Magic Underground: The Complete Collection (Magic Underground Anthologies Book 4)

by Melinda Kucsera

  Grandma Katona withdrew from the doorway to reach Algernon’s side. She pointed to his game piece on the board. “That’s a good move,” she said as she kissed his cheek. “You need to trust your instincts, Algie. Now, they’re all checking the rooms. We’ll have to be swift to reach the spiral stairs, but we can do it.”

  She beckoned for him to join her.

  To his surprise, she picked up his freshly moved game piece and tucked it into her pocket as she returned to the door. Grandma Katona gestured for him to hurry to the next room.

  Boots thumped the floor inside other rooms farther down the hall. Glass shattered. Someone swore. Someone else heaved a long-suffering sigh.

  Algernon followed orders. In his soft indoor shoes, he dashed to the open door several feet down the hall. The door led to a long closet attached to the servant stairs. Shelves held fresh guest towels and cleaning supplies. A long, empty table offered space to set trays or other burdens.

  Grandma Katona slipped into the closet. She plucked two hand towels off the shelves and gave them to Algernon. He accepted them without question.

  She pointed to the stairs, and he dutifully led the way. Algernon rushed down the steps, his shoes making only hushed whispers against the bare stone.

  On the ground floor, the stairs spilled into a dark storage room full of everyone’s preferred service items, like Grandma Katona’s tea service and Algernon’s favorite crackers. A wooden door separated the storage room from the kitchen.

  Algernon paused and pressed his pointed ear against the door. He heard nothing at all. Not even the sounds of Ernold humming to himself.

  Bracing himself to discover Ernold’s body, Algernon turned the knob slowly and eased open the door.

  The scent of rising yeast filled the large space. Some other smell, one he’d never experienced before, lurked beneath it. The heavier meaty and metallic flavor to the air made Algernon wrinkle his nose.

  Behind him, Grandma Katona sighed.

  He hurried around the wooden prep table in the center of the warm room. On the counter at the far end, a cup lay on its side in a puddle of dark liquid.

  “Algie,” Grandma Katona said.

  As she spoke, he found the body. Ernold lay on the floor with unblinking eyes staring at him in torment. Blood surrounded him. Algernon had never seen so much blood. Dark and thick, it had nothing in common with the blood from minor cuts and scrapes he’d sustained many times.

  Seeing Ernold’s corpse shoved the unbearable stench up his nose with staggering force. He stumbled backward. His stomach rebelled.

  Algernon fell to his knees and threw up.

  Strong arms held his shoulders. “I’m here, Algie,” Grandma Katona murmured. “That poor man. He didn’t suffer long. Hold onto that. They gave him a swift death.” She brushed her hand over his short, brown hair. “We will give them long, painful deaths.”

  Unable to stop himself despite the danger he knew lurked overhead, Algernon cried for the old man on the floor.

  “Sssh, Algie. We don’t have time to mourn now.” Grandma Katona took her hand towel to the metal sink and dampened it. She kept the water from hitting the basin and making noise. “We have time only for justice.” Wiping Algie’s face with the towel, she shushed him again.

  “They’re animals,” Algernon whispered. He blew his nose into the towel, forcing out the stinging bile.

  “No, Algie. Animals kill to eat. These are monsters.” She laid the towel over the small puddle of vomit on the floor. “What do we do to monsters?”

  He knew the answer. “We hunt them and we slay them.”

  “That’s right.” Grandma Katona held the skirts of her purple dress and stepped over Ernold to pull a sharp knife from a block. She brought it to Algernon. “Take this. It’s just like a dagger. Wrap the towel around your free hand to protect it. You have my permission to use your magical skills as much as you can to defend yourself and our home.”

  Algernon took the blade. He swiped his sleeve across his face and tried not to think about anything anymore. The knife had a long, wide blade with a tang wrapped in smooth, polished wood. “I’ve never hurt anyone before, Grandma.”

  His voice sounded so small and choked, even to him. Nothing made sense anymore. Ernold lay so still. He seemed fake, like a prop placed to cause distress.

