“I understand that,” Dakota said, licking her fingers and reaching for her milkshake again, “but why could Medea use magic? If she was an Empousa, why couldn’t any of the others use magic? I mean, have you ever seen a Cursed tap into a power source like that?”
I thought back to that night. Medea had shifted into a Cursed Empousa and had not only used magic, but a powerful summoning magic that brought forth the Anemoi—elemental storm spirits. I couldn’t recall a single Acolyte or Sorcerer with enough juice to pull that off, yet she had—as a Cursed, in her Raven form.
I didn’t know the answer to Dakota’s question. Xander probably didn’t even know how Medea had used that magic. Scratching my chin, I said, “Only Hecate could answer that. Most curses negate any innate magical abilities. I’ve never seen a Cursed use magic—only Acolytes, Sorcerers, or Druids. Then again, I’ve never seen any of those types use such powerful magic. We have to go back to the source, right? Hecate offered her an Underworld pact, which is against Nephilim Law. If Hecate broke that rule, why not break a rule that prevents a Cursed from using magic?” I drank some water. “Why do you care so much?”
“I don’t know. I was thinking about my dad and that night, and that led me to you and the question that since Hephaestus stole your magic, do you even have the ability to find my father and detain him, now? Then I was thinking about Medea. You beat her without your magic, but she had hers. How did you do it?”
I wiped my nose and shrugged. “Since I still looked—in the words of Dakota Clark—like a ‘bum’ that night, it obviously wasn’t my good looks.” I glanced in the side mirror again. “You know who I look like after my makeover? That 50 Shades of Gray dude. And you’re still unimpressed.”
“I’m a hard girl to impress.” She shoved her empty fry box and milkshake cup into her bag, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into the back seat. “Like I said, I’m familiar with magic. I understand that certain humans are still born with it, even though it’s fallen latent as the world has progressed, and our need for it has diminished.”
“Like the tailbone,” I said, remembering one of my university professors comparing our current lack of magical ability to some of the traits humans have evolved away from due to obsolescence.
“Sure,” Dakota said. “Like the tailbone. Well, people like you—”
“That’s demeaning,” I said, shaking my head in disappointment. “‘People like me?’”
“People who have shown a propensity to use magic are tracked by Nephil universities and recruited, right?” Without waiting for my response, she continued. “While attending, they are trained on how to awaken and control their innate abilities, and from there, only a few are awarded with pacts and allowed into a deeper pool of Nephil power.”
“Thank you for reiterating that for me. I feel so enlightened now. Tell me, what’s it like for a man to piss standing up? I’m just curious, because that’s something else I’m well-acquainted with, but I’m looking for the expertise of someone who’s not.”
“Occasionally,” Dakota said, ignoring me, “innate magic users fall through the cracks of the universities’ seekers and the recruitment process. They’re known as Sorcerers, right? People who can use more powerful magic without a pact from a Nephil.”
“Yup,” I said, resting my face on my palm and staring out the window at the sunny afternoon.
“Okay, hear me out here, because I came up with this theory all on my own and I’m proud of it. Well, that’s a lie. I had a little—but it was mostly my own.” She waved away her rambling with a quick hand gesture. “Most innate magic users finish their stint at a Nephil university without a pact because their abilities aren’t that special, so they use their new knowledge and practiced power to further enhance their lives. They become doctors who can detect disease because they have an affinity to healing, or they turn to crime because they have an innate ability to blend into their surroundings or influence the behaviors of others—or maybe those are lawyers. Either way, do you understand what I’m saying?”
“I think so,” I said. “People who don’t receive a pact after their time at a university are technically Sorcerers, using their innate magic without a pact?”
“Exactly.”
“Without that well of power that a pact provides,” I said, adding onto whatever point she was trying to make, “those new Sorcerers dive into their own life energy. If they draw too much power trying to show off to friends or impress a date or get ahead in their careers—well, they can kill themselves from overexertion.”
“Sure,” Dakota said, reaching across the car and snagging one of my fries. “Then you have those kids who actually receive pacts—like you did. Say you hadn’t attended a university. How much innate power would you have had?”
I bit my tongue and thought about that for really the first time ever. I honestly didn’t know. Militus University had opened up my natural well of power, and Hephaestus had only allowed me to dive into his limitless pool. But I’d never tested my strength until recently. “I don’t know,” I said, thinking about how I’d killed Medea without really knowing how to
