Quinn dropped the stone on the table with a heavy thunk. “Do it.”
“It’ll still be fifteen pieces of silver…”
“I know,” Quinn snapped. It was expensive and would drain most of the small sum she’d saved, but she was at the end of her wits. If she couldn’t keep her magic under control it was only a matter of time until another accident happened, and she couldn’t afford one of those or there would be a noose around her neck before the week was out.
Quinn counted out the fifteen pieces requested, and not a copper more. Jada swept them from the table into a leather pouch and set to work. Her spindly fingers grasped for some herbs that she ground into a fine powder. Quinn stood off to the side, arms crossed and expression pinched as she listened to the bustling market beyond.
“Blood,” Jada said. Quinn pulled the knife she kept sheathed under her oversized burlap shirt and came to stand over the onyx bowl of dark sludge. The slice of the razor edge pressing into her skin only briefly registered before red droplets fell into the waiting solution. The moment it touched the mixture, it molded into a semi-clear fluid, growing more translucent with each passing moment. Quinn pulled away, wiping her bloodied knife on her pant leg before stowing it as Jada murmured an incantation in a foreign tongue under her breath and dipped the black opal thrice.
The lacquer hardened and then broke away, leaving the veins of color glowing.
She held it out and Quinn took the amulet back, frowning slightly when the usual blissful silence of magic didn’t immediately fall over her.
“You did it?” she asked.
“I did,” Jada answered, more tepid than usual. “But I can tell by your face it was not the results you were hoping for.” She went about dumping the odd concoction into an unmarked jar and seated herself again before Quinn. “You’re coming into your full power, and soon even this spell will do nothing for you.”
“How long?” Quinn said quietly. “How long do I have?”
“It’s hard to say,” Jada murmured. “But at this rate I wouldn’t bother coming back to me again. You’re going to have to learn how to control your powers and the”—she paused, a twinge of sympathy in her expression as she said—“side effects.”
Quinn pressed her lips together and looked away as she slipped the string around her neck and stuffed the amulet down her shirt. The black opal sat snuggly between her small breasts, cool against her skin, and not nearly as oppressive as it should have been.
“Thank you,” Quinn whispered. “It may not save me from the gallows…” She swallowed and looked to the top of the tent. “But you’ve bought me time these last few months.” She didn’t look back at Jada as she departed, not wanting to see the pity in her eyes. Quinn simply lowered her head and swept out her arm, stepping through the gap. The flap fell shut behind her and she was alone once more in a crowd of people.
The sun sat high in the sky, its fever bearing down on the bustling marketplace. Fresh flowers wilted in the scorching heat of Dumas as a mirage danced on the horizon. Quinn pulled her gaze away from the enticing illusion and turned down the nearest alley. Her worn boots were near silent as she stuck to the shadows, but not all was quiet.
The sharp sound of a whip meeting flesh rang in her ears like an echo from the past.
Quinn stopped in her tracks. Her hands limp at her sides as she blankly stared straight ahead. A second crack split the air, and Quinn shuddered.
A woman screamed. A baby began bawling. All the while the muffled grunts of a man and harsh bite of the whip flooded Quinn’s senses.
Her hands balled at her sides as she tried to resist the call. Tried to defy the compulsion.
Tried to do something—anything—other than what she knew she could not resist.
Without realizing that her choice was already made, Quinn turned on her heel and began tearing through the marketplace, following the sounds of disparity. Another wayward wind slammed into her, blowing the long strands away from her face. Her teeth grazed her bottom lip, biting down when the sound of the whip rang out again. The scent of copper and tang of metal in her mouth made Quinn pause before the courtyard. She reached up and pressed a finger to