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“Hey,” I said. “You said you were going to need to get creative to stop these assholes. Could we put together another merging of art and magic? You had me make that necklace to repel your fiancé. Would something like that work to hold off these attacks?”
Rose’s eyes brightened. “It should. And it couldn’t hurt to add a new strategy into the mix.”
“Well, then, I’ll be right back.” I gave her a grin and a salute, and jogged over to the shop.
Ten minutes later I had myself some leather string, acrylic paint and brushes, and several wooden tokens that weren’t exactly ideal pendants, but would have to do. I’d also grabbed a roll of canvas and a pack of small gesso-coated boards in case we could find some use for those too. When I got back to the car this time, the rest of the crew was already waiting.
“I guess you can’t really paint while the car is on the move, right?” Rose said. “Too many vibrations?”
“Not ideal for fine detail work,” I agreed.
“Let’s get some more distance from the last place they were able to hit us and then find somewhere off the beaten track to stop for a little while,” Gabriel said. “I’m sure we could all use some more rest when we can get it. We’ll all think clearer that way too.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“I’ll try to figure out where they are when they send more magic after us,” Rose said. “As long as we stay far enough ahead of them, they can’t hurt us that much anyway.” But her face was drawn as she said it. I had the feeling she was more worried than she wanted to let on.
Well, why not? We’d done everything we could to keep our secret safe from her Assembly, and they’d found us out anyway. If we could actually have any kind of life now that wasn’t constantly on the run, thatwouldbe a miracle.
But we’d have a better chance if I could help make it happen.
* * *
Not long after the country road we’d been driving down had shifted from pavement to bumpy gravel to bumpier dirt, Gabriel pulled the SUV over by a small clearing off to the side. The sun was heading back down the sky, a late afternoon stillness settling over the landscape. I sat up straighter where I’d been dozing in the middle seat. My mind immediately started drifting over the possibilities.
“This is the spot we’re taking our break?”
“We’re pretty far from any habitation,” Rose said. “No one around to notice us. And the enforcers have let up on their attacks for a while. I think this is the best we’re going to get.” She glanced around the car from where she’d taken the front passenger seat to navigate. “Seth and Gabriel, I think you guys should get the first chance to really sleep. You two have done most of the driving so far.”
Seth looked like he was going to argue, but she gave him a look so firm he shut his mouth. From the way he rubbed his eyes, he had to be feeling some fatigue. It wasn’t like a big guy like him could get the best sleep sitting cramped in a car anyway.
“I’ll take the back seat,” Gabriel told him, clapping him on the arm as he clambered past. “You take the middle.” With three seats, it was the longest section.
Kyler hopped out, his gaze glued to his stolen phone. “I’m making some progress with this. I’ll keep at it for the time being.”
Damon followed him. As his feet hit the ground, his head swiveled to take in our surroundings. “I’m going to keep watch,” he said, nodding to a stand of trees near the side of the road where he’d be able to see down a long stretch of it. “Maybe they stopped using magic because they’re trying to sneak up on us.”
“Thank you,” Rose said to him, giving him a quick kiss that left his eyes bright. Then she turned to me. “Time to get painting?”
I grabbed my bag of supplies and checked the clearing for a good spot to set up shop. There was a log lying beside a short row of trees at the opposite end. I walked over to it, my shoes rustling through the long grass. The sharp scent of the scattered dandelions reached my nose. They might be weeds, but I’d always loved the contrast of that stark yellow with the deeper green of their leaves.
Sitting on the log gave me a twinge low in my gut. It was on a different log that I’d first made love to Rose—in a headlong rush after the consort ceremony in the forest on her estate’s grounds, when we’d all collided in a blaze of magic and passion. I suspected that now I wasn’t ever going to be able to take a walk in the woods without getting a little bit turned on.
I handed a pencil and six of the wooden tokens I’d picked up to Rose. “Sketch the glyph you need me to work with. Will I need to hide the symbols in the rest of the image like before?”
“I guess not,” she said. “Since anyone who comes after us will already know I’m doing magic. The spell might work even better if you emphasize the lines of the glyph. We’ll just want to keep the pendants tucked under our shirts in case we cross paths with anyone else from witching society who wouldn’t recognize us otherwise.”
The tokens were about half the size of my palm, so that seemed doable. I nodded and started laying out my paints while she sketched.
“Maybe there are other ways we can combine art and magic,” I said. “You’ve only just come into your powers, and you’ve had to keep them secret the whole time… You should experiment, stretch yourself, find out what you’re capable of.”
“Like you do with your art?” Rose said with a smile.
“Why not? Creating spells looks kind of like art to me. Like a dance—or a martial art.”
“Okay, I can see what you mean with the forms.” Her smile turned crooked. “I did experiment a little when we were in that prison. I managed to cast with barely any motion, just imagining the forms. But that took at least twice as long and three times as much energy as a proper magicking. It doesn’t do me any good to burn myself out that fast unless it’s that or not cast at all.”
Her brow furrowed in concentration. She handed the first token to me. “You know what I’d really like? I’d like to make them all forget they ever knew me or the rest of you, or cared what happened to us, forever and ever. I think that might be a little beyond any one witch’s powers though.”
