Aroha

“Did the pyromancer really get put out by the rain?” Amelie giggled.

“It was heavy rain,” Mitch said, recalling the freak storm that had put an end to his duel with Aroha’s coven. In hindsight he realised that it had probably been caused by the Eternity War. He was just glad that it had only been a storm and not an earthquake or volcanic eruption.

He leaned back on the bench and Amelie snuggled a little closer. It was one of those deceptive winter days with clear skies and a bright sun that looked as if it should be warm from the safety of inside. It hadn’t actually been that bad while they were walking, in fact it had been so not bad that they’d decided to stop in the botanic gardens and now Mitch was using magic to keep the cold at bay.

“Pretty sorry excuse for a pyromancer,” Amelie said. “Can you imagine any of our teachers standing for that?”

Mitch laughed. He didn’t think that any of their pyromancers would have let the fire go out regardless of how wet it was. Their teachers had been fond of demanding the impossible.

“And the others were just as bad?”

“Yeah, the weather witch looked as if she was milking a giant cow and Gwen trapped Aroha in her own illusion.”

“And she’s the one Miriama warned you about?” Amelie asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mitch shrugged, “Maybe she’s been practising. We should get going,” he added, eyeing the clouds forming on the horizon.

Amelie sighed, “I guess, Nikola won’t be happy if we’re late for dinner.”

“I think it’s chicken tonight,” Mitch said, pulling Amelie to her feet. “He’ll complain if it starts drying out.” He frowned, “That storm is forming really fast.”

“What storm?” Amelie asked. “If you’re attempting to be metaphorical you’re failing.”

“Those clouds,” Mitch said, they reminded him of the duel, perhaps because it was already on his mind. Probably just the Host, he thought. Again. But storms were better than earthquakes.

“Over there?” Amelie pointed. Mitch nodded.

“They’ll all wispy and white,” Amelie said. “You couldn’t fill a teacup with them.”

“What?”

“That one looks like a bunny.”

Mitch frowned, Amelie sounded completely serious despite the grin but wispy and white weren’t the words he would have used to describe the clouds and they were distinctly non-bunny like as well.

The wind picked up, whipping Amelie’s hair about like Medusa’s snakes and pulling at their clothes. Mitch frowned, for what looked like a howling gale it was awfully quiet and he couldn’t actually feel his clothes moving. He could feel traces of magic though and he doubted that he’d suddenly become sensitive to the Eternity War.

“An illusion?” he said, wondering who could be that stupid.

Amelie shrugged. “I was trained to see through glamours. If I can’t see it then it’s not there.”

Mitch nodded, now that he was looking for them he could see the signs that the storm wasn’t quite right. The clouds weren’t as textured as they should have been, the lightning flashing across the sky too slow and orderly and lacking in thunder. Rain started to fall and again it was wrong. It fell straight down despite the apparent wind and he couldn’t feel it even though he should have been soaked to the skin in seconds.

“We need to find her,” Amelie said, jumping to the same conclusion.

“I know,” he replied. Aroha had to be nearby. That storm was directly overhead now and–

He heard the squeal of brakes followed by the blaring of a car horn and he winced. The people on the road didn’t know that the storm wasn’t real and it had reduced visibility to almost nothing.

“There she is,” Amelie pointed further up the hill though Mitch couldn’t see anything through the illusory rain.

“Lead the way,” he said. Amelie took his hand and pulled him through the rain. Aroha must have put everything she had into actually making the storm. The rain lost definition as it reached the ground and despite the downpour nothing looked wet.

Aroha finally appeared through the rain. She was bundled up against the cold, her once bleach blonde hair now an unnatural shade of blue. She gazed intently at where he and Amelie had sat, either oblivious or uncaring of the chaos on the roads.

“You’re responsible for this?” Amelie asked, gesturing at the sky. Mitch frowned, picking out the sound of sirens.

“Pretty awesome isn’t it?” Aroha smirked. “I bet no one at your school ever did something like this did they?” she asked Mitch.

