Chapter 15

If the front of the store was smaller than most, then the back was an entirely different story. Beyond the curtains, the work room dwarfed the store front by many times. Not only was it the work room, but apparently, it was the storage room, dressing room, and lounge too.

From the corner where I came in, the first thing I noticed was the wall mirror on the back wall. It took up the entire wall, floor to ceiling, side to side, and made the entire space appear that much bigger. Shelves lined the other three walls. They were stuffed with a multitude of different fabrics varying in color, texture, and quantity. Lace, thread, tools, and every conceivable accoutrement ever devised for tailoring filled the shelves, lined the edges of the floor, and sat on numerous tables. In front of the shelves, racks of clothes stood out like aisles in a store. If Dana was right, all, if not most of those clothes were for women. I briefly wondered where my clothes were.

The lighting was low. Only a couple of lamps near the furniture and several more in the corner to my right were lit. I could tell there were more lights set flush in the ceiling, but none of those were on.

Shondra led us over to the furniture by the mirror. From my reflection, I looked like a tourist visiting the big city for the first time. It was no wonder she hadn’t taken me so seriously about my House or much of anything else that I claimed. I looked for all the world like the inexperienced kid that I was. I would have to continue to press forward and hopefully wipe away such impressions not only from my face, but from her perception of me too.

Shondra sat on one of the chairs. Dana and I took the couch with me closer to Shondra. Once we were all comfortable, Shondra looked at me and asked, “Is there anything special you need to do to use your power?”

I shook my head. “I only have to focus on what I need to see, much like casting a spell.”

She nodded. I held out my hand to her. She was hesitant, but then placed her hand in mine. I held her hand gently. If she wanted to pull away, I wasn’t going to attempt to stop her.

“What do I need to do?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Relax and please be patient.”

She nodded and I closed my eyes.

I still had a few questions about her situation, so I looked for that first. She said she had talked to some of the women who had been with Landeros before he became House Lord. From everything she gathered, she knew Landeros’ tastes ran from sharp slaps to serious physical harm. He varied only in how much the woman could take. The more she could take, the less he did to her. Apparently, he didn’t get as much out of it if a woman was willing. Also, no one had thought to press charges of any kind with either the police or the previous House Lord. In many cases, it would have been a matter of he-said-she-said as to what happened and what level of consent there was behind closed doors. Shondra avoided his advances on several occasions, but now that he was House Lord she couldn’t pull the same tricks. It was only a matter of time before he forced her into his bed.

I also decided to glean more information about how the House was run in general. I hadn’t asked many questions about it to date, but then with everything going on and my own reluctance to learn more, I could only blame myself.

From what Shondra understood, members only had to go in when they were called in or there was some form of meeting that required everyone’s presence, which she hadn’t attended because nothing like that had occurred while she was a member. There had been a number of meetings regarding the Lockdown, but because of the nature of the problem neither Shondra nor anyone else in her House could offer any insight or a solution.

In general, there were a number of different House leadership roles as well as member roles. The House Lord or Lady was considered the top of the House, something like the CEO of a company. Typically, they were the most experienced Magi and knew how to forge the Padrone-Stirpe bond. If a House didn’t have an official Lord or Lady, then a Head of House would be assigned until one could be found, but that rarely happened.

In higher ranking Houses, there were more stringent requirements, but Shondra didn’t know those. The House she mentioned earlier, House Metis, was the County House for Tarrant County. In the hierarchy, all of the city Houses deferred to the County House. Then, several Counties made up a District. The District House for this area was in Dallas, House Delphini. She didn’t know who the House Lord was there though. The next House up was House Pavonis in Austin. House Pavonis was the Regional House and handled issues from District houses in Texas and each of its surrounding states. Lady Blake Mendenhall of House Pavonis handled the regional issues as well as represented everyone as a member of the Council. There were eight other Council members and they got together four times a year to update each other on any big issues. The Lockdown continued to be a thorn for Lady Mendenhall.

Among the members of each House, there were officers and regular members.

Stirpi held the highest positions of rank in a House. They acted outside the normal ‘chain of command’ answering to no one but the House Lord or Lady and no one was required to report to them. They were the personal representative of their Padrone and acted on their behalf, usually taking care of situations when the House Lord or Lady wasn’t personally able to.

House Guardians were there to protect the House and its members. They were the few Magi who were allowed to use open spellcasting, and nothing was restricted to them. They were rumored to know some of the deadliest spells ever devised, not to mention defensive spells that made titanium walls and a steel reinforced concrete bunkers look like sandcastles by comparison. Sheriff and Deputy Magi were usually recruited from House Guardians.

House Lieutenants were the executive officers of the House. Whenever a new or changed rule was put into effect, it was up to them to make it happen and enforce it. They also took care of penalizing House Members who broke House rules.

The rest of the House was made up of full and associated members. Full members had taken a vow of loyalty with the House Lord or Lady. Associated members had not.

There were several other roles as well, but not every House had them, such as Trainers.

And finally, there were the individuals. Magi who didn’t associate with any of the Houses. Shondra knew a number of individuals and after Lord Landeros had become House Lord, she understood why those Magi remained separate. It wasn’t like the hierarchy was a democracy. No one had a vote in who became House Leader or officer positions. It was all about politics and loyalties, and she was getting sick of it.

