Stronger Together chapter 82 (Patreon)

We had Kara go get the wizards so they could come tell us what the  hell to do with these poor thralls. River tagged along and between him  and Joe we figured there was a solid chance of them being able to help  somehow. Luckily these weren't turned vampires or even Renfields. Joe  explained to us these were "Rough thralls" who had been ordered to go  berserk. Normally thralls like this were only compliant and stood there  dully but this was a bit deeper. They could still be cured unlike the  Renfields, but it would take some time to treat them, which we all  assumed was the point.

Harry  was furious when we told him what happened, and only Ebenezar's sharp  command stopped him from heading back to Chicago right away. The old  scot looked sadly at his unknowing grandson as he stood strained taught  as a steel cable "I know how you feel Hoss, I do. That's your home, and  you need to defend it. But this thing is getting stronger day by day. If  the Skinwalker eats that spirit whatever the vampires are doing in  Chicago is gonna look like a pleasant memory. We need to focus and  prioritize. This sounds like a long term project, chances are this Black  Court bastard just wants you to come back and muck it up a bit so he  can take over and finish up himself."

Harry  growled in fury, but didn't move an inch I saw every muscle in his body  tense, then relax, in rapid succession as if he was being physically  restrained my his masters command. Finally though his shoulders slumped  "I know. I get that. It just goes against everything in me to let those  corpses run loose in my city with innocent people. I'll start looking  into it when we get back, for now we need to focus on getting ready for  the eighteenth and the fight with the Skinwalker. I've been working on  some potions that might help and I brought a few trinkets we might be  able to use." He glanced at us "I'll work with you all on potions a bit  if you get the shielding mastered in time."

I  couldn't help the thrill of excitement that ran through me when I heard  that. Dresden magic was for all intents and purposes fairly structured  and restricted by level. You needed strong control and deep wells of  knowledge to manage anything really impressive by wizard standards.  Potions were the sole exception there. Potions mainly depended on  improvisation and imagination, access to powerful ingredients and  magical strength were still important but they were secondary to the  depths of your creativity and what you could come up with. I could see  myself really shining with potions and had to fight down fantasies of  going into battle with amazing mixtures that made castles grow or stars  fall from the sky.

I  cleared my throat and shook my head to rid myself of my daydreams but I  saw Harry smirking at me and figured he probably guessed where my mind  was at. The older wizards were more circumspect about it but they all  had knowing looks in their eyes as I finally responded. "Can do boss,  I'm working on shielding as best as I can and I can't wait to show you  all my progress when I'm done." Which was true. Harry and Ebenezar had  been right, because magic was mental and emotional more than physical,  that old saw about needing a break sometimes was even more true. With  some time to rest my mind and enjoy myself, not only had my Aura  regenerated faster but I'd made connections mentally that I thought  would really help with my defense magic.

Magic,  though it could be taught, was deeply personal and individualized. My  shield wouldn't necessarily be like Harry's or Ebenezars. It would most  likely be a solid wall true, but structure, energy drain, shape, even  something as insignificant as color would all be in tune with me rather  than with a specific formula. That was part of why only senior wizards  usually took apprentices, the balance of teaching them the concepts and  energy manipulation with making sure they could express themselves  properly and realize their potential was too delicate for amateurs.

A more personalized shield could mean the difference between life or  death, even just a different color could give you a deeper emotional  connection to the magic. Granted seeing your teachers do one thing  usually predisposed you to that style, but there was still plenty of  individuality to be had. I was honestly lucky to have the senior council  members here to teach me. Especially Ebenezar since the journals I knew  he had contained training stories back to the time of Merlin. I was  taking a master class from some of the best in the world, and I was  doing my best to make damn sure I soaked up every drop of knowledge.

Finally  our town car came back, I'd called it when Kara left to get the others.  I had it meet us on the other side of the restaurant so they wouldn't  notice the crowd of subdued thralls. We all piled into the back seat and  slumped down. That had been a lot of waiting for very little pay off,  which was its own sort of exhausting. I looked at the girls, confident  in the divider to keep the sound of our conversation back here and the  radio I could hear playing to drown out any it didn't. I looked at Barb  first "So what do you make of all this? I know it was an obvious  distraction but should we call and warn the girls? They might be in  danger."

She  shook her head "No need. They didn't know enough about us to worry  vampire Mick when he cornered us, which implies all their knowledge of  us comes from our interactions with Harry, and not even all of those.  I'd guess they had a basic tail on him and this Mavra lady sent them  with us to Aspen to go that other vampire out of her hair. He was a cagy  bastard and might have gleaned some facts about our powers, but I'm  guessing he'll keep it close to the vest. Assholes like that always keep  something in reserve for their sudden but inevitable betrayals. Kara  can warn them next time she goes to visit Inari to keep an eye out but I  doubt it'll be a problem. The only time Harry has even been to our  house he was with River, so they wouldn't have been able to follow."

