by Rhys Ford
Twelve
KJ’D SLEPT until past nine and then spent hours going over every piece of information Thomas shared with him the night before. It wasn’t as overwhelming as it had been at the time. He’d managed to absorb most of it, or he thought he had. Fortunately the compass had stopped sparkling by the time he woke up. It was sitting in the pouch of his hoodie, where he could rub his thumb over the engravings and play with the latch.
He’d talked to Thomas on the phone for the first time instead of texting, setting up plans to meet at Pioneer Park before sunset. Thomas had called, and it meant a lot to KJ that he’d done that. They were good together, and he didn’t want to lose that.
A phone call with Thomas was one thing, but KJ didn’t think it would do for David. He had too much to tell his best friend, and he was bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited for David to answer his door. Five minutes later he let out a sigh and started sorting through his keys for the one that would let him in. The tiny bit of shade didn’t keep him from the heat, but before he could shove the key into the lock, he heard David call out his name from behind him.
“You just scared the crap out of me,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t know you were out.”
David shrugged, coming up the walkway with his backpack slung over one shoulder. He was rumpled, which wasn’t uncommon. Unless he was working or on a date, David wasn’t a clotheshorse, but he had some dried pine needles caught in his hair to add to his unkempt appearance. “I didn’t know you were coming. I went to check on the cameras, replacing the ones that wandered off since we placed them.”
“Guess it’s great any were still there, but that’s probably because they’re cheap.” KJ followed David inside. The apartment was dark, heavy drapes covering the windows, with barely enough sunlight at the edges to show him the way. It was cluttered and smelled stuffy—and weird—like David hadn’t run the garbage disposal last time he used the sink.
“Why are you here?” David asked, sounding less than thrilled KJ was there.
“You wanted to know about the date, didn’t you?” KJ wove his way past the coffee table, piles of books, and pillows on the floor to yank one of the curtains open. Then he flopped onto a big pillow while David got settled.
“Well, you’re smiling and here, so I’m guessing sex was involved.”
“Sex was involved, but that’s not the important thing.”
David let out a snort and leaned back on the sofa. “Since when?”
“Since magic is fucking real, David. Thomas is a warlock or witch. Not sure if they use the different names by sex, but I’ll find out. He’s got wards on his house to keep ghosts out and tarot card spells in his bedroom that move. It was insane and so cool, and his daughter’s a witch too!”
“Tell me more. Tell me everything,” David demanded.
KJ couldn’t stop talking if he wanted to. He was too far gone, but he still kept to his promise not to mention Nation.
HOURS LATER, David was running late, and not for the first time, KJ regretted that they rode together on filming nights, since it didn’t make sense to take two cars when all their gear was stuffed in the back of his friend’s SUV.
“Dude,” KJ said when David’s voicemail answered, but before he could say anything else, David pulled into the parking lot for the complex.
“Sorry,” David said as KJ climbed into the seat and hooked on his seat belt. “I lost track of time going over the coverage from last night after you left. Did you look at it?”
“I couldn’t see much. I saw movement, dark shapes, but none of it looked usable.” KJ angled himself in the seat so he could pull his tablet out of his backpack. He propped it on the dash and then opened the window a couple of inches to get enough fresh air to keep from getting motion sick while looking at the screen. “The cameras were an experiment. They were shit, but next time we can get better stuff.”
“Maybe your boyfriend can tell us where to film next. Use his mojo to guide us to the strange and unnatural.”
“Not my boyfriend. Sort of a weird situation, David, and I’m not sure that wouldn’t be cheating.”
“Cheating? Seriously, KJ? He’s a wizard or whatever, and he showed you real magic. You’re lucky I know you too well to think you were stoned or drunk last night.”
“Thanks for that. I think.” KJ scrolled through the cameras, looking for the one he’d planted near the wax, where the Lady had spoken to him. “There’s something in this one. I just can’t see it well enough to know what it is. This is the spot. My gut’s almost always right.”
