by Jamie Hawke
“Pregnant? Goddess, no!” She laughed. “I was going to say friends, but then started wondering what sort of friends we’d have or would be able to tell the truth to. But damn, the way you reacted!”
“I just—I was getting ready to start college, not have kids.”
“You can’t seriously think I’m ready.”
“No, I mean, I didn’t think about that.”
She shook her head. “Trust me, not anytime soon. But the way you keep sticking that thing around, who knows what’ll happen.”
I glanced over at the gargoyle statues, wondering. “Yeah, maybe we pick up some condoms when we’re out today?”
“Might be a good idea. Breakfast?”
“Please.”
We started heading out, and as we went I couldn’t help thinking about what she had said about friends. “So, if I start hanging out with a buddy, I mean, like meet a guy and we’re hitting it off—”
“You coming out to me?” she asked. “Nothing wrong with that if you want to try it.”
I laughed. “No, sorry. Not my thing. What I mean is, that whole friend thing. I wouldn’t be able to tell him about this, huh?”
“He’d either think you were crazy or end up getting involved. I’m not sure which would be worse.”
“Life is going to be a bit different going forward.”
I held up a hand and went off to use the bathroom, and soon we were on our way again, hitting up a corner spot with a killer breakfast burrito. Bacon and eggs for her, chorizo for me, and I had a horchata as well. It was bliss, and for a moment I could almost believe we lived a normal life, were just another couple waking up early for breakfast in D.C.
“Definitely Mt. Fuji,” she said, when I asked where she would go if all of these worries were gone and we could do whatever we wanted.
“Why?”
“I’ve always heard how magical it can be, climbing at night and getting to the top in time to watch the sunrise. Can you imagine?”
I frowned. “And Ebrill? The rest? I wonder if they’d even see the sunrise, or if they kind of fade out before that, you know?”
“Good question. Like you said, though, that’s if circumstances were different. Still, maybe we’ll find a way in that direction someday, find a nice little ryokan near Hakone lake, one with outdoor hot springs we can all enjoy,” she leaned in, “in privacy.”
“Sounds perfect,” I said, already imagining us out on a starlit night, the shoji-screen doors lit up behind us as we all made love. “Maybe…” I frowned, wondering how it would work. “I don’t know, but maybe there’s a way to create a similar atmosphere at the house?”
“As you get more powerful, there’s not a lot you won’t be able to do, I imagine.”
The slightly older woman to our left looked up from her laptop, stared at us, then returned to whatever she was working on with a smirk. Apparently, she had taken that in a manner not intended.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said, grabbing two coffees for the road.
We made our way to the corner, where we stood watching people walk past. Steph eyed them over her coffee, then noticed me looking at her. She grinned, took another sip and said, “You need to stop it.”
“Just can’t get over all of this,” I said.
She nodded. “I get it. Can you believe these people are going to school, work, whatever... without a clue about what really goes on all around them?”
“It’s crazy. And not long ago, I was one of these ignorant assholes.”
“Fuck you too, pal,” a man in a suit said, shoving past me. He bumped my shoulder, causing coffee to slosh out and nearly get on his suit. As he walked, he glanced back, glared and a car nearly hit him when he stepped into the street. That resulted in a new tirade aimed at the driver of the car, and left me arching an eyebrow at Steph.
“See, assholes.”
“What came first, the prick or the asshole?” She winked.
“You’re implying I’m the prick?”
“Well, you said something about assholes, which he overheard and replied to, so…”
“Fine,” I held up my one free hand in surrender. “You win. Now, I guess we better get back. The runes have me wondering, especially now since…” I trailed off, realizing I hadn’t told her everything about the dream.
“You saw something, didn’t you?”
I nodded. “She was there. Glitonea. And somehow, it had to do with the runes.”
“Shit, Jericho. Come on,” Steph was pulling me along, the urgency that had somehow been lost on me now returning with a vengeance.
