Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga) (35 page)

“Yes, come in. And pull the door closed behind you.”

J
enna
closed the door and
moved slowly into the room, taking care not to seem threatening in any way.
She pulled the chair out from under the desk and set it opposite Leesa
before sitting
down.

Leesa pulled her knees up against her chest
and wrapped her arms around her shins
.

“What makes
you
think I have magic?
” she
asked,
still not ready to admit the fact to this stranger.

“I saw you, with a wizard and volkaane, battling another wizard. Your magic was nowhere near as powerful as theirs, yet
even so,
you
managed to turn
the tide of the contest.”

Leesa was stunned. She couldn’t believe anyone had witnessed the battle. Closing her eyes for a moment,
she tried to picture the scene, but
saw nowhere a person could have hid
den
.
And how did Jenna know where she lived? Rave had carried her away from the place at volkaane speed, at least while they were in the woods.
No one could have followed them—but obviously Jenna had.

“Where were you?
”
Leesa
asked. “
Surely one of us would have seen you if you were anywhere near.”

Jenna smiled.
Her smile seemed friendly and open.

“I was up in the trees.” She recognized Leesa’s puzzled frown. “You wouldn’t have noticed me. I didn’t look anything like this.”

Leesa shook her head in confusion.
“I don’t think I understand.”

“No, you couldn’t understand. Not yet.”
Jenna ran her hands through her thick hair, pushing it back off her shoulders
. “
Which brings us back to the reason I’m here—to ask you something about your magic.
You see, I have magic, too.”

Leesa dropped he
r legs to the floor and slid forward
to the edge of her bed.
This was the most surprising thing Jenna had said yet.
Knowing a
nother person with magic was important—
Leesa
hoped in a good way.

“You have magic?
What kind?
”

Jenna smiled. “I’m not quite sure how to answer that.
I cannot shoot bolts of magic energy from my hands, like your two wizards
did, nor
can I cause things to move, as you apparently did with that log.” She paused for a moment. “
I’m a witch, if that helps you any.”

Leesa shook her head. “Not really. I’m pretty new to this magic stuff. The only kind I know is basic wizard magic
. That’s what I’m trying to learn—wizard magic. I didn’t even know I had it inside me until just a few months ago.”

“
I see. You did
very
well for someone so new.
Was the wizard you were fighting alongside your mentor?”

“Yes
. He imparted his magic to me before I was born, but then he had to go away
, so I never knew anything about it
.”

“
Where is he now? Perhaps he
i
s the one I should be seeking answers from.”

Leesa thought for a moment. Jenna seemed friendly enough, but Leesa didn’t feel comfortable sharing too much about Dominic.

“He’s away for a bit,” she said finally. “I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.
I don’t know how much help I can be, but
I’ll help
you
if I can.
What kind of answers are you seeking?”

Jenna drew in a deep breath, as if she was hesitant to ask. Leesa wasn’t sure why, but she had the feeling the witch was concerned about
perhaps
revealing too much.

“You can trust me, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Leesa said.

Jenna nodded. “Yes, I think I can.” She stood up and turned her back to Leesa for a moment, pacing
a
few short steps before turning back around. “Has anything happened to your magic in the last day or two?” she asked quietly.

Leesa looked up at the witch.
Things were beginn
ing to fall into place. She thought she knew now w
hy Jenna was here. Still, Leesa felt it
best to proceed carefully.

“Why do ask?
Has something happened to yours?”

Jenna grinned. “You are cautious. I like that. I’m
quite
cautious by nature myself.” She sat back down. “One of us has to begin. Since I came to you, I guess it should be me.
”

She sucked in another deep breath and blew it out slowly. “
For some reason, m
y magic has
suddenly
weakened greatly. I
have no idea
why.
So I wanted to know if something similar has befallen you, to reassure myself this is not some hidden attack directed at me.
”

“
I don’t think
it’s directed at you
,” Leesa assured her. “The same thing has happened to my magic.” She almost told
Jenna about the volkaanes’
fire, but decided such information was not hers to share, at least not so soon. “It started yesterday morning.”

Jenna nodded. “Yes, that fits. I first noticed it yesterday as well.”

“Where were you when it happened?” Leesa asked, seizing the chance to learn more about how widespread this
impairment of magic
might be.

Jenna thought for a moment.
“Perhaps thirty miles from here, to the east and south.”

Leesa pictured a map of Connecticut in her head. Jenna’s location would put her
within
twenty miles or so of the volkaane settlem
ent, not too much different from
Middletown. The knowledge wasn’t much, but it was another
piece pointing to the Noises
being at the center of things.

“Can I ask what magic you were attempting? And what happened when you tried?”

Jenna hesitated briefly,
and then smiled. “
Since I seek your trust,
I
guess I
must trust you.” She stood up. “One of my powers is shap
e-shifti
ng. My favorite form is an owl—I
love the feeling of freedom
that
flying gives me.
I
was as an owl when
I watched your battle from the treetops, and
that’s
how I followed you afte
rwards.” Her smile widened. “Your
volkaane
friend
is fast. I was barely able to keep up
with him
. If he’d gone
much farthe
r I would have lost him
, but from on high, I managed to keep
him in view.

“Anyhow, on Saturday I attempted to assume my owl form
, as usual. But it
didn’t work. I’ve tried sin
ce, but this is as far as I get
.”

Leesa watched as Jenna closed her eyes.
For a moment, nothing happened, and then
a soft
silver light began
to
glow around Jenna’s feet. Slowly, the glow began to rise up to her ankles, revealing a pair of
taloned
feet in its place.
Leesa was astonished. She wondered if waziri
magic
could do anything like that. Dominic had never mentioned
it
, so she guessed not.

Suddenly, the glow
around Jenna’s ankles
winked out and t
he bird feet reverted to her
ordinary black shoes.
She opened her eyes. They bore a sad, resigned look.

“That’s amazing,” Leesa said.

“
Not so amazing,” Jenna said.
“
Just different.
Witch magic is different from wizard magic
, that’s all
.”
She
sighed. “Anyhow, t
hat’s as far as I can get
now.
Nothing like this has ever happened
to me before, and I’ve been doing it for many, many years
.”

Jenna’s failure provoked a m
ixed reaction in Leesa. She
felt badly about Jenna’s inability to perform what seemed to be her favorite magic, but was a bit g
lad to see that someone so
proficient and ex
perienced
had been able to complete
only
such a small part of her spell. Leesa thought back to h
ow tiny
and dim her magic light had been on Saturday morning and again on Saturday night, when she tried to practice it.
She felt a little better now.

“Yeah, that’s
what happens to me, too,” she
said. “I can get
only
a small
bit of
my
magic to work
.
Watch.”

S
tanding up, s
he held her hand out
and
uttered the illuminat
ion spell. The marble sized sphere
of pale yellow light
that appeared
above her palm was barely visible.

“I’m new at this magic stuff, but before y
esterday I could create a ball
the size of a grapefruit
.
It
was
ten
times brighter than this,
too.
”
Leesa
closed her fist and the light disappeared. “Now, that’
s all the light
I can summon.”