“We’ll find out soon enough.” David parallel parked in one of the only spots left on the street. He squeezed the steering wheel and turned to look at KJ with probably the most serious look he’d ever had on his face. “This guy’s the real deal. Okay. He’s the naked guy. This is fate or destiny or kismet or whatever. But if he fucks you over, I’ll kill him.”
“Aw, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“It got serious so fast, KJ. That’s not normal.”
“None of this is normal, but please be nice,” KJ said as he slipped from the seat onto the sidewalk and shrugged on his backpack, then picked back up his tablet. “He’s waiting for us right over there.” Looking entirely too pretty too. KJ had to admire the fit of the black on black on black outfit Thomas was wearing.
“Who does he think he is, Dresden?” David said mockingly as he hefted the good camera over his shoulder. “Where’s the staff? And that is one fugly cat!”
“I don’t think he uses a staff, and Harry Dresden wishes he was that hot. We haven’t talked weaponry. It’s not like we traded character sheets for a Mage game.” Which would make meeting a new person so much easier.
THOMAS LET Nation out of the carrier as soon as they got to the park and casually made his way to the gravestone memorial. He patted his messenger bag one more time to make sure his dagger was where he could get to it quickly and that none of the potions he had tucked in the pockets were leaking.
“It feels wrong here,” he told Nation. “Not that it’s ever felt right. Too many dead here. Too many ghosts. The place could use a truckload of rock salt and holy water.”
“Gotta love the classics,” the cat agreed before jumping on top of the tallest headstone to begin washing his face. “Here comes Kevin-James and his friend.”
Thomas waved at the two of them and then stroked Nation’s back, paying special attention to his rump, which kept the cat from talking and made him purr. The air was cooling off fast, which was a good thing. He wasn’t dressed for the first day of summer, unlike David and KJ, who looked like a couple of college students in their hoodies and shorts.
“Thomas Anders, this is David Foster, my best friend aka man who handles the camera.”
Thomas held his hand out to shake David’s. He expected to feel David being protective of KJ, or even some jealousy from the teacher’s best friend, but instead he sensed eagerness and need. It was odd. “And that is Nation.”
Nation jumped down and twined between KJ’s legs to say hello while completely ignoring David in a very catlike fashion. He let KJ pet him and then sauntered off into the bushes.
“Aren’t you worried about him running away?” David asked, which told Thomas that KJ hadn’t told his friend about Nation as he’d promised.
“He always finds his way home. He’s also very good at sniffing out the paranormal where it does not belong,” Thomas said as he reached into his bag and pulled out half a dozen small plastic bottles. “These are travel squeeze bottles filled with holy water from the Mission. They should offer you some protection depending on what’s making the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. You feel it too, don’t you, KJ?”
“Yeah, I do. Felt it the night before last when we were here, but it’s worse now. If I was alone, I’d be getting back in my car right now.” He shivered and handed half of the holy water to David. “David doesn’t feel any of it. He’s not like me—or you.�
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“Or the magic-sniffing cat,” David said as he tucked the holy water away and adjusted the camera. “Where do you want to start? The black wax/White Lady spot?”
Thomas almost fumbled for the compass, then smiled at KJ, who had it in his hand. “It’ll show us where to go. It could do that before it came into my possession. Have it show us the way, KJ.”
“This is so weird.” KJ’s knuckles whitened as he tightened his grip on the compass and then popped it open. Like the night before, there was a cascade of multicolored sparks that would’ve been dazzling if the sun had gone behind the horizon. “Wow. It’s doing its spinning thing. Now we wait to see if it points at you again.”
“It likes me,” Thomas said with a shrug and a smile. Leaning closer to KJ, he caught the spicy scent of his soap and decided it was far better than Skin So Soft, and it also didn’t seem to mess up his spells.
The disc snapped in place, pointing to the tree line near the ravine where KJ said he’d found the black wax. “Not a surprise on either thing,” KJ said. “I like you too, and that’s where I got the warning. Keep the camera rolling, David.”
