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The night of the wizard confrontation

The bobcat on Ilo’s couch stirred. Ilo’s ears perked, and he moved across his living room to find a spot that would be visible, but kept a respectful distance. The witch opened her eyes, and with great effort sat up. She looked around the room, her eyes landing on Ilo, and she screamed. She tried to get off the couch, but her legs wouldn’t move.

“What did you do to me??” Meryl shouted.

Ilo held up his hands. “Hey, whoa whoa whoa. You’re hurt and you need to relax.”

Meryl hurled a ball of magic at Ilo. Ilo flinched, holding out his hand, blocking the ball with an invisible shield.

“Wait, please wait,” Ilo said, blocking another volley from the witch.

“What did you do?” Meryl said, lowering her voice a little.

Ilo hesitated, waiting. He could wait people out like this. He knew it was just a matter of time. “There was a fight-“

“Oh yeah, hey what the fuck??” Meryl struggled to move again. “What the hell?”

“Honestly, I didn’t expect it to break like that.”

“You attacked us!” Meryl found a book within reach and flung it at Ilo. It hit him on the head and he let out a little shout.

“I didn’t know! He said we were going to talk things out! And then he starts attacking you all and you friend tried to attack him but she hit you instead.”

“Elliot…” Meryl said. She remembered. Her ears lowered a little.

“You were hurt badly and with the kind of magic she used, it’d take some work to get it all out. So I grabbed you and brought you here.”

Meryl watched the wizard for a moment. She looked around the room. “So where are we…?”

“My apartment,” Ilo said, looking sheepish. “I didn’t know where else to take you. That wound was drenched in dark magic.”

Meryl lifted her shirt, revealing the badly singed fur where Elliot had hit her, along with a fresh scar. “Oh…” And she brightened. “Oh wow! She’s been learning!” She ran her hand over the patch of fur. “You fixed this?” Meryl asked.

“It took some work but I got it all out,” Ilo said.

“You did really good,” Meryl said. “I’ve never seen anyone recover from this before. Not quickly, at least.” Her ears suddenly perked. “Oh no, what year is it?”

“It’s been like ten hours tops,” Ilo said, cracking a smile. He stood.

“So not being able to walk isn’t because I’ve been in a coma then.”

“No, it’s cause you almost died. But,” Ilo moved to his fridge, across the room, “I have something for that.” He pulled a vial of a bright blue liquid from a rack in the door and carefully approached the witch.

“I’m not drinking dish soap,” Meryl said.

Ilo pulled the cork from the vial. “Healing potion. It’ll help get your energy back up.”

Meryl stared at the vial for a moment. “Why should I trust you?”

“You don’t have to. There’s no reason you should. But I did save your life.”

Meryl took the vial from Ilo.

“So, it’s just a mix of-”

Meryl downed the potion.

“Okay, cool.” Ilo took the empty vial. He returned to his kitchen and put the vial in his sink. “You know dark magic,” he said after some thought.

“No such thing,” Meryl said. “Oh god, pins and needles!” She rubbed her legs.

“It’s working,” Ilo said. “It might be like that for a moment.”

“Magic is what the user makes of it,” Meryl said, and hissed, grabbing her leg.

“The wound was necrotic,” Ilo said. “Death was literally eating you alive.”

“Death is natural,” Meryl said. “There’s nothing dark about it.”

Ilo furrowed his brow, and opened his mouth to speak.

“Okay, it’s kind of dark,” Meryl said. She poked at her wound some more. “So, all of that had to go somewhere. Where did you put it? You… you didn’t absorb it, did you?”

Ilo hugged himself and looked out the sliding glass door in his living room. “A seagull I caught. It’s in my freezer now.” His ears dropped.

“Poor guy. At least you could have it for dinner.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t.” Ilo got up again. He went to the kitchen again, and came back. “So, like, you want something to drink, or…”

“We’re just not going to talk about the whole wizard thing, huh?” Meryl sat up.

Ilo’s ears perked. “Oh, yeah, right.” He somehow looked small. “I don’t know where to start?”

“You always known how to do magic?”

