I sighed, then whispered, “I have been thinking. If the shard is what controls us, we should free that boy and take his shard. If we can dismantle it, he should be saved from the pain other people experience.”
“The Community Elders will not like that.”
“No,” I agreed. “They will not be for it at all. That’s why I need you to distract them somehow.”
“Distract them?” Aidan frowned. “How?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But no one in my house saw you punch River when he was being … rude … about us.”
It had taken me a moment to recall the word, but the moment I said it was the moment I knew it was the right one.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to think of something.”
“You thought of telling your sister you were going to ask me to be your House Mother,” I reminded him. “Because of that, everyone else in our Houses was distracted and didn’t see you.”
“You did,” Aidan pointed out.
“We’ve already established that we are the ones who can see certain things others can’t,” I said. “It makes sense I saw it, even if the others didn’t. Just try to think of something else, something that will distract them. Something that’s not bad enough to be erased, but something that will cause people to look at you for a few moments.”
Aidan hesitated, but then he nodded. “All right. But you’ll have to work quickly.”
“I’ll free the boy, and then I’ll take him down to the caves we used to play in as kids,” I said, looking back toward the oceanfront.
The boy was malnourished and thin which made the punishments he received all the more terrible. But there was hope in that, I decided. He wouldn’t be too heavy, and I would be able to get him out of the tower long enough to get the shard out of his forehead.
“Skyla.”
Aidan dropped my hand as Lady Sula’s voice called out for me.
Carefully, with a bright smile, I turned around to face her. “Lady Sula,” I said, giving her a small curtsey. “How are you today?”
“I am well, Skyla.”
Lady Sula had been the Lead Elder of my Community for as long as I could remember. She never seemed to age, but if I had to guess by looking at her, she was nearing her sixtieth year. Her long hair was pure white, and the shard in her head burned with total control all the time; every time I saw her, each of the seven rainbow colors evenly divided up the small gem, marking her as an Elder.
Her demeanor seemed to solidify the rest of her title. Despite her age, she stood straight, while other Elders were a little hunched. Her eyes, a perfect gray, were clear and alert. She had no wrinkles in her smile as she looked at me, and her gnarled hands seemed strong and firm despite the small splatter of gray freckles across her knuckles.
“I heard you will be a House Mother,” Lady Sula said.
“Yes,” I agreed, trying to look contrite and content at the same time.
“I did not see your registration,” she continued. “You must go down to the Elders’ Housing after the Learning Ceremony to correct this oversight.”
Aidan stepped forward. “It was my overexcitement,” he said. “I will fix it.”
“You will both need to go,” Lady Sula said. “And Aidan, remember your manners. We live in a perfect world, and we make it all the more beautiful when we remember how fragile that beauty is.”
She gave us a quick nod, smiled, and then walked away, taking her place at the entrance to the tower.
Aiden tugged my hand again. “I’m going to go in and find your brother,” he said. “As a member of last year’s class, I am allowed to go and stand with this year’s graduates. They will do some introductions before showing everyone the boy. In the meantime, you go see if you can sneak around and find him.”
“All right.” I swallowed hard, and Aidan leaned over and gave me a quick, stolen kiss on the cheek before he left me.
I felt each footstep he took as though it was a stomp on my heart. I could only hope that the boy did not feel all of my pain, now that Aidan had fiddled with my shard; if so, I wondered if my sudden sorrow at his parting might kill him.
There were a few ways into the tower, and I quickly spotted an entrance as I joined the adults heading into the tower. It was a small building, but the Community was not all here yet.
It made me sick to think of how each year I would have to witness the boy getting beaten and barraged by my pain.
A worse thought hit me as I slunk my way around the hidden hallways of the tower: What if someone actually enjoyed watching the boy suffer, and deliberately set out to cause him even more pain?
I did not want to think about that. Such cruelty did not seem possible.
And yet it was, wasn’t it?
That was the reason for the Imperfect Times. That was the reason that we were all here, forcing a young boy to take on all our pain and troubles. We ourselves were capable of all those things—hurting others, hurting ourselves, falling into the harshest cruelties of the human heart.
“Welcome to the 83rd Annual Summer Festival!”
An Elder’s voice called out through the tower, and I nearly screamed at the sudden, booming voice. I held my hand over my mouth to stop myself from making any noise, and it had to be a matter of divine providence that I did, because in that very next second, my shard began to buzz, vibrating with pain and sorrow.
Tears filled my eyes, as if to prepare me.
He’s near.
Another layer of pain struck me hard and fast, the same as it had before, when I’d first seen the boy.
I was getting closer.
A doorway on my left glowed with crimson fire, and—with a new surge of anguish pouring into my forehead—I opened it.
There he was. The same boy as before.
His eyes met mine as I stepped inside the room.
“I knew it was you, Skyla.”
The voiceless whisper in my head spoke, without his chapped and broken lips moving.
Before I could tell him I was there to rescue him, I realized the room’s ceiling was made of thick glass. The light was flooding all around him, and I could see a new cut form with a line of blood on his arm as I came closer.
