This thing was a colorful killing machine, and I didn’t know whether to scream or to marvel at its beautiful scales and plumes.
“Ah, there he is,” Alton exclaimed, grinning with excitement.
“Normally, people scream when they see a giant snake,” I retorted. “You, on the other hand, sound like you’ve just found your favorite toy!”
Alton chuckled. “I’ll be honest, this guy here is definitely one of my favorites.”
“Good to know you have… favorites,” I mumbled, then shifted my focus back to the giant serpent. Its big, turquoise eyes were fixed on me in a way that gave me goosebumps.
“His name is Quetzalcoatl, but we call him Quetzi, for short,” Tobe explained. “He’s one of the oldest monsters to ever be Purged and was once worshipped by the Aztecs. He has some abilities of his own, like all the large creatures in this Bestiary, but he’s contained in this glass box.”
“Abilities? Like a magical?” I asked, cocking my head to the side. Quetzi mirrored my gesture, and I wasn’t sure whether that was cute or creepy.
“Well, yes. He’s said to have been Purged by a powerful Aztec warlock, but we were never able to pinpoint his origins,” Alton said. “Nevertheless, Quetzi here can influence the weather. Rain, sun, hail, winds, and everything in between. He’s quite adept at creating natural disasters. And he is incredibly powerful. He was also known to use mist to confuse his prey.”
“His prey,” I repeated, waiting for someone to tell me what kind of prey they were referring to.
“Humans. He eats humans.” Tobe nodded, confirming my worst nightmare.
I shuddered, then glanced around at the place. From that angle, I could see the stem that Alton had mentioned. It was a superb brass construction, much like a spine to which thousands of cables were attached, each connected to a glass box. A soft white light glimmered inside, bursting through every hole and joint. I counted over twenty levels of glass boxes, interconnected by various sets of stairs.
“The Bestiary is given to a coven to look after, over the course of a century,” Alton said. “Tobe moves around with it and, as of January this year, the San Diego Coven was elected to take over. It came as a surprise to everyone, really, given how young and relatively Mediocre this place is, as far as its magicals are concerned. But the selection process was random, and, although we could have conceded, I wanted us to prove that we could keep it safe. Tobe looks after the monsters, and we look after Tobe, in a way.”
Alton and Tobe walked farther down the aisle, and I followed, catching glimpses of scaly heads and beady eyes staring at me from large glass boxes on both sides. We reached a massive glass enclosure, where large, dark gray shapes fluttered frenetically, like overgrown bats. Chunks of limestone lined the back of the enclosure, while the creatures gathered around the small pond in the middle, sitting still long enough for me to realize that they were all gargoyles.
“The creature you and Wade encountered the other night is in here,” Alton said, nodding toward the enclosure. The beasts with bat wings, horns, and ghoulish faces scowled at me before they all growled and exploded into puffs of black smoke that then scattered around aimlessly.
“They are restless,” Tobe murmured, watching them with what came across as concern.
I couldn’t feel him like the others, as an Empath, and that was probably because Tobe wasn’t human, or fully magical. I could sense his emotions—but not mirrored through me. They came across more like distant thoughts, faded memories. Concern, affection, wariness… it was all there, and genuine.
It was a very different experience for me, one that I honestly appreciated. Feeling others’ emotions the way I did could be exhausting, and I’d been surrounded by curious and suspicious magicals for the past couple of hours. Tobe’s diluted emotions were a welcome respite.
“But they’re locked away now. They shouldn’t be able to get out anymore. Guards are on, twenty-four seven,” Alton replied. “They may not succeed in killing or capturing the beasts right away, but they can at least alert Tobe and the coven, so we can take the necessary precautions. This is what I meant when I said there are a lot of eyes on us now, Harley. With the Bestiary in our hands, the Mage Council keeps us under a magnifying glass. We can’t afford any mistakes, and we seem to have made a few already.”
“We’ll discuss this further in the Main Assembly Hall, with the others,” Tobe added, then looked at me. “Is that your Esprit?”
He pointed a feathered finger at the small, golden medallion around my neck. It was the only piece of jewelry I wore on a regular basis, a gift from the Smiths. They gave it to me when I graduated high school, and I was extremely fond of it. Not only was it the first gift I’d ever gotten from a foster parent, it was also a beautifully crafted depiction of Saint Christopher. I wasn’t the religious type, but I liked his story as a protector of travelers.
