by T J Kelly
I felt the darkness creep back. Dark always came so quickly to me. It was annoying, but in this case, understandable. My uncle was acting like an idiot and I wanted to smack him.
“David, please. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You should have thought of that before you killed my parents!” he shouted. I quaked inside my uncle, terrified for his safety given the raw fury that overwhelmed the man I knew as the boy David. Who got a puppy for his birthday and called him Shadow Racer.
There was no grace or guile in what followed. One moment David was shouting, the next he launched himself at my uncle and tackled him. Armageddon’s head slammed into the cinders, and the ringing in his ears was so loud I wondered if I could have heard it even if I wasn’t somewhere inside his skull.
“You took my father away,” he shouted, smashing his fist into my uncle’s face. I screamed inside his head, but Armageddon remained silent.
“You took my mother away,” David yelled louder. Slam went his fist.
Silence from my uncle.
Weeping helplessly, I tried to disconnect. Maybe I could snap out of our connection and back into myself. It didn't matter if I was detected. Whoever ambushed us, forcing our vehicle underwater, could trace my magic if I transferred to my uncle’s side. But I didn’t care. All I cared about was saving the life of a man I loved as much as my father.
“You took everything and left me alone with him!” David shouted. Slam.
Silence.
My internal whimper.
“You let him take me away! My parents kept me hidden from him, but you left me without protection. My grandmother couldn’t hide me the way they did. The only Novato to go dark in a thousand years, and you left me at his mercy. Now you're at my mercy, and soon you'll join my parents in death.”
Armageddon lost consciousness when David hit him again. And I was glad, too, because that released me from the spell. It shoved me back into my body, knocking me out of the meditative sleep, away from the angry man beating my uncle.
I was back in the semi-truck. It was parked, and Ray had left his seat. I was no longer the unwilling victim of the brutal assault on my uncle.
Instead, I was the unwilling victim of the assault on myself.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Mundane Smash
There was a warm hand resting on my bellybutton. For a split second, I thought it was Seth. I had, after all, invited him to do that very thing that morning. But I was in the back of a semi-truck, and Seth was nowhere near me.
I certainly hadn’t given anyone else permission to touch me.
My eyes snapped open. Ray was hovering over me. He was looking at me intently, his hand pressing into my stomach.
“What are you doing?” I demanded. My voice sounded too loud in the semi’s cabin, but he was freaking me out.
“Aw, sweetheart, you can’t blame a guy for taking what’s offered,” he replied. He had a fuzzy burr in his speech like he was talking to a simpleton or a puppy or something.
“Get your hand off me,” I snapped. I tried to push myself up, but he didn’t budge, and his hand kept me pinned. Before I could even think about it, my hands wrapped around his wrist and tugged hard.
He stayed put. In fact, he pressed his hand into my stomach harder as he leaned forward. Ray brought his other hand up and gripped my shoulder.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t want this.” Ray squeezed “You know you wore that shirt to get attention. Well, it worked.”
I wore my outfit because it was comfortable and I knew Seth would think I looked cute in it. It had nothing to do with Ray. I didn’t even know him or that I would meet him. His comments completely floored me, and the confusion made me hesitate. But then the advice my mother gave me when I went away to school flooded my mind. About how people would say anything to justify their actions. How they would use anything as an excuse to take what they wanted and make it about them. But it wasn’t about him. It was about what I wanted.
And what I wanted was for Ray to stop.
I jerked my fist up and tried to hit him in the nose, or gouge his eyes, but his arm was blocking my right hand, and I wasn’t as quick or coordinated with my left. I had always thought I could fight off a would-be attacker especially now I had learned combat skills from Mort.
Nobody ever talked about what would happen if you were already pinned down before you even knew you were in trouble.
Nobody ever told me that gravity was not my friend.
I heaved, trying to use my momentum to leverage myself away from him. Ray’s body leaned over mine, his weight pushing me back down. He had a strange look on his face, but he wasn’t really looking at me. It was like I wasn’t even a person to him.
“No!” I shouted at him. “Get off me!”
I struggled, but he shifted again, and there didn’t seem to be anywhere I could move that wasn’t covered by him. I shrieked, panicking, and he grunted, grabbing my wrist as I tried to hit him again.
I thought about how badly I wanted him off of me, and since I was a magician and not a mundane human girl, it worked. His body flew up into the roof of the truck and then slammed down to the floor with a grunt.
“What the hell?” he mumbled. It dazed him, but I wasn’t sure how hurt he was because I didn’t stick around long enough to see.
I jerked my body in between the front seats and grabbed my backpack and shoes from the passenger side. It took me three tries because my hands were shaking so badly, but I finally managed to open the door. I jammed my feet into my shoes, the backs of the sneakers collapsing since I hadn’t untied them, and then jumped down. I used magic to soften the landing so I wouldn’t hurt myself. The last thing I needed was a sprained ankle or to break my leg, but I couldn’t handle being inside the truck for a moment longer.
