Goddess Unravelled

Just a Taste

Maya was practicing magic again, and Alice found Azura and Shakra attempting to show her how to enchant one of the love potions. The water in the vial turned pink, and Maya’s face nearly lit up the same shade.

“I did it!”

“Wow,” Alice leaned one shoulder against the doorway, feeling a stab of jealously. “You’re learning faster than I ever did.” It had only been two weeks, and already Maya was learning complicated love potions. Had Alice just been a slow learner?

“She has two teachers hovering over her,” Azura straightened up and smiled at her. “And you had one teacher and a deranged greek god set on destroying you while you learned magic.”

Alice grinned at her. “Ah, piece of cake.” She turned back to the break room, calling over her shoulder. “Speaking of cake, I’m getting a muffin from the back, anyone want anything?”

“No thanks,” Gabriel leaned both elbows against the desk. “Just make sure you don’t have the blueberry ones. The café we got those from is kind of shady.”

“What’s wrong with the blueberry muffins?”

“They’re not blueberries.”

Alice didn’t get a chance to ask him exactly what they were, because a couple of customers came in and started asking him about reversing the spell on a head-warming hat to make it cool instead.

She retreated to the back and carefully picked a bran muffin out of the box, not looking closely at the other muffins. Maybe it was time to move the shop again, there was a serious lack of decent bakeries in the area, even if it was chock full of magical trinket markets.

She heard the customers leave, apparently satisfied with their new hat. Azura and Shakra were now teaching Maya how to do a stronger love potion.

“Weave the blue and red together,” Azura was saying. “Make sure it’s a double braid and it’s tight. If it comes unraveled the entire spell will wear off.”

Alice smiled slightly, tipping the office chair back so she could look at the neon threads floating just out of reach. She remembered the first time she’d ever touched them, the electric thrill it had sent through her limbs, the tingling shock of contact with the magic. It had been a rush. The sudden knowledge that she could do something that others couldn’t.

Of course, now it was obvious that she wasn’t the only one who could touch magic. Maya was learning every bit as fast as Alice had, faster even. She was a little jealous that she hadn’t had Shakra to teach her as well. The woman had still been in tiger form at that point.

Of course, Maya was a fast learner, and eventually she’d be a powerful witch herself, but there was one thing she couldn’t do. Probably never would…

Alice called down one of the threads, a long light blue strand. She let it drift over her palm, feeling the faint tingle as the magic touched her skin. She could still feel that still small spot in her mind. The barrier that kept the magic out.

It brought a tangled rush of emotion back, just thinking about it. Bad memories. Memories of Ambrose forcing her to take the magic in to save Maya, who she’d been sure was dead. Memories of his hands gripping hers as he’d drained the magic out of her.

But before that, before he’d taken the magic out of her, that had felt good, hadn’t it? She couldn’t remember the exact feeling, but it had been something like she felt now. The warm sensation of the thread on her palm, only it had been inside her. And the one time she’d opened herself up completely to the magic, she had beat Athena and saved her and her friends. It wasn’t so bad. Plus, there had been a few minutes there when she had seen something bigger than herself.