1-5 E

Everything was warm and tingling like I was absolutely shitfaced. The weird heat in my arm was gone and I honestly felt more drained than anything else. Even my memories of the last hour felt fuzzy, somehow.

My palm was barely even throbbing.

“…what?”

The word was slurred, my tongue not quite fitting right in my mouth and getting caught on my teeth. The one who’d asked sighed. “Something made the Drunken God smite you the moment you stepped into their consecrated grounds. Even for actual heretics and people in the Old Man’s line of work that isn’t normal. So, what the fuck did you do?”

“N-nothing?” I tried to sit up but I couldn’t really feel my arms to get support.

They muttered something under their breath. “Damn it, Boss. Never fucking acknowledges that not everyone can function blackout drunks like our clergy.”

A couple of them had to have picked me up, since the next thing I managed to process was them giving me sips of water while trying to keep me from sliding bonelessly out of a chair. A few people had drinks of their own and I could smell pizza. My head was a bit better now, but I definitely wasn’t sober. It was hard to focus enough to tell who was talking.

“Think that’ll be enough?”

“She won’t be sober, but that stuff should clear out enough of the alcohol that she can at least talk. Soon, anyway.”

“Thanks Rita. I owe you one for this. Or she does, depending on why it happened.”

“It’s no trouble, I barely even charge ten dollars for these unless it’s a frat or sorority house buying in bulk. It’s not a rough recipe, barely even magic.” This was a girl in a crop top, maybe. There was a fuzzy dark shape with a bright green rectangle on it holding up one side of me, anyway, and it looked like a girl if I squinted. “So, uh, that’s how your god smites people?”

“Believe it or not, this was a warning. Just a metaphysical smack and enough alcohol shoved into her that she’s just under the cutoff for poisoning at her weight and body chemistry. It’s how they give a warning that they aren’t happy and you aren’t welcome. The usual tremors and lightning are options, sure, but we’re a bit dramatic. Kinda hard to piss the Boss off enough to get those called down on you, though. When it comes to miracles something more in-line with our values is a lot easier to get, too. And trust me, honey, you don’t want to try to call down a miracle and have it fizzle out. It’s like botching a summoning in front of an audience; really damn embarrassing, even if it isn’t physically painful.”

The conversation trailed off into background noise as the dark-skinned girl and the other person wandered off after deciding to just lay me across the table. After a few more minutes I could feel more than just vague tingles and pressure and I managed to sit up without getting so dizzy I felt like I’d puke.

“And she’s up! Finally” It was the person who’d just flat out told me I’d been slapped by a god. They looked androgynous, dressed in a tight black shirt and velvet pants like the employees. Bright, extremely vibrant, purple hair draped over their face like a Hipster would do it, though there was no way they were under thirty. “Look, getting you out of that stupor’s already wasted a full hour of our time, so I’m just going to be fucking honest: if you can’t or won’t tell us why my patron decided to attack you the moment you stepped through the door, you’re not welcome. Very, very few things make a normal god react that way and next to none of them are acceptable to mix with any wildcard practitioner, especially not one with your pedigree.”

Most of the people were looking at me expectantly by the end of that. A weak thing of heat shot up my wrist before the drunken feeling swallowed it into the haze that sat over the rest of me. It left me feeling drained. I wasn’t a crying drunk, but I was still on the verge of tears.

“Look, I don’t really know what to tell you. Literally all of this is new to me, I didn’t even know magic existed until last month. I have zero clue why that happened. I don’t even know what I did that might’ve caused it.”

Their voice softened a little. “Damn it, you really are a novice aren’t you. The Old Man really should have at least told you if he had you set up to inherit his stuff. I guess blood enchantments might’ve recognized you two with how your mom came around, so it might not be intended, but still.”