“She found a way into my dream,” I argued. “It’s not like she’s breaking out.”
“For all we know, that could be the same thing.”
Damn, she had a point.
I drank the coffee faster than I would have liked, considering how hot it was, but paused briefly to pull my hand free and dip into a corner store. A moment later, I was back out with a box of condoms, holding it high with a grin. She shook her head, reminding me how silly that had been considering our situation. A group of young college girls walked by, giggling, further making me feel like an ass.
Then again, what did I care? Ensuring I didn’t create any little gargoyle or witch babies anytime soon was high on the list of priorities as far as I was concerned.
Soon we were back, my coffee cup on and condoms on the kitchen counter, and we were pounding up the stairs and going right for Glitonea’s prison room. We paused at the door and shared a look of worry as we caught our breath.
“Wait,” I said as Steph reached for the door. Instead of going that route, I created a slit for us to see through, then several more, while converting the material between to thick glass, only a couple of holes for us to be able to converse through.
Glitonea stood in the middle of the room, light swirling around her nude body, runes lit up. Her eyes were closed, brow furrowed. After a moment of this, she cursed loudly and slammed herself into the small area we could see, staying there with eyes toward us.
“What the fuck do you want?” she demanded.
“To slit your throat,” Steph growled, but then took a step back with an apologetic glance my way.
“And you?” Glitonea said, eyes darting over to me, glowing a slight green around the edges of her pupils. “Would you see me dead, or…” She slid up along the glass, apparently floating or sticking to the wall, I couldn’t tell, until her breasts were pressed against the viewing slits. “Is this more to your liking?”
“Let’s cut this bitch,” Steph muttered, then turned around, hand to her mouth. A shadow darted about her.
“You need to leave,” I hissed to Steph, then went to her and put an arm around her shoulder. “She’s getting to you, somehow. Go.”
Steph nodded, hand in a fist, and looked at me with dark eyes, mouth moving as if about to say something mean. Instead, she briskly trotted off, leaving me alone outside this room with one of the Nine.
“Quit it,” I said, waving my hand and making the viewing points change so that only her face was visible. “Whatever you’re doing to Steph, and whatever you’re trying with me. It won’t work.”
“Is that so?” she floated away from the wall, hovering there. “And here I was thinking you thought me helpless, hopeless… Silly man.”
“I’m not here to test you,” I said, and then stepped forward, letting the walls wrap around me, engulfing me so that, when I released the wall in front, I was in the room with her.
“What then?” she asked, eyeing me skeptically.
“You offered yourself to me before…” I let the words linger.
She held out her arms, completely nude, and a sight to behold. Those runes covered her entire body, it would seem.
“Turn around,” I commanded.
“I like where this is going.” She spun, hands on the wall, and stuck her ass out as if I was seriously going to take her right there. If not for my team and the way they took care of my horny post-teen needs,
I might have been damn tempted. Instead, I used my transmorph ability as I had with the spell book, committing her body—but actually the runes on it—to a sort of mental scanner, as I did with the front.
“Do whatever you want to me, big…” Her words trailed off as I stepped back, replacing the wall. A shout of frustration and surprise followed me out of there, but I was gone, already pacing down the hall to find Steph.
“What—” she started, but I had her arm in mine, creating a walkway down. “The runes?”
“The runes,” I replied, and we descended.
“But why?”
“I have new pieces of information I can use.”
The screen floated near my head, only visible to me, already moving along her body, taking the runes and mapping them out on a grid that didn’t require the image of her flesh. As much as it was a nice sight to behold, I didn’t need it.
I had my team, and now I had a mapped-out display of her runes, one I could compare with those down below. One way or another, I was going to figure out how to use this other form of magic.
107
Walking into the foundation area where we had discovered the runes carved into the floor earlier, I was hit by how much colder it felt before. This didn’t make sense for being in D.C. in the summer, let alone an insulated area like this.