“Have you?”

“Deflecting,” Meryl said. “Who taught you?”

“These are really big questions. But… I really didn’t figure out until I was like 15. And then a lot of things made sense.”

“Did you accidentally do that two of you at once thing?”

“You know what a tulpa is?”

Meryl nodded.

“I might have accidentally summoned one in 3rd grade…” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. “My school went on lockdown before that was a thing, and this… monster roamed the halls and tried to get into classrooms. It only went away when I wished it away. Or willed it, I guess. Put that one in the vault right away, and didn’t think about it again until I realized I could do magic.”

“Neat!” Meryl tried to stand. She got to her feel, wobbled, and fell back onto the couch. “I’ll try that again in a second. Are there a lot of wizards?”

“You first,” Ilo said.

“I know maybe a dozen witches,” Meryl said. “Gimble knows more.”

“The Gimble in your emergency call list?”

“She’s my coven leader, or whatever. Wait, did you call her?”

“She’s in your emergency call list,” Ilo said.

“Gimble was at the fight,” Meryl said. “What did she say?”

There was a knock at Ilo’s door.

Meryl and Ilo both stared at the door for a quick second, and then looked at each other.

“Maybe I should get it,” Meryl said.

“Not a bad idea.”

Meryl got to her feet again and wobbly but steadily made her way to the door.

Gimble waited on the other side, and when Meryl opened the door, they shared a long hug.

“We were skeptical,” Gimble said.

Meryl just laughed. A second later, Ty pushed her way in to the apartment and pulled Meryl from Gimble. She held Meryl close, tears running down her face. Meryl wiped them away.

“Shh,” she said softly. “I’m okay! Look! Everything’s okay.”

Z entered last, sweeping her gaze around the room until her eyes landed on Ilo. He took a step back.

“Hey, shitbag,” Z said. She took a step forward. Gimble and Meryl both grabbed her by her arms.

“Wait wait wait,” Meryl said.

“He called us,” Gimble said.

“And he saved my life,” Meryl said. “I could have died if he hadn’t done anything.”

“Is this true?” Gimble asked. She appraised Ilo. “You healed her?”

“I’m a healer,” Ilo said. “I’ve always been really good at it.”

Ty said, “I know what Meryl can do. If she taught Elliot what Elliot did, that was dark magic.”

“It took a lot of work,” Ilo said.

“He did a really good job, too!” Meryl said.

“So,” Z said. “You healed her, you called us here. What’s in this for you?”

Ilo’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, I’m… I didn’t do this for points.”

“So you’re faking hanging out with those other wizards?” Ty said sharply.

“They’re my co-workers. I… don’t really like them? They’re kind of assholes.”

“So what’s the deal?” Z asked. “What do you want?”

“I didn’t want anyone to get hurt,” Ilo said. “I have a lot of questions about witches. But also, I believe what is happening is really bad and someone needs to stop us.”

“You want to talk,” Gimble said.

“And I want to meet Elliot.”

“Creepy,” Z said. “Why?”

Ilo’s ears twitched. He thought a moment, and then said, “The fact that we kept running into each other has to be more than coincidence. I think that there’s a connection, and if I’ve learned anything about dealing with magic, it’s that there’s not a lot of coincidences. I’m listening to my gut.”

“We do have a lot to talk about,” Gimble said. She turned to the other witches. “You all can leave if you want, but I would like to hear this wizard out.”

“Ilo,” he said.

“I would like to hear Ilo out,” Gimble said.

“Yeah, we’re staying,” Z said. “I want to hear this too.”

“I have some tea. It’s not much but…”

Gimble sat down on Ilo’s couch. “That sounds lovely.”

Ilo nodded, and went to his kitchen. Z sat down next to Gimble, and Ty deposited Meryl next to her. Gimble’s phone buzzed, and she read a message from Right Determination. Things were suddenly coming together, and she had to think it wasn’t coincidence.

[g]

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Elliot chose to meet The Nerd well after midnight, when she was sure Cassie’s would be packed. She told Cassie ahead of time, at least to make sure they had a table reserved. Cassie agreed, letting Elliot know she’d prep the place with anti-violence spells. That made Elliot feel a little better. Not by a lot, but it was something.