  “My dear child.” Grandma Katona sighed. She touched his cheek with her wrinkled, spotted fingers. “I wish this could wait until you’re ready. But they have made clear the choice is between us and them. We will choose us. Now come.”

  She reached for his hand. “We stand no chance in a fair fight. You and I must work to set up four very unfair fights before they can find us.”

  Nodding, Algernon took her hand and stood. He tore his gaze from the corpse on the floor.

  As she led him to the stairs again, Grandma Katona picked up a teacup. Algernon didn’t see what she poured into it before passing it to him.

  “Drink. It’ll ease the rawness in your mouth and throat. And if you want to shed more tears for the loss of that gentle soul, think instead of the monsters.”

  Algernon drank. The cup held Grandma Katona’s favorite mint tea with honey.

  She closed the door. “Where is your sword, Algie?” she whispered.

  He finished the tepid tea and set aside the cup. “My room.”

  Looking at the ceiling as if she could see through it, Grandma Katona picked up a small stack of crackers and offered them to him. “Eat. Your empty stomach will give us away when it starts rumbling.”

  Blushing, he took the crackers. “Aren’t you upset?”

  “Upset?” Grandma Katona raised her chin. “I am livid with rage, child. Every fiber of my being seethes at these monsters who dare invade my home, murder a member of my family, and attempt to kidnap my grandson.”

  She held in her anger and used it as fuel. Her every thought burned toward the purpose of survival and justice.

  He wished he could do the same.

  Algernon stuffed crackers into his mouth, trying not to think of the man who’d made them. As always, the crunchy squares tasted buttery and salty, light and flaky. That seemed wrong.

  Ernold’s crackers refused to mourn their creator by turning bitter or crumbling to dust.

  Grandma Katona climbed the stairs. Algernon followed. They paused at the second floor and heard nothing through the closed door. Both pairs of monsters had moved on.

  They climbed upward. Grandma Katona paused with her head at the level of the third floor. After a few long moments, she returned to the second floor and beckoned for him to follow.

  In the largest sitting room with the main staircase, full of chairs and more artwork made from pieces of colored glass, Grandma Katona pointed to an armchair with a floral print and a high back. “Move this as quietly as you can, Algie,” she whispered. “Get it over here.”

  He lifted the front half of the chair and pushed it on the thick back legs. Under her direction, Algernon moved the chair near the open doorway step by agonizing step.

  His arms complained and he panted for breath. Swordwork had given him some muscle and endurance. Not enough for this.

  In his head, he promised to spend more time lifting heavy things and exercising. The next time Grandma Katona asked him to undertake this kind of physical labor, he’d have no trouble with it.

  Following her orders, he moved three more chairs. The arrangement formed an obvious hiding spot for a frightened child.

  By the time he finished, sweat stained his brow and back.

  “Good work, Algie.” Grandma Katona patted his shoulder. “You’re doing a good job.” She held up the game piece she’d taken. “Go to the top of the stairs and throw this at the door. Run back here as fast as you can and stand there, beside the door. Whimper loudly enough for them to overhear. When the first one comes through, use this.”

  To Algernon’s horror, Grandma Katona pointed to the knife in his hand.

  He blinked at her, certain he misund
erstood. “Use it to do what?”

  She touched his cheeks with her warm, wrinkled hands. Her smile seemed sad and soft and sweet all at once. “Algernon, I’m sorry to ask this of you. You’re so young.” With unexpected strength, she pulled his head closer and kissed his forehead. “I need you to kill them.”

  Sparks shot through his body. It felt the same as when he almost fell down the stairs but saved himself seemingly by chance.

  His parents believed wholeheartedly that killing was the greatest sin ever committed by women and men. Mother believed it so strongly that the family never ate meat.

  Though he opened his mouth to tell his grandmother he couldn't do it, no sound came out.

  “I’ll help you, but I can’t reach high anymore. The best thing you can do is stab them through the spine and throat so they fall fast and can’t make any noise. It’s hard, but you can do it. For a blow like that, you get one chance. One. Make it count.” She let go of him and pressed the game piece into his towel-wrapped hand.

