Forced to join her family for the holidays, Haily settles down to a tropical cruise with too much alcohol and not enough company. While her sisters are trying to find their matches in the highest ranking magical families, Haily gets the buffet. Knocked into the ocean by chance, she finds herself surrounded by sharks and trapped in a war that revolves around her. Shocked into using her powers for the first time, she grows gills, rides sharks and masters a magic that she didn’t know she had.

  Loki is the shark shifter Alpha and he takes Haily under his fin, showing her that she has nothing to fear about using her talents underwater, and that this is where she was designed to be. In the water, at his side.

  Enjoy this Yuletide tale with sexy sharks, deadly dolphins and a water magus who learns to be herself in the nicest way.

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Impractical Magus

  Copyright © 2010 Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-55487-740-9

  Cover art by Martine Jardin

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Devine Destinies Books An imprint of eXtasy Books

  Look for us online at:

  www.devinedestinies.com

  Impractical Magus

  A Nexus Chronicle

  By

  Viola Grace

  Dedication

  To my family, who doesn’t understand why I write, but is happy for me anyway.

  Chapter One

  he word fun was being thrown around like a T four-letter word and Haily Holly Danvers was not in the mood.

  “It will be so much fun to be on a cruise for the holidays!”

  “We can have so much fun without having to worry about the neighbours seeing the spell casting.”

  “Won’t it be fun to spend a cold holiday in a hot climate?”

  Her sisters and mother went round and round with their f-word. The dressing for dinner would be fun, the dances and forced events would be fun.

  Even the matchmaking was causing hysterical giggles at complete random.

  Haily brushed her hair and glared at her own reflection. Crappy magic and blue hair—it summed up her life. Too much of everything.

  While her mother and sisters used domestic magic to pack, Haily was stuck doing it the mundane way, folding and stuffing. If she used 1

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  any of the spells that her family was famous for, her underwear would be found in the yard. Three houses away.

  “Haily, are you ready?”

  “Yes, Mom.” She randomly grabbed dresses from the closet and rammed them into her suitcase. She could iron on the boat.

  Muttering, she bounced up and down on the suitcase, stuffing the escapees back inside with a shoehorn. She hauled her luggage down the stairs, snarling silently as her sisters’ luggage minced past her as it travelled through the air with a twisted sway.

  April, May and June Danvers were waiting next to their self-packed luggage.

  Haily stomped to the circle and gingerly laid her suitcase down. Whew. She didn’t smudge the transport glyph on the floor.

  “I can’t see why we can’t just take a regular portal.” May was always a little slow on the uptake.

  Their mother cleared her throat and looked over at Haily.

  “Oh, right. The magnification. Sorry, Hail.” Her sister gave her a weak smile.

  “That’s right. Everyone has to get blasted through a glyph because of me. Let’s just get going, shall we?” She rarely had to explain it to her family, but sometimes May forgot.

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  Their father nodded and powered up the glyph.

  Somewhere, across the country, an identical glyph charged up and triggered a gateway for them to fall through.

  It was the falling that her family resented.

  Haily sighed inwardly as they plummeted through a tunnel of colour, landing softly in a mass of misty light. Her stomach rotated ninety degrees with the effect of the travel and noted that her family looked as grey as she felt.

  A masculine throat cleared and they stepped off the glyph, making room for other additions as the magus prepared to cast the charm for another group.

  “We designed that spell, why should we have to use the transport for the powerless?” April’s whine grated on her nerves.

  “We have to travel this way if Haily is coming along. You know that, April. Why are you being so difficult?” Morag Danvers hushed her youngest and shooed her brood out to the docks.

  Haily simply ignored her family and wandered aboard the ship anchored off the edge of the floating platform in international waters. Magical family vacations were difficult at the best of times, but this year, some yahoo decided to host a matchmaking cruise to get the various magical families together for some crossbreeding. Haily was just along to show a complete family and not 3

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  one that was broken by the unfortunate problems of her genetic mutation.

  The purser gave her a look of polite inquiry.

  “Your name, miss?”

  “Haily Danvers. Daughter of Morag and Eduard Danvers.”

  He gave her a look of respect, so she felt compelled to add, “The one with the unusable magic.”

  The look of fear spilled into his eyes and he checked off her name. “Deck three, room nine.

  Your itinerary is on your bed in your room. Enjoy your cruise.”

  He handed her the key and eagerly greeted the rest of her family. She slumped in defeat and made her way to room nine, deck three. Let the fun begin.