Meryl came with her. She wanted to make sure she could introduce the both of them properly. Elliot was happy to have the company on the way over. On the bus, Meryl talked about the first time she made a costume for a convention, and Elliot was so happy just to have nothing to do but listen.

Arie met Elliot at the door to Cassie’s. He gave her a hug.

“You look so scared,” he said, giving her a reassuring smile.

“No,” Elliot said. “I’m fine. Totally fine.”

“You’ll be okay here,” Arie said. “Cassie doesn’t let anyone hurt anyone else here.” He motioned for her to follow, and she did, hanging back just a little. Arie led them to a room, a tiny room just off the kitchen. It must have been a pantry, Elliot decided. It couldn’t have been much bigger than that, just enough for a table and two chairs, and two people at most.

The Nerd was there, waiting. He wrote in a journal, one that looked like it had seen better days, the edges of its paper stained and smudged with dirt and soot and whatever else must have collected in his bag. He looked up, and when he saw Elliot, his eyes grew wide, and he stood, almost knocking over his chair.

“Hey!” Meryl said, her ears perking when she saw The Nerd. “You made it!”

“Hi,” The Nerd said, not quite sure how he should be wearing his expression. Meryl radiated joy at him, and Elliot’s stare could have ruptured his spleen at 30 yards.

“Okay okay okay! So this is Elliot,” Meryl motioned to Elliot. Elliot didn’t move. “Elliot is a witch and a neat person. And this is Ilo,” she motioned to The Nerd. “Ilo is a wizard and he saved my life.” She looked back and forth between them. “Okay, you two have a lot to talk about. I’m going to wait out here.” And she flitted away before Elliot could grab her.

Ilo sat down, and for a moment, Elliot just stared at him. She sat cautiously, trying to think of what to say. Arie graciously brought them coffee, and closed the sliding door to their space as he left.

They were truly alone.

Ilo looked down at his coffee cup, his ears flicking in thought. “So, thanks for meeting me here-”

“WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE?” Elliot said.

“Ah!” Ilo said, sitting up. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to-”

“I was certain you were following me,” Elliot said sharply. “Every time I looked up, you were there.”

“I can explain!” Ilo said.

Elliot glared. “Then explain.”

“It’s a bit of a story, but-”

“I don’t have to be here,” Elliot said. “I’m here because Meryl asked me.”

Ilo bit his lower lip, trying to think of what to say next. “You’re a Lockesmith, right?”

Elliot froze in mid-sip of her coffee. “What?”

“That’s why you were in the tunnel, isn’t it? There’s not a lot of reason to go down there, unless you’re like looking for scrap copper or something. But I don’t think you were.”

“No,” Elliot said.

“So that leaves Lockesmith. You wanted to get close to where he disappeared.”

“My… my girlfriend surprised me,” Elliot said carefully. She looked away, scratching behind her ear. “Because she knew I wanted to see it.”

“Your girlfriend is the devil lady right?”

Elliot let out a laugh. “What were you doing in the tunnel?”

“Work,” Ilo said. “I work for Lumeria.”

“They had a hand in the tunnel? I didn’t think that was their project.”

“It’s not. Ask me what I do for Lumeria.”

“What?”

“Programmer,” Ilo said, and took a drink of his coffee for effect. “I couldn’t write a Hello World program to save my life.”

“Then why did they hire you?” Elliot asked.

“My actual title is Thaumic Engineer. I maintain magical barriers.”

“Wizard,” Elliot said. “Wait, but why were you following me? What does that have to do with magic walls?”

“I’m also sent out a lot to look for magic leaks. Sometimes, operations will get a report from our field agents that things feel wrong, and I go out and check out why.”

“Are those the sensitive sites that guy said the other day?” Elliot asked.

“Yeah, that’s them. Weird magical spots. The thing is, you’re probably drawn to them without realizing it. I think that’s a witch thing.”

“Sexist.” Elliot took a long drink of her coffee. “You’re saying it was coincidence.”