They sighed and went on, “Ok, well, there’s a lot of things that can piss off a god. Anything demonic, desecrating shrines, mass murder, especially of worshippers. For this kind of thing walking in with a weapon would count. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but for my boss in specific trying to sneak in Fae or any kind of Fae artefact or enchantment without giving me advance notice will get you smacked down. They absolutely hate empty and toxic revelry and anything born of it.”

I looked at my wrist. The gems on it seemed less lustrous now. “Well uh, this might have done it.”

They frowned and took a closer look before drawing back a little. “That would do it. Why are you fucking around with Fae stuff when you literally just started magic?”

The frown deepened and they groaned. “Please tell me you took it from your Archive and actually know what it does, or at least that it’s not some new thing that has something to do with why your sister isn’t here.”

“Umm…”

“God damn it…” A rumble in the air shook the room as every alcoholic drink in the room jumped in place. It came with a fainter scent of grapes than early. “Oh come on, Boss. We’ve been over this. It’s a goddamn expression.”

There was more shaking this time. The person that almost had to be Mordo pulled back a little and just had some rapid fire argument with the air that I heard but couldn’t process. It lasted almost two minutes, combined with period shakes and one time where a wine bottle literally through itself at them. Then it calmed down and they stepped back, kinda flushed.

“Sorry about that, divine revelations and what not. Anyway, we should probably talk. Alara, Beatrice, get over here.”

The table got cleared off, save for a pizza and some water glasses. The fancily dressed old woman and the Sphinx came over and sat down. Before she got to the table, the Sphinx…shifted. One second, she was a lion with the body of a woman rising from its head. The next, the cloth strips from her flanks were wrapped around a human woman as a moderately scandalous dress with no sign of the massive leonine bulk. Her wings were still there, folded neatly at her back, and pale fur still poked through the gaps in her clothes, but she had suddenly shrunken to just two legs in between blinks. She flashed me a small grin as she pulled out a chair to sit.

Her teeth were still a lion’s.

Once we’d all sat down, Mordo tapped the table. A ring of purple light lit up around us and everything outside it just fell off into muted background noise. Trying to focus on something beyond it was impossible, like staring through a kaleidoscope that someone kept shaking.

“Alright, you’re new. New people make mistakes. We’re going to need to know what happened, but there’s a few things we have to go over first. It’s better to do it here in private, since the three of us at least have a vested interest in there being a living Aufrey here in town. And now, I guess, that would be you.”

“So, first off, introductions. I’m Mordo, High Reveler of the Cult of the Drunken God. Not a Pope, but pretty damn close if you live anywhere this side of the Mississippi. I’ve had the least dealings with your old man out of us, but I’m still one of the preeminent members of the community here. If your Archive shuts off again, I’ve gotta deal with the fallout.”

“I am Beatrice Belmont, current head of my House. Your grandfather has maintained a working relationship with us throughout multiple generations, in addition to several more involved exchanges. Despite his less-desirable qualities, the Grandmagus was a rare breed and a fixture of the greater region. Chaos serves no established order; his loss has created enough of that without being compounded by the collapse of what workings you inherited.”

Well, her I knew about. Her family were the local millionaires and owned at least half the town.

“I am Alara of Pontus, daughter to Cynisca of Phrygia. I sit as Matriarch of Inquiry, among the Eleven Prides. Your grandfather was both a peer and a role model, and the Archive you recently restored is tied too deeply into your blood to be preserved without one of your line in control. Losing that much knowledge is not an acceptable outcome.” This time her smile covered the teeth with full lips, red even without makeup. “I maintain a role with your university and the scholarship both of you earned, and was to be one of your professors this autumn had these events not come to pass.”

Mordo clapped their hands. “Ok! Introductions done! Now, next lesson: no artifacts. Specifically at meetings like these. A Council is a truce; coming armed for war undermines the spirit of the event. Don’t fucking do it; things notice stuff like that. There’s no need to bring anything powerful here anyway, much less something visible and unknown like what you have there.”

“It, uh, doesn’t come off.”

Mordo just sighed again, but the other two took a more careful look at it as I held it out. The longer we spent on this, the more my hand started to hurt.