If I had been in the Learning Ceremony line, like I was supposed to be, I would have only seen the lights. There were lines up above, and I knew that they would open up, showcasing the boy’s torment for all to see.
Through the glass, I could see Lady Sula was reigning over the room. I could hear her talking about the Learning Ceremony, and how good it was that we had all made it to this moment of our lives.
“Now,” she called out to the young people in the crowd, “now you will know the truth that comes with the Age of Accountability, and you must face your choice: Will you stay in the City by the Sea, or will you leave us?”
There was a loud chorus of naysayers, those who already were determined to stay. Had I not known the truth, I might have been among them.
But then I thought about being Aidan’s House Mother, about holding a child we were to raise; I imagined working at a job I loved, every day, no matter what it was; I thought about getting to kiss Aidan in our own house, whenever I wanted, in the years before we would be eligible for Child Rearing.
Maybe I would be one of the naysayers, too, even if I knew the truth. If I was not down here …
I squeezed my eyes shut in pain, angered and frustrated. All my life I had been told I was good, but in that moment, when I truly knew what good was, I knew I was not.
I would have been happy, I would have been content, I would have been productive, and I even would have been loving and kind to others. But I would not have been good.
“It’s all right, you know.”
“What?” I opened my eyes.
The boy in the center of the room was now before me, and his gaze had never left my face. I realized he had been able to read my thoughts.
“It’s all right for you to want a good life,” he said.
&
nbsp; “But it’s not good for you to pay the price for me to do that.” I shook my head. “I don’t even know your name. Who are you?”
“My name is Ai,” he said, in that strange, voiceless tone. It was louder than a whisper in my head this time.
“Ai. It’s nice to meet you,” I whispered back, before I held out my hand to him.
The scarlet chains of light surrounding him scorched my palm, but I did not stop reaching for Ai. It was something I had to suffer for—honestly, truly suffer for—and after my life of perfection, it was the smallest amount of sacrifice I could give.
And even while the light burned into my flesh, making my tears swell and augment, I felt a rush of joy inside of me. I knew I was doing the right thing.
As if to agree, just as I was about to grab Ai’s hand, I heard Aidan’s voice speak up above us.
“My Community,” he said, racing into the center of the tower auditorium. “My Community, I ask of you to celebrate with me today, for I have chosen a House Mother!”
“Aidan Aeros.” Lady Sula’s voice cut through his, stopping his impromptu speech.
“Yes, Lady Sula, it is me,” he agreed, doing his best to play off her words as a sign of reassurance, rather than discouragement. “I wanted to let the Community know I have asked for Skyla Mercer’s hand today, to join in mine as a House Mother.”
Ai smiled crookedly at me. “He is a good man.”
“I know,” I whispered back, before I grabbed his hand.
The next few moments were blurry to me, as my hand wrapped around his. The light around us changed, darkening the room around us as well as the one above us.
From what I could see, there were more people paying attention to Aidan, as he gushed about his love for me and all my goodness. It pained me that I had to run away, and even more so when I realized Ai was not helping.
“What are you doing?” Ai gasped and, as we left the room, the rest of the tower went dark.
“Getting you out of here,” I said. I did not have time to wonder if there was any other course of action. I simply picked him up, horrified at his lightness, and hurried out.
Ai struggled against me, all the way down to the caves. Behind us, I could hear Lady Sula and the other Elders, calling out in horror, some of them telling the audience to remain still while they sought to find a way to “better” their “unexpected situation.” I swore I could have heard the faintest strain of fear in Lady Sula’s voice as I ducked into the caves down by the seafront.
It was then, in the summer’s diminishing sunlight, that I saw Ai’s mouth move and form words.
“What have you done?”
His voice was choked and cracked, and immediately my motherly instincts cradled him against my breast.
“I’ve saved you,” I said, unable to stop some of my tears from falling on his cheek.
Ai pulled back from me, looking up at me in horror. He used one crooked, scraped finger to touch the shard on his forehead, and I could see his eyes grow wide as he realized he was no longer receiving any pain or experiencing the heartache of any Community member.
“We saved you,” I said, this time thinking of Aidan. I did not want to bruise Ai’s body further, but I reached out and hugged him tightly again. I embraced him, in part as an apology for all the pain of mine he’d taken away over the years. “I’m sorry about everything. But you’re safe now. Everything will be alright now.”
The boy eased back from me. “No,” he said.
“What?” I blinked in shock and stepped away. “What are you talking about? You’re innocent. You shouldn’t have to suffer because of the rest of us.”
“This is the covenant of the Bloodmagic,” Ai whispered. “As long as there is life and sin, there will be suffering. Over the centuries, different groups have tried to find a way to eliminate it, but it is impossible. So one life takes on all suffering.”
“But … but that’s not fair!” My mouth dropped open, as I watched him.
“It might not seem fair to you, but those are the terms, Skyla. If you do not return me to the tower now, you will see. Bloodmagic runs deep, and now that you’ve saved me, I fear you’ve condemned us all.”
Check out our third anthology, Forgotten Magic, for the final part of the story, The Ones Who Choose, as Skyla learns the truth about the Bloodmagic, and sets out to save her Community and Ai from certain disaster—even if it means giving up what she wants most.