The semi was parked behind some bushes at the edge of an empty field. I could detect traces of pavement and the faded lines of an abandoned parking lot. There weren’t any buildings around, so I wasn’t sure why anyone would need to park there, but I could see the highway in the distance. I wasted another precious moment jamming my finger into the back of my shoes and worked them up over my heels properly. I couldn’t get very far if I ended up barefoot.
I started jogging.
Behind me, the truck door slammed. I picked up the pace without looking back. I wasn't sure what Ray would do, and I wanted to get beyond where he could see my feet blurring with a speed spell.
I didn't know why I cared. It wasn’t like I would be breaking some kind of law or anything. But I was used to being discreet, and I didn’t want Ray to know any more about me than I had already let slip.
The semi-truck roared to life, and my body jerked, causing me to stumble. Then I launched into a full-out run. I had to slow down as I went over the ridge at the end of the lot so I wouldn’t trip. It lowered me beyond Ray’s line-of-sight. With a flicker of a thought, the distance between me and the highway disappeared.
Except I wasn’t on Highway 395. The sign said it was Highway 70. I gulped. I had no idea where that was. I memorized the route we decided to take, but this wasn’t on it. I could hear the semi-truck getting closer. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and searched for a trace. I had burned it to ash when I took off, but once I fell asleep, I left another trace since I forgot to set the block pattern in my mind.
It was careless, but I was glad for the mistake that would help me. The light-trail told me we drove to the abandoned lot from the east. I had no other frame of reference, so I decided to go back the way we came until I got to a place I recognized. The drive to Lassen from Reno was supposed to be less than three hours, and it wasn’t that late in the day. Even if we had gone on a detour, it shouldn’t add that much time to my trip.
Not like running was anywhere near as fast as driving a car.
I settled into a jog, following the trace I left behind while I was asleep. I gathered my connection to the elements around me and was about to set a veil spell so Ray wouldn’t be
able to see me when the semi-truck drove back into view.
He hit the gas, racing in my direction.
I ran, using my magic, but it didn’t really matter. The semi was faster than I was and he caught up with me before I even got all the way up the on-ramp. The window was down, and Ray was shouting at me. I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but he didn’t sound happy.
He pulled the truck past me and then stopped. I heard the rush of air that came with the brakes, and the door popped open. I stayed where I was, not wanting to run into him.
I guess Ray hit his head against the roof of the semi extra hard because blood slowly dripped down from his hair onto his forehead.
“Get over here,” he shouted. He must have thought I was crazy because no sane person would willingly walk into that mess.
I shook my head no. I wasn’t sure what I should do. Using magic against a mundane was wrong. In case of emergency, like when we were running from our enemies and used Frank as a getaway driver, or pushing Ray off of me was acceptable, but to use something against a mundane that they could never withstand was wrong. Even evil magicians rarely messed with mundanes. Of course, it was probably less moral compass and more because it was boring for them or something equally creepy.
“I don’t know why you’re so angry,” he wheedled. “You know you want me.”
I was flabbergasted. What on earth gave him that idea? What part of “no” did that man not understand? “Leave me alone,” I said. I took a step back to see what he would do.
Like the predator he was, he took several steps closer. I edged lower down the on-ramp, and he continued to follow.
“Come on, get back in the truck. I won’t hurt you.”
I snorted. The guy really did think I was crazy. Or stupid. Anger washed through me, and the shaking in my hands and chest ceased. “You can’t hurt me,” I said truthfully. “But I can hurt you. And I will if you come any closer.” He would take that as a challenge, but there wasn’t anything else for me to say. I wasn’t getting back into that semi-truck with him.
Ray strode towards me. He looked mad.
Not that I cared.
I threw my backpack to the side and charged straight at him. When I got there, I slammed into Ray and then swiped his feet out from under him.
He fell onto the pavement with a thud and a roar. It worked better than a Smash-force. And was infinitely more satisfying. I filed that information away for later use in the practice ring. I would call that move a Mundane-smash, in Ray’s honor.
I stepped on his arm, pinning him to the ground. I looked him in the eye to make sure I had his attention. “No means no, you freak,” I said. And then with all my strength, I slammed my fist into his face, knocking him out.
Leaving him in the dirt, I scooped up my backpack, slinging it over my shoulders as I trudged back up the on-ramp. Once I got near the highway, I began to run again, settling into a pace enhanced by my magic.
It was a little like flying.
That made me think of Peter, and my heart lurched at his betrayal. But it also reminded me of how I had used my magic to lift myself off my high-heels when we went to visit Rector Enterprises. Using the same method, I wove that technique into the magic speeding my feet, making my journey a lot faster.
I shoved all thoughts of betrayal out of my head and continued to travel, for hours, until I got back to Highway 395. Since my trace was located to my right, I turned left and began the last leg of my trip on foot.
Now that I had calmed down, I realized transferring straight to my uncle would cause any number of my enemies to find me. The Taines had been keeping watch for me, and so had others. I couldn’t afford the delay. I suspected the ambush forcing us underwater was because of the Taines, but there was still a chance the attackers were connected to David Novato instead, and I didn’t want to warn him of my arrival.