But I had a good idea why.
“Glitonea,” I said, glancing around, eyes setlting on a dim, blue glow from around one of the stone pillars.
“How, though?” Steph asked.
I shook my head. “Beats me. A different sort of magic, right? I mean, if I can use my transmutation magic when the ‘magic’ is shut off, and the magic that shuts it off is rune-based, it would make sense that other rune-based magic could still work. At least in a certain way.”
“That last part gets me. Has to be limited, because otherwise Glitonea would be out by now.”
“She’s that powerful?”
“Jericho, she’s one of the Nine.”
“Right.”
We rounded the pillar to find a wispy blue light rising out of the ground. It cast glittering reflections on the surrounding pillars and ceiling above like a blue sun on water. Steph’s eyes met mine and I knew what she was thinking—this wasn’t good.
My eyes darted about, mind playing tricks on me with the light and shadows. At any minute, someone would jump out and try to attack us, I was certain of it.
Steph approached the light, muttering, “This isn’t good. It shouldn’t be here… Why is it here?”
“Certain runes have been activated,” I said. “This place, it had to have been made as an area that could amplify magic, or maybe as a backup for Gertrude in case other magic failed.”
“Or… Maybe it was put here before her time.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I countered, turning to look at the runes around us on the ground, trying to scan the area for my digital display and analysis. “She came to it by chance?”
“It was put here… to draw her… to it.”
I turned to see why Steph was talking weird, then noticed that she was standing in the light, starting to float. Her hands went out to the side, her eyes rolling back until only white showed, her skirt fluttering as if there was a wind. I felt no wind.
“Oh, fuck,” I said as I ran to her, grabbing hold to pull her out of the light.
Movement. Something large coming at me. It hit like a sledgehammer to the gut and tossed me over, slamming me into the wall. I rolled, expecting another attack, then pushed myself up to face what I was certain had to be Glitonea.
It wasn’t.
Standing in front of me, wings spread and talons at the ready, was Ebrill. I blinked, confused.
“What—” I started, but she slammed into me again, the force of her attack nearly knocking me to the ground. My attempts to throw her off failed, and in a flash she had an arm around my throat, spinning me.
From this new angle, I saw Steph on the floor, wraith knights all around her, with swords held high but not attacking. Why weren’t they attacking? Steph sat up and threw a fireball to my left, out of my sight, but still the knights didn’t move.
She wheeled around, but I couldn’t see what came next because Ebrill lurched sideways, pulling as I attempted to get my chin between her arm and my neck.
“Why…?” I tried asking, but got only a grunt.
This didn’t make sense—it was still daytime. Had to be! To say nothing of the fact that Ebrill wouldn’t attack me like this. Unless Glitonea had found a way to turn them against us, to confuse them… and wake them during the day?
Oxygen was getting thin in my brain and my muscles cramped with exertion, but I gambled and cast frost footing beneath us. My hope had been that it would cause Ebrill to slip, but no such luck. Instead, I slipped and managed to break out of her grip, so that I landed on the ice and rolled aside, then stood, hands ready.
“I’ll blast you,” I bluffed. “Don’t do it. This is me.”
The red in her eyes flared, and she took a step toward me. My hands raised again as I glanced over to see Steph dive behind a pillar and cringe. I still didn’t see her attacker, but knew I needed to get Ebrill under control so we could go and help.
“It’s me,” I said to the gargoyle. “Jericho. I went back in time, found you, saved magic—in a weird way. It is me.”
The corner of her mouth curled, a voice very not her own emitting. “How pitiful, little Jericho. You think that highly of yourself, when all you’ve been is a puppet?”
“You’re not Ebrill,” I said, rethinking my attack strategy.
A hint of humor. “I’m not… but I took her body.”
“Glitonea,” I said, eyeing the runes. There had to be a way to reverse this. If she had taken over Ebrill’s body, that meant the gargoyle was still in there, somewhere. Hurting her wasn’t an option, but how could I win, here?
