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We walked silently to the No Spell. Not a single word was uttered. With everything going down with John Doe and the glass girls and now a zombie conspiracy some random schoolkid knew about, I was not about to hold a conversation in the middle of Main Street. She opened her mouth a few times to speak, but I held my finger to my lips to shush her. The walls had ears. Sometimes quite literally.
I opened the front door and walked into the hallway. She was able to cross the threshold without an invitation, which was a good sign.
Ajax looked up from behind the counter, but I shook my head. Guests would have checked in and I didn't want anyone eavesdropping. He gave me a nod as I guided the girl into my office. I motioned to a wingback chair by the fire, and then shut and locked the door behind me.
I felt like I could finally breathe. "I'm Miss Elle Spell. And you are?"
"Precious," she said. "Precious Hamilton."
Ajax still had my stone, so I couldn't activate my magic and offer her an instant cup of tea. Instead, I did it the old-fashioned way. I stoked the coals in the fire grate and heated up the kettle of water.
"Apologies for all that silent treatment," I said. "It's just that some very strange things have been happening and I'm getting more and more paranoid. Now... what was this about your teachers being zombies?" I asked.
She seemed so strong and in control there on the street, but in the candlelight, she seemed so small and terrified. "My teachers were witches. Well, half witches. That's why they taught. They were the best witches I ever knew, though. So, they were talking about getting away for their anniversary and stuff. But then..."
"Then, what?" I asked as I put a few teaspoons of leaves into the pot.
"It gets a little fuzzy," she said. Her brow furrowed. "It's like, I can remember that I forgot something. But I don't exactly remember what I forgot."
I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"That's been happening to a lot of us," I said, thinking about all gaps in my memory and the resulting women in the stained glass. "Only some of us aren't even lucky enough to remember we can't remember."
"I'm half-witch myself," she confessed. "I think it makes it so the spell can only take half hold."
Half witch meant half power, but you were also immune to some of the issues that hit the magical community, namely warlock madness and evil witch syndrome. Apparently, you also had some sort of natural protection against this magical memory loss. I sat down as I waited for the tea to steep. "Fascinating. This is good information. Go on."
"So they disappeared from school and no one knew why or where they went, so then I went down to the police station and learned they had been killed due to being turned into zombies. And I found out it happened here and... well... you...."
"I did," I admitted, apologetically. "It was self-defense. They attacked me in the hall."
"They weren't the sorts of people to just go wandering around zombie fields," she tried to explain, urgency filling her voice. "They knew better. But then, when I was reading the report, I saw that we had a zombie attack at school. No one in my class remembers it. I was there. I even signed off as a witness. It happened two days before they came here, so they would have come down with the virus after they arrived. And no one, not one person remembers it happening." She took a deep breath, brave girl. I could see she was scared I was going to tell her she was wrong. "I think our memory has been wiped. I think there's something going on, something big, and there was a reason why those zombies bit my teachers before they came here. It's not right. And whoever did it? I want to make sure they are arrested and go to jail and never do this to anyone ever again."
"You and me both."
"The thing is, I think I could figure out what was going on but—" She held out her hands.
"But what?"
She seemed defeated. "All my magic stuff is at school. The lab, the ingredients. But if someone came in and did a whole zombie attack and made us all forget about it, I don't know what's safe."
I got up and poured the tea for us, buying myself a little time. I brought it back over. "If you had access to those sorts of supplies, what would you do with them?"
"I do a lot of spells. I'm not supposed to be good because I'm only a half witch, but I am. And I think I could create a spell for restoring my memory," she said as she took the cup.
I was impressed. It was one of those spells I learned in advanced spell class, but you use it or you lose it. And evidently, I didn't learn the spell well enough to remember.
I regarded her for a moment. My own coven had turned its back on this problem, I barely knew what was going on, but this tough little kid had already figured out all this so far. Maybe we could form our own resistance force. As protective as I felt about my workshop, it might actually be of more use to her than me.
"If you're worried about supplies being tainted, that's one area I can help with. Follow me," I said, hooking my finger her direction. "Bring your tea. I think I might have what you need."
We walked up the four flights and I opened the door to my room. She followed as I led her to my ritual room. I lit a few candles and set the vial of vampire blood on my worktable.
Precious's eyes got huge. "I thought this was a 'no spell' hotel." She was in awe of all the potions on my shelves. "You have some really nice herbs here."
I sighed, remembering how it used to be. "I always invested in the best. As my mama always said, if magic was a cake, it would only be as good as your ingredients."
"Some of these are very well aged," she remarked, placing her fingers on the labels. I liked the way she examined them with a discerning eye. Some people enjoyed discussing the sensory experience of wine or the finer points of griffin racing. I appreciated a witch who knew her sage leaves and potion fermentations.
"I inherited some. And I haven't had a chance to use them. I have... well, I have not been allowed to practice for a bit."
"Why?" she asked with curiosity.
"There was a vampire who attacked me. I defended myself, but my coven felt I was out of bounds."
She shook her head at the injustice. "Bunch of bats..."
"For another four months at least," I replied. I paused for a moment and then made a decision. "But... I found a way to use the undead to create magic."
I touched the vials of silver blood.
I was expecting Precious to recoil, but instead, she leaned forward with interest. "You mean, all these monsters that have been terrorizing us here on the Other Side, you can actually use them to make yourself get stronger?"
I tapped the cork. "Unfortunately, only as long as this lasts."
Precious picked up the container and regarded it. "If I figured out a way to get monsters into the No Spell... would that help you?"
I thought about how quickly I would go through it. I went through the energy of two zombie corpses in one week. Of course, I had been a bit extravagant, making up for lost time and all, but still. Having to go stumbling around, hoping to find a zombie before it decayed or a vampire before it turned to dust was going to get really old, really quick. "I suppose it would," I said.
"You have yourself a deal," she said, sticking out her hand.
"A deal?"
"I'm your apprentice," she declared. "I'm going to use up your entire storeroom of supplies to get my memory back." She paused to correct herself. "OUR memory back. And to repay you, I'm going to help you lure some wicked old monsters here."
"And how do you know these 'wicked old monsters', Precious?"
She leaned on the counter, her feet wiggling as she spoke. "I was there at that prison going through those files, and there are some monsters roaming the streets. And that place is doing nothing about it!"
"You can remember their names?" I asked. "Harming an 'innocent' vampire is what got me into this mess, so I'm a little wary—"
She tapped the side of her head. "Photographic memory."
"Really? Did you use a spell?"
"No," she laughed. "It's just a thing I do. But all that information is living in my head now. I can see all the sheets with all the stuff they did like I'm reading it now. But, we can do something about it. I bring those monsters in, you get rid of them."
She was convincing.
Seeing I was relenting, she pressed, "And those monsters? There are big rewards. So, it's like, you get your power and the Other Side is safer and we also get paid a lot for a job no one else wants to do. We can, like, turn all that awfulness into some beautiful magic for good."
I wondered what Ajax would have to say. "So, you're offering to restore my memory AND provide me with power AND we split any reward money? I feel like I'm getting a lot more out of this than you."
"Deal?"
I made a decision. "Use whatever you need. Consider my workshop your workshop. We have plenty of room. Stay here as long as you like... my new apprentice."