Jane The Nymph: The Boxed Set (The Circle Series Book 2) Page 5

  13

  Midnight.

  D-day.

  Jane and Jake stood in the center of the circle, directly over the seal and under the bright full moon. There was no breeze, no noise, nothing but their own breathing in the stillness of night.

  “Are you ready?” Jake asked.

  Jane nodded and put her backpack with extra clothes down.

  With a scalpel, Jake sliced open a vein in his forearm and had Jane keep the vein open with tiny surgical clamps on either side of the incision. Jane hadn’t asked where he’d gotten the equipment. She didn’t want to know. It was the most disgusting thing Jane had ever seen.

  Everything went according to plan. Jakes blood dripped slowly onto the seal of the convergence, each drop steaming and sizzling as it hit the sigils holding the magic captive. It took ten minutes to unlock the first sigil.

  The second one was more of a problem. It required blood faster than the thin vein Jake had opened could give. Jake dropped trou and opened a larger, deeper vein in his thigh. Blood gushed from him and the sigil accepted the offering, breaking open with a brilliant golden light.

  That’s when shit went wrong.

  The sigil’s light acted as a beacon for every magical practitioner in The Circle. They came from everywhere, their beds, their night shifts, their mistress’s, everywhere, to see what was happening. People approached from every spoke.

  “What are you doing over there?”

  “What’s going on?”

  “What’s happening?”

  Those three sentences were repeated countless times among them.

  Jake looked at Jane. “You have to keep them out of here.”

  Jane shook her head, not really believing what she was about to do.

  Please, she spoke to the nymph. Help me set you free by keeping these people away. Please, just don’t hurt anyone.

  The nymph couldn’t agree to that last request, but she took Jane’s body, splitting out of her clothes and floating away from Jane’s boots.

  “Holy shit,” said a fae, the first to notice the Nymph’s hovering, elongated body.

  “What the hell is that thing?” a shifter yelled.

  “SILENCE!” called the Nymph. The crowd obeyed. “The magic that’s been hidden for so long in this place will be released. And none of you will keep that from happening.”

  The Nymph’s thin lips twisted around each syllable. “I will have my freedom, and if anyone interferes, I will end them.”

  The Nymph scanned the crowd looking for Gunnar. But his white-blond hair wasn’t among the practitioners in the streets. The Nymph swooped down, checking on Jake’s progress.

  “It’s not enough blood,” she said as the third and last sigil shimmered blue and purple light, but showed no signs of opening.

  “I know that,” Jake said.

  “I’ll gather the sacrifices,” said the Nymph.

  “No. No, no, that’s not the deal,” Jake said in a tone that made the Nymph raise a nonexistent eyebrow.

  “How dare you speak to me that way, Silver Wolf, Son of Byron, Breaker of Oaths.”

  “I did NOT break my oath to her, you disgusting pile of shit! I couldn’t help her!”

  “Every wolf’s oath is to keep his mate safe, your mate is dead,” said the Nymph.

  Jake roared at the deadly creature before him, ready to attack and tear it apart with his bare hands, but Jane had warned him of this. Jane knew the Nymph might try to goad Jake into attacking her if everything didn’t go as planned. She’d then rip him apart, using his blood to open the sigil, and if Jake wasn’t enough, she’d have free reign to use anyone she could get her limbs on.

  “We stick to the plan,” Jake said through gritted teeth. Jake sliced open his femoral artery in his upper thigh, and blood so dark it looked black spurted onto the sigil.

  But it healed too quickly, and without Jane there to clamp it open for him, Jake had to keep mutilating himself.

  The grass, wet with Jake’s black blood, glistened in the moonlight. The sigil swelled, and the air around them grew thin.

  The Nymph’s gray lips turned upwards in a terrible smile.

  The magic was about to be set free.

  The last sigil broke apart and the wild magic trapped beneath it tore free in a streaking wave of purple light.

  The Nymph laughed, a terrible, cloying sound as the wild magic fell around her, on her, split through her, separating her soul from Jane’s.

