Stone Cold NV: World of Sin, Book 1

by J. A. X. Mikesell

  No pressure at all then, right Az?

  “One more thing. How are you going to keep the temperatures at the correct degrees the entire time? You told me yourself that you were not very good with elemental magic.” Professor Daro asked, waiting with her pen over her clipboard.

  “Dante is a mutant that can control fire and ice. He’s proven to me that he is able to combine them both satisfactorily. He will keep the proper temperature on the cauldron from the beginning until I tell him to cool it down to the 60 degrees.” I told her.

  She marked a few notes down on her clipboard, then looked back at me.

  “No time like the present, Asril. Graduation is tomorrow and I’m sure you want to celebrate tonight with your friends. Let’s begin.” She said, sitting on a nearby stool to watch my progress.

  Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and started to block everything out.

  “What is he doing? That’s not working on his exam.” Professor Daro whispered. I could also hear her pen scribbling away at her clipboard.

  “He’s just calming himself. He does this at home when we need to work on something bigger.” Cory said.

  When even the breathing of the other three seemed to be completely gone, I opened my eyes and looked at the caldron and ingredients, took a shallow breath and blew a flame to life under the cauldron, motioning for Dante to take it over. He cupped his left hand over the flame and concentrated for a moment. When his hand began to glow along with the bottom of the cauldron, he nodded to me.

  I poured water into the cauldron and, as steam began to rise, added the flour and sugar. When the moisture boiled down to leave a paste, I added the dried dragon’s breath and snowdrops from the mortar and kneaded them into the rest of the paste.

  Picking up a glass from the side, I handed it to Dante, and told him to swish for a few seconds and then spit back into the cup. Dante upended the glass into his mouth, making a face and swishing it around, then spit it back in the cup.

  “Ugh! What the bloody hell, Az? Was that vodka?” He asked.

  “Yes, you would have hesitated if I told you what it was before.” I said matter-of-factly.

  “At least it was chilled, nothing worse than warm alcohol.” Dante said.

  “Of course it was chilled. I had to get something cold that could burn and mix your DNA into it. I’m sure you didn’t want to gargle dry ice.” I said as I poured it into the little cauldron and stirred a few times. Muttering under my breath and counting to thirteen, I leaned over and blew out the flame from underneath and motioned for Dante to get the temperature back down. Once the thermostat read 60 degrees, I grabbed a dropper.

  “Come over to this side, Dante and hold out your amulet.” I said as I pulled some of the potion into the dropper. “Just hold it over the sink here… Good, now let’s get a few drops on there.”

  I squeezed three drops out onto the amulet and everyone held their breath as they waited. The drops slid over the intricate wirework and one by one settled on the ruby and sapphire, with the last drop going between everything and solidifying as the other drops spread over the gems and glowed faintly.

  “How does it feel, Dante?” Professor Daro asked.

  “It feels like a new amulet. Not like a refreshed one, but completely brand new.” Dante said wonderingly, “I’ve never felt that before without getting a new one from my supplier when my mom was in town to take me.”

  “So it’s still working to dampen your abilities properly?” I asked.

  “Actually, it does feel a bit different from before for that. They’re still being held down, kind of like with a soft blanket, but they feel more accessible… More pliable.”

  “That sounds like it was a good change. You should be able to learn even more control a lot faster now.” Professor Daro said while she wrote on her clipboard. “Alright Az, here is your promising mark. Be sure to bring this young man and his amulet back before the three months and if it has stayed the same up to that point, I will change it to potential in the registry.”

  Tineva/Aveline

  The woman in the waste land is leaning against the wall by the broken table, holding her face in her hand and shaking her head.

  “All I know is that it was a vile Madgie called Stone that trapped me here. He would be the only one with a copy of that book.”

  She stops and listens for a moment to the indistinct sound coming from the silver liquid.

  “Obviously he is dead, you idiot. But he must have passed the book down to his children, who passed it down to theirs and so on. Just find the house and get the book, Aveline. We’ve already been over too many other places.”

  She listened again to the bowl for a moment.

  “As long as you don’t cause anyone to become suspicious then yes, get some help. I already told you the plan. You focus on getting the book, and I’ll worry about the rest after. I simply want to contact some very fun friends.”

  Walking to the other end of the table, she opened a worn out box that looked like it was about to fall apart and looked at the seven different jeweled statues inside. She reached in and touched them each separately; her smile growing with each one. Bypassing the ruby-eyed onyx raven, the amethyst carving of head-butting rams, the golden pyramid with a sapphire eye on the top, a serpent-shaped chalice with rubellite eyes, a jester's hat with citrine stones in place of bells, and a lotus plant made of amber, she picked up the large palm sized emerald carved into the shape of a dolphin. Closing the lid, she set the dolphin on a large block of crumbling marble in the middle of the room and let her Madgie mist enclose it, the mist gradually becoming solid and shrinking towards the carving. After a moment, there was a muffled boom and her mist dissipated, leaving a shimmering green dust. She swept it up and went back to the silver liquid.

  “Heads up, Chimy.” She called as she dumped the dust in.