“Fae work is far from my specialty, but there are fragments of standard formulae involved in this. I am fairly certain these flows are part of a binding charm, and that the gems serve as foci for connecting to an external source of power. Likely the creators?”

“Possibly. There is an attunement to her mana signature involved, something invasive. It is far from a greater work, but not minor either. There are six different threads and enchantments, though several are too obscured to discern without testing or dismantling it.”

They went on for a couple minutes, the words getting even further from what I could understand. Eventually, Mordo clapped to get their attention.

“Ok, enough shop talk. For the two of us that haven’t spent at least three decades studying theory, can you summarize it?”

“Cursed?”

“Probably cursed. Could be the Fae’s version of a ‘gift’ that they don’t want leaving the user, however.” Alara nodded and turned my hand over to stare at the palm. “This, though, is definitely a geas. Seems to be tied to another object, a person, and the maker. Complicated work, most likely from a noble.”

The priest groaned. “Fuck, girl. I can already tell we’re not getting through the night without paperwork. Go from the beginning, tell us how you managed to shit the bed bad enough to be both cursed and geased by the Fae within two months of learning magic even existed, and how that ties into your other half not being here.”

The throbbing in my palm calmed down a little as I went through it. I told them about how we found the room, how we read the books and found out that it was actually real. The weeks of trying to teach ourselves and hitting walls because we just didn’t know what to do. Then the ritual and the notes about how to get into the Roads.

Mordo stopped me there. “You two actually Awakened in there? He literally told you to do that? What the actual fuck.”

“It is…not a common thing, in this age. Even when I was young very few mortals would attempt such.” The winged woman grimaced. “Fewer returned whole. A Human mind is not built to see so deeply into the workings of the world. Even less so to deal with what that ritual can attract in a world where distance is irrelevant to its greatest hunters.”

“That you both survived the actual ritual there is a testament to the Grandmagus’s craft; any standard variety would have collapsed and drawn in something too mindless to pacify.”

I went on. Teresa had seemed a lot more shaken by everything than I was, even before we’d seen the Fae. I started to choke up and nearly broke into tears as I told them about the Faeries. What they’d said, how they pushed us and went on about whatever deal was barely protecting us.

“They tried to get us to say who the actual heir was, saying that the deal was for just one. That bastard hadn’t even bothered to think that we’d both want to learn magic and then…”

I couldn’t go on. Knowing I’d fucked up this badly was one thing, but telling all of them? They were already judging us for being idiots, it would just get worse if they knew how it had happened. My hand was getting hotter and hotter and…

“Girl, whatever you are about to do: Stop.” The word shook the air and saw my mind go blank and my mouth go limp. My hand cooled. “You were moments from breaking your geas. This does not look like a death-working, but you would have lost something. Some part of your Self. We do not need to know the details, not if speaking of them threatens your safety.”

“Ok.”

“We do, however, need to know a few details that may test its boundaries. Doing so will likely be unpleasant, under normal circumstances.”

“Ok.”

“If you two do not mind, I will go through and ask what we need to finish this.”

Beatrice nodded.

Mordo just shook their head. “Leave working around the compulsory magic to a Sphinx? Fuck yeah, I’m fine with that. Beatrice, do you have the PID forms with you?”

They broke off into a side conversation, opening a gap in the distortion around us and calling out for someone to get the paperwork. Alara moved her chair so that she was directly facing me and gently took my hand. Her nails felt like claws as they lightly scraped my palm.

“As you might know, I am a Sphinx. In case you have not read of us; the old myths are partially true. We are beings of questions and riddles, and we have certain instincts and abilities against those who lie or give false answers. These abilities are weaker when a question is ambiguous or subjective, as many of these will be, but remain present.” Her irises were like rings of solid gold. “You have my oath that, in what follows this, I will neither intend nor deal any harm to you. If I sense that you are activating your geas, I will rephrase or abandon the question that caused it. Is this clear, and do you consent to this?”

