Magic and Mayhem: Any Witch Way (Kindle Worlds Novella) (2 page)

A body appeared to go with the head, along with a witch, a warlock, and a werewolf. Gwen squealed. A werewolf! A real-life werewolf. Who cared if there was a crazy man in their midst? She was about to meet her first werewolf! This was getting exciting!

Chapter Two

Goddess help him, he needed to get far away from this woman. Gwen was actually squeaking, although he couldn’t begin to imagine why. He turned his attention back to his sister and her entourage. This time, Carol had her freaky old entourage of warlocks who looked more like trolls behind her, along with a witch, a warlock, and a werewolf standing by her side. The stink of the shriveled old warlocks hit him, eating away at his patience even further.

“Take care of this.” He jabbed at the air in the direction of Gwen, then turned to leave.

“No can do, little brother.” Now Baba Yaga was smiling at him, and it was that serene, eerie smile that said she knew something he didn’t. Damn, things never ended well for him when she smiled like that.

“
Brother?
” the witch with his sister yelled. “Baba Yippy Skippy has a
brother
?” She seemed to flinch as if hearing what she’d just said, and eyeballed his sister as though waiting for retribution for the Yippy Skippy thing.

It was then that Gideon realized who Carol’s entourage was. Even though she was Baba Yaga, his sister still believed in writing him letters routinely. Big surprise—those letters often overshared details about her life and the lives of those she knew. He was pretty sure she believed they should share
everything
as twins.
Everything.

He’d heard all about Zelda, the witch who’d taken over for her Aunt Hildy as the Shifter Whisperer. Thanks to his sister’s need to blab, he knew a little too much about Zelda and her relationship with Mac, the Wolf Shifter who was Zelda’s mate. He knew, for example, that until recently Zelda had refused to admit Mac was her mate and only wanted to screw his brains out—his sister’s words, not his—and about Zelda’s father, Fabio, who’d at one point been Zelda’s familiar thanks to a curse by Zelda’s mother, who’d turned him into a cat. When Zelda ran him over and killed him—temporarily, given his nine lives—she ended up in witch prison, which was how she had come to know his sister.

All that was in the past now. Fabio was no longer a cat, Mac had won Zelda’s heart, and Zelda was being groomed to one day be the next Baba Yaga, although she wasn’t privy to that little fact yet.

Yeah. More than he really needed to know, since he wasn’t in high school. Or a girl.

“Yes, I have a
brother
.” Baba Yaga turned to Zelda with a scowl that would have made Gideon laugh if he hadn’t just had the shock of his life watching Gwen return.

“Baba Yack has a brother,” the witch said to no one in particular, then slapped both hands over her mouth. “It’s like repeated brushes with death have removed all concern for self-preservation,” she mumbled. Carol gave Zelda a warning look but didn’t say anything. If Gideon wasn’t mistaken, his sister seemed to have genuine affection for the younger witch. That was unexpected.

“Gideon, meet Zelda, Mac, and Fabio, my boyfriend.”

“Your what?” Gideon yelled, and this time, he did let his anger bubble up to the surface, as steel spikes broke through the surface of his skull and his face erupted in frightening boils and blisters. When he wasn’t in Boguman form, he was as handsome as any other warlock. But when he let loose with his Boguman side, things got ugly. Fast.

When he showed his Boguman side, he could evoke fear in even the strongest of warlocks. Children would invariably run screaming at the sight of him, and even most grown witches and warlocks would shrink away at the sight.

Mac held his ground, a small growl coming from his chest, confirming what Gideon had thought about his strength of character and status as an alpha. Fabio flinched, but stood strong. Zelda screamed and ducked behind Mac, then stared in fascination.

Great. She was one of
those
. Some witches and warlocks became a little obsessed with being frightened by him. He guessed it was similar to the way people watched horror movies. They seemed to get a thrill out of scaring the pants off themselves. Zelda reached an arm toward him, so he curled his lip in her direction and let the three-inch fangs he normally kept hidden away show.

She giggled and jumped back with a yelp before Mac caught her with an indulgent smile—
gag
.

