hammered home. I couldn’t help but smile in triumph, even before the last of the four anchors locked in. This was going to work.

The ward hummed almost audibly when it was completed, and the hairs on my arm stood at strict attention