Magic In My Soul Read online

  MAGIC IN MY SOUL

  LESSER MAGICKS, BOOK TWO

  KELLIE SHERIDAN

  Contents

  MAGIC IN MY SOUL

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 1

  It had been four days since I had officially declared the existence of the Galway Lesser Magicks Faction. Me. Melanie Sinclair. I was still trying to wrap my head around being considered the leader of anything. Three days since I'd slept for almost nineteen hours straight, woken up to eat an entire pizza, and then slept for another three hours. Two days since I'd moved out of the flat that had been my home since I'd first moved to the west coast of Ireland. And only one since the weight of everything I'd done had really started to sink in.

  And now, despite the fact that I had yet to find a spare moment to even think about starting to unpack, there was a gnome woman—gnomish woman, maybe, I'd have to check—sitting on my couch. Her name was Tilly, and she looked more or less human. But since she was surrounded by a faint green haze of fae magick only I could see, I had to assume she was using some kind of glamour to hide her natural form. Either that, or she had gotten beyond lucky in the beauty department, with her petite frame, rosy cheeks, and wild blond curls. One or the other, and frankly, it seemed rude to ask.

  The last thing I wanted was to risk offending the first person who had actually travelled to see me in my new capacity as a faction leader. It was still surreal that anyone was taking that seriously. I was struggling to believe that there was anything I could do for her. But God, I really did not want to screw the whole thing up.

  "Can I get you anything to drink? Tea?" I asked, desperate to insert something into the silence that had fallen between the two of us after I'd introduced myself and invited Tilly inside my new home. My guest looked about as uncomfortable as I'd felt, her expression taut and eyes occasionally wandering around the room, as though on the lookout for threats.

  The other woman shook her head and offered a timid smile. "No, I'm alright. I don't want to take up any more of your time than I have to."

  "Well then," I said, realizing right away that I sounded too cheerful, "what is it that I can help you with?"

  The news of Ireland's newest faction had been travelling quickly, and Tilly had apparently found my business number online almost immediately. She'd left a message during my epic, post-drama nap, only leaving her name, race, and the fact that she wanted to meet with me.

  I was eager to do something to prove that all the people I'd encountered recently hadn't made a huge mistake in trusting me. I would have agreed to see her right away, but this had been the earliest she'd been able to make it to Galway. And since she'd insisted on meeting in person, I'd had to wait to see what all of this was about. Which added one more layer of stress to my already muddled mind.

  I'd been obsessing about what to expect ever since.

  "I'd like to know what's involved in joining your faction. And if you'd considered having me," Tilly tacked on nervously, speaking quickly as though she was afraid of never getting the words out. My face must have registered the surprise that jolted through my body because she immediately continued. "I completely understand if this isn't possible. I know you'll probably be getting a lot of people with the same request, and soon..." she trailed off.

  I wasn't sure if I agreed with her about getting a lot more people looking to join our faction any time in the immediate future, but I had already braced myself for at least a few new additions who might be willing to risk getting involved with a potential disaster in the making. I just hadn't been expecting any of the fae.

  Unlike the witches, werewolves, and vampires, the fae didn't function within location based factions. There were a few different covens throughout the country, like the Belfast Witches, or the Irish Wolves, because our small island only had one pack.

  The fae were something else entirely, their leadership international. There were the light fae and the dark fae, divisions and that was it. A Seelie court ruled each of the two groups, creating the law for anyone with fae blood, no matter where in the world they lived.

  Until now?

  "No, no. I'm just a bit surprised," I said, plastering a smile on my face and doing my best to look reassuring. "It's only that our faction is technically for the Lesser Magicks, as a way to protect us from the larger factions, and your abilities are fae through and through."

  "I'd heard that you already have a witch among your members," Tilly said, interrupting before I could continue.

  "Yes. Absolutely. We don't have any kind of requirements for membership, but I'm not sure what we could offer you." I allowed myself to pause, leaning back in my chair as I weighed what to say next. "I don't know what your situation is, but things aren't exactly settled here yet. We've only existed for a few days and you're going to be a lot more secure, safer, with the fae than you would be with us. Where are you from?"

  "Donegal originally, but I've been living in Cork and working at one of the castles for the past few years."

  While my knowledge of gnomes had been pretty much zero a week ago, I had done my research after Tilly had requested her meeting, wanting to be as prepared as I could be. Their main area of specialization was garden magic, though according to some people I'd asked, there were a few different opinions about if what they did was truly magic or simply an innate ability.

  I was smart enough not to say any of this out loud, instead nodding slowly and hopefully not appearing to be a complete moron. "That sounds like a perfect setup," I pointed out.

  "If I were the only fae in the city, or the country," she said, her voice grumbling a little on the second point, "it probably would be. I'd have been quite pleased to merely live my life and tend the grounds. But the more the factions are involved, the more complicated things seem to get." Damn, did I ever agree with her on that point. "Because we're right smack at the bottom of Ireland, close to the continent, some of the oldest fae in the world also live near Cork. Control Cork."