  Algernon gasped for breath. He wanted to crawl into the hiding spot he’d created with the chairs and stay there.

  Grandma Katona turned him around by his shoulders and nudged him toward the stairs closet. “Be swift. Stop thinking and start doing. We’re going to deal with these monsters so they never hurt anyone again.”

  “Yes, Grandma,” Algernon whispered, still trying to breathe.

  He couldn't drag in enough air.

  His feet shuffled forward. He wanted to sprint for the front door and flee the house. Why couldn't they flee the house?

  When he glanced toward the front door, he heard his grandmother sigh.

  Then he heard voices. Jannil and Benny prowled the ground floor. They might sweep past any of the staircases at any time.

  Jannil and her team could outrun Grandma Katona. Algernon knew that. Grandma Katona knew that too.

  He had to trust that she’d already thought this through. And that she knew the limitations of her illusions better than he did.

  These monsters deserved a terrible, agonizing death. He held onto that truth.

  Algernon gulped and hurried to the stairs closet.

  As Grandma Katona had instructed, he climbed as far as he needed into the closet on the third floor and threw the game piece at the door. Before it hit, he sprinted down the stairs and returned to the sitting room. He stopped and stood beside the entry, trying to catch his breath.

  Instead of Grandma Katona standing in the room, he saw deep, dark shadows.

  In the distance, a door opened. Algernon whimpered without needing to fake his distress.

  He heard nothing else. The monsters made no noise.

  Or they saw through Grandma Katona’s trick.

  At once, he wished for both.

  For good measure, he whimpered again.

  Moments later, a soft shadow approached. He heard a soft swish of fabric and smelled sweat. The man from the second pair stepped into the room, his boots quiet and careful.

  The man’s attention focused on the arranged chairs.

  Algernon had one chance. He lunged with the knife as the man passed him.

  His tutor had made him practice slashing so many times against a training dummy that his body carried him through the movement despite his hesitation.

  The knife sank into the man’s unprotected neck. His flesh yielded. Blood sprayed in a spatter and a gush.

  It happened so fast.

  It happened so slow.

  Algernon watched the blood, mesmerized by the showering fountain, as his body carried through the strike for maximum effect.

  The monster stared at him in wide-eyed shock for a heartbeat. He stumbled a step deeper into the room. His hands waved in the air and he gurgled.

  Watching a man die, Algernon staggered into the wall. His knife hit the carpet. He didn’t remember dropping it. Sliding down the wall, he tried to make sense of what he’d done.

  “Such a mess,” Grandma Katona said with a sigh. She tousled Algernon’s hair. “Good job, Algie.”

  The monster crumpled to the floor with a thump. He gurgled and flailed with fading strength. His limbs flopped on the floor, thumping and bumping.

  “What did I do?” he whispered.

  Grandma Katona stepped on the monster’s twitchiest limb, his leg. “You stopped the monster. I know this is upsetting, Algie, but I need you to get up.”

  She needed him to kill three more people. Two had names.

  “If we hurry,” Grandma Katona said, “we can catch the one upstairs before she comes to check on the noise and sees all the blood.”

  Algernon blinked as he raised his head. The wonderful old woman he loved and respected as a wise teacher wanted him to rush off and kill another monster before the first one’s heart stopped.

  “You poor thing,” Grandma Katona said with a sigh. She took hold of his chin. “This goes against everything your mother has ever told you. Listen to me, Algie. I know this Miru gentleman. He was your mother’s magic tutor. I tried to teach her, but she had no patience for what I do with magic. He came in and trained her to harness her power for what she wanted.

  “So this woman who wants to kidnap you? She’s doing it to gain leverage against your mother for Miru. They want to use you. I don’t know why, but I know they intend to stick you in a cage of some sort. And when they get what they want, they’ll do what their kind always does. They’ll say they mean to set you free. Then they’ll kill you both.”