  She laughs, making the liquid quiver before she puts the lid on the bowl to cut off the conversation.

  ◆◆◆

  Aveline is leaning over a bowl full of water when it flashes and steams away, carrying a green sheen that floated out the crack of a window.

  “Ugh! You vile woman. I just cleaned myself. No need to be a hag, Tineva!” She said seething and shook herself to get rid of the water on her face.

  Well, I guess it’s time to get a little help. At least I know just the right one to do it too.

  “Alright, old woman. Time to do what you were born to do. Let’s go feet, got to move.”

  She went to a cat door in the small kitchen she was in, stopped for a moment and stared at it. Her green and purple eyes flashed and reflected in the metal surface before fading. Once the door stopped glowing, she stepped forward and through the door. On the other side, she entered a small market area with other cat like creatures behind stalls and stopped at one with a sign that read:

  Coffee beans from Mercury, give your charges a gift of energy for days.

  “Aveline, fancy meeting you here. Have you finally revealed yourselves to your charges?” An old white Persian looking cat asked her from behind the stall.

  “Hello Fuzz. No, I’m helping someone else for right now. I just came to get some mercury beans to get some help.”

  Fuzz stared at her with his crossed, amber eyes.

  “Oh, come on, Fuzz. It’s not like I’m never going to go to my charges. I’ve been put under a compulsion charm. So I don’t really have a choice here.”

  “Oh Avi, why do you do this to yourself?” The old cat asked, “You really need to focus on getting to your charges and helping them. You can’t always rely on your brother.”

  He’s filling a small bag of the beans as he’s talking, weighing them and then tying the top closed.

  “You need to try to get rid of this compulsion as soon as you can. And then get your tail to your charges and bind yourself to them.”

  “I will, old man, geeze. You know as well as I do that I can work around this type of spell sometimes. And that’s actually why I want these bea
ns. I’m going to try to get help from someone specific that will be able to help the most.”

  Fuzz gave her a long look, playing with the string on the bag and wrapping it around his paws and extra thumb. After a minute, he sighed and held out the bag.

  “Just don’t get into any more trouble. I’ll add this to your tab. You’ll need to pay up soon though, or you’ll be cut off and will have to work it off.”

  “Thanks, Fuzz. I’ll bring in a payment next time.” Aveline said as she tucked her head through the loop of the bag and sauntered back to the door she came in from and did her glowing eye trick again.

  When she went through the door this time, she came out onto a small dock house landing.

  The blasted woman can’t leave her island for anything, can she? Hopefully this gift will get her attention and she’ll listen. She thought as she walked to the little hut at the edge of the tree line and pulled at the long rope hanging by the door.

  The door swung open, revealing a short old woman with long gray hair, wearing a flowing purple robe. Her face was youthful but still had a few wrinkles. As she looked out, her wrinkles deepened when she didn’t see someone like she expected, and then thinned back out when she looked down.

  “Oh, hello. Can I help you?” She asked.

  “I was looking for Jimmer, is he around?” Aveline asked politely.

  “I’m sorry, but he’s out on business right now. Can I help with anything?”

  “Well, I brought these mercury beans for him. I’ve been assigned as a temporary Guardian on this house and his name came up on the report.”

  “Oh my, mercury beans? He’ll love those. Come in, we can get them put aside for when he gets home.”

  Aveline lets out a puff of air and steps inside, her eyes shut tight for a moment.

  Please work. Please… Please… She thought.

  After a moment, she opened her eyes and took a cleansing breath.

  Easier than I thought, now for the hard part.

  “So, are you Cristellia?” Aveline asked.

  “Yes, I am. Let me show you over to where your room is.” She started over to a hallway but stopped when Aveline said.

  “Wait, I think I have something in my eye. Will you take a look and see if you can get it out?”

  Cristellia turned around and knelt down in front of her, looking into her eyes.

  “Hmm… I don’t see anythi-” Her voice cut off as Aveline’s eyes began to glow a deep purple. After a moment, her eyes also began to glow the same color.

  “Holy hag brains, it worked!” Aveline said while staring at the woman still crouched in front of her.

  “Ok, lady. Time to get to work. Here’s what we need to do.”

  Cory

  “What happened to the train?” Az asked as I walked over to him from the ticket booth.

  “Apparently it derailed a few towns over. Thankfully, nobody was on it yet except the conductor, and she’s fine. Just a few scratches and bruises. But it’s going to take a while to get a new train up and ready.”

  “Ugh. I wish planes still existed. Then we wouldn’t need to worry about it.” Az said. “But I guess if we’re trying to keep blood magic away, it’s good that they don't, right?”

  “Well, the blood magic, yes.” I said. “Anyway, they suggested a taxi, but I don’t really want to pay that much. Either that or buy a car. Too bad we don’t know any arcane Madgie that could just portal us home.”

  They sat for a few minutes thinking of what they could do.

  “How much do you have left? I have about $500. Maybe we could just buy an old clunker to get us home for now.”

  “That doesn’t really sound great, Az. What would we do with it from there?” I asked, pacing. “I’m sure we could get a better car closer to home.”

  “We could give it to someone that isn’t really able to afford one on their own.” Az said.

