Chapter 2: The Unwelcome News
The scent of sandalwood incense curled through Jan’s apartment, thick and cloying, doing little to mask the tension thickening the air. Shiv O’Connor, perched on the edge of Jan’s worn velvet sofa, tapped her teacup impatiently against its saucer. The rhythmic clink was a metronome counting down Jan’s fraying patience.
"…and Brigid, bless her, she’s focused on her studies, sensible girl," Shiv continued, her Dublin lilt sharpened by frustration. She eyed Jan, who was aggressively repotting a philodendron near the window. "Johnny? Well, Johnny’s Johnny, flitting about like a mayfly, never settling. But you, Janet Siobhan O’Connor. Twenty-five. Healthy as a horse. When are you going to give that lovely man a ring? Or any man? Or woman, for heaven's sake! Just someone stable! Someone who’ll give me grandbabies before I’m too old to bounce them on my knee!" She gestured emphatically, sloshing tea onto the saucer. "Godfrey’s lovely, Jan, but he’s a dog! He doesn’t count!"
Jan stabbed the trowel into the fresh soil. "Mam,” she ground out, her knuckles white on the pot's rim. "We’ve been over this. I’m not settling down. Not like that. My life… it’s complicated." The unspoken truth – the magic, the Order, the sheer, messy, glorious chaos of her existence – hung heavy between them. Shiv saw only a daughter squandering her childbearing years.
"Complicated?" Shiv scoffed, setting the cup down with a decisive clack. "Love isn’t complicated, girl. You find a good person, you build a life. You have children. It’s what we do. What’s complicated is explaining to Mrs. Donnelly down the street why her perfectly nice nephew keeps getting stood up!" Her voice rose, cutting through the incense haze like a blade. "Is it that Rebecca? She seems sweet, but terribly shy. Or is it still just… parties? All that nonsense Johnny hinted at?"
Jan whirled around, the potted plant forgotten. The air crackled, not just with incense smoke, but with the barely leashed surge of her power. A flush crept up her neck, her freckles standing out starkly. She opened her mouth, ready to unleash a torrent of defensive fury, magic prickling hot beneath her skin, demanding release—
The apartment door slammed open, crashing against the wall with a force that made Shiv yelp and Godfrey lift his massive head from his bed by the radiator. Rebecca Franklin stood framed in the doorway, chest heaving, blonde hair escaping its ponytail in wild strands. Her face was sheet-white, her wide blue eyes filled with pure terror. She gasped, struggling for breath.
"Jan!" Rebecca choked out, stumbling inside. "Oh god, Jan! It’s Mike! Casey!"
The incipient magical storm inside Jan instantly froze, replaced by a cold dread that seized her lungs. Shiv jumped up, alarmed. "Rebecca, love? What’s happened? Are you hurt?"
"They… they took them!" Rebecca stammered, tears welling. "Men! In… in weird suits! Like… like hazmat suits but… shiny? Black? They just… burst into Mike and Casey’s apartment! Grabbed them! Dragged them out!" She leaned against the doorframe, trembling. "I was… I was bringing over that casserole… saw it all from the hallway! I heard a name...the Consortium? They… they shoved them into a van! No windows! It just… vanished!"
Shiv gasped, hand flying to her mouth. "Kidnapped? Saints preserve us! We need to call the police! Immediately!" She fumbled for her phone.
The words ‘weird suits’, ‘vanished’, slammed into Jan with sickening clarity. The Consortium. Rebecca had mentioned the name, whispered fearfully. A secret society dedicated to ending magic. Shiv’s world of grandchildren and Mrs. Donnelly’s nephews evaporated, replaced by the brutal reality Jan lived every day – a reality Shiv couldn’t comprehend. This wasn't random. This was targeted.
