The Cost of Conjuring: A Bargain Beyond Blood

3. Who needs a phone anyway?

I'm two hundred meters down the road when I realize I'm going in the wrong direction. Cursing under my breath, I cross the street before turning back. I should take the longer way, avoiding the shop altogether, probably for the rest of my life, but I don't think my numb legs will manage that.

I've never tried doing another spell the day after I made Phoria. And now I know why. The busy street, honking cars, and tall buildings are still tinted red and warped at the edges. Like the whole world is some kind of optical illusion. My body feels like someone cut me into a hundred pieces and put me back together in a hurry, only connecting half the things that should be connected before zapping me alive with an ill-controlled lightning strike.

At least the afternoon sun is still up and not replaced by a freak thunderstorm like when I tried the teleportation spell. Very subtle.

An alarming number of people stare at me as I pass. I must still have blood on my face. I pull my hood up and keep close to the wall.

The people and cars are not enough to muffle Dan's voice as I near the shop.

"For the last time Nina! What do you mean you don't know? How can you not know what happened? Did a horde of trolls take a shortcut through the window while you were too engrossed in your phone to notice?! One night! One! I wanted one night off and now—"

I can see his red beard and almost equally red face through a gap in the traffic. Rampaging trolls is kind of a good guess. The other dwarves look like they'd rather be anywhere else, standing awkwardly behind him. The whole scene is surrounded by absolute chaos, sparkling in silver, gold, glass, and copper. Only the bravest pedestrians stay on that side of the road.

"Why should I tell you anything when you don't even listen? I didn't ask to be left in your precious shop. I have a life! And I don't know what fucking happened! It's probably your fault for buying cheap shelves. You can't put this on me! I—"

"Don't use language like that with me, young lady. What would...what... is that blood? Are you alright? Did someone hurt you, Nina?"

His voice lowers as the anger disappears. I look away and try to make my legs move faster. Somehow I can still hear them through the now glassless display window, like they're on a different wavelength than the meaningless city noise surrounding me.

"What? Oh, no, it's not my blood."

A truck thunders by and I manage to avoid hearing if she sells me out right away or after five minutes of fatherly coaxing. It doesn't really matter because as I turn the corner I remember I didn't destroy the circle. I just left it there. Like an idiot testing out their first spell.

Their voices finally fade into the background. I cough and taste blood. When I spit at the pavement, the asphalt turns from dusty gray to red. My fingers curl around the stone in my pocket as I slip down the stairwell to the subway, the magic sending sparks up my aching arm.

Even if I cough up blood for the rest of the day, it will still be worth it. Even if I can't show my face near a dwarf ever again.

As the adrenaline fades an unfamiliar feeling expands in my chest like a hot air balloon. Maybe this is it. Maybe I will get to see them today. The idea is too big for my brain. And too bright. So I push it away.

It's not until I'm on a crowded subway headed for Li's club and reach for my phone to text Alice I got the book that I notice the two-decimeter hole burnt in my coat. Right where my phone used to be.

I pilfer through my pockets but with the cut on my left palm, all I manage to do is smear blood all over my coat and elbow people in their guts. No phone.

Closing my eyes I drop my forehead against the cold glass on the door as I try to get my scrambled head around how much of a disaster this is.

Hopefully, my phone is at the bottom of the sea and not somewhere it can be found by the police. Saying I have a lot of incriminating pictures of highly forbidden magic symbols on it would be an understatement. The police getting into it would probably seal my fate faster than meeting Dan and his newly found axe in a dark, deserted alley.

I half step, half get pushed off the train when the doors open at the next stop.

My hand automatically goes to the hidden pocket on my right side, near my ribs, feeling the small circular container through the pilled fabric. At least the Phoria is still there. If the magic had taken it I would lay down on the station floor right now, not caring that it's covered in old gum, and never get up again.

But at least then I wouldn't have to see Li so maybe that would actually be preferable. I would gladly be homeless and starving to avoid letting him see me like this but I can't do that to Grandma and Cera. I've fucked up enough of other people's lives as it is.

The sun is glaring but not doing anything to warm me as I surface on a busy street and follow the flow of people toward "The Black Desert".

It's too early for the club to be open, as I make sure is the case every time I do a drop-off, but the elaborate neon sign over the fancy doors announcing its presence in black and pink seems to always be turned on. I try to make myself as small as possible as I sneak around to a back alley.

As I approach the black metal door, I slow down and lower my hood. Taking a deep breath through my nose as I try to staunch the bleeding in my hand with the inside of my pocket, I knock.

A dark elf I can never remember the name of (Agnes? Agatha? Something starting with an A) opens the door and gives me a once over. She towers over me as all dark elves do. The look in her red eyes tells me she's not impressed by what she sees. She never is.

Her pristine black suit makes me feel like an underdressed slob on the best of days so right now I identify more with the dumpster filled with garbage behind me than her.

My vision is still not back to normal and the red in her eyes pulses in a way I doubt it's supposed to. The pavement under my soles is not entirely solid.

I straighten my spine, ignoring the pain and popping, and meet her glare. She doesn't show any indication that she's going to let me in.

"Should I call Li and tell him you decided he doesn't need his Phoria today?" I ask, bluffing on so many levels. To call him I would need a phone for starters. And admitting to him I need help getting in requires a level of desperation I'm yet to reach.

She just sneers and opens the door wider before disappearing down the corridor, not caring if I follow.

Everything inside the club is black: floors, ceilings, walls, even the counters and appliances in the kitchen. Combining that with the low light and my less-than-reliable vision, I'm quite proud of myself for making it through the long corridor whose only purpose seems to be hosting way too many doors. I count to fifteen before I open the door at the end and enter the bar.

It smells like stage smoke, citrusy floor cleaner, and spilled beer. The dark empty dance floor pulls my thoughts to the vast caves Cera described one night when she was particularly homesick.

My steps echo just like they would in a cave. I don't know if it's my hearing that's affected by taking in too much magic or if it's the room repelling the silence.

Li is behind the bar as always, tall and lean, red eyes glinting, black hair in a lazy ponytail, pointy ears ending over the top of his head. He's wearing an unnecessarily tight black T-shirt, black jeans, and a dark red towel thrown over his shoulder. The shirt rides up as he reaches for a glass hanging over the bar, showing a strip of grayish skin and I know it's one hundred percent intentional. It's taking him longer than I expected to figure out that doesn't work on me.

Even without his height, red eyes, long ears, and gray skin, no one would mistake him for a human. There's something in the way he moves, the way he stands absolutely still as he examines the high glass. I wouldn't be surprised if it shattered under the weight of his attention. Like I did last week.