Familiar!

I tapped the table again.

"That means her Mage cannot be someone who will misuse her. Forcing Katya will result in her Mage getting nothing. There is only one mouse."

"So you seek to lure my daughter to you? By trickery rather than the theft your kind always uses?"

I shook my head and sat back in my chair. "Katrina will be Katya's protector someday. She must learn the lesson of cooperation now before she grows into her powers. Katya will let herself be bound to her sister so she cannot be used or abused by anyone. That should include not being abused by her sister."

I looked inward to find the two girls. "She's already begun to suspect they have to work together to find the mouse."

"You could protect her."

I looked over at Kathleen as I answered. "Katrina will do it better than I can."

"Then why this?" Kathleen's mother spread her hands apart.

"This?"

Drawing another circle on the table, she passed her palm over it. "Imagine the magic as a blanket of brilliant lights. Like stars in the night sky."

She next drew a smaller circle inside the larger. "There is a hole in the blanket where there are no lights, no stars. You did this when you made my daughter a sorceress."

"I didn't do anything. Not that I know of."

"Not true. You created a thing no Mage has ever created before. It is centered here, around you and your house. Why?"

Chapter 14

"I didn't do anything." I repeated myself as I raised my hands in denial.

"You did. It bears your scent. It feels like you when examined."

"And?"

"It is your creation. This is fact. The three questions in everyone's minds about it are: Why did you make it? What does it do? Are you strong enough to keep it?" She ticked each of the three items off on her fingers as she spoke them.

"I didn't do anything, I have no idea what you're talking about, and if anyone wants whatever it is, they can have it." I answered her questions.

"It is not so simple, Mage. It is your creation. Anyone who wants it will challenge you for it. If they do and you lose, we are at risk." She waved her hand at Kathleen and then toward the rest of the house to indicate the two younger girls, who were currently staring at the one multicolored mouse they'd found. "Even untaught, you are more powerful than my Kits and I together. We cannot prevent a Mage more powerful than you, who wants to capture us, from doing so. There is no place to escape to; no place to hide. You have revealed us with your magic making and our future is in your hands."

"I didn't do anything." I repeated my denial, then looked at Kathleen. "You were there. I didn't do anything."

Kathleen didn't answer.

"I didn't." I reaffirmed the denial. "You showed me how you make diamonds, I tried it and couldn't do anything but make black sand. Then you yelled at me so I called the magic and used it to make everything normal again. I didn't want to have to worry about magic or magical assassins trying to kill me and burn down my house. I just wanted my regular life back. That's it."

"You cannot be who you are to unmake who you are." Kathleen's mother was cryptic. "Magic cannot unmake magic."

"I wasn't trying to undo anything. I just wanted everyone to leave me alone."

There was a surprised look on both their faces after I finished.

"A shield? It is a shield?"

Mrs. Black's face went blank. I started to ask what was going on but Kathleen just glared at me again.

"Idiot."

"What? I didn't do anything."

"Yes you did."

"I didn't."

"You're stupid, do you know that? You run around casually throwing magic everywhere and then complain people are trying to kill you because of it. Then, to make things worse, you go and create The One Thing guaranteed to cause the bad guys to not leave you alone. You painted a magical bulls-eye centered right over your house and stuck a sign with an arrow on it saying; 'Free magic. First come, first served'.

"Meanwhile, we live right next door where anyone who comes this way because of what you did can find us. You are an IDIOT Daniel McAllister! A complete and utter idiot."

"Foolish perhaps, but not an idiot." Kathleen's mother told her as she came back to herself. "It is not a shield. It's a curtain preventing unwanted observation. It is remarkable in its complexity, transparent yet opaque at the same time. An idiot could not have created it."

She looked at me. "It would, perhaps, have been better to cloak only your own magic rather than darken such a large area. It is the size which draws the inquisitive to wonder why you shield the entire neighborhood. And then question what you do here you wish no one to observe."

"He's still an idiot." Kathleen mumbled to herself.

"Enough! We cannot change what is done." Kathleen's mother slashed her hands through the air. "Let us see this magic you say he can call without a Familiar. Shield us, Kit."