  “We don’t know anyone that could fit that description, though. It’s not like we could just pull over and hand the keys to a random homeless Shifter or anything. They’d be insulted.”

  “Well, we did just make a lot of new friends. Maybe one of them will need it.” Az said, “I know Dante could probably use it. His old boss from the train ride here was furious with him and said he’d better never show his face there again.”

  “I suppose so. It really would help him find a job that’s more stable and stationary. That’s always really good for a mutant, since society is pathetic and condemns them for how they’re born. The ticket salesman said there is a used car lot down the street.”

  We gather our things and head over to the lot. As we get there, we overhear a couple voices.

  “You can’t get anything here with that measly amount. I’m sorry, kid, but the only thing I can tell you is to go get a train ticket.” A man said in an annoyed voice.

  “The train I need got derailed and won’t have a new one here for another couple of days. I need to get home a lot sooner, my mom is sick and I have to get her some medicine.”

  Az and Cory stopped on the way to the building entrance and looked over toward the voices. They could see a couple shapes through the windows of a really beat up old RV camper.

  “I’m sorry, kid. There’s really nothing I can help you with for that amount.” The first voice said. “However, if you’re willing to part with that necklace, we could definitely get you into something even better than this RV.”

  “That sounds like Dante, he can’t get rid of the amulet.” Az said while starting over.

  “Az, don’t. It’s his choice. I’m sure you’ll be able to get your rating changed in a different way.” I said, stopping him with a hand on his shoulder.

  Az stopped and turned back, glaring at me. “Is that what you think of me? That I’m more worried about having a promising mark in alchemy instead of a potential? No, Cory. He can't get rid of it because he needs it so his powers will stay stable enough for him to learn to fully control them on his own. ”

  “I’m sorry Az. Alright, let’s go see if we can help.” I said, blushing.

  We continued on and rounded the RV, stopping to see Dante holding the necklace out toward the man in a suit.

  “Wait, Dante, don’t do that. We can help.” Az said, holding up his hand. “You need that amulet to help you out.”

  “Amulet!? You’re a mutant?” The guy asked sharply, pulling away from Dante quickly. “We don’t help your kind, get out.”

  “Hold on just a minute, you were happy to take it a second ago. Now that you find out I’m a mutant, it’s garbage?” Dante snapped, his eyes starting to glow red with a blue outline. “I’m no different than they are. I may not be able to access all the same powers they can, but I’m still a person.”

  The man drew a breath and narrowed his eyes at Dante. Before he could say anything, Az stepped forward.

  “He’s with us. I’d watch what I’d say next if you want a sale today.”

  The man hesitated, looking between Dante, Az and me. He took another breath and exhaled slowly.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t help anyone that associates with that filth.” He spat before he turned sharply and walked away.

  “What did you do that for?” Dante asked heatedly. “Now that you said you’re with me, you won’t get any help from anyone around here.”

  “I’d rather we deal with someone that deserves our business.” Az said, “Besides, we want to help you.”

  We started off to the bus stop down the street when we heard someone call out to us.

  “Wait, I can help you.” A young woman said, puffing as she jogged over to us. “I’m sorry, if I had known you were a mutant, I wouldn’t have sent Harry out to help you. I’m Joan.”

  We all stopped and set down our luggage.

  “I would see about a formal talking to for him if I were part of your business. He has no right to treat my friend that way.” Az said. “I almost am considering going to a competitor due to the treatment he received, but we are on a tight deadl
ine. His mother is sick and needs to be cared for. What can you do to help?”

  “I truly am sorry. We have tried to speak to him before, but his father owns the place and I can’t fire him. I’ve tried many times. Unfortunately, it just gives him a day off and then he’s right back the next day with Daddy barking down my neck.” She took a deep breath, “I’m sorry. You don’t need to hear any of this. Honestly, I’m close to my last day here, anyway. I have another job lined up already. So, how about we get you into a nice car today with my discount?”

  They all walked over to the RV again.

  “I noticed you were looking at this vehicle before. Is it really what you’re wanting?” Joan asked.

  “Not really, I don’t need an RV. But it’s the cheapest thing you have on the lot, and I don’t have much. Just a little over two hundred. But this RV is apparently five hundred.” Dante said.

  “Well, I have five hundred myself. Cory, how much did you have again?” Az asked.

  “I have about three hundred left. So all together we have around a thousand. What do you have for around that amount?” I asked Joan.

  Joan thought for a moment while looking around.

  “Well, we do have a pretty decent Ford Explorer that is on sale for seven hundred, but I can get it down to five hundred for you guys today.”

  “Oh no, we can’t do an exploder guys. We should get something more like a Toyota. They last a lot longer than the Found On Road Dead cars.” Dante said.

  “Alright, what do you have for Toyota's currently?” Az asked, “Preferably an SUV type.”

  “I only have a Toyota Rav4. It’s in pretty good condition.” Joan said. “Would you like to test drive it?”

  “It’s not for me. Dante will be keeping whatever car we get after if he is able to drop us off at our house before he finishes his drive to his own place.” Az said. “What do you think, Dante? Do you want to look into the Rav4?”