Witch's Bell Book One

up, Eb,' Ben chuckled tenderly. 'You're already pretty injured, kid.'
    Ben hardly ever called Ebony kid. In fact, he'd stopped just after Ebony had started working for the police department - just after she'd saved him from a cursed rubbish bin. Ebony had fancied that, at that point, Ben had realized she was old enough, and powerful enough, to look after herself.
    But now the word stuck out like a bloodied sword in a patch of pansies. She was a kid again, in his eyes, small, vulnerable, and not to be trusted with sharp things and responsibilities.
    She had to change the subject. 'Do you have your new witch yet?' she made her voice as strong as possible, but it just came out harsh and cutting.
    'Yeah. Name's Chalcedony, I think,' Ben smiled awkwardly, 'she's nice, I guess. But Eb, we don't blame you for what happened. I mean, I don't even understand it. You didn't do anything wrong. You took that guy down, that lady was fine-'
    'It doesn't matter,' Ebony said quickly, sharply, and then simply fell silent.
    Chalcedony, why had the Coven picked her? If Ebony was flamboyant, but likeable, then Chalcedony was everything but. The woman was direct, efficient, powerful, and to the point - like a sacred knife to the throat. She was tall, like Ebony, and slender to. But her eyes were a brilliant green, and her hair a shocking blonde. Ebony didn't usually feel jealous of other women's looks because, after all, Ebony knew there was much more to beauty than attractiveness. But Chalcedony, she was different.
    With a thought that seemed to boil, unbidden, from her unconscious, Ebony realized that Chalcedony was just what a certain Detective Nate would like: finally a witch that did her job, did it quickly, and did it right. The long legs and bright smile would help too, Ebony finished with a sniff.
    'But, I don't know, Eb – what's going to happen to you?' Ben patted the end of her hospital bed, his smile making him look more and more like a comforting teddy bear.
    'It will only last for a month. And then, well, I have a contract with the police department. So unless you terminate it, I'll go back to work,' Ebony kept her voice even, but it had as much force as a baby punching at a wall.
    She'd go back to work, that was, if the police didn't realize that Chalcedony was everything Ebony wasn't: a witch that showed up to work, didn't steal coffee, and liked to work long, unreasonable hours.
    For the first time in her life, she was starting to feel vulnerable. And not just that fleeting feeling of displacement she sometimes got when she'd take the long-view of her life, and look at all the things she thought she should have achieved by now. No, this was deeper. This was real. This shook up her insides like an earthquake, leaving her unsure that she'd ever find her feet again.
    Was this what humans felt all the time? Was this how Ben would react, if the same thing had happened to him? Not that he would have quite the same worries at being replaced by a leggy blonde, but would he be feeling just as lost in the face of this uncertainty?
    As a witch, Ebony had always been able to call on rites, blessings, spells, magic. If something went wrong, or a situation turned out differently to what she'd planned, Ebony knew ways of righting it – usually by writing it, or rite-ing it. But now she didn't have such tools, she felt like a child floundering in the ocean. How did ordinary people do it?!
    'What happens now?' she asked her life, more than the two men in the room.
    Nate actually smiled. 'That's up to you,' he had that curious, unreadable expression on his face – the one that was starting to make Ebony suspect that there was far more to him than met the eye.
    'You can stay on, still be a consultant,' Ben smiled. 'But it will have to be in the office. I mean, I can always use another trained eye looking over the files. You still know more of the magical criminals than I do.'
    Ebony raised her uninjured arm and looked at the bracelet. 'But you won't let me outside, right?'
    'Eb,' Ben sighed, 'look, it's more for your protection than anything else. I don't want you getting injured.'
    Again, she thought bitterly, trying to find a way to block the dull pain throbbing in her shoulder. Once again, she was forced to wonder about how humans did it. How could someone that seemed so ordinary, so mundane, possibly find a way to push through pain and keep going with their lives? They didn't all do it with drugs, she knew that, but what other way