“They know better,” Mitch replied. At least they did when they weren’t under the influence of the Twisted Curse. He still had nightmares about the zombie horse.

“Do you think she’s underage?” Amelie asked. Mitch shrugged, underage or not she was old enough to understand the consequences of her actions. She should have known better than to use magic that might hurt someone. The sirens had resolved into two distinct sounds: ambulance and police.

“I’m right here,” Aroha snapped. Mitch was impressed, she hadn’t stomped her foot.

“Siegfried’s still here right?”

“Yeah.” The ancient vampire wasn’t happy about it but until he found a replacement for Rana there wasn’t much he could do.

“We’ll take her to Tartarus then,” Amelie decided. “I don’t want to deal with the Unseelie Court.”

“Right,” Mitch said awkwardly.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Aroha demanded, glaring at both of them.

“Dispel the illusion,” Amelie ordered.

“Make me.”

Amelie said something in Faerie and the storm vanished. Aroha sagged back against a tree, staring at Amelie with wide eyes and finally seeming to register the sirens and the ambulance racing towards the intersection.

“I hope for your sake that you didn’t just kill someone,” Amelie said. “I’ll take her to the Netherworld,” she said, turning to Mitch. “You find Miriama, they won’t release her on her own.”

“What? Where are you taking me?” Aroha asked but she didn’t sound as demanding as before and she seemed somehow smaller.

“Tartarus,” Amelie said.

“That’s for monsters.”

“Your point?”

Aroha turned to run only to be snared in Amelie’s magic before she could go two steps.

“I will march you there like a puppet if I have to,” Amelie said. She turned Aroha around to face them and stared her in the eyes. “Try to run again and I’ll let the Unseelie Court deal with you.”

“Amelie,” Mitch said, he was ninety-nine percent sure she wouldn’t actually do it but there was still that one percent.

Aroha yelped and flinched back into Amelie’s telekinetic bindings.

“He’s a vampire.”

“Someone must have tried to train her properly,” Amelie observed while Mitch frantically checked his ring.

“Wait,” he said, his brain finally catching up. “If you can see through glamour…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Amelie smiled. “Now go get Miriama, I’ll be fine with her.” Mitch nodded, it wasn’t Amelie he was worried about.

#

Mitch drummed his fingers on the desk while he waited for the system to finish logging in. He’d checked two libraries, their lecturers’ offices and the tutorial rooms to no avail. There was every chance that Miriama had already gone home for the day, it was dinner time, but he had no idea where she lived. The best he could do was hope that she’d responded to the email he’d sent half an hour ago.

“Finally,” he muttered when the computer finished logging in. He checked his email and cursed, Miriama hadn’t replied yet. Nikola had though.

I’ll meet you by the campus store in twenty minutes.

Mitch checked the time-stamp and swore again. He was already late. He hit the log out button and left as soon as he was sure it was listening.

“Took you long enough,” Nikola said when Mitch found him sitting on the stairs right where he’d said he’d be.

“I only just saw your message,” Mitch said. They had to have come in through different doors, there was no way he could have missed Nikola on his way to the central library otherwise. “You didn’t have to come. It won’t do us any good if she’s not actually here.”

“I have other ways of looking,” Nikola said telepathically.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Mitch asked. “I could just go ask Aroha for the address.” Even if she didn’t know it she’d be able to tell him how to get there.

“That only works if she’s home,” Nikola said. “I can do this Mitch, I wouldn’t have offered if I couldn’t.”

“Are–” he sighed. “Let’s use one of the study rooms, that’s about as much privacy as we’ll get around here.”

Nikola put a hand on his shoulder. “If you think I’m pushing too hard tell me to stop and I will,” he said.

“Alright,” Mitch said. They went upstairs and peered through windows and at schedules until they found a study room that wasn’t in use. Nikola took a seat and Mitch sat opposite him, carefully not biting his lip.

“She’s not on campus,” Nikola said after a long moment, his eyes refocusing on Mitch.

“Damn it.” They’d been in the botanic gardens when they encountered Aroha but that was only a short walk from campus and that entire end of town was inhabited by students. Mitch just hoped that she didn’t live in South Dunedin.