Gideon took his warlock form again, locking down on the anger he was feeling for the time being. He’d release it again when he knew where the hell to aim it—other than at his sister, who at the moment was staring at Gwen. He glanced between the pair. Gwen looked as serene as Carol, seemingly unruffled by his display of teeth and steel.

He hadn’t been the Boguman when she’d last appeared on earth, but she didn’t look the least bit ruffled by his sudden change in appearance. In fact, he realized suddenly, she’d shown no hint that she knew him at all. Not even a glimmer of recognition. What the hell was that about?

He’d taken the position of Boguman after she left. When he had nothing left to live for and no reason not to walk the earth scaring the pants off children who misbehaved. Although nowadays, his role had changed. Now he only scared children who were cruel to others. He was like the equivalent of a scared straight program for the magical world. But being the Boguman didn’t do anything to alter his appearance when he was in warlock form. She should know exactly who he was.

“Zelda, Mac, Fabio,” his sister said. “This is my brother, Gideon, and this is Gwen.”

Gwen raised her arms once again. “I am the anchor of all magic.” She beamed, and he had to look away. She did look gorgeous when she wanted to. Apparently, right now, she wanted to dazzle her audience. There was an almost ethereal glow to her as she spoke. “I hold inside myself the very same magic that is inside every witch and warlock. Your magic is anchored to me to maintain balance and order in the magical realm. I’ve taken corporeal form for the first time ever to save, well, to save magic.”

Typical. She always was concerned with herself and no one else.

Gideon stepped in. If Baba Yaga wasn’t going to put an end to this, he would.

“It’s not the first time you’ve taken corporeal form. You were here two hundred years ago.” He dismissed Gwen, letting her ponder that little nugget, and turned back to his sister. “What the hell are you playing at, Carol? You knew she was coming and you brought me here instead of warning me to stay the hell away?”

She merely shrugged. “You’re needed. Plain and simple.”

“What do you mean I’ve been here before?” Gwen stepped forward, reaching to touch his arm. He stepped away before she could.

“Two hundred years ago, you came here at the behest of the Goddess to destroy a powerful tool that could be used to harm the balance of power and throw witches and warlocks into a civil war.” His sister was speaking in much too placid and tolerant a tone for him.

“You came, discovered you liked chocolate and wine, then took off when you’d had your fun.”
And had me
, he added in his head. “Apparently you got to forget all that while we had the pleasure of holding on to those memories. Yay for us.”

He didn’t bother to point out that he’d also had to feel her presence for the last miserable two centuries of his existence. Magic was, after all, everywhere. In everyone. And since all of magic was tethered to Gwen, the magic that ran through him ran through her as well. She was, quite literally, a part of him. And damned if that wasn’t a fucking punch to the ass.

Gwen’s elegant brows pinched together as she thought. “Nooooo, I think I would remember if I’d done this before. It took quite an effort, I’ll have you know. It’s no small feat to take corporeal form.”

“I think maybe you got a few things wrong,” Zelda said, then stepped forward and gestured toward Gwen’s feet. “Um, if you’d like, I can just make a few adjustments.”

“Oh!” This came from Carol, who seemed to be treating Gwen like a long-lost friend. “Yes, Zelda, go ahead.”

Zelda raised her hands and waved them in Gwen’s direction.

“
Goddess on high, hear my call. Cinderella’s not quite ready for the ball.

She’s currently looking a little like Humpty Dumpty,

Put things in the right place, make it all look nice,

And while you’re at it, please give her a dress that’s not so frumpy.
”

As Gideon watched, lavender lights shot out from Zelda’s fingers. In an instant, the small errors Gwen had made were corrected. Her feet were now on the proper legs—yes, she’d had her left foot on the right leg and right foot on the left leg this whole time.

She now wore an even shorter cute little black dress that showed off a hell of a lot more of those milky white thighs than he needed to see. With a final zap, Zelda turned Gwen’s ears right side up, trimming her hair into a shorter cut. Great. Now he could see her neck and shoulders.

