Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga) (36 page)

“What does your wizard say about all this?” Jenna asked.
“Is it affecting his magic, too?”

“His name is Dominic”—Leesa saw no reason not to tell Jenna his name—“and he doesn’t know about it.
He did say that fell powers were stirring beneath the earth not too far from here, but that was a week or so ago, long before this started. I think it must be related, but I haven’t been able to ask him.
Like I said, he’s gone away for a bit.”

“Have you no way to contact him?
”

Leesa shook her head. “He doesn’t own a phone. If he needs to call me, he borrows one or uses a pay phone.”

“I meant a
magic
way
,” Jenna said. “I’d have thought he would have given you one.” She shrugged. “But with your magic so weakened, it probably wouldn’t have worked anyhow.”

Leesa thought about the invisible ring on her finger.
As long as she wore it, Dominic would be able to find he
r. She wondered if there was some
way she could use it to cont
act him. If there was, he hadn’
t told her about it, which was probably just as well. She didn’t see what he would be able to do about the situation, and there was always the chance that contacting him in a magical manner might draw the black waziri to him.

“No,
it probably wouldn’t have
,” she agreed
. “Rave—my volkaane friend—is pretty sure the situation is temporary, anyhow. We’ll just have to wait it out.” She saw no need to explain about the whole volkaane clan and the vague information
they had found
in their archives.

“Well, I’m glad to learn this problem is not specific to me, at least,” Jenna said.
She laid her hand on Leesa’s forearm. “And
I’m
glad
to meet another woman with magic, too.”

Leesa place
d
her hand atop Jenna’s. “I’m very
happy
to have
met
you, too.”

29
.
EXPERIMENTING

L
eesa lifted her hand from Jenna’s and crossed to her dresser, where she grabbed her cell phone.

“Do you want to trade numbers?” she asked. “So we can stay in touch?”

Jenna’s expression turned wistful.
“I wish I could, but I don’t have a phone.”

Leesa almost couldn’t believe her ears.
First Rave, then Dominic, and now Jenna.
How was it that so many people
she met didn’
t have a phone?
The answer was obvious—b
ecause they weren’t people, of course. They were a volkaane, a wizard and a witch. Still, it would be nice if at least someone else with magic had a fr
eaking phone. After all, she owned
one, and she had magic. She put her cell back
down
onto her dresser.

“Really?
Why not?”

Jenna shrugged. “
A couple of reasons, I suppose
. I’ve always kind of kept to myself, so I’ve never really had the need for one. I live in a pretty isolated old house. It’s never been wired for phone or cable
—or electricity, for that matter.”

Leesa immediately thought of the volkaane village. It sounded like Jenna’s home would fit right in there.

“What about a cell?” Leesa asked. “No wiring needed. Lots of people don’t have land lines anymore—they just use their cell everywhere.”

Jenna shook her head. “A cell
phone
would interfere with my magic.
With my shape-shifting, anyhow.”

Leesa had not expected that answer.
“Really?
How come?”

“Nothing mechanical
—
like a watch or
a phone—c
an make the transformation
, so they block it from being complet
ed. I think it’s because there’
s nothing analogous to them in the animal world. Clothes are okay, because
clothes
are not too different from feathers or fur. But not much else works.”

“Fur?”
Leesa asked, surprised. She hadn’t thought about what
other shapes
Jenna might be able to shift into. “What other
animals can you turn into
?”

Jenna shrugged.
“
I’m not sure.
Many, I guess, though I’ve tried less than a dozen. There are only a few restrictions.
For instance,
I can’t change into anything larger than myself, so things like horses or bears are out. Also, it must have four limbs, or something akin to limbs, like wings. So no spiders or anything, which is too bad, because I think
it
would be fun to spin a web. And it must have lungs, so no fish, even if they have
four fins.”

“Wow, that’s amazing,” L
eesa said.
“To be able to
become
so many different things.
What are some
of your other
fav
e
s
—besides the owl, I mean
?”

Jenna thought for a moment and then smiled.
“When it gets really hot, I like to become an otter and swim in a stream near my house.
It’s so fun and refreshing.”

Leesa remembered how much fun she used to have watching the otters play on her rare visits to the San Diego Zoo.
She could see how enjoyable it would be to be one.

“That’s so cool,” she said, beginning to feel a little jealous. She was struck by a sudden thought. “What about the tail? You said the animal has to have four limbs. Shouldn’
t
tail
s
count as a fifth?”

Jenna sat down on her chair
.
“Apparently not.
I think it’s because we have vestigial
tails at
the end of our spine.”

Leesa remembered that now from
her
high school anatomy class.
“Oh, yeah.
That’s right.”

“There’s one other restriction
to consider
, too
,” Jenna said, “though it’s not a magical one. I
don’t want to
change into anything that could easily become prey. If I changed into an insect, for example, and some bird found me, my magic would not protect me. If my new form dies, I die as well.”

Leesa hadn’t thought of that.
“I guess that
does limit your choices a
bit,”
she
said, smiling.
“Still,
it’s
way cool.”

Jenna returned Leesa’s
smile. “Yeah, it
can be
pretty fun
.”

“So, what else can witches do?” Leesa asked.
She sat back down on her bed.

“Well, we have lots of spells, just like wizards. I can cause plants to grow, same as you, and I can create some light, though it’s a bit different than yours.
I can sometimes
get
people do things, though not something that would be entirely against their will. It’s sort of like h
ypnosis in that respect, only more powerful
.
If I’m familiar enough
with a person’s
vibrations, they don’t even have to be present. Not too long ago, I even got a vampire to do something
, from a distance, of course
.
” Jenna smiled at the memory. “
I think he’s happy enough with the result, but still, I’
m hoping he never learns of
my role in it.”

“A vampire?
Really?
”
Leesa’s mind flashed to Stefan’s eyes, which alternated between black mirrors and bottomless pools. “
I can’t imagine my magic influencing
a vampire to do anything.
Maybe I shouldn’t have let you into my room,” she added, only half-jokingly.

Jenna leaned forward
and put her fingers on Leesa’s arm again.

“Oh, no…I would never do that with you, I promise. Think of me as good witch, not a bad witch.”

“I’
m glad to hear that.
Sort of like Glenda, in the Wizard of Oz,
huh
?”

Jenna looked confused.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never seen the Wizard of Oz,”
Leesa said, disbelievingly
. “It’s on television like all the time.”

“Oh. I don’t watch television. No electricity, remember? But I take it this Glenda is a nice witch?”

“Very nice.
She floats around in a big bubble. I don’t suppose you do that, do you?”

Jenna smiled
again
. “No, I’m afraid not. Nor do I fly on a broomstick, in case you were wondering.
”

It was Leesa’s turn to smile. “No, I wasn’t thinking that, I promise.”

Jenna looked down at her hand, which still rested on Leesa’s arm.

“I woul
d like to try something
,” she said.
“If you
a
re willing.”

“What is it?” Leesa asked cautiously.

“Don’t worry. It’s more something
you’
ll do. I want you to
try your light spell again, only
with me touching you this time, like I am right now.”

Leesa looked down at Jenna’s hand
on her arm
. “Why?”

“
To see if my magic
might augment yours just a bit
.”