Gods of Chaos (Red Magic) (11 page)

Taken aback, I didn’t know what to say. She went on, seemingly oblivious of my surprise.

“But you’re like him, so I guess you won’t be too bad.”

“What do you mean?”

Surprise crossed her face. “You don’t know?”

Confused, I shrugged. “What did he say about me?”

She giggled and flipped her hair. “He didn’t have to say anything, silly. It’s obvious you’re a Red. What are you doing here?”

Dumbfounded, I stared at the girl. She laughed again.

“I only have an hour for lunch, so you’ll have to talk fast.” She continued up the street, and I rushed after her.

“If you know what I am, aren’t you afraid of me?” I didn’t want to ask that question, but this girl had caught me so totally off guard I’d forgotten what I’d planned to say.

She shook her head. “Nah. I’m used to Marcus. If he isn’t dangerous, I don’t see why I should be afraid of you. Of course,” she smiled slyly, glancing at me, “he stopped teasing me the more I learned about Blue magic, so I guess that’s some assurance.”

“But what’s Blue magic?”

Izzy gaped at me, stunned. “Seriously? You don’t know anything, do you?”

I bristled. “I know plenty about White and Green and Black magic.”

“And Red?” Her question irritated me.

“Of course.” I thought I sounded confident, but she smirked as if she knew that I was lying. This girl was strange: maybe she did know.

I shook my head, irritated. “You haven’t answered my question.”

She smiled impishly. “Which one?”

Resisting the urge to strangle her, I said, “About Blue magic.”

She fell silent, a serious expression on her face. When she stopped walking, I crashed into her.

“Sorry.” She gestured to the food cart in front of us. “I always grab my lunch here.”

At first I was annoyed at her change of topic, but then I shrugged. Maybe if we ate together, she’d be more willing to help me. I forced a smile. “What do they have?”

“Falafel. I love it. Want one?”

“I guess.” Growing up with a vegetarian mother, I’d tried just about every non-meat food at one time or another, but I didn’t remember what falafel tasted like.

“I’ll order for you if you pay.” Her smile had returned. “And then we’ll talk.”

Fishing around in my pocket, I dug out a few bills and she nodded, grabbing the money deftly and skipping over to the food cart.

I hung back while she ordered, watching her. I still hadn’t figured out how old Marcus was, but his sister couldn’t be more than fourteen. For just a moment, I felt guilty about my plans to use the kid, but I tried to shake it off. I didn’t mean her any harm; I just wanted her to help me get her brother’s attention. He might be willing to ignore me when I was just another Witch, but if I was his sister’s friend, maybe he’d listen. It was a long shot, but I was desperate.

Izzy glanced back at me once, almost as if she could read the confused swirl of emotions in my mind, and I forced a smile and waved at her. She grinned back and turned her attention back to our food. Her braces flashed as she chatted with the tired-looking man at the food cart, and when she headed toward me I noticed he began to stand a little straighter and smile. Was she using magic to charm the guy? I almost asked when she got back to where I was standing, but something held me back.

The pocket sandwich she handed me was pleasantly hot in my hands, and I chewed carefully, afraid of burning my mouth. While I figured out what to say, Izzy took a huge chomp of her lunch and began talking around the food.

“So you want to know about Blue magic.”

I nodded, chewing thoughtfully. The falafel tasted like unfamiliar spices, and I wasn’t sure I liked it. “What is it?”

She rolled her neck twice and took another bite. “Well,” she paused to swallow, glancing at me, “it’s Water magic.”

That made sense. Mom and Dad were Green Witches, and I’d always associated them with earth. Ever since declaring Red, I’d felt my own elemental pull. “Like Red is Fire magic?”

“Yup. Just like that.”

“Okay.” I looked at her expectantly.

She sighed. “It’s hard to explain to someone else! Have you ever tried to explain Red magic to a non-Red?”

I thought about Rochelle and Justin. “Yes. I didn’t do a very good job.”

Izzy laughed mildly. “Right. Well, it’s the same for me right now.”

I thought for a minute. “If it’s Water magic, what kind of things do you do?”

“I could mess with the weather, if I wanted to.” She glanced up at the gray sky pressing down on us. “But I usually don’t. I mean, if I change the weather pattern here, who knows what else I’m affecting?” Her words made her sound much older than I thought she was, and I studied her face, wondering if she’d be easy to manipulate. Maybe I had made a bad choice to use her to get to Marcus, but I had to see if it would work.

“My folks are Greens. I think they’d kill me if I ever did anything to the weather.”