And why Mike and Casey? Two people who remembered magic, yes, but… Jan’s mind raced, panic warring with furious calculation. Her gaze snapped to Rebecca’s terrified face, then to Shiv frantically dialing. A memory flashed, visceral and immediate, pushing aside the fear for a heartbeat: Two nights ago. Her apartment. The scent of sex and sweat replacing incense. Mike’s earnest, slightly awkward grin as he knelt between her legs, Casey’s dark hair spilling over Jan’s thigh as she leaned down, her tongue hot and insistent against Jan’s clit.
"Fuck, Picasso," Jan had groaned, arching her back off the mattress. "Just like that… suck my fucking clit harder… yeah!" Casey’s mouth had been relentless, her fingers plunging deep inside Jan while Mike watched, his cock thick and straining in his hand. Then Mike pushing Casey gently onto her back, spreading her legs, his tongue replacing Casey’s fingers, lapping hungrily at her wetness as Casey cried out. Jan remembered straddling Casey’s face, grinding down onto her mouth, feeling Casey’s tongue spear into her while she reached back to guide Mike’s cock into her own aching heat. The slap of skin, Mike’s choked groans as he thrust into her from behind while she rode Casey’s face, Casey’s muffled moans vibrating against her clit. The raw, shared ecstasy, the complete abandonment… a connection forged in sweat and pleasure. They were hers. Her friends. Her lovers in that moment. And someone had taken them.
To get to me. The realization was ice water. Who else? The Consortium. Rebecca said the name. They must use magic too. How else could they vanish a van? How else could they know about Mike and Casey remembering? They had to be an offshoot of the Golden Wands, maybe – rivals within the magical community playing a dangerous game. Why else target them? They weren't powerful practitioners. They were just… connected to her.
Shiv was talking rapidly into her phone. "...yes, kidnapping! Apartment on Elm Street! Williamson and Kapowski! Hurry!"
Jan moved. Fast. The cozy apartment, the incense, her mother’s panicked voice – it all receded. The Order of the Green Moon pulsed within her. Fight magic with magic. She snapped her fingers sharply. "Godfrey! Here, boy!"
The massive Bernese Mountain Dog surged to his feet instantly, his deep brown eyes alert and intelligent. He padded silently to Jan’s side, pressing his bulk against her leg, a solid, reassuring presence immune to the chaos and, crucially, immune to any magic that might be lingering or deployed.
"Rebecca," Jan said, her voice low and urgent, cutting through Shiv’s frantic conversation. "Stay with Mam. Please. Keep her calm. The police…" She almost scoffed. What could they do against tech-masked kidnappers who could make vans disappear? "...the police will come. Tell them everything you saw. Everything." Even though you’ll forget the magic soon enough, she thought grimly. Rebecca nodded mutely, her eyes wide with residual fear and confusion.
"Jan, where are you going?" Shiv demanded, lowering the phone, her face etched with worry. "The police are coming! You need to stay!"
"I need air, Mam," Jan lied smoothly, already striding towards the door, Godfrey matching her step. "Just… just going for a walk with Godfrey. Clear my head. I’ll be back soon." She couldn’t explain. Shiv wouldn’t understand, wouldn't remember. The dangerous world was Jan’s burden alone right now.
She grabbed Godfrey’s service vest from the hook and clipped it on him. "Good boy," she murmured, scratching his thick ruff. Determination hardened her features, replacing the earlier frustration with a fierce, protective rage. They took her friends. They threatened her world. And they thought they used magic? She’d show them magic.
Jan flung open the door. The warm, incense-laden air of her apartment was replaced by the cooler, anonymous hallway air. She didn’t look back at Shiv’s bewildered face or Rebecca’s tear-streaked one. Her focus was absolute. Down the stairs, Godfrey a silent shadow beside her, out into the fading afternoon light. Her destination burned in her mind: Elm Street. Mike and Casey’s apartment. The scene of the crime. She needed traces. Scents. Residual energy. Anything the Consortium’s tech might have missed. Anything her magic, or Godfrey’s uncanny senses, could latch onto.
They had her friends. She was coming. And the Red Tornado was about to unleash hell.