“I thought it was weird too. But you just kept showing up where I was sent. I didn’t know how to take that.”

Elliot said nothing. She took a drink of her coffee and stared down at it. “Well, it scared the shit out of me.”

“Sorry,” Ilo said. “I didn’t mean to. Really, I was just curious. Because no one thought witches existed, not my co-workers at least.”

“What, women can’t do magic?”

“There’s a few wizards that are women at work, but it’s a small percent. A lot of them got in when the scene started blowing up in California in the 80s.”

“I don’t know how to parse that,” Elliot said. “So what’s going on in the tunnel?”

“On paper, they’re pulling fiber, fixing conduits, stuff that’s vague enough that they can keep extending the permit without anyone noticing.”

“Smart.”

“Yeah, it’s clever.” Ilo cleared his throat. He seemed to collect his thoughts for a moment. “But what’s really there is what they call The Chamber.”

“What’s the Chamber?” Elliot asked, looking over the rim of her mug.

“Not sure,” Ilo said. “My job is purely containment. Keep the walls around The Chamber upright and intact. Some weeks are worse than others. There’s been… incidents… where wizards will be working on the site, and not report back. We sometimes find their badges, but nothing else.”

Elliot felt the fur on her neck stand up on end. “Yikes.”

“Yeah,” Ilo said.

“So I’ve seen a lot of horror movies. Don’t open The Chamber.”

Ilo laughed. “I wouldn’t want to. I’d love to never be down there again.”

Elliot looked down into her coffee. “So why are you telling me this?”

Ilo set his coffee down and dropped his eyes to the side. “Seeing you, knowing what you were right away, that was like this huge epiphany.” He looked up at her. “Do you remember when you started to become a witch?”

Elliot nodded. “Suddenly I had words to describe things I had always known but could never say.”

Ilo pointed at her. “Yes yes, that. But all of my life I didn’t realize I had the wrong words.”

Elliot looked down at her coffee, her ears twitching in thought.

“It’s stupid…”

“You want to be a witch,” Elliot said.

“Yeah…”

“You could have asked.”

“I don’t think I could,” Ilo said, looking up at her. “Not how like we kept meeting.”

Elliot considered this.

Ilo sighed. “Forget I asked…”

“What? No, I just…” Elliot’s ears twitched. “If I’ve learned anything in the last few… I dunno, weeks? Whatever. It’s that if you think you are a witch, a real witch that can do for real magic, you’re a witch. No one needs to give you that permission. Even if you can’t do magic…”

Ilo sat back in his chair, trying to hide a smile. “You think so?”

“That’s what they’d say. Part of the whole witch thing is not asking for permission, especially when you don’t need to.”

“That’s really nice…” Ilo said softly.

“I thought so.” Elliot started to take a drink of her coffee. “Wait. WAIT HANG ON. Lumeria is hiring WIZARDS?”

“Lots. Like from all over the world.”

“Why?” Elliot asked. “Wait, is this how they made a trillion dollars?”

“Turns out!” Ilo said. “That’s just old fashioned normie greed and underpaying their employees and government kickbacks. No, it has everything to do with what is in the tunnel.”

“What’s in The Chamber?”

“No idea.” Ilo stopped and thought for a long moment. “So there’s one more thing, and I’m trying to figure out how this all fits.” Ilo leaned forward. “Locke was my supervisor.”

“Locke… was a WIZARD?” Elliot sat back, suddenly looking in awe and exhausted at the same time. “What was he doing in the tunnel.”

“I think he wanted to get into The Chamber,” Ilo said.

“Why?” Elliot asked, just above a whisper.

“No idea,” Ilo said. “But I don’t think he should have been there. I think he might have been doing that on his own.”

Elliot suddenly felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. This was a lot to take in. Ilo didn’t say anything, his ears perked as he waited for Elliot to say something.

“How do I know I can trust you?” Elliot asked. “Last time we saw each other, your friends were trying to kill my friends.”

“Not my friends,” Ilo said. “I was not trying to kill you. I didn’t know that was part of the plan until it happened. Also, point of fact, I healed Meryl.”