  Haily was lucky enough to have a single room.

  She stifled a snicker. None of her sisters enjoyed having her too close. It was like having a Van De Graaff generator in the room. Enough exposure to her and even their magic didn’t work right anymore.

  She pulled on a boring navy sheath. It was the get to know the other passengers dinner and yet another reason for fun. Damn, she really hated that word.

  Her sky blue hair didn’t look right against the 4

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  navy and she sighed. The white flippy dress it would have to be.

  With her temperamental talents, wearing a white beaded dress was a thumb in the nose of fate, but with her hair colour, her wardrobe choices were limited.

  The lovely tank dress had a cowl neck and a skirt that fell to her knees when she stood still and flipped up to mid-thigh when she walked.

  Considering that none of the men at dinner would be interested in her due to her talents, she still knew she looked fabulous and it was enough to boost her ego to the point where she could leave her room.

  The dining area was full of the cream of the human-shaped magical families. Wizards, magicians and magi, all here for the holidays, to see and be seen and to possibly meet their match within their own kind.

  It was a difficult matter to get the higher-ranking magic users all in one place for these kinds of events and this was a very impressive turnout.

  Over two hundred people milled and mingled, introducing, shaking hands and greeting old friends. Haily walked over to her parents, nodded to the cohorts that were having drinks and enjoying a quiet moment while the younger set started flirting.

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  “A drink, miss?” One of the goblin servers came up to her with a tray and she took one of the delicately stemmed glasses.

  The glass was designed for a display of power, so she held it as if cradling a cotton ball. The contents were a layered parfait of liqueurs, each sip completely different from the last. Haily smiled, it was a drink-me potion. Around the room, folks were making faces as they discovered flavours that were not quite palatable.

  It was an old trick. Only the most powerful would influence the beverage to tasty flavours.

  Those who lacked magic would get the grimmest of tastes. The elders of each family were watching the younger ones to determine which members of compatible families would be suitable for matches.

  Haily smiled and took another sip of sweet caramel. Quantity of power had never been her problem. A few of the elders eyed her speculatively, then noted her blue hair and quickly looked away.

  She sighed and wandered over to the railing, watching the waves beat against the side of the ship as they churned their way to some unnamed, uncharted tropical island.

  Dolphins chased the ship, frolicking in the waves. A few whales came up close, attracted by the magical vibrations the ship was giving to the water. She shook her head and let the wind play 6

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  with her hair, the blue strands lifting and mimicking the waves.

  “Are you thinking of jumping in, Haily?” Her mother came up behind her, sipping at her own drink.

  “Of course not, Mom. You know I wasn’t allowed swimming lessons.”

  “There were reasons, Haily. Underwater shockwaves could have killed other swimmers nearby. You know how unpredictable your talent is.”

  “Yes, Mom. I know.” Of course, she knew. It was the binding rule of Haily’s existence. She was one step away from being locked up by the ruling councils every single day. It was difficult to live with since she was never allowed to forget it.

  Her mother’s voice dropped to a whisper.

  “Thank you for coming, Haily. April, May and June might meet the men for them on this cruise.”

  “I know. And it’s why I am here. This is the time of the year to focus on family, isn’t it?”

  Morag chuckled and gave her daughter a one-armed hug. “Thank you for understanding.”

  “I understand, Mom. Better than anyone can guess. All for the family, that is my motto.”

  Her mother faded back into the social scene and when the sun began to set, Haily returned to the party as dinner began to appear on the buffet.

  She sat with her parents and their friends as her 7

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  sisters took up positions with men of similar ages and power levels. A few brave souls tried to engage her in conversation, but as soon as they asked her if she was seeing anyone, the chill in the air could have frozen them in place.

  The party began to roar after dinner when more alcohol and a number of magical beverages came out. Morag winced at the noise when the music kicked off and leaned over, “Haily, can you watch them? Make sure that they get to bed alone?”

  She turned to look at her sisters, one blonde and two brunettes. “I will watch them. But if I have to blast their butts into bed, I will.”

  Eduard shuddered and patted her shoulder. “If you must, you must. Have a nice night, Hail.” He pressed a kiss on her forehead and patted her on the shoulder again.

  He always called her Hail. It was his way of rubbing it in to her mother that he had been allowed to name their firstborn after the weather on the day she was born. He wanted to name April Sunny, but he had been vetoed and had to be satisfied that he got Hail in. She was the moment of her father’s triumph and every time he said her name, she knew it.