  But like a rubber band, the curse that locked Jane’s soul with the Nymph’s only stretched until the wild magic receded into the ether where it belonged. The Nymph, having known a moment of freedom outside of Jane’s prison screamed as she was snapped back into her cell. The wild magic hadn’t been enough to set her free. “NOOOOOOOOOO!” she screamed as her body slowly sloughed away to reveal Jane’s once more.

  As before, Jake dressed Jane and carried her limp body back to her studio. This time he had to wade through the sea of practitioners in the circle.

  “Get back, make a hole!” he yelled a handful of times before he’d cleared the onlookers. He unlocked her door and kicked it open. Jake laid Jane on the bed and waited for her to wake up.

  The nymph, enraged the plan had failed, didn’t heal Jane of the physical trauma caused by turning as she had before. Jane laid prone and unmoving while her body did it’s best to repair the metaphysical, cellular and energetic damage the nymph had caused. It took three days for her body to put itself back in order. And Jane had felt every searing moment of it.

  “It didn’t work. The wild magic wasn’t enough,” the first words out of her mouth. “But the magic is free, so at least this fucked up town got something out of it,” was the second. And “I need a shower,” the third.

  The Nymph's Curse

  Naomi L Scudder

  1

  “OK, GO!” Jane said to herself and ran out of her crappy one-room apartment. Jane didn’t need to run, not for fitness anyway. The nymph within her kept Jane’s metabolism higher than average and gave her enhanced endurance.

  She ran because she had to.

  “Fuck,” Jane said, spotting a man showing all the telltale signs of an uncontrollable shift in the crosswalk ahead of her.

  It’s all in their shadow. That’s where Jane had learned to keep her attention after she’d let the magic out - on people’s shadows.

  The edges of the man’s silhouette blurred and smeared across the white lines of the crosswalk.

  Their eyes locked. Fear, pain, and uncertainty all clear in the man’s now yellow eyes. He pitched forward, throwing himself onto all fours.

  The back of his shirt ripped first as the man’s vertebrae rearranged to that of a quadruped. His scream of pain turned into a roar as he shifted into a black leopard in the middle of the crosswalk, his clothes a pile of shredded fabric around his paws.

  “You’re OK,” Jane said as she ran passed. She couldn’t stop.

  The massive cat turned, following Jane with its gaze as she did. “Run to Warren Forest. You’ll find others like you,” she called behind her.

  But it was too late.

  The first shift was always the hardest. It was the closest to their wild counterpart a shifter would ever be.

  Jane knew because this wasn’t her first merry-go-round.

  The big cat settled its lean muscled body into a low stance, eyes alert and tracking Jane’s receding frame.

  To a casual observer, Jane looked as though she’d be this cat’s next meal. But Jane had been around too many shifters to ever let that happen.

  When the leopard growled at her, she was ready.

  It leapt from its low stance, sailing through the distance Jane had put between them in moments. Landing just shy of Jane’s heel, the shifter launched off the ground, front paws aimed at Jane’s shoulders.

  “Not this time, kitty.”

  Jane threw her hands in the air and launched herself into a forward handspring, putting herself out of the cat’s reach. For the mom
ent at least.

  Her old gymnastics coach would have been proud.

  Instead of taking a rebound step like she was supposed to, Jane landed on one foot, tipped herself forward and used the inertia of her flip to bring her other foot right under the leopard’s chin. Her heel collided with the animal’s jaw, snapping his head upward.

  The leopard shook it off as Jane spun around to face him. He approached again, low to the ground, though this time more slowly.

  “Back off.” Jane pulled a dried lima bean out of her pocket and showed it to the leopard.

  The leopard backed away, hissing and growling as he went.

  Shifters respond to protection runes the way everyone else does - by backing the fuck off. Even if they are carved into lima beans.

  “It’ll be easier next time, I promise. Go to the forest.”

  The leopard gave her a final hiss, then turned around and ran full speed toward the forest that surrounded The Circle.