  "I didn't think..." I stopped myself before I could say anything dumb. It was probably already painfully obvious how little I knew, and I didn't need to tip my hand any farther. Tilly was the first supernatural person I'd met since everything had happened, and in my head that made her a representative for the magical world at large.

  I wanted her to like me.

  I kept my mouth shut and nodded for her to continue. This was her time to talk and share her story. If I still had questions after, I could ask then.

  "Gnomes are not well respected among the fae. Among any of the factions. And I'm only a half-blood. My mother was a landscaper in the forties, she took over some of the grounds responsibilities on an estate just outside the county lines when the war broke out. So by one token, I've been blessed with a green thumb on both sides, but by another, I'm half-useless. And treated as such by those who rule, and those who answer to the courts. I need-"

  This time, it was Tilly who stopped short as her eyes began to water, cutting herself off before she could say too much. But whatever had happened to her in the past, I didn't need to know about it. Not unless she wanted to share.

  I'd made a promise to myself and to the factions. And I intended not only to stick to it, but to do my best not to screw it all up in the process.

  At least I knew then t
hat my guess about a glamor had been right. If Tilly's mother had been working during the second world war, then the woman in front of me had to be far older than she looked. A fact I tried not to think too hard about that; it would only leave me feeling more insecure and ill-equipped.

  Tilly had known at least some of what she was getting into when she decided to come here. The least I could do was trust her to know what her best option was even if I was still finding it hard to believe that it could be me.

  "If you're sure this is what you want, we would be honored to have you as a member of the Galway Lesser Magicks Faction." I was really going to have to work on that name.

  "I accept."

  As soon as the words left Tilly's mouth, magic surged through me, tingling all the way from my toes to the roots of my hair. My fingers gripped the edge of my chair until the feeling faded away, my eyes still wide.

  "What the hell was that?" I asked, not able to keep the accusing tone from my voice. Something had just happened to me, to my body. There was no way that the woman sitting on my couch hadn't had something to do with it.

  Her brows straining with confusion, Tilly shook her head. "Acceptance," she said the word like her meaning should have been obvious. "The magick of your faction has officially accepted the bond between us. It is the same thing I felt each time I was forced to pledge myself to the fae. You should have felt this before."

  The first trace of doubt flickered across Tilly's expression.

  Damn it. Literally less than a minute in and I'd already managed to do something wrong.

  "Sorry. Yes, of course. It's been a crazy few days and my body is still adjusting. Honestly, I'm in kind of a weird place. But the fact that our bond has been accepted must mean that your being one of the fae isn't a problem." I was careful to use as many of the same words that she had as I could, trying desperately not to sound any more like a moron.

  Tilly's expression shifted slightly, the beginning of a smile forming on her lips. She still didn't look entirely convinced, but I was willing to take what I could get.

  My eyes searched the room, desperate for anything that would let me change the subject. We were surrounded by boxes and the chaos of my move but it wasn't like I could ask her to unpack.

  Maybe she'd just call it a day, having gotten what she came for, and head back home. Except...

  "So our faction is technically based in Galway, but I hadn't planned to put any restrictions on where our members live. Were you planning on returning to Cork?"

  Tilly's head started shaking no immediately. "Whatever you intended, the border of your faction is the same as the county. As soon as I crossed into Connacht, I felt the shift as I moved out of fae territory."

  "Well that doesn't make any sense," I said before I could stop myself. "Everywhere is fae territory. I mean, it can be other faction territory as well, but fae territory doesn't end. Especially not in Ireland."

  I expected Tilly to balk at my ignorance since what she had just told me clearly contradicted how I thought things worked. Instead, she pressed her lips together, looking bewildered. After a moment, she spoke. "Not anymore. Whatever you did four days ago, it changed the landscape of the country in a way that only the supernatural can feel. Galway and the surrounding land is yours. Now that I'm one of you, I can feel the difference between home and not. Which means I can't go back to Cork, at least not without risking someone recognizing what I've done. I'll be safer here."

  Shit. Shit, shit, shit. How had no one else told me that I'd changed the magical borders of the land itself? I supposed it was possible that no one else had noticed. Other than the way in which the fae claimed everything, no other factions had yet claimed Galway. My city was about as neutral as it could get when it came to magic, which was exactly the reason I'd chosen it as my home. None of the other people who had decided to join this new group had technically belonged to a regional faction. Even my ex-roommate, a witch, hadn't been part of a coven, so she might not have noticed when the city had taken on a new allegiance.

  I'd made Galway something entirely different from what it had been before. I'd made it mine.

  I was now responsible for an entire city and all who decided to come here in search of a new home. Including Tilly.

  No matter how my heart had begun to pound, or how a thin layer of sweat had begun to cool the skin along my spine, I needed to focus on one thing at a time.

