Natural Mage (Magical Mayhem #2)(33)

I rolled my eyes at myself. My mother would slap me upside the head for that memory slip.

Chalk it up to experience, Penny.

I summoned as much energy as I could muster and closed my eyes while sorting through the elements that would make the spell. The familiar weave came naturally. I had it draped over myself in no time, and the light shimmer around me said I’d done it right.

Taking a deep breath, I slipped around the corner, continuing to hug the wall and stick to the shadows. In the event the spell faltered, it was better to be safe than sorry. Or as my mother would say, “Penny, don’t be an idiot.”

Fifteen feet from the men, I could hear their soft murmurs. A little closer and I could make out their faces in the flare of their cigarettes. One was a broad-faced guy in his mid-thirties with a big block of a body, and the other had jutting teeth and an expression like something smelled bad. Neither was Red (thank you, random selfie in the email—it turned out it hadn’t been as odd as it had seemed at the time). Still, they could be shifters.

The broad-faced guy’s shoulders stiffened, and he held up a hand to the other, his face pointed my way.

I froze, staring at him with wide eyes, wondering if my spell hadn’t worked like I’d thought.

“What is it?” Smells-a-Stink asked in a hush.

Broad Face sniffed and scanned the street. “You smell that?” he murmured.

The other guy stepped into the gutter, keeping one foot on the street. He looked upward and then away before facing my direction. “Yeah. Don’t see nothin’, though.”

Fabulous. I was the stink.

“Filthy vampires, is it?” the first asked.

“Nah, they ain’t invisible. They don’t smell as good, neither.”

“Too bad. Tearing one of them apart would get us noticed in the pack. They’re hard to kill, I hear.”

“What about one of those mages wandering around the city?” Smells-a-Stink said, taking a step in my direction.

It finally occurred to me that these were magical folk who could smell exceptionally well, hanging out near a shifter bar, and had mentioned the word pack. My mother’s voice sounded in my head: Penny, stop being slow.

Shifters.

My concealment spell fit around me like a bubble, deadening sound to some degree, but I hadn’t thought at all about smell.

Since these guys were shifters, I could just show myself to them…only they clearly weren’t so hot on vampires or mages. Given that I was a mage and my new trainer was a vampire (I had not resigned myself to the possibility he might not have made it through), I was not on their “awesome” list.

And now they knew I was here.





16





I could not remember if shifters had enhanced hearing, but it seemed like a strong possibility, given that animals did. Which meant a sound-suppressing spell wouldn’t work as well with them, especially if they were already onto me.

Careful with my footfalls, I took a step away. Then another, putting distance between us. Unfortunately, Broad Face took one step toward me with a much larger stride. Smells-a-Stink matched him.

I held my breath and picked up the pace, trying to choose each step carefully.

My overburdened shoe groaned with the effort. I froze with my other foot off the ground.

“There’s something there,” Broad Face said, pausing with me. “A female.”

How could he possibly know that? I was certainly sweating as much as any man.

“A mage, then,” the other murmured, the words almost unintelligible. He was trying to keep me from hearing. Clearly he didn’t know I was all of seven feet away.

“Rush her,” Broad Face whispered.

“I don’t know where she is,” the other murmured, this time without moving his lips.

“That way somewhere.” Broad Face jerked his chin in my direction. “If we just run at her, eventually we’ll run into her.”

“We should change, or we’ll run right into a spell.”

“Not if we surprise her.”

It wasn’t clear why these two had been given the duty of guarding the door. Or any duties at all.

“You go at it, and I’ll circle around,” Broad Face said out of the side of his mouth. He used the same volume.

This was about to get interesting. If they weren’t rushing me together, it would be similar to dodge ball, which I’d always been surprisingly great at. I’d just have to step aside when they barreled past. Of course, red balls didn’t have long, grasping arms.

“Ready?” Smells-a-Stink asked, his volume increasing with his excitement.

“Yeah,” the other whispered.

A door squealed somewhere behind them and a tall man stepped out. “What are you guys doing?” Light spilled across his familiar face.

“Red,” I said in relief, stepping forward.

“There!” Broad Face swung a finger toward me, but not right at me. He squinted at nothingness. “Did you hear that?”

“I heard that!” Smells-a-Stink backed into the street between two parked cars. “I definitely heard that. You sure that is a mage and not a ghost?”

“Mages can do tricks like that,” Broad Face said, putting out his hands. “I’m pretty sure.”

“Red,” I said again, unraveling the spell as Broad Face moved somewhat in my direction with his arms waving in front of him.