Izzy laughed. “Marcus doesn’t seem to mind. He messes with the sun all the time.” She paused and looked at me, intrigued. “I thought it was a Red thing.”

I shrugged. “I guess Reds can be different.” My voice was sharp as I thought about what Marcus had said to me yesterday, and I struggled to get my anger in check. There was no way I wanted to reveal to the kid that her brother didn’t want anything to do with me; I needed her help.

Even though she fixed me with a stare that made me squirm, she didn’t push me. She finished her lunch and continued. “Blue governs Water, which is elementally connected to things like love, creativity, and self-knowing.” She glanced at me sideways. “What does Red govern?”

Surprised, I answered, “Chaos. I thought you knew that.”

She shook her head. “Marcus doesn’t talk about his magic much.”

I nodded. That was something I understood only too well. “Red is Fire magic, like you said. That means it controls things like chaos, passion, and raw energy.”

Izzy leaned back. “So it’s a very active magic.”

I snorted. “Very.”
That
was an understatement.

“So is Blue.” She laughed at my confused expression and went on. “It’s a different kind of active, of course, but just think about the ocean. Would anyone call it calm? Besides, water beats fire.”

I shook my head, starting to see her point. “Why did you choose Blue?”

“Why did you choose Red?” she shot back.

“I—” I stopped. I didn’t have an answer for her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“That’s okay. It’s just not that easy to explain, y’know?”

I nodded and changed the subject. I knew I should try to bring the conversation around to Marcus, but I realized I was genuinely interested in knowing more about Izzy. “Do you have a patron?”

Her eyes danced. “Of course. Doesn’t everybody?”

“Not a lot of the Witches at my old school did.” I paused, debating how much I wanted to tell her. “I don’t think my best friend had one.”

If Izzy noticed that I’d said “had” instead of “has,” she didn’t let on. “That sounds like a weird school. We’re encouraged to swear to our patron as soon as we choose our magical path.”

“What kind of gods practice Blue magic?”

She stiffened her shoulders. “The best kind.”

“I’m sorry.” I realized I’d made her defensive. “I didn’t mean that like it sounded.”

She shrugged. “You don’t know. I get it. Sorry I got ticked.”

“It’s okay.”

“My patron is Isis.”

I thought for a moment. “The Egyptian Goddess?”

Izzy nodded. “Queen of Heaven, Mistress of Magic, and Goddess of Ten Thousand Names.” She stood up straighter as she recited the list, and I felt a subtle shift in the air around us. For a moment, my face felt warm, and I thought I smelled the desert.

I took a step back and the illusion dispersed. “Impressive.”

She laughed. “She really is. She’s been like a mother to me.”

“How does that make your real mother feel?” I joked.

Izzy looked away abruptly. “I have to get back to class.” She started walking back toward the school.

I followed her, surprised by how quickly the hour had gone by. “Can we talk some more?”

She looked at me, sizing me up, and again I had the sense that she was older than me. It was hard not to fidget as her eyes fixed on mine, and I smiled at her. It wasn’t like she could read my mind or anything.

“I guess,” she said after a moment. “Where?”

I thought about it. It seemed weird to go back to my hotel, but I couldn’t think of anywhere else in the city where we would have privacy to talk. “I’m staying at a hotel uptown.”

She grimaced. “Ugh. Boring.”

“Well, what did you have in mind?”

For a moment, she scrunched her eyes shut, thinking. I wanted to laugh, but I kept my expression still. Finally, she looked at me with a smile. “Can you handle cemeteries?”

I stared at her for a minute. “Seriously?”

She grinned. “Well, I’m not following you back to your hotel, so why not?”

I shrugged. “I guess.” I’d never made a habit of hanging out in cemeteries, but if that’s where Izzy wanted to meet up, I wasn’t about to give up the opportunity. I was certain she’d be my key to Marcus, even though we’d barely talked about him. And if I was being honest, I sort of liked talking with her.

She tapped her nose with her index finger. “Can you find Greyfriars?”

I nodded slowly, thinking back to my guidebook. “Isn’t that one of the most haunted places in Edinburgh?”

The girl winked. “What’s the matter? Are you afraid of ghosts?”

Sandra’s voice echoed in my mind, asking the same question, and I shuddered, pushing aside the memory. “No, but I don’t want to be one just yet.”

Izzy smiled. “It’s safe. Trust me!”

I smiled back at her, ignoring the flicker of guilt caused by her words. “Okay.” I trusted her, but could the kid trust me? I wasn’t sure.