“Battery and two spares are fully charged, dude. I’m ready for whatever happens.”
They weren’t and Thomas knew it. He hoped that between him and Nation, they could keep them safe from the darkness creeping in the lengthening shadows.
“DUDE.” DAVID stopped suddenly in the middle of the grassy field. There’d been a crackling sound, and his face went white. “I just stepped on something. Oh shit.”
It was almost dark. Twilight seemed to last hours until the last few minutes before the sun went beyond the horizon. KJ aimed his flashlight at David’s feet. “Is that a hand?”
“That’s a hand. I’m standing on a hand!” David stepped cautiously backward, panting as he leaned on KJ to make certain there were no pieces of bone trapped in the sole of his sneakers. “What the hell? Is that real?”
“It’s real,” Thomas said as he attempted to pick up the shattered hand, but when he touched it, it crumbled to so much dust, drifting in a grayish, glowing cloud onto the grass. “And very, very old, as you’d expect in this place.” He got back to his feet, scanning the immediate area for more errant body parts. “There’s something over there too, but it’s too small to see what it is.”
“I know they left the bodies when they made this into a park, but aren’t they buried really deep? I mean, they added dirt to level the ground and to make sure nothing came up by accident.” KJ’s eyes were bright. Unlike David, he wasn’t shocked by what they’d found. Thomas didn’t know if it was because of KJ’s sensitive nature or because he trusted Thomas to look after them. Either choice was better than having both of them scared.
“One would think,” Thomas said. He reached into his bag and pulled out his dagger. It was dark enough for them not to draw too much attention, so he wasn’t worried about being arrested for carrying a ten-inch-long steel blade honed sharp enough to cut wyvern hide. “I can taste the magic used. The spell was strong, but it’s not right.”
“When is raising the dead right?” KJ asked with a smirk as they started walking once more.
“It might not be that. A novice might’ve decided he wanted to make a Hand of Glory and thought this was a good place to go shopping.” It wouldn’t be the first time that’d happened on Thomas’s watch, but usually they went for easier-to-get body parts. It was a hell of a lot easier to grave-rob from a fresh burial or sneak into a morgue or funeral home.
David approached another group of bones, carefully making sure he got it on camera this time. “It’s the rest of the arm. Guess they forgot to bring a bag to carry the pieces?”
“Remind me to tell you some stories about this kind of thing next time we see each other. Some of it’s really funny.” Thomas bumped shoulders with KJ and brushed his knuckles against the back of his hand. “There was this kid who was drenched in Skin So Soft who stumbled into our camp one summer.”
“He already knows that story, Thomas. Can’t blackmail me with it. Hell, your cat knows the story.” KJ crouched at the base of the tree where he’d spoken to the Lady in White. “This a lot more than the other night. And they smashed the camera.”
Thomas left KJ and David at the tree and walked deeper into the trees toward the ravine that flanked the park. A familiar shape darted from the darkness, and Nation leaped onto his shoulder. “There’s a broken circle near the edge with a pit in the middle of it. Stinks like death,” Nation informed him from his perch, keeping his voice low so David didn’t hear him. “I don’t think they should see it.”
“Let me have a look before I try to tell them to go home. Neither one of them is likely to listen. They’re too determined to capture their white whale.”
Nation jumped down to lead Thomas between the scraggly trees. The third time he was scratched by a branch trying to follow the much smaller cat, he complained, “Would you mind leading me through places where I’ll fit?”
“Sorry.” It was a short and sweet apology, which made Thomas worry more about the danger they might be facing.
“Where are we going?” KJ asked without bothering to be quiet, coming up behind Thomas. “Wow, it’s really dark out here. Is this even still park property?”
Thomas said a silent prayer to the powers that be to protect KJ and David, and then let out a sigh. “Nation wanted to show me something. Can’t do that without David hearing him talk.”