“If she’s that far away then you’ll have to ask Aroha,” Nikola said. “Too many people if I have to go that broad.”

“Don’t push yourself,” Mitch said. “And no using your bracelets.”

“That one is back in Faerie,” Nikola said. “Aunt Titania said it would be a bad idea with the impressions. Now hush.” His eyes lost their focus and he fell silent. Mitch drummed his fingers and the table and stopped, worried that it might distract Nikola. He bounced his foot up and down instead.

“Nikola.”

He didn’t respond.

“Nikola,” Mitch repeated, shaking his shoulder. Nikola started and Mitch handed him a tissue. “Your nose is bleeding.”

“I found her,” Nikola said, pressing the tissue to his nose.

“Thank god.”

“You pulled me out before I could give her a message.”

Mitch groaned. “Can we just cancel the rest of the day?”

Nikola smiled. “Don’t worry, talking to her is a lot easier than finding her was.” Mitch gave him a look. “Worry quietly then.”

Mitch rolled his eyes and tried to worry quietly while Nikola worked. At least his nose had stopped bleeding though he was still white as a sheet.

“Ugh,” Nikola said a minute later. “Why do people always assume that I have nothing better to do that voyeur my way through their minds?” He rubbed his head, blinking as he refocused on reality.

“Is she coming?” Mitch asked, rummaging through his bag until he unearthed his half empty drink bottle and handed it over.

“She’s coming,” Nikola said between gulps. “She’ll meet you in the Link in fifteen minutes.”

Mitch sighed in relief, “You ok?”

“Well enough,” Nikola coughed and took another sip of water. “The Host is nearby and the Fallen can’t be far behind, they never are.” He set down the empty bottle and slumped in his chair.

“Go home and go back to bed Nikola,” Mitch said. “You’ve done enough.” After a second Nikola nodded and Mitch knew that despite his claims to the contrary he had to be feeling terrible to agree so readily.

“Take these,” Mitch pulled the packet of tissues out of his pocket and handed them to him. “And thank you.” He shoved his bottle back into his bag and hugged Nikola before walking him out.

#

“He’s not here is he?” Miriama asked. Mitch started, almost spilling his coffee.

“Who? You mean Nikola? No, he left as soon as he called you.”

Miriama shuddered, “Good. What was so important you had to ask a telepath to poke around in my head anyway?”

“Nikola isn’t interested in your head,” Mitch muttered. Miriama raised an eyebrow.

“It doesn’t worry you at all does it? He can hear your every thought and you just don’t care.”

Mitch shrugged, “He’s my best friend. We should get going, this took longer than I expected.”

“Going where?” Miriama asked sharply, not moving from where she stood.

“The…” Mitch sighed. “You sister caused a car crash, she was taken to the Netherworld.”

Miriama gulped and fell into step beside him. “We usually deal with a representative of the Academy,” she said.

“I don’t even know who that is,” Mitch said. “Aroha created an illusory storm in front of a vampire and a member of the Seelie Court. I think she was trying to show off or get even or something…”

“You keep some strange company,” Miriama said with an odd grimace that Mitch thought was an attempted smile. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“I don’t think it’ll be that easy,” Mitch said. If she wanted to believe that he was human then he’d let her, that wasn’t what was important now. “That storm attracted a lot of attention. The police and an ambulance were called out.”

“The… the crash didn’t kill anyone did it?” Miriama asked, almost managing to keep her voice level.

“I don’t know,” Mitch said. They’d find out soon enough. He fished out his medallion and pressed it to the Nethergate. “I don’t think so.”

Miriama sighed in relief. “Your friend really didn’t go poking around in my mind?”

“He has better things to do,” Mitch snapped, yanking the Nethergate open.

“Good, I don’t want him seeing…” she trailed off.

“He prefers boys.”

“I suppose you know his favourite colour as well.”

“Green,” Mitch replied, looking around the entry hall and trying to remember the way to Tartarus. He hadn’t paid that much attention last time.

“And you wonder why people think that you’re in a relationship.”