  She wanted him to kill them to save himself. And her, and his mother. His father too, because when Dad lost his only family, he would lose himself.

  Algernon nodded.

  Grandma Katona let go. “I love you, Algernon. You’re a bright light in the darkness. Get that man’s sword and let’s go hunting. And don’t forget you can use magic.”

  Magic took focus. How could he focus in this kind of situation? He could barely breathe.

  He wiped his face, surprised to find his cheeks damp again.

  The dead man on the floor had murdered Ernold. Even if he hadn’t held the deadly blade, he’d stood by and watched. All four of these monsters had murdered an old man in the middle of making bread.

  For what?

  To keep him quiet and contained, a small part of Algernon knew. They placed so little value on life that they saw no reason to knock him out and tie him up when they had the opportunity to slit his throat instead.

  Algernon stepped close to the corpse and tugged the sword from its sheath. The still, dead thing on the floor had earned his fate.

  Blood already soaked into the rug ruined Algernon’s shoes. He stepped out of them as he reached the edge of the sodden carpet and flung both shoes deep into the sitting room.

  While Grandma Katona waited, he pulled off his damp woolen socks and threw them into the room also. Then they climbed the stairs to the third floor, taking care to shut the door behind them.

  The closet on the third floor served the same purpose as the one below it and duplicated the contents.

  The dead monster had left the door open.

  “Tonno, you find him?” the woman asked. She sounded close.

  Grandma Katona pointed for Algernon to stand beside the door frame. The room grew darker bit by bit, resisting the feeble light from tiny glowing spots along the hallway floor.

  “I’m afraid he did,” Grandma Katona said as she climbed the last few steps.

  Algernon froze, unable to think, to breathe, to move. He hadn’t expected her to reveal herself so brazenly. If anything happened to her, he had no idea what he would do.

  The woman’s boots scuffed the rug down the center of the hall, drawing closer. “And you’ve come to me to bargain for his release?”

  “Something like that,” Grandma Katona said. Without glancing at Algernon, she stopped several feet before the doorway and crossed her arms. “I thought this was a robbery?”

  “It is.” The woman remained outside the closet.

  Jannil had ordered the
m to kill Grandma Katona on sight. The longer Algernon waited to act, the better the chance this monster carried out that order.

  “Why don’t you come out of that closet so we can talk like civilized people?” the monster asked.

  Though he had no doubt Grandma Katona could answer the question and maintain a conversation as long as needed, Algernon lunged through the doorway, swinging his new, unfamiliar sword.

  He tried to fling out the one magical attack he knew well. A thick strand of power sprouted from his left palm and hit the woman in the face.

  It was supposed to wrap around her.

  The surprise of power slapping her cheek sent the woman a step backward with a grimace.

  His sword lacked the reach he expected. The strike which should have cut off her head instead slashed through her clothes to score a shallow cut across her chest.

  She gasped and fumbled for her sword.

  Algernon cursed himself.

  He rushed her.

  The collision knocked both to the floor. She squawked. He grunted.

  “Jannil!” the woman shouted.

  Algernon cracked his elbow against her jaw.

  Darkness shrouded the pair.

  Pain exploded across Algernon’s cheek and his head snapped to the side. He fell with the blow he never saw. The woman scrambled to the side. She scrabbled for her sword.

  “Third floor!” the woman screamed.

  A vase hit the woman’s head. She stumbled against the wall.

  Algernon wanted to stay on the floor and wallow in the ache across his cheek. Any moment, he’d wake from this terrible nightmare to discover he’d fallen asleep in the sitting room. Grandma Katona would chastise him for staying up too late the night before.

  “Algie,” Grandma Katona said, her voice strangled.

  He looked up. The monster held his grandmother by the neck. Grandma Katona gripped the monster’s arms with both of her spotted hands.

  Algernon flung out his left hand, demanding his power work for him. He needed it to save his grandmother.

  How dare this monster try to harm his family?

  An eldritch rope sprang from his hand. The end slapped the monster’s shin hard enough to make her squeal. It snaked around her legs, wrapping them together.