Conflicted Magic: A Novella in the World of Andromeda Bochs by Christina Herlyn

Author:Christina Herlyn [Herlyn, Christina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Christina Herlyn
Published: 2022-04-14T23:00:00+00:00

A

CHAPTER FIVE

Josiah spent a few hours that night unpacking and arranging his kitchen and upstairs bedrooms. He liked his brick Colonial home in Brookside. The neighborhood housed mostly quiet Magics with sturdy wards and too many of their own secrets to worry about his. Too bad he didn’t know his neighbors well enough to ask if they’d seen a giant cat peeing outside his property.

His training mat finally slipped into place as he jumped on one corner. It completely covered the hardwood floors of the master suite. His vast collection of weapons, most made by Wakinyan Weapons, already decorated the walls. He still kept his go-to weapons in his trunk. His anxious brain wanted physical exercise, but it had been a while since a good fight, and the harpies had taken more out of him than he would ever admit. Instead, he treated his muscles to a long stretch.

He showered in the master suite, because he loved the giant, glass walled shower with five massaging heads. But he didn’t need the big room just for sleep. He’d spent his first day here building a roost of sorts in the front bedroom that made it feel like home. Midnight approached, but before he could pass out in his loft bed, he had to deal with a nosy cat.

Josiah left through the front door, attempting the appearance of a carefree man out for a late-night walk. He sauntered up the block, down cracked sidewalks sheltered by centuries-old trees. The glow of Atlas washed the shadows red and revealed some dangers while it hid others. A couple enjoying glasses of wine on their porch nodded when he passed. Around the corner, a tall Victorian house blocked the Atlas light. The wooded lot was situated between the back of the Victorian house and his.

Josiah stepped off the sidewalk and casually leaned against the trunk of a giant oak. He nudged a small fallen branch so it rested on the top of his tennis shoe. A flick of his ankle sent the branch flying toward the Victorian’s property line. It hung suspended for a second as it ignited a sparkling green shield. Then it dropped unharmed to the grass, and the ward disappeared.

Josiah had never seen a green ward. He sighed a little and shook his head. He’d really dropped the ball on any education that didn’t involve his personal magic or a weapon. But the ward had lit up just long enough to see its edge against the vacant lot next door. He kept to the shadows and the unwarded lot as he moved toward the woods.

The next decision: high or low. Being a thunderbird, Josiah’s comfort zone was high, but certain cats climbed trees. He didn’t want to be on the same level. None of the territory the cat marked had been high, though. Josiah opened his magic, saw even the shadowy woods in bright, sharp vibrancy, and jumped up twenty feet. He landed on a thick tree limb then slid to the notch between trunk and limb so he could prop his feet on a branch.

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