Mitch shook his head and stalked over to Sieg’s office, raising one hand to knock on the door only to freeze when it opened and a young damphir stepped out. Karen had been Rana’s assistant and Sieg had concluded that she was the best person to take over with a little more training.

“Master Siegfried asked that I escort you to Tartarus,” she said, stepping out into the entry hall and closing the door behind her.

“Tartarus?” Miriama asked.

“Where else would we keep a criminal?” Karen asked blandly.

“She’s seventeen,” Miriama said.

“Old enough to understand what she was doing then,” Karen replied.

Mitch was beginning to suspect that between the two women was not a good place to be standing. He didn’t even know what kinds of magic they specialised in. Fortunately, nothing more was said until they reached Tartarus. Miriama relaxed when she saw the bright lights and sterile white walls instead of a Victorian dungeon.

Sieg and Amelie awaited them in a small conference room, watching Aroha through an enchanted mirror as she sobbed on a narrow bed.

“What did you do to her?” Miriama asked. Sieg cocked his head at the table. It was littered with crime scene photos and Mitch looked away hastily.

“That’s it?” Miriama asked, looking away almost as quickly as Mitch had.

Amelie rolled her eyes. “We do have rules you know. We don’t want to give you clowns any more reason to hunt us down.”

“Her magic has been suppressed and she has been informed of the conditions of her release,” Sieg said. “Your parents have already been contacted and will arrive in the morning.”

Miriama looked at the pictures again and swallowed. “Are they alright?”

Sieg shrugged, “They’re alive. The hospital hasn’t disclosed any more than that yet. I believe this is what she’s crying over,” he sifted through the pictures until he unearthed one of a young boy playing with a toy train and threw it down next to a picture of the same boy with his leg at an awkward angle.

“Can you do anything for him?”

“Use magic on a human?” Amelie asked sharply. “Covering up the storm will be hard enough.”

“But–”

“If you want something done do it yourself,” Amelie said. “Maybe start by teaching your sister to be a better person.”

Miriama gaped at her and Mitch slunk to the back of the room, glad that he no longer had to participate and wondering why Sieg wasn’t taking the lead. Maybe he thought that it would go better if someone human looking took the lead though that still left Karen.

“What does any of this have to do with you anyway?”

“Amelie was a witness,” Siegfried said, “and a representative of the Seelie Court.”

The ground rocked and Mitch swore. Miriama braced herself on the table as the pictures fluttered down around her feet. Even Sieg and Amelie staggered. In the mirror Mitch could see Aroha’s eyes widen in fear as she slithered to the ground. The bed looked pretty sturdy but imprisoned underground was not where you wanted to be during a quake.

Mitch shuddered, remembering the last quake that he’d been in, and hoped that Nikola was ok. At least he didn’t have any demons to worry about this time.

“I think that was our cue to leave,” Amelie said when the shaking stopped.

“See them out Karen,” Sieg said, “we have other matters to discuss.” A chair slid out for Miriama and the photos floated up and settled in an orderly stack, the smiling boy on the top.

#

Mitch went straight to Nikola’s room when he got home.

“Are you ok?” he asked, softly.

“I will be when my head stops pounding,” Nikola said, his voice hoarse, raising his head from the pillow.

“Do you want dinner?” Mitch asked. It looked like Nikola had cooked everything already and just put it in the warming drawer when he went out. It also looked as if he hadn’t eaten anything himself. Nikola shook his head.

“You sure?” Mitch asked, crouching down beside him. There were flecks of blood around his nose and more on the tissues in the bin and his breath smelled of toothpaste.

“I’m sure,” Nikola croaked.

“What about tea?” Mitch asked, reaching out to brush his hair from his face.

“Tea would be nice.”

“Ok,” Mitch smiled, slowly relaxing after Tartarus and the quake. “Do you want anything else?”

Nikola shook his head.

“You make for a pretty good distraction you know,” Mitch said, remembering a long ago conversation.

Nikola smiled, “So do you.”

“I’ll make your tea,” Mitch said. “Try not to fall asleep before I get back.”