I waited until the silver rainbows settled before I touched the shield with my hands, I still thought it was beautiful in the way it glittered. Wonderingly I pinched the glitter to see if I could pull some away. Kathleen squeaked in surprise and jumped up from her chair.

Oh, really? I focused and pinched the shield again.

Kathleen swatted at her rump and turned around with a snarl.

<Hah!>

Kathleen turned around again and snarled at me this time.

Oops, maybe I shouldn't have said that.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to do that." I apologized. Or tried to.

"Do it again and I will murder you in your sleep." Another snarl backed up her threat. "Then leave your corpse to rot as a warning."

Wow. She was really mad.

"Hey, I said I was sorry. I was just looking at the shield. I didn't know you'd feel it if I did anything."

"And the second time you pinched me?"

"Uh, proof of concept?"

Another snarl told me she didn't believe I only did it for the science. Smart girl.

"Enough!" Mrs. Black snapped at both of us and pointed at me. "Show me this magic."

I clicked the binary switch to call the magic orb into existence. Nothing happened. Surprised when it didn't appear, I concentrated directly on the switch and clicked it again. Still nothing. What the . . .?

Something must have shown on my face because suddenly Kathleen's expression changed. Concerned, I reached for the magic which should be there and found . . . nothing. There was no golden aura. No glow. Nothing. Closing my eyes, I followed the path to where the magic should be and ran into a solid wall. Something was preventing me from getting to the source of the magic. I tried to scale the wall, go over, under and around. I failed with each attempt on each route. It was impassible. Frustrated I opened my eyes again.

"I can't reach it."

"What?" Kathleen dropped her shields.

Instantly, the orb popped into existence over the table right in front of them. Both Kathleen and her mother pushed their chairs backward and Kathleen immediately threw up her shields again. I drew the orb further away from them, sending it into the living room where it hung in mid-air.

"Daniel, what are you doing?" Kathleen's voice quaked over how close they'd come to the orb.

"I'm not doing anything. I couldn't turn it on, then it was there." I cancelled the ball and it blinked out. I tried to call it back again and couldn't.

"I can't get to it again." I told them what was going on. Or rather, what wasn't. "I'm trying but it's not there. Something's blocking me."

"Something or someone?" Mrs. Black asked as she looked between Kathleen and me.

"I don't know. Maybe I can . . ." I closed my eyes and tried to follow the path to the magic again. Once more I ran into the barrier. Carefully I reached out to touch it, to see what it was.

Kathleen squeaked again the moment my hand touched the barrier and it retreated away from me. Ignoring her I followed it, trying to find the source. This time Kathleen snarled when I touched it the second time. I grabbed onto it and the barrier vanished. Kathleen slapped me before I could open my eyes, knocking me into the table where I stumbled and dropped to one knee. Kathleen growled as she stood over me with her fist raised to hit me again.

"I said I was sorry!" I protested against what she'd done while holding up my hands to block the next assault. "You didn't have to hit me, I said I was sorry."

"Liar! You toy with me. With us."

"What is wrong with you? The barrier was there. I touched it and it moved away so I followed it. I almost had it when you hit me." I rubbed my face then looked at my fingers. No blood at least, that was good. "For no reason. While my eyes were closed."

"You lie!" She snarled again.

"What? No."

"Lie! You grabbed me. I warned you and you still did it."

"Wait, I what? When?"

"Just now." Kathleen's eyes narrowed as she remembered.

"Just before you hit me?"

She didn't answer, unless you counted another snarl as an answer. I rolled to my feet, holding up my hands and stepping backward away from her.

"Wait, just wait. Okay?" I took a few more steps back. "Okay, I want you to shield. Okay? I'm not going to do anything. Just shield. Now."

A glare but Kathleen's shields went up. I closed my eyes again.

"Okay, I'm going to poke the barrier. I'm just going to poke at it, nothing else, okay? Tell me what happens."

I followed the path to the barrier and touched it lightly. Kathleen snarled at me the moment I did it. I poked it again, gently.

"Is this you?" I asked as neutrally as I could while keeping my eyes closed. "I'm touching the barrier, is it your shield?"

She growled.

"Talk to me. Is this you?"

"You toy with me, Mage."

"I'm not. Is. This. Your. Shield?"