  She watched them wander off, arms around each other as they returned to their room for some…lord, she did not want to think about it.

  Parents having sex was creepy at any age.

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  The party was in full swing and like dozens of magical parties before, some of the morons started showing off with light displays and flashes of power.

  Haily’s sisters were slow dancing, making out with a young wizard and raiding the dessert bar respectively. They would be safe for a few minutes while she caught some fresh air.

  The waves were dark and threatening, but under the dancing lights of the cruise ship, they looked miles away.

  “How am I going to plan a life when I can’t even be trusted among my own family?”

  Her words were answered by a drunken magus inside screaming, “Watch this!”

  She turned to look into the party to see what he was referring to and was struck in the chest by a rainbow-hued fireball and thrown into the silent waves.

  Fucking fun.

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  Viola Grace

  Chapter Two

  he water closed over her head and her chest T burned from where the saltwater was hitting the wound from the flare. She wondered idly if anyone had seen her go overboard. Haily doubted it. They were all busy having fun. She fought to regain the surface and her sensible dress restricted her movements.

  She sank down, down, down until all she could hear was the rushing of her own blood in her veins. Her air escaped in bubbles and floated toward the light of the retreating boat. She was going to die and she blamed fun.

  Light sparked around her in the darkness, her hazy mind blamed lack of oxygen, but the light touched her skin and burned. She tried to cry out, but the pain wracked her from head to toe, centering on her neckline and the middle of her back. Her hands clawed at her skin but nothing stopped the burning until she opened her mouth to scream. Cold water rushed into her, but it 10

  Impractical Magus

  didn’t come through her mouth. Her shaking hands found gills at her neck and based on the sucking of fabric, gills on her back as well.

  Blue hair, gills. On the floor of the ocean, Haily sat and thought about the conversation that she was going to have with her mother.

  She started walking on the floor of the ocean, stepping as lightly over and around coral as she could. The closer she was to the ship when they started looking, the better off she would be and the faster she would get her answers.

  Haily didn’t know how long she had been walking in the darkness, seeking the power vortex that the party boat was generating when shadows flitted between her and her goal.

  Oh look, pretty dolphins. She had to be exhausted.

  As they got closer, the telltale marks of sharks were obvious.

  The strange collection of sharks circled her until one of them nudged her hand and she had the horrible feeling he wanted her to grab his dorsal fin.

  When another shark came up behind her and nudged her toward the one offering the fin, she began to suspect that rejecting the offer of…whatever they were offering.

  The skin of the shark was hard, rough and soft all at the same time. When she locked her hands around the fin, he started moving slowly through 11

  Viola Grace

  the water.

  The back and forth motion of the beast made holding onto him loosely an impossibility. She ended up straddling the animal while holding the fin as closely to her face as she could.

  Now that she was more secure, the strange pod of sharks picked up speed.

  Haily’s new gills loved the increased speed.

  They replaced her lost oxygen in only a few minutes, clearing her mind and leaving her in no doubt that she was meant to be underwater.

  Her eyes were adjusting to the minimal light as they dove deeper than they should have been able to stand. She was certainly surprised that she could manage to withstand the deeper pressures of the ocean depths.

  Her escort had no doubts that she was suited for this environment. They simply pulled her with them.

  The darkness was now almost absolute for her eyes and she held on for dear life as their path took them through coral stands, rocky outcroppings and past other predators who glowed in the inky black.

  Her transport ducked deep and surfaced near a bubble inside some sort of cavern. Light emanated from the magical glow balls mounted to the wall and Haily stumbled to the shoreline when her shark shallowed out.

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  As she took her first wobbling steps, coughing out the air in her gills, a shadow on the shore came forward to assist her. “Come this way, magus.”

  She took the hand gratefully, then looked around at the men who were now exiting the waters next to her. “Ohmygod.” She blushed furiously and closed her eyes as a few wandered up and casually wrapped short skirts around their hips. Several didn’t bother. It was like leaving the water with a naked football team.

  The person holding her chuckled, “I apologize for our lack of modesty. We are mostly on our own down here.”

  “No, it’s fine. I am sure.” Haily looked up and almost fell back into the water.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Just a little…dizzy.” Shocked would be a better term. He was a shifter. There was a certain stamp to a shifter’s body language that always gave them away. His grin was painfully sharp and his eyes solid black, but his features were assembled in an arrangement more suitable for Grecian gods.

 

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