I  exhaled in relief, looking to Kara who nodded her own assent, giving me  a reassuring smile "Of course I will. None of us were able to detect  these things but using magic to hide from Raven in the dark is  ridiculous. They should be fine with her around, even I wouldn't want to  mess with Raven." She gave a sad smile "Besides running messages is the  least I can do since I've been so damn useless here. I know I'm our  secret weapon but I cant help but chafe sitting around all the time. I'm  just lucky I fly too fast to be picked up on radar or cameras and that  mortals pretty much dominate the skies here."

I'd  never considered that before but she wasn't wrong. I hadn't heard of  any real flying races or threats in Dresden. Before I could think on  that any more the town car pulled up to the hotel. We all got out and  headed back to our rooms but I sent Barb ahead, nodding to Cinder. She  smiled and waved me on grabbing Kara to drag her away. The blonde  kryptonian could hear us from space but I appreciated the sentiment. I  slipped over to where Cinder was and offered her my arm. "Penny for your  thoughts?" She hadn't spoken up at all in the car and even now was  staring off into the still falling night.

She  smiled wanly and took my arm. "That particular expression is a bit  different where I'm from. Which I suppose in a way is what has me so  distracted." I raised an eyebrow without interrupting, giving her time  to continue, she smiled a bit more genuinely and chose to keep going "I  didn't have friends back in my world. I had associates, some even loyal.  But I had no friends. I didn't feel like I needed them. But now,  feeling my connection to you, or to Sam or even to the other girls, I  look back on my time there and feel...ashamed. Of how I treated my  companions. Emerald mostly, though I even feel a bit bad about how I  acted towards Mercury. It's like being around you has fundamentally  shifted my nature. I still only care about myself, but people like you  and Emerald are like an extension of me."

I  chuckled a bit at that and gave her a reassuring smile "Despite what  the girls may think that's pretty normal. Most people put their own  loved ones before others. Kara, Barb, and Raven are special, Yang too to  an extent but not like those three. They're the real deal, and you  can't hold yourself to their standard. If you feel guilty then maybe you  should, not much you can do to change it except be better in the  future. Treat Sam differently than Emerald. It's easy to second guess  what we've done in the past but the fact is you and I have the  opportunity to get something almost no one does. A fresh start. You're  on a new world with new people. You can be a new person, or the old one  if you still like her, just be who you want to be."

She  laughed mirthlessly "You make that sound so easy. In some ways it even  is, and I think that's the problem. I was someone strong before, someone  to be feared. Now I want to change so quickly, I know that it's all  part of our connection, but I don't really care. I like the person I'm  becoming, and it doesn't really matter to me why I like it. I was never  happy before, I was always hungry for more. I feel like I could be happy  here though, and I don't want to let that go. Feeling that kind of  disconnect, between what I feel and what I think is... difficult."

It  was easy to see her point and I made sure the understanding showed on  her face. "That's not just you. I should be furious about what you did,  about the role you had in those sacrifices, but I'm now. The other girls  are giving you a chance when I wouldn't have expected them to, though  that may just be for my benefit. The point is I've done plenty of  thinking about brain altering effects. In the end I decided I just don't  care. Hormones, trauma, drugs, conversation, even our own eyes. Every  one of these things changes us every day, makes us a little different.  Human beings are a record, a canvas on which the experiences we go  through are kept. Brainwashing? Mind control? Every conversation and  sight we see is both of those in a way."

Her  face screwed up in thought "I can see your point. If everything changes  us why does it matter what made us feel a certain way. Happy is happy,  and mind control magic is no different from taking medication to  regulate your brain chemistry, especially if its so powerful or subtle  people like River Shoulders and McCoy can't even detect it. We might as  well complain about gravity. It's out of our hands, so accept it as fact  and move on." Her face became more animated as she spoke, as if a great  truth was dawning on her, and the resulting smile was beautiful.

I  couldn't help but grin back "Exactly. No use worrying about things you  can't change. I like where I am right now, wouldn't change it for the  world. Maybe the person I was before wouldn't, though I somehow doubt  it, but that doesn't matter. I'm happy, and it's not like I wouldn't  have been changing every day anyway. I just do what I want to do now.  And so should you." I stopped in a spot with a particularly dry snow  free stretch of grass and pulled off my coat laying it down like a  blanket and gesturing for her to sit. "The question is what is that? And  does it include watching the stars with me for a bit?"