"Yes." Reluctantly she told me what I suspected.

"Okay. I'm going to touch it and hold my hand against it. Nothing else, just touch and hold my hand there. I want you to drop your shield when I say. Okay? Drop it when I say to." I waited a second. "Now."

Kathleen dropped her shield and I felt the barrier disappear. Opening my eyes, I found myself staring into her angry visage. Instantly I held up my hands.

"Wait! Don't hit me. What happened?"

"You know what happened. You groped me."

"I didn't. I was following the barrier."

"You still lie!"

"I believe the Mage speaks the truth. For once." Her mom stepped forward and touched Kathleen lightly on the shoulder. "It is as I said, no Venificus can draw power without a Familiar. The binding allows him to use your powers."

"Thief!" Kathleen stepped forward before her mother stopped her again.

"No. You bind the Mage. You allow him to use your powers. When you shield, he cannot."

Instantly her shield blocked me.

"However," her mother held up a finger. "The binding still holds and he can touch you through the shield. You allow this . . . intimacy."

"No!" The shield vanished.

"Yes. You shape the binding. You choose to allow him to be able to touch you. Just as you can obviously touch him even through your shields. Your attack on him earlier while you were shielding against him is proof enough of that."

"I don't want him to touch me!"

Kathleen hissed in my direction after she said it. Her mother shook her head.

"So long as you bind the Mage, this is how you desire the relationship to be. You allow him to access your powers just as I now believe he lets you use his abilities to perform magic without spell crafting. You let him use your power and use his in return. You can touch and be touched. This is how you want the binding to be; physically intimate but with magical protections for yourself against the Mage."

She went on with small gestures at both of us.

"You will not allow the Mage to access your powers when you shield. You do this for your safety against him and his ways. Yet, once again, your binding of the mage increases your personal risks. He cannot protect you when you are shielding. If another mage attacks and you shield, you are both vulnerable. If the attack succeeds, or you are caught unaware, the attacker can bind both of you."

"Oh."

Kathleen's face went still. It was obvious she hadn't thought about that. In a moment she looked over at me but I just waited for her to say something. I wasn't the expert at any of this, they were.

"Bindings are formed when one gives or one takes from each other. You know this to be true." Her mother continued what she was saying when Kathleen didn't respond further. "In your case you both probably gave to, and took from, the other. It would make sense about how the binding was first formed. As I said, it is an interesting creation and I don't know if it could be duplicated by another. I doubt it because one has to both give and take simultaneously. Few are so generous with themselves and their true desires. This binding is what you desire."

My neighbor gave a sly look at her daughter.

"Nor will you allow yourself to undo what you have done even though it may cause your death. Or worse."

Instead of responding, Kathleen pushed her hands outward toward me. Her shields flickered to surround me a moment before she curled her fingers into fists.

"AHH!" Kathleen jerked her hands down as she screamed in frustration. Whirling, she opened the door and walked out of the house without looking back, her spine rigid with anger.

"She grows in strength and power." Her mother spoke quietly. "My Kit could now kill you with a thought, were she to allow herself to do so."

"She could try." I had no idea where that came from. They'd killed me once already and I had no idea how to stop them if they tried again.

"She would succeed because you would let her." She looked up at me. "Be thankful she does not allow herself."

"Why not?" I looked through the open doorway where Kathleen disappeared.

"Who can say."

The words were bland. I twisted to glance at her. Her eyes hinted she knew the answer but wasn't going to let me in on the secret. Before I could ask, she lifted her spread hands and I could feel her gather power. Instantly Kathleen's shields surrounded me while rainbows glittered around the room. The golden eyes in my head growled and flashed her fangs in warning.

"I am only going to shield against the mage." Her mother's tone was neutral and she spoke as if Kathleen was in the room with us.

There was no response other than Kathleen's shields disappearing while the eyes in my mind closed again.

"Praesidium meum." Mrs. Black's shields rose and she used a finger to make a circle in the air in my direction.

"Show me this magic." She pointed with the raised finger. "From over there. No tricks, Mage. I do not trust you as my Kits do and I will protect my daughters from you and your kind."

"Yes ma'am." I moved into the living room while she remained sitting at the table. "This far enough?"

