1-07

I was tired when I got back from Whitmore, tired enough that I didn't do much for the rest of that day and just went to slip. The next morning, though, I was more than a little invigorated. Shane and I hadn't spoken about much but actually talking about things helped—it helped more that I had cursed his tongue and hands so that he wouldn't speak or hear the words.

Classes were boring, but when I arrived at our table it was to a riveting conversation between Jared and Luka.

"What's going on?" I said as I said next to Matt. Tyler was out, the last I'd heard was that he was doing business with a few new wolves that had arrived into town. It was a little unnerving how they were clustering around Tyler, especially when a night of the full moon was nearing.

More than that it meant word was spreading on what Tyler was. It was only a matter of time before that word got to Klaus. With all this, he would no doubt be moving a little faster in our direction. More than a little scary.

Focus on the present, I thought to myself. You're making plans. Contingencies in place.

"Magic, what else?" Matt asked. He had a sandwich that he was breaking apart before leaving them on his tray.

I looked further into the way he was sitting, for the first time reading Matt as I usually read people I was trying to get something from. It took a few seconds, but with my focus the world started to fall back and my memories coming to the fore: I saw Matt as he was as he'd been at the start of the series, the way he'd acted and the person he truly was.

Circumstances had been different then. He'd had a lot of hate and anger for vampires and magic and the like because of his sister's death. But now the same could not be said. The killing was kept at a minimum with only the bad doing the crimes.

Now he was a teenager and all around him he was seeing as different people gained magical powers while he didn't. This time he didn't even have a ring that would make sure he couldn't die at a supernatural hand.

"I know this is going to sound wrong," said Matt. "But can you stop looking at me because it's a little creepy."

I can back to myself, looking at the others. The conversation between Luka and Jared had stopped, they were looking in my direction, the former with a strange look while Jared was grinning.

"What are we doing? Please tell me it's something awesome?"

"What's going on?" asked Luka.

"Micah 101, he gets that expression when he's planning something," said Jared. "When you're the target. When he's reading you and forming approaches on how to talk to you."

"You make him sound like he's always manipulating you," said Luka.

Jared shrugged and I said nothing. It was something of an open secret that I was good at using my knowledge to getting what I wanted. But that wasn't the point of all this.

"Linking spells," I said. "I'm interested in what you were saying before but I don't think it's quite so important now."

"What is important?" asked Luka.

"Matt," I said. He shifted, looking uncomfortable because the three of us were looking him. I didn't think I had an expressive look to me but the others, they were confused, eyes searching for what I was seeing. "He's unprotected. Since Vicki left and Tyler's busy with the wolves flocking around him."

"I have boundaries around my house," said Matt. "And Vervain. I can take care of myself."

"That's not much in the grander scheme," said Luka. "I've met witches who were more experienced than me and they had trouble dealing with certain vampires."

"Grams comes to mind," I said, feeling a cluster of twisted emotion.

"Okay. So what?" he said.

"I'm thinking Linking spells," I said. "These are ideas of course but I think what I'm about to say is theoretically possible. A weapon with a linking spell running through it, we hollow it out so that it collects power and transfers it to the holder."

"You're talking blood magic," said Luka. "Dark, magic."

Jared snorted. "Okay," he said. "I'm going to say this slowly and surely. Hopefully it will pass through the dogma they've been shoving down your throat for your life: There is a thing cold dark magic. All magic is judged on its merit."

"Our trade spell for instance," I said. "The spell every witch is taught. Causing aneurism over and over. When I was attacked I used it on witches and I killed them. That was dark, but the spell itself wasn't."

"Really creepy hearing you talk about killing without inflection," said Jared. I could see that the same was being said for the others.

I shrugged. "I'm not about to feel guilty for self-defence," I said. "Anyway. Is it possible? Do we have any idea how we might do something like that?"

"Not off the top of my head, no," said Jared.