“You got a point, Prime Minister Nerd.”

“Lumeria is a job,” Ilo said. “I could be out the second their stocks start dropping. Look what happened to Kingway.”

Elliot grunted.

“I want to help,” Ilo said. “I’m at your service.”

Elliot’s ears twitched again. “When do you want to start training?” she asked.

“What?”

“I just had an idea. You want to be a witch,” Elliot said. “I think we could teach each other.”

“You’d learn wizard magic? Ilo asked.

“And you’d learn how to be a witch.”

“I’d like that a lot,” Ilo said.

“Then we’re going to figure out a time.” Her stomach growled. “I’m going to order something, and we’ll talk about all of this, because it’s a lot.” She slid the door open, and Arie was there almost immediately. They ordered their cake, and talked until sunrise.

[g]

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When Ardy returned to her apartment, Elliot was waiting for her at her dining table. Ardy raised an eyebrow, giving Elliot a questioning look while she hung her coat on the coat rack. Elliot looked down at her hands.

Ardy sat down at the table, setting a roughly book-shaped cardboard box down next to her. She shook off her human disguise, smiling just a little as Elliot’s eyes widened. She had noticed that right away, the way Elliot had visibly brightened when she presented as her normal demon self. It was, well, she didn’t have the right words for it yet. Affirming? Whatever it was, the serotonin was flowing because of it.

“Hi,” Elliot said softly.

“Did your friend go home?” Ardy asked.

“Yeah, a little while ago.” Her ears twitched. “Oh, there’s food in the fridge. She left it for you, too.”

“She’s very kind,” Ardy said. She reached across the table and took Elliot’s hand. Elliot’s ears perked, and Ardy could see the gray in her fur get a little pinker. “You look troubled.”

Elliot nodded. “I’ve been troubled. I…” She hesitated, still not looking at Ardy. “I think we need to talk about the future.”

“Indeed?” Ardy said. She didn’t let go of Elliot’s hand, and Elliot didn’t try to pull it away. “Is Meryl stealing you away from me?”

Elliot looked up at Ardy, her eyes wide. “What?? No!”

“You two seem close.” She gave Elliot a knowing smile. Elliot blushed and looked away.

“It’s not like that. She’s nice and she’s been a good friend. Not that I’ve known her that long.”

“You haven’t known me that long, either.”

Elliot frowned. “Okay, but…”

Right Determination squeezed Elliot’s hand. “I’m not mad.”

“I’m not leaving you for her,” the raccoon said, her ears pressing against her head. “You’re making this harder than it should be.”

“I apologize. What is really going on?”

Elliot hugged herself with her free arm, still looking away. “I like you a lot,” she said softly. “I think you’re interesting and I guess you’re also kind of mysterious, but the more I find out about you, the more you’re just kind of this adorable nerd and it’s, I dunno? Nice?”

“Oh, hush,” Ardy said, but she kept smiling, watching Elliot carefully.

“Not taking it back,” Elliot said. “And like, maybe I dove head first into all of this because you flirted with me. That’s not something I’m used to. Maybe I let that drive my reactions. And don’t get me wrong, I really like it.”

“There’s a huge ‘but’ coming here…”

Elliot sighed. “Rory got me thinking about a lot of things. Like, questions I thought I could answer.”

“It’s funny how crash landing on someone’s roof will get the mind going.”

“It woke me up. I’ve been floating for a long time. Like, just… I dunno…”

“Reacting?” Ardy offered, tilting her head a little bit.

“Yeah,” Elliot said, nodding. “Just letting things happen. Rory asked me if I’m happy with how things are going, and I was laying there thinking about broken bones, and that my friend was dead, and maybe I was responsible for it, and running away all the time, for everything. And I really wasn’t. I’m not happy with that. I learned that there are people just like me, who can do magic — there’s actual magic in the world! — And who want me to be around and teach me things and watch movies together and get boba tea and like… Why can’t I just accept that and be happy with that?” She looked down at her hand in Ardy’s. “Oh, and there’s this hot demon lady who’s interested in this absolute train wreck of a person.”

