Page 7 of Magpies & Mayhem
Elara just shrugged, completely ignoring my internal freak out. “Call Levi. He’s already on his way, but it will save time if he calls Jordan while he’s headed here.”
I frowned at the top of her head and pulled out my phone to call her husband. I hated using this thing, but unfortunately, calling stones didn’t work in the Void.
Jordan sat perched on the crate across from me with his hands stuffed down in the puffed stones the eggs were packed in. I could see nothing but the blank black visor of a full helmet and a head-to-toe uniform of jet-black leather. He kept a scarf made of stiff material draped over the helmet like a hood. He looked like some kind of futuristic motorcycle rider. He was just sitting there, doing what we’d asked by warming the eggs, and his uniform didn’t allow me to see his reaction to anything at all. It irritated me, and I desperately wanted tomesswith him.
“I think there’s seven,” Elara said beside me. I glanced over to find her staring into the crate with us. “I don’t think they’re all alive though.” I heard the reluctance in her voice, and I hated that I’d had to drag her along to this. She had a tender heart. As for myself, I wasangry.
“What do you feel?” I asked. Elara’s magical abilities never ceased to amaze me.
“The eggs themselves have some kind of magic to them,” she answered, hovering a hand over one that was exposed at the surface, and then another. “I think the shells actually emit some magic, though it’s pretty weak. That’s why a few are still alive. This one has very little magic. She moved her hand to hover over another exposed egg. “While this one has much more.”
“Did you guys know there’s banging coming from a closet back here?” Levi’s voice came from the other side of the room. The enchantment on his voice tugged at my emotions, trying to pull me into a dazed stupor, but I blinked through it.
“Yeah, that was me. Don’t move that chair,” I hollered back. “So, you think the ones with less magic are dead, but the shell still has some residual magic?” I asked Elara. She was frozen, clearly still stuck on the noises from the closet. “I didn’t want to risk them hurting you when you arrived, so I… put them over there.” I waved in their direction.
She blinked at me a few more times and answered slowly. “Yes, I think that’s correct. There’s only two or three with larger amounts of magic, but it’s hard to tell because they’re all clumped together in there and I can’t see them. I could also be totally wrong about all this, but I don’t think I am. When you were chirping at them earlier, I felt the magic in one of them increase more than the others. I don’t know why that would be though.”
Birds and reptiles both sometimes responded to their parent’s sounds through their shells before they hatched. I chirped again at the eggs, cognizant of Jordan’s stare through his featureless helmet and doing my best to ignore him. Elara nodded to show it was having some effect, so I focused on my animal magic and shared what I could with them. “That’s helping,” she said. “Whatever you’re doing with your magic right now, all three of the stronger ones just increased.”
“The door is rattling!” Levi’s voice carried over the room, carrying a slight emotional rebuff with his enchantment. The dude’s nerves must have been getting his undies in a twist. I jumped down and stalked over to the closet where I’d left the men earlier, finding Levi with his arms crossed as he stared at the door.
“One of the eggs just lost a lot of magic, Sidney,” Elara called as I walked away.
This is like juggling crystal goblets.
I shoved the chair more firmly under the doorknob with my foot. “Just hit them if they get out,” I told Levi, trying to hand him my gun.
“I’m not touching that,” he said, eyeing it.
I mentally rolled my eyes and stuffed the gun back into my pants, jogging back over to the eggs. Elara was trying to lift one out of the crate, but she was so little she couldn’t get any leverage on it from where she stood. “I’ve got it.” I jumped back onto the ledge. The stones in the crate were nicely warmed, just above body temperature from what I could feel. I was impressed with Jordan’s temperature control, though I’d never admit it. I put my hands on the egg Elara seemed most worried about and released a little more of my energy. There was a strange echo in my magic as I did, almost reverberating through me. My skin felt hot and itchy for a few seconds and my magic twinged oddly.
“Better,” she commented, nodding approvingly. I shook off the odd feeling and tried not to preen.
“My team should be here any minute.” Jordan’s voice sounded a little muffled through the helmet. “I heard the call come through when Boundlands Enforcement’s Void division redirected Elara’s call.” His head tipped in Levi’s direction. “Should I get rid of those guys back there?”
“Nah. I didn’t hurt them too much and they’ll probably be too embarrassed to admit a girl did it.” These types of guys never liked to admit to being strong-armed into a closet by a girl obviously smaller than them.
When his team of four others did arrive, Jordan did most of the talking and took the blame for the men I’d corralled, which was weirdly kind. None of his team seemed too worried about it. All but one were dressed in the same black leather uniforms and deep hood with a helmet underneath. They made quick work of dismantling the crate and setting all seven eggs—Elara was right—in a heated incubator the size of a table.
Elara stiffened as they wheeled it away. “No! No, that isn’t going to work.” She addressed the woman pushing the incubator firmly but blushed under the weight of everyone’s stares as they all turned to look at her. “There’s an egg,there,”—she pointed at a place she obviously had no clear visual of, but I knew she could feel—“that suffers somehow every time it’s removed from Sidney’s presence.” She gestured at me.
No one spoke, but the other two wearing helmets turned to look at the lady pushing the incubator, and she raised her eyebrows.
Elara wasn’t going to let it go. “I can feel its magic,” she insisted, “and when Sidney walks away, or when you started to take it, the magic lessens.” It was really adorable how much fight she had in her whenever anyone else’s well-being was at stake. Even more adorable? The way Levi stood behind his tiny wife, towering over her by head and shoulders, his glare daring everyone in the room to question her. I couldburstat their cuteness, but I needed to focus here.
I cleared my throat to take some of the social pressure off my friend. “I’m a shifter,” I said to the group, “with some animal mage abilities. I loaned them some energy, but they still seem very weak. Maybe that one is closer to the brink than the others.” The other two living ones, at least, if Elara was correct.
The group exchanged glances again, seeming unsure what to do about the situation. “Why not let her ride along to the rescue center?” Jordan asked, sounding tired.
I frowned at him. “And what, live there?” How was that supposed to work long term? “I have all the necessary brooding equipment at home. I could just bring it home with me.” Assuming my incubator was large enough to hold the thing. I used it to help rehabilitate abandoned bird eggs in the Boundlands sometimes as a hobby, but it should be big enough to fitonedragon egg.
The lady with the incubator scoffed. “Our permits don’t allow for—”
I cut her off. “I’m ashifter,” I repeated. “We have special rights regarding protected species.” Not to mention, I’d been working in animal rehabilitation since I was a pre-teen. “I can get you whatever paperwork you need.”
And that’s how I ended up with a dragon egg living on my kitchen counter.I never did find those ceremonial daggers…
Chapter 5
