Chapter 28

I sat at the booth, staring at a spot on the table. If anyone else had come in and looked, they wouldn’t have seen anything. To be honest, I didn’t “see” anything either, but I knew that was where Tanner had cast his first ‘test spell’ for me to identify and dispel.

I thought identifying a spell would be the easy part, but, for whatever reason, I was having problems. Every time I used the Identify spell Tanner showed me, I only got a piece of the overall idea of what was involved in the spell. In this case, I heard water running, felt wet, and tasted water. Each of those sensations came with each casting of the Identify spell. I told Tanner what was happening. He only said, “Try again. You should get all those impressions together.”

It didn’t help.

Know what was involved with the spell wasn’t going to tell me what the spell was for. More to the point, it wouldn’t help me figure out what I had to do to dispel it. I was getting frustrated because the more I thought about it, the more I realized I would probably have to guess what the intention of the spell was. I never had to guess when it came to school. Everything was based on facts or supposition of the known facts. For that matter, most of it was memorization and regurgitation, but this was based on whatever another Magus could dream up, and that concept made this seem all that much more impossible.

I threw my hands up and sat back. “I give up. I know it has to do with water, but I don’t know the purpose of the spell.”

Tanner stared at me. “Why do you need to know the purpose?”

“That’s what I have to counter,” I said and then a thought occurred to me and I asked, “Isn’t it?”

He arched an eyebrow. “Very good. Countering a spell’s purpose usually means having to know how the other Magus thinks, and more often than not, you’ll never know that. So, find a detail in the spell, and pull it apart. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

I sat forward again and focused on the water aspect. The first thing to spring to mind was to drink the water, but if the spell was meant to call up more water than I could drink then I would be in trouble. The next idea was to soak up the water, but again, I might not come up with anything that could absorb the amount needed. So, the last idea was the best: to evaporate the water.

Companies use water evaporators for a number of different reasons. The reason didn’t matter, but how an evaporator worked did. I thought about reshaping the area the water in the test spell would affect, spreading it out as wide as possible. The wider and thinner the water, the faster it would evaporate. Evaporation doesn’t happen quickly though, especially with no wind, so I added that to my counter.

Tanner staggered back with the blast. He frowned at me and then checked the test spell. It was gone. He didn’t say anything as he set up the next one. I guessed that was okay, since he wasn’t suggesting corrections.

After several more rounds of identifying and dispelling the test spells Tanner set up, I checked my watch. It was already after one o’clock and I had to be on site for the photo shoot at two. I told Tanner that I had to go. He didn’t argue.

When we arrived at my apartment, there was only one Suburban, which meant Deputy Lawson had either left or returned his. Next to it was Faith’s car and Sammi’s dark blue Ford Explorer. Erica had my car so I was thankful Sammi was there to make sure I made it to the shoot.

We parked next to Sammi’s SUV. I slipped off the motorcycle and Tanner said, “I’ve got to head home tonight. I have to be at work in the morning.”

I nodded. “What time do you plan to leave?”

“No later than seven. If we could get in a couple more hours of practice, I’d feel better,” he said. “But, to be honest, Stephanie can help you with that. I’ll talk to her and go get something to eat. If you’re not gone too long, you and I will go back. Otherwise, ask her.”

“Couldn’t anyone else help, if they’re outside of the Big Problem,” I said.

Tanner shook his head. “Don’t go to anyone else for training.”

I frowned.

“Remember, your new status contradicts your experience,” he said. “I’d feel better if you didn’t tell anyone about either.”

I nodded. “Okay. Well, I don’t know how long I’ll be gone after work, so you should go home and take care of things.”

He smiled. “Something I’m looking forward to.”

Stephanie came out of my apartment at that point, followed by Sammi. Stephanie wore the same black coat she had been when she stopped me and Vanessa from leaving the church on Friday morning. It seemed like she hadn’t changed clothes, but she had. In fact, she was being more daring today, wearing a black skin-tight top that I thought was torn down the front until she got closer and I could tell that it was made to gap open with a few thin strings holding it together. It was the most skin she had publicly shown off all weekend.