“Slithering fuck,” he muttered again, before speaking up. “Tell us exactly why you’re here so we can fix whatever the hell threat there is to you and return you to where you came from.”

“Gideon! That’s enough.” Carol turned from him to Gwen. “But yeah, you really do need to tell us why you’re here. I haven’t picked up on any threat to magic.”

Gwen’s job as the anchor was simply to bind all of magic to her so that balance was maintained in the universe. She also monitored things to some extent, but for the most part, she didn’t actually act on any of what she saw. That was left up to Baba Yaga and the Council. Of course, there had been that one time the Goddess sent her to restore order, but that was another story altogether. The situation then had been critical.

“It’s not a threat, Baba Yaga. Not exactly.” Gwen looked from Carol to Gideon and back again, twisting her fingers together.

“Then why are you here?” he barked, and felt horns spring from his shoulder blades and the top of his head.
Dammit.
It was rare for him to lose control of the tools of his trade like that. The Boguman should only transform when he absolutely had to. With a roll of his shoulders, the horns receded.

“Someone is siphoning magic.”

“Excuse me? What the monkeynuts did she just say?” Zelda screeched.

“Oh my word, Zelda, get a grip on that mouth of yours,” Carol said. “And Gwen, explain yourself. What in the name of the Goddess are you talking about?”

“Someone is drawing more magic than they were born with. Like they’re siphoning it somehow. I don’t know if it’s a witch or a warlock. It’s someone who isn’t particularly strong, but they’ve somehow managed to draw a lot of power, which really makes very little sense, when you think about it. They simply shouldn’t be capable of it.”

Gideon watched his sister’s face to see if she’d ever heard of this kind of thing before. He’d always been able to read her. And right now, her face said she wasn’t feeling altogether calm about the situation.

“So, take it back!” Carol snapped at Gwen, all placid, calm Baba Yaga focus gone now. “You’re the anchor. Take it back.”

“All right, back this train up,” Zelda said. “Some of us need the CliffsNotes version of things here. What do you mean, someone is taking more magic than they were born with? For that matter, what do you mean,
you’re the anchor of magic
?”

“Didn’t you go to even one class in high school? Just a single course?” This came from Fabio, and Gideon remembered he hadn’t known he had a daughter until Zelda was an adult.

“If you wouldn’t mind, just the quick and dirty version for those of us who were sick that day,” Zelda said primly, not fooling anyone.

Gwen raised her arms again, but Gideon cut her off. He could only take so many of her sanctimonious speeches in one century. “Every witch or warlock is born with a certain amount of magic in them, but that magic is also anchored to the universe. Tethered, in a sense, to Gwen. She’s in all of us. We each only have a certain share of her, a certain type of magic. It’s impossible to pull more than your share or to tap into a kind of magic that isn’t yours. If you aren’t a creator witch, you can’t draw on creator magic, and so on.”

“Then how did I get my Aunt Hildy’s magic in me?” Zelda asked. Gideon noticed she didn’t mention her mother’s magic, which she also currently had in her body. He would guess that wasn’t one of her more pleasant memories. She’d pulled the magic out of her mother, rendering her human after her mother had tried to kill her. That story had taken Carol twelve pages to write.

“Magic can be passed from one witch to another, or even taken, if the witch or warlock doing the taking is powerful enough.” Baba Yaga frowned. “But no one should be able to draw it directly from the source, so to speak.”

Gideon needed to move things past this little Magic 101 lesson. He needed to get back to his work. Back to his life. He had a life that needed living, and it didn’t include standing here listening to a tenth-grade history of magic lesson.

He
did
have a life to get back to. Sort of. All right, so it wasn’t the greatest life on the planet. He hung out at the bar a few nights a week with the Jersey Devil and a few Centaurs who were trying to convince him to join their pinochle group. So he didn’t have
much
of a life. But that didn’t mean he needed to waste his time helping Gwen solve her current crisis only to have his heart trampled again when she left. Because that was what she would do. She’d stomp on it all over again as she made tracks for the nearest exit as soon as magic was out of danger.