“Do what you did before,” Fatiha said, leading us up.

I paused, though, hand on the wall. “Why do I need to go to the roof to do it?”

She blinked, then nodded. “You can do it from here?”

“More than likely.” I glanced over at Ebrill, who was eyeing me with interest. The words I was about to say could be taken wrong, but I was starting to feel comfortable enough around her that I didn’t have a problem telling her what I was thinking. “Before, when you were close, my powers seemed to surge. Especially when you kissed my cheek.”

“You want me to kiss your cheek before you start?” Ebrill smirked. “I can do that.”

With a purse of my lips, I shook my head. “Maybe we should head back to the room.”

“Jericho!” Fatiha chided, folding her arms. “We’re under attack, I hope you aren’t using this as an opportunity to… well, you know.”

I shook my head, all business. “As dumb as it sounds… I felt a difference.”

“Maybe because of my magical past,” Ebrill offered. She was already walking with me, taking my hand in the process to pull me along. The energy soared, and I gave Fatiha a look of excitement. To my surprise, she appeared bothered. Jealous?

Whatever it was, the moment passed, and she called after us, “I’ll just be… hoping it all works out okay. From the… where should I go?”

“With us,” I said over my shoulder.

Ebrill stopped and turned to me. “Wait, you really are serious. Because I’m pretty sure her being in the room will keep us… at least partially decent.”

I nodded, then started walking again as Fatiha caught up. As much as I would have loved to continue what Ebrill and I had started, this was clearly not the time. That said, her little assumption that we couldn’t do much with Fatiha in the room made my mind wander… and fill with images of the two of us fucking like rabbits while the older woman watched. Fatiha wasn’t so old, anyway. Much older than me, sure, but even with her silver hair, I could easily see her hanging out with my mom, sipping wine and being all proper. If my mom had been into that sort of thing, anyway.

Still, I glanced over at Fatiha and the thought of it gave me the tingles. She was beautiful, in an older, elegant way. When she saw me looking, her eyes narrowed—not in a frown, but in a playful, curious way.

Explosions from outside, along with the walls shaking, reminded me why this wasn’t the time for such thoughts.

I turned back to the door, which we had reached, and held it open for the ladies. As soon as we were in, swirling darkness visible outside the window, Ebrill wasted no time wrapping her arms around me.

“Would it help if she tried, too?” Ebrill asked, glancing over at Fatiha, who had been about to sit but froze mid-way.

My mind instantly went to thoughts of this being a trap, but when she motioned Fatiha over and the older woman didn’t fight it, instead embracing me from the opposite side of Ebrill, I blinked, caught off guard by this.

“It’s imperative you find that Liahona,” Fatiha said, her mouth next to my ear. “You’ll need it to wake Kordelia, and I don’t think this house can take much more.”

Ebrill seemed less certain, but said, “Fight them off, make sure we’re safe, then… we try.” She led me to the bed. “Go to the dream, do whatever you can—I think that’s the answer.”

With a nod, I laid back, closed my eyes, and focused.

One might think two women lying in bed with their hands on my chest, one moving slowly toward my abs, would be distracting. Instead, this was what somehow fueled my power, unleashing floodgates of energy that I pushed into my transmutation magic.

As I started to merge with the house, one of their hands moved south, causing a jolt of energy to run through me.

Again, I was the house.

Not sure why this intimate act amped up my power, but fully embracing it, I let my consciousness loose to run through the house freely. The attack was indeed at the next level, confirming what Fatiha had said. If we didn’t end this soon, we could be in serious trouble. As witches and demons attacked the house with spells and some dug in, searching for other ways, something long and monstrous moved in the darkness, surrounding the house like a serpent of the night.

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While they weren’t in, I wasn’t sure what my options were until the dark form moved to the front, about to attack. It hesitated, giving me what I needed to understand. The shisa statues out front gave off an interesting energy, so I moved into them to see what could be done.

As I hoped, the shisa both came alive, breaking free as Ebrill had, to reveal two dragon-like lions. Not large, but formidable. Their strength radiated off them, the hidden power of protectors pushing them to charge for the shape in the darkness.

They connected, throwing themselves at the beast so that it convulsed and surged back at them, wrapping around and revealing itself to be a serpent like a Chinese dragon, green bursts of energy shooting out of it like lightning bolts. The shisa moved fast to dodge and attack as I did what I could to contain the serpent with roots and flying rocks.