“This? No, I don’t think so,” I said, lifting the medallion up with two fingers. “It’s Saint Christopher, patron saint of—”
“Travelers.” Alton smiled gently, looking at it. “It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, my last foster parents gave it to me,” I replied. “I’ve always wanted to travel and see the world, at some point. They felt like Saint Christopher would be a good companion.”
“They sound like nice people,” Tobe said. “But it’s not your Esprit…”
“She hasn’t found her Esprit yet.” Alton shook his head, giving me a reassuring smile. “She will, sooner or later. I’m sure of it.”
Tobe stared at me for a while, narrowing his amber eyes, while I listened to the variety of noises coming out from the glass boxes around us. He then exhaled, and nodded, as if having made his assessment of me.
“You’re an orphan,” he concluded, prompting me to look at Alton, who shrugged in return.
“I didn’t tell him anything about you,” Alton replied.
“How did you know, then?” I asked Tobe, narrowing my eyes at him.
“I can read people. It’s my gift. And it’s written all over your face. The longing, the sadness, the desire to belong. That, and the fact that you said your foster parents gave you that medallion,” Tobe replied with a smirk.
“Ah, dammit,” I groaned. “Sorry, I just had one of those ‘duh!’ moments.”
My brain wasn’t operating at full capacity anymore. It was overloaded with new information, and more questions popped up with every step I took, making it more and more difficult to concentrate. Basic details were starting to escape me.
“But you are different.” Tobe smiled. “I mean that in a good way.”
“In a good way, eh?” I said.
“You remind me of someone I once knew,” Tobe continued. “It’s in the way your eyes glimmer when you look at these monsters. And in the amount of power soaring through you. It’s rare.”
“What power? I was just classified as a Mediocre,” I replied.
Tobe frowned, then stared at Alton in disbelief. “How can that be?” he asked.
“Adley tested her. It was clear,” Alton said. “Harley is Mediocre. But, as I’ve said, it doesn’t make her useless.”
“I find those results hard to believe,” Tobe replied, shaking his head, then shifting his focus back to me. I was still as skeptical and confused as before, but I couldn’t ignore the sliver of hope that Tobe’s disbelief had given me—that maybe there was more to me than so-called magical mediocrity. After all, nobody wants to go through life labeled a Mediocre.
“Adley wants to do another Reading later on, anyway,” Alton said. “We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, however, Harley has been classified as a Mediocre and will be treated as such.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, crossing my arms. I couldn’t help but feel a little insulted.
“Limited access to magical knowledge. You’ll learn about spells, but you won’t be taught how to perform the powerful stuff. We don’t want to risk getting you or others killed by mistake. Mediocrity doesn’t mean literal weakness, but rather an inability to perform stronger spells without losing control over them,” Alton replied, pressing his lips into a thin line.
I had to admit, there was a certain disharmony looming over their heads, as I looked at them. On one hand, the coven seemed nuts about its rules and regulations, and yet they couldn’t keep their Bestiary under control. One gargoyle alone could have killed a lot of people before getting captured again. I didn’t even want to think what would happen if more of them got out.
At the same time, they were worried about me accidentally hurting or killing someone if I tried using a spell that was well above my Mediocre level. But it wasn’t like I knew any spells, and I doubted I’d get to the big stuff within a month’s time, anyway.
At first glance, the San Diego Coven came across as a bit of a bureaucratic nightmare, with very little of the mystical charm I’d expected to see in a place like this. Lots of rules and locks on glass boxes, sure—but not enough control over its most dangerous corners.
Despite the contradictions, I couldn’t ignore my interest in this place. Even if it was just for a month, I was becoming more and more determined to make the most of my time here.
Soak it all up like the redheaded sponge that you are.
“Come, Tobe, it’s time we go to the Main Assembly Hall,” Alton said, and walked past me toward the exit at the far end of the aisle.
Tobe nodded and followed, and I stayed close behind him, once again marveling at his size and hybrid features. Any other person would’ve probably screamed and fainted by now, but there was something about Tobe that I found oddly comforting. It felt as though I was in the presence of an old friend.
“What do you want me to do, then?” I asked.
“You should attend as well,” Alton replied, without turning to look at me. “You’re a part of the coven, even if it’s only for a trial period.”