The Conjurer (The Vine Witch #3)(33)

“Come, girl, and see how superior magic is done.”

“Last time I saw you read a fire you abandoned me on top of a tower to fend for myself against your wish magic.” Yvette smirked and floated five feet over to the scales.

Sidra gently blew fire onto the paper and straw until they caught. The paper curled and turned black as the fire feasted. The straw crackled, glowing like orange filaments before turning black and drooping. The three huddled around the scales. In the distance, a whistle announced the train’s departure.

“You see how the paper curls and holds its shape even when it turns to ash? It means plans cannot be altered. The path is set. That’s not always so with the future.”

“Which path?” Elena asked, unable to hide the genuine worry in her eyes.

Sidra pointed to how the filaments of straw crossed each other before collapsing. “The conflict I’ve been expecting. But there’s something else here,” she said and watched how the fire died out and trailed into smoke.

“What? That we’re all going to die?” Yvette had meant it half in jest, but no one laughed.

“Perhaps only some of us.” Sidra smiled inwardly at making the girl uncomfortable, then turned back to her pyromancy. “The smoke twists uniformly instead of wafting naturally. It spirals in a controlled manner. Almost as if by design. As if the future were . . .”

“Compelled by wish magic?”

Sidra met Elena’s gaze with a nod. “You have sensed this too?”

Yvette visibly shivered. “Merde, you think someone wished for us to be killed by Jamra?”

Elena peered closer at the smoke. “My intuition isn’t compelled to act the same way it was in the city with your wish, but there is a feeling of some grander scheme at work, drawing us all together.”

The smoke dissipated, carrying with it any further insight. Sidra shook her head, still not convinced anything like wish magic was at work. And yet she, too, had the sense that events were being manipulated. The way her medallion was stolen. The coincidence of Elena being abducted by Jamra and then freed so she could be led to the village. Even the annoying girl being sent to this place at her side had the whiff of coordination. As if someone kept correcting a master plan.

Elena sorted through the ashes left in the tray.

“What else do you seek?” Sidra asked.

“I thought maybe . . . I’m not as good at reading ashes as you, but I hoped I might see a sign.”

“You have to first ask the fire a question before it burns through to find an answer in the ashes.”

Elena straightened. “In that case, I have to go. Whatever’s going on here, I’ve done my part. I warned you about Jamra and what he intends to do, but now I must return home as quickly as possible. Jean-Paul was hexed before I was taken.”

“What did that jackal do?”

The vine witch rarely showed fear, but her eyes brimmed with concern. “He did something to Jean-Paul’s mind. Gave him a fever as if his brain was on fire. Jamra said he sent his mind to wander the desert. It was the only way he could compel me to find you.”

Sidra understood his treachery. She had used such spells on her enemies in the past too. Mortals were particularly vulnerable to magic that affected their soft-tissue brains.

“What kind of magic can send a man’s mind to swelter in a desert?” Elena asked. “Can he recover? Please, is there a spell to cure him? He seemed to improve the farther away Jamra and I flew.”

“You know this for sure?”

“Last night I was able to make Jamra pass out long enough for me to use my shadow vision.” She paused as Sidra’s brows raised at such a feat. “I used a wine spell that doubled the alcohol’s potency with a little sleep spell mixed in for good measure. In my vision Jean-Paul’s fever seemed to have lessened, even though he remained unconscious. I haven’t been able to check since.”

Sidra confirmed her speculation with a nod. “If Jamra has come south, the tether of magic may have weakened. The hold over your man could have lessened, but distance alone won’t be enough to help him recover.”

“What can I do? My healing charms had no effect on him.”

Predictably, there was little a witch could do for one whose mind had been sentenced to wander in the sand under an unrelenting sun. Most victims ended up in asylums, unable to care for themselves any longer. “No, in this case your herbs will not work.”

“There must be something you can do. Jinni magic against jinni magic. Can’t I make a wish? Let the magic find him in the desert and bring him back?”

“Yes, grant her a wish,” Yvette said. “Those things are powerful stuff.”

“It doesn’t work that way.” Sidra reached in the fold of her caftan. “However . . .”

The witch’s cat eyes flared with hope. “Yes?”

Sidra fished out the three medallions. Without the fourth, they were useless for the purpose she’d had in mind. All had to be in her possession to ensure they were not used to entreat her help and reveal her location to Jamra. The instinct to be hidden was strong, but there was a force working against her. Perhaps not a true enemy, or they would have already informed Jamra of her whereabouts. As the fire revealed, some other plan had been set on its own trajectory and couldn’t be altered. One that determined she should not hide. The confrontation had to take place. Sidra exhaled, knowing the truth she’d seen in the fire.