New Spaces

As the dust began to settle, Ash could see more clearly what she had nearly fallen over. Her stomach dropped as if filled with a lead weight, and her heart began to race as she fell to her knees in the rubble.

“Kit, Kit, you need to open your eyes now”, she began, shaking him gently. “Micah! Help me!” She yelled, getting no response from Kit.

Ash’s voice broke through the shock that held Micah, Loki and Mark in place. Rushing to her side, Zander began to bristle in Micah’s mind; something didn’t sit right. Why was the wizard unconscious? Had he been messing with the wall? Was he trying to steal secrets? Zander had never really accepted the wizard and hated him near their mate. “What was he doing?” Micah demanded.

“I don’t know, Micah; I can’t wake him. He needs the doctor!” Ash replied, her voice rising with panic.

“Ash, you are a doctor. Heal him; you can do it; I’ve seen you,” Loki added before Micah could say any more.

“What?… oh…. yes… magic… of course… magic”, Ash muttered distractedly as she looked back down at Kit, her eyes closing and her hands reaching out towards him. Behind Ash, Mark put a restraining hand on Micah’s arm as his face contorted. The last thing he wanted was for his mate to touch another man, let alone this man, who he couldn’t say he fully trusted.

After a few seconds of deep breathing, Ash calmed herself enough for her power to take over, her eyes flashing purple as a soft glow surrounded her hands and slowly wound its way around Kit’s head and chest. They waited anxiously for a few moments, Micah clearly more than ready to pull Ash back at a second’s notice despite Mark’s hand. Within a few minutes, Kit seemed to be stirring.

**********

As Ash sat back on her heels by Kit, her attention was drawn by the room he had revealed. The smell of dusty, old tombs and leather in the air was almost enough to drive even Micah’s distinct scent from her nose. The feel of the magic in the air, both familiar and unfamiliar on her skin, pulling her own magic to the surface in ways she had never felt before.

Her fingers tingled with power, her hair standing on end as it electrified. Something in there was calling to her, a deep part of her that she had yet to fully explore. The powers she felt made her shiver with excitement or fear; Ash didn’t know yet, but she was sure she would find out soon enough.

“Ash… what is it?” Micah’s voice reached through Ash’s fog.

“Something’s calling to me…. this is what we’ve been looking for…. what I’m supposed to do” she replied. Not looking back at Micah and the others, who were looking at each other with a hint of concern in their eyes. Ash didn’t sound like herself right now. Something about her made even Loki wary of being too close to her.

“Ok, well, let us clear out all this rubble, then you can come back and explore… why don’t you take Kit to the doctor to be checked over?” Micah coaxed, not sure what else to do. He shifted uncomfortably as he waited for Ash to think this over and reply.

The sudden change in her demeanour was incredibly unsettling; she seemed to have gone from a helpless teenager who appeared to have forgotten about her own powers to a being overflowing with magic, drawn by some invisible to them source of yet more power. Could she even handle more power at her age?

**********

Ash didn’t move for a long time. The boys were shifting uncomfortably; Kit was still unconscious on the floor though he did have a much better colour on his face now and no longer looked half dead. Loki inched closer to his brother, the pair of them looking down at Ash.

Suddenly she stood, pushing to her feet far more gracefully than she would usually have been capable of. With her back to Micah and Loki, they and Mark were unable to see the changes working their way over Ash’s face. Her eyes widened, the purple taking over the usual blue, a myriad of emotions playing behind them, from surprise and amazement to understanding and determination.

As Micah looked on at the scene before him, his mate stood in the middle of chaos worthy of any good invasion, yet there had been no invasion. There was only one casualty and no enemy he could see.

Zander, however, wouldn’t relax, as if he sensed some enemy invisible to the eye. Micah’s Jaw was clenched as he watched Ash, waiting to see if she would take his suggestion of taking the slowly waking Kit to the hospital, but somehow he knew she was beyond his reach. Loki and mark found themselves struck dumb at the sight of Ash as she was now.

Ash looked at the chaos around her slowly, her head and body moving mechanically while she carried out an assessment. The force of the power within her right now forced even Micah to take a step back out of the debris of the fallen wall. Kit seemed to be showing signs of wanting to stand up, he tried to call out, but his voice was feeble and easily ignored.

Ash turned back to face the room full of books, a slight grin on her face as she raised her arms and waved them in a complicated pattern; no words were needed for this spell; it was one that seemed to be sinking into her consciousness, the knowledge felt ancient and powerful, dangerous and yet necessary. She supposed that summed up what she would find in the books. It was a spell she didn’t anticipate ever having to use again; she could only hope that her successor would find the knowledge she had.

Micah, Loki, Mark and Kit watched as the books, boxes and chests in the room before them appeared to dematerialise, slowly fading and then vanishing silently. The room was filled with an ethereal glow as the contents vanished.

The magic-filled air seemed to compress, pushing against the boys almost painfully, making it difficult for them to breathe for a few moments before the rubble started to scrape and bang on the floor, gathering itself together and reforming into shape, bricks and slabs began to fill in the hole in the wall, the cracks and gaps sealing themselves seamlessly. Finally, the magic left the air just as suddenly as it started.

**********

Almost a week later, Ash finally got a chance to look at the books from that strange room in the cellars. When she had moved them, she had sent them to her office, well, the room next to Micah’s office; it had been a spare office that any of the ranked pack members could use, but since the invasion of the books, no one wanted to go in.

Micah had gone to great lengths to keep Ash away from the room. He avoided his office even and stuck to her side like glue until Ash, frustrated with his fussing, finally sent him away in no uncertain terms.

The smell of old books and the feel of magic were heavy in the air as Ash pushed the door of the office open, Micah at her back “you don’t have to do this, you know… you aren’t even of age yet… under other circumstances, you wouldn’t even be here” he was telling her, a final attempt at keeping her away from the strange power that took her from him before.

Ash gave a small laugh, “And here I was thinking you had been desperately searching for me for years and were delighted to have me... are you trying to get rid of me now?”

Micah stuttered slightly, unsure how he dug himself into this hole or how to get out of it, “well, I didn’t mean... of course, I want you here... it’s just...”

“Hush, stop being such an overprotective wolf; it’s fine; I know what I’m doing”, Ash replied exasperatedly, a hand on his chest to calm him.

She slowly stepped over the threshold, looking around the room with wide eyes, the books had unpacked themselves onto shelves that Ash was quite sure were not there before, and she was positive the chair behind the desk was not so inviting before either.

The computer had been pushed to the edge of the desk, and the centre was now filled with a large, blank writing pad. Ash took a deep breath, tugging a reluctant Micah over the threshold into her new space.