  Jane tucked the lima bean back in her pocket and ran until she reached the coffee shop. It was safer indoors, not by much, a few shifters had busted through storefronts mid-change, but Jane had bills to pay, so she braved the city streets to get to the place that paid her to serve coffee to no one.

  The Circle was very different with magic free in the ether.

  “You OK?” Frankie her manager asked as Jane got her visor and name tag from her locker.

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t understand it. Why hasn’t something been done about it? Every day I see an escaped zoo animal prowling the streets. Why haven’t they fixed it? Business is bad enough!”

  Jane shook her head. The majority of the people in The Circle were nons, people without magic. But ever since Jane had unlocked the seals on the trapped wild magic in the center of town, shit was getting harder and harder to explain.

  “And what about this weather? I’ve never seen anything like it!” Frankie pointed her chubby finger at the strange purple sky. “It’s snowing! And sixty-five degrees out! How can that be? It’s the end-times I tell ya. End. Of. Times. I mean how else do you explain it? And the sky! It’s unnatural. Unnatural.” The middle-aged woman crossed her arms over her chest and huffed out a breath.

  Jane looked out the window, watching the snowflakes fall to the concrete where they instantly melted. “I dunno Frankie, but don’t go cashing in your life savings or anything. I’m pretty certain it’s not the end of the world.”

  Frankie snorted. “I might have to if business stays this slow.” She smoothed an errant strand of red hair that seemed to get frizzier the more anxious she grew.

  Jane stifled the urge to apologize. It was her fault the city had gone to hell.

  Jane knew there’d be an adjustment period after she’d set free the long-trapped wild magic. But she never thought it would take this long or be so difficult.

  Anyone who stepped outside ran the risk of being assaulted by a newly transformed shifter. People who hadn’t had access to magic before now, suddenly did. Anyone who was going to find their magic at any point in their lifetime now had it forced upon them, whether they were ready or not.

  It was a side effect Jane hadn’t anticipated, which really fucking sucked because that meant she’d opened the seals for nothing. It hadn’t set her free of the Nymph’s Curse like she hoped it would, and now the city was worse than it had been before.

  “Jane, I don’t really know how to say this.” Frankie looked Jane directly in the eye and sighed. “I can’t keep you on any longer. I just-I can’t pay you. I’m not making any money.”

  “No one is.” Jane looked out the storefront to the empty streets of The Circle. The coffee shop had prime real estate - directly off a main spoke of the traffic circle the city was named for. Before Jane had let the magic loose, Frankie had plenty of regular customers and steady foot traffic. But now...

  “It’s temporary. You’re back here as soon as business picks up. You know that, right?”

  Jane nodded. “I know, Frankie. It’s not your fault the city’s gone to hell.” It’s mine.

  Jane gave her manager a hug, looked directly into Frankie’s teary, brown eyes and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll be OK and you will too.” She left the coffee shop and ran home, hoping that she hadn’t just lied to the sweet woman.

  2

  A few hours later, after strengthening her handmade rune set by adding a little extra juice, Jane touched up her intentionally messy makeup and ran out of her crummy apartment - right into Eric’s waiting car.

  “Aren’t you getting tired of this?” Eric asked as Jane jumped the passenger seat. His tone was thin and tight, stretched with irritation.

  “Tired of what? What’s wrong with you?” Jane had never seen Eric annoyed before. She thought she’d find Eric as excited about their fifth date as she was.

  Instead, he’d arrived at her door late and overwhelmed.

  Eric pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sprinting to my car for one? The random people exploding into their first shift. Nons suddenly initiating and not knowing what to do with their magic. Don’t you just want to get out of here?”

  Jane gawked at Eric. She’d never seen him so upset.

  He sighed. “I’m sorry, Jane. It’s been really hard to filter out all the extra noise lately.” Eric tapped at his temple.

  Another effect of releasing wild magic into the area was that anyone who already had magic got a juice boost. Usually, it was good, but sometimes...

  “It used to be I had to actually see someone to get a sense of their emotions. But now it’s like everyone is in my head all the time. It’s getting to me.”