Ardy didn’t say anything, but she kept watching, waiting.

“You have been very kind to me. Everyone has been very kind to me. And you don’t deserve a train wreck.”

“Elliot…”

“Wait,” Elliot said, holding her hand up. “I don’t want us to be done. I’m not done. But you deserve better from me.”

“So what does that mean…?”

“It means that I think I need to take a break for a few weeks. Not to see other people or anything. I need to figure a lot of things out. We’re like, two dates in and I can tell that there’s something. Do you think there’s something?”

“I think so,” Ardy said, her voice dropping, but filled with warmth.

“I’m really glad you agree. But we’re two dates in and I’m not giving you a person you deserve to be with. So here’s my plan: I’m going to go move in with Gimble. She’s promised me, like, a suite in her house, which is I guess a thing she has? I’d have my own space, and she would be able to teach me things and be there when I needed another witch to help me. I’m going to go learn how to control my magic so I don’t accidentally hurt my friends again.” Elliot let her eyes wander down to Ardy’s hand again. “And I’m going to see if I can answer Rory’s question properly. Or at least start to figure it out. And then, I want to meet for coffee and catch up and…” She stopped.

For a moment, Ardy just looked at her, as if she was trying to see through her. Elliot froze, looking small.

“I’m… surprised,” Ardy said.

“I’m sorry,” Elliot said, her voice just over a whisper.

“Don’t be. This, I think, is an incredibly thoughtful plan. And I think it’s the right thing for you to do. And I’m kind of proud of you for not running away from this. It must have been a really scary thing for you to do.”

Elliot looked up into her eyes. “It is and I’ve been trying not to cry this whole time,” she said, and tears began to stream down her cheeks.

Ardy stood and rounded the table to be next to Elliot. She hugged the raccoon close, and Elliot hugged her back, her head on the demon’s shoulder.

“Do you promise there’s coffee at the end of all of this?” Ardy asked.

“Yes,” Elliot said.

“Good. Because I don’t want to lose my favorite witch.”

Elliot let out a little laugh. “You’ve seen hundreds of witches.”

“Yes, but they’re not you.”

Elliot blushed again. She laughed nervously. “So, if we’re good, I guess I should go…”

“Not yet.” Ardy retrieved the box she had brought with her. “I made you a promise when we met.” She handed the box to Elliot.

Elliot opened the box. Inside was a neatly bound book, with fine finishes of gold leaf and tooled embellishments on it. A word was written on it in the same script she recognized from the map.

“Lirzanet,” Ardy said. “It means to learn.”

Elliot touched the cover of the book. “It’s a grimoire.”

“Custom made,” Ardy said.

Elliot looked back to Ardy, who watched her contently.

“I don’t-”

“You do,” Ardy said. “You do deserve it. And I expect you to use it.”

Elliot nodded. She threw her arms around Ardy and hugged her close. “Thank you.”

Ardy let the hug go for as long as Elliot wanted it to, drinking in the moment, allowing herself to savor it. When Elliot finally let go, Ardy said, “Do you need me to get you a ride?”

“Uhm… I’ll be okay? I have to go to Z’s first to get my stuff. But thank you.”

“Thank you for talking this out with me. I will be looking forward to hearing about what you’ve learned over coffee.”

“Me too,” Elliot said. She stood in front of Ardy for a moment, clutching the grimoire to her chest uncertainly. Finally, she said, “I’m going to go.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Ardy said. And when they got to Ardy’s front door, she stopped Elliot, taking her hand. “Before you go,” she said. “I’d like to kiss you.”

“Oh,” Elliot said. “Oh! Uhm, yeah, that’s okay.”

Ardy smiled. She pulled Elliot close and carefully kissed her on the cheek.

Elliot blushed, and stifled her smile, though she couldn’t for long.

“After coffee,” Ardy said, “we can figure that out too.”

“Ha,” Elliot said. “Yeah, we should.”

Ardy opened the door, and saw Elliot off. They held hands in the elevator down to the lobby.