Others amongst the enemy realized what was happening and moved in to join the fight, while a side group managed to get past the wards and into a back entrance of the house. I brought down part of the first floor to crush them, quickly replacing it as the house rumbled. Two managed to push themselves free, red auras glowing and seemingly unharmed.

They shouted threats, but already I had the shisa charging away from the serpent, using my power to raise the ground as barricades to keep it out while the shisa dealt with those already in.

If the shisa could come to life, why not more? Thinking outside the box, I focused on the floors and walls, feeling them morph into humanoid forms that met my enemy in battle. With each push of my power, surges like electricity charged through me to let me know I was getting stronger, better.

Another level increase was coming soon, I could sense it. Two demons met my floor golems in battle. While I took down one by smashing it to blood and pulp, the second demon hit my golems with a fist of vibrating red energy that caused them to shatter at its touch. It seemed to look at me, and I felt its presence inside me, pulsating as if that red energy were going to rip me to shreds.

I pushed back, reaching deeper within and working to bring whatever I could rally in my arsenal to destroy him. The shisa was there, tearing through his leg and then dodging again as the serpent nearly got it, and then I had my focus back. With a surge of energy, I brought wire from the wall, vaguely aware of electricity going off in certain rooms while I zapped the jerk and pulled him into the wall, closing it back up.

More figures appeared, some that I was able to pull into the walls. Others were too strong though, and used their magic to push back and resist. Rumbling sounded, then shaking.

“It’s not enough,” a voice said, and suddenly I was pulled from my focus, back to the room where I lay with them, both now propping themselves up.

I saw why, too. Lines formed in the walls, splitting, some even showing hints of magic cracking through. As much as I was achieving, the outside forces were too much for me.

“Leave me in there, I can—”

“No,” Fatiha said, already moving for the door. “We get to the panic room, hold in there. More than anything, we’ll need the Liahona.”

Ebrill joined me, my hand on her lower back, guiding her, as we followed Fatiha through the door. I wasn’t as sure as the older woman and Ebrill looked skeptical, but I hadn’t been doing this long, so I didn’t really know. Ebrill had been out of commission for so long that listening to Fatiha seemed the best move.

As we moved through the hall, though, listening to the rumbling throughout the building and a new roaring from outside, Ebrill whispered, “It’s not going to hold,” and then she shouted for Kordelia as part of a nearby wall crumbled in.

Two lanky red demons with long claws and horns charged in. Ebrill felled the first with a flash of claws. I hit the second with a “Hurtio” stunning spell, then an icy fist thanks to my elemental strike. Apparently, I had left the metal from the fence in the room, but it was too late to get it, now. She finished off the bastard, hitting it where my ice had frozen its jaw so that the demon’s head shattered. My level went up again. I quickly adjusted the attributes with the points available, even though I knew this was all somewhat arbitrary, considering it was essentially my transmutational magic giving me a way to regulate my power advancement. When I was done, it read:

Level 2 Witch MAGE

Statistics

Strength: 6

Defense: 6

Speed: 6

Luck: 7

Charisma: 6

Mana: 320

Current Spells

Passive: Situational Alchemy, AKA “Transmutation”

Active: Ddiogelu (protection ward), Elfenol Streic (elemental strike), Tarian (defense boost), Hurtio (stun).

“Keep using those spells every chance you get,” Ebrill said, and I nodded as I cast the “Tarian” defensive boost on all of us.

“Quickly,” Fatiha shouted, and we charged after her.

More rumbling, and the dark form of the serpent crashed through part of the house, cutting off the hall as the walls collapsed and some of the floor gave out. Fatiha turned toward us, eyes wide, when more of the ceiling fell between us.

I jumped back, grabbing Ebrill and pulling her close. For a moment, the house continued to shake. We turned toward the door to our left and took a step, when it opened to reveal Steph.

“Stay back,” I said, hand out, ready to cast a stun spell her way.

Steph stood there, lifted a hand, and her death knights appeared behind her—three of them, at least, that we could see.

“Wait.” Ebrill leaped forward, hands on Steph’s head. For a moment, I thought she was going to suck the life out of my ex. Instead, a darkness floated away like smoke, leaving Steph without the death knights, confusion in her eyes… and then tears.

“Oh, no,” Steph said. “No, no, no…”

“Steph?”

She turned to me, hands on Ebrill’s, guiding them down. “It’s me. The real me, this time.”