House Leonis, specifically, was located a few miles south of the edge of the Lockdown. Lord Fouse had been conscious of the fact that some of his House members either lived or worked under the Lockdown and acted accordingly. However, Lord Landeros didn’t seem to care. He was changing House rules to his preferences and, so far, if anyone couldn’t abide by those rules, even if it was because they lived or worked under the Lockdown, they were punished accordingly. I was glad that I was working toward ending the Lockdown sooner rather than letting it end on its own. I hadn’t realized how many people it really affected nor how some of those Magi suffered because of it.

I was curious how life under the Lockdown differed from Shondra’s normal life. There were a thousand little things. It was like having a hand tied behind your back, or wearing an eyepatch when both of your eyes worked just fine. Sure, she could function and get along, but she was so accustomed to having constant access to her power that the Lockdown made it extremely frustrating at times.

Finally, I looked for the real reason I was sorting through her memories: how to make magic items. I was astonished at how much she knew. Shondra’s lessons started with the basics only the day after her Initiation ended. Her Aunt Estelle taught her. She even seemed to know some history, which I thought was interesting since the Law of Secrecy was interpreted as not permitting Magi to record their history.

Shondra and Estelle sat at Estelle’s breakfast table during lessons. Shondra was only eleven, but she was ready to learn everything she could. She sat with rapt attention while her Aunt spoke.

“Many, many centuries ago, long before Christ was born, we were the shamans and medicine men of the world. Everyone came to us when they were sick, or wanted blessings for a good harvest. They came to us to be wed or to seek help when a baby was to be conceived or born.

“For a long time, we used sex to generate the energy needed to perform Magic. We would gather our true believers around a bonfire, have orgies that lasted through the night, and cast our spells with the rising of the sun. We did not have the ability to hold onto the energy to use when we wished. That would not happen for a very long time.

“After the fall of the Roman Empire, we became the primary targets of those who feared and used fear to rule. Our old methods of gathering energy and casting spells marked us as something to fear and kill. Many of our ancestors sought ways to gather and store energy so we might cast spells when we needed rather than wait until we could.

“So a spell was crafted that would imbue us with the ability to store magical energy. It was shared with others who had yet to figure it out. More than that though, our ancestors learned that the long sought after ability was passed on to their children, and their children’s children. They also learned that this reservoir could be shared or taken. A Magus could be made mundane by taking away their reservoir. The Magus could continue to cast spells, but only by the old ways, and even that method was lost over time.

“Then a very clever Magus, one of our own bloodline, thought to use the same spell on a soup spoon. She gave the spoon a portion of her own reservoir and filled it with power. Then she gave the spoon a spell, which could be cast over and over until the reservoir was empty. She had made the first magic item. The knowledge was passed down and taught to other Magi, and today we have several types of magic items that can be constructed.

“The first type is the Permanent magic item. As you can imagine, this is the most powerful and most difficult to construct. You have to permanently give up a part of your reservoir to the item. It will contain energy that will automatically replenish itself from the ambient energy in the air, especially at night when most folks have sex. Since this item is permanent, it is usually made of something of very high quality, an item that could have something to do with the very spell it is constructed to cast. These items are highly sought after by Magi, and heavily controlled by the Council. Should you make one, it could take you several days to recover because it will deplete all of your energy.

“The second type is the Rechargeable magic item. As the name suggests, when the energy of this item is depleted, a Magus can refill the built-in reservoir from their own. You don’t have to give up anything permanent to make one, but due to the complicated nature of the reservoir, it could take several weeks just to construct it. These are also highly sought by Magi, and though the Council limits how many of these are in circulation, they do not care how many you have that are depleted.

“The third type is the Temporary magic item. It is the simplest to make and, as the name suggests, disposable. If the permanent item is the squeegee and the rechargeable item is the bath towel, then the temporary item is the paper towel of the trio. It can take several days to make one of these, but other than the time, it takes the least energy. There are ways to speed up the process, but we’ll get to that after you’ve learned the basics.”

Shondra spent weeks verbally reviewing the process with her Aunt, until her Aunt was sure Shondra knew the process and couldn’t forget it if she wanted to. Then Shondra made her first temporary magic item, a pencil that would stand up and write whatever Shondra said. Shondra didn’t have any skill at drawing, but with that pencil, she was able to make photo quality sketches of anything she saw or imagined. However, because the pencil was only a temporary item, the magic in it only lasted about a week. She continued to make little things like that. Things she could use around the house, but for obvious reasons not anywhere else.

During that time, she learned some of the other basics, like the fact that a temporary magic item could only hold its charge for so long. Even if it’s never used, the energy would seep out and the magic became useless. She tried her hand at making a rechargeable item. After several failed attempts, she finally succeeded with a pair of self-sharpening scissors. To this day, she continued to use them.

After Shondra left home and moved here, she continued to make magic items, not just for her House dues but for use in her tailoring business as well. Some of her customers even asked for temporary magic enchantments on their garments, usually things like built-in bust support in blouses or garments that unwrinkled with just shaking out. Even the most revealing clothes could keep a woman warm in the dead of winter with the right enchantments. So, Shondra had to figure out how to speed up the process of making magic items. Unfortunately, her Aunt had passed away before she could share her secrets, and her mother wasn’t talking to her for personal reasons that I didn’t go looking for. The enchantments Shondra devised were built into the store. All she had to do was imbue an item with the spell she wanted it to cast, the basic reservoir, and the other little things that made the process work, and then the enchantments would take care of the rest. It only took her an hour or two to do the spell work to get things started. The rest of the time, was spent letting the enchantments finish the job. I understood from that alone what needed to be done, and other than spending the time getting the process started, I didn’t see any way to make it any more efficient.