In the future, there was coffee.

[g]

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Back to Part 25 — Chapter Index — Forward to Part 27

Elliot did a pretty good job keeping it together, at least at first. Meryl stood in the doorway, holding a bag of Chinese take out, smiling at her. Elliot gasped, and then reached out to Meryl.

“H-hey,” she said, which was a mistake. Immediately, she began to sob, tears streaming from her eyes, down her cheeks. She stumbled back to the steps up to Ardy’s apartment, sitting down and wiping the tears away with back of her hands. Meryl let herself in. She sat down next to Elliot, patting her shoulder, speaking in soothing tones.

“Oh no, hey,” Meryl said. “Why are you crying? Everything’s okay!”

Elliot tried to speak, but couldn’t get anything coherent out. She reached out to Meryl, who watched her carefully, pulling her into a hug.

“You’re okay, buddy. We’re okay.”

Elliot nodded. She cried hard on Meryl’s shoulder. Ardy watched from behind, and Meryl looked around to make sure things weren’t going to blow up. She stroked Elliot’s head gently.

When Elliot finally regained coherence, Meryl helped her up the steps. She sat Elliot down at the dining table. Elliot slumped in her chair, letting the last of her sobs rattle out of her. Meryl unpacked the Chinese, and Ardy brought them two plates and some silverware. She leaned down and hugged Elliot around the shoulders.

“I’m going to go down to the shop and check on things,” she said,

“What?” Elliot said, catching Ardy’s hand. “But… lunch?”

“I think you two need to catch up. It’s been an eventful few days.” She squeezed Elliot’s shoulder, and retreated to the outside world.

Meryl opened the boxes of Chinese. “I hope you like Kau Kau. It’s the best in the city.”

Elliot just watched as Meryl helped herself to the food.

“We need to talk about what just happened,” Meryl said. She heaped some fried rice on her plate, and grabbed a few pieces of barbecue pork. “Because I thought you’d be happy to see me.”

Elliot tried to speak, but another sob escaped. “I thought… I thought I had killed you.”

Meryl had just about to take a bite of an egg roll. She stopped, wide eyed. “Elliot…”

“I hit you with one of those magic ball things. I saw you fall, and the Nerd got you and and and…” She felt the tears coming back.

Meryl scooted over to her and hugged her close. “Oh no, I didn’t know…”

“And I thought that everyone else knew, and they’d hate me and they’d not want me around and-” Elliot wiped her tears away.

Meryl took Elliot by the hand and led her over to the couch. She sat Elliot down. “I didn’t realize. I’m so sorry. If I had known, I would have come over sooner. I just kind of assumed you knew.”

Elliot shook her head.

“Didn’t I tell you I couldn’t be killed in any meaningful way?” She offered Elliot a smile. Elliot laughed and looked away.

“I thought you were just being a weirdo.”

“Nope! Oh! Oh oh oh! I promised to show you a cool scar!” Meryl hooked her hands under her shirt and in one clean motion pulled it off. She turned so Elliot could see her side. The fur had been burnt away, and a gash a couple of inches long sat at the center.

“That one’s new,” Meryl said. “You did a good job, by the way! You did so good with that ball!”

Elliot felt sick. She swallowed, hoping to keep her stomach down. “You didn’t die…”

“Nah!” Meryl said. She poked at the wound. “It hurt like hell, though.”

“How did you…?”

“We’ll get there. But first…” Meryl turned. Down nearly the length of her back was a massive scar, roughly following her spine. It looked as though she had split in two.

“Oh my god,” Elliot said, just above a whisper.

“Right?? Isn’t it sick?”

“What happened?”

Meryl turned back to face her. “Okay, so you know how I said there’s no such thing as good or bad magic?”

Elliot nodded.