"Me too," said Luka. "But I could look through our tomes. Maybe I can talk to Dad and he can let you two into the house? Three heads being better than one and all that."

"Matt. You up for being a guinea pig?" I asked.

"There isn't the chance that this might kill me, right?" he asked.

"Only the smallest chances," said Jared.

Matt took a breath, blue eyes moving slightly from side-to-side as he thought. Then he nodded.

"Caroline is going to hate us for starting this after everything we're supposed to be doing," said Jared. "But I don't care. I love this, getting to stretch the limits of what magic can do. But before all that, we should get to completing the boundaries around Hunting grounds. Two days and we have a large pack on our hands."

I hummed, giving him a nod and turning to my own lunch. This was one of the projects we were being employed to do, along with the prison and the refurbished boundaries around the properties that could afford it. With all this there was the longer ranged research we were doing into using links and representation to form a large boundary which might eventually cover the entire town.

888

There were two hours allotted to working on the prison. Thirty minutes of those two hours and I had my full coven with me. Mostly it was just us playing around with the abstract nature of Lucy's spell, making it so we were in a place where we achieved one particular effect and made it stick.

So far we'd achieved the variant of the spell that worked on the spiritual realm to a point, stopping ghosts from coming in. We'd noticed this when trying to cast a spell only to find the voices that usually chanted at the periphery gone. The same protections we had doubled on when the Martins had arrived.

Now we were working on something that actively severed connections on anything that moved through it, which meant still playing with the effect but throwing rocks linked to the other into the fray.

It had been exciting at first, but now it was getting to the point where it was starting to get boring.

After the two hours had passed, we had thirty minutes of free time before the next task. I went to the Grill, meeting Enzo and grabbing a bite to eat and Jared went home for dinner with his brother and to do his homework. Next was Tyler's though it wasn't to meet him but his uncle, Mason, not that I minded much because the man could be around any time.

He led us to the next section of wood and Jared and I got to the spellwork, building a boundary spell that worked on two fronts. Keeping in werewolves when we were in a state of a full moon and keeping everything else out while pushing everyone back.

"That's it done for today," I said. "I think that should be enough for your pack."

"That's starting to be a problem," said Brady. He looked at Mason, the man nodding before he ran a hand at the bridge of his nose. "More wolves are coming in. Three in the past day and there's word there are more coming."

"We've been thinking that it might be a good idea to stretch the property out a bit," said Mason. "An acre or two."

"Fuck me, no," said Jared. "You have no idea how dull this is."

"Ditto," I said. "Not mention the time we're spending doing this. It's faster the first time around but it's still sapping time we could be doing something else."

"We're prepared to pay you extra for the overtime," said Mason. "There hasn't been a gathering of wolves this large in millennia. I didn't even know there were this many bloodlines still active."

"What he's saying is," said Brady. "We don't want to turn them away. They see hope in Tyler, in what he can do for them, taking away their affliction. It would mean a great deal if you did this for us."

I let out a sigh.

"No," said Jared. "No. Micah, no. I don't want to do this. Don't force me to do this."

I looked at him for the longest time. "If I say something you're going to say I'm manipulating you so I'm just going to shut up and look at you."

I did as I'd said. Looking at him for the longest time, seeing him huff and puff, pacing a little before he stopped.

"We need the money, don't we," he said. I nodded. "And this is better in the longer turn. It means we can stretch our ability." Again I nodded. "Damn, I'm tired. I thought tomorrow would be our last session if we pushed ourselves we'd get started on the knife. But this will prolong the torture."

"Trust me, I know how you're feeling right now," I said. "But we're the only witch business in town. Except if you want to them to outsource."

Jared vehemently shook his head. "Not with the damage the last witch did," he said. I felt my heart start up a little before I took a long breath, slowly letting out. "Sorry," he said. "Anyway we should cordon off another area and get started. We do a portion and it means less work tomorrow."

I gave a nod and we started.

888

AN: Hopefully I'll be writing another chapter tomorrow.