  I’m sorry, Jane thought to Eric.

  It’s not your fault. Not really. You did what you thought you had to. I probably would’ve done the same. “I’m just glad I’m getting out of the city tonight. I’m thinking of staying at a hotel until everything settles into place. What do you think?”

  “Probably a good idea.” Jane hadn’t realized how hard the situation had been on her empathic boyfriend. She changed the subject, not wanting to dwell. “So, where are we going?”

  “A fae run restaurant in Baltimore. I’ve heard a lot about it. Apparently, all their desserts are infused with fae charms.” Eric smiled as he turned onto the main artery out of The Circle.

  “That sounds fun. I’ll make a whole meal of desserts.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. The nymph ups my metabolism. I’m always craving sugar. And if the fae charms make me feel loopy or happy or something, all the better.”

  As they neared the limits of The Circle the purple hue in the sky faded away to a more normal shade. “What’s that?” Jane pointed to the road ahead.

  “I think it’s a blockade.” Eric slowed the car as they approached the orange pylons and police cruisers blocking the main way out of the city.

  “What’s going on?” Eric asked the cop who came to his window.

  “City’s under quarantine, sir. Everyone needs to stay within city limits, preferable indoors until further notice.”

  “Until further notice?! What the hell does that mean?” Jane yelled, leaning over to look at the officer.

  But Jane knew exactly what this was about.

  “Ma’am, please don’t raise your voice. We just need you to stay within the city limits.”

  “Why?” Jane asked.

  “I really can’t say, ma’am.”

  Easy, Jane. Don’t start something with the cops, we’ll just turn around, Eric thought to her.

  Give me a little credit. Jeez.

  What Eric probably couldn’t pick up in her emotions was that Jane’s anger was manufactured. A con move. Come out swinging and then let the mark think you’ve calmed down.

  “I’m sorry, you’re right officer,” Jane said, bringing the pitch of her voice to a normal octave. “It’s just, well, it’s really scary being told you can’t leave your home. I’m sure you understand.” Jane made sure to hold the officer’s gaze as she said each
carefully selected word. Her bottom lip quivering just the slightest bit, a period on her fabricated emotion.

  “Yes ma’am, I know it’s unsettling. Unfortunately, I don’t have any information to give you.”

  Jane thought of her time in the terrible place, enslaved by the oldest vampire on the eastern seaboard. She thought of the other girls she’d left there to suffer when she’d escaped. It brought tears to her eyes. Jane let them pool, unshed and glistening in the afternoon sun. “Oh god,” she whispered. “Are we contaminated?” When the last syllable left her lips Jane blinked, letting a single tear fall down her cheek.

  The cop was unmoved.

  “No ma’am, nothing like that. Please be on your way.”

  Jane was going to have to pull out the big guns. “It’s just, well, my family, we escaped from a terrible military state.” Jane allowed a tiny sob to leave her throat and delicately laced each word with a generic eastern European accent. “Omlouvám se,” Jane said in perfect Czech. “My English gets sloppy when I’m upset. Please, I just need to know if we’re safe.” Jane pleaded with the cop, tears again pooling in her eyes.

  He showed no signs of cracking.

  “I can’t live like that again. Please, sir. Anything you can tell me.” Jane whispered the words, letting the tears fall down her cheeks.

  The cop shifted his stance. Then sighed. “The factory on the west side of town had a ventilation problem. It spewed a significant amount of ash into the sky. It’s why the sky is purple ma’am. The Corporation doesn’t want it making national news, so they’re keeping it hushed by keeping people out of the city. Unfortunately, that means keeping people in the city as well.”

  That was not why the sky was purple.

  But the cop was right about one thing. The Corporation did not want news of the weird shit in the city breaking nationally. That’s why they’d locked the city down.

  Just as Jane suspected.

  She nodded, pretending to accept the cop’s story.

  “Thank you,” Jane said, erasing all traces of the accent from her voice. “Thank you for telling me. Do you know how long we’ll be stuck here?”