About the Author
C. S. Johnson is an award-winning, genre-hopping author of science fiction and fantasy adventures such as The Starlight Chronicles, The Order of the Crystal Daggers, The Divine Space Pirates, and more. With a gift for sarcasm and an apologetic heart, she currently lives in Atlanta with her family. Find out more and subscribe to her mailing list at https://www.csjohnson.me.
Don’t forget to grab your copy of our next anthology Forgotten Magic now.
The Mail-Order Witch
Episode II
Joynell Schultz
In this installment of “The Mail-Order Witch,” Ettie, a newly-wed, mail-order witch is still having trouble with her magic shop being sabotaged. This time, it’s not children turning into foxes, but her shop is infested with hamsters. How the heck did that happen? Was it deliberate, or “Wayward Magic?” Read Episode II to find out.
Joynell Schultz
Ettie’s magic shop is infested…with hamsters? How is that possible?
Unless whoever had sabotaged her in the past is back at it, trying to shut down her shop and drive her and her warlock husband out of town. Could it be the church-owning neighbor? The nosey reporter? Or the town’s mayor? Even Ettie’s own father-in-law is a suspect.
The hamsters must go before they get her business shut down, but there’s just one problem: Ettie’s fallen in love with those cute little fuzzy critters.
Chapter One
I squeezed the pillow over my ears. “Ugh! Why does your father have to play his flute at this time of night?”
“It’s actually not a flute, but a piccolo. I don’t know why he practices so much.” Roman slipped his hand under the hem of my PJ top and traced a finger around my belly button. “But with him busy playing music, he won’t notice if there is a bit of noise coming from our bedroom.”
His advance fell on deaf ears, as my mind was still on the music coming from the spare room across the hall. “Having him here is like having a child.”
“I thought you wanted kids,” Roman continued to glide his fingers across my abdomen. “Isn’t that the whole reason you crossed the country and became my mail-order bride?”
I pulled the pillow off my head, looking up into my husband’s handsome, dark brown eyes. His head was propped up on his hand beside me. “I do want kids. It’s our duty as two of the last pure-blooded witches, but I thought we’d at least get six months to a year of marriage together to…you know…enjoy newlywed bliss.” I flashed him a naughty smile. “We didn’t even get the romance of courtship. We went right from being strangers, to being married, to having your father living with us.”
“I know, I know.” Roman rolled onto his back and stared at our ceiling. “He’s been here a month already. I thought this would be short-term, but he’s not having any luck finding a temporary apartment while he stays in Watersedge. Nobody will give him a short-term lease. If we just wait it out…”
I shook my head and took a deep breath. “I’m still not convinced that your father wasn’t the one who had been sabotaging the reputation of Ettie’s Enchanted Effects. He’s still not happy that we openly practice magic and provide magical objects to mortals. It’s been a month since all the second-graders sprouted magical bushy tails, and we’re not any closer to knowing who was out to ruin our shop’s reputation.”
“It could have been my father, but my magic money is still on the neighbor,” Roman said. “There haven’t been any more sabotaging incidents since you saved Brittany’s life.”
“We saved her life,” I corrected with a chuckle. “We
both stopped that ladder from tipping over.” Roman was right. Things had been calm at Ettie’s ever since we reversed the hex on the children and saved Brittney from crashing onto the concrete sidewalk. Maybe she…or the entire town…had finally accepted having a witch entrepreneur right downtown. This was a good thing, as I really wanted to make Watersedge our permanent home. Roman loved his job there and I could see us raising our children here. This town of only twenty thousand people was the perfect size. It had a variety of retail shops, restaurants, and beautiful parks, not to mention the lone school district was good. I did have an in with one of the principals, thanks to my father-in-law, Joe. Somewhere lost in my thoughts, a high note made me cringe. “Why would someone pick the piccolo to play? What a terrible instrument!”
“My family comes from a long line of piccolo players.” Roman laughed. “Come on, Ettie. It’s all perspective. Think of the music as ro-man-tic.” He added a bit of mysterious pizazz to the way he drew out the last word.
“I don’t think it’s possible for a piccolo to be ro-man-tic.”
“Oh, yeah?” He arched an eyebrow and a lopsided smile turned up his lips, making my tenseness melt at the sight of his adorable dimples. “Is that a challenge?” He waved his hand in the air, filling the room with enchanted lights that twinkled like it was Christmas time, reminding me of one of the first “dates” we went on as a married couple, back when I thought I had been deceived and married a mortal…but, I had fallen in love with Roman with or without magic.
“Only if you want to make it a challenge,” I giggled; all my troubles were forgotten for the moment.
With a giant swoop of his arm, Roman pulled me into the center of the bed. He crawled up beside me and whipped off the plain grey t-shirt he had on. Oh, it was a glorious sight that I didn’t think would ever tire me. Even if, years from now, his muscles sagged with age or hid behind a soft layer of chub, I knew I’d still enjoy the sight.
Magic Underground: The Complete Collection (Magic Underground Anthologies Book 4) Page 114