It wasn't long before she was motioning me closer to where she sat. Eventually I wound up sitting at the table, the magic orb floating between us as she studied it. I could see she, like Kathleen, didn't want to have anything to do with it. Yet, there it was and she almost couldn't help herself be anything other than fascinated by it.

She had me call it up and extinguish it again and again as she watched. I began to tire yet she continued to have me work with the orb without a break other than the one time we were interrupted by twin black cats who raced through the room, each of them holding a striped toy mouse in her teeth.

"They figured it out." I tried to relax my shoulders by hanging my arms and shaking them. The two Kits ran through the closed backdoor without slowing and vanished. "Smart girls."

"Not smart enough to resist the lures of a Mage. You steal my young in front of my eyes and I cannot stop you."

"I'm not interested in stealing your daughters."

"All Mages lie." Her eyes flicked to the empty chair where Kathleen had sat before she stalked off. "It is the only truth in the universe."

"I'm not interested in stealing your daughters." I repeated my last statement and added to it. "Any of them."

"All Mages lie. You are a Mage. Quaecumque vera veratis. What is true, is truth."

Chapter 15

I prepared to deny her statement. I wasn't lying when I said I wasn't interested in her daughters.

"MAMA!" The scream cut through me and I was out of my chair faster than a thought.

"NOOOO! MAMA, NOOOO!"

The slam of a car door and the squealing of tires punctuated the screaming. Dashing outside I saw a blue Toyota zip around the corner and disappear, a small girl running after it still screaming. As I watched, she ran straight into traffic trying to catch the Toyota. Speeding cars started honking horns amid squalling tires as drivers attempted to avoid hitting her when she darted into the busy street.

Reaching deep I called the magic. I had to stop this madness before someone got hurt or killed. There was nothing. No glowing ball of magic appeared in the air. No golden power filled me. Frantically I clicked the binary switch as I spun in place looking for Kathleen. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

<KITTY!>

Urgently I called for her. Where was she?

Cool fingers slipped into mine. She was here, thank God! Turning toward where traffic swerved around the girl I took the thread of golden power Kathleen gave me and shaped it. Releasing the magic I shouted the command.

"STOP!"

Everything paused. All noise stopped. The sound of skidding tires ended. Frantically maneuvering drivers stilled. There was no breeze. Birds hung in place in the sky. I could see people with their mouths open but there were no words or sounds. There was no movement at all.

I pulled more power and lifted the girl from in front of the car which was going to crush her in another second. Gently I put her down on Mr. Espinoza's lawn where she'd be safe, turning toward Kathleen and almost sagging in relief when it was done.

Katrina's eyes instead of Kathleen's looked back at me. I didn't understand. How could Katrina give me power if she wasn't bound to me? Kathleen had told me the binding had to be there or I couldn't get the magic from her. Unless, my giving Katrina the magic seed had somehow created a connection between us.

<Can you talk to me this way too?>

Instead of answering, she wiggled her fingers asking to be let go.

"Thank you." I released her as she tugged again, stronger and more insistent this time. "That was close."

"DANIEL!"

I spun toward the call and Kathleen slammed into me. Her eyes were golden fire as her hands touched me everywhere, checking my arms and body for injury. Fingers ran through my hair and I could feel the familiar tingling as she tried to heal me from whatever wounds I might have. Even though I was unharmed, she still tried to heal me.

"Kiss me. Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me." She repeated the two words over and over as she continued to run her hands through my hair. "Kiss me!"

"I'm okay." Cupping my hands around her face I held her still as she continued to try to heal me. "Kathleen! I'm okay! I'm fine. Where were you?"

"Too far. It was too far. I couldn't reach you." Her eyes flared solid gold as she looked back at me. Throwing her arms around my chest she pulled me close and held on. She was trembling.

<I'm fine.>

Kathleen shook her head and clamped me tighter.

"I'm fine. Where were you?" I tipped her face up so I could see her.

Her eyes opened only for a moment before she shook off my finger and pressed her cheek against my chest again. I ran my hands through her hair, caressing her gently.

With a mental click, the magic ball appeared overhead. Concentrating I released the power, reversing the earlier conjuration. Traffic immediately started moving again as the sounds of skidding tires resumed.