Part of what I had been learning recently was that I could control quite a lot about my surroundings with my transmutation power. It was all mental, in that I had to believe I could do something before being able to do it. In theory, there wasn’t much I couldn’t change or do, but my mind had a hard time grasping that.
Applying such thought to this scenario, I realized such powers had to be the answer. Focusing on Glitonea up in her room somehow affecting Ebrill, I concentrated on pushing her out. My thought process involved imagining Glitonea and her glowing runes on her flesh, then drawing a string down here to Ebrill and cutting it free.
Only, it was like taking a step only to find no ground beneath your foot. I mentally fell, caught myself, and shook my head clear—in time to catch one of Ebrill’s knees with my face. Pain, blood, me staggering backward. If it came down to hurting this woman I’d grown to care for or letting a possessed version of her kick the shit out of me, which would it be?
My hand went to the ground, an idea taking over. Focusing on creating a hole, I smirked, waiting. Nothing happened. No hole.
Ebrill stepped forward, then glitched! Like a holograph, she cut out for a moment, then was back. Something was very off here. I moved the ground again. This time, she vanished completely, replaced with an image of the Little Mermaid floating in front of me as if in the water, breasts exposed and lasers shooting out of her nipples.
Okay, now I knew this was way off. For one, as ridiculous as it sounded, I’d drawn that exact image once when I was twelve. Don’t judge me—twelve, I said. If you thought I was horny all the time with my group of gargoyles and Steph, you can’t begin to imagine how sexed-up my brain was at twelve.
Point being, this was familiar, but not many would know about it.
Even the mermaid herself seemed to think she was a gargoyle still, as she laughed, Glitonea’s voice coming through to say, “You coward. In the face of your worst nightmare, you can’t stand and fight?”
“My worst…”
A shooting pain went through my eyes. My mind was pounding, stomach spinning. None of this made sense. I
had to use the runes, figure out… Wait a minute. They were there, on my screen. As I willed myself to be able to understand them, it happened—briefly, barely, but it worked.
“Illusion,” I said, recognizing the pattern. “It’s all an illusion!”
Understanding what it was, I was able to focus on the specific runes causing the illusion and shut it off. The rune I’d affected when trying to make a hole was integral. Another nearby showed a connection. Activating some, while deactivating others, created more scenarios, more tricks of the mind.
Steph screamed, calling for me, and for a moment I saw through her eyes, then was pulled back into myself but able to see her illusions, too. The knights were facing a monstrous serpent, some of them freezing as stone, others turning to ash. Flames leaped up around them.
Then the gargoyle faded, the fire was gone, the ashes and frozen wraiths… all gone. Steph fell to her knees, a whimper escaping her lips, and I ran to her side, holding her close.
“It’s over.”
At least, for us. Now my screen was showing a pattern, the words ‘illusion’ written in the upper right-hand corner. I had learned a rune spell, and saw which runes gave it direction.
“Here,” I said, looking at the runes on the ground and those on the digital map floating before me. With them overlaid I was able to see that there were similar patterns, and the ones glowing at the moment might have been others activated by Glitonea. At least, that was my guess.
Focusing on my map and then trying to use my powers to deactivate specific runes, I wanted to test the magic, see what the effects were.
“Nothing?” Steph asked.
I shook my head, but then had an idea. The runes on Glitonea’s body hadn’t been flat like on my display, but curved around her body. What if there was a connection there, like they paired up in different ways, like Chinese symbols in writing? It wasn’t only the symbols and which were used, but in what order.
Considering this, I made my screens compute different combinations, seeing if it would tell me how to use them. It made the combinations, but left the rest up to me. I was left feeling like A Boy and His Blob for the NES, and these combinations were my jelly beans. If you don’t get the reference, seriously, go look it up. One of the best games ever, along with the old-school Zelda, Contra—the list goes on.