Magic came to my aide as I continued to run. David declaring he would end Armageddon’s life “soon” weighed on me, but I would have to trust I would arrive before the worst happened. Magic was, after all, about perfect timing. Magicians didn’t have control over everything, and often an unknown element would divert events in an unpredictable way.
My feet barely hit the ground as I sped towards the confrontation that would save my uncle. I would be exhausted by the time I got there, but elemental rejuvenation would have to be good enough because there was no way I would try hitchhiking again. Ever.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Confrontation
Running was no joke. Especially when you were hauling yourself over hundreds of miles to confront the ultimate magical enemy wearing cute pink and white polka-dot tennis shoes. I was just glad I packed extra deodorant in my backpack.
I couldn’t settle my swirling thoughts enough to plan my final confrontation. I was so angry and hurt. And confused. But one thing was sure - I would take out David no matter what.
It was evening before I arrived at Lassen Volcanic National Park. I missed my chance to buy myself something to eat at the store, but I shrugged it off and made a beeline for the bathrooms. The time for building strength through food and rest was over. I locked myself in by shielding the main door so nobody could enter as I stripped down. I pulled water from the sink tap and used it to wash, just like a shower, pouring it over myself with magic. I even washed my hair since it was easier to style it into battle braids when it was wet and slick from a leave-in conditioner. It made it possible to tuck it into a tight, low bun to keep it out of the way.
My shoes and the bottom of my pant were covered in dirt and sand. I popped them into an extra plastic grocery sack leftover from our road trip and tucked them into my backpack, swapping them for my Irregulars uniform, battle vest, and boots.
The mechanicals I had made with the guys went into my various pockets. Spells I had to use close-up like shields and nets, Flash-bangs and the crystals containing pepper spray, were on my left since that was my weakest side and I would be slower to access them. I kept the active stuff on my right so I could rapidly throw out the Smash-forces, Shift-sliders, lightning, and bombs. I had been practicing to tug and toss, the way old-time cowboys would pull their guns and shoot in one fluid motion.
After a moment’s hesitation, I tugged the little packets of herbs I made when I was still at Castle Laurus out of a side pouch on my backpack. Most of them were for creating smoke or flashes of light as a diversion, but I was going to implement the idea I had at the safe-house and include lead. Grabbing a small chunk, I forced it to crumble into bits and charged them with magic before adding them to the herb bags.
I wasn’t sure if David Novato used blood magic or not, but if he did, I wanted some pure lead available to negate it. I tucked two pieces the size of ping-pong balls into one of my pockets.
A thought occurred to me right before I dropped the shields and the Trace-burn spell. My teammates weren’t stupid. They would know where I was headed and didn’t need to follow my trace to find me. There was no way I had left them behind, at least, not for long. Groaning, I slipped my backpack over my shoulders. I was so used to hiding from an enemy, it never dawned on me that my friends wouldn’t require the same detection spells.
Not that I thought of them as my friends at that moment. But still, they knew me, and that was all any of the Irregulars needed.
As I stepped out of the small bathroom, I felt a little better when I remembered I had other genuine enemies out there who were looking for me. My efforts to burn my trace weren’t in vain. I snorted. My mind was a mess.
Preparing myself for meditation, I shook my hands violently, then my arms, and rolled my head before slipping behind a tree and crouching to touch the soil. I pulled out a water bottle and twisted off the cap for access. The sun was hovering just above the western horizon, turning the sky into a riot of colors I would have loved to watch under better circumstances. A narrow patch of pure yellow sunlight beamed onto the ground nearby, and I reached out my other hand to capture some of it in my pal
m. I sucked in the element of Air while pulling magic from the Earth. Shadows from the tree enhanced the strength of my Dark. I could tell by my mood that there was no real need to amplify that aspect of myself, but I did it anyway. I needed every advantage.
Although it was difficult to do in my awkward position, I closed my eyes and forced myself into a meditative trance using the new spell I discovered in the safe-house. I timed it for only seven minute. That power number would allow me to magnify the effects of the restorative sleep exponentially. I would emerge as if I had slept for seven times seven times seven, or seven cubed, stacking in the power of three. Basically, it was like sleeping for almost six hours.
That would have to be enough.
When I snapped out of the trance, I stood and stretched. My left foot had fallen asleep, and I spent several awkward moments holding onto the tree so I wouldn’t fall over. Once the pins and needles dissipated, I headed towards the magical hot spot between Lassen Peak and Chaos Creek.
Lassen Volcanic National Park was one of the major preserves the Council set up for our use. Sure, mundanes liked to visit, and the indigenous peoples definitely had a prior claim, but their shamans were kind enough to form a treaty. Decades before magicians moved to the west coast, the Council decided they needed to act before the best places all over the world were decimated. Without the permission of the natives wherever we went, the magic wouldn’t have worked as well and the preserves wouldn’t have been worth the effort we spent to convince the government not to mow them down for a random business. Like strip mining.
I swear, mundanes had no clue how to take care of the planet.
Jogging to work out the rest of my leg cramps, I headed for the place where my spell had indicated David Novato was holding my uncle. There was a permanent spell around the entire area so the mundanes wouldn’t see what magicians were doing in the area. David had taken advantage of that to hide his crimes.