In contrast, Sammi wore a long black coat too, but it was buttoned up to fight off the crisp chill of the late October air. Her beautiful, long, golden-blonde hair was settled around her head and on her shoulders like someone else might wear a scarf.

Sammi saw me and smiled. With the sun shining, I could see she was both happy to see me and frustrated with something. She didn’t touch me though. She simply walked past me and said, “We have to go.”

I blinked and looked back at the apartment. Faith stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame. She looked irked, which made me wonder what happened.

I followed Sammi to her SUV and climbed in. She pulled out of her parking spot and paused long enough to look at Stephanie and Tanner talking. Then she pulled away and we were on South Cooper.

Traffic was a little heavier than this morning. More than likely, all the church-goers were heading home or out to lunch. I didn’t feel especially hungry, and Sammi didn’t look like she was either. However, I was too curious about the sour faces. “What happened?” I asked, and even to me, I sounded grumpy.

Sammi looked over at me. “You didn’t tell Faith what kind of work you do.”

I closed my eyes and groaned. “Please tell me she didn’t start yelling.”

“Not at first,” she said. “Finding out that you were a model seemed to be a pleasant surprise, but when she found out that you modeled underwear, the pleasant part left the room.”

I shook my head. “I can’t worry about that now. I’ll talk to her when I get home.”

“Which is something else she mentioned,” Sammi said. “You’ve barely been home since she showed up.”

“How much has Jordan told you?” I asked.

“Oh, she caught me up on everything at the store this morning,” she said.

I looked at Sammi. “You’ve only just met Faith. Other than her outrage about my job, what do you think of her?”

Sammi sighed and I knew what was coming. She didn’t want to say anything bad. “I’m sure she’s only worried that you’re spreading yourself thin or getting involved in more than you can handle.”

“Is that what you really think?” I asked. “You can be absolutely honest with me.”

She glanced at me with a frown. “I don’t know her well enough to say anything,” she said.

I shrugged. “Just give me your impressions of her.”

Sammi shook her head. “I’d rather get to know her first.”

“Have you talked to Jordan or Vanessa?” I asked. “They were both at my apartment when Faith showed up.”

Sammi nodded. “Jordan told me you didn’t want her to stay with you and why, which I agreed with because it does complicate your life, However, Faith had no way of knowing that.”

We had taken a couple of turns since leaving the apartment and I had lost track of where we were. The conversation about Faith wasn’t going to go anywhere, so I dropped it. When Sammi turned off of Green Oaks Boulevard West onto a small road that didn’t have a stripe and looked rather like a long driveway, I spotted a sign that mentioned the City of Arlington. “Are we in the right place?” I asked.

She nodded. “The company doing the shoot was lucky enough to get permission from the city to be here all weekend.”

“It wasn’t my fault the FBI wanted to talk to me,” I said.

“I never said it was,” she said. “What’s wrong with you today?”

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

We followed the drive around several curves and I saw a collection of cars and trucks that looked like they had all been stolen from different high-end dealerships and left here by the thieves. They were parked everywhere with no sense of organization. Sammi pulled off the concrete of the drive and put her SUV in park.

She checked her watch and said, “We have some time. So, before we head out there, tell me what’s bothering you,” she said.

“A number of things,” I said. “Faith is complicating things by being here, and she’s got an application for the same apartment complex. If she’s living that close, I’ll either eventually have to tell her or intentionally pick a fight so she’ll move away.”

Sammi frowned. “Do you really want to do that?”

I hesitated long enough before shaking my head no that Sammi’s eyebrows rose.

“Why would you want to make her so mad?” she asked.

“It’s not her,” I said. “It’s me.” I remembered seeing Tanner and Faith talking and I could feel myself tense up.

Sammi looked me over. “Are you alright?”

I shook my head and remembered what Tanner told me about Faith. “According to Tanner, I’ve got two choices regarding Faith. Either I move in with someone until she leaves, or I make her my Fonte.”

Sammi sat there and stared at me.

I had expected some kind of outrage at the idea of me and my sister doing anything that could lead to the former option, but she was silent. I looked at her. “Well?”