Magic Fire: an Urban Fantasy Novel (Shifting Magic Book 1) by Catherine Vale

Author:Catherine Vale [Vale, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2017-04-10T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

When Ravena initially told us to head northwest to find a magical village named Aerath, I wasn’t sure what to expect, honestly. As Darius and I had stomped through the woods, I’d started to envision wood huts in shambles. Tarps. Animal skins. It’d be like stepping back in time to something totally absurd. After all, if you wanted to live in a community of magic-inclined folks, it was just easier to create a settlement in Alfheim. At least there, you could practice your magic without restriction, free from the curious eyes of humans, and the limitations they wrought. So, to avoid detection, I’d just assumed the residents of Aerath would make the place look as decrepit as possible to encourage outsiders to keep on moving.

You know. A shanty town where it looked like you’d be stabbed within thirty seconds of arrival. That kind of thing. Much to my surprise, that wasn’t the case. Not even a little. Sure, it still felt like we had gone back in time, but rather than going all the way back to the stone age, we were in a twentieth century English village in the countryside. Thatched rooftops. Stone walls—the kind that looked like someone placed each individual stone thoughtfully, and carefully. Cobblestone streets lay underfoot with gorgeous flower baskets in windows, and pristine awnings hanging in front of the entryways to the few small shops.

I’d felt the magic as soon as we stepped out of the forest. It washed over us like a great rushing wave, and while Darius merely stumbled and glanced around, unaware of what had just touched him, I recognized it immediately. While Liam and Colton were around for added muscle, the village magic practitioners had encased everything in a protection ward. There were many kinds of wards. The ones we used for our fae sister gathering kept us invisible, blocking outsiders from hearing or seeing us. It was old fae magic, but fairly standard. This ward, on the other hand, didn’t hide the village, per se. Instead, it rushed over us like a giant scanner. The caster could set the terms, but should the ward detect something within any new arrival that was not permissible, it had the ability to punt us back out.

In a quaint place like this, I figured creatures like Vampires, Demons, Gremlins, Trolls—you know, the underbelly of the supernatural community—were probably unwelcome. Fairies and shifters, meanwhile, passed through unhindered.

“This is…” I bit my lip, carefully considering my words. While beautiful, the streets were empty, though I caught the flutter of curtains as we passed by the various thatched cottages. Someone must have tipped the inhabitants off that we were coming. Apparently, they didn’t get very many visitors. When I caught Darius glance back at me—and both bears half-turned heads—I cleared my throat and quickly said, “Charming.”

“I’d go nuts in a place like this,” Darius muttered back, which made me smile. “I mean, what do you do as a kid here? It looks like a senior citizen’s paradise.

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