  "Do you have somewhere to stay?" I asked. Hopefully the gnome had been better prepared to leave her home than I had been to receive her, but even if not, it was on me to help get her settled.

  Tilly nodded. "I spent the last few days applying to jobs. I've got interviews starting tomorrow, and I'll be staying at one of the hotels near Eyre Square until I get settled."

  Okay. Good. This was good. For a second there I'd been imagining having a stranger sleeping on my couch for weeks on end because she had nowhere else to go. I mean, I was used to living with a roommate, but that hadn't been exactly what I'd been looking for when I'd decided to move out on my own.

  Still, just because Tilly had somewhere to go, that didn't mean the next person to call looking for a meaning would.

  I was completely unprepared, and the only thing keeping me from freaking out entirely was knowing that in just another hour or so, I'd have my first official faction meeting with the people who had decided to jump into this along with me.

  Taking the pause in the conversation as an excuse to check my phone, I realized just how quickly I was running out of time before the start of that meeting. I'd missed one call from Taya, but she hadn't left a message, and I'd be seeing her soon enough that I decided to let whatever she wanted to talk about wait.

  My relationship with Taya was still a little on the rocky side. It had barely been a week since she'd decided to sell me out to the Belfast Coven in order to curry favor. She'd turned things around at the last minute, helping me when I was backed into a corner, but she was still far from my top priority.

  And where the hell had my day gone? Actually, where the hell had the entire life I'd built for myself gone?

  "Excellent. Well, you already have my number," I said, standing up in hopes that I could draw my current meeting to a close with enough time to shower before the next. "And please believe me when I say that if you need anything at all, please call me." A resigned huff of breath escaped my lips. "I know I might not have been what you were expecting, but I'll do whatever I can to make this work."

  Tilly hesitated for only a second before following my lead and standing as well, offering me a quick nod of understanding once she was upright. "Don't worry," she said. "I'm not planning on pestering you. I'll find somewhere quiet and live my life." One corner of Tilly's mouth ticked downward. She'd come here and gotten exactly what she'd asked, and still she was disappointed.

  What had I done wrong?

  Trying to rush her out probably hadn't been my best move ever. Tilly had already hinted about being less than wanted where she'd come from, and there I was hurrying her out my door so I'd have time to shower.

  "Actually," I said, my mouth opening as soon as an idea popped into my head. "I had a few people coming over in like an hour. I'm sure there will be some planning, but mostly we'll just be hanging out and regrouping. It could be a good chance for you to get to know our little faction. How do you feel about board games?"

  Chapter 2

  After finally taking me up on my offer to make a cup of tea, Tilly had been more than happy to hang out on my couch as I rushed to the bathroom for a quick shower and change of clothes.

  My hair was still a little damp by the time I made it back to my living room to find her scrolling through her phone, a now empty mug on the table in front of her.

  "There's someone waiting out in the hall," she said, looking up immediately when heard the sound of my bare feet against the hardwood floor.

  "Oh?"

  "She said she was here for games night, but I didn't feel comfortable letting anyone in without you
here. She didn't seem thrilled, but I think she's still out there."

  Well then.

  Without commenting, I made my way to the front door of my new flat and opened it only wide enough to take a peek outside, not actually all that worried, but not willing to dismiss Tilly's hesitance either. Although, really, anyone who had actually meant me any harm probably wouldn't have been stopped by my door anyway, especially anyone with magick.

  Two people sat on the floor, outside my flat, both leaning back against the wall facing my door. The woman, I recognized; the man, I didn't.

  "Taya?" I said, not quite able to hold back a chuckle.

  My ex-roommate's gaze snapped up when I spoke. "Got yourself a new guard fae did ya?" she asked, pulling herself up.

  "A new member of our faction, actually. She was my meeting today."

  "Right, the one you've been stressing about."

  My eyes darted back inside my apartment as my heart gave one massive thud against my ribcage, afraid Tilly had overheard. There was no part of me that wanted her to know just how nervous I'd been to meet her.

  Or who thought that the random that Taya had brought along needed to know either.

  Tilly hadn't so much as looked up, so I let my focus drift back to the hallway. "Well it looks like I'm not the only one who forgot to Rsvp a plus one," I said with a pointed look toward Taya, making sure to smile at the same time so that whoever this guy was he wouldn't feel unwelcome.

  Friendly, welcoming faction leader. That's me.

  The guy in front of me looked to be about forty, his dark brown hair and beard beginning to gray. He had olive skin, and a few fine lines around his eyes that suggested he'd spent a lot of his life laughing. But he certainly wasn't laughing any more, his mouth seemingly frozen in a worried frown. Shuffling the box he was holding over to one arm, the man extended a hand toward me.

  "Simon. I was hoping for a chance to speak with you in private."

  I shook his hand, casting Taya a puzzled look.