Witches for Hire (Odd Jobs #1)(112)

“That’s cute, but it’s not going to help you.” Desmond slashed his hand through the air and lightning arched sideways.

Clive thrust his staff out and sucked the lightning into it. His staff warmed but received Desmond’s power without flinching. His eyes strained from the glare, and when Desmond dropped his hand, Edarra was gone from his side.

Desmond looked around. “Playing hide-and-seek, are we? Good luck with that.”

Clive smiled. “It’s awfully hard to face two opponents when you can’t see both of them. Like I really hope she doesn’t distract you while I—” He broke off as he turned his staff sideways. Armed with Desmond’s additional power, Clive sent out a beam of magic enclosed in Desmond’s lightning and struck at the magician.

Desmond whipped his hat off and flipped it so the inside faced Clive.

Clive watched as his magic was absorbed into what looked like a cloud of blackness inside the hat. It’s a wizard’s bag. Clive frowned. “You really do borrow from whichever magical path suits you. That’s unseemly.”

“Only an uptight wizard would care.” Desmond waved his hat like a fan. “Any more tricks?”

A hammer crashed into solid air a foot from Desmond’s head.

“That, you shouldn’t have done.” Desmond threw his hat in the air, and it spun faster and faster. A silver tip poked out of the black space.

Clive pointed his staff at Edarra and whisked her into the air just as a sword flew at the space where she had been standing. The sword stopped midair and turned to them. Clive knocked it aside with his staff. More swords came at them, and Edarra caught a blade that Clive had been too slow to block.

“Now I’m annoyed,” Edarra said. She walked to the side of the street and dug her hands into the front bumper of a car. With a large heave, she chucked it at Desmond.

The car broke in half as an invisible force ripped it apart.

“I can last longer than you.” Edarra picked up another one and spun it over and over before flinging the car at the magician. Desmond’s barrier took longer to break it apart. Clive waited for Edarra to throw a third car, so he could time his next attack closely with it.

As he prepared to release his magic, something glowed out of the corner of his eye. Clive glanced to the side and saw one of the swords sticking out of the road pulsing with a strange light. When Clive searched out the other swords, he found them all glowing in a circle around them. “Shit.” Pointing his staff at Edarra, he scooped her up in the air while at the same time launching himself. He had no time to form a shield as they flew up quickly. The ground exploded in a light so bright it blinded him. Clive landed them on top of a building and ducked down as the repercussion hit their height. When the shaking finally stopped, Clive opened his eyes.

Edarra was squatting beside him, rubbing her ears. “Cleanup is not going to be pretty.”

Clive looked over the edge. “He’s gone. Desmond must have guessed that we were bait.”

Edarra cracked her knuckles. “If we can’t reverse the curse, am I allowed to beat him?”

“Within reason,” Clive said because there was no way he was telling her no with that pissed-off glint in her eyes. “It’s up to Simone and the senator now.”




JEREMY PUT his cup of sweet tea down. “Clive or Simone?” he called out. “No matter. I don’t give a shit who it is as long as you leave.”

His father stepped into the light. “And if it’s me?”

“Then I’ll ask you nicely twice.” Jeremy pointed to the door. “Go away.”

“I need you to fight this. Jeremy, this freedom isn’t worth wasting the effort you went through to be the man you are today.”

Jeremy tilted his head to the side. “Oh yes, I’m so admirable with fearing my own power and my soul mate. I should enjoy being a bitter bastard for the rest of my life.”

“You and Desmond were coming into your own without magic.”

Something clinked behind Jeremy’s father.

Jeremy looked behind him and rolled his eyes when he saw Simone placing a clear crystal on the floor. “So you enlisted the help of my coworkers. That’s not encouraging. Why don’t you go home and let me be happy?”

“Because I remember the last time you let your instincts rule you. I did not see a happy result,” Senator Ragsdale said.

Jeremy’s fists clenched. “Don’t bring that up.”

“Then don’t force me.”

A green fireball flamed into existence in Jeremy’s hand. “You should be more worried about forcing me to act.” His father disappeared, and Jeremy sighed. “Of course you used an illusion. At least you’re smart enough to know you can’t take me.” Even more annoying was that Simone had disappeared too. “What now?” he shouted. “Is it time for the daily moral?” The room took on a shimmer, and instead of Desmond’s filthy rich flat, craggy walls and dented floors took its place. Jeremy’s breath stilted as he recognized the run-down home from his childhood. “Stop it.”

The door that shouldn’t have existed opened, and a teenage version of him ran inside. “He did it for me,” Younger Jeremy whispered, each word dripping with agony. “It’s my fault, and we can’t take it back.” Even though walls separated them when Younger Jeremy sprinted into the hall and headed to his old bedroom, the real Jeremy could see everything.