It took me a few seconds to realize she’d stopped. Even more to tear my gaze away from her eyes. My heart was pounding and my mouth felt dry and all I could do was nod, twice.

“As much as possible, I will make the questions answerable with a yes or a no. If they are not, answer as briefly as you feel appropriate. Is this understood?”

I nodded again and just focused on a spot behind her shoulder. Better than staring at her eyes or lips or the barely covered assets below them. Even though my eyes seemed to pull back to them…

“Your sister was taken by the Fae?”

A nod. I was looking at her eyes again, colors I couldn’t name blooming around her as everything but her faded away.

“Is she dead?”

A shake. Warmth was stirring in my chest and elsewhere but I couldn’t look away to squirm.

“How long will she be ‘safe’?”

“A-“ My breath hitched and it took a moment to continue, “a year and a day from Grandpa’s death.”

“Do you plan to save her?”

“Yes.” The word was automatic. A nod wasn’t enough for her. I wasn’t…

Her claws dug slightly into my palm and she frowned, shocking me from my thoughts. Something in my chest shattered.

“Is the bracelet related to your sister being taken?”

A nod this time. Her skin seemed to be shining, so perfect…

Her claws dug in again on one hand, the other moving my head so I was staring at her eyes again. My heart was pounding so fast, so warm so…

“Are there any other items related to it?”

“Yes. A-a statue that shows what’s happening to her.”

“Will you be attending classes at Pinecrest this year?”

“Not until I get her back.” I…

The sphinx nodded once and I collapsed backwards as she pulled her hands away from mine.

I’d been leaning out of my seat, almost across the table.

The world around me, what was inside the purple barrier Mordo had set up, came back into focus slowly. My heart, very slowly, dropped back to a normal rhythm as I gasped and tried to stop shaking and feeling like I’d just lost something so incredibly perfect. I was flushed and shaking, feeling so incredibly small and fragile, when the Sphinx spoke again. She didn’t meet my eyes

“I will make the arrangements with the college to delay your entry alongside your sister’s. With luck, you will both resume classes by next year. The Fae are not my main focus, but I have some experience with them and with the desires of similar immortals. If you require aid or training, I can arrange such for a small fee.”

As I took in my surroundings again, I realized that the others had filled out a stack of paperwork. They started passing it around for signatures. “That shit’s disorienting, eh? Don’t worry, Alara won’t use it to fuck with you. Or to fuck you, probably. Her Pride’s a bit better at coexisting with humans and modern social guidelines.”

The forms came to me and needed like three signatures each. Mordo shuffled them off before I could actually read them. “It’s a PID form for a magical disappearance. Specifically for one to do with the Fae. We filled them out for you, but they need the signatures of everyone in power. Since you’re the Old Man’s heir, that does include you. As far as the government’s concerned, your Archive is more important than anything else in town.”

“PID?”

“The Paranormal Incidents Division of the U.S. Government. Falls somewhere under the FBI I think. They’re in charge of covering up stuff like what happened here. The government might not like us working independently, but it’s in nobody’s interest for magical shit to go fully public.”

“Why would they be interested in the Archive?” Fuck these were a lot of signatures. At least it took my attention away from the aftereffects of whatever Alara had done.

“Aside from hosting one of the Initiative’s sites and all the knowledge it represents? Your old man had a deal with them to stick a bunch of important documents, artifacts, and junk in it for them. You can probably expect a visit soon now that they know that place is off lockdown.”

Magic FBI. Probably like Men in Black, then. That would be fun, maybe. Or absolutely terrible. But apparently I had a good bargaining position. So that was nice.

My hand was cool, for now. I was on track to saving Teresa, it felt like. The people here actually wanted to support me, and one even offered to help. Even if she still made me feel…weird.

After all this I was ready to just get home and sleep off this fucking divine alcohol.

“Alright, these are good enough for government work now. Time to finally get to the actual fucking meeting!”

Fuck.