“I want you to understand that I mean that, so I want you to understand how serious I am when I say I fell in with a group of really, really bad magic users.” Meryl sat back on the couch, looking down at the shirt in her hands. “I had just gotten into medical school, and mom and dad were on my back a lot because…” she waved her hand in the air. “I was starting to, I dunno, break? I was trying to figure out how to take a year off just to feel better, and even just thinking about that helped. And I had met Ty and I didn’t want to walk away from her because she’s just… amazing. And she’s got this amazing friend, Z. I might have told my parents I didn’t want to do medical school anymore…”

Meryl paused a moment, letting her eyes follow the ceiling up to its point. “So I’m feeling trapped. And here is where I should say that when you meet some weird people hanging around the morgue, you should probably follow your instincts. I was mad at so much that I didn’t. They knew I was a witch right away. They saw all of it, and they dangled control in front of me. I could get more powerful, I just had to help them steal a body or two. At first…”

“Whaaaaat.” Elliot said.

“Hang on, there’s more.” Meryl stretched, like she was settling in for the long haul. “Necromancy, if you hadn’t guessed already. It was really strong stuff, and every session we did I felt more and more incredible. What I didn’t realize is that they were using me to summon a demon.” Meryl turned to show Elliot her back. “Guess where the portal was.”

Elliot covered her mouth.

“So THAT happened. I was lucky that Ty and Z found me when they did.”

“How did they even fix that?” Elliot asked.

Meryl gave her a weak smile. “If you ever have the chance for a god to owe you a favor, you take it. Z just happened to have exactly that, and she called it in.”

“Oh wow… Just for you…”

“Just for me,” Meryl said, smiling broader. “Remember when I said I didn’t go outside for a year? That was after the summoning. Ty and Z basically watched me until I was better, and made sure I had what I needed. They found Gimble and introduced me, and that’s when I started going out again.”

“That’s so much,” Elliot said, almost whispering.

“Yeah,” Meryl said. “It’s a lot to process sometimes. But I feel better than I used to.”

“You’re always so cheerful and happy,” Elliot said.

“Death and I got into a staring contest, and Death blinked,” Meryl said. “And here I am. I have an amazing partner, and a great friend…” She took Elliot’s hand. “And now I have you, too.”

Elliot felt herself blushing.

“Sorry, that was a lot too. As a friend, I mean.” Meryl tilted her head. “I didn’t think you cared about me so much.”

“The coven is really nice,” Elliot said. “But Z is… Z? Like, she’s pushy and nosy. And Ty is super cool but also super intimidating. And Gimble is nice, but like she feels like a mom? But you listened to me when I wanted help, and you’re warm and you treat me not like a project, but like a friend.”

Meryl fell forward, hugging Elliot around the neck. “Aw, buddy! I’m glad we are friends. It means a lot to me.” She sat back. “Feeling better?”

Elliot nodded. “Yeah. I’m glad you’re alive.”

Meryl beamed. “Me too. Okay, now you take off your shirt.”

Elliot rolled her eyes, but cracked a smile anyway. “Ha. Yeah, I’m good.”

Meryl only giggled. She put her shirt back on. “Anyway, they sent me to come get you when they found out you were here.”

“How did they…?” Elliot started, and stopped herself. “Ah.”

“She’s worried about you,” Meryl said. “And she wanted to make sure you got help.”

Elliot nodded. She bit her lip. “Yeah. That is nice, though.”

Meryl patted her arm. “The other thing is why I’m still here.”

Elliot looked up, right into Meryl’s eyes. “You were kidnapped by The Nerd!”

“He saved my life,” Meryl said. “I really do believe that. And in return, all he wants is to meet you.”

Elliot’s eyes grew wide. “Meet…? How-? I can’t!”

“I’ll set it up and everything. We’ll do it on neutral ground. Cassie’s place is covered with so much of her magic, neither one of you would be able to hurt each other, even if you wanted to.”

“But…” Elliot said. “He’s The Nerd!”

“Will you do it for me?” Meryl asked. “Please? I owe him.”

Elliot closed her eyes and sighed. “You really think he saved your life?”

Meryl nodded enthusiastically.

“Fuck,” Elliot said. “Okay, fine.”

Meryl stood, grinning. “Yay! I’ll set it up.” She held out her hands for Elliot. Elliot took them, and Meryl pulled her to her feet. “Come on, let’s go eat!”

[g]

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