“We’ve got a few minutes. Something happened with the camera. The battery flatlined, so he’s switching to the backup.” KJ ducked under a low-hanging branch and then stopped suddenly. “What is that smell? Nothing dead here should smell like that. It’s been over a century!”
“One of the first lessons you need to learn, love, is to stop trying to make magic make sense. I don’t suppose you’d go back to help David, would you?” Thomas asked as he stepped through the trees. With a flash, the broken magic circle Nation had warned him about sprang into life. Lines of crimson, gold, and orange traveled over the ground like molten metal filling a groove, reconnecting until the circle was fully formed. “Nation, this circle is not broken.”
“It was when I went through it,” the cat stated firmly from outside of the now glowing ring. “Twice!”
“Well, it’s not now.” Thomas pulled on his power and felt a sharp stabbing pain travel up his legs and along his back. His spine grew colder as his body’s warmth seemed to be sucked into the soil. He lost his grip on his dagger, and it landed on the soil near his feet, point down. Then he fell to his knees beside KJ. “It’s also a trap.”
KJ FELT the panic rising, and unlike the last time he was slipping into freak-out mode, he felt he deserved to be there. Of course he was scared! The magic in the circle was real. He could feel heat radiating from the crimson sigils and lines like he was standing near a volcano. Thomas shivered beside him, and when he reached for his hand, it was like ice. But the air was stifling hot around them.
KJ rubbed between Thomas’s shoulder blades with his free hand. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I don’t know.” Thomas’s eyes seemed unfocused, and KJ could see the trap was causing him pain. “How about you?”
“I’m okay. Feels weird, though. Like tiny claws, pins and needles all over my skin. Kinda wish I had some of that Skin So Soft. Worked to block you, right?” Without letting go of Thomas, he turned his attention to the path they’d taken. “But we’re not alone.”
“We’ve got Nation, unless this hurts him too.”
“Not just Nation—we’ve got David. He’s gotta be wondering what happened to us, right?” They hadn’t been gone that long, but they were best friends, which meant they worried. Also, after stepping on the skeletal hand, David would be in hyperparanoia mode. “David! David! We need help! Dude, where are you?”
“I’m over here!” David called out to them as he made his way through the trees to the outer edge of the glowing circle. KJ noticed that his toes did no
t touch the lines at all, which was odd, since he shouldn’t be able to see it, and there was a blob of something black that looked like wax on his shoe. David never responded to any of the paranormal effects KJ had shown him over the years. He was as blind to them as his cameras.
“Break the circle. It’s right in front of you. Kick some dirt over it, or dig your toes into it.”
“I can’t do that, KJ.” A bright smile spread from one ear to the other as David tucked his hands into his pockets and chuckled. “Because David’s not here, man.”
“Hitcher,” Thomas said from between clenched teeth as he fought his way back to his feet to stand firm with KJ. “He’s taken David’s body.”
“And now I get the choice of yours—both of you.” The hitcher leaned against the nearest tree and shrugged. “I’ve been waiting for someone like you for months, Kevin-James, waiting for someone with at least some magic. You YouTube people, it’s like going to a buffet! But your potential drew me here, and then when I found out your friend here was null… perfection. So easy to take his place.”
“Where’s David?” KJ’s heart sank into a thick mire of blackness. Terror that his best friend was dead made his stomach lurch, and he had to bend over to catch his breath before he threw up. “When?”
“David’s still in there,” Thomas told him before the hitcher could answer. “Locked away while whoever runs the show.”
“Spoilsport,” the hitcher said snidely. “Yes, David’s still here.” He tapped the side of his head. “He might survive when I leave, but by then neither of us will give a shit. I wanted you, KJ. So much potential to unlock, but now you’ve brought me Thomas. He’s a council mage, a protector, and there’s so much power in him!” He leaned forward, pushing off the tree to return to the rim of the circle. “And what you told me about his daughter today! I want her too. By the time I take her body, I’ll be the most powerful of my kind.”
